A gold, diamond-encrusted iPhone gleams in the window at a shopping mall in Hong Kong, its US$25,000 price tag a symbol of the city's luxury excesses fuelled by cash-rich Chinese tourists and wealthy locals. The custom-built device boasts a rose gold chassis ringed with a combined 7.28 carats in diamonds that also spell out the number "5" on its back, loudly announcing that this is indeed an Apple iPhone 5 -- albeit with a difference.

Five-time defending champions Japan got off to a flying start in the Asian Five Nations rugby tournament by scoring a humiliating 121-0 victory over the promoted Philippines on Saturday. Full back Ayumu Goromaru gave Japan a 3-0 lead with a penalty in the seventh minute, which appeared enough for the Asian champions as he also scored 14 conversions and one try for a total of 36 points. Two rookies Male Sau and Kenki Fukuoka, as well as Harumichi Takekawa, Hitoshi Ono and Ryu Koliniasi Holani scored two tries each, while eight other players were also on target.

Hong Kong search teams held out hope Friday for six boat crew members missing at sea after a collision, as officials investigated the cause of the latest incident to hit the city's busy waterways. It comes after a ferry crash claimed 39 lives in October in the city's worst sea disaster in decades, and also follows a collision between a passenger ferry and a barge earlier this month, in which more than 30 people were injured.

Six people were missing after two boats collided in waters off Hong Kong late Thursday. The accident comes after maritime safety fears were exposed when a ferry collision claimed 39 lives in October last year, in the city's worst boat disaster in decades. A government spokeswoman said the fire department received a report at 7.54 pm (1154 GMT) that two vessels had collided off Stanley, located on the south-east of Hong Kong Island, and one had sunk.