Hong Kong

As Paris Hilton and other Hollywood types can attest, sex sells and can super-charge careers. In Hong Kong, it can also end them, at least temporarily. And it can also prompt a tough police response to what has become a veritable public obsession. The former British colony has been in a tizzy after hundreds of compromising photos of singer and movie star Edison Chen posing nude or having sex with top Hong Kong singers and actresses raced across the Internet.

BEFORE construction had wrapped on Vanessa Choy and Andrew Wong's house in Studio City, the rumors had started swirling. The couple were building a halfway house for addicts, passersby speculated. The home was some sort of mean joke on the neighborhood, others feared. One woman screamed from the middle of the street: "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" The consternation didn't seem rooted in the size or scale of the house, but by its style.

POLISHING off their cream-filled crepes and fruit smoothies, the after-movie crowd at Garden Cafe drifts homeward around 1 a.m. But by 3 a.m., a fresh wave of customers -- most in goth-inspired club-wear -- fills the tables at this classic Hong Kong-style coffee shop.

Hong Kong might be a lovely place to visit in person, but computer users should think twice before stopping there online. More than 19% of websites in Hong Kong's Internet domain, .hk, pose some kind of security threat, according to a study released Tuesday by anti-virus firm McAfee Inc.

The melamine was in the eggs that arrived in Hong Kong, the biscuits in the Philippines, the foil-wrapped chocolate coins sold across Canada and cookies and candy here in California. The latest round of discoveries of Chinese-produced food tainted with a cheap, illegal and dangerous additive started with preemptive testing in Hong Kong and spread from there with additional tests in other countries. The world's hunger for ever-cheaper products has wrought a perpetual state of food-safety alert.

The jetliners serving this financial hub arrive with more empty seats these days, and lately it's easier to get a table at Harlan's oyster bar in the International Finance Center. Across the bay in Kowloon, a salesclerk at Italy Fur & Fashion idles away the afternoon. "Stocks, stocks, stocks!" she hollers, when asked why there were no customers, despite steep discounts on rack after rack of merchandise.

Hong Kong became a mostly smoke-free city today, when a ban took effect on lighting up in restaurants, schools, workplaces, karaoke lounges and public areas. Smoking is forbidden even at outdoor places such as beaches, sports venues, museums and most areas of public parks. Violators are subject to a maximum penalty of $644. The ban excludes nightclubs, bars, mah-jongg parlors, bathhouses and massage establishments until July 2009.

Touted as a first for Hong Kong, the Drive-In movie theater was set to open its doors Thursday, banking that locals in the densely populated city will appreciate a rare break from congested surroundings and a taste of Americana. Backed by an anonymous foreign businessman, the Drive-In features two screens and 200 parking spots. There is also some fixed seating for walk-in viewers.

Bonhams auction house has opened its first Asia office in Hong Kong and will hold a sale of artworks and antiques in the city in May to tap a market dominated by Christie's International and Sotheby's. "Nothing in the global art market has been more dramatic in the last decade than the emergence of new art buyers in Asia," Colin Sheaf, chairman of Bonhams Asia, said in a statement. Hong Kong will be "a springboard" to clients in China, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore, he said.

Angela Yiu and Stella Cheng spent weeks meeting with fashion stylists and photographers before deciding on the miniskirts and high heels to wear in their promotion campaign. They're not models peddling perfume or sports cars. They're English tutors who earn good money by helping secondary school students pass Hong Kong's grueling exams to get into college.