Matera, one of the most striking locations featured in the new 007 film No Time to Die, has transformed since its shockingly backward days in the mid-20th century.
These are three of the 80 dogs that could be put down in 22 days' time unless the charity that cares for them finds a new home.
A pet dog has been crushed to death in front of its owner and her two young children in the second attack by a huge python in Sai Kung West Country Park in less than a fortnight.
A dog walker stabbed a python the head after it clamped its jaws around her beloved pet Dexter and attempted to crush him to death.
Sai Kung Stray Friends Foundation have just five weeks to build new kennels for 70 dogs on a piece of barren land, or deal with the prospect of closing down and leaving all their dogs homeless - or facing the fate of being put down.
A New Territories villager who demolished a 160-year-old Hakka terrace in what has been called an act of cultural vandalism has been ordered to stop work on three new houses he has started to build on the site.
This may be the last Christmas for 66 stray dogs at a Sai Kung shelter. Sai Kung Stray Friends says it has been told to vacate its Ho Chung premises, and unless it can find HK$3.5 million to buy an alternative site, the dogs will most likely have to be put down.
Sue Cuthbertson has been charged with breaching the Rabies Ordinance by not having a licence and failing to have the dog vaccinated. She has also been charged with failing to leash the dog in a public place, and faces up to HK$4,000 in fines.
Picnickers are littering country park barbecue sites, leaving scenic spots looking like eyesores. Photographs taken on mornings after the Mid-Autumn Festival days last week provide evidence of widespread disregard for Hong Kong's anti-littering laws, with tonnes of rubbish being left for government workers to clear up.
The snakes, measuring between and 0.5 and 4.2 metres, have been picked up following reports to police after they have strayed too close to human habitats, said a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation Department.
Edward Snowden's attempted flight to Ecuador from limbo in the transit lounge of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport is being watched with particular interest by two sisters in Hong Kong.
A report to be released within days is expected to partly blame the impact of construction work on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge for a continuing steep decline in the number of pink dolphins in Hong Kong waters.
Bumps, ramps and special traffic-slowing road surfaces are among measures being considered by police to curb speeding on Lantau following the death of eight cows in a hit-and-run accident last week.
WWF Hong Kong called for an interdepartmental task force to be set up to find ways to save the dolphin population and for steps to be taken to halt reclamation projects they fear could push the mammals to the brink of extinction in Hong Kong waters.
WATCH THE VIDEO | Distressing scenes as a mother fought to stop her dead calf from sinking into HK's polluted waters have highlighted plight of iconic pink dolphins.
One breastfeeding advocacy group said a special hotline and other measures aimed at helping local mothers secure formula milk actually assisted manufacturers in promoting their products and gave them direct access to mothers.
Figures due next month will show a major decline in the number of pink dolphins - also known as Chinese white dolphins - found in Hong Kong waters at any one time, says Dr Samuel Hung Ka-yiu, chairman of the Dolphin Conservation Society.
The Sai Kung shark featured in a video that grabbed attention online last week is believed to be a more dangerous species that originally thought, and one that has never before been reported in Hong Kong waters.
