hongkong
Hong Kong lawmakers have expressed their support for a proposal that would allow the authorities to shut down illegal concrete plants. At the legislature’s panel for the environment on Monday, legislators said they supported a new mechanism that would allow environmental authorities to cut off the water and power supply to noncompliant concrete plants. However, they advised the government to be careful when drafting the amendment to avoid impeding legitimate firms’ operations. Environmental authorities are seeking to introduce a closure notice mechanism as an “effective legal means” to close d...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong should prepare a “civil force” to rebut criticism from the West over the city’s human rights record, which has been repeatedly called out since Beijing imposed a security law in 2020, multiple lawmakers have said. The city’s opposition-free legislature on Monday convened a panel on constitutional affairs, in which Chief Secretary Eric Chan presented a government report on a routine review by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Hong Kong, as part of China, is subject to a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) every four or five years over its rights record – a requirement for all 193 U...
Hong Kong Free Press
The Hong Kong government has announced plans to amend several legislations to restrict the appointment of its legal officers to only lawyers who were qualified locally. There was no need for Hong Kong to recruit practitioners admitted in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other jurisdictions to serve as the government’s legal officers, the Department of Justice (DoJ) told a legislative panel on Monday. The proposal to revise the appointment qualification for legal officers would involve amending the Bankruptcy Ordinance, the Legal Officers Ordinance, the Legal Aid Ordinance and the Dir...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong will launch taxi fleets, a regulatory new regime designed to enhance taxi services, by the end of the year, the city’s transport chief has said. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung told Commercial Radio on Sunday that the government had received 15 applications for five taxi fleet licences. Licences would be issued by the end of July, he added, with licenced fleets expected to begin providing services by the end of the year. The government rolled out a series of steps to reform taxi services last July after the industry met with increasing criticism. New measures inclu...
Hong Kong Free Press
A transitional housing scheme has received 9,600 applications since applications opened last month, more than double the number of flats available, Hong Kong’s housing minister has said. Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said on Sunday that applications for Light Public Housing (LPH) submitted by Monday would be prioritised. Those who were not allocated a flat in the first round will have priority when the next batch becomes available. The LPH scheme was introduced by Chief Executive John Lee in his maiden Policy Address as a means to reduce the waiting time for government-subsidised public hous...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s chief secretary has compared patriotic education to dating a woman, saying that getting to know and understand a partner is essential to fall in love with them. Speaking on a Commercial Radio programme on Saturday, the city’s number two leader Eric Chan said the government would not “hard sell” patriotic education because loving a country or a person must “come from the heart.” “Simply put, it is like young people dating. First, you have to get to know the girlfriend. If you don’t even know them, how can you love them?” he said in Cantonese. “Then, you get married… you will love th...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s swimming governing body has announced it would allow a nine-year-old swimmer to join the 2024 swimming championships, after his denial sparked criticism about competition qualification rules. The development came a week after Alex Fong, a former national swimmer and actor, called the Hong Kong China Swimming Association “indifferent” towards young, promising swimmers. He said in a Facebook post that a young swimmer from his swimming club RippleFly Swim was previously barred from participating in the 2024 championships, even though he had met the qualifying time for championships, T...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong independent publisher Beatrix Pang, who co-founded a mobile library to advocate for queer inclusivity and visibility, is exploring ways to transform solidarity with the LGBTQ community into an “everyday” practice. One of those ways was the Queer Reads Friends Market, which Pang put on at the Eaton HK hotel on June 29 and was among many Pride Month events held in Hong Kong. More than 10 publishers and allies of Pang’s Queer Reads Library (QRL) showcased zines, photobooks, postcards and other products to celebrate sexual minorities and their decades-long struggle to achieve equality. P...
Hong Kong Free Press
Pattie, a 55-year-old cleaner in the New Territories, works outside for eight hours a day come rain or shine, or – as is increasingly the case in Hong Kong’s summer months – unbearable heat. “I have to drink seven bottles of drinks a day, including water, homemade herbal tea, energy drinks, and more,” Pattie, who asked to use a pseudonym because of privacy concerns, told HKFP in Cantonese. “Sometimes, when it’s too hot, even the taste of water makes me feel nauseous,” Pattie said. Last year, she experienced heatstroke for the first time, feeling dizzy, and experiencing blurred vision and a pai...
Hong Kong Free Press
Lawmakers have called on the Hong Kong government to offer more permits for online ride-hailing services like Uber, citing a need to ensure competition in the industry. Lawmakers on the legislature’s transport panel met on Friday to discuss the issue after the Transport and Logistics Bureau on Monday presented a document to the legislature outlining the government’s plans to regulate ride-hailing services in the city. While Hong Kong law requires vehicles offering ride-hailing services to have a hire car permit, services such as Uber have continued to operate in the city. See also: Hong Kong m...
Hong Kong Free Press
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