Police today (December 5) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Sheung Shui.

     Fok Sze-ying, aged 99, went missing after he left his residence in Cheung Lung Wai Estate yesterday (December 4) afternoon. His family made a report to Police on the same day.
         
     He is about 1.6 metres tall, 63 kilograms in weight and of thin build. He has a round face with yellow complexion and short grey and white hair. He was last seen wearing a dark red jacket, dark-coloured trousers and dark-coloured shoes and carrying a grey and blue trolley.

     Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Persons Unit of New Territories North on 3661 3128 or email to rmpu-ntn-1@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.

  

The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
      
     The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC), Mr Justice David Lok, chaired the first meeting of the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) this afternoon (December 5) to deal with different circumstances that may arise during, as well as to ensure the smooth process of, the 2023 District Council Ordinary Election (DCOE) to be held on December 10 (Sunday).
      
     Mr Justice Lok said at the meeting, "There will be over 600 District Council geographical constituency ordinary polling stations in the 18 Districts across the territory, 18 District Committees constituency (DCC) polling stations and a maximum of 48 dedicated polling stations for the DCOE. Special arrangements will be made for this election to set up four near boundary polling stations at two schools in the vicinity of the Sheung Shui MTR Station.
      
          "To ensure the orderly implementation of various measures as well as smooth polling and counting processes, the EAC is working with different bureaux and departments in preparation for the election and drawing up security and crisis management plans," he said.
      
     During the meeting, the EAC was briefed by representatives from the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau and relevant government departments, including the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the Hong Kong Police Force, on the assessment of different situations and deployment planned for the polling day. The Registration and Electoral Office, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, the Home Affairs Department, the Information Services Department, the Department of Justice, the Security Bureau and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department also gave briefings on preparatory and co-ordination work regarding the election.
      
     Mr Justice Lok pointed out that the CMC will assist the EAC in closely monitoring the situation on the polling day and will handle situations in which the election is affected by different incidents. The EAC will strive to ensure that the election will be conducted in an open, honest and fair manner as in the past.
      
     He added that the meeting today helped the EAC to get better prepared and formulate contingency plans for the DCOE to be held on December 10, and thanked all the bureaux and departments for their efforts in the preparations and arrangements for the election.
      
     The CMC is part of the contingency mechanism for public elections. The CMC advises the EAC on matters which may affect the proceedings of the elections, such as inclement weather and issues of public health and safety. The Committee is chaired by the EAC Chairman, and comprises all EAC members, the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs (or his representative) and representatives of relevant bureaux/departments.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 5) that in view of notifications from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5 and H5N1 avian influenza in areas in Japan and the United States (US) respectively, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the relevant areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

     The relevant areas are as follows:

Japan 
(1) Kagoshima Prefecture

US
The State of Wisconsin
(2) Trempealeau County
(3) Douglas County

The State of California
(4) Sonoma County

The State of Arkansas
(5) Carroll County

The State of Minnesota
(6) Otter Tail County
(7) Brown County
(8) Big Stone County
(9) Swift County

The State of Georgia
(10) Sumter County

The State of South Dakota
(11) Yankton County
(12) Brule County
(13) Kingsbury County

The State of North Dakota
(14) Dickey County

The State of Iowa
(15) Sioux County

The State of Maryland
(16) Caroline County

The State of Ohio
(17) Union County

     â€‹â€‹A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 1 080 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 200.84 million poultry eggs from Japan, and about 21 470 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 57.11 million poultry eggs from the US in the first nine months of this year.

     "The CFS has contacted the Japanese and American authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the WOAH and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.

     The museums and art spaces under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) yielded remarkable results by winning several awards. This is testimony to the influential power of Hong Kong being an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.
      
     Several cultural facilities received awards in relation to their architectural design. Firstly, the outstanding designs made by the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) for the Phase II Development of Oil Street Art Space (Oi!) won the Grand Award of DFA Design for Asia Awards this year. The award was launched by the Hong Kong Design Centre in 2003 to commend a wide range of designs which embody Asian aesthetics and culture, with influence in Asia and for Asia. In order to provide more space to inspire greater imagination, Oi! further expanded in 2019, in which an adjacent outdoor space of over 3 000 square metres was integrated with the original premises. The new space provided additionally a two-storey building for exhibition and multipurpose uses and was opened to the public in May last year.
      
     Meanwhile, three museums won the awards by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA). First, the Phase II Development of Oil Street Art Space was one of two finalists for the President's Special Prize of the HKIA Annual Awards 2022/23. The HKIA Annual Awards organised by the institute is one of the major architectural awards in Hong Kong. Apart from Oi!, the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre won this year's Special Award (Interior Design). Sam Tung Uk is an over 200-year-old Hakka walled village that was declared a monument in 1981. It was converted into a museum and opened to the public after restoration in 1987. The museum underwent a large-scale exhibition revamp in late 2020 by adding more artistic and up-to-date elements to reinterpret local traditional culture in an innovative and creative way.
      
     The museum project in Kowloon Park is designed by the ArchSD. It won the HKIA Merit Award in the future project section. Kowloon Park is situated at the former Whitfield Barracks site and Block 58 will be revitalised as a new cultural facility in this project to form a heritage cluster with the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre and the Health Education Exhibition and Resource Centre.
      
     On commissioned art projects, various projects commissioned by the LCSD also demonstrated distinguished achievements. The "Joyful Trees (Arbores Laetae)" commissioned by Oi!, which is a kinetic art installation on the theme of trees at the location, received the Merit Award (Spatial Design) of DFA Design for Asia Awards. The installation is created by renowned American architectural group Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The installation consists of 16 Chinese junipers planted at the Oi! garden, with three of them planted at a 10-degree bias in rotating turntables. Dappled light, shade and patterns overlap when the trees rotate, while visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the "unnatural nature".
      
     The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) also had brilliant performance. It has been honoured with the Travellers' Choice 2023 award by international travel review website Tripadvisor recently. This award is given to favourite destinations, hotels and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10 per cent on that travel review website. The HKMoA has been popular among the local public and tourists. The number of visitors has consistently reached new highs since its reopening after a major renovation in 2019, and as of December 3, the HKMoA had welcomed nearly 2.5 million visitors.
      
     The "Portrait Play" interactive exhibition of the HKMoA won the Bronze Award in the DFA Design for Asia Awards 2023 and the Silver Award in the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2023: Digital Entertainment (Interactive Design) Award steered by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. The exhibition was created by Hong Kong new media artist Henry Chu. Visitors can create their unique self-portraits using images of eyes, noses and mouths derived from the museum collection or even recreate their own faces.
      
     The Art Promotion Office's commissioned artwork, "The Ornithopter", was also a finalist for the Special Award – Architectural Installation, Curation & Exhibition Design of the HKIA Annual Awards. This outdoor art installation was featured in "The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Science in Art" exhibition jointly organised by the Art Promotion Office and the Science Promotion Unit under the LCSD last year. It was created by HIR Studio, and is inspired by the mechanics of flying machines. The public interacted with the installation, which let them experience the journey of restless hard work in realising one's dream.

                

     The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB) and the Youth Development Commission (YDC) jointly launched the Funding Scheme for International Youth Exchange 2024-25 today (December 5). Eligible non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are invited to submit applications.
 
     The Government attaches great importance to youth development. The HYAB promulgated the Youth Development Blueprint in end-2022, which states that the Government will further strengthen the breadth and depth of the Mainland and international internship and exchange programmes with a view to enhancing young people's understanding of the development of the country and the world. Through the Funding Scheme for International Youth Exchange, the HYAB and the YDC provide funding for NGOs to organise international exchange projects for Hong Kong young people so as to broaden their global exposure and their understanding of the history, culture and the latest developments of different places. The funding scheme also covers exchange projects to the regions along the Belt and Road to promote cultural exchanges and foster people-to-people bonds.
 
     Details and application forms of the new round of the funding scheme are available on the YDC website (www.ydc.gov.hk/en/programmes/ep/ep_fundingschemeinternational.html). Interested NGOs should submit their applications by 5pm on January 5, 2024.