HONG KONG - IT'S A price tag that would make even New Yorkers and Londoners gasp - nearly US$57 million for an outsized luxury apartment in one of Hong Kong's wealthiest neighbourhoods.

A five-bedroom duplex suite with as much as 6,158 square feet was sold Wednesday to an unidentified buyer from mainland China, said the developer, Henderson Land Development, a major Hong Kong property company. It claims the apartment is the most expensive in Asia by square foot.

THE labour movement is gearing up for a new mission now that the worst of the recession is over.

It wants to support the transformation of Singapore's economy as global competition for investment and jobs intensifies - and achieve this without leaving any worker behind.

FOR months, 46-year-old Shirley Lau resisted her mother's offer to donate a kidney.

She gave in finally when faced with the alternative of long-term dialysis or death, and also when her mother's health tests passed with flying colours.

AS AN indication of the red hot demand for public flats, the Housing Board (HDB) was swamped with 20,691 applications for its biggest sales exercise - 2,132 flats - in recent times on its closing day.

This means there are about 10 bids for every available flat. HDB said on Wednesday that it had 'expected strong interest for these flats as they are limited in number, are located in the popular mature estates, and are either completed or close to completion'.