Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:

     Please broadcast the following special announcement immediately, and repeat it at frequent intervals when the Very Hot Weather Warning is in force:

     The Labour Department reminds employers that as the Very Hot Weather Warning is in force, they should assess the risk of heat stroke to their employees and adopt effective preventive measures such as providing cool drinking water, setting up temporary sunshade and providing mechanical aids to reduce physical exertion of employees. Employees should drink water regularly and be mindful of their physical condition. If early heat stroke symptoms such as headache and thirst appear, they should inform their supervisors and seek medical help immediately.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

     The Hong Kong Observatory has issued the Very Hot Weather Warning.

     To prevent heat stroke, avoid prolonged activities outdoors.

     If engaged in outdoor work or activities, wear a wide-brimmed hat and light-coloured, loose-fitting clothes. Stay in shaded areas as much as possible.

     Drink plenty of water, and avoid beverages containing caffeine or alcohol.

     If you feel sick, consult a doctor right away.

     Three charities have been issued Public Subscription Permits to hold flag sales from 7am to 12.30pm today (June 29). They are, on Hong Kong Island, Suicide Prevention Services Limited; in Kowloon, Light and Love Home Limited; and in the New Territories, Tai Po Baptist Church, a spokesman for the Social Welfare Department (SWD) said.

     Arrangements have been made with the charities to help people distinguish between the three flag-selling activities.

     Information on the three flag-selling organisations on June 29 is as follows:
 

     For enquiries, please call the SWD's hotline at 2343 2255, or the designated hotline of the 1823 Call Centre at 3142 2678. Information on flag days is available at the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_whatsnew) and the GovHK portal (www.gov.hk/en/theme/fundraising/search). Permits for flag days containing contact information of the flag-selling organisations and information on the approved flag-selling activities have also been uploaded to the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_controlofc/sub_recentlyap). For enquiries about the detailed flag-selling arrangements, please contact the individual flag-selling organisations.
 
     Details of the charitable fund-raising activities covered by the Public Subscription Permit issued by the SWD have also been uploaded to the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/fundraising).
 
     In the case of suspected fraudulent flag day activities, people should not make any donation and should immediately report the matter to the Police, the spokesman added.

     â€‹Hong Kong Customs seized about 1 kilogram of suspected ketamine with an estimated market value of about $540,000 at Hong Kong International Airport on June 20.

     Customs officers inspected a postal parcel arriving in Hong Kong from Malaysia on June 20 and seized the batch of suspected ketamine inside the parcel.

     After follow-up investigation, Customs officers today (June 28) arrested a 24-year-old man in Tuen Mun suspected to be in connection with the case.

     The man has been charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. He will appear at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (June 29).

     Customs will maintain close contact with Hongkong Post and the logistics industries to step up action against drug trafficking through postal parcel and express courier channels.

     Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.

     Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

    

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Development, Mr Michael Wong, at the question-and-answer session of the media session today (June 28) on the quarterly land sale programme for July to September 2019:
 
Reporter: Mr Wong, are you concerned that the recent unstable social and political environment may affect the government’s land sale, like maybe more cancel of sale like the one in Kai Tak? And, how confident are you that you can meet the supply target for the whole year?
 
Secretary for Development: If you look at the site (in Kai Tak of which the tender awarded) this week, the land price is around $18,000 per square foot. Some commentators said it is different from the land price of a previous site we sold a month’s back, that stood at some $19,000 per square foot. But if you take a longer-term view, and you look at a piece of land, also in the same adjacent area, it actually fetched a price of $17,000 per square foot. So our observation is that property prices, especially for residential housing, have stayed quite stable in 2019. So it is not our assessment that the coming residential market will be unduly affected by the social sentiment recently.
 
Reporter: Are you confident that you can meet the supply target for the whole year?
 
Secretary for Development: A key element in our supply package is the amount of units to be delivered through private redevelopment. We have always explained that it is an element over which the government does not have that much control. If you look at the figures of this financial year, for the first two quarters, some 1,170 flats have come from this source. That is actually better than the figure of the (first half of the) last financial year, which stood at close to 1,100 flats. If this trend can continue in the third and fourth quarter of this financial year, we are confident that we will be able to meet the target. But of course, there always remains some degree of uncertainties.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)