A woman was fined $2,000 at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts today (March 26) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
      
     The courts heard that in August last year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse on Queen's Road East in Wan Chai. During the inspection, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on a daily basis.
      
     According to the OLA's records, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The woman responsible for managing the premises was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
      
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
           
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".

     InPARK (also known as Tsun Yip Street Playground), featuring an industrial culture theme, was officially opened today (March 26). In addition to inheriting the past industrial culture elements of Kwun Tong, the park also has a central lawn, various facilities and art installations to provide more greenery and open leisure space for public enjoyment.

     Officiating at the opening ceremony today, the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Ms Michelle Li, said Kwun Tong has transformed from an area filled with factories in the past into a business area with many commercial buildings. To keep up with the times, Tsun Yip Street Playground has undergone improvement works in two stages since 2013. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department took the opportunity to launch the Public Art Scheme of Tsun Yip Street Playground and commissioned seven groups of artists to create public art installations focusing on seven prominent industries in Kowloon East. These artworks highlight the industrial culture in Kowloon East and showcase the vision of integrating future commercial developments and creative design.

     Also speaking at the event, the Head of the Energizing Kowloon East Office (EKEO), Ms Brenda Au, said the EKEO endeavours to facilitate the transformation of Kowloon East into the second core business district. In the course of transformation, the industrial culture of Kowloon East in the past and the spirit of creation are respected. Capturing the industrial culture theme, InPARK showcases how the findings of the Study on Industrial Culture of Kowloon East are put into practice to integrate industrial culture elements with urban design to improve public space.

     InPARK is located at Tsun Yip Street, Kwun Tong. Its first phase of improvement works was completed in September 2014. Part of the playground was converted from an ordinary sitting-out area into an open-air gallery showcasing industrial culture and art installations. The second phase of improvement works converted the remaining part of the playground into a park with an industrial culture theme. It provides a central lawn with landscape amenities, sitting-out areas and a multi-purpose area for performance and exhibition. Seven artworks from the Public Art Scheme of Tsun Yip Street Playground are also featured in the park. The public can appreciate an artistic ambience filled with industrial culture elements while enjoying the open space. The public art scheme was launched by the Art Promotion Office in September 2016. The seven industrial themes representing Kowloon East are printing, clothing and garments, textiles, toys, plastics, electronics and timepieces.

     The seven selected artworks are "Stitching Memories" by Cordelia Tam, Matthew Tsang, Connie Ho, Quvan Yuen and Sharifa Leung; "The Fabric Green" by Tsang Suet-ming, Liane Cheung and Ng Siu-cheong; "Giant Robot" by James Law; "Cam4 Kau4" by Lau Mei-po and Yan Chin-wing; "Message" by Ng Siu-cheong, Liane Cheung and Tsang Suet-ming; "Printing Kwun Tong" by Leung Yee-hang, Kwan Hoi-lun, Wong Guan-nok and Kwan Chun-sing; and "Resonance Aura V: Clockwork" by Chris Cheung, Jeff Wong and Joseph Chan.

      

     The Chief Executive-in-Council today (March 26) endorsed the submission of the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019 to the Legislative Council. The Bill will be published in the Gazette on March 29 (Friday), with First Reading on April 3.
 
     The objectives of the Bill are to address the Taiwan homicide case and to plug the loopholes in Hong Kong's overall mechanism in juridical assistance. 
 
     A spokesman for the Security Bureau (SB) said that the legislative amendments were proposed within the existing framework of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance (FOO) (Cap. 503) and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance (MLAO) (Cap. 525), with the aim of removing loopholes and distinguishing the case-based co-operation mechanism clearly from general long-term arrangements. All existing human rights and procedural safeguards provided for in the FOO and the MLAO will be maintained.
 
     The spokesman stated that references were drawn to similar case-based surrender arrangements which have been practised in other jurisdictions (such as the United Kingdom and Canada) for years.
 
     The key proposals of the Bill are as follows:
 
In the FOO
 
(1) To differentiate case-based surrender arrangements (to be defined as "special surrender arrangements" in the proposal) from general long-term surrender arrangements;
 
(2) To stipulate that special surrender arrangements will be applicable to Hong Kong and any place outside Hong Kong, and they will only be considered if there are no applicable long-term surrender arrangements;
 
(3) To specify that special surrender arrangements will cover 37 of the 46 items of offences based on their existing description in Schedule 1 of the FOO, and the offences are punishable with imprisonment for more than three years and triable on indictment in Hong Kong. A total of nine items of offences will not be dealt with under the special surrender arrangements (see Annex);
 
(4) To specify that the procedures in the FOO will apply in relation to special surrender arrangements (except that an alternative mechanism for activating the surrender procedures by a certificate issued by the Chief Executive is provided), which may be subject to further limitations on the circumstances in which the person may be surrendered as specified in the arrangements;
 
(5) To provide that a certificate issued by or under the authority of the Chief Executive is conclusive evidence of there being special surrender arrangements, such that the certificate will serve as a basis to activate the surrender procedures. Such activation does not mean that the fugitive will definitely be surrendered as the request must go through all statutory procedures, including the issuance of an authority to proceed by the Chief Executive, the committal hearing by the court and the eventual making of the surrender order by the Chief Executive. Other procedural safeguards, such as application for habeas corpus, application for discharge in case of delay, and judicial review of the Chief Executive's decision, as provided under the FOO will remain unchanged;
 
In the MLAO
 
(1) To lift the geographical restriction on the scope of application of the Ordinance; and
 
(2) To provide that case-based co-operation premised on the undertaking of reciprocity will be superseded by the long-term MLA arrangements once the latter have been made and become effective.
 
     During the period of public consultation, the SB received around 4,500 written submissions, of which around two-thirds were in support of the proposal.

     A man and a company were fined $12,000 each at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts today (March 26) for contravening the Clubs (Safety of Premises) Ordinance.

     The courts heard that in July last year, officers from the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA) of the Home Affairs Department conducted an inspection at a club on Sharp Street West in Wan Chai which had been operating with a certificate of compliance (CoC).

     The club was found to have a layout that deviated from the registered drawing and the number of people at the club exceeded the maximum allowable capacity as stipulated in the CoC. Also, the club's staff failed to show a copy of the certificate of fire service installation and equipment and the registered drawing upon the OLA officers' request. Conditions 3, 6, 10 and 17 of the CoC were breached.

     The man and the company, being the manager of the club and the CoC holder of the club respectively, were charged with contravening section 21(1) (a) and section 21(2) of the Ordinance.

     A spokesman for the department reminded all CoC holders to comply with the conditions as stipulated therein. Enforcement action will continue to be taken against illegal club operations.

     The Action Committee Against Narcotics (ACAN) reviewed the local drug situation in 2018, as well as the findings of the 2017/18 Survey of Drug Use among Students (2017/18 Student Survey), at its quarterly meeting today (March 26). While the total number of reported drug abusers continued to decline, the problems of signs of increased youth drug abuse (particularly of cannabis and cocaine), drug abuse among young adults and hidden drug abuse still require attention.
 
     According to the latest figures of the Central Registry of Drug Abuse (CRDA), the total number of reported drug abusers in 2018 decreased by 4 per cent (from 6 875 to 6 611) as compared with 2017. However, the number of reported drug abusers aged under 21 increased by 1 per cent (from 468 to 471). About 60 per cent of drug abusers took drugs at their own homes or their friends' homes only.
 
     The number of newly reported drug abusers increased by 2 per cent (from 1 622 to 1 662). About half were young adults aged between 21 and 35. The median history of drug abuse of newly reported abusers (i.e. the time for abusers to be reported to the CRDA by reporting agencies from their first drug abuse) was 4.7 years, compared with 4.6 years in 2017.
 
     The total number of reported psychotropic substance abusers continued to be higher than that of narcotic analgesic abusers. Both figures decreased as compared to 2017, by 5 per cent (from 4 080 to 3 894) and 3 per cent (from 3 725 to 3 598) respectively.
 
     Heroin remained the most common type of drug abused, with the number of reported abusers having decreased by 3 per cent (from 3 722 to 3 597). Methamphetamine (commonly known as "Ice") continued to be the most common type of psychotropic substance abused, but the number of reported abusers decreased by 15 per cent (from 1 784 to 1 518). Cocaine and triazolam/midazolam/zopiclone came next, with the numbers of reported abusers having increased by 10 per cent (from 871 to 962) and 2 per cent (from 883 to 904) respectively. Meanwhile, the number of reported cannabis abusers increased by 17 per cent (from 402 to 472).
 
     For young people aged under 21, increased abuse of cocaine and cannabis was also observed (the number of cocaine abusers increased from 233 to 258 while the number of cannabis abusers increased from 129 to 153).
 
     Other psychotropic substances with reduced numbers of reported abusers included ketamine (from 627 to 485), cough medicine (from 272 to 258) and nimetazepam (from 30 to 24).
 
     ACAN also reviewed the findings of the 2017/18 Student Survey at the meeting today. The Survey is a triennial research project conducted by a research institute commissioned by the Narcotics Division (ND) of the Security Bureau, aiming to obtain information on the latest drug-taking trends of local students, hence facilitating understanding of students' knowledge of drugs and attitudes towards drug taking. Such information assists the Government in formulating anti-drug initiatives for better responding to the actual situation. The 2017/18 Student Survey successfully surveyed about 120 700 students from upper primary to post-secondary levels, accounting for about 17 per cent of the student population in Hong Kong.
 
     The survey results indicated that the number of students who claimed to have taken drugs had increased by 23 per cent (from 14 500 to 17 800) as compared to the 2014/15 Student Survey. Cough medicine was the most common type of drug taken by upper primary students, and cannabis was the most common type of drug taken by students at the secondary and post-secondary levels. The most common venues for taking drugs were the students' own homes or their friends'/schoolmates'/neighbours' homes. Over 80 per cent of drug-taking students indicated that they had never sought help from others as they mostly did not consider themselves addicted.
 
     The ACAN Chairman, Dr Ben Cheung, said, "Although the total number of reported drug abusers in 2018 continued to decrease, the problems of increased youth drug abuse, drug abuse among young adults and hidden drug abuse will need sustained responding measures. ACAN in co-ordination with ND and anti-drug stakeholders will strengthen preventive education for schools, parents, young people, different trades and professions, members of local communities and the public, with the focus to enhance understanding of drug harms, reinforce resolve in resisting drug temptations, facilitate early identification of persons troubled by drugs, and encourage early help seeking."
 
     The Commissioner for Narcotics, Ms Manda Chan, said, "With some overseas countries and regions having legalised recreational cannabis, young people in Hong Kong may adopt a relatively relaxed attitude to this drug. Leveraging on existing platforms and exploring new channels, we are stepping up publicity to provide correct information on the harms of cannabis abuse, rectify mistaken concepts and help young people to refrain from trying this drug under the misconception that it is not harmful." 
 
     She added, "The Government will continue to adopt the five-pronged anti-drug strategy, namely preventive education and publicity, treatment and rehabilitation, legislation and law enforcement, external co-operation and research, to address the drug situation in concerted efforts with stakeholders."
 
     The CRDA figures for 2018 and the full report of the 2017/18 Student Survey are available on the ND's website (www.nd.gov.hk/en/index.htm).