Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, today (November 19) extended her congratulations to fencing athletes of Hong Kong, China, namely Cheung Ka-long, Ryan Choi, Leung Chin-yu, and Lawrence Ng, on winning a gold medal in the Men’s Foil Team in fencing event at the 15th National Games of the People’s Republic of China (NG).

Miss Law said, “The men’s foil team demonstrated exceptional performance in the competition. Cheung, Choi, Leung and Ng showcases the ability, morale and confidence of Hong Kong athletes. Their well-deserved gold medal victory was a testament to their excellence, and they ascended the highest podium tier with the support of the home crowd in Hong Kong. I am extremely proud to have witnessed their ultimate victory on site together with many Hong Kong supporters.”

Meanwhile, Miss Law also congratulated Coleman Wong on winning a bronze medal in the Men’s Singles in tennis event today. She extended her best wishes to all Hong Kong athletes for continued success in the remaining competitions, bringing glory to Hong Kong, and expressed hope that members of the public would continue to cheer for them.

The Hong Kong, China Delegation has so far won 19 medals, namely nine golds, two silvers and eight bronzes, in sailing, cycling, tennis, swimming, rugby, triathlon and fencing at the 15th NG.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) today (November 19) recorded a severe paediatric influenza infection case. The CHP reiterated its appeal to urge schools and parents to arrange for schoolchildren to receive free seasonal influenza vaccination (SIV) promptly, as it is one of the most effective ways to prevent seasonal influenza and its complications. Vaccination also reduces the risk of serious illness or death from infection.
 
The case involves a 12-year-old boy with good past health. He attended the United Christian Hospital on November 15 due to his other medical condition and was admitted for treatment. He developed a fever and cough on November 18. His nasopharyngeal swab specimen tested positive for influenza A virus upon laboratory testing. The clinical diagnosis was influenza A infection complicated with shock. He remains hospitalised in the paediatric intensive care unit and is in serious condition.
 
The boy had not yet received the 2025/26 SIV and had no travel history recently. His household contact is currently asymptomatic and no influenza outbreaks have been reported at his school recently.
 
Including the abovementioned case, there have been 20 severe influenza cases involving children so far this summer influenza season, including two fatal cases. The affected children aged 11 months to 17 years. Eleven cases have been recorded since the launch of this year’s SIV Programmes, with only one having received this year’s SIV four days prior to the onset of illness. As it generally takes two weeks for the body to develop sufficient protection after vaccination, in other words, these severe influenza cases are not protected by the vaccine.
 
“According to the latest surveillance data, influenza activity began to decline in the last week of October. However, it remains at a relatively high level. As the weather turns cooler, influenza activity may still fluctuate. Moreover, a winter influenza season may occur early next year. Therefore, I once again urge all persons aged 6 months or above, except those with known contraindications, who have not yet received the SIV to do so promptly. Compared to the winter influenza season earlier this year, there have been more severe paediatric influenza infection cases this season. Currently, among children aged below 18 years, the coverage rate of children aged 6 months to under 2 years is relatively low, at nearly 16 per cent only. Parents should not hesitate and should contact their family doctors as soon as possible to arrange for their children, as well as themselves and other family members, to receive the SIV,” the Controller of the CHP, Dr Edwin Tsui, said.
 
He also reminded members of the public that, especially children, the elderly and those with underlying illnesses, should seek medical advice promptly if they present with fever and respiratory symptoms for early treatment. As children with influenza can deteriorate rapidly, parents must pay close attention to their children’s condition. They should go to an Accident and Emergency Department immediately if the child’s condition deteriorates, for example, if they develop symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing, blue lips, chest pain, confusion, a persistent fever or convulsions.
 
Separately, high-risk individuals should wear surgical masks when staying in crowded places. People with respiratory symptoms, even if mild, should wear a surgical mask and seek medical advice promptly. They should also consider whether to attend work or school.

In addition to issuing timely reminders to healthcare professionals and schools based on the latest seasonal influenza development, the CHP also uploads the latest seasonal influenza information on its website weekly. Members of the public can visit the CHP’s seasonal influenza and COVID-19 & Flu Express webpages.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission: 

     The 2025 Legislative Council General Election (LCGE) will be held on December 7 (Sunday). The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) has arranged in the past few weeks a number of briefings and training sessions for electoral staff responsible for different duties to enhance their understanding of the polling and counting procedures and various details. The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC), Mr Justice David Lok, inspected three of these briefings and training sessions, which took place on October 27, yesterday (November 18) and today (November 19) respectively, to see for himself the preparatory work by electoral staff.

     Today’s hands-on practice was designed for the electoral staff responsible for counting duties for functional constituencies (FCs) at the Central Counting Station (CCS) on the polling day. The electronic counting system was introduced for the first time for the FCs in the 2025 LCGE, with the aim of ensuring that the election will be conducted openly, honestly and fairly, while at the same time applying technology to enhance the counting efficiency. Today’s practice, arranged by the REO, primarily provided the relevant staff with enhanced training and joint drills, covering hands-on practices on each step of the entire process from the arrival of ballot boxes at the CCS to the completion of counting, as well as the fallback contingency measures, to ensure that the counting process will be conducted in an accurate and efficient manner.

     As for yesterday, the REO conducted a training session for the staff responsible for issuing ballot papers and counting duties for geographical constituencies (GCs) at the normal polling-cum-counting stations, enabling them to familiarise themselves with issuing ballot papers using the Electronic Poll Register System and its fallback mode, as well as the manual counting process for GCs, thereby ensuring that they fully understand the arrangements of the polling-cum-counting stations.

     The staff participating in the briefing on October 27 are mainly responsible for counting duties for the Election Committee constituency (ECC) on the polling day. Representatives from the REO briefed the staff on the counting workflow and the electronic counting system to be adopted for the ECC, followed by a demonstration on the operation of the counting machine and the relevant system to enhance the staff’s knowledge of the counting duties for that constituency.

Mr Justice Lok said after the inspection today that the recent briefings and series of training sessions could effectively enhance the staff’s knowledge of the relevant workflow and system operations. He thanked the staff wholeheartedly for their hard work and encouraged them to continue to exert themselves to enable smooth polling and counting on the polling day.

     EAC members Professor Daniel Shek and Mr Bernard Man, SC, also inspected the briefing on October 27 and the hands-on practice today with Mr Justice Lok.

     After the close of poll of the 2025 LCGE, a majority of the Ordinary Polling Stations will be converted into counting stations immediately for the counting of GC votes, while the ballot boxes of all FCs and the ECC will be delivered to the CCS at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for counting with the electronic counting system. As the polling and counting arrangements involve multiple procedures, the REO will continue to arrange more training sessions and simulation exercises for the electoral staff to enhance their co-ordination and response capabilities for making a detailed and comprehensive preparation for the LCGE.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Hong Kong athletes claimed one gold medal and a bronze at the 15th National Games (NG) today, with four athletes being victorious in the Men’s Foil Team in fencing event and the other netting bronze in the Men’s Singles in tennis event.

Secretary for Culture, Sports & Tourism Rosanna Law extended her congratulations to fencing athletes Cheung Ka-long, Ryan Choi, Leung Chin-yu and Lawrence Ng, saying that the foil team demonstrated an exceptional performance in the competition.

Miss Law added that they showcased the ability, morale and confidence of Hong Kong athletes, and that the well-deserved victory was a testament to their excellence, and they ascended the highest podium tier with the support of the home crowd in Hong Kong.

“I am extremely proud to have witnessed their ultimate victory on site together with many Hong Kong supporters.”

She also congratulated Coleman Wong on winning a bronze medal in the Men’s Singles tennis event, and extended her best wishes to all Hong Kong athletes for continued success in the remaining competitions. She expressed hope that the public would continue to cheer for them.

The Hong Kong, China Delegation has so far won 19 medals, including nine golds, two silvers and eight bronzes in sailing, cycling, tennis, swimming, rugby, triathlon and fencing.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) received a 27-year-old man from the Mainland authorities at the Shenzhen Bay Port yesterday (November 18) and arrested him for murder, while two other men, aged 33 and 37, were arrested for conspiracy to murder.

     Investigation revealed that the three arrestees were in suspected connection with a murder case happened in Sha Tin on March 16 afternoon, in which a 52-year-old man died.

     The three men are being detained for enquiries.

     Concerning the aforementioned case, Police had earlier arrested five other men and two women, aged between 25 and 76. Three of the arrestees have been laid holding charges with “assisting offenders”, “misleading police officers”, “conspiracy to wound” and “murder” respectively. The cases were mentioned at Sha Tin Magistrates’ Courts in March and April. The remaining four arrestees have been released on bail.

     Active investigation by the Regional Anti-Triad Unit of New Territories South is under way.
 

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

On a visit to Hong Kong to attend the Economic Transformations in a Multipolar World – International Forum on China’s Economy & Policy 2025, two Nobel laureates shared their views on Hong Kong’s positioning amid trade wars and the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

With the US-China trade war disrupting global trade, 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize laureate in Economic Sciences Joseph E Stiglitz, who has publicly opposed the imposition of tariffs between the two countries, believes the dispute has harmed the US more than China.

“Investment is discouraged because people do not know whether the tariffs will be up or down or where to source their inputs. It has disrupted global supply chains for the US.”

Mr Stiglitz also observed that there has been “no strategy” in the US’ imposition of tariffs.

“The hope for benefits of a return of manufacturing have not come about. There is a little bit in certain limited areas but the overall manufacturing employment, I believe, is actually even down.”

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has continued to act as a “super connector” and “super value-adder” between China and the international community through uncertain economic times, he pointed out, adding that this role has become more important than ever.

“China will continue to export. It may not export as much to the US. It will export more to Africa.

“As a commercial and investment hub, a financial hub, Hong Kong becomes even more important because it gives that flexibility of knowing the global market.”

Separately, 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize laureate in Economic Sciences and member of the Chief Executive’s Council of Advisers on Innovation & Entrepreneurship Michael Spence shared his insights on how Hong Kong can benefit from the rapid development of AI.

Mr Spence agrees that the Government can make good use of AI when providing services and suggests it should ensure balanced development across different industries when promoting AI-related policies.

“If we are going to get the full effect of AI in the economy, it has to diffuse through the whole economy.

“Previous rounds of digital adoption suggest that a few sectors and a few firms go way ahead, and other ones lag badly, so you get a big divergence. That pattern is not a good idea.

“The Government and public policy and partnerships between the private and public sector have an important role in making sure that diffusion process works.”

His views are consistent with the Government’s initiative to promote AI application across diverse industries.

The two laureates met Chief Executive John Lee yesterday to exchange views on Hong Kong’s economy, AI and education. They also spoke at the Economic Transformations in a Multipolar World – International Forum on China’s Economy and Policy 2025 organised by the Chief Executive’s Policy Unit.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Deputy Chief Secretary Cheuk Wing-hing today chaired the 10th meeting of the Task Force on District Governance to follow up on the initiatives in accordance with the work assigned by the Steering Committee on District Governance.

The meeting co-ordinated various departments in formulating specific implementation measures on issues of local concern and continuously reviewed the work progress and performance.

Mr Cheuk said: “With the concerted efforts of all departments, various measures have been steadily implemented in accordance with the overall strategies set by the steering committee, effectively improving environmental hygiene, enhancing community development, and strengthening district services.

“The task force will continue to co-ordinate departments in stepping up the speed and efficiency in addressing a range of pressing district concerns, continuously improving people’s livelihood and well-being.”

At the meeting, the task force followed up on the implementation progress and outcomes of the initiatives on strengthening community support.

Among others, 200 primary schools have participated in the School-based After School Care Service Scheme, providing a total of about 10,600 service places.

The Government has also launched the first-phase Carer Support Data Platform, which integrates the data of the Housing and Social Welfare departments to identify high-risk cases with relatively limited community support.

As of end-October, Care Teams have visited or reached out to over 18,000 singleton and doubleton elderly households, carers of the elderly and the disabled, and referred more than 900 cases to social welfare service units.

The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has taken enforcement actions against shopfront extensions under the Public Health & Municipal Services (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 to safeguard environmental hygiene.

As of September 30, the FEHD has issued over 7,000 Statutory Nuisance Notices in response to environmental nuisances caused by air-conditioner water dripping, with the vast majority of cases already rectified.

Furthermore, various departments continue to improve the waiting environment at public transport interchanges, including the ventilation system and lighting.

Mr Cheuk thanked all departments for their dedicated efforts in advancing the above work and achieving notable results.

He urged all departments to uphold the spirit of unity and pragmatism and continue actively following up on various livelihood-related issues, effectively enhancing people’s quality of life and well-being.

The Government is making full preparations for the Legislative Council General Election to be held on December 7. Mr Cheuk directed department heads to put in place comprehensive arrangements and ensure close co-ordination, carrying out all related tasks in a thorough, detailed and pragmatic manner.

He requested all departments to provide practicable measures to facilitate staff members in voting, and to make good use of government district facilities and networks to widely disseminate messages encouraging voter turnout.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Transport Department (TD) today said it is collaborating with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in an investigation into a case involving eight people using false documents to apply for the direct issue of a Hong Kong Full Driving Licence.

The department said it renders full assistance to the ICAC for the probe and has cancelled the Hong Kong driving licences of the people concerned based on the investigation findings.

Reaffirming that every “direct issue” application is rigorously processed and verified to ensure applicants meet the legal requirements, the department noted that it reviews the application process as appropriate to cope with the application demand and operational requirements.

Should there be any doubts about the supporting documents submitted by the applicant during the vetting process, the TD will seriously follow up, including approaching the relevant consulate or transport authority for verification to ensure the authenticity of the documents.

The application will be rejected if the applicant does not fully meet the application eligibility and requirements, it added.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government stressed that the “direct issue” arrangements in Hong Kong with the recognised countries and places are operated on the principles of mutual recognition and reciprocity, adding that it has zero tolerance against anyone in or outside Hong Kong obtaining a driving licence through fraudulent activities that will jeopardise road safety and the road users’ confidence.

According to the Road Traffic Ordinance, any person who makes any false statement for the purpose of obtaining any driving licence is liable to a maximum fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for six months.

The TD will strictly monitor the implementation of the “direct issue” arrangements and review the relevant procedures with reference to the corruption prevention advice of the ICAC, and will refer suspected cases to law enforcement agencies for investigation.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Reigstration & Electoral Office (REO) will set up polling stations near the boundary to facilitate electors in need to cast their votes on Legislative Council election day scheduled for December 7.

The REO said any registered electors on the 2025 final registers of electors for geographical constituencies (GCs) and functional constituencies (FCs) can vote at specified Near Boundary Polling Stations (NBPSs) and timeslots after registration.

They may register through “iAM Smart” or the online registration system from today until 6pm on December 2.

The NBPSs will be located at Hong Kong Taoist Association Tang Hin Memorial Secondary School and Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Kap Yan Directors’ College in Sheung Shui; the Arrival Hall, Ground Floor, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Port Passenger Clearance Building; and the Coach Hall of Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 2.

Electors who choose to vote at a Sheung Shui NBPS will be automatically allocated to vote at one of the NBPSs at the two Sheung Shui schools in accordance with their GCs. The allocated polling station will be clearly stated in the confirmation notice issued to the electors.

Electors who vote at the Sheung Shui NBPSs may walk for about five minutes from Sheung Shui MTR Station or take a free shuttle bus to reach their polling stations.

On polling day, the NBPSs will open from 7.30am to 11.30pm. Registered electors must bring their Hong Kong ID cards to vote at their NBPSs and timeslots as registered.

In case of a change in itineraries, these electors will need to cancel or change the registration through “iAM Smart” or the online registration system during the registration period. Thereafter, they will be changed back to their originally allocated polling stations to cast their votes on polling day.

After the registration period expires, the electors concerned will need to contact the REO at 2891 1001 to make the change.

For enquiries, call 2891 1001 or send an email to: reoenq@reo.gov.hk.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Government today announced the establishment of the Green Maritime Fuel Development Communication Platform to catalyse the development of a green maritime fuel bunkering supply chain in Hong Kong.

The communication platform will bring together upstream and downstream companies within the green maritime fuel bunkering supply chain, including fuel suppliers, shipping companies, and port operators, among others.

In addition to gathering views from platform members regarding the development of green maritime fuel bunkering and trading in Hong Kong, the Government will organise networking activities and business meetings to enhance stakeholder communication and co-operation.

Secretary for Transport & Logistics Mable Chan said the Government warmly welcomes Hong Kong companies as well as Mainland and foreign companies with a presence in the city to join the platform.

Noting that 25 companies and industry organisations have so far joined the communication platform, the Transport & Logistics Bureau encouraged more companies and industry organisations engaged in green maritime fuel bunkering to join and explore business opportunities together.

Click here for details.