Hong Kong | Actor Tony Leung receives French arts honor

Hong Kong actor Tony Leung celebrates with actress Carina Lau

To his long list of accolades, Hong Kong actor Tony Leung is adding one with French flavor. France’s consul general made the 52-year-old actor an “Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters” at a ceremony yesterday attended by Leung’s wife Carina Lau and his friends including director Wong Kar-wai. Consul General Arnaud Barthelemy praised Leung for his achievements in acting and thanked him for bringing together the cultures of France and Hong Kong. Leung said he wanted to share the honor because he didn’t make his films alone. “I think this honor should be shared with all those who have worked with me in films for the last 30 years,” Leung said. Tony Leung Chiu-wai is considered one of Hong Kong’s finest actors, especially in his collaborations with Wong such as “Ashes of Time,” ‘’Chungking Express” and “In the Mood for Love.” That role won him a best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. Their last film, the kung fu epic “The Grandmaster,” was a critical and commercial success. France made Wong a “Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters” in 2013.

3 Hong Kong tourists killed, 3 injured in Thai road accident

A Thai driver and three Hong Kong tourists were killed, and three others were injured in a road accident on a highway in western Thailand, police said yesterday. The passenger van carrying 6 tourists from Hong Kong lost control and flipped over while driving on a highway in Cha-am district in Petchaburi province, police Lt. Sayumphu Sitthikul said. He said police were investigating why the car braked suddenly, skidded across the road and slammed into trees by a storm drain in the middle of the road on Sunday evening. Sayumphu said the tourists were related and were on their way to Thailand’s southern province of Chumporn before the van crashed. He said the injured passengers were sent to a provincial hospital in Petchaburi, which is 100 kilometers southwest of Bangkok. Road accidents are common in Thailand, where safety standards are poor and road rules are weakly enforced.