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High Tide (August 28th 2015) – Daily political round up - Harbour Times

High Tide (August 28th 2015) – Daily political round up

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No water filters for private kindergartens; DPHK reveals meeting with Beijing official; Second medical blunder in a row. Photo Credit: Chris Lusher


 

Politics (Gov’t & LegCo)

Kindergartens left out of plan to install water filters for schools.
– The Government announced it will install water filters for all primary and secondary schools built after 2005, but will not test the water supplies
– Some 80 schools will be covered by the plan but private kindergartens were not on the list
– A public housing estate in Sheung Shui was added to the list of lead-taint estates while Diocesan Boys’ School also recorded excessive lead in water

66% vacancy rate in rehousing buildings.
– The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) reported to the LegCo over vacancy rates (ch) of its four properties that accommodate people pending rehousing
– The average vacancy rate was 66% while one particular property in Mongkok had 77% of its flats idled
– The URA decided to relax the eligibility criteria after holding a board meeting last month

Hong Kong and Mexico to launch negotiations on agreement over investment.
– Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So and the Mexican Secretary for Economy Ildefonso Guajardo announced that the two economies will launch negotiations on an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA)
– The announcement was made in Mexico City after So made Mexico his second stop after visiting Chile
– The negotiations are expected to commence in 2016
– Hong Kong has signed 17 IPPAs with other economies

Political (General)

Democratic Party unveils ‘closed-door meeting’ with Beijing Hong Kong affairs official.
– Five core members from the Democratic Party met with Deputy Director Feng Wei from the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office on Wednesday to discuss issues including governance
– It was the first meeting between Beijing and the Democrats after the political reform proposal was blocked in June but other pan-dems, including those within the party, were discontent with the fact that the notice was only made one day after the meeting
– Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau, who was among the five members, said Beijing asked for a ‘low key’ conversation and at least three other party members, including former party chairman Albert Ho who were not in the meeting were given the notice in prior
– The Hong Kong Government released a statement, saying that it “welcomed the meeting and exchange of views…and…is aware of the meeting beforehand and will continue to promote communications

Occupy student leaders charged over triggering 79-day movement.
– Scholarism leader Joshua Wong, former Hong Kong Federation of Students Secretary General Alex Chow and his successor Nathan Law reported to the police over Occupy Movement
The trio were involved when students charged into the the East Wing Forecourt of the Central Government Offices, triggering the 79-day movement
– Chow was charged for taking part in an unlawful assembly and Law was charged for inciting others to take part in it while Wong was charged for both
– Chow and Law said they would not convict while Wong said he would make the call during court hearing

Second medical blunder in a row as organ donor was found to have cancer.
– Hong Kong was hit with another medical blunder as Prince of Wales Hospitalreported that two patient received organ transplant from a donor who passed away and was later found to have cancer
– It was said that the doctors harvesting the kidneys found a sign of cancer on the posterior surface of the right kidney but by the time the transplant teams were notified the heart and lung transplants on two patients were already in progress
– A spokesman of the hospital stressed that the risk of cancer spreading from the kidney to the two transplanted organs was very low