The Young Reporter

Ban Kyungmin, an exchange student at Hong Kong Baptist University, came to the Korean consulate with a friend on the first day of the election to vote.  "I've always participated since I had the right to vote. I knew that I could vote overseas, so I applied in advance to participate in the overseas elections,” she said. South Korea is holding parliamentary elections on April 10th. Under the overseas election system, which was introduced after the amendment of the Public Offices Election Act in 2009, the Korean Central Election Commission announced that it would set up overseas voting stations in 178 diplomatic missions around the world, so Koreans living in Hong Kong will be able to vote at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Hong Kong from March 27 to April 1 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on each day.   The Hong Kong Korean Association and other Korean student organizations in all Hong Kong universities and colleges have been eagerly anticipating the event and have been promoting it through their respective online communities and social media. Election officials are at the entrance to guide the election. “I think it's an opportunity for Koreans abroad to feel a sense of belonging to Korea and to unite with other Koreans living abroad,"  Ban Kyung-min added. Kyungmin Ban and her friend make a "vote-proof pose". The Korean Central Election Commission is responsible for preventing and cracking down on election crimes and supervising election administration. The Overseas Election Commission comprises two members nominated by the NEC, one nominated by each of the political parties that form a bargaining group in the National Assembly, and one nominated by the head of the diplomatic mission.  Overseas missions and the Election Commission have recruited various personnel, including poll guides and election officials.  …

The first hydrogen double-decker buses in Hong Kong set sail in February for the Vodafone Road route. Starting from 2022, the electric buses are appearing on the Hong Kong’s street to reduce emissions more than diesel buses as part of the public transportation sector’s efforts to help Hong Kong achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.  

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivered the 2024-2025 Budget speech on Wednesday, announcing policies to strive for high-quality development while sustaining a solid economy. Top the list is the cancellations of property cooling measures, with Special Stamp Duty, Buyers’ Stamp Duty and New Residential Stamp Duty scrapped with immediate effect. For the coming fiscal year, the total government expenditure will increase by about 6.7% to HK$776.9 billion, while the total government revenue is estimated to be HK$633 billion. Chan expects that there will be a deficit of HK$48.1 billion for the year, and fiscal reserves will decrease to HK$685.1 billion. Here are the key takeaways of this year’s budget plan.  

Queensland pays tribute to World Mental Health Day with an art exhibition raising awareness about mental health from 4 to 10 October. The Richmond Fellowship Queensland, a leading provider of mental health services, hosted the Recovered Futures Art Exhibition as a part of Queensland’s Health Week, showcasing 270 works of artists with lived mental health experiences. The exhibition has run for 33 years and continues to embrace the power of art and encourage conversations about mental health, recovery and well-being. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in five Australians experienced a 12-month mental disorder between 2020 and 2022, which constitutes a diagnosis of a lifetime mental disorder. Two in five people aged 16 to 24 were diagnosed with a 12-month mental disorder. Tea Delalic, Manager of Communications and Events of Richmond Fellowship Queensland, hopes visitors will develop an awareness of mental health after viewing each piece. “With all our artwork, there’s one common theme you’ll always see and that is hope. It’s no matter what their journey has been, or what they’ve gone through, there is always that hope that things will be okay and it will get better.” Delalic said many artists were initially hesitant to share their art because society places mental health labels that may limit their potential and affect their self-esteem. “Some artists need to come to a few exhibitions first to know that they are capable of doing this. With the Recovered Futures Art Exhibition, artists are like a little team that gives positive feedback to one another.” All works on display are for sale, with 85 per cent of their sales going to the artist. Pauly Jay, a barber-turned-artist who painted live in the exhibition, shared his experience with mental health and passion for street-art style paintings. “I have ADHD and I …

Florian Spiegel hopes to save the planet by promoting fuel-related securities, which represent a part of impact investing. Recently, his company Evident Capital released the world’s first tokenised airplane leasing fund with a fund mandate on sustainable fuels.  The Global Impact Investor Network, a US-based non-profit organisation that promotes impact investing, defines impact investing as investments that aim to create social and environmental impact alongside financial return.  Compared to traditional investment, which focuses on risk and return, impact investment aims to put a new axis on investment-- mainly, the social impact investments have.  In recent years, a growing number of corporations have recognised the importance of aligning their financial investment with their social and environmental goals, and the impact investing landscape is changing as new actors. Spiegel’s company, Evident Capital, aims to improve the financial market through transitional investment, a branch of impact investment. To cut the costs of current fossil fuel giants through cleaning the process, transitional investment incentivises oil and transport companies to invest in fuel-cutting equipment. Evident’s platform receives various private projects and then uploads them as divided digital securities on their network.    One of their projects, a Liquified Natural Gas carrier ship from Honduras, was able to raise enough funding from the security to build and buy new carriers, making it more efficient to use fossil fuels than other companies.  “A one percent decrease in the carrier gas industry can reduce more carbon than what 20,000 solar panels can create in a year,” Spiegel said.  Although official numbers cannot be listed, the company says uploaded products have reached a total of US$ 50 million (HK$ 391 million) within the year they have been on the platform.  “Small to medium investors who want to reach the impact investment market right now do not have enough funds …

As Brisbane aims to become a greener city, the trend of green roofs is gaining momentum. While green roofs offer benefits, they also present challenges that cities must address before implementing new policies. Green roofs are also just one piece of the puzzle. Rather than relying on green roofs as one solution, cities like Hong Kong should view them as catalysts for inspiring more initiatives that pave the way towards a greener future.

Preston held its second pride parade on Saturday  to call for the immediate and complete ban of conversion therapy in the United Kingdom, amid repeated commitments by the British government to do so. The city in North West England hosted its 11th annual pride event since 2012, but the parade across the city centre only started last year. Conversion therapy, or conversion practices, is defined by the UK Parliament as activities with the predetermined purpose and intent of changing a person’s sexual orientation, or changing a person to and from being transgender. According to LGBT rights organisation Stonewall Scotland, conversion therapy often include pseudo-scientific practices such as being asked to ingest “purifying substances”, being prayed over, exorcisms, and other forms of counselling session associated with threats to convince or even coerce an individual to change their sexual identity. “Conversion therapy is a barbaric practice, and every effort should be made to stamp out such a thing,” said Dean Toppings, a student nurse from University of Central Lancashire A government national LGBTQ survey conducted in 2018 found that out of the 108,100 respondents, 7% of all respondents had been offered or underwent conversion therapy. Within transgender respondents, 13% of them have been offered or undergone such practices. In the King’s Speech to the UK Parliament in July, the new British government under the Labour party has renewed its commitment to introducing a draft Conversion Practices Bill that will be brought forward to outlaw conversion therapy nationally. The  Labour Party’s manifesto described conversion therapy as abusive. “Here is no other word for it – so Labour will finally deliver a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices,” it read. Many hope that the transgender community will be included in the eventual bill. “Trans rights are human rights, and we must continue to fight …

Spectators gathered at Kowloon City Plaza for the 2024 Annual Kickboxing Championship on the 29th of September. Organized by the Hong Kong Kickboxing Association, the competition serves as a platform for the association to select the most promising fighters to represent Hong Kong in various international events, making it a highly anticipated occasion.

A story about using flies and fungus to recycle food waste by students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) took the top prize at the first Yahoo! student journalist award on Saturday. More than 40 students and professors attended the ceremony in Kwun Tong. They come from three  universities and together, they submitted 100 entries. Yahoo! said on the competition website that the goal was  to recognize and nurture the next generation of media professionals, and deepen their understanding of critical issues such as current affairs, and environmental, social and governance.  The top English prize  on diversity and inclusion went to Lam Tsoi-yin, 21, and Chan Chi-wing, 22, from the University of Hong Kong who wrote  about the changemakers in an aging society. “We have done a lot of research on this topic. We are very happy that Yahoo! has set up this competition for us to work on this year, and we are honored to receive this award,”  Lam said. “We encourage younger journalists to keep digging in more and more great news angles,” said Francis Ng Ka-long, Head of Home & News at Yahoo!, “There are still a lot of journalists who are fully committed to reporting news.” “Many students’ work are of a high standard,” Ng added.Francis Ng Ka-Long shares his view about the competition.  Students at  the ceremony were also asked to share what the “Spirit of Journalism” meant for them, and the answer “truth” topped the list. Raymond Li, the head of the department of Journalism from Hong Kong Baptist University was at the event. “I always support students to participate in journalism competitions. It doesn’t matter if they win or lose, as long as they have had a chance to present their work and gain experience, which is helpful to improve their …