image_pdfimage_print

Author Archives: hksar gov

HKMA issues alert regarding specific website

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong that the firm as referred to on the website of https://lbbwg.com ‒ LBank / LBankEX which has adopted a name that is very similar to that of another cryptocurrency exchange ‒ does not have the authorization of the Monetary Authority under the Banking Ordinance (the Ordinance) to carry on banking business, or the business of taking deposits, in Hong Kong; and it does not have the approval of the MA to establish a local representative office in Hong Kong under the Ordinance.

     Given the global nature of the Internet, members of the public are reminded to verify the status of any organisation making use of the Internet to offer bank accounts to, or to solicit deposits from, the public in Hong Kong prior to transferring any funds to, or providing any personal information to, any such organisation.

     A list of authorized institutions is available on the HKMA's website (www.hkma.gov.hk). Members of the public may also check the status of any entity which appears to be soliciting deposits from the public in Hong Kong, or holding itself out as a bank or deposit-taking company in Hong Kong, by emailing the HKMA's public enquiry service (publicenquiry@hkma.gov.hk).

SLW attends Kick-off Ceremony of District Services and Community Care Teams – Pilot Scheme on Supporting Elderly and Carers (with photo)

     The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, officiated the Kick-off Ceremony of District Services and Community Care Teams – Pilot Scheme on Supporting Elderly and Carers today (March 28) to announce the official launch of the one-year Pilot Scheme, which seeks to consolidate community power to support elderly persons and carers.

     The Chief Executive announced in the 2023 Policy Address that the Government will pilot in Tsuen Wan and Southern districts to engage Care Teams to help identify households of singleton/doubleton elderly persons and carers of elderly persons/persons with disabilities in need through visits or contacts, and refer these cases to social welfare service units for follow-up. The Care Teams will also assist in referring elderly persons and persons with disabilities in need to install and use the emergency alarm system.

     Addressing the ceremony, Mr Sun said that invitations for the Pilot Scheme were extended to the Care Teams of both Tsuen Wan and Southern districts by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) last month. Positive responses have been received from the Care Teams of both districts. All Care Teams in the 36 sub-districts will participate in the Pilot Scheme. This not only fully demonstrates the Care Teams’ passion in serving the community, but also their unwavering support for the Government’s policy to show care and concern for the socially disadvantaged.

     Mr Sun said that the Pilot Scheme shows the Government’s commitment to supporting elderly persons, persons with disabilities and carers. He encouraged the Care Teams to continue to work hand in hand with the Government to show care and concern to the community and hoped that, with the contribution and services of the Care Teams, appropriate assistance and support will be rendered to elderly persons and carers in need, thereby building a better community.

     At the ceremony, Mr Sun, accompanied by the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Ms Alice Lau, and the Director of Social Welfare, Miss Charmaine Lee, led the captains and members of the Care Teams of the 36 sub-districts in Tsuen Wan and Southern districts in the pledging session of the Pilot Scheme.

     After the ceremony, to understand the daily lives and needs of elderly persons/persons with disabilities and their carers, District Social Welfare Officers visited households of elderly persons/persons with disabilities and their carers in Tsuen Wan and Southern districts together with representatives of the District Offices and the Care Teams. Gift packs and leaflets on different social welfare services were given to the households. They were encouraged to seek help when necessary.

     Prior to the kick-off ceremony, the SWD conducted a briefing session for all Care Teams of Tsuen Wan and Southern districts to recap the information provided in earlier training sessions on social welfare services within their districts, case referral procedures, eligibility and methods for applications for the emergency alarm system and communication skills with elderly persons and carers. The SWD will monitor the service implementation and review the service effectiveness. The District Social Welfare Offices concerned will also maintain communication with the Care Teams and provide support to ensure the smooth implementation of the Pilot Scheme. Furthermore, the Working Family Allowance (WFA) Office was also present to introduce to Care Teams the WFA Scheme, including the arrangements for increasing the rates of the household and child allowances under the Scheme by 15 per cent across the board with effect from the claim month of April 2024.

Photo  
read more

HKO and WMO update MOU to further strengthen meteorological co-operation (with photos)

     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) updated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today (March 28) to further strengthen meteorological co-operation. The updated MOU was signed by the Director of the HKO and the Permanent Representative of Hong Kong, China with the WMO, Dr Chan Pak-wai, and the Secretary-General of the WMO, Professor Celeste Saulo.
 
     The HKO and the WMO first signed the MOU in October 2018 to support global weather information services. Under the updated MOU, the HKO will continue to develop and operate two WMO global weather information websites, namely the World Weather Information Services (WWIS) (Note 1) and the Severe Weather Information Centre (SWIC) (Note 2). Both websites are core components of the WMO Global Multi-hazard Alert System framework for increasing the availability of authoritative warnings and information related to extreme and potentially high-impact weather, water, and climate events to contribute to the implementation of the United Nations Early Warnings for All initiative (Note 3). Through the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for Nowcasting, the HKO will continue to support the meteorological and hydrological services in the Asian region on nowcasting hazardous weather and capacity development activities for contributing to the Early Warnings for All initiative. Moreover, the HKO will strongly support the WMO Voluntary Cooperation Programme by providing a variety of meteorological training courses to WMO members through the Meteorological Training Centre for Belt and Road Countries to be set up by the HKO in the year.
 
     At the signing ceremony, Dr Chan said, “The HKO and the WMO have a long history of co-operation. The update of the MOU further fortifies the connections between the two organisations. The HKO will continue to support the WMO’s initiatives and foster regional and international co-operation in the implementation of the Early Warnings for All initiative through operating the SWIC and WWIS websites, the RSMC for Nowcasting, and the Meteorological Training Centre for Belt and Road Countries.”
 
     Professor Saulo said, “I would like to thank the HKO for the strong support and lasting in-kind contribution to the activities of the WMO over the years. We will continue to strengthen our collaboration through this updated MOU on overall meteorological co-operation and bilateral consultation as done in the past for supporting WMO new and emerging initiatives and priorities, in particular, the implementation of the Early Warnings for All initiative. The launch of the SWIC 3.0 website sets a milestone and provides a one-stop-shop platform to enable WMO members in sharing and dissemination of early warnings that are essential to protect people on earth from hazardous weather, water, climate and related environmental events.”
 
     After signing the renewed MOU, Dr Chan and Professor Saulo officiated at the launching ceremony of the SWIC 3.0 website. In contributing to the United Nations’ Early Warnings for All initiative, the SWIC 3.0 website was enhanced to make available official warnings in standard protocol from more than 130 WMO members. In addition, the SWIC 3.0 website fosters the sharing of authoritative warnings among WMO members, and promotes increasing the visibility of WMO members, which is crucial for acquiring resources to strengthen and sustain their early warning services in combating hazardous weather, water, climate and related environmental events and to develop and enhance societal resilience.
 
Background information
 
     The WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations for weather, climate, water and related environmental matters. At present, the WMO has 187 member states and six member territories, including Hong Kong, China. The core functions of the WMO include promoting and fostering global and regional co-ordination in meteorological research and observations, data exchanges and technology transfers, as well as relevant training and application services etc towards the final objective to enable each WMO member, large or small, rich or poor, to have equal access to the same quality of data, observed and processed, to support each member to fulfil its mandate to protect its people and help its economic development.
 
     The HKO and the WMO have a long history of co-operation. Hong Kong joined the WMO as one of the founding regional members in 1948. Entrusted by the WMO, the HKO developed and operated the WWIS website and the SWIC website on behalf of the WMO. In recognising the HKO’s significant role in applying nowcasting techniques for predicting severe weather, the WMO designated the HKO as an RSMC for Nowcasting in 2018 to provide guidance data products and support technique developments on nowcasting of heavy rain and high-impact weather for meteorological and hydrological services in the Asian region.

Note 1: The WWIS website (worldweather.wmo.int) developed and operated by the HKO provides official weather observations, weather forecasts and climatological information from meteorological and hydrological services worldwide.
 
Note 2: The SWIC website (severeweather.wmo.int) is developed and operated by the HKO. It provides a centralised and authoritative source of warnings and information from alerting authorities, in particular meteorological and hydrological services, around the world.
 
Note 3: Early Warnings for All is a United Nations initiative to ensure everyone on Earth is protected from hazardous weather, water or climate events through life-saving early warning systems by 2027.

Photo  Photo  Photo  Photo  
read more

Security Bureau strongly condemns disreputable and selfish acts of wanted persons relating to Zheng Sheng Association, and supports Zheng Sheng College with emergency relief from Beat Drugs Fund

     In response to media enquiries about the Christian Zheng Sheng College calling for help from the Government as it is running out of financial resources essential to its teachers and students, the Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau said today (March 28) that the Government has all along placed the welfare of the teachers and students of the Zheng Sheng College as a top priority. The Government has immediately provided the Zheng Sheng College with emergency relief from the Beat Drugs Fund to meet the school’s imminent needs to prevent its operation from being affected by the behaviours of certain wanted individuals.

     A spokesperson for the Narcotics Division said, “The board members of the Christian Zheng Sheng Association have been under police investigation for a while. A number of wanted board members, including the founder Lam Hay-sing and the principal of the Zheng Sheng College Alman Chan Siu-cheuk, are still at large. The operation of the school has all along relied on funding from the Zheng Sheng Association. Despite multiple requests from the Government and the Zheng Sheng College, Lam Hay-sing did not transfer funds to the Zheng Sheng College from the bank account of the Zheng Sheng Association, resulting in the school not having enough money to take care of its teachers and students. To prevent the innocent teachers and students from being affected, including the seven students who will sit for public examinations, the Government has taken a proactive step and swiftly allocated over $1 million in emergency assistance from the Beat Drugs Fund to tide the school over these difficult times.”

     The spokesperson continued, “Lam Hay-sing has been using different excuses to prevent the funds in the bank account of the Zheng Sheng Association from being transferred to the Zheng Sheng College for maintaining its daily operation, let alone for restructuring the board with a view to completely resolving the fund transfer issue.

     “We strongly condemn the disreputable and selfish acts of these wanted persons. We appeal to them not to put their selfishness and personal benefits above the welfare of the teachers and students of the Zheng Sheng College, and not to squander the goodwill of the people who donated to the Zheng Sheng Association. We urge them to abide by law and return to Hong Kong soon and make amends.” read more