News
Edward Leung Tin-kei released after six years in prison
- 2022-01-19
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Karmen Li、Jayde CheungEdited by: Jenny Lam
- 2022-01-19
Edward Leung Tin-kei, a former spokesman for Hong Kong Indigenous, was freed from prison after serving four years for his role in the 2016 clashes in Mong Kok . Karmen Li and Jayde Cheung documented Leung’s route to “freedom” and recapped his story before jail.
Cancellation of Chinese New Year fairs leave farmers at a loss
- 2022-01-19
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Malick GaiEdited by: Nicholas Shu
- 2022-01-19
Flower farmers and florists are left with thousands of unsold plants after the government cancelled all Lunar New Year fairs last Friday because of the spread of the Covid-19 Omicron variant. It’s the second year in a row that the annual flower markets are scrapped because of the pandemic. The fairs are some of the biggest events in the run up to Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. Flower markets are usually held in public parks such as Victoria Park in Causeway Bay and in Mong Kok. “The flower businesses usually experience a seasonal boom during festive occasions, when particularly auspicious flowers and plants, such as orchids and tangerine trees are sold,” said Samuel Ng, owner of Green House Nursery, a garden centre in Sai Kung. "When Chinese New Year approaches, some businesses would order at least 50 tangerine trees, but not for the past two years. These will have to be thrown out now," Ng said. His plants are imported from Guangzhou in mainland China. But bringing the plants to Hong Kong, he said, is increasingly difficult because they have to be disinfected and transferred between delivery trucks multiple times. Customers are often concerned whether the plants would wilt, and that puts pressure on the vendors to make sure their goods look fresh. Tung, who only wanted to give his family name, works in another flower shop in Sai Kung. He sources flowers from a wholesaler who purchases goods from Japan, mainland China, South America, Africa and Europe. These supply chains have been affected by transport delays and travel restrictions, resulting in the goods having to be refrigerated for weeks or even thrown away. "I haven't had a day off for 21 months. My wife and I are working 11 hours everyday to make up for the financial loss. …
Hong Kong to kill thousands of hamsters after COVID-19 outbreak
- 2022-01-19
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Lokman Yuen、KOO Chi Tung 顧知桐Edited by: Tracy Leung、Malick Gai
- 2022-01-19
Hong Kong authorities will cull some 2,000 small rodents after hamsters in a pet shop tested preliminary positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19, the first to be discovered in a natural environment. Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Leung Siu-fai announced in a press conference on Tuesday that pet shops selling hamsters were required to temporarily suspend their businesses and handover the rodents to the department for euthanasia after testing, regardless of the result. He also “strongly advised” pet owners who had bought a hamster in Hong Kong from Dec. 22 to turn them over. The announcement was made amid concerns over animal to human transmission, after 11 hamsters at Little Boss pet shop in Causeway Bay, tested preliminary positive for the virus. Environmental samples obtained from its Tai Po warehouse, which housed the imported hamsters from the Netherlands, also tested positive. “Although there was no evidence internationally to prove animals can spread COVID-19 to humans, but for the sake of prudence, we will implement preventive measures on every possible route of transmission,” Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said. The virus was detected after a 23-year-old pet shop worker and a 67-year-old woman who visited the venue on Jan. 8 were infected. University of Hong Kong microbiologist and government advisor Yuen Kwok-yung told the reporters in the evening that it was essential to make such a decision and praised the judgment as “decisive and wise.” “I use this species in the laboratory for experiments every day, which are very sensitive towards the virus and are easily infected,” he said. He also said the hamsters will spread out a lot of viruses in the first 10 days, which means a long time for transmission. Yeung Lin-hing, who owns one of the 34 affected pet stores, said he …
Hong Kong stocks fall three trading days in a row
- 2022-01-18
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: Kylie WongEdited by: Serena Kong
- 2022-01-18
Hong Kong stocks continued to drop as technology stocks shrank and the market was concerned about upcoming tighter monetary policy in the U.S., in light of inflation. The Heng Seng Index closed at 24112.78, showing a 0.43% decrease. Though the market grew 0.69% to today’s peak, 24385.05, from its previous close in the morning trading session, the growth was erased by the drop at noon. The lowest of the day was 24009.71. The market was dragged down by losses in the technology sector. Tencent recorded a decreased 2.75% reduction to HK$HKD 452.8 from yesterday’s HK$HKD 465.6. This was followed by Meituan and Alibaba, declining 0.375% to HK$HKD 215.8 and 1.63%to HK$126.4 respectively. Several financial media reported that Morgan Stanley cut the target price of Tencent from HK$650 to HK$600 as the broker predicted that Tencent’s revenue will report a slower growth of 6% for the last quarter in 2021. This is due to delays in revenue recognition of new games. Regulatory policies regarding games and advertisements also came into play. Country garden from the property industry is the best performing blue chip of the day. It displayed a 4.94% growth, reaching HK$ 6.16. The company announced on Monday that it has repurchased US$ 10 million senior note (HK$ 389 million) from the market. HSCE fell 0.18%. The SSE Composite Index and CSI 300 Index inched up 0.80% and 0.97% respectively.
Two Jabs Required To Enter HKU
- 2022-01-17
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Clarice WuEdited by: KOO Chi Tung 顧知桐
- 2022-01-17
Students and staff from the University of Hong Kong are required to have two jabs in order to access campus starting from Monday. According to an internal email sent to students and staff, anyone who wishes to enter the campus will need either to be fully vaccinated or to take weekly self-tests. The same measure will also be applicable to HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPACE) premises throughout Hong Kong. No exemption is available. All HKU staff and students need to register their COVID-19 status via HKU portal or the HKU COVID-19 Control App. They will be allowed into campus after presenting their HKU ID cards to card readers installed at the entrances of HKU. People who choose to self-test will need to upload their records on a weekly basis. Presentation of original copies, photocopies, or screenshots of vaccination records and self-test records to security guards are also acceptable. Visitors will need to scan the QR code at the entrance to show that they have complied with the COVID-19 control measures before being granted access to the campus. Tam Siu-yee, a Year 3 HKU Science student majoring in Speech and Hearing Science said that the new measure does not really affect her since she has already been fully vaccinated. “I have been out in the clinic being in contact with patients since last semester so I have been vaccinated for a while,” Tam said. Although the measure does not affect her, she disagrees with the implementation. She thinks the new measure does not respect students’ personal wishes and the right to be on campus. Tam doubted the effectiveness of the two available vaccines in Hong Kong on combating Omicron and “doesn’t see the point for mandatory vaccination for COVID-19 control on campus.” Eight universities in Hong Kong have …
COVID-19 quarantine and travel restrictions challenge Hong Kong’s domestic helpers
- 2022-01-13
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Malick GaiEdited by: Robin Ewing
- 2022-01-13
Ybañez’s 68-year old mother, living in Cebu City in the Philippines, was hospitalized for high blood pressure and diabetes for two months before her death. Ybañez, 40, who has been working in Hong Kong for almost three years, would have to quarantine in both the Philippines and upon return in Hong Kong for five weeks in total. Employers of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong are required to pay for one trip home for each helper every two years. In response to the pandemic, the Immigration Department mandates that prospective employers sign the undertaking of the employer document agreeing to pay for their employees’ Covid tests and all quarantine expenses upon entry to Hong Kong. “My employer couldn't afford it," said Ybañez. "Even if I had gone, they could only wait for one week before burial and I had to do two weeks of quarantine in the Philippines, so it was impossible to see her.” Low availability of flights and quarantine hotel rooms, travel bans and vaccination requirements have made travel in and out of the city challenging for foreign domestic helpers. In April, Hong Kong banned flights from the Philippines, and in June this year another flight ban extended to Indonesia, significantly impacting the wait time for inbound employees. Both these bans were lifted in August. In September, the government opened Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre on Lantau Island to helpers who are fully vaccinated with non-Hong Kong available vaccinations for 21 days quarantine, allocating nearly 800 rooms with a price capped at HK$500 per night. Helpers vaccinated with either Pfizer/BioNTech or Sinovac can also quarantine in hotels upon their arrival. The pandemic has doubled the number of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong seeking help from local NGO Mission For Migrant Workers this year, the NGO said. More than …
Lowest ever turnout under revamped LegCo Election system
- 2021-12-20
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Nick Yang、Kate Zhang、Leona LiuEdited by: Kiki Lo
- 2021-12-20
The first Legislative Council election under the revamped electoral system ended last night with a 30.2% turnout rate in the geographical constituency races, the lowest since the handover in 1997. About 1, 350, 680 people cast their ballots in 10 geographical constituencies, a 28% percent decrease from the last Legco election in 2016. The turnout in the Election Committee constituency was 98.5% and 32.2% for the functional constituencies, according to official statistics. Click here to see the voting rates of different districts (made by Grace Koo). “Their votes are not only for choosing their own LegCo members. They are also a show of support for the improved electoral system and their aspirations for effective enhancement of the governance efficiency of the HKSAR as well as the resulting economic development and livelihood improvements,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in a press release yesterday. Beijing reformed Hong Kong’s electoral system in March, by creating an Election Committee constituency of 40 seats to be voted on by a body established in September. The electorate is made up of 1500 Election Committee members. The total number of seats in Legco also increased to 90 from 70. “The election committee is composed of elites from all walks of life,” said Allan Zeman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group, and a member of the Election Committee. “I think the new system can really work.” Mr Zeman though failed to secure a seat in the Election Committee constituency. A total of 153 candidates competed for this term of LegCo. For the first time since the handover, there is more than one candidate running for every seat, including the functional constituency seats. Twenty members were directly elected in the geographical constituencies. Voting was changed to a double seat, single-vote system, which means each voter can vote …
Hong Kong Health Code for travel to mainland launches next week along with update for LeaveHomeSafe; city still waiting for quarantine-free travel
- 2021-12-02
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Hamish CHANEdited by: SHI Ruoshui
- 2021-12-02
The government said the new health code app compatible with Guangdong and Macau to facilitate travel to the mainland will be available at 9am on Dec 10, though it has not yet announced when quarantine-free travel will begin. “The government is still negotiating with the mainland authorities but said it had come to the final stage after the visit of mainland experts to Hong Kong,” Alfred Sit Wing-hang, the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, said in a press conference today. The government said it will also provide an update for the LeaveHomeSafe app, which allows users to transfer visiting records to the mainland-compatible Hong Kong Health Code app. The app will be launched as a “pilot run” before quarantine-free travel starts with no need to rush, said Sit. Users will need to provide personal information, such as their address and HKID card number, and upload the visiting record from LeaveHomeSafe. The authorities said 31 days of record will be uploaded, but only the past 21 days of record will be used to generate the code required for border crossings. Users whose records do not show visits to high-risk places and are not close contacts or household contacts of close contacts of confirmed cases in the past 21 days will get a green code. For those who have no plan to travel to the mainland, Sit said they do not need to update their LeaveHomeSafe app. “The government has no plan, and did not see the need for real-name registration for the LeaveHomeSafe App,” Sit added. Li Yan-yi, 27, said she will not use the Hong Kong Health Code app. “I have no plan to go to the mainland, and have tons of privacy concerns for the app,” said Li. “When the government launched the app, they said it is all …
Secretary for Education denounces "lying flat" trend, emphasizes values education
- 2021-11-29
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Tracy LeungEdited by: BellaHuang
- 2021-11-29
Secretary for Education, Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, denounced the “lying flat” trend, the attitude of doing nothing popular among young people in the mainland, and highlighted the importance of values education in Hong Kong schools in an online post yesterday The “lying flat” movement started in April when a post on the Chinese popular website Baidu titled “Lying Flat Is Justice” went viral. It refers to young people who strive for nothing more than what is essential for survival. “The recent trend of "lying flat" is even more worrying. A negative life attitude can easily cause depression and hinder social development in the long run,” Yueng wrote in his post. “I am grieved for that, just the same feeling as many parents and teachers who love those kids.” Yeung also said the government will soon release the curriculum framework for the recently proposed values education, which includes moral and ethical education, civic education, and national education. The education bureau said promoting activities related to Chinese history will allow students to learn about the essence of Chinese culture, absorb traditional wisdom, and cultivate moral sentiment. “We must work together to promote values education rooted in Chinese culture together and support students to build positive thinking,” the online article said. “I think the new curriculum has a political agenda and I hope the teachers could be professional enough to tackle this,” said Lau, a local high school teacher who said he is responsible for executing the values education curriculum at his school. He requested anonymity over concerns about his work. In June, Yeung told the Legislative Council that the bureau will send teachers to mainland universities to enhance their understanding of the nation's development. Teachers will also attend training courses related to national affairs, the Basic Law and the National Security Law. The …
Light rail passengers worried about safety after a woman was pushed onto the track
- 2021-11-29
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Kelly PangEdited by: BellaHuang
- 2021-11-29
Sarah Chan Miu-ching, 21, lives in Tuen Mun and takes the light rail transit three or four times a week. "I am definitely worried about falling on the track just like what happened to the woman yesterday as there is no platform screen door,” Ms. Chan said. A 47-year-old woman was walking on the platform at Tai Hing (North) station yesterday when a man whom she did not know suddenly pushed her onto the track. The woman’s left shoulder was injured. Police later arrested the suspect at Ching Chung station. Safety facilities at road junctions in the light rail system include traffic lights, road signs on light rail reserved area and vehicle height restrictions, yellow box marking and a bell before the light rail enters a road junction, according to the spokesman in the Legislative Council in 2011. Kitty Wong Yuen-yi, a secretary working in the MTR company, said that the automatic platform gates cannot be installed on the light rail because its operation system is different from other railway systems in the city. “When a train approaches a station, only the driver can stop the carriage and open or close the platform gates,” Ms Wong explained.”Since the road is shared with other vehicles, it’s technically difficult to install the gates.” “There are no platform screen doors like at MTR stations. It’s so easy to be shoved onto the track just like what happened to the woman yesterday,” Zoe Cheung Man-yi, 46, a Tuen Mun resident said. She urged the MTR corporation to pay more attention to accidents at railway stations and tackle them as soon as possible. In 2017, a man pushed a female cleaning worker off the track at the Yuen Long Light Rail Station. The worker had fractured elbows and injuries to her jaw and lips.