It was another hectic day at the border checkpoints as people continued to leave Hong Kong for the mainland and abroad for the holidays. Though 424,000 people have left the city as of 9pm on Thursday, a catering representative said business was actually up compared to the festive season last year, thanks partly to an uptick in mainland visitors. The jewellery trade, however, says the increased foot traffic didn't translate into more sales, as Charlie Chun reports.

A business tycoon says business in one of Hong Kong's most popular nightlife hot spots, Lan Kwai Fong, has seen a rise of up to 15 percent during the holidays. Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group Allan Zeman said operators in the area are happy with this year's footfall, with quite a number of visitors from the mainland, Japan and South Korea. He also noted hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents left the city over the past few days, saying it's a "structural problem" that has to be addressed. Zeman spoke to Janice Lo.

Hong Kong travellers will soon be able to take to the skies on the homegrown C919 aircraft from Chek Lap Kok airport. That's because China Eastern Airlines will be assigning the narrow-body passenger jet to its daily route between the SAR and Shanghai's Hongqiao airport from the beginning of the new year. Kelly Yu has the story.

A new unmanned shuttle service between the local port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and the airport's new 11 Skies shopping mall will come online in about a year's time. The new system is expected to boost transport links and retail in the area. Here's Sophie Hui.

The government announced earlier this week that snooker star Judd Trump has become the latest high-profile athlete to obtain a Hong Kong passport under a talent admission scheme. His move follows in the footsteps of fellow snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan, who made the same move in October. In an exclusive interview with RTHK, O'Sullivan confirmed plans to relocate to Hong Kong and set up snooker clubs here. Charlie Chun reports from Macau where he's currently competing.

Waste reduction figures have improved, with the government saying that there was a 2.2 percent drop in the amount of waste dumped at landfills last year compared to 2022. The recycling rate has also edged up by one percent during the same period. But a Greenpeace campaigner says she is unhappy with the progress, especially with the government spending so much money on waste reduction. Kelly Yu reports.

A green group representative says most restaurants in Hong Kong have adapted to the ban on disposable plastic products. The grace period for the new law, which prohibited eateries from using polystyrene utensils, plastic straws and cutlery, ended about two months ago. But Greenpeace campaigner Leanne Tam said some restaurant chains have continued to offer single-use cutlery, only switching to those made from paper or wood. She told Ben Tse the government has to do more.

Emotional ceremonies have taken place across Asia, to remember the more than 220,000 people who died two decades ago when a tsunami devastated coastal areas around the Indian Ocean. It was one of the worst natural disasters in human history, as Charlie Chun reports.

It was shortly after 8am on December the 26th, 2004, when the tsunami slammed into the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh. Created by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake in the Indian Ocean, 30-metre-high waves swept away everything in their path, practically wiping an entire province off the map. Despite it being 20 years since the disaster, one Indonesian survivor is still clinging to hope that her missing son will return home. Aaron Tam reports

India's former prime minister Manmohan Singh has died at the age of 92. He was widely regarded as the architect of the country's economic reforms, as Frank Yung reports.

India, the world's largest democracy, is almost always in election mode. With 28 states, eight union territories and nearly a-billion eligible voters, polls are a constant feature of the nation's diverse political landscape. For years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to push through the One Nation One Election bill – a proposal to hold state and federal elections simultaneously every five years. And last week, the ruling right-wing government introduced a bill to parliament to implement this system. As RTHK's South Asia correspondent, Murali Krishnan, told Azam Khan, the bill has sparked a fierce debate over power dynamics.

Israel has launched a fresh round of air strikes in Yemen targeting multiple places including the capital's international airport. At least three people were killed in the bombardment. The head of the World Health Organization, who was about to board a plane at the airport in Sanaa when it came under attack, said he was safe. Frank Yung reports.

This year has seen the social media world fall in love with a baby pgymy hippo and a chonky penguin. Moo Deng and Pesto were just two internet stars from the animal kingdom drawing millions of fans online, and in person, to their respective homes in Thailand and Australia. Early next year, Hong Kong will unveil its own homegrown stars, when the city's first locally-born giant pandas finally meet the public. But until then, one little brown bear in Shanghai is proving to be the latest breakout star. Natale Ching reports.

Two rare golden tigers are stealing the show at a zoo in Thailand. Ava and Luna have thicker-than-usual light-gold fur, pale legs, and faint orange stripes, and they've taken the internet by storm. Hailey Yip reports.

South Korean researchers have developed a lightweight wearable robot that can walk up to paraplegic users and lock itself onto them. The exoskeleton can help users walk, manoeuvre obstacles and climb staircases. Aaron Tam reports.

Now, when you think of some of the top social network sites, Facebook, X, or Instagram may come to mind. There haven’t been many challengers for quite some time, perhaps until now. RTHK's San Francisco correspondent, Mark Niu, has more on the emergence of a new challenger – Bluesky.