REO finds no repetition

The initial investigation by the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) has showed that no voters in the North District registered themselves more than once in the recent district council elections.

The Democratic Party called for a probe in possible voter fraud, saying it was suspicious that some 5,000 voters were registered with 2,000 names in the North District.

The REO said voters are unable to repeatedly register, because they required to provide ID numbers and other information. There's also a mechanism in the registration system to prevent the same ID from being used to register more than one voter.

1 worker killed, 3 injured in blast

One worker was killed, three were injured, two of them severely, in an explosion at a Water Supplies Department site in Ngau Tau Kok on Wednesday.

A loud bang was heard at the site near Ping Shek Playground on New Clear Water Bay Road, around 1 pm.

The four workers were taken by ambulance to United Christian Hospital, including three who were unconscious. Medical treatment failed to resuscitate one of them.

The initial investigation indicated an unknown gas, probably generated by underground micro-organisms, was ignited by sparks when a worker was drilling. But the gas company said there was no gas leak and the power company said its cables were not damaged.

Firemen march for fewer hours

More than 500 firemen marched from Wan Chai to the government headquarters in Tamar on Wednesday, to demand a reduction of their weekly working hours from 54 hours to 48.

Representatives of the Hong Kong Fire Services Department Staff General Association said the weekly hours of 90 percent of staff of Hong Kong's disciplinary services have been reduced to 48 or even 44 hours. But the government has failed to address the long-working-hour problem of the fire department.

The organizer said all the firemen taking part in the protest were off-duty on Wednesday.

11 estates to treat food waste

A first batch of 11 housing estates has obtained funding from the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) to undertake on-site treatment of food waste at the housing estates, in a bid to encourage households to separate domestic waste at the source.

The ECF launched the HK$50 million scheme, the Food Waste Recycling Projects, in Housing Estates, in July. Eleven housing estates have been given funding support in the first phase, with a total allocation of about HK$9 million. This will subsidize housing estates to procure on-site food waste treatment facilities and introduce other supporting facilities and services.

The on-site food waste treatment facilities are expected to be installed at the 11 housing estates for operation by the first quarter of next year. Each facility will process 50-100 kg of source-separated food waste each day, turning into compost that will be used for landscape applications.

China Daily

(HK Edition 12/01/2011 page1)