The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), as representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSAR Government), announced t… read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), as representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSAR Government), announced t… read more
Hong Kong Customs yesterday (March 4) seized 42 suspected scheduled endangered live lizards with an estimated market value of about $210,000 at Hong Kong International Airport.
Through risk assessment, Customs officers inspected an air consignment declared to contain “dehumidifier, air purifier, milk powder” imported from Australia. Upon inspection, the suspected scheduled endangered live lizards were found concealed inside the dehumidifiers, air purifiers and milk powder cans.
The case was handed over to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for follow-up action.
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Under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (Cap. 586), any person importing, exporting or possessing specimens of endangered species not in accordance with the Ordinance commits an offence and will be liable to a maximum fine of $10 million and imprisonment for 10 years upon conviction with the specimens forfeited.
Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesman for Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH) made the following statement today (March 5) regarding an incident of a patient care assistant suspected to have been indecently assaulted:
A patient care assistant (PCA) was suspected to have been indecently assaulted while performing care procedures for a 73-year-old male patient in a medical ward yesterday afternoon (March 4). Upon receiving the report from the PCA, the hospital reported the incident to the Police immediately. A man was subsequently arrested by the Police in the ward.
AHNH is highly concerned about the incident. The hospital strongly condemns the suspected indecent acts against its staff, resolutely adopts a zero-tolerance attitude towards this incident, and will follow up seriously while fully co-operating with the Police’s investigation. The hospital has expressed sympathy and provided support to the PCA concerned.
The hospital has reported the incident to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System. read more
Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, at a media session today (March 5):
Reporter: Could the CSTB (Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau) explain exactly what went wrong with the arrangements last night that the audience members could not stay later? As you mentioned earlier that this was predicted, that this issue could happen beforehand, so why wasn’t any arrangement or any other measure made to ensure that audience members won’t be kicked out? Because there are going to be other large-scale events happening at Kai Tak Sports Park, are you going to review arrangements to ensure that this issue won’t happen again? Are you going to try to ask Kai Tak Sports Park or these organisers to pay attention to these arrangements?
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism: Last night, the match in Kai Tak Arena, the snooker match, was really amazing and excellent. And all the players tried their best to win the games. That’s why it took a little bit longer than expected for the second match to start in the evening. And eventually, the match went through till midnight. Because of the concern that there might not be sufficient public transport, especially the MTR, for spectators to go home, the organisers announced at 11.15pm in the evening that the spectators would be invited to leave the (Kai Tak Sports) Park, leave the Arena (Kai Tak Arena), after the current game is completed. That was the situation. And of course, because the involved spectators would not be that many, we were talking about 100 staying at 11.15pm. And then at 11.45pm, only a few, 30 or 40, spectators were staying behind. And in the end, about 10 or 20 were not content with the arrangement, and they had some arguments with the organisers.
I think this situation is obviously not ideal, and we definitely need to take into account the experience seriously and identify remedial measures. For all I know, the organisers have already issued two press statements expressing their apologies to the spectators concerned and to everyone concerned. They have also arranged remedial actions.
First of all, the ticket holders for the match at 7.30pm last night would be entitled to exchange tickets for additional viewing today or tomorrow, subject to ticket availability. Second of all, the organisers have also promised that starting from tonight, all spectators would be allowed to view the entire series of matches until the last game is done. So there will be no more question of spectators having to leave before the game ends.
Thirdly, in Hong Kong, we have an excellent public transport system. So even in the small hours of the day, we still have overnight buses and other public transport that spectators might use for going to their destinations. And if necessary, the organisers would also be arranging additional, supplementary transport for spectators leaving behind.
So I think this is a good measure to give confidence to viewers. If they would like to stay behind for late matches tonight, they would not have anything to worry about in terms of transport arrangements. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.) read more