Hong Kong will implement part of its revised HK$2 (26 US cents) transport fare scheme in April of next year, five months ahead of schedule, a minister has said, with the move expected to save authorities HK$260 million. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Wednesday that the public transport subsidy scheme…
Amadou Bagayoko, a Malian guitarist and composer who with his wife, the singer Mariam Doumbia, formed Amadou & Mariam, inventing a broadly accessible sound that made fans of people worldwide who otherwise knew little about music from Africa, died on Friday in Bamako, Mali’s capital. He was 70. His death was announced by the Malian…
Britain’s center-left government outlined plans on Tuesday to curb spiraling welfare costs as it attempts to juggle a difficult set of competing objectives: saving public money, incentivizing work and protecting the most vulnerable. The announcement follows weeks of tense internal debate within the governing Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, about how to…
Nearly 40 years after she was born with a malformed spine and misshapen limbs — most likely because her father was exposed to Agent Orange, the toxic chemical that the American military used during the Vietnam War — Nguyen Thi Ngoc Diem finally got some help from the United States. A project funded by U.S.A.I.D….
It wasn’t love at first sight, it was hardly even like at first sight. If you ask Elizabeth Wampler what she felt when she first saw her future husband — she might say confusion, sadness or unfounded assumptions. Feelings, she says, now more than 30 years later, she was wrong about “on all counts.” At…
LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – State senators the capitol Tuesday heard testimony on a bill aimed at getting rid of distractions in schools. Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue proposed LB140. It would require schools to have a policy restricting students from using cell phones or other electronic communication devices while on school property or at school…
Hong Kong lawmakers have urged the government to hire more disabled workers and impose key performance indicators to ensure the target is met after authorities revealed such employees made up 1.5 per cent of civil servants. The Labour and Welfare Bureau revealed in a Legislative Council panel meeting on Monday that 2,513 serving civil servants…
Annual fundraising drive Operation Santa Claus (OSC) will support 11 beneficiaries this year including organisations providing care for elderly members of ethnic minority groups and children with special education needs in Hong Kong. The fundraiser, jointly organised by the South China Morning Post and public broadcaster RTHK, raised HK$14.9 million (US$1.9 million) for 16 charitable…
Hong Kong’s leader has condemned the alleged sexual assaults of two residents of a care home serving people with disabilities as “despicable”, urging welfare authorities to ensure effective supervision at such institutions to prevent further transgressions. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday also said a thorough police investigation should be launched into the case…
The government does not need to draw the public’s attention to every violation of codes of practice at care homes, Hong Kong’s welfare minister has said, arguing the decision to flag up a case should largely depend on the severity of the transgression. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han defended the government’s position…