The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, met the Secretary of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee, Mr Zhao Yide, at Government House today (September 3) to exchange views on deepening Hong Kong's co-operation with Shaanxi. Also attending the meeting were the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki; the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Erick Tsang Kwok-wai; and the Director of the Chief Executive's Office, Ms Carol Yip.　　
           
     Mr Lee welcomed Mr Zhao's visit to Hong Kong with his delegation. Mr Lee highlighted that Shaanxi holds an important position in areas such as historical and cultural heritage, tourism resources, higher education, and technological development, while Hong Kong actively develops and consolidates its position of "eight centres" as outlined in the National 14th Five-Year Plan. He said he believes that Shaanxi and Hong Kong can strengthen exchanges and co-operation to achieve mutual complementarity and mutual benefits.
      
     Mr Lee noted the people-to-people exchange between Shaanxi and Hong Kong is frequent. The Shaanxi Provincial Government has been providing valuable internship opportunities for Hong Kong youth at cultural and museum institutions in Shaanxi for years, and the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government organised a Yan'an revolutionary history study tour for teachers for the first time this April. He said he believes that more Hong Kong teachers and students will visit Shaanxi for learning and exchange. Noting that Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, has been included as one of the Mainland cities eligible for the Individual Visit Scheme since March this year, Mr Lee welcomes more tourists from Xi'an to visit Hong Kong and experience the unique charm of the city, promoting cultural integration and people-to-people bonds between the two places.

  

     Mainly owing to the warmer than normal sea surface temperature over the northern part of the South China Sea and a stronger than usual southwesterly flow in the lower atmosphere over the coast of southern China, August 2024 was exceptionally hot in Hong Kong. The monthly mean temperature of 29.6 degrees, monthly mean minimum temperature of 27.7 degrees and monthly mean maximum temperature of 32.3 degrees were respectively 0.9 degrees, 1.0 degree and 1.0 degree above their normals and respectively the second highest, one of the second highest and the fourth highest on record for August. Together with the well above normal temperatures in June and July, this year's summer from June to August was much hotter than usual. The mean minimum temperature of 27.5 degrees, mean temperature of 29.4 degrees and mean maximum temperature of 31.9 degrees were respectively the third highest, one of the third highest and the seventh highest on record for the same period. There were 18 hot nights in August 2024, the highest on record for August. The month was also drier than usual with a total rainfall of 261.5 millimetres, only about 58 per cent of the normal figure of 453.2 millimetres. The accumulated rainfall up to August this year was 1 583.4 millimetres, a deficit of about 18 per cent compared with the normal of 1 921.5 millimetres for the same period.
 
     There were sunny periods and a few showers in Hong Kong on the first two days of the month. Dominated by an anticyclone aloft, it was generally fine and persistently very hot from August 3 to 9 and the temperatures at the Observatory soared to a maximum of 35.4 degrees on the afternoon of August 5, the highest of the month. High temperatures also triggered thundery showers over the territory on the afternoons of August 5 to 7. The showers were particularly heavy over Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing Districts on August 6 and more than 70 millimetres of rainfall were recorded.
 
     Under the influence of a southwesterly airstream, Hong Kong's weather was a mixture of sunny periods, showers and thunderstorms from August 10 to 13. The showers were particularly heavy on August 12 under the influence of upper-air disturbances. More than 30 millimetres of rainfall were recorded over many places.
 
     Under the influence of a broad trough of low pressure lingering over the coast of southern China and the northern part of the South China Sea, the weather in Hong Kong was unsettled with occasional showers and squally thunderstorms from August 14 to 21. The showers were particularly heavy on August 15, and from August 17 to 19. More than 100 millimetres of rainfall were generally recorded over the territory and rainfall even exceeded 200 millimetres over parts of the urban areas, Tai Po and Sha Tin Districts on these four days. With the rain, the temperatures at the Observatory dropped to a minimum of 25.2 degrees on August 17, the lowest of the month.
 
     With the strengthening of the anticyclone aloft, the showers eased off gradually with sunny intervals during the day on August 22 to 23. Under light wind conditions, apart from isolated showers, it was mainly fine and very hot from August 24 to 27. While the weather remained generally fine and very hot during the day on August 28, showers and squally thunderstorms associated with an upper-air disturbance affected Hong Kong later in the afternoon. With the departure of the upper-air disturbance, the showers eased off with sunny periods and very hot weather during the day on August 29 to 30. Affected by a broad trough of low pressure, it was mainly cloudy with a few showers and isolated squally thunderstorms on the last day of the month.

     Six tropical cyclones occurred over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in August 2024.
 
     Details of issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in the month are summarised in Table 1. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal for August are tabulated in Table 2.

     The Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) today (September 3) took disciplinary actions, including issuing public reprimands and ordering remedial actions, against four licensed money service operators (MSOs) for breaching the statutory requirements as stipulated in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance.

     Officers of the C&ED earlier discovered four MSOs failed to comply with the requirements of the Ordinance. One MSO failed to keep the related records of the remittance transaction, and to establish and maintain effective procedures for determining whether a customer or a beneficial owner of a customer is a politically exposed person, and to notify the Commissioner of the C&ED of a change in particulars of a bank account for provision of money service within a specific period of time.
      
     One MSO failed to keep the related records of the remittance transactions, and to identify and verify the beneficial owner's identity of the originator or the person's authority to act on behalf of the customer before carrying out remittance transactions.
      
     One MSO failed to identify and verify the customer's identity or the beneficial owner's identity of the customer, and/or the person's authority to act on behalf of the customer, before establishing business relationship with customers, and to record the recipient's address and/or the time of receipt of instruction before carrying out remittance transactions, and to notify the C&ED of the date of cessation of the money service operation at the premises specified in the licence within a specified period of time.
      
     One MSO failed to notify the C&ED of a change in particulars of bank accounts for provision of money service within a specified period of time.
      
     With regard to the above-mentioned contraventions, the C&ED has earlier prosecuted the MSOs. The department today further took disciplinary actions against them in order to send a deterrent message to the industry. The relevant Statement of Disciplinary Action is available on the website of the C&ED (eservices.customs.gov.hk/MSOS/common/enforcenew?request_locale=en).

     The C&ED reminds all MSOs to comply with the statutory requirements as stipulated in the Ordinance. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for seven years.

     In addition, the C&ED may take disciplinary action such as issuing a public reprimand, imposing a pecuniary penalty and ordering a remedial action against MSOs. The pecuniary penalty would not exceed the amount that is the greater of $10 million or three times the amount of the profit gained or costs avoided (whichever is the greater).

     The Land Registry today (September 3) released its statistics for August 2024.

Land registration
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* The number of sale and purchase agreements for all building units received for registration in August was 4 729 (-10.1 per cent compared with July 2024 but +1.5 per cent compared with August 2023)

* The 12-month moving average for August was 4 934 (0.1 per cent above the 12-month moving average for July 2024 but 2.1 per cent below that for August 2023)

* The total consideration for sale and purchase agreements of building units in August was $34.3 billion (-19.6 per cent compared with July 2024 and -1.6 per cent compared with August 2023)

* Among the sale and purchase agreements, 3 654 were for residential units (-1.9 per cent compared with July 2024 but +12.5 per cent compared with August 2023)

* The total consideration for sale and purchase agreements in respect of residential units was $28.5 billion (-20.2 per cent compared with July 2024 and -0.6 per cent compared with August 2023)

     Statistics on sales of residential units do not include sale and purchase agreements relating to sales of units under the Home Ownership Scheme, the Private Sector Participation Scheme, the Tenants Purchase Scheme, etc, unless the premium of the unit concerned has been paid after the sale restriction period.

     Figures on sale and purchase agreements received for the past 12 months, the year-on-year rate of change and breakdown figures on residential sales have also been released.

     As deeds may not be lodged with the Land Registry until up to 30 days after the transaction, these statistics generally relate to land transactions in the previous month.

Land search
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* The number of searches of land registers made by the public in August was 396 458 (+0.1 per cent compared with July 2024 but -11.7 per cent compared with August 2023)

     The statistics cover searches made at the counter, through the self-service terminals and via the Integrated Registration Information System Online Services.

     Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, on the Talentâ�º Volunteer Programme and the Social Workers Registration Board at a media session together with the Director of Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE), Mr Anthony Lau, after officiating at the HKTE Talentâ�º Volunteer Programme launching ceremony this morning (September 3):

Reporter: Mr Sun, can you tell us why is it important or helpful to include non-local talent in volunteer service? Why is it important to launch such programme? Also, can you recap in English about how do you see the removal of Ms Chen Hung-sau from the Social Welfare Registration Board?

Secretary for Labour and Welfare: As I said at the beginning, for talent coming to Hong Kong, we think it will not just be part of life to make a contribution to our economy. We believe the best way to get them into our society is to have them as a part of Hong Kong to work together towards a more noble aim, which is to serve those in need. We have a very well-established culture of doing volunteer work. We believe, through the scheme, we are going to create a platform. For those coming to Hong Kong, if they really want to know more about Hong Kong, and if they want to work together with locals to contribute to our society, there is no better way than having them as part of our volunteers so they can work together with us. This is a first start today. With the platform in place, we expect more of the talent to join hands with Hong Kong local people. Together, we believe they can contribute to our society as volunteers, and we can also benefit from their expertise and also their passion towards Hong Kong.

     On your second question, under the Social Workers Registration Ordinance, it is a legal requirement for the Social Workers Registration Board to submit their list of the members for the Disciplinary Committee Panel to us. If I, as the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, am satisfied with the list, we are going to publish it in the Gazette. I can confirm we have received the recommended list from the Board. After vetting the list, we are going to publish the list in the Gazette as part of the legal requirement. It is the duty and also the responsibility of the Social Workers Registration Board to deliberate among themselves and decide on the list of the members for the Disciplinary Committee Panel. I have full confidence in the Board, and I believe in coming up with the list, the Board has considered all relevant factors and come up with a list that can serve our community and also the profession in the best way. Thank you.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)