Hong Kong's population fell by 68,300, or 0.9 percent last year, according to a government estimate on Thursday, as tens of thousands of people left the city and the number of births fell to a record low. Frank Yung reports:

A population expert says the number of people leaving Hong Kong appears to have peaked, but he believes the government must work hard to attract and retain talent here. Professor Paul Yip from the University of Hong Kong also told Frank Yung that the city's low birth rate was not going to go up anytime soon, worsening the ageing problem:

The first school in Hong Kong offering the mainland curriculum is set to open in 2026. It will be in Tin Shui Wai and aims to serve mainland families in the SAR. Vanessa Cheng reports:

An educator has welcomed news of Hong Kong's first mainland curriculum-based school. Mervyn Cheung, from the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organisation, says he hopes authorities can smooth out issues to open the school ahead of planned, as it ties in well with Hong Kong's desire to lure mainland talent. He cited possible staffing issues, such as having mainland teachers working in Hong Kong, or local teachers learning the mainland curriculum, as well as the two sides having different teaching methods. He spoke to Ben Tse:

A green group says it has found a significant drop in the number of plastic bags being given out at supermarkets since the bag levy was doubled to $1 at the end of last year. But Greeners Action says its study also found that over-packaging had become an even greater cause for concern. Its field study, which ran from mid-January to early this month at 54 supermarkets across the city, found an almost 90 percent drop in the number of flat-top plastic bags distributed at cashiers from last year. The group's executive director Angus Ho spoke to Kelly Yu:

Greeners Action says shop staff need more training as its survey showed many of them were still asking customers if they required a plastic bag. The group's senior public affairs officer Beatrice Siu also told Vicky Wong that she was afraid customers would fall back to their old ways if the deterrent effect of a $1 levy wore off:

The Buildings Department has come under fire from the government's own watchdog over the slow pace of its survey of illegal structures on village houses. As Ada Au reports, the Ombudsman also questioned the length of time it took to enforce the law when such structures were noted by the department's inspectors:

The Ombudsman also took the authorities to task for shortcomings in their efforts to prevent shops, hawkers, and other businesses from causing a nuisance to the public by illegally cluttering up streets with their wares. But this is something the government has been tackling with a high profile clean-up operation and a proposal to increase the fines for such offences four-fold by the middle of this year. Natale Ching reports:

A top tourism industry representative says Hong Kong will probably need a few more months to regain its full capacity to receive tourists. He said this was partly due to labour shortages and cash flow problems, but also hardware issues, as Maggie Ho reports:

President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Iran. The announcement comes on the final day of a state visit to China by his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi. Wendy Wong reports: