Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (September 1) that due to big waves, red flags have been hoisted at Pui O Beach and Lower Cheung Sha Beach in Islands District.  Beach-goers are advised not to swim at these beaches.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (September 1) that due to inclement weather, red flag has been hoisted at Clear Water Bay Second Beach in Sai Kung District. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at the beach.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (September 1) that due to big waves, red flag has been hoisted at Big Wave Bay Beach in Southern District, Hong Kong Island. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at the beach.

     Three charities have been issued Public Subscription Permits to hold flag sales from 7am to 12.30pm today (September 1). They are, on Hong Kong Island, The Hong Kong Chinese Women's Club; in Kowloon, Asia Women's League Limited; and in the New Territories, Hong Kong Society of Herpetology Foundation Limited, 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 September 1 is as follows:
 

 
     For enquiries, please call the SWD's hotline at 2343 2255, or the Charitable Fund-raising Control Team at 2832 4311 during office hours. Information on the flag days of the month is available at the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_whatsnew/). 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 Public Subscription Permit issued by the SWD have also been uploaded to the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/fundraising).
 
     If any flag day activity is suspected to be fraudulent, people should not make any donation and should immediately report the matter to the Police, the spokesman added.

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, met with the Federal Chancellor of Austria, Mr Sebastian Kurz, at Government House this afternoon (August 31).
      
     Mrs Lam welcomed Mr Kurz and his delegation to Hong Kong, which includes three ministers, namely the Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Mr Norbert Hofer; the Federal Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs, Mrs Margarete Schramböck; and the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Research, Mr Heinz Fassmann, who Mrs Lam met during her visit to Europe some months ago. Mrs Lam said that she visited Vienna in the capacity of Chief Secretary for Administration in 2014, during which she invited a high-level delegation of the Austrian Federal Government to visit Hong Kong. She added that for this reason she was particularly pleased with the meeting today.
      
     Mrs Lam said she was deeply impressed by Vienna's  development as a smart city as well as its facilities and atmosphere relating to arts and culture. She noted that subsequently Hong Kong and Austria have signed memorandums of understanding on relevant aspects, and believed that this visit will further promote co-operation and exchanges between the two places.
      
     Mrs Lam introduced Mr Kurz to Hong Kong's latest developments, including the successful implementation of "One Country, Two Systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong", and exercising a high degree of autonomy. After taking office last year, she has been committed to implementing a new style of proactive governance and, in particular, advancing the development of innovation and technology (I&T) in Hong Kong. She said that Hong Kong and Austria had established a very solid foundation working together in this area with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on co-operation in technology start-up ecosystems in 2016, and that collaboration and experience-sharing between technology start-ups in the two places have since advanced successfully.  With the active participation of Hong Kong in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the establishment of an I&T hub within it, she invited Austria's higher education institutions and scientific research centres to set up a presence in Hong Kong for joint development.    
      
     Mrs Lam added that the development of arts and culture is one of her priority policy initiatives. She said the world-renowned Vienna Boys Choir set up its first overseas music academy in Hong Kong in 2011. Also, the soon-to-be completed M+ Museum and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District, together with the renovated Hong Kong Museum of Art, will bring the development of arts and culture in Hong Kong to new heights. She also expressed the hope that room for collaboration could be explored with the acclaimed MuseumsQuartier Wien.