I read this essay everyday

Kissel's 'milkshake murder' conviction overturned
(02-11 11:03)
Hong Kong's top court today overturned the murder conviction of American woman Nancy Kissel and ordered a retrial in the gruesome killing of her investment banker husband, one of the city's most sensational crime cases.

"The court unanimously allows the appeal, quashes the conviction and orders a re-trial,'' Chief Justice Andrew Li said.

Kissel was sentenced to life in prison in 2005 after being convicted of drugging her high-flying banker husband with a sedatives-laced strawberry milkshake and then bludgeoning him to death in 2003.

The 45-year-old had been dubbed the "milkshake murderer'' following her conviction after a three-month trial featuring a heady mix of adultery, violence, spying, greed and enormous wealth, gripping the former British colony and inspiring books and films.

Grisly details emerged in the trial, including evidence that Kissel rolled up her husband Robert's body in a carpet and left it in the bedroom of their luxurious apartment for days before hiring workmen to carry it to a storeroom.

"Mrs Kissel killed Mr Kissel. That much is not in dispute. But was the killing certainly murder or might it have been in self defence,'' the court said in its judgment.

"There is acute controversy over what really went on between Mr and Mrs Kissel over the years and right up to the time of the fatal incident.''

The judge ordered Kissel remanded in custody pending a bail hearing.

Prosecutors had claimed the Michigan-born Kissel stood to gain up to US$18 million (HK$140.4 million) in insurance payouts from the death of her husband, a senior investment banker at Merrill Lynch.

The prosecution also argued that Kissel, a mother-of-three, wanted to take her husband's money and run away with a TV repairman with whom she admitted having an affair in the United States.

Kissel admitted from the witness box that she killed her husband but claimed she was acting in self-defence after he attacked her with a baseball bat on the night of the murder.

She also painted herself as a loving but long-suffering wife who had been subjected to regular violent attacks by a husband who abused cocaine and alcohol.

Kissel's last appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2008. In the latest appeal heard before the highest court in January this year, her defence team argued that prosecutors had produced inadmissible evidence during the trial.

Robert Kissel's family suffered a further tragedy in 2006, when his brother Andrew was found murdered in his house in Connecticut, bound and with multiple stab wounds. He was reportedly about to plead guilty to bank fraud charges.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE   


The Standard
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=17610&icid=3&d_str=20100303

[ 本帖最後由 柔道姐姐 於 2010-3-3 02:55 編輯 ]

Home prices boosted by record low completions

Derek Yiu

Friday, March 05, 2010

A record low number of homes completed last year - just 7,160 - helped boost prices in the fourth quarter by 23 percent. The completion of homes smaller than 1,000 square feet fell 38 percent to the low-water mark of 4,740, said Deputy Commissioner of Rating and Valuation Tang Ping-kwong. "Thanks to low property completions and people's fear of not being able to buy homes, there were fluctuations in property prices." Midland Realty (1200) chief analyst Buggle Lau Ka-fai shared Tang's view that the completion of some homes was deferred to the beginning of this year, but he said low interest rates and abundant liquidity were the main reasons prices surged last year. Eddie Hui Chi-man, an associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, blamed the economic recovery for the sharp rise, but said speculators, spotting a low at the start of 2009, stepped up their investments. "In the next two to five years, there'll be at least 53,000 homes available," Tang said. About 14,260 units - double last year's number - will be completed this year and 10,960 next year. Most will be in the New Territories, with Yuen Long delivering 27 percent of total homes. Tseung Kwan O - the main area for new homes in recent years - will contribute 22 percent. Hui said a higher supply will stabilize the market, but he does not think the number of homes to be finished this year is high. Lau agreed, noting that many of the homes - including flats at Le Prestige built by Cheung Kong (0001) - had already been sold as uncompleted units last year. He said selling more land will not help to moderate prices in the near term. Lau expects prices to rise between 10 and 15 percent this year. As vacancies fell surprisingly to 4.3 percent - and that of homes smaller than 1,000 square feet to 3.8 percent - rentals will find strong support and rise by up to 20 percent, Lau said. The rental index in the fourth quarter crept up 2 percent from a year ago, according to the Rating and Valuation Department. Following good market response for the remaining sandwich-class homes in Tseung Kwan O, the Housing Authority is prepared to discuss with the government the sale of the 4,000 Home Ownership Scheme homes. The authority will accept applications in July and August at the earliest. There are 1,293 such HOS homes in Tin Shui Wai and 1,110 in Yau Tong. Hui said it is reasonable to relaunch these homes to meet the housing needs of the less well-off. He believes HOS homes may help stabilize private property prices. He also favors an increase in land supply to build more homes under the scheme.  http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=95400&sid=27295703&con_type=1&d_str=20100305&fc=8

MTR fares up 15 cents

Scarlett Chiang

Friday, March 26, 2010

ADVERTISEMENT

An estimated four million passengers will have to pay an average of 15 cents a trip more from June 1. MTR marketing and station business general manager Jeny Yeung Mei-chun said the 2.05 percent hike - forecast by The Standard yesterday - is the result of the fare adjustment mechanism, as agreed with the government. "The mechanism is legally binding," Yeung said. "It is linked to the consumer price index and transport wage index so the result is objective, fair and transparent." She said it will be the first increase in MTR fares for 13 years. As the average fare is HK$7.20 per trip, the increase will be around 15 cents a journey. But Yeung added the rise will only be implemented after a third party audits the result of the mechanism. The Census and Statistics Department announced yesterday the nominal wage change in the transport sector in the fourth quarter of last year was 1.4 percent - a figure that was used to calculate the new fare. According to the latest wage index, bus companies may also apply for a fare increase of 1.25 percent but KMB, Citybus and First Bus said they have no plans to do so. Democratic Party legislator Andrew Cheng Kar-foo said the public must not accept a fare rise - no matter how small - when the company is making a huge profit. He also suggested the government set up a fund from MTRC share dividends to stabilize fares. A spokeswoman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said the adjustment mechanism has taken into consideration how much the public can afford. "We will continue to encourage every public transport operator, including the rail company, to provide concessions to the public," she said. University of Science and Technology economics professor Francis Lui Ting-ming said it is reasonable for the MTRC to increase fares. "You cannot say only accept a fall and not a rise," he said. "There is no free lunch in this world." But Cheng, vice chairman of the Legislative Council's transport panel, criticized MTR Corp for making the move even though it has turned in a profit of HK$77.2 billion over the past 10 years and HK$9.6 billion last year. Coalition to Monitor Public Transport and Utilities spokesman Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong said the formula ignores important factors such as MTRC profits and changes in wages among the general public. "If you consider the wages of the general public you cannot agree with a fare increase," Tsoi said. "If you dig deeper into the MTRC profits, you will never agree with it."

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=96320&sid=27536367&con_type=1