The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:

     The Judiciary today (December 5) announced the appointment of Mr Dick Ho Chin-pang as District Judge. The appointment will take effect on December 6, 2022.

     The appointment is made by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission.

     The biographical note of Mr Ho is as follows:

     Mr Ho was born in Hong Kong in 1962. He obtained an LL.B. from the University of London (External) in 1994 and a P.C.LL. from the University of Hong Kong in 1995. He was admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong in 1997. He was in private practice from 1997 until he joined the Department of Justice as Government Counsel in 1998. He was promoted to Senior Government Counsel in 2007. He joined the Judiciary as Permanent Magistrate in 2009. He was appointed as Principal Magistrate in 2017.

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Monday, December 5, 2022 is 102.9 (down 0.3 against last Saturday's index).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Saturday, December 3, 2022 was 103.2 (down 0.4 against last Friday's index).

     Hong Kong Customs mounted an anti-smuggling operation in the southern waters of Hong Kong and detected a suspected smuggling case involving a cargo vessel on December 2. About 25 tonnes of suspected smuggled frozen meat with an estimated market value of about $2.2 million were seized.

     Customs conducted an anti-smuggling operation and spotted a suspicious cargo vessel in the waters off Lamma Island that night. Several men on the cargo vessel, suspected of participating in smuggling activities, were unloading goods onto a high-powered speedboat. Customs officers immediately took action and intercepted the cargo vessel. The batch of suspected smuggled frozen meat was seized on board the vessel.

     During the operation, six men aged between 37 and 61, suspected to be connected with the case, were arrested.

     An investigation is ongoing.

     Customs stresses that it will keep up its enforcement action and will continue to fiercely combat sea smuggling activities through proactive risk management and intelligence-based enforcement strategies, along with mounting targeted anti-smuggling operations at suitable times to land a solid blow against relevant activities.

     Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

      

The following is issued on behalf of the Committee on Home-School Co-operation:
 
     The Committee on Home-School Co-operation (CHSC) will release the electronic version (in Chinese and English) of the Secondary School Profiles 2022/2023 tomorrow (December 6). The printed version will be distributed via primary schools to parents with children at the Primary Six level of the current school year.
 
     The Profiles cover basic information on more than 400 local secondary schools including teaching staff information, class structures, school facilities, curriculum frameworks, student support as well as learning and teaching plans, such as language policies. The information is provided and verified by individual schools, showing their situations as at September 2022.
 
     The publication of the Profiles aims to provide parents with essential school information so as to enable them to choose a suitable secondary school for their children. The Profiles also include "A Message from CHSC Chairman", which states the key points for parents when choosing schools.
 
     The electronic version of the Profiles enables schools to update their information on the web directly, whenever necessary, so that parents can obtain the most up-to-date school information.
 
     The public can access the Profiles by visiting the Secondary School Profiles webpage (www.chsc.hk/secondary/en). Copies of the printed version will be available for public reference at District Offices, public libraries and Regional Education Offices of the Education Bureau (EDB).
 
     For enquiries, please call the EDB's Regional Education Offices (Hong Kong: 2863 4646; Kowloon: 3698 4108; New Territories East: 2639 4876; and New Territories West: 2437 7272) or the CHSC Secretariat at 3698 4376. 

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 5) that in view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) about outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Fraser Valley Regional District of the British Columbia Province, Municipality of Adelaide Metcalfe of Ontario Province and the County of Forty Mile of Alberta Province in Canada, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

     A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 90 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Canada in the first nine months of this year.

     â€‹"The CFS has contacted the Canadian authority over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the WOAH and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.