New taxi fares in force on Sunday

The new taxi fares approved by the chief executive in council will take effect on Sunday.

Urban taxis' flagfall charge for the first 2 kilometers will be raised to HK$20, the flagfall charges for New Territories will increase to HK$16.5 and Lantau taxis to HK$15.

The incremental charges remain the same.

Man pleads guilty to loitering

A man who took hold of the hands of kindergarten pupils when he loitered near school premises pleaded guilty to loitering on Wednesday in the Kowloon City Magistrates' Court.

The court heard that Tang Wai-ho, 30, who was employed as a maths tutor, took the hand of a 5-year-old girl at a kindergarten in Mong Kok in April. The girl struggled free of his grasp.

In May, Tang took the hand of a 3-year-old girl outside a Kowloon City kindergarten, while the domestic helper supervising the girl was distracted, talking on her mobile phone. The kindergarten's principal took hold of the child to protect her. Tang escaped but was apprehended later by police.

Defense counsel argued in mitigation on Wednesday that Tang didn't commit a serious offense though the case raised public concern. The matter was adjourned, pending psychiatric, psychological and probation reports.

Program to prevent suicide

The Social Welfare Department is preparing to launch a pilot community-based suicide prevention program through the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of the University of Hong Kong.

The three-year program will have as its primary target youths in the 15-24 age group in the North District, said Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung.

The project includes awareness campaigns, studies on efficacy of various suicide prevention measures, identification of people at high suicide risk and community-based educational, supportive and counseling services, said Cheung.

Locals lax with card security

More than 45 percent of Hong Kong credit card holders rarely change their personal identification numbers (PINs) and more than 20 percent recorded their PINs in their notebooks, computers and cell phones, a survey released on Wednesday says.

The survey was conducted in October in 11 Asian markets including Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

A total of 5,500 credit card users were polled.

Banks urged to waive HK$15 fee

The Liberal Party has urged the Bank of China, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank to waive the HK$15 per capita administratsion fee for the government's HK$6,000 handout.

The top three banks are expected to rake in tens of millions in the fee, which will be paid by the government.

If the top three banks take the lead in helping to save taxpayers' money, other banks will follow, the party argued.

China Daily

(HK Edition 07/07/2011 page1)