UPDATED VERSION. It’s Signal 8 alert for tropical storm Kammuri that visits Hong Kong right now. My flight out of the island, scheduled for 2.50pm today, has been delayed till 2.00am the next morning, and my next flight into Singapore is around 10am tomorrow via KL, short separation in between. Hope there’s no more disruption from now on.

Cathay Pacific Airways temporary suspended its online and in-town check-in services at Hong Kong and Kowloon mass transit stations and advised passengers to check with the airline before leaving home.

UPDATES: Cathay Pacific also suspended all Hong Kong operations for four hours between 16.00 and 20.00 hours local time as a result of the strong winds caused by the storm.

The departure of seven flights to Beijing, Sydney, the United States and the Middle East were rescheduled to the early morning on Thursday, the airline said.

Malaysia Airlines counter at E1 Terminal 1 was the best for customer handling and services. When we showed up for boarding around 12.15 pm, I saw passengers being shooed away, told to come back again at 12.00 midnight, without meal or accommodation vouchers given though there was a delay of over eleven hours! An act of God, Idris Jala?

It’s quite gloomy here as I stare outside the hotel room. Gusts reached over 80km/h this morning. The stock market and offices are closed at least for the first half of the day.

All ferry services to Macau, southern China and Hong Kong’s outlying islands were also halted after the Hong Kong Observatory raised the number 8 strong wind signal for only the third time in 2008 at about 06.00 hours on Wednesday.

Gloomy Hong Kong

Monday, HSBC reported a 28% drop in first-half profit, losing US$14 billion from bad debts on U.S. home loans and asset write-downs.

Yesterday. Bank of East Asia Ltd., Hong Kong’s fifth-largest lender by assets, reported a sharper-than-expected 52% decline in first-half net profit. Ironically, investment losses and higher impairment charges had more than offset robust growth in interest and fee income for the bank.

Both banks spell of slowdown in global economy, and bleak outlook in the half-year ahead.

Meanwhile, across mainland China, economists talk about severe impact of burst bubble in the prorperty sector.

First-tier cities including Shenzhen, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai will face more downward pressure on prices than smaller cities because of oversupply, according to the chief economist at Citic Ka Wah Bank.

Depressing news all round, but one sole consolation is the fast Internet here.

Gloomy Malaysia, too?

Just heard the Permatang Pauh by-election is on Tuesday, August 26 — significantly, a working day — with nomination on August 16.

Just as immediately after the Election Commission announced the dates, the Police announced that the candidate, Anwar Ibrahim, will be charged at Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, Jalan Duta, at 10.00am tomorrow.

As a show of solidarity with Anwar, DAP will get its party members to turn up at the appointed time at the Court.

So, Signal 8 alert on Malaysian sky, too? The dismantling of the BN government, likes flights in Hong Kong today, may see some delays. You know, that indelible ink stored in the EC’s warehouse… ada pakaikah?

BY THE WAY… I woke up to see that crude oil has dropped to US$118.82 per barrel. Why is the BN government holding back the two-month old post-June 5 profits even a day longer?

AGAIN, BY THE WAY… Crude palm oil futures traded on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives plunged to a fresh 9-month low yesterday. The benchmark third-month October 2008 contract dropped RM140 to close at RM2,750 per tonne from RM2,890 per tonne at Monday’s closing.

This, actually followed the weakening of both soyoil futures overnight and crude oil prices.

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Suthan M