The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Berlin (HKETO Berlin) is supporting the 18th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival taking place from November 13 to 20 (Warsaw time) in Warsaw. 

     Speaking before the screening of the opening film "Time Still Turns the Pages" on November 13 (Warsaw time), the Deputy Director of HKETO Berlin, Mr Billy Leung, highlighted that Hong Kong is an international hub for arts, cultural and creative industries with promising development opportunities.

     "The Five Flavours Asian Film Festival has been an important platform to elevate the visibility of Hong Kong films in Poland and promote cultural exchanges between the two places. We have been actively presenting outstanding film productions, and encouraging talented filmmakers to participate in the festival. We are happy to see that a total of 10 Hong Kong movies would be shown in cinemas and online during the festival."

     The festival also presents a dedicated section, "Portrait: Stanley Kwan", featuring five film productions directed or produced by the acclaimed director Stanley Kwan, accompanied by an online interview with director Kwan enhancing the experience for the local audiences. Sasha Chuk, the director of the movie "Fly Me to The Moon", will also join the festival and share with audiences after screenings on November 15 and November 17.
 
     HKETO Berlin also organised a cultural exchange seminar themed "Hong Kong as a Centre for Cultural Exchange between Europe and Asia", together with the Vistula University and the Centre for International Relations on November 12 (Warsaw time) in Warsaw. Speakers at the event included curators of the National Museum in Warsaw and M+ museum in Hong Kong, who spoke about their respective efforts in encouraging cultural exchanges between Europe and Hong Kong. Arts students and participants from the arts community in Poland also benefited from a lively panel discussion where the speakers shared their views on fostering arts and cultural exchanges, as well as promoting collaboration opportunities between Europe and Asia, among other things.

About HKETO Berlin

     HKETO Berlin is the official representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in commercial relations and other economic and trade matters in Poland as well as Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland.

    

     The Fire Services Department (FSD) has been mounting territory-wide special enforcement actions in phases at domestic and composite buildings since July. As of end-October, the FSD inspected 122 such buildings in Kwun Tong District and issued 31 warning letters to relevant incorporated owners, reminding them to submit valid fire service installations and equipment certificates before the specified deadline.

     Eleven incorporated owners of these buildings in Kwun Tong District (listed in the Annex) were prosecuted by the FSD for failing to conduct annual inspections of fire service installations or equipment on their premises. They were convicted and fined a total of $32,700 at the Kwun Tong Magistrates' Courts today (November 15). 

     According to the Fire Service (Installations and Equipment) Regulations, any person who owns any fire service installation or equipment installed in any premises commits an offence if they fail to have such fire service installation or equipment inspected by a registered contractor at least once in every 12 months. Upon conviction, the maximum penalty is a fine of $50,000. 

     The FSD will continue to conduct territory-wide special enforcement actions in various districts and remind owners of fire service installations or equipment in the premises to have such fire service installations or equipment inspected by a registered contractor at least once in every 12 months.
 

     â€‹Hongkong Post announced today (15 November) that, as advised by the postal administration of Canada, due to a local strike, mail delivery services to Canada are subject to delay.

     The Women Empowerment Fund is open for the second round of applications this year starting from today (November 15) until December 16. The Fund subsidises projects that support women in juggling their jobs and family life, bring awareness to women's physical and mental health, and unleash their potential.
              
     Set up in June 2023, the Fund aims to empower women, regardless of their age, occupation or background, to unlock their full potential in their respective roles, ultimately achieving the goal of promoting women's development in Hong Kong.
              
     The Fund is divided into general and thematic projects. The funding cap for each one-year and two-year general project is $400,000 and $800,000 respectively. Starting from this year, the Fund has regularised the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Exchange Programme under the thematic project. Each exchange programme shall be completed within one year, and the funding cap is $120,000.
          
     In addition, a new thematic project, the Programme on Women's Participation in Community Services, was launched this year. It aims to encourage women to make use of their strengths to plan and launch community service projects, thereby promoting care and inclusion. Each community services programme shall be completed within one year, and the funding cap is $400,000.
              
     The Fund accepts two rounds of applications each year. The Guide to Application and the application form have been uploaded to the Fund's website (www.wef.gov.hk). Interested eligible women's groups and non-governmental organisations may submit an electronic or paper application.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS:
 
     The Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS (ACA) convened a meeting today (November 15). The ACA members were briefed by the Department of Health (DH) on the latest situation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and recent trends in Hong Kong, particularly the rising proportion of late presenters among newly reported cases, and its impact on local HIV control efforts.

     Late presenters refer to individuals whose CD4 cells (one kind of immune cell) are being attacked by the virus and have decreased to a very low level (CD4 count of less than 200 cells/mm3) at the time of HIV diagnosis. Late presentation indicates that these individuals were not diagnosed and put on treatment in a timely way at an earlier stage of infection, resulting in a weakened immune system. Late presentation can lead to an increased risk of opportunistic infections and malignancies, leading to a higher mortality rate. In addition, as a result of an unsuppressed viral load, late presenters contribute to an increased risk of HIV transmission in the community, impacting the overall effectiveness of HIV control efforts and posing a significant burden to the healthcare system.  
      
     The ACA observed an increasing proportion of late presenters among newly reported cases in Hong Kong, rising from 28.5 per cent in 2014 to 47 per cent in 2023, similar to that observed overseas. An older age at diagnosis, and a heterosexual route of transmission are more commonly associated with late presentation. According to the Recommended HIV/AIDS Strategies for Hong Kong (2022-2027) published by the ACA in 2022, greater effort is needed to scale up testing and to promote universal testing to become a norm for the key communities, such as maintaining the conventional facility-based testing services and introducing new testing modalities including mobile testing and HIV self-testing. In view of the latest situation, the ACA recommends that normalisation of HIV testing among the non-key population, enabling people with HIV who are unaware of their status to receive a timely diagnosis and treatment, to be one of the crucial strategies to address the rising trend of late presentation.
      
     During the meeting, the DH briefed members on the newly published "Recommendations on HIV Testing in Hong Kong" (The Recommendations) by the Scientific Committee on AIDS and STI. Having taken into consideration the latest local epidemiology, scientific evidence, recommendations from the World Health Organization and overseas practices, the Recommendations serve to provide references and practical guidance to healthcare professionals and frontline service providers in the community. The Recommendations contain sections on who to get tested, how to test, consent, post-test care and referral pathway. Among them, it is recommended that people who have had sex should get HIV testing at least once to keep track of their health status, and that people with risk behaviours should undergo regular screenings. Members of the ACA support the Recommendations, agreeing that it would encourage HIV testing among non-key populations, help normalise HIV testing and facilitate destigmatisation of HIV infection and HIV testing among the general public.
      
     Details of the Recommendations are available on the CHP's website at www.chp.gov.hk/en/static/24003.html.

     Since its establishment in 1990, the ACA has been keeping in view local and international trends and developments relating to HIV infection and AIDS. It has also played a pivotal role in advising the Government on policies relating to the prevention, care and control of HIV/AIDS in Hong Kong. The ACA has published six sets of recommended HIV/AIDS strategies which have served as blueprints for the HIV response in Hong Kong.

     For more information on the previous and latest recommended HIV/AIDS strategies published by the ACA, please visit the ACA website (www.aca.gov.hk/english/index.html). For information about the local situation and programme on AIDS, please visit the website of the Virtual AIDS Office of the DH (www.aids.gov.hk).