Hong Kong's anti-corruption watchdog charged a former government secretary with fraud Wednesday over a housing scandal that erupted days after he was appointed by the city's new leader.

The grandfather of a revered Tibetan Buddhist figure has burned to death in northwest China after setting himself on fire in protest at Beijing's rule in the restive region, rights groups said Sunday.

Hong Kong police said Thursday they were probing a beauty center in the city for manslaughter after a woman who received one of their treatments died and three others were hospitalized.

The death toll from Hong Kong's biggest maritime tragedy in decades has risen to 39 and rescue workers have called off the search for any more missing, authorities said.

A show of concern by Beijing over a boat collision that killed dozens of people in Hong Kong this week has backfired, further damaging the Communist government's image in the former British colony.

Hong Kong investigators on Wednesday examined the wreck of a boat that sank in a collision which killed 38 people, as the city sought answers to its worst maritime accident for decades.

An official with the ferry company involved in a collision that killed 38 people said Wednesday that the vessel recently passed inspection, but he had no details about how the crash occurred.

The captains of a ferry and a pleasure boat that collided in Hong Kong, killing 38 people in the city's worst maritime disaster in decades, were arrested Tuesday with five other crew, officials said.

At least 36 people died and dozens were injured when a ferry carrying more than 120 revelers on a company outing collided with another ferry and sank near an island south of Hong Kong on Monday night, in one of the city's worst maritime accidents.

A gay Hong Kong woman on Friday implored her tycoon father to rescind a US$65 million “marriage bounty” for any man who can win her heart, as applications poured in from around the globe.