Chief Executive John Lee has announced the launch of a trial operation for a new gold trading and clearing system. As Chloe Feng reports, the development is a key step in the city's endeavours to become a major bullion trading hub:

Shaokai Fan is head of Asia-Pacific at the World Gold Council. He told Chloe Feng the new clearing system is a major step forward for Hong Kong's ambitions of becoming a price-setter for gold:

The People's Bank of China has announced various measures to bolster bond, currency and gold trading in Hong Kong, as Beijing steps up efforts to establish the city as an offshore renminbi hub. Chloe Feng has the details:

Monetary Authority chief executive Eddie Yue says a quota increase for the Southbound Bond Connect trading scheme is necessary. The nation's central bank said the quota will be expanded from 500 billion yuan to 800 billion yuan. Wallis Wang reports:

A fertility clinic has been ordered to suspend most of its services and submit an investigation report, after embryo samples it sent to the laboratory for genetic tests did not match the DNA of their purported parents. Raymond Yeung reports:

Eighty-four percent of students applying for secondary school places have been granted their top choice. According to the allocation results which were released on Tuesday, that's one percentage point lower compared with last year. Janice Lo has the details:

Lawmakers have expressed broad support for overhauling Hong Kong's sexual offence laws though some have raised questions about how the proposed changes would function in practice – particularly in complex or ambiguous situations. Aaron Tam reports:

The US military has launched a series of strikes against Iran for the first time since late last month. As Cecil Wong reports, the strikes were in response to what it said were Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz:

With the World Cup drawing massive global attention, lawmaker Johnny Ng has called on the government to take immediate action against prediction-market activity. He urged authorities to restrict access to unregulated overseas platforms, and form a cross-agency task force to bolster public safeguards. Ng and the group, Hong Kong Youth Synergy, held a public opinion survey examining prediction markets and gambling culture. They found that 70 percent of respondents do not understand how prediction markets operate, and a similar percentage mistakenly believed that using such platforms does not violate Hong Kong's Gambling Ordinance. Ng spoke to Hailey Yip:

There's been a call for the government to increase the levy on firms hiring imported labour. The Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions suggested that it be raised from the current HK$400 per month to HK$500, for every imported worker who's hired. The proposal is among the suggestions put forward by the labour group for the chief executive's policy address. The federation also urged the government to improve school-based after-school childcare services. Federation chairman and lawmaker Lam Chun-sing spoke to Elvis Yu:

Now... have you ever heard of “Tokenmaxxing?” It’s a widely known concept in the world of tech where every token is behind an actual AI inquiry. But tech companies now have had to completely reverse strategies as the costs of AI are sometimes proving to outweigh the benefits. Our Silicon Valley correspondent Mark Niu spoke to Ben Tse about how these AI companies are attempting to rein in costs: