scmp.com: Rising star of ICAC arrested in graft probe

ICAC高級調查員貪污，被ICAC拘捕

ICAC真係港人驕傲!!!!!

Rising star of ICAC arrested in graft probe

Colleagues of senior investigator in shock

Phyllis Tsang and Niall Fraser
Updated on Apr 30, 2011

http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=200bbfbefe1af210VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=Hong+Kong&s=News

A top ICAC investigator - widely recognised as a rising star in the anti-graft organisation - has been arrested by his own colleagues and is facing accusations of corruption.

Shocked colleagues in the Independent Commission Against Corruption have expressed disbelief at the arrest of principal investigator Raymond Yuen, who heads the commission's B group, which investigates public sector corruption.

Last night a commission spokesman confirmed that a principal investigator was arrested on Wednesday by L group, the ICAC's internal investigations unit, on suspicion of "breaching the law". The statement did not name the officer.

However, people familiar with the investigation identified the officer as Yuen. They also said that the law breach referred to in the commission statement involved allegations of corruption.

"The ICAC attaches utmost importance to the conduct of its staff and expects the highest standard of integrity from them," a commission spokesman said.

"The commission will not tolerate any violation of the law and breach of internal discipline. Should any staff misconduct himself/herself, the matter will be dealt with in strict accordance with the law and laid down procedures."

Yuen, who is in his 40s, is the youngest graft-buster to be promoted to principal investigator in the commission's history. It was unclear last night if he was still being held or had been granted bail. He has been suspended from duty.

He joined the commission in 1998, was promoted to principal investigator in 2007 and has been involved in many high-profile corruption investigations. Yuen earns about HK$90,000 a month.

Among his most notable investigations were those of former lawmaker Gary Cheng Kai-nam and Chan Kau-tai, the corrupt former housing official and father of Canto-pop star Eason Chan Yik-shun. He has also investigated an array of graft scandals involving public housing.

Last night a former colleague said: "This comes as a huge surprise. He is the youngest and brightest principal investigator in the organisation.

"He rose through the ranks at great speed and is a very talented, switched-on guy."

Yuen attended the ICAC's chief investigators command course in 2004 and was sent to the senior executive fellows programme at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2006.

In a media interview in 2007 on the 10th anniversary of the handover Yuen, who is married, said he was proud to be an ICAC investigator and talked about the difficulties of investigating corruption.

Investigations into ICAC officers are often carried out by the police, but when an accusation of corruption is made the commission has a legal obligation to investigate it.

In November, police arrested three commission officers on suspicion of perverting the course of justice during an unprecedented raid on the ICAC's headquarters in North Point. The three investigators are accused of coaching witnesses.

Yuen is the highest-ranking member of staff to be investigated by the ICAC in 20 years.

In 1994 former deputy director of operations Alex Tsui Ka-kit was sacked by the commission amid allegations of triad links.

Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun, chairman of the Legislative Council's security panel, said: "This could be one of the most serious cases of misconduct by an ICAC officer in its history."

scmp.com: Court win delights Mei Foo protesters

要求法庭停止美孚新邨居民示威抗議行動，咁都仲可以話與阻礙言論自由無關????? 坻輸比美孚新邨居民啦~~

Court win delights Mei Foo protesters

Judge rejects developer's bid to block action at site

Joyce Ng Updated on Apr 30, 2011

The developer attempting to build a high-rise project at Mei Foo Sun Chuen failed to obtain an interim injunction yesterday to bar local residents from blocking the construction site and protesting outside it. Deputy High Court Judge Queeny Au Yeung Kwai-yue adjourned the hearing for at least 49 days to give the defendants named in the injunction time to study the legal documents. The hearing ended with applause from more than 100 Mei Foo residents who attended the hearing. Yip Siu-chau, a defendant and resident leader, welcomed the decision. He said: "The adjournment means the developer cannot go ahead with the construction immediately and create an irreversible situation." Billion Star Development is seeking an injunction to put an end to the protests that have halted work at the site since mid-March. It is also seeking HK$1.4 million for losses due to delays in construction. Residents claim Billion Star is backed by New World Development, but the company denies this. Giving her ruling, the judge said: "The plaintiff claims it has overwhelmingly strong evidence ... but this is not rare in court and it doesn't mean the court should deprive defendants of their rights to defend themselves." She said the defendants - six of whom (a district councillor and five residents that led the protests) are named - had only seven days to prepare after they received the writ of summons. Some of them did not understand the documents, written in English. The seventh defendant is referred to by the developer as "other persons" entering the site or interfering with its right to use the private road. Politicians Claudia Mo, of the Civic Party and Tsang Kin-shing and "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, of the League of Social Democrats, yesterday said they were included among the "others". They took part in a lie-down protest outside the construction site on April 3 backed by 500 people. The judge said she saw no urgency to grant the interim injunction as residents had held discussions with the developer over a long period and the protests had lasted for more than a month. She also noted that the residents planned to seek a judicial review of the developer's claim to ownership of a road that is included in the construction site area. The developer, represented by Benjamin Yu SC, argued that defendants trespassed on its private property and blocked a lawful project. He said the request for an injunction had nothing to do with suppressing freedom of speech. The residents disputed the legality of the project and said the developer itself was a trespasser by using a private road within Mei Foo.

REUTERS: Fire at Japan's crippled nuclear plant, more aftershocks

Fire at Japan's crippled nuclear plant, more aftershocks

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE72A0SS20110412

scmp.com: York Chow warns on altering maternity rules

York Chow warns on altering maternity rules

April 12, 2011
Ella Lee and Elaine Yau

The government would have to seek legal advice if it wanted to give priority in the use of obstetric services to mainland wives of Hong Kong men, the health chief said yesterday.

Dr York Chow Yat-ngok was speaking after legislators passed a non-binding motion stating that while public hospitals should always serve local mothers first, wives of Hong Kong residents should get priority in using any spare capacity.

Chow, secretary for food and health, said legal advice would be needed on whether and how Hospital Authority staff could check the marriage certificates of non-local women. "Our current policy only targets the status of mothers, not the status of their husbands. It would be difficult for staff to check this information," he said.

At present, local mothers have priority at public obstetric services. Non-local mothers, with or without a Hong Kong husband, can book on a first-come-first-served basis.

The motion was passed at a meeting of the Legislative Council health services panel. Legislators were concerned that the number of babies born to mainland women without a Hong Kong husband rose sharply from just 620 in 2001 to 32,653 last year - a 52-fold increase in 10 years.

Of about 40,000 babies born to mainland women last year, the husbands of only 6,169 were Hong Kong permanent residents.


Chow declined to commit the government to following the legislators' call. "Frontline staff at the Hospital Authority identify a patient who is entitled to Hong Kong's medical service subsidy according to his identity card," he said. "If there is anything that requires further verification of certificates and so on, it will be a difficult task for many of them. We have to seek various opinions, including legal opinion, before we can actually decide whether that can be done."

In 2007, the authority increased the maternity package fee for non- local mothers from HK$20,000 to HK$39,000, and for non-booked cases to HK$48,000, compared with HK$100 a day for local mothers.

A person familiar with the situation said the government had been cautious about giving priority to non-local wives of Hong Kong men because of the complex legal implications, especially when a group of Hong Kong husbands is seeking judicial review of the HK$39,000 fee imposed on their mainland wives.

"If a new policy recognises mainland mothers married to Hong Kong people should have a priority next to local mothers, it will then be very difficult for the authority to charge them the same as women who have no Hong Kong husbands for obstetric services," the person said.

He said a change of policy for medical services might have implications in other areas such as education and social services. "Changing entitlement involves a macro population policy; it is a very complex issue."

The panel's motion, moved by Civic Act-up's Cyd Ho Sau-lan, was supported by panel members from the major political camps.

Social welfare sector lawmaker Cheung Kwok-che said: "The government should take care of the mainland women who have a Hong Kong spouse; their husbands are also taxpayers."

The influx of mainlanders has stretched local obstetric and paediatric services. The government plans to set a quota for non-local women at all private and public hospitals by next month. The occupancy rate of public neonatal intensive care units rose from an average 94 per cent last year to 108 per cent in February.

The Hospital Authority said on Friday it would suspend all obstetric bookings by non-local women until the end of the year to preserve capacity for local women. A concern group formed by senior public doctors has called for a ban on mainland women without a Hong Kong husband.

Chow said the government could control the market by not approving new obstetric beds at private hospitals. It will meet private operators again before the end of the month to set quotas for individual hospitals.

Health care sector legislator Joseph Lee Kok-long said the government should devote more resources to the Department of Health because many mainland mothers took their babies to its clinics for health assessments and vaccinations.

scmp.com: HK bosses toughest in Asia-Pacific

HK bosses toughest in Asia-Pacific

Lana Lam
Updated on Apr 17, 2011

Hong Kong bosses are the toughest in the region and expect staff to work during their holidays, a study has found.

A survey of more than 1,600 professionals in the finance, accounting and human resources sectors across the Asia-Pacific region found that 68 per cent of employers in the city expect their staff to be available while on annual leave or after work hours.

In Singapore, 45 per cent of bosses expected their staff to work during their holidays, while in Australia it was 22 per cent and in New Zealand, 20 per cent. The regional average was 40 per cent.

The results of the Robert Half workplace survey, which included 410 participants from Hong Kong, comes amid debate on the implications of a minimum wage in Hong Kong with discussions on compensation for meal breaks, overtime and annual leave.

Andrew Morris, managing director greater China for recruiter Robert Half International, said cultural differences were a key factor in the range of figures.

"Hong Kong's work ethic is intense. To avoid burnout and maintain morale, bosses must make it a priority to give their staff a break," he said.

However, he pointed out that Hong Kong employees were also to blame because they chose to stay in contact with their workplace while away from it, with 77 per cent saying they did so, compared to the regional average of 66 per cent.

Finance professionals in Hong Kong said they felt they had to stay connected in case there was an emergency, but also because they could keep in touch through technology. Some said they just could not switch off.

"While technology can keep us connected 24/7, employers should resist the temptation to phone or e-mail employees outside of work hours unless it's truly urgent," Morris said.

Hong Kong bosses expected the most from middle managers, the survey found, with 76 per cent saying middle managers should be available all the time, compared to 47 per cent for senior managers or directors and 23 per cent for junior or entry-level staff.

"This trend is unhealthy in both the short and long term. An employee that is under a great stress or one that seems to be experiencing burnout can easily create a toxic environment."

Morris said employers must respect workers' need to properly unplug or risk workplace problems.

"Employee burnout in the short term can reduce productivity, decrease morale and increase both absenteeism and presenteeism," he said.

The latter occurs when a sick employee still comes to work.

A positive result for Hong Kong employees was that if they did work during their holidays or outside office hours, most were compensated.

Just 16 per cent of employers said they did not make up lost time through either pay or time in lieu, well below the regional average of 33 per cent.

scmp.com: The downside of our love affair with electronics

The downside of our love affair with electronics

Lana Lam
Updated on Apr 17, 2011

Hong Kong's hunger for the newest, fastest and prettiest electronic gadgets is so robust that the industry is expected to hit US$3.9 billion this year, but what happens to the older models that are tossed aside?

For a city that is struggling to dump its own rubbish in an efficient and sustainable manner, Hong Kong also imports waste from other countries which includes waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

E-waste presents a range of issues because it involves hazardous materials that must be recycled using proper methods.

In 2009, Hong Kong generated 72,000 tonnes of electronic waste, up 7 per cent from 67,200 tonnes in 2005.

Of the 72,000 tonnes, Hong Kong kept 7,700 tonnes in its own landfills and exported almost 59,000 tonnes to developing countries for reuse and recovery. This is usually done through second-hand dealers.

Last week thousands of consumer electronic companies displayed their wares at the spring trade fair at the Convention and Exhibition Centre amid news that sales of one of the hottest items last year, the media tablet, will continue to skyrocket.

Figures from IT research firm Gartner last week predicted sales of tablets like the iPad would increase from 70 million this year to almost 300 million by 2015.

In Hong Kong, the consumer electronics market is forecast to hit US$3.9 billion this year, while on the mainland it is expected to grow from US$127 billion last year to US$142.2 billion this year, say research firms BMI and GfK.

Computers make up more than 54 per cent of the consumer electronic sales in Hong Kong followed by smartphones, digital cameras and tablets and economic woes have done little to curb the desire.

"Spending on consumer technologies has done better than spending on all goods in aggregate," said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist of the US-based Consumer Electronics Association. "Over the last 40 years, in good economic years and bad ones, consumers have again and again allocated a growing portion of their spending to consumer electronics."

However, the government is still playing catch-up in terms of dealing with electronic waste.

"I believe they are not doing enough," said Basil Wai, chief executive of the Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association. "We have many concerns about electronic waste, if we don't treat it properly. Some items we need to treat in Hong Kong, maybe some we can share with the PRC."

But this is no longer an option because since January 1, the mainland banned the import of hazardous electronic waste.

Last April, the government wrapped up several months of public consultation on a new producer responsibility scheme which proposed visible and invisible consumer fees for proper waste disposal under a "polluter pays" approach.

The findings were due out early this year but an Environment Bureau spokeswoman said this was now scheduled for later this year.

This delay was not acceptable because Hong Kong desperately needs its own legal framework for dealing with electronic waste, said Friends of the Earth senior environment officer Michelle Au Wing-tsz.

"I'm not sure why it's so late. Electronic waste is building up and they are focused on incinerators only."

scmp.com: 30pc given antibiotics in public hospitals

三成本港醫院病人接受抗生素療程，專家擔心高抗藥性病毒MRSA失控

30pc given antibiotics in public hospitals

April 13, 2011
Ella Lee

Thirty per cent of patients admitted to public hospitals are given antibiotics, a Hospital 

Authority audit shows.
A third of these are given two types of antibiotics. And 3 per cent of all patients suffer various kinds of infections after admission.

Some of the hospital-acquired infections are caused by drug-resistant bacteria, the so-called superbugs, the audit found. Hong Kong's hospital-acquired infection rate of 3 per cent is at the lower end of the international scale, which in some countries reaches 10 per cent.

"The local figures are not alarming," said Dr Dominic Tsang Ngai-chong, the Hospital Authority's chief infection-control officer. "Many patients admitted to public hospitals suffer rather serious diseases and the use of antibiotics is necessary to save life. Some need several types of drugs to control the infections."

But a leading microbiologist warned that the spread of one superbug - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - was getting "out of control" in public hospitals, and said many countries used antibiotics far more sparingly.

Professor Yuen Kwok-yuen, head of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said the antibiotics prevalence rate in Scandinavian countries and some European countries was in single digits.

Yuen said: "It is worrying that now between 30 and 50 per cent of all Staphylococcus aureus cultured at public hospitals laboratories are resistant to methicillin, compared with just single digits 20 years ago. Compared with many European countries, Hong Kong has been too slow in fighting against drug resistance."

Tsang yesterday released some of the findings of a survey conducted between July and September at 37 public hospitals. The survey, carried out every four years, aims to find out how commonly antibiotics are used at public hospitals, and how prevalent are the infections that patients acquire in hospitals.

By using computer software, the audit checked the prescriptions for 20,355 patients. Some 5,900 received intravenous antibiotics. If oral and tropic antibiotics are counted, the rate stands at 30.3 per cent.

Tsang said the antibiotics prevalence rate and hospital acquired infections rate were comparable to many developed countries. He noted that in Belgium, the antibiotics prevalence rate was 38 per cent.

The Hospital Authority's 2007 survey of 20,001 patients found a 4 per cent hospital acquired infections rate. Tsang said figures from the reports could not be compared directly as they used different methods.

Professor Ho Pak-leung, head of the University of Hong Kong's Centre of Infection, said the authority had to release more detailed analysis of the survey. "The authority should come out and tell the public how many of these antibiotics are used properly, are any misused or overused?"

Ho expressed concern about the rising number of patients in the past two years requiring treatment with the last-defence antibiotic called colomycin, or colistin. The number jumped from single digits per month in 2009 to more than 30 this January.

"It means an increasing number of patients have infections that cannot be treated by most other antibiotics, so the last defence has to be used," Ho said.

Tsang said it was premature to jump to such a conclusion. He said in some cases, doctors gave colomycin to high-risk patients carrying drug-resistant bugs as a form of prevention. "Those patients do not have any symptoms, they are just carriers. But doctors, for the sake of the patients' safety, apply colomycin to kill those drug-resistant bacteria."

Defiant egg-waffles man builds 7th cart of year
April 12, 2011
Lo Wei
Back on his feet the day after his sixth arrest of the year for illegal hawking, Tai Hang's "old egg-waffles man" was hammering together yet another wooden cart yesterday, determined to resume business today.
"I'm too old to find anything else to do," said Ng Yuk-fai, 74, whose travails have rallied hundreds of supporters in person and on the internet.

"My children are still young. I'll be working for at least 10 more years," he said yesterday as he rebuilt his cart in a back alley in Causeway Bay next to the small wooden home he built.

His children are 15, 17 and 18 and live with his wife, in her 40s, in their hometown of Lufeng, Guangdong.

Ng has been selling Hong Kong-style egg waffles for more than 30 years, and the cart he was building yesterday is his seventh this year. The others were confiscated by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in his previous arrests.

"Yes they should arrest me, I don't have a licence. But I only wish it was not so frequent," he said. "I won't plead guilty this time. I hadn't even started selling waffles at the time they arrested me. I pleaded with them to let me go but they refused. They're inhumane."

More than 70 passersby and neighbours gathered at the scene to support him on Sunday as he was arrested for the sixth time this year. More than 60 people left comments on his page on an online directory of eateries. The owner of a Tsuen Wan egg waffles shop, Eric Chiang, visited him to see how he could help out.

Ng said the arrests had been getting more frequent. "I can't understand why. I didn't offend them," he said with a shrug. "Perhaps it's easier to arrest me. They'll get a promotion, but I'm pushed to the corner."

But the authorities were not going to stop him. "Let them arrest me until they get tired," he said.

Ng came to Hong Kong in 1958 during the Great Leap Forward and turned to selling egg waffles when his business in trading gold and watches with mainlanders went bad.

"I sought help from my uncle and he taught me to make egg waffles. He learned from a master who made egg waffles after failing in a revolution as a follower of Sun Yat-sen," he said.

The pieces of wood that make up Ng's cart are mostly supplied by the flower shop beside the alley in Shelter Street in Causeway Bay.

"I get miserable too each time he gets arrested; I have to supply him with wood again," Lui Chung, a worker at the shop, said.

Ng earns about HK$6,000 a month by selling waffles for HK$10 each. He usually sends HK$4,000 home for his family. "HK$2,000 is enough for me," he said.

But with a HK$800 fine for each arrest, and having to spend around HK$2,000 to build a new cart each time, he now owes HK$20,000 to a friend, a retired owner of a nearby electrical appliances shop.

Children in the neighbourhood who enjoy his egg waffles after school support the waffle-maker. "The government should grant him a licence. Even the shoe-shiners in Central were granted licences," said Kelly Tong, a Form Three pupil at Hotung Secondary School in Causeway Bay.

Classmate Cathy Law agreed. "The government's too harsh on him," she said.

Ng has been living in a metre-wide wooden house with three compartments in a row: one for his bed, another for storing his tools and materials, and one for cooking and working. It is about 10 metres long.

"It's warm here in winter. In summer when it gets too hot, I sleep out on the ground," he said. "I'm planning to apply for public housing when my wife and children come to Hong Kong to join me next year."

When asked if he missed his wife and children, he said: "What is there to miss?"

Business was a lot easier in the old days, he said. "At first, I didn't use any eggs, just flour; people didn't mind. I sold waffles for HK$1."

Now, with the price of flour more than five times higher, he sells them for HK$10. He uses four eggs for every three waffles. "I can't cheat people," he said.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department yesterday declined to comment on Ng's case.

A department spokesman said: "When enforcing the law, our hawker units take into account hawkers who are elderly or handicapped and strive to be reasonable. However, to protect public health and hygiene, our units will act immediately when it comes to unlicensed hawkers who sell cooked food."

scmp.com: Long queue for 'HK's best job'

Groupon公司昨招「影子」CEO，合約期五天，支薪三萬

Long queue for 'HK's best job'
April 11, 2011
Maggie Tam

Hong Kong now has its own version of the "best job in the world", to rival the similar position offered by Queensland, Australia.

Touted as the first "best job in Hong Kong", the position will give the successful applicant a taste of being a "shadow chief executive officer" and HK$30,000 in pay for just five days' work. The project, inspired by Queensland's example, is a joint effort by Career Times Online, a local job search engine, and the daily deal website Groupon.

The offer attracted more than 300 applicants, who swamped Groupon's new office in Wan Chai yesterday.
Groupon's real chief executive, Danny Yeung, said: "No working experience is required. Who we're looking for is a presentable, creative and passionate teenager with good common sense."

The shadow chief executive will be chosen on May 10 and start working on May 16.
The winner will be chosen by a poll in which Groupon will have 60 per cent of the vote and members of the public will cast the balance.

The successful applicant will follow Yeung around to discuss terms with retailers, attend business meetings and gala dinners, contribute ideas for future planning and visit employees to raise their morale. He or she will even take a business trip with Yeung, to Macau by air.
Yeung said he would consider offering the "shadow" executive a full-time job at Groupon after the five-day experience.

One of the applicants, Sam Shum Lam-wai, a 25-year-old financial planner, said: "My current job offers me a very decent salary, so I'm not here for the money. The precious experience of spending time with the person in charge of a big company could definitely broaden my horizons."

Another candidate, Wilson Wong Tsz-ming, 22, is a fresh graduate from Baptist University. "I don't have as much work experience as the others," he said. "But as a new graduate in society, creativity and passion are my biggest edges."

Former accountant Flora Ip Sze-kwan, 27, said she had quit her job and wants to work in sales and marketing. If she wins, she hopes to strengthen the Groupon website's appeal to young people with some artistic touches.

Groupon was launched in Chicago in 2008 and set up its Hong Kong branch in December last year.
It offers a daily "group coupon" from a retailer; if a certain number of people sign up for the offer online, then the deal becomes available to all.

scmp.com: HK urged to lead fight against superbugs

誤用或濫用抗生素情況持續，引發多種超級病毒，如NDM-1，情況如無改善，大部份抗生素五年內可能失效

歐洲專家訪港，促請香港帶頭對抗誤用濫用問題，為亞洲地區樹立成功先例。

HK urged to lead fight against superbugs

April 8, 2011
Chris Ip

A leading European specialist in the global fight against superbugs yesterday called on Hong Kong to use its unique experience in fighting bird flu and Sars to lead Asia's campaign against the misuse of antibiotics.
"Hong Kong has been very successful in the containment of H5N1 and [severe acute respiratory syndrome]. I'm sure you will be equally successful in the containment of antibiotic resistance," said Herman Goossens, a Belgian professor who is visiting the city to raise awareness about superbugs.

Goossens, founder and vice-chairman of the Belgian Antibiotic Policy Co-ordination Committee, warned that, with the advance of superbugs like NDM-1, most antibiotics could become useless within five years if steps were not taken to curb their over- and misuse.

What Belgium was doing in Europe was an example for the rest of the European countries. Hong Kong hopefully would be an example for the rest of Asia, Goossens said.

His appeal came as Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection released the results of a survey which found dangerous misconceptions about antibiotics were widely held.

About one in three Hong Kong people believe antibiotics can cure flu and two in three think they can treat viral infections - beliefs that could increase the city's vulnerability to the rapid proliferation of incurable superbugs. The dangers of abusing antibiotics are well-publicised yet the survey found that only half of the respondents said they had heard of the concept of antibiotic resistance, which led to evolution of superbugs such as NDM-1.

Since its discovery in India in 2008, NDM-1 has spread to countries including the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada. In October, China confirmed its first three cases of NDM-1. A British study released this week found the deadly superbug in a quarter of water samples taken from the streets of New Delhi,

The situation prompted the World Health Organisation to dedicate yesterday's World Health Day to promoting the sensible use of antibiotics, after it warned that "diseases due to antibacterial resistance" would be a leading threat this decade.

The WHO estimates that at least 150,000 people die every year from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis - which cannot be treated by even the best drugs. Some 440,000 new cases emerge each year in 64 countries.

"Misconceptions happen every day," said Dr Choi Kin, president of the Hong Kong Medical Association. "We have patients insisting on antibiotics and we have patients insisting on not taking antibiotics when they should be taking them."

Although parents were often cautious if doctors tried to prescribe antibiotics to their children, there were still doctors who were keen on prescribing them, Choi said.

Goossens led a campaign in Belgium over the past 10 years educating the public and doctors on how to use fewer antibiotics.

The campaign has proved to be a success. Resistance to antibiotics from pneumonia-causing bacteria dropped by up to 11 per cent within a decade, says the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Following Belgium's lead, European countries, the US and Canada have all developed similar campaigns.

REUTERS: Aftershock shakes Japan's ruined northeast coast

日本再受7.4級餘震沖衝，幸損毀輕微

Aftershock shakes Japan's ruined northeast coast
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE72A0SS20110408

scmp.com: Lawmakers continue to condemn budget

請全力反對＜李嘉誠都有六千蚊財政預算案＞

Lawmakers continue to condemn budget

April 7, 2011
Lai Ying-kit

Legislators from different political camps on Thursday continued to criticise Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah?s budget ? reiterating that it had failed to address Hong Kong?s long-term social problems.

On the second day of Legislative Council talks on the budget, legislators said the budget did little to help the poor, despite a plan to give away about HK$40 billion ? including a HK$6,000 handout to all permanent residents.

They said measures proposed in Tsang?s budget failed to address ?deep-rooted? social problems such as high property prices and a widening wealth gap.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Wing-tat, who represents the New Territories West constituency, said the proposed HK$6,000 cash handouts set a precedent that might expand government expenditure enormously in the future.

People would want more handouts when the economy improved, he said.

?Next year, the public will ask: ?Last year, you gave us HK$6,000. This year, we should have more, say HK$7,000??, Lee said.

Liberal Party lawmaker Vincent Fang Kang, who represents the wholesale and retail sectors, said the public expected the government to invest in Hong Kong?s infrastructure and to allocate more resources to help the underprivileged.

Civic Party leader Audrey Eu Yuet-mee said Tsang?s fourth budget remained his least popular since taking office in 2007.

She said that, even after he announced the cash handout, thousands protested against the budget?s failure to address long-term issues. Tsang?s controversial budget was delivered on February 23. In an unprecedented move a week later, the financial secretary announced amendments to the budget by distributing HK$6,000 to all permanent residents.

This was after his controversial plan to inject HK$24 billion into individual MPF accounts led to a public outcry. Critics said the move would not benefit every Hong Kong resident fairly.

Legislators are expected to vote on the budget next week.

scmp.com: Cap on mainland births at all hospitals

scmp.com: Cap on mainland births at all hospitals

April 7, 2011
Ella Lee

All hospitals in Hong Kong - public and private - will have to cap the number of mainlanders they allow to give birth on their premises, as the government moves to relieve stress on obstetric services for local women.

Secretary for Food and Health Dr York Chow Yat-ngok said the new curbs would cover all eight public hospitals and the 10 private hospitals with obstetric beds.

The move will trigger discussion among private operators on how the cap - or quota - can be shared fairly among them.

The health chief's decision comes after private hospitals said on Monday that they could only freeze the number of babies they deliver, not cut numbers or work under a quota.

"The total number of deliveries in Hong Kong has to be set at a certain limit so that we can maintain the professional standards and also the quality of care," Chow said. "All hospitals, no matter public or private, should work within a quota."

In two months, the government will come up with a quota based on facilities, manpower and demand at individual hospitals. The Department of Health, as the licensing authority for private hospitals, had the regulatory power to enforce the quota, Chow said.

A person familiar with the situation said that at present, the department only had the power to approve new obstetric beds, not to impose a quota on non-local patients. The new policy might involve changes to this.

The government is under growing pressure to reduce the number of babies delivered in the city amid complaints that services for local mothers and newborns are stretched to the limit. Senior obstetricians and paediatricians urged the government to freeze deliveries at last year's level of 88,000, of which about 40,000 were to mainland women.

Private Hospitals Association president Dr Alan Lau Kwok-lam (pictured) warned a rigid quota system could lead to a waste of resources. "If the quota for mainland mothers is not used up and there are not enough local mothers to fill up the capacity, it may lead to waste of manpower at private hospitals."

The head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Prince of Wales Hospital, Dr Cheung Tak-hong, welcomed the government's determination to solve the problem.

The Hospital Authority is also considering a ban on mainland mothers who do not have a Hong Kong husband, and a quota system for all public hospitals.

Many public hospitals, including Prince of Wales, Tuen Mun and Kwong Wah hospitals, stopped admitting mainlanders earlier this year.

But Lau said private hospitals could not limit services to mainland women married to Hongkongers because checking who they were married to might involve privacy issues.

Meanwhile, the deputy director of Union Hospital, Dr Ares Leung Kwok-ling, voiced concern about unethical agents luring mainland mothers to Hong Kong by exaggerating the shortage of obstetric services.

Under the present rules, pregnant mainlanders have to undergo pre-natal checks with Hong Kong doctors before the 27th week of pregnancy to be entitled to book obstetric beds at private hospitals for delivery.

Those who cannot produce a booking certificate are not allowed to cross the border.

Some agents have been arranging Hong Kong doctors to provide pre-natal checks for mainland mothers in Shenzhen and Guangzhou before they come to give birth here. From yesterday, the hospital will not recognise pre-natal checks conducted on the mainland.

scmp.com: HK$1.4m expenses bill of PhD panel queried

"Of the fellows, 62 per cent are from the mainland, 9 per cent from Hong Kong, 11 per cent from Europe and 10 per cent from other Asian countries."

HK$1.4m expenses bill of PhD panel queried

April 6, 2011
Phyllis Tsang

The University Grants Committee (UGC) is planning to spend at least HK$1.4 million this year on paying for overseas members to fly to Hong Kong to attend selection meetings for PhD Fellowship students.
Lawmaker Albert Ho Chun-yan questioned the expenses for the two meetings of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Selection Panel.

In light of the comments, the UGC said it would explore the feasibility of video conferences.

Education Secretary Michael Suen Ming-yeung said in a written reply the HK$1.4 million in this year's budget was an estimate based on expenses for last year's meetings, which came to HK$1.33 million.

That included HK$1.06 million for flights and HK$170,000 for hotel rooms for the 21 non-local members who came to Hong Kong for the meetings. Suen added that the overseas members needed to attend the meetings because the 15 local academics on the panel have possible conflicts of interest when deciding on fellowship candidates.

"We will explore the feasibility of investing in such video-conferencing facilities," Suen continued, "having regard to their financial implications and cost effectiveness, as well as the quality of these facilities."

But the education bureau said that even with the best video-conferencing facilities, meetings at which members are physically present are essential.

On occasion, overseas members will need to travel to Hong Kong to get to know the committee-funded institutions and have face-to-face discussions with staff and students.

The PhD fellowship programme was launched in 2009 to attract top students from Hong Kong and around the world to study at the city's UGC-funded institutions.

A total of 2,996 applications from 100 locations were received last year. The committee offered fellowships to 148 candidates and 115 accepted.

Of the fellows, 62 per cent are from the mainland, 9 per cent from Hong Kong, 11 per cent from Europe and 10 per cent from other Asian countries. The fellowship programme cost a total last year of about HK$86.2 million.

In its reply to Ho, the bureau also said the committee's Research Grants Council held three meetings and spent HK$5 million to fly in overseas members.

The bureau said overseas members brought invaluable advice on global trends, as well as international perspectives on higher education.

REUTERS: China leads challenge to "scientific superpowers"

"Although the United States still leads the world, its share of global authorship has fallen to 21 percent from 26 percent and its closest rival is now China, which has risen from sixth to second place with a share of authorship rising to 10.2 percent from 4.4 percent."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE72R6FQ20110331


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REUTERS Exclusive: Snafus forced Twitter datacenter move: sources

Twitter二千四百萬美元度身定造數據庫中心，新屋入伙後天花漏水、電力供應不足

真搞笑.........

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7307B220110401

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scmp.com: Doctors want births in city capped at 88,000 a year

scmp.com: Doctors want births in city capped at 88,000 a year
http://goo.gl/gAfYH

Ella Lee
Updated on Apr 02, 2011

Doctors urged the government to cap the total number of births in Hong Kong at 88,000 a year - last year's figure - amid growing concern that the number of mainland mothers has overstretched local health care services.

The figure was proposed at a meeting between Secretary for Food and Health Dr York Chow Yat-ngok and a group of public doctors campaigning to control the influx.

Last year 40,000 of the 88,000 deliveries were to non-local mothers; 45,000 babies born in Hong Kong were delivered at private hospitals.

The doctors' group quoted Chow as saying that he agreed with the proposed cap, but his spokesman said later that the secretary agreed in principle that the number of deliveries should match the local manpower situation. Chow said in a statement last night that the health care of local expectant mothers should not be compromised.

"The Hospital Authority will reserve sufficient places for local pregnant women to ensure that they have priority over non-local pregnant women in the use of obstetric services," he said.

Chow also expressed deep concern at the rising number of babies born in Hong Kong to mainland mothers in recent years, from 13,000 in 2004 to more than 40,000.

"It really puts pressure on our obstetrics services and neonatal intensive care units, and maybe even the paediatrics services, and we need to address the issue in respect to patients' safety and in the interests of local expectant mothers," he said.

Dr Cheung Tak-hong, group member and head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Prince of Wales Hospital, said any more than 88,000 deliveries a year would compromise patient care.

Cheung said the cap could be achieved by private hospitals capping their delivery number at last year's level of 45,000 a year while public hospitals gradually cut their admissions of mainland mothers.

The doctors' group, supported by about 800 public health care workers, says the booming private obstetrics market has attracted many experienced public doctors. The growing demand of mainland mothers had put public neonatal services under severe pressure as most parents chose the cheaper public services.

"We understand that it is difficult for the government to use any hard rules to limit the maternity services in the private market, but it can at least sit down and talk to the private sector and play a co-ordinating role," Cheung said.

He said that based on a calculation that about 2.5 per cent of all newborns needed intensive care, the ideal total number of deliveries would be 75,000 a year.

Dr Alan Lau Kwok-lam, president of the Private Hospitals' Association, said it could not comment on the proposed cap before the sector reviewed its manpower situation.

Dr Ares Leung Kwok-ling, deputy medical director of the private Union Hospital, said the cap was a good starting point.

"But of course more details have to be discussed, and it does not mean we can't do 87,000 or 89,000," Leung said.

scmp.com: 100,000 tipped for HK under new abode policy

我只希望他們用MTR時會排隊

政府計劃限制大陸人來港生子，減輕醫護服務高壓情況，擬設每年生子上限十萬

四月二日南華早報報道，政府與醫護界代表相議後，上限或會收緊至八萬八

scmp.com: 100,000 tipped for HK under new abode policy

Chan and Phyllis Tsang
Updated on Apr 01, 2011

A new policy making it easier for the grown-up mainland offspring of Hongkongers to emigrate to the city goes into force today after years of debate and anguish for split families.

About 160,000 mainlanders were eligible, but no more than 100,000 were expected to move to the city, a person familiar with the policy said.

The new immigration policy ends a decade-long saga over the right of abode, and the city is preparing for this group to be a new workforce to ease mounting demand in the construction and catering industries.

Under the new arrangement, the grown-up children of Hongkongers born on the mainland who were under 14 when their natural father or mother obtained a Hong Kong identity card, before November 2001, will be eligible for right of abode.

According to a government study in 1999 on the number of people who would come to Hong Kong, a total of 169,000 mainland children born within registered marriages would be eligible - the first-generation legitimate children of Hong Kong permanent residents on the mainland.

"If we assume that about 60 per cent of them will come here in the end, we are talking about 100,000 people here," said the person familiar with the policy, after analysing mobility of the grown-up mainlanders.

"We expect some 60 to 70 people will come every day and this means all will arrive in town in four to five years," he said.

This would be a healthy, youthful influx given the the city's ageing population, with the majority of people aged between 30 and 50, he said.

Security Bureau principal assistant secretary Maggie Wong Siu-chu said yesterday it was still difficult at this stage to make an accurate estimate of the number of eligible mainlanders who would come to Hong Kong under the scheme.

"The number of eligible applicants would be around the tens of thousands," Wong said.

It would take about three months for applicants to get through the process once they provided sufficient documents for the proceedings, she said.

Fu Bing, an officer of the New Home Association, set up last year to assist new immigrants, said the group had received about 200 calls from grown-up mainlanders on application procedures.

The association was helping to arrange jobs for new migrants in construction, such as bar bender work, and in catering or security.

scmp.com: UK bribery law will affect HK businesses

當英國進一步完善反行賄法例，教育商家公義是在賺錢之上，這時我們香港政府和商家，腦袋裏又是想著甚麼呢？

在英國新反行賄法例下，即使是僱用的英國海外（如香港）agent或contractor行賄，令龍頭英國公司受益，英國公司本身亦有可能要負上法律責任

scmp.com: UK bribery law will affect HK businesses
World's strictest rules to be enacted in July
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=49b26feed6c0f210VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=Hong+Kong&s=News

Irene Jay Liu
Updated on Apr 01, 2011

Britain yesterday released guidelines for the world's strictest
anti-bribery legislation, which affects UK companies operating in Hong
Kong and on the mainland.

The UK parliament passed the 2010 Bribery Act last April, which
affects not only British firms but any company that conducts any part
of its business in the country, as well as those that provide services
to British companies. It goes into effect in July.

Until the British law was passed, the United States had the strongest
anti-corruption legislation in the world in the shape of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, which bans the bribery of foreign
officials. The UK's new law goes further, by also outlawing commercial
bribes.

UK firms may also be liable for acts of bribery by a third-party
service provider, such as an agent or contractor, if the bribe was to
get business, keep business, or gain a business advantage for its UK
client.

"One of the key issues that companies confront in Asia, and especially
in China, is the use of agents, consultants and third-parties," said
Gary Seib, a partner at Baker & McKenzie in Hong Kong who heads the
Firm's Global Dispute Resolution Practice.

Firms can defend themselves against bribery charges if they can show
that they have "adequate procedures" in place to prevent bribery.

But Seib said that the burden of implementing those procedures fell to
the UK company, not local agents. "Let's say that you have a local
agent in Hong Kong or Taiwan. They may not be concerned with
implementing due diligence procedures - the burden will be on the UK
entity. It's the same situation in relation to the [American Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act]."

Seib emphasised that companies operating in Hong Kong and the mainland
should be mindful of local anti-corruption laws as well.

"We see, for example, local investigations take place. China, for
example, has revised its Criminal Law, which has been dubbed the
'Chinese FCPA'. Hong Kong has its own anti-bribery laws.

"Taken as a whole, there's nothing in the guidelines that wasn't
anticipated, it represents what we have been saying for years is 'best
practice' for companies subject to home legislation which impacts on
overseas operations. The more savvy companies with Asian operations
have for a while been mindful of the issue of anti-corruption and put
in place internal operating procedures because of the US FCPA and what
was expected under the guideline," said Richard Tollan, a partner at
law firm Mayer Brown JSM and a former detective inspector in Hong
Kong's commercial crime bureau.

"I think the message is, if you haven't started getting your house in
order, then you really need to do it now," Tollan said.

But for many Hong Kong companies, anti-corruption procedures could be
an entirely new concept.

A survey of top firms in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea,
released in April last year, found nearly half "failed to display any
evidence of taking significant steps to counter bribery". The survey
by Experts in Responsible Investment Solutions studied the
anti-bribery policies of nearly 2,000 FTSE All-World Developed Index
firms for the survey.

"There are many corporates in this part of the world who are not aware
of it, or haven't responded. There's room for much greater awareness,"
Seib said.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said it had
not heard about the newly published guidelines, but said that the
council would examine the issue.

"We will always monitor anything that will impact business with
another country. If it has immediate impact on Hong Kong, we will
decide whether to inform our members," he said.

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