Amazon's new ebook device - Kindle

The digital reader that will provide 200 books at the touch of a button

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says that the Kindle may be the most important thing he's ever done. But how well does it work? As the first journalist to get his hands on the device, I found it fit my hands pretty well. It's comfortable to hold, and the huge NEXT PAGE and PREVIOUS PAGE buttons on the sides make it easy to keep reading at a steady pace. On the other hand, the prominence of those buttons makes it almost impossible to pick the Kindle up without inadvertently turning a virtual page.

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ParknShop will stop handing out plastic bags automatically today

ParknShop will from today stop automatically handing out plastic bags to customers.

Shoppers who want a bag will be asked to pay 20 cents for each one. But the levy is voluntary. If they refuse to pay, customers will be given new biodegradable bags with the message: "I'm a plastic bag, please use me responsibly."

The 222 stores will no longer use plastic bags with its classic "P" logo.

The company expects its policy to cut the number of plastic bags by 90 million in the next two years.

Making the 20-cent payment "on a voluntary basis allows people to make their own choice", said ParknShop managing director Philippe Giard. "We are driving a change; we are not making any profit out of these 20-cent contributions. It's not a question of money."

Mr Giard also believed the new policy would not deter customers.

The bag levy is part of the company's programme, "For a Better Hong Kong", which includes other measures such as the use of recycled gift-wrapping paper during festive seasons, in which customers are encouraged to pay HK$1 for each sheet of paper.

Another incentive to persuade customers not to use plastic bags is a system of giving five bonus MoneyBack points for every HK$25 spent, up to 20 points per visit.

A spokeswoman for rival chain Wellcome said its "no plastic bag days" had helped save 95 million bags over the past two years. She said Wellcome would review the effort before starting another campaign. Customers pay a voluntary 50 cents for bags at Wellcome every Tuesday.

Both ParknShop and Wellcome said they were seeking alternatives for wrapping fresh food.

The Plastic Bags Manufacturers' Association said its business had dropped by 20 to 30 per cent since the "no plastic bag day" campaign had begun.

Association spokeswoman Penny Yeung Pui-yee said: "ParknShop's decision will affect only one or two suppliers, and it will have little effect on the whole industry, but we expect business will drop by 90 per cent after the government introduces a tax on plastic bags."

Ms Yeung said the industry was facing a difficult business environment with the rising price of resources for manufacturing.

"Our members now focus more on overseas markets such as Europe where there is a huge demand for bags specially designed for putting dog faeces," she said.

Ho Ka-po, project manager of Green Sense, which started the "no plastic bag day" campaign, hailed Parkn Shop's initiative to reduce plastic bag use.

"We hope the new practice will help strengthen public awareness about using fewer plastic bags and build up a habit of using their own shopping bags," she said.

The executive director of Greener Action, Angus Ho Hon-wai, also welcomed the move.

"This is a good start, as the supermarket is now promoting environmental protection at all their branches every day by ceasing to give out free plastic bags. We hope other retail stores will follow suit."

But he was worried whether the programme would be effective, as it was voluntary. "Customers can still ask for plastic bags if they need them, and they have to pay only 20 HK cents. The fee is set even lower than what the government has proposed, which is 50 cents."

A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said: "The initiatives are generally in line with our policy objective, which is to avoid and reduce waste at source.

"We encourage other retailers to strengthen their waste reduction initiatives."

Heroes creator apologises to fans

The creator of hit TV show Heroes has apologised to fans in the US for a slow start to the second series.

Tim Kring admitted to Entertainment Weekly that mistakes had been made on the choice of storylines, but promised to get the show back on track.

The second series has seen falling ratings in the US, where the programme is now eight episodes in.

Viewers in the UK can see the conclusion of the first series on BBC Two on 5 December.

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HSBC rooftop garden offers breath of fresh air

It may be stuffy and dusty on the street in Mong Kok, but 16 floors up on the roof of one of HSBC's buildings it is a different world, where people can have breathing space.

The striking difference is brought about by a sky garden that has just been completed on top of the bank's office tower situated at Mong Kok's busiest junction, Nathan Road and Argyle Street.

The garden, measuring more than 4,000 sq ft, is the first of its kind among HSBC's properties in Hong Kong and may also be a pioneer in the heart of Mong Kok, with its solid wall of buildings.

At a cost of HK$2 million, the originally shabby, concrete rooftop was converted into an oasis, with green turf and a garden partly laid with recycled plastic materials.

The turf, along with the landscaped vegetation, could lower temperatures on the roof by an estimated 2 degrees Celsius and reduce the air conditioning load for the 15th floor underneath it.

A solar-powered film as thin as a bank card generates 2kWh of electricity, which can help cut up to about 1 tonne of carbon dioxide annually.

Apart from renewable energy, the garden also promotes the reuse of wastewater generated from the building's air conditioning system. About 1 cubic metre of water is collected on a daily basis for irrigation.

Leung Wai-on, the garden's contractor, described it as almost "heaven" in a heavily polluted area.

"This is the busiest part of Mong Kok, but we now have an oasis in a concrete jungle."

He said many property owners were sceptical about sky gardens because of perceived high costs, but each garden could be tailor-made to a budget.

Maverick Leung, sports and recreation manager of the bank, said the money spent on the garden was worth it because it had become very popular since its official opening three weeks ago.

"Our colleagues can come up to the roof anytime to get some fresh air. They can have lunch here, too," he said, adding that a Christmas barbecue in the garden was almost fully booked.

External affairs manager Ophelia Quach said the bank would continue to look for opportunities to save energy and go green.

The group's new data centre in Tseung Kwan O would incorporate a sky garden, while something similar was being considered for its Tsim Sha Tsui office tower.

The former Central School's foundations discovered

Extent of school find revealed

About 40 per cent of the former Central School's foundations have been discovered within the area occupied by the former Police Married Quarters in Hollywood Road, but the government's antiquities adviser has suggested that only a small portion of them be preserved.

The Antiquities and Monuments Office released a report on the find last night.

The foundations, found partially preserved beneath a car park, had been disturbed by the construction of the police quarters in 1948, reducing their aesthetic and academic research value, the report said.

"As the foundations have been considerably disturbed ... their overall heritage value has also been diminished to such a degree that total in situ preservation cannot be justified," it said.

It recommended that a small portion of the foundations be preserved for integration into future development on the site.

The Central School, set up in 1862 on Gough Street, was attended by the founder of modern China, Sun Yat-sen, as a teenager. It moved to the Hollywood Road site in 1889. The school was the first government institution offering upper primary and secondary education.

The report recommended that excavation of the foundations, which cover 600 square metres of the site, should not be continued, as it could affect surrounding tree walls and the stability of underground features.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, in his policy address last month, announced a halt to the sale of the site for one year. He also said proposals for revitalisating the site would be invited.

Besides the foundation, the school's playground, remnants of small entrances, old stone steps - and underground structures that matched the layout and basement floor plans attached to an 1883 report proposing construction of the new Central School - were also found.

No remains of the Shing Wong Temple, thought to have been on the site before the school, were unearthed, however.

University of Hong Kong architectural conservation programme director Lee Ho-yin said uncovering the remains of the historic school was a "rare discovery" in Hong Kong.

He said the foundations and other remnants should be preserved so people could see part of Hong Kong's history. He suggested the site should be open space and the former police quarters kept for community use.

Central and Western Concern Group spokeswoman Katty Law Ngar-ning said she was exhilarated by the excavation results.

"It is a significant event to unearth historic relics in a bustling city centre," she said.

"The government should think of ways to incorporate the features into future developments."

Japan to press ahead with bigger whale hunt

Japan to press ahead with bigger whale hunt

Japan said yesterday it would press ahead with an expanded whaling expedition as activists charged that Tokyo had delayed the hunt to avoid international friction.

Further enraging environmentalists, Japan for the first time plans to kill humpback whales, which are internationally considered a vulnerable species and are popular with whale-watchers.

Japan's Fisheries Agency said its fleet would go ahead with the expedition but the date would be announced only shortly before for security reasons.

"We will go ahead on the day that we planned," said an official from the whaling division.

The fleet usually leaves in November. Environmental group Greenpeace alleged the hunt was delayed because of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's current visit to the United States.

The whaling programme "is a sham and a source of diplomatic tension between Japan and countries that support whale conservation, like the United States", said Karli Thomas, leader of Greenpeace's Esperanza which will try to track the whalers.

"Prime Minister Fukuda should not just delay the whaling fleet's departure to avoid political embarrassment abroad, he should cancel Japan's entire whaling programme and decommission the vessels to end the domestic scandal of wasting Japanese taxpayers' money," she said.

The whaling official denied the charges, saying: "I don't think this has anything to do with Mr Fukuda visiting the US."

Japan has used a loophole in the two-decade international moratorium on commercial whaling that allows the killing of whales for research.

Save the dolphins, save the cheerleader

Japanese arrest warrant issued for 'Heroes' star
An arrest warrant has reportedly been issued in Japan for “Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere over her dolphin-saving attempt last month in the country, but the actress appears to have no fear.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon to Access Hollywood, Hayden branded the arrest warrant “defensive.”

“Obviously this issue has generated defensive behavior on the part of both the Japanese Authorities and Fishermen,” she said in the statement. “I have grown up hearing - and adhering to - this phrase: ‘condemnation without investigation dooms one to everlasting ignorance.’

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Planners had no grounds for limiting tower height, judge rules

A judge has cleared the way for a controversial Mid-Levels development - nicknamed "the toothpick" by opponents - to proceed, ruling the Town Planning Appeal Board had wrongly taken traffic and visual considerations into account in blocking it.

Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung yesterday ordered the board to reverse its decision blocking the relaxation of height and plot ratio restrictions on a block of land abutting Castle Steps to make way for the development by a subsidiary of Swire Properties.

The government said it would study the judgment in detail before deciding whether to appeal.

The order, which could affect other sites zoned similarly, came after International Trader Limited (ITL) sought a judicial review of the board's decision. The company wants to build a 54-storey building on a parcel of land comprising the disputed block and several others on Seymour Road.

The board, by a majority of three to two, had continued to refuse ITL's application to remove the 12-storey limit on the site because of traffic and visual considerations.

Mr Justice Cheung found that under the original Mid-Levels West outline zoning plan, the block, which has no direct street frontage, had been zoned for unrestricted residential development but had subsequently had restrictions placed upon it because of concerns about access for fire services and refuse collection.

Looking through documents associated with the rezoning, which took place in 1995, Mr Justice Cheung found there was little to indicate that traffic issues were behind the decision to limit development on the site. Rather, it was the lack of street access that motivated the change.

That was borne out by a proper reading of the outline zoning plan and its supporting documents, he said.

The judge accepted ITL's argument that, if traffic considerations were not in play, the concerns about access no longer mattered once the site was included in a development that had direct street frontage.

"Traffic and visual considerations are not relevant planning considerations" in relation to applications for the relaxation of restrictions on such sites, the judge said.

A spokeswoman for Swire Properties said: "Now that the matter is resolved we will go ahead and build [the tower]."

Central and Western District Council member Chan Chit-kwai said the implications of the court's decision were huge. "The new development is going to create a wall effect and residents of the Mid-Levels will have to double their time for travelling to the city centre," he said.

Town Planning Board members said the case was a typical example of developers' use of judicial procedures to get round the board's decisions.

Stephen Chow tackles Dragon Ball: the movie

Homegrown comedy king Stephen Chow Sing-chi is to produce a movie adaptation of the popular Japanese manga Dragon Ball.

The film will be made by Twentieth Century Fox and is already being slated as next year's summer blockbuster. Chow, who directed Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, is a fan of Dragon Ball. He has drawn on elements of the comic in his work, using the lead character Son Goku's signature "Kamehameha" attack move in his film Flirting Scholar.

Ngai Tat-sum, a spokesman for Chow's company Star Overseas, said Fox approached Chow two years ago about directing Dragon Ball, but Chow preferred to direct films of his own stories. Fox then offered Chow the job of producer.

The movie will star Justin Chatwin, who played Tom Cruise's son in War of the Worlds, as Goku and James Marsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Goku's rival Piccolo. The rest of the cast is yet to be finalised.

The film will be directed by James Wong, an executive producer and writer for The X-Files and the co-writer and director of horror flicks Final Destination and Final Destination 3.

Mr Ngai quoted Chow as saying he hoped the film would have a predominately Asian cast and thought Edison Chen Koon-hei would be a good choice to play one of the popular characters, Trunks.

Dragon Ball the manga was created by Japanese artist Akira Toriyama. Loosely based on the Chinese literature classic Journey to the West, it follows the journey of Son Goku, a boy of the alien Saiyan race who has extraordinary kung fu powers, on his quest to find seven magical balls.

The comic was launched in 1984 and later made into an animated television series which aired in Hong Kong. The manga series ended in 1995 after 42 volumes.

Chow's move and the choice of an American actor to play Goku drew fierce criticism from local fans.

"Shame on Stephen Chow," exclaimed office worker To Wan-wai, 29, who grew up watching the cartoon series.

"If he wants to become a Hollywood producer that's one thing, but that doesn't mean that he can kill the fantasy of millions of fans around the world."

Another fan, Alan Leung Ming-chek, said "having a Caucasian playing Goku is just not right".

Macau chief acts to ease 'snowballing' social problems

A plan to set up a non-mandatory central provident fund was unveiled by Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah yesterday as part of his package to tackle "snowballing social problems" in the former Portuguese enclave.

Mr Ho also admitted "inade- quacy" in estimating and coping with social problems that surfaced in the city's economic development. "There is lots of room for improvement when it comes to our judgment on new social developments and our ability to act early," he said.

Delivering his policy address in the Legislative Assembly, Mr Ho said the government would earmark part of its surplus as seed money for a central provident fund aimed at enhancing the quality of life for retirees.

"The government will decide whether to inject extra funding into the scheme, depending on the fiscal situation at the time," he said.

Eligible residents can choose to open personal accounts under the scheme, with funds provided by the government. They can access cash in their accounts when they retire. The so-called "non-mandatory central provident fund" would cover all permanent Macau residents, although employers might not be obliged to contribute to the fund.

The policy address did not explain what would happen to the fund in a year of deficit.

Hong Kong unionists have, since the 1960s, been calling for a central provident fund to be set up with contributions from the government, employers and employees. But the idea was not adopted because of lack of consensus in the community. The Hong Kong government introduced the Mandatory Provident Fund scheme in 2000.

Mr Ho said various problems in Macau quickly produced a snowballing effect that harmed the government and society.

The chief executive, who will step down in 2009, said 19,000 public housing flats were being planned for completion by 2012. "The lasting optimism of investors has put a different complexion on Macau's property market, causing pressure and worries to many citizens," he said. The government would also develop homes for young couples who had problems buying apartments.

Tax cuts worth a total of 1.1 billion patacas were announced, with employees continuing to enjoy a 25 per cent income tax concession.

The personal allowance will be raised from 95,000 to 120,000 patacas, and Macau residents who are first-time homebuyers will be exempted from stamp duty on the first 3 million patacas spent on property purchase.

Other sweeteners handed out by Mr Ho, to be implemented next year as short-term relief, include exemption of rates for all residential properties which are not rented, and a rise in the old-age allowance. Civil servants will be given an 8 per cent across-the-board pay rise next year.

The Macau government's surplus increased by 95.5 per cent to 19.13 billion patacas in the first nine months of this year. While revenue rose by 47.39 per cent during the period due to soaring contributions from gaming taxes, which accounted for 75.5 per cent of all government revenue, spending fell by 0.34 per cent.

Macau's swelling coffers represented 9.37 per cent of gross domestic product and 115 per cent of all government spending during the first half of the year.

While the casino-driven economic expansion has created unprecedented wealth in the city, it is concentrated in the hands of a few.

Annual GDP per capita soared by 101 per cent to 227,500 patacas between 1999 and last year, but median annual earnings increased by only 37 per cent to 80,400 patacas.

Workers outside the gaming industry have largely missed out on the boom, and resentment towards imported labour continues to grow.