The Government released today (December 23) the "Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2019" (the Report). The key analyses (see Annex) were presented to the Commission on Poverty (CoP) at its online meeting held this afterno… read more
Correctional officers at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, in accordance with intelligence, suspected that a person in custody had dissembled articles in the dayroom and took out some parts from his personal shaver and radi… read more
The Social Welfare Department (SWD), with the assistance of the Government Property Agency (GPA), has since the end of September been implementing a programme to purchase private premises for accommodating welfare facilities. The SWD announced today (December 23) that owners of potentially suitable non-domestic premises available for sale in Sham Shui Po District, Wan Chai District and Kwai Tsing District may submit their sale proposals to the GPA for consideration.
“With funding approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council, the Government is proceeding to purchase premises for the provision of welfare facilities, including child care centres, day care centres for the elderly, neighbourhood elderly centres and offices for on-site pre-school rehabilitation services, to help address the shortage of welfare premises,” a spokesman for the SWD said.
The SWD will purchase in batches accommodation for about 160 welfare facilities in 18 districts, as listed in the Annex.
Target premises for purchase include commercial premises/offices (excluding Grade A office buildings in central business districts) or premises of revitalised industrial buildings.
The GPA will assist the SWD to identify suitable premises. Information on the welfare facilities to be accommodated in the first batch of premises to be purchased and details on submission of sale proposals are now provided on the GPA’s website (www.gpa.gov.hk/english/premises/invitation.html).
“Owners of potentially suitable premises who may wish to offer their premises are invited to check the deadlines for submission of sale proposals for individual districts, as those submitted after the respective deadlines may not be considered by the Government,” the spokesman added. read more
Hong Kong Customs seized about 63 000 items of suspected counterfeit and smuggled goods with an estimated market value of about $5.7 million at the Tuen Mun River Trade Terminal on December 18.
Through risk assessment, Customs officers on that day inspected a 40-foot container arriving in Hong Kong from Nansha, Guangdong. Upon inspection, Customs officers seized the batch of suspected counterfeit and smuggled goods in the container, including footwear, clothing and mobile phones and accessories.
Initial investigations revealed that the batch of goods would have been re-exported to overseas countries.
Investigation is ongoing.
Customs will continue to strengthen co-operation with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies and take stringent enforcement action against cross-boundary counterfeit goods activities.
Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who imports or exports any goods to which a forged trade mark is applied commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
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 counterfeiting and smuggling activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
According to the statistics on Hong Kong innovation activities released today (December 23) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) of Hong Kong in 2019 a… read more