{headline} Controversial drama episode to be screened {article} THE controversial episode of a Radio Television Hongkong (RTHK) drama series, Stormy Weather, will be aired on Saturday now the director has made some cuts. {para} The executive producer of RTHK's drama section, Auguste Yem Wai, said yesterday the director, Rachel Zen Wei-che, had finished cutting down the drama to 51 minutes. {para} The theme song and promotion shots will not be shown to give extra time for Ms Zen's production, which is five minutes longer than the standard length. {para} The original 90-minute version of Stormy Weather was an episode in the drama series Below The Lion Rock, and was meant to be screened last week. {para} It included scenes of a crackdown on democracy in an unnamed country and focused on the dilemma of a television station editor over how to handle an interview with the country's leader. {para} RTHK decided to postpone the episode because Ms Zen had failed to cut her production by last Wednesday's deadline. {/article}

{headline} Chinese pitch wins Hongkong Stadium {byline} By JEREMY WALKER {article} HONGKONG'S famous Rugby Sevens tournament is set to break new ground next year - the first international Sevens event to be played on communist soil. {para} The pitch for the Hongkong Stadium is being grown in sections in China and will be transported to the territory before the tournament on March 27 and 28. {para} The turf will have been laid by the time the stadium, which will be half way through an $850 million facelift, is handed over to the tournament organiser, the Hongkong Rugby Football Union. {para} ``After that, it's going to be all hands to the pump,'' said the Union's chief executive, Mr David Roberts, who was part of an inspection team at the So Kon Po site yesterday. {para} ``We will only have a week to get the stadium into shape for the Sevens, but we're confident everything will be in place. {para} ``When the work is finished, in time for the 1994 Sevens, Hongkong will have a fabulous stadium.'' {para} The venue is being redeveloped thanks to a grant from the Royal Hongkong Jockey Club and is due to be completed in March 1994. {para} There will be accommodation for 28,000 spectators at next year's Sevens, including 100 patrons' boxes, and the capacity will be increased to 40,000, all seated, in 1994. {/article}

{headline} Demand by seamen for extra insurance {byline} By NG KANG-CHUNG, KAREN CHENG and agencies {article} LOCAL seamen are demanding extra insurance for working in the Strait of Malacca after a collision on Sunday which left eight Hongkong crewmen missing. {para} Only three of the 44 crewmen on board the Japanese tanker Nagasaki Spirit and the Hongkong-managed container ship Ocean Blessing had been accounted for late last night. {para} Two survivors and one body - all from the 96,000- tonne Nagasaki Spirit - have so far been found and hopes for those missing are fading. {para} Three tugboats from the Hongkong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), which manages the Panamanian-registered Ocean Blessing, have reached the scene to help in fire-fighting and rescue operations. {para} OOCL spokesman Mr Stanley Shen Chi-ching said the company had set up a five-man team which was heading from Singapore to Belawan to co-ordinate the rescue and salvage of the 22,000-tonne Ocean Blessing. {para} An Indonesian Navy vessel was patrolling the area while ships from other nations and helicopters were helping with rescue attempts, Mr Shen said. {para} An extensive search by United States Search and Rescue teams had already ascertained that there were no survivors within a 20-kilometre radius of the crash site. {para} But they were still hopeful that fishing boats returning to nearby villages would have more information about the crews. {para} OOCL had contacted all families of the Hongkong crewmen, but the company would not fly them to Indonesia until there was sufficient information to establish the need, Mr Shen said. {para} He said the 18 crewmen rescued by fishing boats as reported earlier were from an Indonesian vessel involved in a previous collision last Friday, not related to Sunday's incident. {para} According to information received from the tugboats, Mr Shen said the fire had subsided considerably and there were only small fires on the surface of the deck of Ocean Blessing. {para} Although the ship was seriously damaged, there was no fire in the accommodation section. {para} ``As soon as conditions permit, we will go on board the ship and check the accommodation section, then we will be able to establish clearly the fate of our crew,'' he said. {para} A brief statement received from one of the survivors from Nagasaki Spirit raised hopes that fishing vessels might have more information about the crewmen. {para} The survivor said he had been picked up by an Indonesian fishing vessel, and subsequently transferred to another Japanese tanker in the vicinity. {para} Ocean Blessing was listing 15 degrees to port with damage to its bow, while the Nagasaki was damaged on its port side, just in front of the superstructure. {para} Hongkong seamen yesterday claimed they faced greater risk of accidents in the congested strait, which is used by about 2,000 vessels each day. They also claimed the strait was full of pirates. {para} Hongkong Seamen's Union chairman Mr Mak Chan said shipping companies should buy extra insurance for seamen if they were crewing vessels using the strait. {para} Mr Mak also said the present accident compensation under the labour ordinances, which allow a worker to get cash compensation equalling his total wages for seven years, was not enough. {para} The comments came as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) said it would investigate whether pirates or anyone else had shot at the Nagasaki Spirit just after midnight on Sunday. {para} An IMO representative in Kuala Lumpur cited reports that the tanker's skipper had said in an emergency radio message that the ship was ``fired upon''. {para} The Hongkong shipping industry dismissed Mr Mak's claims as ``impractical'' and ``unnecessary'', saying the piracy problem in the strait had eased in recent months. {para} The vice-chairman of Worldwide Shipping Agency, Mr Stephen Pan, said it was too early to decide what should be done when the cause of the accident was still unknown. {para} ``The waterway is busy but we do not feel that the situation has worsened in recent years,'' Mr Pan said. {para} Hongkong Shipowners' Association director, Mr Michael Farlie, said the situation in the strait was not unique. There were many equally busy waterways in the world. {para} ``And it has not been established that last Sunday's accident has any linkage with piracy,'' said Mr Farlie. {para} He also disagreed with a proposal by the Malaysian Government to charge shippers a levy to help manage the sea traffic in the strait, describing it as a ``not well thought through'' idea. {para} Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Mr Zaleha Ismail said his nation would call the United Nations General Assembly's attention to Sunday's collision and an earlier crash last Friday. {/article}

{headline} Pupils `penalised by payout' {byline} By BERYL COOK {article} THE children at English Schools Foundation schools would be penalised by the ``excessive'' $4.35 million payout to their former chief executive, some parents and teachers said yesterday. {para} Most teachers said the payout was an acceptable amount, but a few felt it was too big. {para} ``It does seem a little high but no one seems to have managed to get a copy of the contract and find out exactly what it promised [former chief executive Mr Maurice Millard], so there is no way of knowing whether the ESF got off cheap,'' said one teacher, who asked not to be named. {para} Most parents thought the figure was excessive and would lead to cutbacks in other areas. {para} Mrs Fiona Moss, who has three children at an ESF school, said most parents were disappointed with the size of the payout. {para} ``That money was $4 million that should have been spent on children's education. It could have refurbished the new school at Clearwater Bay, where the students have hardly any shade from the sun, no trees, and the parents have to pour money into the Parents and Teachers Association because they [ESF] don't provide a thing,'' she said. {para} ``You have kids eating their lunch in the classroom because there is no dining hall, and five-year-olds out in the sun with hardly any covered areas and a China Light and Power station taking up half of it. {para} ``The foundation had a chance to make this school a showpiece and they let it go, yet they can make a payout that big to someone doing a job not many people were happy with.'' {para} She said it was ironic that the payout was so big for someone who had been employed to cut costs. But she said Mr Millard had been the scapegoat and the administration was more to blame. {para} They had demonstrated a lack of planning in having a substation in the children's playground, and in the contract given to Mr Millard, she said. {para} Most parents were disappointed with the size of the payout and fed up with paying high fees for education facilities that did not compare to the United Kingdom, Mrs Moss said. {para} Another parent, Dr John Merritt, said the legal restraints of Mr Millard's contract could have made the size of the payout necessary. {para} ``But the foundation should make sure the contract reflects the reality of life in Hongkong; that nothing is safe and for life and secure. {para} ``Paying a good wage is one thing, but promising they have a job for life is not a good idea.'' {para} He said the new chief executive should be more accountable to those who paid for his services. {/article}

{headline} Li `playing to gallery' says Chow {article} INDEPENDENT legislator Mr David Li Kwok-po was yesterday accused of trying to play to the gallery in his recent thinly-veiled criticism of the Co-operative Resources Centre (CRC). {para} Claiming that she did not know who Mr Li was referring to in his remarks, CRC member Mrs Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee said she was surprised at his comments. {para} Mr Li made his remarks in a speech entitled ``Hongkong in Transition: The Challenge of Change'', delivered to the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London last Friday. {para} Although Mr Li stopped short of naming the CRC, his remarks were a thinly veiled reference to the group. {para} ``It is ironic to see the millionaire politicians, high priests of Hongkong capitalism, bowing before the altar of communism during their servile pilgrimages to Beijing,'' he said. {para} As a former Basic Law drafter, Mrs Chow said, ``I thought he would have encouraged communication with China.'' {/article}

{headline} Frustration at lack of answers {byline} By JEREMY LAU {article} LEGISLATORS are dissatisfied with the Government's inability to get answers and co-operation from Chinese authorities over repeated incursions by mainland patrols into Hongkong waters. {para} Members of the Omelco Security Panel were told at a meeting with the administration that there had been four incursion incidents during the past two months. {para} The cases took the number of incursions by Chinese authorities to 12 so far this year, compared with a total of 17 cases for last year. {para} The members were told that the Government had raised the four cases of incursion with the New China News Agency but the agency only acknowledged that an incursion took place in Hongkong waters on August 29. {para} ``It was a mistake, they had said that,'' said Mr Alasdair Sinclair, the Acting Deputy Secretary for Security. {para} Excluding yesterday's incident, the incursion incidents during the past two months were: {para} September 15 - Chinese security officials on a sampan pointed their rifles at Hongkong police chasing the sampan, which was alongside a speedboat east of Waglan and the Ninepins Islands. {para} August 29 - a Vietnamese cargo ship was boarded by 14 armed Chinese officials south of Round Island inside Hongkong waters. {para} August 28 - a Vietnamese cargo ship was chased by a number of speedboats off Stanley Beach and boarded by Chinese officials. {para} August 11 - a local fishing vessel was intercepted by a Chinese patrol craft south of Sham Wan, Lamma Island. At least 10 shots were fired by the four uniformed men boarding the fishing boat. {para} Mr Sinclair said China had repeatedly said that it was not its policy to exercise its jurisdiction within Hongkong waters, but incursion cases continued. {para} He said it would be quite difficult to prevent such incidents. {para} ``I suppose it may be quite difficult because there's a large number of Chinese vessels operating not far from Hongkong waters. {para} ``These are, by and large, small vessels commanded by junior personnel. For one reason or another they do sometimes come in,'' he said. {para} ``There's nothing we can do directly but as I said, it's against Chinese policy that it should do that. {para} ``So what we are doing is pressing China to take measures necessary to ensure their vessels do comply with their policy,'' he said. {para} Mr Sinclair added that until the conclusion of Border Liaison Group talks, uncertainties and ambiguities about the boundary between Hongkong and China would remain. {para} The deputy convenor of the panel, Mrs Elsie Tu, said members were not satisfied, because the Government had not received any answers from China. {para} Mrs Tu said she was concerned that China might be over-reacting to Hongkong's plea for assistance in the crackdown on cross-border smuggling activities and because of this crossed the water boundary. {para} ``The only solution to the problem is to have closer and better communications [between Hongkong and China] so that if anything goes wrong, it can be immediately discussed,'' she said. {para} Mr James To Kun-sun of the United Democrats of Hongkong said China should respect Hongkong's territorial waters and inform Hongkong if suspects crossed the border and got into the territory. {/article}

{headline} Inaction `threat to export status' {byline} By JEREMY LAU {article} LIBERAL legislators yesterday slammed the Government for trying to shrug off its responsibility to help foreign vessels being intercepted by Chinese authorities in or near Hongkong waters. {para} Members of the United Democrats of Hongkong (UDHK) said Hongkong's status as an export port would be jeopardised if the Government did not assume its fair share of responsibility to offer assistance to the vessels. {para} Speaking after a meeting of the Omelco Security Panel, the UDHK security spokesman, Mr James To Kun-sun, said Hongkong's territorial waters were surrounded by that of China and it was impossible for cargo ships to reach the high seas directly from Hongkong waters. {para} Mr To said it would be unfair for the Government to suggest that the vessels intercepted by Chinese authorities should take their cases to their flag states. {para} The ship-owners must have their own reasons for choosing foreign countries to be their flag states, he said. {para} Similarly, Mr To said, there had to be reasons for businessmen to choose Hongkong as the port to export their products. {para} ``No businessmen will be daring enough to send out their products from Hongkong if the Government simply said the vessels are registered overseas and should raise matters with their flag states,'' he said. {para} Mr To urged the Government to ask China to respect Hongkong's territorial waters and give that priority over China's determination to chase smugglers. {para} China should inform Hongkong police immediately if the suspected smugglers being chased had entered Hongkong waters, he said. {para} Mr To criticised the Government for being too passive in its handling of such cases. {para} The Government should take the initiative by contacting Chinese authorities instead of just making inquiries with the local branch of the New China News Agency, he said. {para} He was contradicted by the Acting Deputy Secretary for Security, Mr Alasdair Sinclair, who said foreign vessels intercepted by Chinese authorities were not primarily the Government's responsibility. {para} Captains of the vessels should take the cases up with their flag states. It was the flag state that was responsible for protecting its ships, he said. {para} ``The incidents, for one, did not happen in Hongkong waters. They occurred inside Lema Channel, which is prohibited to non-Chinese vessels. The vessels should not be in that position and should leave Hongkong by the regular channel, which is to the southeast,'' he said. {para} At yesterday's meeting, panel members were told there had been six ``intercept'' incidents in the past two months involving at least nine Vietnamese cargo ships and three Panamanian vessels. {para} The interceptions happened on: {para} September 14 - a Panamanian vessel was boarded by six to seven armed Chinese security officials southeast of Waglan Island in Chinese waters. {para} September 10 - a Panamanian vessel was boarded by two uniformed Chinese officials south of Waglan Island again in Chinese waters. {para} September 7 - another Panamanian cargo ship was intercepted by an unidentified speedboat south of Waglan Island in Chinese waters. {para} August 29 - a Vietnamese cargo ship was boarded by 14 armed Chinese officials south of Round Island in Hongkong waters. {para} August 28 - a Vietnamese cargo ship was chased by a number of speedboats off Stanley Beach and boarded by Chinese officials. {para} Various dates - at least seven Vietnam-bound vessels were taken to Shekou where goods were seized. {para} The Government had raised five of the cases with the NCNA but the agency only apologised for trespassing into Hongkong waters on August 29. No reply had been received about the other cases. {/article}

{headline} 87 motorbikes seized {article} TEN crew members of a Chinese fishing vessel were arrested and 87 motorcycles valued at $700,000 seized by Anti-Smuggling Task Force officers last night. {para} Superintendent Lam Kwai-bun said it was the first seizure made during an overnight territory-wide anti-smuggling operation involving 400 officers from the police, the Customs Department and the Royal Navy. {para} He said his officers laid an ambush at a construction site in Cherry Street, Tai Kok Tsui, and surprised a group of men loading the motorcycles from two lorries into the hold of a 30-metre fishing vessel from Shanmei, a coastal city in Guangdong province. {para} Police also impounded the fishing vessel, valued at more than $1 million, and the two lorries. {para} The site's watchman said he had been threatened by several into letting the two lorries on the site. {/article}

{headline} Freighter fire {article} FIREMEN battled for nine hours to extinguish a blaze on board a ship near Stonecutters Island yesterday. {para} One fire boat and a team of firemen wearing breathing apparatus fought the blaze on board the 12,000- tonne freighter laden with 7,000 tonnes of fish meal. {/article}

{headline} Polite protests will not stop incursions {article} THE confrontation off Waglan Island yesterday, in which armed Chinese personnel reportedly boarded a Marine Police launch and threatened an officer at gunpoint is the most serious cross- border incursion yet. It was the fifth such incident into Hongkong waters in a month by Chinese security officials who claim they have been chasing smugglers and, on occasion, escorting them back to the mainland. If yesterday's incident was disturbing, it was the first time that Chinese security officials have boarded a Hongkong Marine launch and threatened officers at gunpoint. Although the Chinese Border Liaison Office later issued an apology for any improper action taken by its officers, the incident is worrying for two reasons. First, by turning their guns on officers of the Crown and treating them like criminals, Chinese security officers have shown contempt not only for Hongkong law but their local counterparts. Second, the actions of the Chinese security officials suggest a blatant disregard for the sovereignty of the territory's waters - an attitude likely to spell increasing trouble in the run-up to 1997. From what can be ascertained, the Marine Police launch became involved when it was alerted that a fishing vessel was being towed off Waglan Island by an official Chinese speedboat. When the Marine Police launch arrived at the scene and tried to take pictures, it was boarded by mainland security officials, its officers threatened at gun point, the camera confiscated and film destroyed. {para} Ironically, yesterday's incident came on the same day as the Omelco Security Panel was being briefed by government security officials on the increasing incidence of cross-border incursions by official Chinese vessels. Legislators took security officials to task for failing to stand up to the Chinese over incursions and not doing enough to stop such worrying incidents. No doubt legislators are now more convinced of the Government's limp-wristed handling of events, despite the Political Adviser informing the New China News Agency of its grave concern over the matter. {para} In the absence of a full and satisfactory explanation by China of recent incursions, including the seizure of at least seven Vietnam- bound vessels and the detention of a Vietnamese cargo vessel last month, it is difficult to ascertain what the Chinese security forces are up to. The most generous explanation would be that over-zealous officers on anti-smuggling duties are accidentally entering Hongkong's territorial waters. {para} Two other explanations are more plausible, however: either corrupt officials are attempting to make a killing by raiding ships, or the Chinese authorities believe the boundaries between Hongkong and China represent only a legal nicety that can be conveniently overlooked when they interfere with law-enforcement operations. Either explanation is worrying and a combination of piracy and aggressive cross-border policing would have serious economic and political implications for Hongkong. {para} China's response so far offers little reason to believe that it will treat the matter with any degree of seriousness. Despite last night's apology, a full and proper accounting is unlikely. Previous approaches to the Chinese authorities, in Beijing and London and through the New China News Agency, in recent weeks have failed to elicit much response, let alone any admission of responsibility. Only in the case of the Vietnamese cargo vessel Trany, which was chased by a number of speedboats off Stanley Beach last month and then boarded, has Beijing offered anything approaching an apology. What is clear is that the actions of the Chinese security forces, whatever the motivation, have turned the issue into a political, rather than a mere cross-border security problem. Good relations between the authorities in Guangdong and Hongkong are vital in the run-up to 1997, but the apparent lack of co-operation from Guangdong suggests that Hongkong should make its concerns known at the highest levels. It should be a matter of urgency that London and Beijing take up the issue, unless of course, the Hongkong Government's preferred option is to continue politely protesting while the incursions carry on unabated. {/article}

{headline} Checks for ships eased to aid trade {byline} By KAREN CHENG {article} SHIPS from former Eastern bloc countries and Vietnam can now enter Hongkong waters free of immigration examination, a move likely to boost bilateral trade. {para} But Assistant Director of Immigration Mr Choy Ping- tai was confident the relaxation would not open the door to smuggling activities as past records of ships from these countries showed there was no cause for concern, and the department would maintain spot checks. {para} For the first six months of this year, 570 ships came from the former Eastern bloc countries and Vietnam, an increase of 60 per cent over the same period last year. {para} Mr Choy said their records showed they had never engaged in illegal activities and no crewmen had been arrested. Therefore, the department had decided to grant them the right to apply for a pre-arrival clearance (PAC). {para} The ships can now apply for a PAC before leaving their last port before arriving in Hongkong within a maximum of 48 hours. {para} Once the applications are approved, the ships can enter Hongkong waters without the need to stop at anchorages off Lei Yu Mun or Lantau Island for inspection. {para} At present, more than half the ships sailing into Hongkong are given PACs and Mr Choy said they had not encountered any problems. {para} It is understood the only country not now entitled to a PAC is North Korea. {para} Chinese ships are generally not given the privilege also because of the problem of illegal immigrants. {para} Mr Choy also pointed out that the move could lead to a staff saving of 10 per cent, with some officers being redeployed to other duties. The division currently employs 80 officers. {/article}

{byline} By JIMMY LEUNG {article} HEAVILY-ARMED policemen yesterday searched Yuen Long town centre for three men who fired a shot at pursuing officers after raiding a petrol station. {para} No one was hurt but about 100 officers were put on full alert in the first incident of robbers firing at policemen since a fierce gunbattle on May 30 in which 19 shots were exchanged after a jewellery shop raid. {para} After the robbery, officers sealed off a restaurant where a 21-year-old suspect, later found to be an illegal immigrant, was arrested. {para} Police also seized a Chinese-made 7.62 mm-calibre pistol and five rounds of ammunition inside a men's toilet on the first floor of the Kar Ho Restaurant. {para} The robbers dumped two bags containing about $20,000 in cash at the petrol station when they saw a police motorcyclist approaching. {para} They jumped into a getaway car but were chased by a police patrol car. {para} Detective Chief Inspector Jonathan Lee Tak-yu said more than 100 police, including the Police Tactical Unit, searched the town centre after the gang abandoned the vehicle in Kau Yuk Road when it became caught in a traffic jam. {para} Police stopped several light rail vehicles bound for Tuen Mun after they were told some of the robbers had been seen boarding a train. {para} The robbery occurred at the Esso petrol station in Tai Tong Road shortly before 9 am. {para} Two men, one armed with a pistol and the other a knife, entered the service station and threatened the manager, 53-year-old Mr Ng Yuk- cho, who initially thought they were customers. {para} Mr Ng said: ``One of the men suddenly took out a black pistol and said: `Don't move! Robbery'.'' {para} Mr Ng said that as he opened the cash drawers he signalled to a filling attendant outside to call the police. {para} When the robbers saw a police motorcyclist, they fled. {para} After leaving the getaway car, the robbers and their driver ran into Yan Lok Square. One suspect fired a shot at police but missed. {para} The gunman tried to fire a second shot but failed. The gang then disappeared. {para} Meanwhile yesterday, two men armed with knives climbed into a seventh-floor flat at North Point, woke up the tenant, tied him up and stole foreign currency and valuables worth more than $20,000. {para} The 26-year-old tenant, who was not injured, told police he was woken at about 5 am by the men, who used one of his neckties to tie him up. {para} A businessman wanted for extradition to the United States for conspiracy to traffic in heroin, and in connection with the murder of a Chinese man in New York last year, was arrested in his luxurious Grandeur Villa home in Yau Yat Chuen last night. {para} Two women were also led away to assist investigations by Narcotics Bureau detectives. {para} Documents, cash and 20 grams of methylamphetamine which has a retail price of $8,000, were also seized. {para} Police said the arrested man would appear before a magistrate in Eastern Court today. {para} Last night's raid was believed to be a follow-up to the arrest of six men during a territory-wide operation on Sunday, also wanted in the US for allegedly importing heroin worth about $2.4 billion into the country. {/article}

{headline} Raider told Ti: we die together {byline} By AMY CHEW {article} AN armed raider told former actress and television presenter Tina Ti they would ``die together'' when he discovered the police had been called to her home during a robbery, a coroner's court heard yesterday. {para} Tse Yuen-ming had broken into the Peak Road home of Ms Ti, whose real name is Leung Kwok-hing, on June 6. {para} Tse died from gunshot wounds to the chest and suffered injuries to the spine, spinal cord, lung, trachea, gullet and aorta after being shot by police when he tried to escape with Ms Ti as a hostage. {para} Coroner's officer Mr Paul Madigan told the court that Ms Ti and her husband were woken by the smell of burning at about 7.30 am on June 6. {para} Her husband went to the kitchen to check. When Ms Ti heard the noise of someone outside the bedroom who did not sound like her husband, she dialed 999. {para} She then went to the bedroom door and saw her husband being threatened by a masked man holding a pistol. {para} The carpet at the bedroom door was on fire. {para} The intruder pointed his gun at Ms Ti and told her and her husband to sit on the floor. {para} ``I requested the culprit to first put out the fire,'' Ms Ti said in her police statement. She did not attend the hearing because she was on a business trip in England. {para} The fire was put out and Tse handed her some cloth strips and told her to tie her husband's legs and hands. She was also told to take out her money and jewellery. {para} She said that Tse also prised open two drawers in a wardrobe, from which he took cash and jewellery, placing them inside a bag. {para} At this point, they heard vehicles and Tse went to the window. {para} When he saw the police he became angry and told Ms Ti: ``You've called the cops. We'll die together,'' and slapped her on the face. {para} Ms Ti was then taken to the front door, where Tse pointed a pistol at her neck. {para} As she was dragged outside, she fell over and dropped the bag of jewellery. {para} She then heard shots and noticed that Tse was bleeding from the chest. {para} When they reached Peak Road, she heard another shot and Tse fell to the ground. {para} Sergeant Shum King-chuen testified that police arrived at 62-68 Peak Road at 7.45 am after receiving information from their beat radio that someone had entered a home there. {para} ``There were three police cars and all of us arrived at almost the same time,'' he said. {para} Sergeant Shum and three officers went into a house next door to Ms Ti's home. {para} He said: ``I saw a man walking towards the balcony. He was wearing a black balaclava, white shirt with dark pants and held a gun in his right hand. {para} ``He was dragging a woman with his left hand and the gun was pointed at her.'' {para} Sergeant Shum went back into the house and about a minute later heard the sound of gunfire. {para} He saw Tse walking down the driveway with the hostage. {para} At the entrance to the driveway, Tse tried to intercept two cars coming down from Peak Road but failed. {para} ``Finally a private car stopped, so he walked towards the car and tried to open the door,'' said Sergeant Shum. {para} ``When he opened the door, I saw the hostage free herself from his grip and she ran away from him. {para} ``Tse then pointed his gun at her,'' he said. {para} At this point, Sergeant Shum open fire. {para} ``I saw him jerk forward and fall to his knees,'' he said, adding that several shots followed shortly after. {para} Tse fell to the ground and several police officers rushed up and removed his gun. An ambulance took him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he was certified dead on arrival. {para} Sergeant Shum said Ms Ti was in no danger when he opened fire because she was not in his line of fire. {para} Asked by Mr Madigan whether he fired because he feared that the hostage would be harmed, he replied: ``Yes.'' {para} ``I believed that Tse was very angry at that time as the hostage had run away from him and he had pointed his gun at her. I believe he could have shot her,'' he said. {para} He had shouted to Tse to drop his gun before he opened fire but his warning was ignored. {para} Sergeant Kong Hin-keung, who fired the first shot at Tse, testified that he had run from a slope to the management office. {para} ``I was outside the management office when I saw Tse coming down the slope with the hostage and shouted to him to drop his gun, but he ignored it. {para} ``I saw him turn and point his gun in my direction. I then fired one shot at him,'' he said. {para} Sergeant Kong said that no one else was in danger of being shot. {para} Three other shots were fired by police officers Khan King-yiu and Leung Tsan-hin but missed Tse. {para} Inspector James McIlveen, who investigated the case, testified that Tse had a criminal record for burglaries and robberies since 1980. {para} ``The weapon used in the shooting had been used before in a previous robbery,'' he said. {para} ``That robbery was believed to have been committed inside a premises and involved three to four masked men where at least one of them was armed. {para} ``The gun was discharged and hit the victim on the leg.'' {para} Coroner Mr Warner Banks said that if the jury accepted that the shots were fired because the police were concerned that Tse could use his gun on the hostage and harm her, they should return a verdict of lawful killing. {para} The jury deliberated for about 10 minutes before returning a verdict of lawful killing. {/article}

{headline} Pirate raid sparks call for action {byline} By GREG TORODE {article} SUSPECTED pirates fired five shots at a container ship leaving Hongkong, sparking calls yesterday for international action to protect the south China coast from bandits. {para} The ship Mild Splendor is now sailing towards Taipei after Monday's incident off Waglan Island, about two nautical miles east of Hongkong's territorial waters. {para} The news comes as three more Vietnamese ships risked confrontation with Chinese authorities by sailing from Hongkong yesterday. {para} They join eight ships which on Tuesday broke the apparent trade blockade in which at least 15 ships, cargos and crews have been seized so far. {para} No word has yet been heard of the three but the other convoy is understood to be still steaming towards Vietnam. {para} Master of the Splendor Mr Tolfilo Padlan told shipping agents 10 men pulled up to the stern of his ship in what appeared to be a smugglers' speedboat and signalled it to stop with a searchlight at about 10 pm. {para} When the ship continued, one man fired five warning shots into the air while others tried to clamber aboard over the stern. {para} The Chinese-owned Splendor, carrying more than 200 containers, accelerated to force the pirates to abandon the attempt. The strong light prevented the 16 crew getting a close look at the men or their boat. {para} None of the 16 crew were injured, but the ship alerted marine police and returned to Hongkong. It sailed again 10 hours later. {para} The Hongkong Shipowners' Association and the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce expressed surprise at the incident, fearing it could be a copycat of similar raids in the Malacca Straits and other parts of south east Asia. {para} On July 28, another container ship was attacked by pirates about 160 nautical miles east of Hongkong on the once-safe route from Taiwan, but failed to get aboard. {para} The director of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce, Brigadier Ian Christie, said yesterday Taiwan was Hongkong's fifth biggest trading partner last year and there was no way Hongkong could accept risks of piracy in any way. {para} ``These incidents have got to stop, we need firm action and international co-co- operation with each country taking adequate measures,'' he said. {para} ``Maybe some sort of anti-piracy interpol is needed. Far too much is at stake to countenance a return to the 17th and 18th centuries.'' {para} A regional meeting on piracy proposed by the United Nations' International Maritime Organisation failed to get off the ground after refusal by Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia to host it. {para} However, Security Branch sources said the Government had to tread lightly as there was no evidence of involvement by Chinese security forces. {para} The issue would probably be ``brought to China's attention'' during a routine meeting with New China News Agency officials, in contrast to two recent demands for explanations of the policy of stopping of Vietnamese ships and two incursions into Hongkong by Chinese security forces. {para} No word has yet been heard from China but the Foreign Office in London, drawn into the issue by the Hongkong government, has asked counterparts at the Chinese Embassy to respond urgently. Similar moves are expected in Beijing. {para} Security Branch officials briefed Foreign Office Minister Mr Alastair Goodlad on the requests during his visit to Hongkong this week. Vietnamese officials said on his arrival that they were expecting him to seek further information. {para} Meanwhile, the Secretary for Security Mr Alastair Asprey may also face questions when he arrives in Hanoi tomorrow for a 10-day tour to inspect boat people resettlement centres. {/article}

{headline} Reid case adjourned {article} ILLNESS forced the adjournment of the trial of a solicitor and four other men charged with assisting disgraced government lawyer Warwick Reid to escape Hongkong. {para} Deputy Judge Jones was told a juror and one of the defendants were unwell. The case was adjourned until Monday when Reid will continue to give evidence against the five men. {/article}

{headline} Two fined over Wan Chai prostitute signboard {byline} By ANGELA LI {article} AN electrician was fined $1,000 at Eastern Court yesterday for hanging a signboard which advertised the prostitution service of a 27-year-old woman. {para} Court prosecutor Miss Zona Ng said Chan Mou-ki, 33, was spotted climbing up a ladder to hang the signboard outside 56 Percival Street in Wan Chai by police during an anti-vice operation on Tuesday. {para} She said police arrested Chan, who led them upstairs to the one- woman brothel where his co-defendant Yeung Siu-ling lived. {para} Chan and Yeung were taken to Wan Chai police station where they were both charged with publicly displaying a sign that advertised a prostitute, she added. {para} Both defendants, neither of whom were legally represented, pleaded guilty to the charge when they appeared before magistrate Mr John Meredith. {para} Chan and Yeung were fined $1,000 and $2,000 respectively. {para} Chan asked for leniency and maintained he did not know it was an offence to put up the signboard. {para} He said Yeung had asked him to put up the signboard for her since he was an electrician. {para} Yeung admitted that she worked as a prostitute with a monthly income of $10,000 and lived alone in the flat. {para} Mr Meredith ordered the signboard bearing the words ``third floor'' in red and green Chinese characters be confiscated. {para} The case came as police fight to close a legal loophole which limits their power to prosecute individual prostitutes offering sex services at their homes. {para} On Tuesday, Wan Chai District Commander, Chief Superintendent Dick Lee Ming-kwai, said police were limited in their use of powers under Section 147A of the Crimes Ordinance to arrest those responsible for putting up signs in buildings advertising prostitutes or sex services. {para} Mr Lee said although police could act under the section if they spotted people putting the signs up, it was difficult. The offence carries a maximum fine of $10,000 or six months' imprisonment. {/article}

{headline} Lawyers `stand by position on court' {byline} By JEREMY LAU {article} THE legal profession is still standing firm in its position on the Court of Final Appeal and has never backed down on the matter, the profession's Legislative Council representative, Mr Simon Ip Sik-on, said yesterday. {para} Speaking in response to a report that he had done an about turn on the issue, Mr Ip said he had never admitted defeat in the campaign against the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (JLG) agreement that sets a limit on the number of overseas judges on the court. {para} Mr Ip said the entire profession still opposed the agreement and would rather the setting up of the court be deferred until 1997 than rushed through next year. {para} He was resigned to the fact that the JLG agreement would not be renegotiated to permit a more flexible court composition, he said. {para} There was no will on either side to renegotiate the agreement and Hongkong people could not make the two governments do so. {para} ``This does not, however, mean that the Legco cannot reject the agreement,'' he said. {para} ``The Legco debate last December shows precisely how the Legco could vote down a bill which seeks to establish the court pursuant to the terms of the agreement limiting the number of overseas judges on the court to one.'' {para} Mr Ip proposed a motion debate on the issue in December which resulted in a 34-to-11 vote against the JLG accord. {para} He said he was now trying to persuade the British and Hongkong governments not to implement the agreement. He said there was no stipulation in the agreement that the court must be set up in 1993 or even before 1997. {para} ``So why should Hongkong rush to set up a court which is inferior to that envisaged by the Basic Law?'' he asked. {/article}

{headline} Company fails to alter conviction {article} A CONSTRUCTION company that was fined $15,000 after an illegal immigrant was found on its site, lost its appeal against conviction when the Court of Appeal found no reason to intervene. {para} But the Attorney-General's application to increase the fine to $100,000 was refused on the grounds that the company, Shun Shing Construction and Engineering Company Ltd, had a successful record and the case was at the lowest end of culpability. {para} Mr Justice Macdougall expressed puzzlement as to why the Legal Department had mounted a prosecution against a company which had used successful measures to keep illegal immigrants off its construction site for a long time. {para} An illegal immigrant swam from China to Junk Bay and in his dripping wet clothes went to the construction site and asked for a job. {para} He was told the company did not employ illegal immigrants and was asked to leave. He crept back to the site, which was the size of a football stadium, and hid in one of the 34-storey buildings nearing completion. {para} He took off his clothes, hung them up to dry and was taking a nap when police raided the site and found him. {para} The company was convicted under the Immigration Ordinance of having an illegal immigrant on its site. The maximum fine is $250,000. {/article}

{headline} Rejection puts sky rail plan in doubt {byline} By GREG TORODE {article} UPDATED proposals for the $3 billion Kowloon elevated railway were yesterday rejected by an Urban Council working group, placing the future of the project in doubt. {para} Group chairman Mr Vincent Chow Wing-shing said that despite an impressive presentation from Kowloon Sky Rail Company, the group was shown nothing to change its earlier opposition to the deal. {para} ``It remains simply unacceptable to us, encroaching on council facilities and creating noise, vibrations and visual intrusions,'' Mr Chow said. {para} ``They have given us a new route but still no data . . . they tell us they will use the latest technology and expect us to trust them that it will be all right. {para} ``These are important public facilities that we can't be too careful with,'' he said. {para} Kowloon Sky Rail's original plan was approved in principle by the Executive Council in October 1990, but sent back for reworking after Urban Council and Environmental Protection Department (EPD) concerns. {para} The new plan features a new route, trimmed nine-metre supports and predictions that by the turn of the century 250,000 people would ride the trains daily between the Star Ferry and Hutchison Park. {para} However, while dodging earlier Urban Council objections by avoiding the seaward side of the Cultural Centre and Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, the new route impinged on council facilities such as Salisbury Gardens, Hutchison Park, Centenary Gardens and Wing On Plaza Garden, Mr Chow said. {para} The new alignment has angered the management of the Peninsula Hotel and the EPD is not convinced it will not be too noisy. {para} Yesterday's decision followed a private session after a two-hour briefing and still has to be ratified by the full council. It will then be put forward by Urban Services Department officials on an inter- departmental steering committee, headed by the Transport Branch. {para} The Government has taken the view that the private project is ``desirable, but not essential''. {para} The committee, crucial to the project's future, will soon decide whether to seek Executive Council approval to enter into more detailed negotiations with Kowloon Sky Rail, including a detailed environmental study. {para} Sky Rail's project director, Mr Ghislain Arveux, said last night the study would provide specific details to back the project but could not proceed until the Government had given further commitment. {para} Mr Arveux said the project would use the latest steel-wheel- on-steel-rail technology and extensive noise reduction measures which would see any noise ``muffled by what exists already''. {para} ``The project will comply with all transport, safety and noise requirements,'' he said. {para} The new route encroached on Centenary Gardens to avoid a line of mature trees, but merely ``passed alongside'' other facilities. {para} ``They can't have it both ways. They want it to serve their facilities but they don't want it in the neighbourhood,'' Mr Arveux said. {para} ``This is vital missing link in Kowloon and I still have complete faith in the project,'' he said. {para} Kowloon Sky Rail is a joint venture between property developers New World Development, Cheung Kong (Holdings), French- based Spie Batignolles and Indosuez Asia. {/article}

{headline} Triple suicide attempt from young women {article} THREE young women, said to be depressed over love affairs and family problems, slashed their wrists and drank Listerine in a triple suicide bid yesterday. {para} A boyfriend of one of the women found them in a flat on Yuen Long New Estate at about 10 am. {para} The women, aged 19, 20 and 23 are hostesses at a karaoke lounge. They received initial treatment at Pok Oi Hospital, before being transferred to Tuen Mun Hospital for observation. {para} Police said they had classified the case as attempted suicide. {para} Meanwhile, a man gassed himself to death by placing his head inside two plastic bags with a bottle of butane gas at his Tsui Lam estate home in Tseung Kwan O last night. {para} He released the nozzle on the bottled gas and tied the bags around his neck before lying on a bed. {para} Mr Suen King-pan, 33, was later discovered unconscious by his uncle who called for police assistance. {para} Mr Suen was taken to the United Christian Hospital where he was certified dead on arrival. {/article}

{headline} Heroin haul on Vietnam vessel {byline} By GREG TORODE {article} SHIPS arriving from Vietnam face close customs scrutiny after heroin with a street value of about $4.4 million was found on a vessel out of Haiphong. {para} Officers found five kilograms of top-grade heroin inside a crewman's cabin on board a Panamanian-flagged ship which arrived on Monday - the first time the drug has been found on a ship from Vietnam. {para} Mr Alexander Ahmed, Divisional Commander (Ship Search Division), said the heroin was a chance find, unearthed during a routine search. {para} It was destined for Taiwan, the ship's final destination. {para} Mr Ahmed said: ``We will have to put greater emphasis on ships coming from Vietnam and also work to improve intelligence links. {para} ``We are very mindful of possible trends here, considering growing trade links.'' {para} As borders had opened over the past two years, thousands of tonnes of mainly second-hand electrical goods and cars were being shipped from Hongkong to northern Vietnamese ports, in return for fresh produce and seafood. {para} Cannabis and opium had frequently been seized from among the legitimate return cargo on ships arriving from Vietnam, Mr Ahmed said. {para} The head of the Customs Investigations Bureau, Mr Lawrence Wong Sau-tui, said local officers feared drug traffickers were forging new routes through Vietnam as it opened up to foreign investment and trade. {para} Mr Wong said he did not believe an escalating drug trade was behind Chinese moves to intercept Vietnam-bound ships leaving Hongkong. {para} ``They must have other reasons. The drugs flow from Vietnam to Hongkong, not the other way round,'' he said. {para} At least 15 Vietnam-bound ships have been seized by Shenzhen security officials in recent weeks. In the past week, three Panamanian-registered ships headed for Taiwan, Singapore and China have been fired on and intercepted just out of Hongkong waters. {para} Meanwhile, customs officers arrested three Chinese men yesterday following the biggest seizure of opium in Hongkong since 1989. {para} Acting on a tip-off and surveillance, officers arrested two men, aged 54 and 36, in Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei. They later found 24 kilograms of opium worth about $900,000 in a Kwun Tong flat. {para} Follow-up raids on an opium den in Reclamation Street led to the arrest of a third man, a 44- year-old real estate merchant, and the seizure of opium smoking equipment. {para} The three have been charged with dangerous drug offences and will appear in South Kowloon Court today. {para} Kowloon police seized 320 grams of cannabis and arrested one man in a Boundary Street flat believed to have been used as a distribution centre. {para} Police were led to the flat by two men arrested earlier. {/article}

{headline} HK leads war on smoking {byline} By PAUL TYRRELL {article} HONGKONG was yesterday highlighted as one of Asia's pace-setters in the global battle to reduce the number of smokers. {para} In five specific areas laid down by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the territory was said to be among the leading members of the WHO's Western Pacific Region, which has adopted a worldwide campaign to reduce tobacco use. {para} The WHO's Regional Committee meeting yesterday discussed a progress report on how its members were implementing a regional action plan to combat the growing numbers of smokers in developing countries. {para} In areas such as a co-ordinated national policy, health education, legislative activities, data collection and pricing, Hongkong was said to be at the forefront. {para} In 1990, WHO's Western Pacific Region published the plan after figures revealed a two per cent increase in the number of smokers in emerging nations. {para} But since the early 1980s, Hongkong has been able to point to a 7.6 per cent fall in the number of people who use tobacco. {para} ``We had 23.3 per cent of the population smoking in 1982, but now that figure is down to 15.7 per cent,'' said Dr Chan Wai-man, the Assistant Director of Health, who is one of Hongkong's delegates to the meeting. {para} ``The Health Department has been actively involved in reducing those numbers and the progress report by the WHO on its regional action plan has reflected our work.'' {para} The report said Hongkong was one of nine WHO regional members to have set up national co-ordinating centres for tobacco control. The territory was also particularly praised for collecting data on the age, sex and socio-economic groupings of smokers. {para} The decision in March last year to increase tobacco duty by 100 per cent was also welcomed in the report. {para} Dr Chan said Hongkong had shown a commitment to future key components of tobacco control. {para} ``There are also proposals to have more varied warnings on cigarette packets and billboard advertising and we want to see a restriction on sales to people over 18 be brought in as quickly as possible,'' she said, adding that she advocated a total ban on tobacco advertising. {para} ``I would also like to see parents influence their children not to smoke and if any mothers or fathers are smokers, it is important for them to discourage their children from picking up the habit.'' {para} The executive director of the Tobacco Institute of Hongkong, Dr Lee Jark-pui, said later that the industry believed the current restrictions were already too tight. {para} ``We would be very worried if any more measures were introduced,'' he said. ``Hongkong is basically a liberal society and a total ban on advertising would be vigorously opposed.'' {para} Dr Lee added that the proposal to ban the sale of tobacco to youths under 18 was widely accepted in the industry. {/article}

{headline} Incursion admitted by Beijing {byline} By GREG TORODE {article} CHINA yesterday admitted mistakenly entering Hongkong waters to intercept a Vietnamese ship but remained silent on why security officers were firing at and boarding ships leaving the territory. {para} The news came as Hongkong Government sources said yesterday they were trying to find out if a political rift between China and Vietnam was responsible. {para} A Government spokesman said officials in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted Foreign Office counterparts in London and Beijing to ``acknowledge it inadvertently entered Hongkong waters during an anti-smuggling patrol''. {para} It followed what Foreign Office Minister Mr Alastair Goodlad said were vigorous protests to demand an urgent response. {para} The reply refers to the boarding of a Vietnamese ship by armed Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers late last month that was foiled when Marine Police intervened. {para} Marine Police boarded the drifting ship after being alerted by its master, who jumped overboard and swam towards them. {para} The ship was escorted to international waters and the PSB officers returned to their patrol boats. {para} No reply has yet been made, however, on a similar incursion the night before, involving the 15th ship going to Vietnam to be detained after leaving Hongkong. {para} The Deputy Secretary for Security, Mr James Morris, said the news was ``very welcome'' but the Government still wanted more information. {para} The news has not satisfied shipping agents representing the 20-odd Vietnamese ships stranded once again in Hongkong after a ship straggling behind Tuesday's convoy was seized and remains trapped in Zhuhai. {para} Greatime Shipping spokesman, Captain Ricky Tsui Chin-huen, said agents were trying to arrange a meeting with Legislative and Executive councillors next week to demand better protection and reassurances. {para} He said: ``We still don't know if we are facing piracy or some sort of crackdown on our legal trade. {para} ``It seems we are back where we started.'' {para} Only small general cargo ships under about 7,000 tonnes that can offer no resistance to Chinese gunboats were being singled out. {para} Ship masters are allowed under maritime law to carry one revolver and a small amount of ammunition. {para} Mr Tsui said masters did not want to carry even that for fear of provoking armed action in the event of a seizure. {para} ``I don't know what the Government is thinking it's doing, but clearly it's not good enough - everyone is still very worried,'' he said. {para} ``Safety in numbers is our only way,'' he said. {para} A source within the Office of the Political Adviser said the Government was still unsure of the reasons for the Chinese actions. {para} It has asked specifically why Vietnamese ships were being targeted, hoping to glean some information about a possible back-room political dispute or a major smuggling crackdown. {para} ``If they've got evidence and information on this, we have told them we would like to know. {para} ``If it's a more sinister political effort, I don't think they'll tell us,'' he said. {para} The Vietnamese-bound ships and the two bound for Taiwan and Singapore shot at this week were nearly all within restricted waters around the Lema Islands south of Hongkong. {para} However, all were well away from the highly-sensitive Chinese naval base on the islands so it was unlikely the action represented a move to protect the base, he said. {/article}

{headline} Ex-soccer star `bought credit cards' {article} FORMER soccer star Lau Wing-yip allegedly agreed to invest $35,000 to buy credit cards for use on a shopping trip in Japan, the District Court heard. {para} Senior Crown counsel Ms Evena Chan, opening the case against Lau, told the court he was arrested at Kai Tak Airport on October 14 last year while he was sorting out his baggage with four other people - Gutierrez Kwok-ming, Wong Kam-cheung, Gutierrez Kwok-yi and Ng Mei-ling. {para} Police found 40 counterfeit Gold Visa cards concealed in four cigarette packages inside Gutierrez Kwok-ming's suitcase while 18 slips of paper with handwritten markings and credit card details were found in Lau's trouser pocket. {para} Under caution, Lau admitted he had agreed with Gutierrez Kwok-ming he would invest $35,000 to buy five air tickets and credit cards to be used in a shopping trip in Japan. {para} He believed the credit cards were problem cards, belonging to other people. {para} He first met the other three coconspirators on October 11, last year. In the same meeting, Gutierrez Kwok- ming said he would pack the credit cards and any profit would be shared among the five of them. {para} The banks confirmed that all 40 credit cards seized were not issued by them as they did not bear their bank identification numbers. {para} Lau has denied one count of conspiring to use 40 forged credit cards. {para} Defence lawyer Mr Geoffrey Booth submitted the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case as this was a conspiracy to commit an offence in another country. {para} ``There is no evidence to show that any acts done here which constitute any substantive offence which could lead to an indictable offence in Hongkong,'' Mr Booth said. {para} Ms Chan submitted there was a conspiracy to commit a crime which was indictable in Hongkong. {para} ``There was an agreement to do an unlawful act by unlawful means,'' she said. {para} Judge Longley adjourned the case until Monday and extended Lau's bail of $35,000. {/article}

{headline} Ex-soccer star cleared over fraud {article} FORMER soccer star Lau Wing-yip was acquitted of conspiring to use forged credit cards after the District Court ruled that the alleged conspiracy could not be tried in Hongkong. {para} Lau, 38, had denied one count of conspiring to use 40 forged credit cards. {para} Outside the courtroom, he said the damage to his reputation and the anxiety which he suffered could never be compensated by money. {para} ``As a result of these proceedings, the public thinks that I'm a guilty co-conspirator and I was placed under tremendous pressure,'' he said. {para} ``I was a footballer for over 20 years and this case has destroyed my reputation in the soccer field. {para} ``Even if the Crown pays me costs, it would not compensate for my loss of reputation and what I had to endure since my arrest last October.'' {para} It was alleged Lau had agreed to invest $35,000 to buy credit cards for use on a shopping trip to Japan. He was arrested at Kai Tak airport on October 14 last year along with four others. {para} The 40 credit cards were said to have been found in the suitcase of an alleged co- conspirator concealed in four cigarette packages, while 18 slips of paper with handwritten markings and credit card details were said to have been found in Lau's trouser pocket. {para} Senior Crown Counsel Ms Evena Chan alleged there was an agreement between Lau and others to buy forged credit cards in Hongkong to be taken to Japan to be used to obtain goods. {para} She said there was evidence Lau was a financier of the enterprise. {para} Defence lawyer Mr Geoffrey Booth argued that as the charge alleged a conspiracy to commit an offence in another country, the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case. {para} He said there was no evidence to show that any acts committed in Hongkong constituted an indictable offence in the territory. {para} In acquitting Lau, Judge Longley said the alleged conspiracy and the ultimate alleged offence which the Crown claimed was to have been committed in Japan were outside the court's jurisdiction. {/article}

{headline} Fraud case defendant absconds {article} FORMER soccer star Lau Wing-yip's co-defendant facing a charge of conspiracy to use forged credit cards to defraud has absconded, the District Court heard yesterday. {para} Lau, 38, is jointly charged with Tse Tung-lok, 33, with conspiring to use 40 forged credit cards to defraud between October 7 and 14 last year. {para} Tse, a film producer, did not turn up in court yesterday and Judge Longley confiscated his bail of $5,000 cash. A $5,000 surety in the recognisance of his sister, Ms Tse Chi-yuen, was also confiscated by the court. {para} Senior Crown counsel Ms Evana Chan said a check with immigration authority records revealed that Tse had left Hongkong for Taiwan on September 2 and had not returned. {para} Lau's defence lawyer, Mr Geoffrey Booth, told the court that the admissibility of the caution statement would be challenged. {para} Lau's cash bail of $35,000 was extended. {/article}

{headline} The heat is on for prince's regiment {byline} By CRAIG HENDERSON {article} THE location could be Bosnia, the Falklands or even Vietnam - but this vivid image of war comes direct from the New Territories. {para} More than 600 soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Wales are taking part in their final major training exercise this week, before returning to Britain in December. {para} Three companies have been deployed in remote locations in the New Territories to polish their skills before taking part in the Prince of Wales Competition this weekend and a dawn landing on Lantau Island next week. {para} Held in honour of Prince Charles, who is the Regiment's colonel-in-chief, the competition tests each company on general military procedures, including skill at arms, assault courses, camouflage and concealment and bush craft. {para} The intense heat and humidity over the past week have made life tough for the soldiers - most exercises are carried out during the night and it is not uncommon for a soldier to consume up to 11 litres of water a day. {para} Following the competition, the nine platoons will group at Sai Kung on Sunday night before launching a dawn raid on Lantau the following day. {para} The regiment will engage in a mock battle with the 10th Gurkha Rifles, using blank ammunition and grenades. {para} The Commander of B Company, Major Roger Jones, said the heat had made living in the wilderness extremely difficult. {para} ``We wouldn't want it any other way though,'' Major Jones said. ``It's very hard work but it's an extremely valuable experience.'' {/article}

{headline} Mother hits out at UK decision {byline} By BERYL COOK {article} THE British Home Secretary's decision to deal case-by-case with citizenship applications for children of split families would prolong the uncertainty and financial strain for parents, a Hongkong mother said yesterday. {para} Split families are those affected by changes to the United Kingdom nationality laws where children born after 1983 have been granted citizenship while their older siblings do not qualify. {para} Mrs Bonnie Smith said she welcomed the announcement that citizenship would be granted to children with a British citizen parent, brother or sister and some residential connection with the UK. {para} But Mrs Smith, whose children Edward, 15, and Stephanie, nine, fit the criteria, said she was still cautious. {para} ``I am sure all the parents feel this way because this has been going on for so long - almost a year and a half,'' she said. {para} ``If the Home Secretary had given a blanket approval everyone would have felt a lot more secure. The case- by-case approach will mean a lot more work and expense for the families and for the authorities.'' {para} Mrs Smith said she and her family had spent a lot of money and effort exploring all the options in the past 18 months. {para} She said the family had even looked at setting up a business in the United Kingdom as a way of getting citizenship for all the family. {para} Mrs Smith and her husband both have British citizenship, but their children were born in Hongkong. {para} The Home Office did not say why a case-by-case approach was chosen. {/article}

{headline} Recognition for fight on card fraud {byline} By PAUL TYRRELL {article} HONGKONG-BASED investigator Mr Mike Squires has been declared the International Law Enforcement Officer of the Year for his part in an ICAC crackdown which has led to the territory losing its label as a global blackspot for credit card crime. {para} Mr Squires, 40, received the award from the International Association of Credit Card Investigators. {para} A team of special ICAC investigators led by Mr Squires began an operation in 1990, after Hongkong was identified as home to a ``plastic money'' racket, part of a worldwide credit card fraud that cost an estimated US$200 million (HK$1.54 billion) last year. {para} The Hongkong racketeers obtain the details of genuine card holders from hotel or bank staff and produce counterfeit cards. {para} Two years later, the team can point to more than 180 arrests of local people, of which 30 have been convicted and a similar number are awaiting trial. {para} From a peak in 1990, when Hongkong accounted for almost one quarter of Mastercard's global fraud losses, the figure has been slashed to 7.2 per cent. {para} Mr Squires joined the ICAC eight years ago. He donated his US$1,000 prize to the Community Chest and presented a cheque to Mr Tony Turner, chairman of the organisation's Public Relations Committee. {/article}

{headline} Expressway project delayed by logs row {byline} By CRAIG HENDERSON {article} CONSTRUCTION work on the $1.36 billion North Lantau Expressway cannot begin as scheduled on Monday because disgruntled timber merchants and the Buildings and Lands Department have failed to resolve a dispute over log pools at Yam O. {para} Talks on how the pools would be cleared and logs relocated broke down yesterday. {para} The contract for the project, a vital link to the new airport, was awarded to a Hongkong-Japanese consortium on Thursday. {para} The department had planned to have the site cleared of logs and delivered to the Highways Department by Monday's deadline. {para} Government sources said the contractor was eager to start work on the Yam O site on Monday. {para} But the department has continued to suspend log clearing operations at Yam O pending yet another meeting with the Hongkong-Kowloon Timber Merchants Association (HKTMA) on Monday morning. {para} The move means construction cannot start until late next week at the earliest. {para} The HKTMA yesterday tentatively agreed to move the logs from the area but maintains the new pool site offered by the Government is too small. {para} ``We said we will try to move the logs but there's not enough room at the new site to keep them all,'' HKTMA spokesman Mr Richard Wong Pak-to said last night. {para} ``If they don't give us some more space then we are finished - completely out of business.'' {para} The department began moving logs on Wednesday but suspended the operation to enter into talks with the HKTMA. {para} The department's chief estate surveyor (new airport), Mr Chris Mills, said the Government had considered giving the timber merchants a time extension to get the job done. {para} ``I think they expect an open-ended extension but when you're dealing with a $1.4 billion project that's just not possible,'' Mr Mills said yesterday. {para} ``Although the contractor was keen to start work on Monday, they have indicated they will be able to delay work for a short period. {para} ``We would be prepared to give the timber merchants until Friday to move the logs.'' {para} The consortium comprises two Japanese firms, the Aoki Corporation and Tobishima Corporation, and a Hongkong company, Franki Contractors. {para} Consortium officials could not be contacted for comment last night. {/article}

{headline} Mainlanders fail in bid to stay in HK {article} THREE families from the mainland failed to prove they were stateless after they renounced their Chinese nationality to take up Lesotho citizenship, which they then lost through fraud, the High Court ruled yesterday. {para} Mr Justice Mayo said the applicants, who he accepted were decent, honest people, had failed to demonstrate they had relinquished their Chinese nationality in accordance with Chinese law. {para} However, the three families said afterwards they would petition the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, next week to allow them to stay. {para} The applicants are optimistic because they say they are the innocent victims of fraud, the case is unique and so few people are involved. {para} But their lawyers said that if the petition failed, they would appeal. {para} Ms Able Pan Zeyan, 27 and her son, Johnny Pan, five, Mr Li Jinfei, 29, his wife Ms Yu Xinghua, 27, and their children Li Ximing, five, and Li Biyi, 10 months, and Ms Yan Chen Changmei, 43, and her children Yin Weihong, 17, and Yin Ruizhen, 16, had asked the High Court for a declaration that they were stateless, so that the Director of Immigration would give them permission to remain in the territory. {para} The hearing had been told earlier the applicants had all come lawfully to Hongkong on Chinese travel documents and paid $250,000 through reputable solicitors for Lesotho passports. {para} The fate of three other members of the families also hangs in the balance as they will also have to leave if they are not declared stateless. {para} After the hearing, Mr Yan Siu-fai, a Hongkong resident whose wife and children are liable to be sent back to China, said he was depressed and unhappy. {para} He said: ``I can't eat, I can't sleep. I am a lawful businessman, earning money legally, not an illegal immigrant. I am worried about the safety of my family if they have to return to China; they may face persecution from the local people because they left.'' {para} Mr Yan said he went to the public security bureau in China and was told ``orally and in writing that my family could not go back to China''. {para} Another businessman, Mr Simon Yin, who will have to return to China with his wife, son and daughter under the ruling, said he had been under such stress since learning he had to leave Hongkong he had lost 14 kilograms in weight. {para} He said his business was flourishing, earning $1.5 million in eight months, but he was afraid he would lose all his investments here if forced to leave. {para} He said his wife was so upset that she had been unable to hold the pen to sign her affidavit. {para} They feared they would become second-class citizens if forced to go back to China because they had abandoned their Chinese citizenship and would have trouble with the Chinese authorities, he said. {para} During the two-day hearing, Mr Gerard McCoy, for the families, had argued it was wrong of the Director of Immigration to tell the applicants to leave because they were stateless. He said Hongkong was bound by an international covenant to give stateless people travel documents. {para} Mr McCoy relied on two articles from the nationality law of China, one of which said it was not possible to have dual nationality and on certificates from China saying the families had renounced their citizenship. {para} In reply, senior Crown counsel Ms Victoria Hartstein argued that whether the applicants were Chinese nationals should be determined in accordance with the law of the mainland. {para} She criticised the applicants' evidence, pointing out that the Chinese law produced in court was in English, rather than the authentic Chinese and said counsel could not make submissions on what the law meant - that must be done by an expert. {para} The judge had earlier refused her an adjournment so she could call an expert in Chinese law to interpret the mainland law on when nationality was lost, but she disputed Mr McCoy's interpretation, saying the applicants would have had to live in Lesotho to lose their Chinese nationality. {para} Ms Hartstein also criticised the certificates issued by the Chinese authorities, pointing out there was no evidence what information was placed before the Chinese authorities before they issued them. {/article}

{headline} Marine launches armed for dual role {byline} By CRAIG HENDERSON {article} POLICE launch No 66 is a medium-sized member of the Royal Hongkong Marine Police fleet of vessels. {para} The 86-tonne Damen Class patrol craft carries a complement of 14 men and is mainly used for general duties patrols. {para} However, its additional role of maintaining internal security means PL66 is heavily armed. {para} Damen Class launches are equipped with a 50 mm deck-mounted Browning machine gun. {para} The crews have access to Sterling sub-machine guns, Remington shotguns, tear-gas, .38 calibre revolvers and semi-automatic AR15 rifles. {para} PL66 was commissioned with two other Damen Class launches, PL67 and PL68, in February 1981. {para} At 26 metres long, the launches have a range of 600 nautical miles at 14 knots. Their maximum speed is 25 knots. {para} The police fleet comprises 66 launches and 96 other vessels. {para} These other vessels are smaller than the launches, which are headed by the command ships Sea Lion and Sea Tiger. {para} Hongkong Marine Police this week took delivery of a new Australian-built patrol launch as part of a fleet replacement programme. {para} The launch is equipped with thermo-imagers and radar plotting systems to detect high-powered speedboats at night. {para} The 33-metre PL51 is the first of six boats ordered as part of the 10-year programme. {para} Although the Marine Police has one of the largest fleets in the world, it is also supported by the Royal Navy. {para} HMS Plover, the only Royal Navy vessel to attend yesterday's drama, was commissioned on July 20, 1984, and serves as a patrol and surveillance vessel. {para} The Plover is equipped with 76 mm cannon and has a range of 2,500 miles. {/article}

{headline} Anger likely over RTHK episode {byline} By KEVIN KWONG {article} THE controversial episode of the Radio Television Hongkong drama series Below the Lion Rock due to go on air tonight seems likely to anger the Chinese authorities despite having been cut by half. {para} The previous four episodes of the series drew scathing criticism from two locally-based left-wing dailies, Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao, which accused RTHK of making a mockery of senior Chinese leaders and sabotaging the Chinese Government. {para} However, RTHK management denied that the request to trim the production was a reaction to political pressure and said the problem was technical. {para} The director of the Stormy Weather episode, Ms Rachel Zen Wei-che, said yesterday that two major storylines in the show had been removed from the edited version in order for it to fit into the designated time slot. {para} ``One is the importance of editorial independence,'' she said. {para} ``The other is moral anguish of a press spokesman for the fictitious country who remained in his job after his son was killed during a anti-democracy crackdown. {para} ``For this story, I have two sets of target audience, one consists of journalists who would take a professional perspective and the other is the public. {para} ``The version now does not give any insight into the situation in the fictitious country and caters only for the public who just want to catch a glimpse of the cast.'' {para} The South China Morning Post exclusively viewed the original and edited version of Stormy Weather yesterday and the comparison shows only a shift of emphasis on its theme while the main message has remained intact. {para} Legislative Councillor Ms Emily Lau Wai-hing said she had been given an assurance by the Government that there would be no editorial censorship of the episode. She had not seen the two versions. {para} ``I have spoken to Ms Cheung Man-yee [the Director of Broadcasting] and also attended the Recreation and Culture Panel meeting, and the Government has given us a definite assurance that there will be editorial independence and it is not going to exercise editorial censorship,'' Ms Lau said. {para} ``I must applaud, as it is difficult in this time and age to have an independent drama looking at politically sensitive issues. It is a government which is producing this [programme] and not from the independent stations. {para} ``[Editorial independence] is something precious.'' {para} But Ms Lau warned that such rights should be exercised sensibly. She believed the editing of the original episode of this programme was due simply to the overrunning of time. {para} Stormy Weather takes place in a fictional country called ``Red Balloon'' where a crackdown on democracy has recently taken place. {para} The real drama is the dilemma faced by a television station editor on how to handle an interview with that country's leader a year after the bloodshed. {para} The original version of the episode ran for 90 minutes, but was ordered to be cut to 51 minutes by the RTHK management. The move was initially believed to be politically motivated, but an RTHK executive producer, Mr Auguste Yem Wai, insisted this week the editing was requested because it was too long. {para} The shortened version retains explicit references to the June 4 democracy crackdown in Beijing and satirises the fictitious leader's repressive attitude to democracy. {/article}

{headline} Student to sue over exam result {article} A STUDENT who failed a post graduate law course is suing the City Polytechnic of Hongkong for damages. {para} Mr Teruce Yuen Cheuk-wah claims his failure in his final examination, which took place this June, for the Post Graduate Certificate in Laws of Hongkong (PCLL) was caused by negligence on the part of the institution. {para} Alternatively, he is asking for damages for breach of a contract made between him and the school on October 2 last year to provide legal education and training leading up to the award of the certificate. {para} In the writ Mr Yuen has filed with the Supreme Court, he is also seeking a declaration that he has passed the final examination for the PCLL. {/article}

{headline} Magistrate's ruling over documents threatens disarray {article} ALL convictions on summons issued under the new computer system since July are legally invalid unless the magistrate has a written information document in front of him, North Kowloon magistrate Mr Ivan Tanzer ruled. {para} The ruling, although not binding on other magistrates courts, is expected to throw the whole system into disarray as tens of thousands of summonses are dealt with every month by way of summary proceedings. {para} Mr Tanzer discharged two separate summonses issued against Mr See Ping-cheong and Mr Chu Kio-num under the Road Traffic Ordinance. {para} Before July 1 information in writing documents were lodged with the magistrate's court and a summons was issued to the defendant under the Magistrates Ordinance. This procedure changed two months ago when the judiciary brought in a computer system for issuing summons and keeping records. {para} Quoting the Magistrate's Ordinance, Mr Tanzer pointed out that it states that information shall be in writing and where the defendant is present at the hearing the whole of the information shall be read to him. {para} Mr Tanzer said he was told that since July 1, ``informations'' have been put on computer by the respective prosecuting authorities and then transferred to the judiciary computer. {para} The officer then arranges for the printing and issuing of a summons to a defendant and the ``informations'' are then destroyed. {para} Mr Tanzer said he had been unable to locate any legislation which provides for an ``information'' being lodged in the court by way of putting the information on to a computer screen and/or disk. {para} He was also unable to locate any legislation which provides that by following such procedure the ``information'' is in writing and complies with the Magistrates Ordinance. {para} Moreover, as the jurisdiction of the magistrates court to try a defendant depends on a valid ``information'' being lodged with the court, how can the ``information'' be automatically destroyed and the jurisdiction of the magistrates court maintained, he asked. {para} He added: ``Also, if the `information' is not before me how can I comply with the mandatory provision in the Magistrates Ordinance which requires that the whole of the information shall be read over to the defendant?'' {/article}

{headline} Union urges Patten to boost number of social workers {byline} By PAUL TYRRELL {article} A UNION leader yesterday called on the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, to honour government promises to increase the number of social workers to counsel delinquent youngsters. {para} The Hongkong Social Workers' General Union wants an extra $400 million to be pumped into the Social Welfare Department's budget for next year - including $120 million for the Rehabilitation Service. {para} It is calling on Mr Patten to include a pledge to increase the number of Outreach teams and support their other proposals in his October 7 policy address. {para} Union president Mr Philip Choy Shing-kiu said the Government had agreed to an annual increase of 20 social workers for the duration of the last five-year plan for the Social Welfare Department. {para} There are currently 24 Outreach teams scattered throughout the territory and the plan agreed to an increase in their number to 30 by 1997. Team members mix with problem youngsters in out-of-school settings such as clubs, amusement arcades and shopping centres. {para} But the finances were not provided to create the two new teams of 10 social workers in 1992 and Mr Choy said there was no increase in staff numbers contained in government spending plans for next year. {para} ``We will be down by 40 social workers if the Government does not honour their promises again and there are areas such as Fanling and Tai Po which are in urgent need of these teams, he said. {para} ``There are currently 10 social workers in each team who have a population of 100,000 to cover. Although they try their utmost, that is clearly too many for them to do their job effectively.'' {para} Mr Choy said that the re- habilitation services included providing workshops for the mentally and physically handicapped together with pre-school training. {para} The Government has promised a 4 1/2 per cent increase in social welfare funding in real terms for the next 10 years, but only managed 2.8 per cent this year, when the budget was $6.1 billion. {para} ``It may be that the Government has decided to reduce the spending increase in social welfare in order to use that money on the new airport,'' Mr Choy said. {para} ``If that is the case, we object very strongly to the idea that it is given priority.'' {para} The union also wants the Government to honour promises on increasing the numbers of school social workers involved in preventing student suicides and triad involvement. {para} The union has 600 members among the 6,000 social workers in the territory. Mr Choy said it had the support of the professional body, the Hongkong Social Workers' Association, on all the issues. {/article}

{headline} Six arrested in anti-drug operation {article} SIX alleged members of an international drug syndicate were arrested in a territory- wide operation yesterday. {para} Sixteen premises were raided by Narcotics Bureau detectives after receiving information from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation following a four- year investigation. {para} Police alleged that the gang had exported 500 kilograms of high-grade heroin into the United States between January 1987 and June 1989. {para} The heroin was believed to have fetched US$309 million (about HK$2.4 billion). {para} One of the arrested men is also believed to be wanted by police in New York in connection with the murder of a Chinese man last year. {para} Another was allegedly found to be in possession of a .38 calibre revolver loaded with five rounds of ammunition. {para} The men, aged between 34 and 54, were last night being detained. {/article}

{headline} Taiwan urged to retain HK base {byline} By KENT CHEN {article} MOST Taiwanese are in favour of Taipei maintaining a presence in Hongkong after 1997, according to a survey commissioned by the cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). {para} The survey, released yesterday, showed that up to 70 per cent of respondents wanted Taipei to keep the existing representative offices after Hongkong reverts to Chinese rule. {para} However, about 66 per cent of respondents believed the relationship between Hongkong and Taiwan would be affected by the handover. {para} The MAC believed the negative feeling was in part due to Beijing's attempts to isolate Taiwan from the international community. {para} The survey is part of the MAC's effort to solicit public opinions for its reference when formulating a Hongkong policy. {para} A total of 1,081 people chosen at random were interviewed in the past few days. {para} According to the survey, 57 per cent of respondents were confident links between Hongkong and Taiwan in trade and financial areas would be strengthened in the run-up to 1997. {para} Most respondents believed Hongkong's free economic system would be a catalyst to changes in the mainland's economic system, and that the impact would ultimately be extended to politics. {para} It is hoped that by promoting economic development on the mainland, the desire for democracy among mainlanders would also be aroused. {para} ``This might be helpful to the eventual peaceful re-unification between Taiwan and the mainland,'' the MAC survey concluded. {para} Based on that assumption, about 80 per cent of respondents were in favour of the Taiwanese Government taking some initiatives to maintain Hongkong's freedom, democracy, prosperity and stability. {para} Most of them went a step further by suggesting that Taiwan and Hongkong could co-operate to promote democratic reform on the mainland. {/article}

{headline} Tan trial judge to go abroad {article} A DISTRICT Court judge will travel to the United States and Canada to hear further evidence from two former Carrian employees in the George Tan bribery trial. {para} Judge Moylan will accompany the defence and prosecution teams to the two countries in November to hear evidence from two former Carrian employees who are unable to return to Hongkong to testify. {para} Legal Department consultant Mr Graham Harris said that the witness in Toronto was unable to return to Hongkong as his employers had refused to release him. {para} Mr Harris also told the District Court that the witness works ``extraordinary'' shift hours. {para} The Canadian witness had earlier flown to Hongkong to testify while the other witness had evidence taken from her in San Francisco by both the prosecution and the defence in July. {para} New evidence from documents which the prosecution claim show a bank account used by Tan was actually used by others, led the defence to apply to re-examine the two witnesses. {para} Tan faces eight charges of bribing three bank executives. {para} Earlier, Judge Moylan asked the Crown to examine the possibility of a satellite link to the courts in San Francisco and Toronto and was told that it would cost $1 million for the proposed five-day link-up. {para} Also, the time difference between Hongkong and San Francisco and Hongkong and Toronto would lead to the possibility of the court sitting at night. {para} Defence counsel Mr Gary Alderdice said that it was important for the judge to be there to judge the credibility of the witnesses when they testified and the witnesses' reaction to the evidence put before them. {para} ``We don't see videotaping as a complete alternative,'' he said. {/article}

{headline} Immigration task force to fight illegals {byline} By KAREN CHENG {article} THE Immigration Department is looking to strengthen its efforts against illegal immigrants with a proposal to create a 100-strong task force. {para} The special task force would mostly be made up of officers experienced in dealing with illegal immigrants and overstayers, as well as the use of forged travel documents. {para} Acting Principal Immigration Officer, Ms Tammy Keung Kam-sau, said the present staff of about 5,800 was unable to cope with the increasing workload. {para} More than 21,300 illegal immigrants from the mainland had been arrested so far this year, a 40 per cent increase over the same period last year, Ms Keung said. Most were found working on construction sites or in factories. {para} In addition, an increasing number of visitors of other nationalities had been discovered working in the territory as labourers or prostitutes. {para} Mr Keung said the use of forged travel documents was on the rise. A total of 2,800 such documents were seized last year, an increase of 45 per cent over 1990. {para} For the first seven months of this year, about 1,660 forged documents were seized. {para} Ms Keung said the proposed task force would concentrate on the problem of illegal immigrants and strengthen investigative operations. {para} It would also help deal with the drastic increase in passenger traffic at various control points during festivals. {para} ``If the proposal was approved, experienced staff will first be re-deployed from existing services to the task force to start up work, and recruits will fill the vacancies,'' she said. {para} ``We are also considering that if the arrival of Vietnamese boat people continues to decrease, and the plan to clear all boat people in three years was realised, then the staff in charge of the duties could be transferred to the task force.'' {para} Government sources said the task force would not include police officers on a permanent basis but might sometimes conduct joint operations with the police or other units. {para} ``The task force will look at jobs where no or minimal skills are needed because that is the main job market for illegal immigrants. Those areas include factories and construction sites, where you need a large labour force,'' a source said. {para} In a further attempt to crack down on the influx, police will be urging the courts to impose custodial sentences on contractors found employing illegal immigrants. {para} Chief Inspector of the Anti-II Unit, Mr Simon Roberts, said the aim was to deter contractors from employing illegals. {para} ``A great majority of the IIs came to Hongkong to find jobs. If there is enough deterrent to stop contractors from employing them, they would not be induced to smuggle across the border,'' Mr Roberts said. {para} Meanwhile, 14 Bangladeshi visitors were convicted of using or possessing forged travel documents and of breaching the conditions of their stay in Hongkong at Western Court yesterday. {para} Four of the defendants were sentenced to 12 months' jail, while the rest were fined between $2,000 and $10,000. {para} The group was arrested by immigration investigators during an operation at Sha Tin a week ago. {/article}

{headline} Prison for taxi driver holdups {article} A WAITER who had a clear record embarked on a series of robberies at the age of 37 and held up six taxi drivers in just over two months, the High Court heard yesterday. {para} Sentencing Luk Ping-cheong to a total of four years' jail for six robberies, Deputy Judge Daniell said it was unusual that Luk should embark on crime at his age. {para} While he took into account the guilty plea, he also had to consider that taxi robbery was a serious offence because drivers were in a vulnerable position and needed protection. {para} Luk had pleaded guilty before a magistrate to the six robberies while the Crown offered no evidence against him on another four similar offences. He had been committed to the High Court for sentence. {para} Crown Counsel Mr Frank Veltro told the court that the robberies took place between December 5, last year, and February 9 in Kowloon. {para} On each occasion, Luk threatened the drivers with a knife and forced them to hand over cash, totalling $3,030, and valuables. {para} In all but one holdup, he ordered the driver to get out of the vehicle and told them where they could pick it up later. {para} Mr Chan Siu-ming, in mitigation, said his client had an unblemished character before he started to associate with bad elements and began to take drugs out of frustration after his business failed. {para} Only a small amount of money was taken from the drivers, said counsel, asking the court to treat Luk as leniently as possible. {/article}

{headline} Guide for potential telecoms bidders {byline} By CONNIE LAW {article} THE Government yesterday issued guidance notes for companies wishing to bid for Hongkong's second local telecommunications network. {para} Under the guidance notes, applicants are not compelled to lodge a performance bond with the Telecommunications Authority. But if they wish to lodge a bond, they are free to suggest its form and amount. {para} However, government sources indicated that the size of the performance bond may be a factor in deciding which applicant should get the licence to provide local telephone services after 1995. {para} A performance bond is a type of guarantee that services or products provided are in accordance with requirements. {para} It is common for the successful bidder for a large government project to provide a performance bond, which can be in the form of depositing a large sum of money with the Government. {para} If the contractor or licensee fails to comply with requirements, the performance bond is forfeited. {para} The Government had earlier announced that the successful pay-TV licence bidder would have to pay a $50 million performance bond. {para} But the sources said yesterday such a requirement would not apply to bidders for the second telecommunications networks. {para} The sources said the size of the bond would demonstrate the applicants' commitment to their plans and that it would be a factor considered in assessing their applications. {para} The administration had not specified the amount of the bond because it did not know how much the applicants proposed to invest. {para} The guidance notes also disclose that the new operators will get a share of international revenue - a delivery fee - from Hongkong Telecom International for every incoming and outgoing international call. {para} The Government has estimated that the Hongkong Telephone Company (HKTC) received a weighted average of $1.50 per minute from Hongkong Telecom for every international call, based on 1991 to 1992 information. {para} To compensate HKTC for its universal service obligation, the authority has decided the delivery fee per minute should be $1.50 minus 45 cents. {para} The sources said the figures would be updated later. {para} They said that since the figures were based on 1991 to 1992 information, they would be updated later. {/article}

{headline} Hero Chang tells students to value life {byline} By BERYL COOK {article} INTERNATIONAL tennis player and idol Michael Chang will appear on a school television programme to urge Hongkong students to value life and discourage suicides. {para} Chang, who is currently playing in the US Open in New York, is one of several celebrities who will appear on a Radio Television Hongkong Education Television (ETV) programme to be shown in classrooms in late November. {para} A Department of Education spokesman said last night that Chang would be in Hongkong next month for the October 20-25 Marlboro Challenge and had promised to appear on the 30-minute programme. {para} ``He is obviously very popular in Hongkong and we are pleased he has promised to help by appearing in this programme,'' the spokesman said. {para} The department is also negotiating with four local youth idols, including singers and television personalities, to appear on the video. {para} ``They have indicated they will appear if their schedules permit, but we cannot release their names until they are sure they will have time. The payment, if there is any, would probably be very minimal because they are very interested in this,'' the spokesman said. {para} The programme, entitled Value of Life, will be targeted at primary three to secondary five students. {para} It will include a number of dramatised situations and the problems of school work, examinations, and relations among schools, families and peer groups. {para} The Director of Education, Mr Dominic Wong Sing-wah, said Chang and the other celebrities would express their views on the value of life during the programme. {para} Mr Wong said professionals also would advise students on the importance of communication with their parents and family, and of ways to solve problems, including seeking help from teachers, school social workers and guidance officers. {para} ``We hope that through the production of this new programme, students will have a positive understanding of the value of life,'' Mr Wong said. {para} The programme was prompted by a spate of student suicides in the past academic year, which saw 17 primary and secondary students take their lives. {para} Mr Wong said ETV also covered topical subjects such as nuclear energy and environmental protection to help students cope with the changing environment. {para} Last year 650,000 primary and junior secondary students and teachers watched the ETV Centre's 150 programmes. {para} Government and aided schools as well as private schools with bought places are provided with colour television sets, video recorders and tapes. {/article}

{headline} Hospital sued over surgery on boy {article} KWONG Wah hospital and a surgeon are being sued for damages by the father of a young boy who underwent an operation for a testicle disorder. {para} The father, Mr Ho Tang, has filed a Supreme Court writ which says the operation was conducted by Mr Chung Sheung-chee about nine years ago on Ho Ka-hang, who was aged five at the time. {para} Following the operation, it is claimed Ka-hang's right testicle was malpositioned and impalpable. {para} Further surgery was performed nine months later. {para} The writ said the testicle was then found to be retracted and encased in fibrous tissue and it was necessary to remove it. {para} The need for the removal of the testicle and the consequent injury, loss and damage were caused by negligence on the part of Mr Chung for which the hospital was liable, the writ claimed. {para} It alleged Mr Chung performed a type of procedure which was appropriate for adults, but not for a young boy, and he knew or ought to have known the procedure was inappropriate and/or unnecessary and could cause problems. {para} The plaintiff claimed special damages of $6,000 for nourishing food and travel and is also claiming further damages, interest and costs. {/article}

{headline} Guns, fake notes seized from gang {byline} By STEWART TENDLER of The Times {article} DETECTIVES arrested 27 men and women in a series of dawn raids and seized more than 40 weapons, two kilograms of plastic explosives and fake œ50 notes with a face value of œ1.5 million (HK$23.04 million). {para} Scotland Yard officers revealed details of a nine-month undercover investigation, operation Mensa, after the raids on 30 addresses in London, the Home Counties and the West Country by officers from three regional crime squads. {para} They seized plates for the œ50 notes and counterfeit US$100 bills, plus counterfeit American currency with a face value of US$250,000 (HK$1.93 million). {para} Plates for counterfeiting Danish kroner notes and Barclays Bank traveller's cheques were also found, with a large number of forged birth certificates and vehicle test certificates, driving licences, vehicle log books and parking permits for disabled drivers. {para} One raid on farm buildings near Bridport, Dorset, uncovered the 40 guns which included two Kalashnikov assault rifles, ammunition, tripwires and flares. {para} Commander Roy Penrose, regional crime squad co-ordinator for London, said the investigation had been aimed at a loosely organised group of criminals based in north and east London suspected of supplying weapons, explosives and counterfeit currency. {para} Police are understood to have infiltrated the network by using a detective posing as a criminal buyer after they were told about the possible sale of explosive, which may have been smuggled in after the Gulf War. {para} Mr Penrose said œ3,000 had been quoted for two tonnes of the PE4 explosive, which is made in Britain. {/article}

{headline} Leung forced to move by callers {byline} From FIONNUALA HALLIGAN in Tokyo and JIMMY LEUNG {article} HONGKONG actor Tony Leung Kar-fai, whose sex scenes in the film The Lover made him the talk of the movie world, has decided to move home because of triad harassment. {para} Leung, 32, said yesterday that he and his family were frightened by telephone calls from unidentified persons and had ``no option but to move''. {para} He and his wife, Annette, and their 11-week-old twin daughters at present live in Central, but will move to a secret address in the territory. {para} Speaking during an opening reception for the Fifth Tokyo International Film Festival, Leung said: ``I have received telephone calls.'' {para} When asked if he had been harassed by triad members, he said ``yes''. {para} It was believed a person claiming to be a film producer had approached him for a role in a new production. When Leung refused the offer - he currently has 20 projects either in progress or awaiting him - he started receiving annoying calls at his home. {para} Leung said he had not contacted the police because there had been no threats made against him or his family. {para} In January, Leung joined a star-studded cast of local movie figures in a march to protest against triad involvement in the industry. {para} Detective Chief Inspector Poon Kit-sang of the Hongkong Island regional crime unit four suggested that Leung contact them if he was threatened by triads. {para} But he added that triad influence in the movie industry seemed to have abated in the past four months. {para} But he added: ``We are very concerned about triad influence and violence within the trade.'' {/article}

{headline} Major shake-up for force's senior ranks {article} page one head {headline} Senior police ranks set for shake-up {byline} By JIMMY LEUNG THE {article} 27,000-strong police force will undergo major personnel changes in the top echelons next year as localisation gains momentum. {para} Six senior officers - five of them expatriates - from the rank of assistant police commissioner and above are expected to retire in the next 12 months. {para} They are deputy commissioner of operations Mr John Sheppard, deputy director of personnel Mr Hector Whitton, marine regional commander Mr Barrie Deegan, deputy director of management services Mr Brian Gouldsmith, deputy director of force training Mr Peter Webb and deputy director of support Mr Lau To-yee. All but Mr Sheppard are also assistant commissioners. {para} With the exception of 57- year-old Mr Sheppard, who is on a one-year extension, the five assistant commissioners will leave at the normal retirement age of 55. {para} Under existing arrangements, only officers at senior assistant commissioner level and above can opt to continue work until they are 57 or older. {para} The current ratio of Chinese to expatriate officers holding the rank of assistant commissioner or above is nine to 13, but this is set to reverse as 1997 approaches. {para} One police source said the development was a natural evolution, because the force hoped to achieve a Chinese to expatriate officer ratio of 60 to 40 by 1997. {para} Under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the Commissioner of Police and his deputy must be local Chinese after 1997. {para} This paves the way for the senior assistant commissioner, Mr Eddie Hui Ki-on, to take over from Mr Sheppard when he leaves in June 1993. Mr Hui is currently director of operations. {para} Senior assistant commissioner Mr Don Watson, 52, the deputy director of Special Branch, is expected to receive a ``golden handshake'' of up to $5 million to retire early. {para} Sources said the move was seen as scaling down the significance of the Special Branch - a secretive arm of the force dealing with VIP protection and anti-espionage activities - by 1997, and the post of deputy director would be deleted next year. {para} Another explanation for Mr Watson's impending departure was the possible choice of a local Chinese to be one of Mr Li Kwan-ha's deputies instead of the three expatriates at present. {para} ``I see localisation within the force as a natural evolution in the run-up to 1997, but the question is how many senior local Chinese officers will still be here in 1997,'' the source said. {para} He said the on-going recruitment of expatriate inspectors would not affect localisation because both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law stipulated that foreigners could serve in the Special Administrative Region government, although they could not serve as head or deputy head of a department such as the police. {para} The source said it did not seem the force was deliberately pushing for Chinese officers to take up top positions because promotion was still based on qualifications, experience and ability. {para} He said some senior expatriate officers were still expected to be promoted to the post of assistant commissioner next year, together with some qualified Chinese colleagues. {para} The expatriates in line for promotion are chief superintendents Mr Tony Ferrige and Mr Ben Munford. {para} Local officers expected to be considered for promotion are chief superintendents Mr Douglas Lau Yuk-kuen, Mr Benny Ng Ching-kok, Mr John Hui Chiu-yin and Mr Basil Lim Sak-yeung. {para} Mr Lau, the former head of the Organised Crime and Triad Group, will return to Hongkong in December after attending a one-year course at the Royal College of Defence in Britain. {para} Mr Ng is currently acting assistant commissioner in charge of inspection services because Mr Jim Main is heading an internal working group examining a new command structure and resources redeployment. {para} Mr Ferrige is currently commandant of the Police Training School, while Mr Munford is the head of the Commercial Crime Bureau. Mr Hui and Mr Lim are deputy commanders of the New Territories and Marine regions respectively. {para} Sources said there appeared to be a ``three-horse race'' for Mr Eddie Hui's present post, although the Kowloon West regional commander, Mr Peter Lee Lam-chuen, is the most senior of the assistant commissioners. {para} The two other contenders are Kowloon East regional commander Mr Pedro Ching Kwok-hoo and Hongkong Island commander Mr Peter Wong Tsan-kwong. {para} ``Peter Wong is a `dark horse' because he's a decisive person and a good police commander,'' a source said. {para} There will be at least one new post of assistant commissioner with the split of the New Territories police region into north and south regions from April 1993. {para} A batch of expatriate chief superintendents have retired or are due to retire next year. {para} Mr Richard Darkin, formerly Hongkong police's narcotics liaison officer seconded to the British embassy in Bangkok, left six months ago. {para} About to leave the force next year are Mr Terry Osler, Mr Vince Chapman, Mr Ed Stevenson, Mr Michael Watson, Mr Gerry Frith, Mr Bob Toal and Mr Geoffrey Cox. {para} Two young high-fliers, one local and one expatriate, have been promoted to chief superintendent. {para} Both Mr Mike Dowie and Mr Dick Lee Ming-kwai are described as ahead of other qualified officers. It has taken them 20 years to climb from probationary inspector to chief superintendent instead of the usual 25 years. {para} Mr Dowie will be district commander of Wong Tai Sin from next month, succeeding Mr Stephen Paang Kui-san, who died as a result of illness in May. {para} ``He is said to be the most junior senior superintendent to be promoted,'' a source said. {para} ``He's probably bypassed 15 people eligible for promotion.'' {para} Mr Dowie, described as young and good, represented Hongkong police in July's 14th International Asian Organised Crime Conference in Calgary, Canada, as head of the Criminal Intelligence Bureau. {para} Mr Lee, a cousin-in-law of Mr Eddie Hui and described as a ``well-respected, smart and intelligent'' officer, recently returned from secondment as an instructor at the Bramshill Police College in England. Only the best local officers are sent to the college. {para} Mr Lee, 39, has taken over from Mr Lionel Lam Kin as the Wan Chai district commander following the latter's transfer to Hongkong Island regional headquarters as No 2 to Mr Peter Wong. {para} Two other possible candidates for chief superintendent posts next year are Mr Mike Horner and Mr David Pitt, currently senior staff officer (crime), Hongkong Island, and senior staff officer (traffic), New Territories, respectively. {para} Law and Order special report - See Page 5 {/article}

{headline} Chinese cargo ship safe {article} A 10,600-TONNE Chinese cargo ship was towed into the territory last night after being stranded by engine room problems for about four hours outside southern waters. {para} The 31 Chinese seamen aboard the Xin Ji messaged for help from the local Marine Rescue and Co-ordination Centre after water rushed into the engine room while they were northeast of Lema Island at about 4.30 pm. {para} The tugboat Yam O from the Hongkong Salvage Company arrived at the scene shortly after 8 pm to tow the ship to the southwest Lamma anchorage. {para} The ship had left Shekou earlier yesterday for an unknown destination. {/article}

{headline} Cost concern over plan for multiple-standards toy safety law {byline} By CATHERINE CHAN and LANA WONG {article} HONGKONG is set to adopt a multiple-standards approach to toy safety to provide sufficient flexibility for suppliers and enough protection for children, despite concerns that such an approach may be more costly to taxpayers. {para} The Government yesterday proposed to adopt two more international safety standards, in addition to the International Committee of Toys Industries standards (ICTI) originally proposed, in its controversial first bill on toy safety. {para} If approved by the Legislative Council, the proposed legislation would come into effect in July next year. But legislators and a businessman expressed concerns about the implementation and the financial implications of the amendments. {para} The move was announced after a meeting between the Secretary for Trade and Industry, Mr Brian Chau Tak-hay, and the Legislative Council ad hoc group studying the Toys and Children's Products Safety Bill. {para} The two additional standards to be introduced into the bill are the American ASTM and the European Norm 71 (EN71), which are widely applied in the United States and most European countries, while the ICTI standard is not commonly adopted worldwide. {para} According to the amendments, toy suppliers are only required to meet one of the three sets of standards. {para} Mr Chau said: ``Late submissions from the toy retailers and suppliers argued strongly for a multiple-standard-regime in order to maximise the choice of toys to be supplied to children in Hongkong. {para} ``We believe that a multiple-standard regime will meet the needs of Hongkong as a small toy market. It will provide the necessary flexibility for the toy suppliers without undermining the protection of children,'' he said. {para} Ad hoc group convenor Dr Leong Che-hung said members were happy the territory had finally managed to adopt some safety standards. {para} But they were concerned that the proposed amendments would be costly if the Government had to test the toys for all three sets of safety standards. {para} Dr Leong said legislators were concerned about the implementation of the requirement, because, if the authorities were flooded with complaints, the toy concerned would have to be put through three sets of tests, which would be costly and time-consuming. {para} To enforce the requirement, members preferred a pre-sale test certificate system, but officials were still undecided on the issue. {para} The Hongkong Toys Council had already thrown its support behind multiple safety standards. {para} But the council's founding member, Mr Bill Blaauw, criticised the proposed system as too complicated and expensive, saying it would be best to adopt one set of standards only. {para} ``For the first time in history we are introducing a new bill, why make it complicated and expensive?'' he asked. {para} ``If we have to do it, do it the cheapest and simplest way. Simplicity is the word. Let's not waste too much money on it,'' said Mr Blaauw, who is also a member of the Trade Development Council's toy advisory committee. {para} He felt it was not necessary to have compulsory pre-sale testing, saying this would make toys more expensive. {para} Consumer Council spokesman Mr Kenneth So Wai-sang said the council's foremost concern was to have the legislative control without further delay. {para} Editorial - Page 24 {/article}

{headline} Red letter day ends in red faces for United Democrats {byline} By LANA WONG {article} THE United Democrats' first formal letter to the Chinese Government has turned into an embarrassing faux pas for the liberal political group with the correspondence on Sino-US trade issues being sent to a minister who left the job more than a year ago. {para} The letter, to the Chinese Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, was signed by UDHK chairman Mr Martin Lee Chu-ming and addressed to Mr Zheng Tuobin - not incumbent Mr Li Lanqing. {para} UDHK spokesman on economic affairs, Dr Huang Chen- ya, admitted the error and said another letter would be sent to Mr Li today. {para} Dr Huang said the mistake was made by UDHK staff who found the name from a ``respectable and reliable'' China-watching magazine. But he conceded the UDHK's legislators were not familiar enough with personnel in the Chinese Government to spot the mistake. {para} The letter is one of two sent to trade officials in China and the United States, urging them to reach agreement in the bi-lateral talks. {para} Dr Huang said the move did not represent a shift in his party's policies towards China. {para} ``We have adopted a pragmatic approach. We hope to protect China's interests as long as they do not clash with those of Hongkong. The fundamental principle of our party is to put the interests of the territory first,'' he said. {para} Dr Huang said the letter did not simply argue about the importance of a compromise agreement to Hongkong but also pointed out that the territory could offer assistance to Beijing as there were bound to be problems when China moved towards an open economy. {para} The UDHK and China seemed to be antagonistic towards each other only because there had been conflict of interests between Hongkong and China, he said. {para} They would continue to reflect the views of the Hongkong people to the Chinese officials whenever there was the need. {para} ``We absolutely are not neglecting China's needs or interests. We still have good feelings towards China and have never ruled out having any contacts with the Chinese Government.'' {para} In the letter addressed to the United States Trade Representative in Washington, Ms Carla Hills, Mr Lee said: ``It would be a cruel irony in Hongkong to be the principal victim of the United States Sanctions against China, for Hongkong is one of the United States' best trading partners.'' {para} The letters urged both China and the US to take into account the interests of Hongkong as any trade sanctions would not only cause severe economic harm to the territory but would also undermine confidence. {/article}

{headline} HK sways with mild earthquake {article} HONGKONG was hit by a minor earth tremor at 9.17 pm. {para} The earthquake, which was felt across the territory, could not be measured on the Richter scale because of insufficient data. {para} The Royal Observatory estimated it to be about four on the 12-point Mercalli scale for smaller tremors. {para} The epicentre was 450 kilometres east-southeast of Hongkong, near Dongsha. {para} The Royal Observatory received at least a dozen reports of the tremor from residents in Yuen Long, Sha Tin, Shamshuipo, Happy Valley, Central and Western. {para} Residents said buildings shook for up to one minute during which small objects swayed or fell. {para} A minor tremor struck Shataukok near the border on March 3 but it was too weak for a Richter rating. {/article}

{headline} Triad link may not prevent Canada migration {byline} By JEREMY LAU {article} UP to 150 Hongkong people believed to have triad connections may be able to emigrate to Canada. {para} The Commission for Canada in Hongkong is aware the applicants have been connected with triad activities and organised crime but cannot reject their applications because they have no criminal convictions. {para} The commission's senior immigration counsellor, Mr Robert Puddester, said it was handling between 20 and 30 applications which it believed had connections with triads. {para} ``A case . . . may be five or six people,'' he said. {para} He said he had no idea which triad societies the applicants belonged to. {para} The applications had been made some time ago and were still being processed. {para} ``We just told them that the applications were being processed,'' he said. {para} Under Canadian immigration laws enacted in 1976, the commission has no power to reject emigration applications if the applicants have no criminal convictions. {para} The applications from people thought to have crime links will be sent to Ottawa for a final decision. {para} ``I hope they will reject the applications,'' Mr Puddester said. {para} He said the Ottawa Government had rarely exercised that power because it would need a certificate signed by the Minister of Immigration and the Attorney-General. {para} The Canadian Parliament is amending its 15-year-old legislation. {para} One amendment will delegate greater power to the commission to reject applications from people whom it believes have links with organised crime although they have no convictions. {para} It is yet to be decided whether there will be a channel for appeal. {para} Mr Puddester believed there were Hongkong triads in Canada but he did not know how they got in because people could apply for emigration from other places. {para} He said he could not speak for other governments but he would be surprised if he was told that they did not receive emigration applications from triad members. {para} The Consul (Public Affairs) of the Australian Consulate-General, Ms Julie Meldrum, said routine checks on applicants' backgrounds were carried out. {para} People could be rejected if character requirements were not met, she said. {para} Last year 22,147 Hongkong immigrants arrived in Canada, including 3,583 entrepreneur migrants and 2,456 investor migrants. {/article}

{headline} Trio deny $8.3 million jewellery raid on shop {article} A GANG of robbers raided a Tsim Sha Tsui jewellers and escaped with jewellery worth $8.3 million, the High Court heard yesterday. {para} Being tried by a jury before Deputy Judge Sharwood are three of the alleged robbers, Chau Wai-keung, 22, Yim Che- lam, 23, and Yu Sun-wah, 19. {para} They have all denied robbing Mr Kan Lam-ying, proprietor of Jewelry Life Company at Mody Road of $8.3 million worth of jewellery, $6,200 in cash and a promissory cheque with a face value of $100,000. {para} Mr Shane Cunningham, counsel prosecuting on a fiat, said the firm's accountant, Mr Chan Kai-ming, arrived at the shop on the morning of May 23, 1990. {para} He was confronted by two men both armed with knives and was forced to open the door of the shop. {para} Two more robbers, also carrying knives and masked, followed him in and tied him up, said counsel. {para} After taking the valuables from the safe, the robbers fled, said Mr Cunningham. {para} The hearing continues. {/article}

{headline} Safety plea over oil depot on Tsing Yi {article} LEGISLATIVE Councillor Mr Lee Wing-tat yesterday urged the Government to immediately remove all liquefied petroleum gas stored at the Concord Oil Depot on Tsing Yi. {para} Mr Lee said he had lost all confidence in the company's safety standards. {para} ``We have no confidence in Concord. Its track record is very poor,'' he said. {para} The safety of the 90,000 Tsing Yi residents came under the spotlight last week following a leak in a liquid petroleum gas transfer pipe at the Concord depot. {para} Mr Lee urged the Fire Services Department not to extend the company's liquid petroleum storage licence, which is due to expire in the next few weeks. {para} ``The gas in Concord Depot should be removed immediately,'' he said. {para} Mr Lee added that the company was involved in a dispute with its employees over plans to stop its oil business next year. {para} A consultancy study commissioned by the Government in 1989 identified about 40 potentially hazardous installations on Tsing Yi Island . {para} The report also called for the amount of liquid petroleum gas stored at the Concord site to be reduced. {para} The Concord site housed 2,000 tonnes of liquid petroleum at that time. It is now licensed to store 630 tonnes. {para} It is expected that the Concord depot will be moved away from Tsing Yi by September next year. {para} Mr Lee also urged Mobil to speed up its measures to reduce the volume of its liquid petroleum immediately. The Mobil depot is licensed to store 2,500 tonnes of liquid petroleum. {para} Mr Lee asked the Government to consider places besides Tsing Yi as fuel storage areas for Chek Lap Kok airport. The airport master plan has Tsing Yi marked for future fuel storage. {para} Mr Lee said the Provisional Airport Authority's chief executive, Mr Richard Allen, had earlier told him that the choice of Tsing Yi as the fuel storage area was part of the overall strategic plan in fuel storage. {para} But Mr Lee said the authority should include in its consultancy study other possible locations as well. {para} ``We can't rely on Tsing Yi alone. Sooner or later, we have to find other places to accommodate the fuel,'' he said. {para} In his meeting with officials of the Planning, Environment and Lands branch yesterday, Mr Lee said officials promised to look into factors like cost-effectiveness, potential danger and land planning when deciding where the fuel site should be. {para} He will meet Mr Allen next week to demand consideration of other places for fuel storage. {/article}

{headline} Pay-TV may bring annual $2.4b windfall {byline} By DOREEN CHEUNG {article} HONGKONG'S future Pay-TV operators could generate between $1 billion and $2.4 billion a year outside the existing $1.6 billion in advertising revenue enjoyed by the territory's existing television operators, according to a confidential report. {para} It also concludes that there is room for more than one Pay-TV operator in the territory. {para} Commissioned by the Recreation and Culture Branch and compiled by accountants KPGM Peat Marwick, the report also concludes: {para} There is room for more than one Pay-TV operator in the territory; {para} That cable TV will not affect the viability of Asia Television (ATV) and Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) despite some loss of audience; {para} That the impact of satellite operator STAR TV will be small - even if it broadcasts in Cantonese. {para} The report, released to the Omelco Recreation and Culture panel yesterday, based its optimism about cable television on the assumption that half of all Hongkong households, about 800,000 families, would subscribe, paying $100 to $250 a month. {para} ``These would be new revenues in the television industry in Hongkong and it is primarily these revenues which potential Pay-TV operators are seeking,'' the report says. {para} Quoting overseas examples, the report says while the subscription rate of cable TV in the United States is about two-thirds, it is between 50 per cent to 90 per cent in major cabled territories in continental Europe. {para} Given such high potential for cable TV, the report concludes that there is room for more than one operator in Hongkong in the long run. {para} Although the introduction of cable TV will attract audiences from the existing English-language channels and STAR TV, there will only be a slight redistribution of advertising revenues among existing operators. {para} When STAR TV is allowed to dub three of its five channels in Cantonese in October 1993, the report estimates that some of the advertising revenues of ATV and TVB will be siphoned to the satellite TV operator as a result of its greater penetration. {para} But it adds: ``We are not talking of a major shift in market share, all existing operators are expected to experience real growth in their advertising revenues.'' {para} The projected advertising revenues for the television industry will increase in 1991 prices from $1.6 billion in 1991 to $2.4 billion in 2002. {para} Despite the rosy picture painted by the report, the Government would only allow the second cable operator into the market three years after the first Pay-TV licensee's operation. {para} No new Cantonese services from STAR TV can be beamed to Hongkong viewers before the cable operator's three-year grace period expires. {para} Yet, the Government will allow it to offer for subscription any non- Cantonese channel excluding its original five channels after October 1993. {para} Panel convenor Mr Howard Young said the Government's decision, which was based on the report, had been rather conservative. {/article}

{headline} Withdrawn vaccines still available in HK {byline} By FIONA CHAN and agencies {article} THE Department of Health confirmed that two brands of vaccine for babies withdrawn in Britain yesterday were still available in Hongkong. {para} Pharmaceutical companies withdrew the products after studies showed links with a mild form of meningitis. {para} The department is checking if the vaccines are being used by the Hongkong Government to protect against measles, mumps and rubella. {para} A spokesman for the department said yesterday the safety standards of the two drugs were acceptable. {para} Only one in every 11,000 cases of children given the vaccine was reported to be associated with meningitis. The recovery rate has been 100 per cent. {para} The department was closely monitoring developments, he said. {para} Britain's Chief Medical Officer, Mr Kenneth Calman, said pharmacists should not issue two of three vaccines against the childhood illnesses, which account for 85 per cent of prescriptions. {para} The two withdrawn were Pluserix-MMR and Immravax. Chemists were told to issue the other vaccine, MMR II, which has no apparent side-effects. {para} A two-year study found 53 cases in which children suffered high temperatures, vomiting and general malaise linked with the withdrawn vaccines. {para} Mr Calman said: ``The risks of contracting vaccine- related meningitis are extremely small, and the benefits from immunisation whichever vaccine is used are overwhelming.'' {para} The triple measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was introduced in October 1988 and is now given as a matter of routine to 500,000 babies in Britain a year at about 14 months. {para} Hongkong is administering a similar triple inoculation for measles, mumps and polio. {/article}

{headline} Sales of vaccine halted {byline} By FIONA CHAN {article} ABOUT 300 doses of a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine withdrawn from use in the UK have been sold locally over the past three months, the manufacturer revealed yesterday. {para} But the company, Smithkline Beecham, said it had now halted sales of the drug in Hongkong following its withdrawal in Britain. {para} The move came after it was found that two brands of vaccine had been linked to a mild form of meningitis found among babies in Britain. {para} In Hongkong more than 80 per cent of babies receive a French-made triple vaccine at maternal and child health centres administered by the Department of Health. This vaccine has not shown any adverse side- effects. {para} But one of two types of vaccine called into question in Britain, Pluserix-MMR, has been used locally by private practitioners. {para} A spokesman for Smithkline Beecham said it had been told by its head office to suspend distribution of the triple vaccine. {para} He said the vaccine had only a small distribution in Hongkong among private doctors as the Department of Health had never used it. {para} The 300 doses distributed over the last three months would have been used by about 200 young children following the usual sales pattern. {para} The listed price for the vaccine was $67.70 but varied according to charges from different doctors. {para} The vaccine was withdrawn in Britain after it was found one in 11,000 children injected with the product would suffer a mild form of meningitis. The children had a 100 per cent recovery rate. {para} But the spokesman for Smithkline Beecham, stressed that one in 400 babies was likely to suffer meningitis without using a vaccine. {para} This compares with a risk of only one in 100,000 to 300,000 children using other vaccines. {para} Girls have to receive two vaccines, one after one year and another in Primary Six for the prevention of rubella. Boys receive only one at one year old. {para} A spokesman for the Department of Health yesterday said the Government had no intention of stopping the use of the vaccines but they would be closely monitored. {para} He said of the two vaccines which had caused alarm in Britain only Pluserix-MMR was available locally. {para} The former president of the Hongkong Paediatric Society, Dr David Lee Ka- yan, said: ``People can fully recover from meningitis. The benefits of using the vaccines are more than the risks.'' {para} He said the society would seek more information and reactions from the Government. {para} Britain earlier reported that a two-year study found 53 cases in which children suffered high temperatures, vomiting and general malaise linked with the withdrawn vaccines. {para} The triple measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was introduced in October 1988 and is now given as a matter of routine to 500,000 babies in Britain a year at about 14 months. {/article}

{headline} Heroin dealer gets 16 years {article} A YOUNG man caught with a large quantity of heroin has been jailed for 16 years by the High Court. {para} Deputy Judge Daniell said the evidence showed Choi Wah-tah, 20, had played only a minimal role in the crime. He also took into account that he was only 18 at the time, but in view of the quantity of drugs involved, 16 years was the most lenient sentence he could impose. {para} Choi was found guilty by a jury of possession of 1,827 grams of narcotic for the purpose of unlawful trafficking. {para} He had been jointly charged with Leung Hoi-chi, 21, who was jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to a separate charge of possession of a mixture containing 444.78 grams of narcotic. {para} Choi and Leung both denied the joint charge, but midway through the trial Leung requested a severance of proceedings. The application was granted and Leung will be tried separately at a later date on the trafficking charge. {para} Senior Crown Counsel Mr Josiah Li called evidence that customs officers had seen Leung leaving an 18th floor flat in Riviera Gardens, Tsuen Wan, on May 2 last year carrying a bag, which he threw away when they tried to question him. {para} He was later arrested inside the rubbish collection room on the first floor of the building. {para} The bag he threw away contained heroin. {para} When officers entered the flat, they found Choi hiding behind the wooden door. {para} Two cartons were found in the bathroom containing a heroin mixture of 1,827.33 grams of salts of esters of morphine. {para} Sediment was found in the toilet bowl and there was drug packing paraphernalia in the flat, together with rent receipts in Choi's name. {para} Choi did not give evidence in his defence. {para} His counsel, Mr Christopher Grounds said while the jury found his client guilty of the charge, his involvement in the crime was clearly the lowest possible one. {para} Choi was only 18 at the time and no doubt he would lose the best years of his life in prison for the offence, said counsel, asking the court to be as merciful as possible. {/article}

{headline} Boat 101 jailing `like Holocaust' {article} THE 111 Vietnamese from boat 101 who were falsely imprisoned in Hongkong for 18 months were likely to suffer from psychiatric problems similar to those affecting survivors of the Holocaust, the High Court heard yesterday. {para} Psychiatrist Dr William Green, who has been called as an expert witness, said he had examined several of the plaintiffs and found all but one suffering from psychiatric problems about 14 months after they were released. {para} He said both concentration camp syndrome and post trauma syndrome were difficult to treat and while time helped, victims could suffer from breakdowns and flashbacks for many years. {para} He found Dr Nguyen Ngoc Cuong, 35, had flashbacks of riots and violence. {para} Dr Green said Dr Nguyen had left Vietnam after standing up to an authoritarian regime for altruistic reasons. {para} He had been removed as head of surgery from a hospital because he refused to treat friends and relatives of corrupt officials, who were not really ill, at the expense of the poor and sick. {para} In Hongkong's camps, he was also unable to help people and he became increasingly despondent. {para} Dr Nguyen also worried about his wife and the possibility she could be raped, Dr Green said. {para} He was exposed to considerable trauma witnessing rapes and because he did not help he felt a coward. He was violently attacked and was bullied by people wanting drugs. {para} Dr Nguyen's perception of the future was bleak, as he thought he may die of cancer. He also felt he would be dangerous as a surgeon now as he might have forgotten anatomy, the court heard. {para} Dr Green agreed that Dr Nguyen's one glimmer of hope was this case, where damages suffered by the plaintiffs would be assessed. {para} However, Dr Green said that given the right circumstances, Dr Nguyen had a good prognosis - if he were put in a safe environment where he was able to work in the medical field again. {para} Mr Justice Chan adjourned the case for a week. {/article}

{headline} Murder denied at Whitehead camp {article} A VIETNAMESE man died after being knifed by two-fellow countrymen who stabbed him in the chest and back during an argument over a ring, the High Court heard yesterday. {para} On trial before Mr Justice Ryan is Nguyen Van Thanh, who denied murdering Mr Doa Trong Huy at Whitehead detention centre. {para} Opening the Crown's case, Senior Crown Counsel Mr John Halley told a jury that an inmate went to the toilet after midnight on November 15, 1990. {para} He saw four men talking, including Nguyen and Mr Doa, who appeared to be surrounded by the other three, and he heard one of them ask Mr Doa where he had put the ring, said counsel. {para} When the inmate came out of the toilet, he saw Nguyen grab Mr Doa, who said he did not have the ring. {para} Another man, who was known to the witness as Ah Ching, accused Mr Doa of refusing to hand over the ring and stabbed him in the chest, Mr Halley said. {para} Mr Doa fled but was pursued by Nguyen, who also produced a knife. When he caught up with the victim, he stabbed him once in the back, said Mr Halley. {para} Nguyen is defended by Mr John McLanachan. {para} The hearing continues today. {/article}

{headline} Viet repatriation receives boost {byline} By BERYL COOK {article} A RECORD number of Vietnamese boat people were returning home voluntarily, the Government's Refugee Co-ordinator said yesterday. {para} Mr Brian Bresnihan said long-term stayers who had been screened out had also finally realised they were better off going home. {para} He added that a US$2 million (HK$15.5 million) donation from the United States Government yesterday to help resettlement programmes for boat people who opted for repatriation was likely to further boost the figures. {para} ``There was a hard-core who arrived early on and were screened out, but refused to budge, but they are now realising that instead of wasting their time in the camps their only future is to return home,'' Mr Bresnihan said. {para} He said about 22,000 boat people had returned voluntarily since the programme was first introduced in 1989. {para} Of these, 874 returned voluntarily in 1989, 5,439 in 1990 and 7,660 in 1991. {para} Already this year about 8,000 boat people had returned voluntarily. {para} About 270 boat people returned voluntarily on a flight yesterday and Mr Bresnihan said a record 70 per cent of them were people who had been screened out as refugees. {para} ``There used to be more people on the flights who arrived, cased the place, decided there was no future for them and returned before they were even screened,'' Mr Bresnihan said. {para} ``But the bulk of the returnees on [yesterday's] flight are people who have been screened out. There are more long-term stayers going home.'' {para} About 22,000 of the 47,000 still in camps were awaiting screening, but 25,000 had been screened out as economic migrants, not political refugees. {para} About 2,800 had already indicated they wanted to return voluntarily. {para} Mr Bresnihan said perceptions of Vietnam's economic upturn were growing. {para} Yesterday's announcement of US aid to boost business, jobs and training in Vietnam and provide cheap business loans for returnees would also spread to the camps and probably boost voluntary repatriation. {para} A US consul spokeswoman said the aid was the first America had provided specifically to help Vietnamese boat people re-integrate when they returned home. {para} She said US$800,000 would also be given to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help send home and resettle unaccompanied Vietnamese children from camps around Southeast Asia. {para} The US has no diplomatic relations with Vietnam, observes a trade embargo against it and still opposes mandatory repatriation of boat people, but the spokeswoman said the US wanted to help those who returned voluntarily. {para} The aid will be distributed by non-government organisations and is likely to follow the European Community's US$127 million International Programme for the Re-integration of Vietnamese Returnees, which funds cheap loans from Vietnamese banks to help returnees set up business, and boosts vocational training, micro-business training and employment. {para} The consul spokeswoman said America's contribution probably would be supplied within the next few months. {para} A Refugee Affairs representative from the Department of State Affairs had arrived in Vietnam on Thursday and would work with non-government organisations for a week to suggest how the aid could be spent. {para} The External Information Co-ordinator for the EC programme, Ms Lorna Workman, said their one-year trial had proved successful with half the returnee families in the three trial provinces benefiting from the loan scheme through loans or jobs from loan-financed businesses, and a quarter from vocational training programmes. {/article}

{headline} Visa rules relaxed for visitors {article} NEW visa regulations introduced yesterday allow people from most parts of the world to visit Hongkong for up to three months without a visa. {para} The changes would also make it easier for foreign visitors to stay on and apply for work in the territory, a government spokesman said. {para} The new arrangements allow Japanese nationals to land without a visa and stay for up to one month, instead of just one week. {para} Nationals of communist countries who formerly had to wait seven days for one- week visas, may obtain single or double journey visas for 14 days without applying in advance to Hongkong. They include visitors from Bulgaria, Cambodia, the CIS, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, Hungary, Laos, Mongolia, Romania and Vietnam. {para} Passport holders of another 52 nations are now allowed to enter Hongkong without visas for 14 days, instead of the seven as before. Poland and South Africa have reciprocal visa waiver arrangements with Hongkong and provisions about to be included would allow their nationals into the territory for 14 to 30 days. {para} Visas will continue to be required by nationals of countries not recognised by the United Kingdom, including Taiwan. {/article}

{headline} Call for media and arts reform {article} REFORMIST intellectuals have for the first time since mid-1989 clamoured for liberalisation in the media and the arts. {para} After blowing the trumpet for patriarch Mr Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, the Chinese media has been devoting more space to calls for changes in the cultural sphere. {para} The semi-official China News Service (CNS) yesterday carried the bold views of People's University Professor Gan Xifen, who argued that the media should reflect ``heterogeneous voices''. {para} ``Many newspapers do not have much in the way of real contents,'' Professor Gan said. ``Most of the material is about the activities of leading cadres and departments, and whatever the departments want the masses to know''. {para} The professor said media units rarely reflected the voice of the people and that they were getting ``further away from reality''. {para} ``On the basis of upholding the major direction of socialism, the media should develop democracy, reflect the heterogeneous views of the people, and report different information,'' he added. {para} Professor Gan urged the authorities to reform their ``heavily-centralised system of the control and management of the media''. {para} Yesterday, CNS also carried former minister of culture Wang Meng's plea that ``the state should cease to take care of the livelihood of writers''. {para} Wang, who is a renowned novelist, said some writers ceased to become productive once they had become appendages to the state. {para} He said instead of paying salaries to writers and artists, Beijing should set up Western-style foundations which hire professional adjudicators to determine who should be eligible for grants. {para} - WILLY WO-LAP LAM {/article}

{headline} Governor confident of backing on reforms {byline} From DAVID WALLEN in London {article} THE Governor, Mr Chris Patten, has given an assurance that Hongkong people will give ``an enthusiastic endorsement'' to his package of constitutional reforms planned for October 7. {para} ``They will recognise that I have done my very best,'' Mr Patten said after meeting the Prime Minister, Mr John Major, and Foreign Secretary, Mr Douglas Hurd, in London yesterday. {para} ``What I will be attempting to do is to act in the best interest of the people of Hongkong and I hope that the people of Hongkong will believe that that is exactly what I have done when they read my speech.'' {para} Mr Patten arrived at 5 am for a lightning visit to London that will see him back in the territory later today. {para} After a breakfast with Mr Major and talks with Mr Hurd, Foreign Office Minister Mr Alastair Goodlad and other officials, Mr Patten denied that the suddenness of his trip meant there were any differences between Government House and Whitehall. {para} ``I don't normally disagree with my friends,'' he said, adding that Mr Major was happy with the talks. {para} ``It was a great pleasure for me to spend most of the morning with one of my closest friends.'' {para} In a BBC radio interview, Mr Patten stressed the desire of the Hongkong people for more democracy. {para} Asked if this meant he would appoint a pro-democracy figure to the Executive Council, his only comment was that people would have to wait for his policy speech to the Legislative Council. {para} Nor would he say much about his visit to Beijing on October 11, except that he was looking forward to talks with the head of the Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Lu Ping. {para} ``We all want to see a smooth transition in Hongkong and the safeguarding of Hongkong's prosperity and stability and the safeguarding of Hongkong's way of life,'' Mr Patten said. {para} He said the purpose of his visit was to pass on the contents of the discussions he had held with the territory's opinion leaders since arriving in July. {para} ``I gave them my impressions for the best way forward, socially, economically and politically for Hongkong,'' he said. {para} ``The meetings we had were extremely useful from my point of view and extremely useful from the point of view of the Prime Minister and senior colleagues. {para} ``I left Hongkong cheerfully yesterday morning and I shall return to Hongkong cheerfully this evening.'' {para} On Chek Lap Kok airport, the Governor said he hoped the ``log jam'' could be broken and that the Hongkong side would be making new proposals at an Airport Committee meeting today. {para} ``I believe they will be regarded as a very constructive way forward so that we can end this disagreement and complete the airport as soon as possible.'' {para} Mr Patten described China's proposals last week on funding as ``very interesting''. {para} ``We'll be responding with our proposals tomorrow and I very much hope that on their merits we can sort these issues out very speedily indeed.'' {para} Mr Patten spent the afternoon privately with his daughter, Laura. {para} A vice-director of the local branch of the New China News Agency, Mr Zheng Hua, declined to comment on Mr Patten's trip to London. {para} ``He only returns to London to report duties,'' he said. {para} Mr Zheng also declined to reveal the date Mr Patten would meet the director of the agency, Mr Zhou Nan, before the Governor delivered his maiden policy speech in the Legislative Council. {para} Legislative Councillor Mr Chim Pui-chung yesterday urged Mr Patten to carefully consider both Hongkong people's wishes and China's position on the territory's constitutional reforms in shaping his policy address. {para} With future political development linked to the 1997 handover, Mr Patten should not only take into account British interests, Mr Chim said. {para} In an interview with the semi-official Hongkong China News Agency, Mr Chim said he believed Mr Patten would have sought Mr Major's support on some Hongkong issues to bolster his flexibility in negotiating with the Chinese side when he visited Beijing next month. {para} He believed it was likely Mr Patten would have a personal letter from Mr Major to hand over to Chinese leaders so as to boost his status during his Beijing trip. {/article}

{headline} Renewed hope for asylum seekers {article} THE Governor has offered fresh hope to the two Chinese women pro-democracy activists who are fighting deportation. {para} After talks with the Prime Minister, he said: ``I expect that there will be a satisfactory outcome to these cases which I know concern a lot of people.'' {para} He said a number of countries were presently considering the applications for visas from journalist Liu Yijung, 29, and computer programmer Lin Lin, 24. {para} They are due to appear before the High Court today on a hearing of applications for judicial review of the Government's removal orders. {para} Canada is considering the women's application for asylum. {para} British Home Secretary Mr Kenneth Clarke has refused to discuss the case, with the Home Office saying it is a matter for the territory. Britain has refused to grant them asylum. {para} The Labour Party has asked Mr Clarke to step in and stop them being returned to China ``to be persecuted and possibly face the death penalty''. {para} The first secretary of the Canadian Commission in Hongkong, Mr Carl Schwenger, said the applications were still being processed yesterday. {para} Even as refugees, he said they had to meet the requirements that they were healthy to enter Canada. {para} Acting Canadian Commissioner Mr Colin Russel said: ``We have a very well known and strong forward process for reviewing applications for asylum.'' {para} ``Without referring to any specific case, we do look into and consider the situation which has brought any case forward,'' he said. {para} Miss Liu claims to have been involved in the Chinese pro-democracy movement since 1989 and Miss Lin has said she is at risk because she offered Liu shelter. {para} They fled to Hongkong from China last December and have been in jail seeking asylum ever since. {/article}

{headline} Prison for holdup at godown {article} AN electrician who took part in a robbery in which $400,000 worth of nylon cloth was stolen from a godown was jailed for 4 1/2 years by the High Court. {para} Mr Justice Keith, sentencing Hon Kwok-leung, said the unfortunate watchman who had a knife held against his neck and was tied up, must have been scared out of his wits. {para} Hon, 30, had pleaded guilty to robbery. {para} According to the agreed facts presented by Senior Assistant Crown Prosecutor Mr Peter Cahill, the Hop Shing Piece Goods Company's godown in Pat Heung consisted of a number of huts where nylon cloth was stored. It was surrounded by wire mesh and guarded by Mr Liu Yuk. {para} At about 1.50 am on November 20, 1989, a group of men, including Hon, climbed over the fence. {para} They grabbed Mr Liu, held a knife against his neck, tied him up with wire and covered him with a blanket. Hon opened the huts with a screwdriver and the gang loaded 2,450 rolls of nylon cloth on to two trucks. {para} Mr Neil Mitchell, for Hon, said his client had led an industrious and productive life before the offence and had co-operated with police after his arrest. {/article}

{headline} Addict imprisoned over revolver {article} A DRUG addict who claimed he kept a revolver for a friend and several knives and baseball bats for self-protection was yesterday jailed for six years at the High Court. {para} Mak Wang, 31, admitted possessing a gun and six bullets without a licence and offensive weapons including four knives, a Japanese sword and three baseball bats. {para} Mr Justice Gall, in handing down the prison term, said he would sentence Mak on the basis he was the holder of the firearm. {para} He accepted that Mak had assisted police in the arrest of another man, ``Hak Chai',' and the recovery of another revolver. {para} Senior Crown counsel Miss Mary Sin told the court police discovered the weapons after raiding a wooden hut in Sha Tin at 6.20 am on June 5 last year. {para} Mak was inside with his younger brother and their girlfriends. {para} Mak claimed he was keeping the revolver and the bullets for a friend, the baseball bats and knives were for self-protection and the sword was for decoration. {/article}

{headline} Decisions `must be in line with Basic Law' {byline} By CONNIE LAW {article} THE Hongkong Government has the responsibility to ensure political changes before 1997 are in line with the Basic Law, according to a signed commentary carried in the pro-China Wen Wei Po yesterday. {para} ``Of course, Hongkong is ruled by Britain before 1997,'' the commentary said. ``And decisions on matters such as whether the Executive and Legislative councils should be separated and the Exco's composition should be made by the Hongkong Government. {para} ``But when it deliberates the issues, it should look into whether the new arrangements are in line with the Basic Law or not.'' {para} The commentary said the Basic Law clearly said that the relationship between the Legislative and Executive councils was one to maintain checks and balances. {para} It reminded the Hongkong Government that, according to the mini-constitution, post-1997 Exco members had to be selected from among public figures, government officials and Legco members. {para} The commentary said that to have a smooth transition, economic, social and political changes in Hongkong should converge with the Basic Law. {para} ``If changes are carried out without paying attention to the need for convergence, social instability will arise after 1997 and this will not be in Hongkong's interests.'' {para} It also warned the Hongkong Government not to adopt an American-style committee system, saying this went against the principle of an executive-led government which was stated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. {para} The article said the committee system - under which bills would be discussed in committees before being tabled to Legco - would certainly turn the Legco into a more than advisory body and strip Exco of its powers. {para} ``Everybody knows that a major reason why Hongkong prospers is that its executive-led government copes well with the territory's changing needs. {para} ``Although it is not a perfect system, it is better than a Legco-led one in terms of efficiency and in preserving the Government's reputation,'' the commentary said. {para} It said Hongkong's situation was completely different to that in the US. {/article}

{headline} Whale to be burned {article} A DEAD whale, which was washed on to Tung Wan beach on Cheung Chau yesterday, is to be chopped into pieces and burned today. {para} Marine biologists at the Agriculture and Fisheries Department believe the 15- metre-long whale has been dead for about a week but have failed to identify its species or whether it is male or female. {para} Acting Senior Conservation Officer Mr Leung Kar-lok said: ``Most of the carcass has decomposed and been washed away.'' {para} He said whales were not usually found in the comparatively warm waters around Hongkong and it was probable that the whale had been sick and got lost. {para} On August 19 last year, a young pygmy sperm whale was found dead near Tai Tam Tuk village in Southern District. {/article}

{headline} Territory `can help China with problems' {byline} By VIRGINIA MAHER {article} HONGKONG was vitally important to the World Health Organisation (WHO) because it was strategically placed to teach people in China how to fight problems such as AIDS, drugs, alcohol and polio, a WHO spokesman said yesterday. {para} Speaking after the close of the 43rd annual meeting of WHO's regional committee for the Western Pacific, Dr Bernard Kean said Hongkong's greatest asset was its ability to transfer its technology and energy to China. {para} Dr Kean, who is based in Beijing, described how the Hongkong Society for Rehabilitation and the MacLehose Centre were successfully promoting community-based services in China. {para} ``What Hongkong has been doing is using technology transfer to help China, which is just there, and still grappling with problems like poliomyelitis,'' he said. {para} ``Know-how is the software of technology and Hongkong has been able to show China the way in another important issue, the promotion of anti-smoking.'' {para} China was both the biggest consumer and producer of tobacco worldwide and Beijing was looking to Hongkong for help to try to curb the country's nicotine habit. {para} On AIDS, which was beginning to be recognised as a problem in China, officials were looking to Hongkong to see how it handled the HIV virus. {para} ``Both government and non-government circles in China are aware of the tough issues AIDS poses and are looking to Hongkong for help in treatment, counselling and publicity,'' Dr Kean said. {para} ``In fact, the country's three-year plan for AIDS control was written by experts in Hongkong.'' {para} The committee noted with concern the ``unabated spread'' of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases in the region, and recognised the increasing transmission through heterosexual activity and intravenous drug use. {para} Member states were urged to give high priority to promoting safer sexual behaviour. {/article}

{headline} Wounding count heard {article} THE brother of a beauty queen appeared in Western Court yesterday charged with wounding the boyfriend of the winner of the Miss Photogenic title at the Miss Asia-Pacific competition. {para} Ma Ching-yeung, 29, assistant chairman of a land development company and director of Tai Sang Bank Limited and his co-defendant Fong Chan-ning, 26, manager of a trading company, face a count of wounding with intent. No pleas were taken. Ma's sister, Jane Ma, is Miss Aerobics. {para} They, together with a person not in custody, were alleged to have unlawfully and maliciously wounded Mr Chu To on August 2 at Club 1997 in Lan Kwai Fong, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. {para} Court Prosecutor Mr C. K. Chu alleged the victim was wounded by three men in the club. {para} The case was transferred to the District Court for plea on October 6. {/article}

{headline} Jump in number of Legco landlords {byline} By JEREMY LAU {article} HONGKONG'S legislators have thronged to the property market during the past 12 months, according to their declarations of pecuniary interests. {para} Those lawmakers joining the ranks of the property-owning class either here or overseas have risen by 40 per cent from 22 last year to 31. {para} Among the property owners are directly-elected members Miss Emily Lau Wai-hing, Dr Conrad Lam Kui-shing, Dr Huang Chen- ya, Mr Frederick Fung Kin- kee and Mr Lau Chin-shek; functional representatives Mr Samuel Wong Ping-wai and Mr Jimmy McGregor; and appointed members Mr Eric Li Ka-cheung, Mr Moses Cheng Mo-chi and Mr Marvin Cheung Kin-tung. {para} Although declarations were made public yesterday, a change in disclosure guidelines this year means legislators need not provide specific information about their property holdings. {para} Guidelines issued in July do not require councillors to list the amount of land or property or exact location of their holdings. {para} Most members, including last year's biggest landlord, Mr Lau Wong-fat, need only declare the country of their holdings, which include Hongkong, Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and even Portugal. But they gave no details. {para} Mr Simon Ip Sik-on, however, still provided addresses of four flats he owns in the United States. {para} The secretary of the Standing Committee on Members' Interests, Mr Patrick Chan Nim-tak, said the committee had decided to apply the simpler system used by British MPs. {para} ``All the public needs to know is that a member may have a conflict of interest because of his property ownership,'' he said. {para} ``An additional piece of information does not make the public know more.'' {para} By contrast, corporate directorships were declared for the first time this year. {para} Accountant member Mr Peter Wong Hong-yuen revealed he held 244 corporate directorships and interests in another 151 companies. {para} The only other member with directorships was accountant Mr Eric Li, who said he had 13. {para} Independent Miss Lau said she was still receiving donations from businessman Mr Joseph Hotung and was given $200,000 by Mr Law Ting-pong. {para} Reports on Page 7 {/article}

{headline} Dissident pair hit out over broken vows main head pg one {headline} Dissident pair hit out over broken vows {byline} By SUSAN FURLONG and KENT CHEN {article} TWO Chinese dissidents have accused Hongkong authorities of reneging on a deal that could have avoided months of imprisonment before finally winning asylum in Canada. {para} The 29-year-old journalist Ms Liu Yijun and computer programmer Ms Lin Lin, 24, landed in Vancouver at 2 o'clock this morning (Hongkong time), ending their nine-month ordeal in Hongkong's jails. {para} Ms Liu said she was ``very happy to be in Canada to take a fresh breath of freedom'' and thanked the Ottawa Government for supporting democratic development in China. {para} They were met by immigration officials and Mr Richard Lee Tsan-ming, of the Vancouver Society in Support of the Democratic Movement in China, and Hongkong legislator Mr Albert Chan. {para} Their reprieve from being sent back to China came only two hours before the High Court was due to consider whether they should be deported to China as illegal immigrants. {para} But lawyers and human rights groups have called for greater openness by the Government in deciding who qualifies for asylum amid confusion over the women's case. {para} Ms Liu and Ms Lin were taken to Kai Tak from Victoria prison at 8 am. {para} They were seen off by United Democrats vice-chairman Mr Albert Ho Chun-yan, who has lobbied on their behalf and their lawyers Ms Pam Baker and Mr Michael Darwyne, on Canadian Airlines Flight 008 to Vancouver at 1.30 pm. {para} Mr Ho bought the women Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse T-shirts and gave each of them C$100 (HK$636). {para} It is understood the formal announcement that Canada had agreed to accept Ms Lin and Ms Liu came at 6 am following the results of interviews and medical examinations carried out by officials from the Commission for Canada last week. {para} ``The decision [to grant them refugee status] was based on information provided by the two women and from supplementary information and testimonials from several non-governmental groups in Hongkong and Canada,'' the commission said. {para} But a statement from the women released through their supporters claimed the Hongkong authorities had broken promises to return crucial documents which would have proved that they faced persecution if they went back to China. {para} They believe the documents could have earned them the right to asylum without being held in detention centres for nine months which they believe adversely affected their health. {para} The couple also claim the Immigration Department hindered efforts by several Western countries to consider them for asylum and was determined that they be deported. {para} ``They seemed very unwilling to give us extra time for those who were trying to help us. They did not want to help, but they also did not want others to help us; this was really surprising,'' the couple said. {para} The letter, which is dated September 6, tells of the chilly reception that awaited the two asylum-seekers when they arrived in Hongkong on December 17 after a hazardous journey from Shenzhen. {para} They allege that Ms Liu was confined to a psychiatric hospital for 15 days, despite apparent proof acquired by human rights organisations that she was a known dissident. Ms Lin went on hunger strike for six days in protest. {para} ``Psychologists in Hongkong had confirmed that my mental state was extremely healthy. Why were there people who could stand by and see that I was treated as a mental patient and was imprisoned for a long period?'' she wrote. {para} Ms Liu was admitted to the mental hospital in April after attempting to commit suicide. Sources said she made the attempt because of stress from her long detention and because she had lost hope of gaining asylum. {para} Senior Security Branch officials refused to comment on the allegations last night until they had seen the statement made by the two dissidents. {para} Mr Ho, a leader of the Hongkong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, spent several hours with Ms Lin and Ms Liu in a restricted area at Kai Tak before the women were put on a plane to Vancouver. {para} ``They were extremely excited . . . that they were totally free from the nightmare that they have been suffering from during the last nine months in prison,'' he said. {para} A group of Hongkong Chinese who had moved to Canada and formed an organisation to support democracy in China would help them settle down in Vancouver, he said. {para} ``Liu Yijun said that she will certainly continue to write poems and novels and continue to have literary aspirations. She would like to go to the university if she can manage to find a scholarship. {para} ``As far as Lin Lin is concerned she is a computer programmer and she would like to look for a job where she could make use of her professional knowledge.'' {para} Mr Darwyne, one of six lawyers who worked on the court case to try and win the women's freedom, said their treatment highlighted the need to clarify the grounds for granting asylum in the territory. {para} He called for greater openness, with asylum seekers informed of how to apply for refugee status when they arrived in the territory. {para} ``This should not be the exclusive domain of the Security Branch and the Political Advisers' office. There should be a proper published procedure adopted for cases of asylum seekers,'' he said. {para} The current policy seemed to be one of sporadic interviews during which legal counsel was not always present, he said. {para} ``People claiming asylum are usually terrified. They come here thinking they are approaching a democratic, civilised society and expecting generosity and compassion,'' he said. {para} But a Security Branch spokesman said publicising Hongkong's requirements for refugee status would only open the floodgates to asylum seekers. {para} ``We would get tens of thousands of people all suitably armed with documents and claiming asylum,'' he said. {para} A spokesman of the Hongkong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, Mr Cheung Man-kwong, last night said the successful solution of the case was the result of the concerted effort by the Hongkong Government and the Canadian authorities. {para} Mr Cheung praised the Hongkong Government for allowing the two women extra time to stay in the territory before being accepted by a third country. {para} Although the Government at first attempted to deport the pair, it later changed its attitude when new evidence emerged, Mr Cheung said. {para} He also said the Hongkong Government had been handling asylum seekers in a humane manner. {para} ``Although there were some wrong judgements in the past, these were inevitable. Even the Alliance had encountered some asylum seekers whose backgrounds were not believable,'' he said. {para} Shadow home secretary Mr Tony Blair who had earlier called for the British Government to accept the two women into the UK said he was delighted at the Canadian move. {para} ``I am delighted that they have found safe asylum and no one should be in any doubt that this is because of the fuss that has been made on their behalf,'' he said. {para} But at the Home Office, the response was different. Asked if it was not ironic that a third country which had not been involved in the episode had now offered asylum , a spokesman commented: ``This is nothing to do with me.'' {para} He insisted that Britain, even as the colonial power, had never been involved in the issue in any way despite the appeals to the Home Secretary, Mr Kenneth Clarke to act on behalf of the women last week. {/article}

{headline} Writ over song copyright {article} A COMPANY is trying to stop three firms from promoting a popular Chinese song which it claims reproduces large parts of a work to which it holds copyright. {para} The company, Outstanding Young Persons' Association, has sought a declaration from the three music firms that the song Old Friends constitutes a reproduction of a substantial part of a musical work in which copyright subsisted. {para} The plaintiff is also seeking an injunction to restrain Fiori Production, which produces records, and Fitto Entertainment Company, which manufactures, sells and distributes records and karaoke laser discs and tapes, from infringing the copyright. {para} The plaintiff claims it is the owner of the copyright subsisting in an original musical work called Opening Up Tomorrow. The piece was composed by Ricky Fung in 1987 under commission by the plaintiff. {para} It has been used as a theme song and been broadcast and used throughout Hongkong in conjunction with the activities of the plaintiff, the writ claims. {para} It is claimed that the defendants infringed the copyright in Opening Up Tomorrow by authorising or causing the song Old Friends to be broadcast and/or performed in public. {para} The third company is the Fiori Creation Records Company. {/article}

{headline} Hospitals used as `dump' for mentally ill {article} THE stigma attached to being mentally ill has left many hospitals acting as little more than dumping grounds for families who are trying to hide their sick relatives and has placed further strain on over-stretched facilities, professionals believe. {para} Castle Peak Hospital is so overcrowded and short of nursing staff the beds in the dormitories are barely apart and staff restrain patients who are disruptive or inclined to be a danger to themselves and others, a South China Morning Post investigation has shown. {para} The hospital was originally designed with only 1,000 beds but the demand for places has meant more than 200 further beds have been crammed into the existing buildings. {para} The Mental Health Review Tribunal has cleared a backlog of cases of people involuntarily detained at Castle Peak Hospital and has ensured that every case will be reviewed regularly. {para} While the tribunal's work has helped to ease patients back into the community, there is continuing public resistance to the idea of siting halfway houses in residential estates - a programme disrupted by the Un Chau incident. {para} Mr Raymond Wu, chairman of the Government's Rehabilitation Development Co-ordinating Committee, said attitudes were changing, but too slowly. {para} After years of delay, the Government has promised to open the first specialist care and attention home for the mentally handicapped later this month. {para} Between 40 and 50 handicapped will be taken in this year, rising to a total of 210 people over the next five years. {para} The waiting list for places is 700, however, and more homes will be needed. {para} The stigma against the disabled among the Chinese community means that many young mentally handicapped do not get training until late in life, when it is often too late. {para} SPECIAL REPORT - See Pages 6, 7 {/article}

{headline} Local firm in contract win {byline} By CRAIG HENDERSON and S. Y. YUE {article} THE lowest bidder has won the contract for building the Yam O section of the North Lantau Expressway, at $1.336 billion. {para} The Central Tender Board yesterday awarded the contract to a Hongkong- Japanese consortium after considering seven bids which ranged from $1.336 billion to $1.893 billion. {para} The consortium comprises two Japanese firms, the Aoki Corporation and Tobishima Corporation, and one Hongkong firm, Franki Contractors. {para} Work is scheduled to begin next Monday although the Buildings and Lands Department is still clearing logs from part of the site at the Yam O Bay. {para} Log clearing on Lantau Island was suspended yesterday as government officials and timber merchants tried to resolve the dispute over storage pools at Yam O. {para} The Buildings and Lands Department's chief estate surveyor for the new airport, Mr Chris Mills, met representatives from the Hongkong-Kowloon Timber Merchants' Association yesterday. {para} He said the talks were positive although another meeting was scheduled to go ahead this morning to negotiate terms of a settlement. {para} The department, which began clearing logs from Yam O on Wednesday despite opposition from merchants, decided to stop the operation until an agreement was reached or talks abandoned. {para} The 100 timber merchants have claimed the Government has no right to move them from the log pool on the southern side of Yam O and complained the new site offered by the Government was too small. {para} Mr Mills said the merchants' association indicated it might accept tenancy of the new site and would be prepared to move the logs themselves. {para} ``Provided they do that we may be able to give them a time extension to get the job done,'' Mr Mills said. {para} Mr Mills said the association's threat of legal action was not raised during the meeting. {para} The department has already moved 200 logs to Chok Ko Wan on Lantau's northern peninsula. They were now government property, Mr Mills said. {para} If the timber merchants wanted the logs back, they would have to pay the Government $30,000 for clearance costs. {para} The Mass Transit Railway Corporation yesterday welcomed a proposal from the Chinese authorities for the Hongkong Government to inject more cash into the airport railway project. {para} The Chinese side suggested that land premium generated from five sites along the future airport railway line should be used to fund the project in an attempt to break a deadlock in discussions on the future of the scheme. {para} MTRC's project director Mr Russell Black said the proposal was an improvement on the existing financial plan, which assumes the normal traditional arrangement that the land premium would be shared between the Hongkong Government and future Special Administrative Region government. {/article}

{headline} Inquiry on surge in youth suicides {byline} From SUE GREEN in Melbourne {article} AUSTRALIA'S biggest investigation into youth suicide has been launched by the Victorian Coroner's Office following a dramatic increase in the number of young people killing themselves. {para} Over the past three years 305 Victorians under the age of 25 have committed suicide, 90 of them aged between 13 and 19 years. {para} In the past year 100 Victorians under 25 have killed themselves, ranging from a young man who believed he had AIDS and died before receiving his test results (he did not have the disease) to a teenage driver involved in an accident in which three of his friends died. {para} In the small Victorian town of Kyneton alone, 20 young people have committed suicide in less than two years. Fourteen of them were aged under 23, eight were teenagers and one was just eight. {para} These rates are more than double those of 25 years ago. The chairman of the National Suicide Foundation, Professor Brent Waters, says the rate has risen by about 50 per cent in Australian cities over the past two decades and up to 600 per cent in country areas. {para} The statistics have prompted public meetings and statewide calls for action. {para} The Education Department has introduced suicide prevention to the school curriculum. {para} The Victorian State Coroner, Mr Hal Hallenstein, says the old ways of trying to find out why the suicides were occurring had proved inadequate. {para} ``Basically, it wasn't fulfilling the coroner's process, which is to learn, understand and prevent,'' Mr Hallenstein said. {para} The investigating team, comprising police, health workers, statisticians, psychiatrists and members of the coroner's office staff, would analyse every suicide and every attempted suicide by anyone aged under 25 anywhere in the state. {para} Mr Hallenstein said the year-long investigation was needed because so far all attempts to find out why young people were killing themselves had failed. {para} ``What it's really saying is that some people respond to pressures by committing suicide, when most people don't. If you come to that conclusion, we're saying that we don't understand what goes on in some people's heads.'' {para} The coroner's office and members of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists have already carried out a pilot project which has produced a 20-page questionnaire for family, friends, doctors and teachers that aims to find out everything relevant to the background of a suicide. {para} It has also studied correlations between youth unemployment and suicide, and between youth suicides and the pressures of studying for the major high school examination, and found none. {para} Studies of towns such as Kyneton have so far found no major differences with other towns. {/article}

{headline} Search starts for Hongkong's best students {article} THE search is on for the cream of Hongkong's secondary schools with the launch of the South China Morning Post's Student of the Year Awards 1992. {para} The awards, in their 19th year, are aimed at providing the territory's brightest students with scholarships to further their education and to reward them not only for their academic achievements but also for their service to the community. {para} ``The awards give the opportunity to recognise their talent in a variety of areas - from academic performance to sport, dance and music,'' said Morning Post Editor Mr Phillip Crawley. {para} ``The selection process is very tough and the awards also set standards for students to aim for. The winners are rewarded for their efforts.'' {para} The Student of the Year will receive a $15,000 scholarship and each of the four runners-up will get a scholarship of $6,500. $10,000 each will be awarded to the top Student Dancer, Musician and Sportsman. {para} The awards are held in conjunction with the Education Department and with the support of top companies in Hongkong. {para} Sponsors for this year are Cathay Pacific, Wharf, Hang Seng Bank, Bank of East Asia, Citibank, Tom Lee Music, Marathon Sports, the City Contemporary Dance Company and the Hongkong Ballet Centre. {para} The Student of the Year in 1991 was Zandra Mok Yee-tuen (Heep Yunn School) and the winners of the Student Dancer, Musician and Sportsman last year were Carrie Lau Chi-yen (New Method College), Alda Lee Pui-chee (St Stephen's Girls' College) and Wilson Choy (Diocesan Boys' School) respectively. {/article}