EnvironmentHealth
The number of elderly Hongkongers taken to hospital has risen by 20 per cent within a week amid persistently high temperatures, a senior citizens’ charity has said. The Senior Citizen Home Safety Association (SCHSA) and the Hong Kong Observatory held a joint press conference on Thursday to warn residents, and in particular older members of the public, of “extremely hot” weather expected this summer. Temperatures soared to 34.4 degrees Celsius in Tsim Sha Tsui on Thursday, making it the hottest day of the year so far, as the Very Hot Weather Warning remained in force for a seventh consecutive d...
Hong Kong Free Press
All Hongkongers holding identity cards or aged under 11 are eligible to use the city’s public hospitals, health chief Lo Chung-mau has said as lawmakers raised concern that Hongkongers based overseas were returning to the city for medical treatment. “If a person holds a Hong Kong identity card but is barred from public hospitals, this would cause serious issues. We need to approach this matter more cautiously,” Lo said in Cantonese at the legislature on Wednesday, adding that it was difficult to define what counted as “moving abroad.” Pro-establishment legislator Priscilla Leung had asked if t...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s town planning authorities should not “hastily approve” a draft zoning plan for a proposed tech hub, green groups have said, warning that the proposal may violate at least five ecological conservation guidelines in mainland China. The San Tin Technopole, which was conditionally approved by the city’s environmental authorities last month, is seen as the centrepiece of the proposed Northern Metropolis. The large-scale project was announced in 2021 and aims to integrate the development of existing new towns in Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai, Fanling and Sheung Shui and develop other rural are...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s health chief has drawn criticism from lawmakers after likening women’s fertility to “soil,” saying it deteriorates over time and therefore couples in the city should give birth to children while they are young. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau on Thursday said women should not forget that fertility declines with age and that freezing their eggs may not help them conceive later, as he addressed a legislature debate on a motion for policies supporting assisted reproduction. “It is not just a problem with the eggs, it is also a problem with the soil. Even if you have frozen your eggs...
Hong Kong Free Press
Heavy rains in southern China have killed nine people and left six missing, state media reported Thursday. Downpours in Guangdong province this week sparked floods and landslides, with the spate of extreme weather impacting nationwide. In Jiaoling county near the city of Meizhou, five people died and two were missing following floods, according to state broadcaster CCTV. In a separate district of Meizhou, four more were killed and four others were unaccounted for, CCTV said. It added that some areas have endured “once-a-century flooding… (or) the biggest since historical records began”. CCTV s...
Hong Kong Free Press
Prosecutions relating to the illegal use of bright lights for fishing in Hong Kong waters soared last year, as authorities vowed again to step up patrols to combat the improper use of LED lamps to lure fish to the surface. There were 31 cases relating to the illegal use of bright light fishing activities that resulted in prosecution in 2023, a Marine Department (MD) spokesperson told HKFP by email on Monday, almost double the number of prosecutions over such activities in the previous four years, which stood at 17. Fishing with bright lights is permitted in parts of Hong Kong waters, but there...
Hong Kong Free Press
Five Hong Kong government health inspectors have been charged with theft, after they allegedly conspired to steal canned abalone, crab bisque and other imported food samples purchased for radiation tests by the food safety authority. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) charged the officials from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) on Tuesday, after they were accused of stealing unused food samples procured for testing. An ICAC statement on Wednesday named the five, aged between 28 and 37, as Chan Ying-shan, Lam Hiu-kwan, Yu Fung-chun, Lau Shing-hin and Lee Chu...
Hong Kong Free Press
The high cost of hydrogen fuel stood in the way of mass adoption of the clean energy source, the city’s environment minister has said after the government announced its strategy for hydrogen energy development. Environment minister Tse Chin-wan told RTHK on Wednesday that the city would adopt hydrogen where it would be cost-effective, pointing to the high cost of the fuel and Hong Kong’s land crunch. “But in the long term, traditional forms of fuel such as coal, petrol, and natural gas will be gradually phased out,” he said. The city’s first hydrogen-fuelled double-decker bus commenced service...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong will no longer halt stock trading during severe weather, Chief Executive John Lee has announced. When the Observatory issues the Typhoon Signal number 8 or above, or a black rain warning, investors will still be able to trade in securities and derivatives, or purchase stock through stock connect schemes, Lee announced during a routine press briefing on Tuesday morning. “The securities market will maintain trading under severe weather conditions. In August last year, the Hong Kong government established a task force on promoting stock market liquidity in order to enhance stock market ...
Hong Kong Free Press
The government should encourage Hongkongers to reduce food waste at source while also promoting recycling, the founder of environmental group The Green Earth has said. “By letting the public understand both ways to deal with waste, then the outcome, the effect, will be much better,” Edwin Lau of The Green Earth said on government-backed broadcaster RTHK’s Hong Kong Today programme on Thursday. Lau’s comments came after the issue of food waste recycling was raised in the Legislative Council. Responding to questions asked by lawmaker Dennis Leung on Wednesday, Secretary for Environment and Ecolo...
Hong Kong Free Press
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