Chinese investors snapping up cheap Detroit homes is an old story, so I’m surprised that there are still suckers out there who are throwing good money after bad: Low property prices in Detroit, United States, have lured global investors, many of them Chinese, to the city keen to join the buying spree, housing agents said. […]

Police today charged two women, aged 40 and 70, with one count of manslaughter over the death of a man in Happy Valley.

The 52-year-old was found collapsed in a flat on Tai Hang Road on March 17, and was later certified dead at Ruttonjee Hospital.

A post-mortem examination found a suspicious neck wound, and further examinations will be conducted.

The women, both foreign domestic helpers for the deceased, were arrested yesterday. They will appear in Eastern Magistracy tomorrow.

Commissioner for Narcotics Erika Hui has pledged to boost the Government's anti-drug efforts, saying the hidden nature of youth drug abuse is rising.

Announcing the Central Registry of Drug Abuse's 2012 figures, and the results of the 2011-12 Survey of Drug Use Among Students, Mrs Hui said today the findings have shown improvements in the local drug situation, in particular a significant drop in the number of young drug abusers.

However, they also show abusers are remaining unknown to registry reporting agencies for a longer time. The average length of time of abuse before registering as an addict has more than doubled, from 1.9 years in 2008 to four years in 2012.

Mrs Hui said the results highlight the hidden drug problem. The student survey found the most common venues for drug taking were friends’, schoolmates’, or neighbours’ homes (33%), and students’ own homes (26%).

While these figures are similar to the 2008-09 survey results, Mrs Hui said: "The proportion of drug-taking students who took drugs alone increased from 15% in the 2008-09 survey to 21% in 2011-12. Nearly 80% of drug-taking students reported that they had never sought help from others."

To counter the trend, the Government will enhance anti-drug education and publicity to encourage parents to play an active role in drug prevention, early identification and intervention.

“We will also enhance publicity of the 24-hour anti-drug telephone service 186 186, which is manned by professional social workers, to provide counselling services.”

About 156,000 students were interviewed, covering 30 post-secondary institutions and more than 200 primary and secondary schools.

The number of students claiming to have taken drugs dropped significantly from 30,200 in the 2008-09 survey to 17,500, and the proportion of drug-takers in the student population dropped from 3.7% to 2.2%.

There was a decline in the total number of reported drug abusers and young drug abusers. The total number of reported abusers dropped by 5% last year to 10,939, while the number of newly reported drug abusers decreased by 13% to 2,849.

The number of reported abusers aged under 21, and the number of newly reported abusers under 21, dropped by 21% and 20%.

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The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department has ordered a Yau Ma Tei restaurant to suspend business for two weeks.

The restaurant, on the ground floor at No. 45 Temple Street, was ordered to close until April 3 for illegally extending the food business area.