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A scheme by which 500 restaurants will offer a 30% discount for dinner from July 15 and a 20% discount in August will be expanded to cover lunch and other meals as well. The Dining Discount Bonanza scheme was earlier launched by the catering industry to encourage people to spend the $5,000 electronic consumption voucher they each get from the government on meals. As originally conceived, participating restaurants will offer a 30% discount to dinner customers between July 15 and July 31, and a 20% discount in August. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, the Legislative Councillor who represents the catering constituency, said the restaurants would be allowed to implement the scheme flexibly by offering the discounts not just for dinner, but also other meals, as they wished. Mr Cheung said the scheme would have no strict rules because the restaurants should handle the personal needs of the diners generously.  Organised by eight catering associations, the scheme has drawn support from more than 500 restaurants serving different cuisines. Participating restaurants used to be confined by strict rules and regulations, and the discounts were applicable to four vaccinated diners sitting at one table.  However, the website of Dining Discount Bonanza now says that individual merchants are allowed to “change the information and offers they provide without prior notice”.  “We have no right or the ability to monitor the implementation of the scheme, and so we don’t have to,” Mr Cheung said.  “We expect that HK$15 billion to HK$20 billion could be spent on the catering industry, among the HK$35 billion dollars (worth of electronic consumption vouchers) offered by the government.”  Mr Cheung, who is also a member of the Executive Council and chairman of the Liberal Party, said he appreciated the contributions of participating restaurants, as it …

University-educated mainland immigrants aren’t staying, according to research from Hong Kong Baptist University released today. Between 2007 and 2011, 40.2% of the tens of thousands of new immigrants to Hong Kong held a bachelor’s degree, but a third of them left before 2016, according to the report. “The number continues to drop,” Yuk-Shing Cheng, Head of the Department of Economics at HKBU who led the research team, said in a press conference today. “Immigrants with higher education have a higher mobility,” Lai-shan Sze, the Deputy Director of Society of Community Organisation, a local NGO that sponsored the research, said in the press conference, “They will stay if they can blend in, but leave if they cannot.”  Although the government has policies to bring talent into the city, it has failed to retain them, the report said. Prof Cheng said the government should focus on the coming generations as the research shows second and third generations have a positive impact on Hong Kong. Younger new immigrants are more likely to go to university in Hong Kong, according to the report. Around 45% of new immigrants who came to Hong Kong before age nine obtained bachelor degrees. The number drops for older immigrants. New immigrant Mandy Dai’s son, 32, is now an accountant in Hong Kong with a university degree, but it was a struggle for her to get him here, she said in the press conference.  Ms Dai, who is from the mainland, married a Hong Kong man, but it took 11 years for her to be allowed to move to the city. Her son, who gained residency in Hong Kong, attended school in the mainland until he was 11 while they waited for her one-way permit, she said. “The one-way permit system can be better allocated,” Hongliang Zhang, Associate Professor …

The Tuen Ma Line will be fully operational from June 27.  It is a key section of the Central-Shatin Rail link. “The government has confirmed that the new railway is in a good and safe condition, and it is ready to operate, ” said Frank Chan, the Secretary of Transport and Housing, in a press conference today. Part of the Tuen Ma line is currently operational, providing train services between  Ma On Shan and Kai Tak. From June 27, two new stations, To Kwa Wan and Sung Wong Toi, will be added to the line. Also, Ho Man Tin station of Kwun Tong Line and Hung Hom Station of East Rail Line will have new platforms in order to serve as transit stations.  Train services will run at three-minute intervals during peak hours once the entire Tuen Ma line is running. The new line will shorten travel time by up to 19 minutes. Passengers going from Kai Tak to Tsim Sha Tsui East, for example, will not need to change trains. Currently, they have to change twice. Passengers using Octopus cards at the two new stations will get a fare reduction. Adults will get a HK$1 reduction per ride, while Child and Student Octopus Card users will get a HK$0.5 reduction. The same discounts will be extended for passengers using Kai Tak and Hin Keng station, where the discounts are currently active. The discounts apply until Jan 1 2022. Passengers taking longer journeys in some stations may be cheaper. For example, a passenger travelling from Tuen Mun to Hung Hom, will pay a discounted fare around HK$20.6 using an Adult Octopus Card But if he goes one station further to Ho Man Tin, then the discounted fare will be around HK$18.9. “The fare setting has historical reasons. We need to …