Society & Politics

More than 40 per cent of light buses in the city do not  have seat belts, despite mandatory requirements to install them. A crash involving a minibus in Shek O three days ago again raised concern on the potential threat to safety. Twenty six passengers were injured. A new law enacted in 2004 states that all minibuses must be fitted with  seat belts. The Young Reporter talked to more than 60 minibus passengers and found that only 29% of them would wear seat belts when taking a ride. Tam Chun Tak, Secretary of HK, Kln & NT Public & Maxicab Light Bus Merchants' United Association, says the high cost of fitting seat belts is a problem. He believes that without government subsidy,  it will take at least 15 years for seat belts to be installed on all light buses, and they have no plans to install seat belts in existing minibuses. "The only way to ensure all minibuses have seat belts is to replace some of the existing vehicles, " Tam said. That's because the frame of some of the  current buses cannot be fitted with seat belts. But former Secretary for Transport and Housing, Cheng Yu-wah, now a legislator, says the government has provided help to the industry. She explained that there have been three incentive schemes since 2004 to encourage minibus owners to replace their own vehicles in order to comply with environmental and safety standards. Out of the 64 minibus passengers The Young Reporter reached, 87% pay attention to whether seat belts are installed on minibuses, but only 29% wears them sometimes. No one said they would refuse to take a minibus without seat belts. Wong Hei-man, 20, who was once fined for not wearing a seat belt on a minibus, says she is not concerned whether …

The founder of DR Beauty Group should bear full responsibility for the whole incident, says the defence counsel of the group's technician in the hearing on Tuesday morning. Three defendants face charges of manslaughter regarding the death of a 46-year-old woman in 2012.  The clinic head Stephen Chow Heung-wing, Chan Kwun-chung, a technician, and Mak Wan-ling, the patient's physician attended the hearing today. All of them pleaded not guilty. The defence counsel of Chan pointed out that Chow, who was also a doctor of the clinic, should be fully responsible since he was the one who made the decision of adopting CIK, a form of immunotherapy believed to be able to whiten and refine the skin. Chan's defence added that Chow made most of the decisions at the clinic, even the locations of the promotion posters. Chow denied the accusation and said most decisions were made by the whole central managerial team, claiming it was a common practice to make decisions with "collective wisdom". Meanwhile, Chow said he had appointed Chan to be in charge of the CIK treatment program. Chan's defence said Chan's Putonghua is "horrible" so he could not further enquire the supervisor at Guangzhou Military Hospital with the actual amount of cells needed for the treatment when they were learning about the CIK technology at the hospital . However, Chow responded that Li was able to communicate in Cantonese. Chow also could not answer the proper dosage and the frequency of injection when questioned by the judge. The trial continues on 16 Oct. [HCCC437/2015]  

The defence council of the five males, accused of secretly making explosives in the abandoned ATV studio suspected the prosecution has brought insufficient evidence to court, heard in High Court on Wednesday. He questioned the sufficiency of evidence provided by the prosecution after cross-examining a CIB police officer who is the second witness. The officer told the court that he has not kept any records in words about their operations, only with his memory and audio reports. The prosecution refused to disclose how the oral report was recorded due to the risk of exposing confidential operation details in a public hearing when enquired by the defence. The defence suspected the police for providing insufficient evidence to the court after the prosecution suggested that a cousin document of the audio reports is available. The defence council doubted if  the two CIB police officers could make a mistake on recognising the defendants. Defendants Chan Yiu-shing, 34, Cheng Wai-shing, 29, Pennelli Rizzy, 21, Wu Kai-fu, 21, Man Ting-lock, 23, was arrested after finding chemicals capable of producing explosives in former ATV premises in Sai Kung as police officers saw "yellowish white flashes" and smoke coming out from the building. The second CIB police officer told the court that they have been briefed by their superior Sgt. Lo Ka-shing of four male and two female as their targets, through the fourth defendant Wu Kai-fu was not one of their targets. "His [Wu's] name was not even known to the police before he was arrested," said the defence council of Wu, who also said it was a "chance encounter" for the police to have Wu arrested. Previous hearings revealed that Man Ting-lock, the fifth defendant, pleaded guilty and admitted that he has joined an anti-government organisation, "National Independence Party". They were experimenting with smoke bombs …