Taxi fares may be following bus and ferry fares in going up sharply soon. A cabbie representative says the trade may seek a HK$6 increase in flagfall. Maggie Ho has more:

Some members of LegCo's transport panel have urged the government to relax restrictions on bus firms, allowing them to bring in other sources of commercial revenue, in the face of pressure to raise fares as inflation rises:

Anti-Covid measures are being kept unchanged for the time being despite a surge in the number of cases. New coronavirus cases have jumped by over a thousand to 9,219 infections – including more than 700 imported cases. Officials attribute the rise to relaxed social distancing measures and an increase in incoming travellers. Undersecretary for Health Libby Lee also noted that immunity to the virus is waning, and urged people to get fully vaccinated. She noted that BioNTech bivalent booster shots should be available in Hong Kong by early next month:

The number of new Covid-19 cases on the mainland has hit a record since the start of the pandemic nearly three years ago. Meanwhile, a partial lockdown has been ordered for the city of Zhengzhou, which is home to a vast iPhone factory. Wendy Wong has more:

The High Court has turned down a request by relatives of some of the victims of the Lamma ferry disaster for a coroner’s inquest to be held. Thirty-nine people were killed when the Lamma-four collided head-on with the Sea Smooth ferry just over a decade ago, and sank within two minutes. The coxswains of the two vessels were later convicted of manslaughter and endangering the life of others at sea. Maggie Ho has more on the ruling:

Hong Kong Rugby Union head Robbie McRobbie says athletes would not feel pressure about what he described as "reasonable" new rules on how to react if the national anthem is played incorrectly at sports matches. He was speaking about new guidelines requiring competitors to leave venues if mistakes are not promptly corrected. Aaron Tam reports:

The President of Asia Rugby, Qais Abdullah Al Dhalai, says the SAR government has accepted that there was no malicious intent in the playing of a song associated with the 2019 protests instead of the national anthem ahead of a final between Hong Kong and South Korea at its event in Incheon earlier this month. He says Asia Rugby has been very transparent and open in dealing with the incident, and has set up a centralised archive of team anthems to ensure it does not happen again. Senior officials had been disbelieving of the organisation's initial explanation of the blunder. Mike Weeks asked Al Dhalai what he said to Chief Secretary Eric Chan to change his mind:

The Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been sworn-in as the country's new prime minister, ending a five-day political impasse caused by last week's general election leading to a hung parliament. The 75-year-old reformist has gone through decades of strife to finally attain his political goals, including years in jail on politically-motivated sodomy charges. Annemarie Evans asked Andrew Ong, editor of the online news portal, Malaysiakini if he was surprised that Anwar Ibrahim had finally become prime minister:

Radio 3 and the South China Morning Post’s annual fundraiser Operation Santa Claus 2022 is well underway, and this year we are helping 15 charities. One of those beneficiaries is Integrated Brilliant Education Limited, which helps non-Chinese-speaking children learn the language and enable them to get in free, local schools. RTHK's Peter King paid a visit to their centre in Jordan, and met Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Manoj Dhar. He asked the former banker where his inspiration came from: