Very few birds sighted. Waiting for the migration next month.
Yuen Long Park 9-16-20
Chinese bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) Yuen Long
Chinese bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 白头鹎 9-14-20 Yuen Long
Dragonfly and snail 9-13-20 Yuen Long rooftop
Yoho Mall 9-13-20 complacency
Four people allowed for each table in a restaurant. Every one is out and about, in the mall and on the street.
Hong Kong the world’s freest economy
Fraser Institute once again ranked Hong Kong as the world’s freest economy in the Economic Freedom of the World 2019 Report. Hong Kong has been retaining the top rank since the inception of the report. Among the five areas of assessment, Hong Kong was ranked top in “Freedom to Trade Internationally” and “Regulation”.
The index published in Economic Freedom of the World measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom. The cornerstones of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to enter markets and compete, and security of the person and privately owned property. Forty-two data points are used to construct a summary index and to measure the degree of economic freedom in five broad areas.
- Area 1: Size of Government
As government spending, taxation, and the size of government-controlled enterprises increase, government decision-making is substituted for individual choice and economic freedom is reduced. - Area 2: Legal System and Property Rights
Protection of persons and their rightfully acquired property is a central element of both economic freedom and civil society. Indeed, it is the most important function of government. - Area 3: Sound Money
Inflation erodes the value of rightfully earned wages and savings. Sound money is thus essential to protect property rights. When inflation is not only high but also volatile, it becomes difficult for individuals to plan for the future and thus use economic freedom effectively. - Area 4: Freedom to Trade Internationally
Freedom to exchange—in its broadest sense, buying, selling, making contracts, and so on—is essential to economic freedom, which is reduced when freedom to exchange does not include businesses and individuals in other nations. - Area 5: Regulation
Governments not only use a number of tools to limit the right to exchange internationally, they may also develop onerous regulations that limit the right to exchange, gain credit, hire or work for whom you wish, or freely operate your business.
Jewellery store robbery Hong Kong
HKU Students’Union’s Campus TV
75th anniversary of the victory in the anti-Japanese War
HKSAR held a ceremony in Memorial Garden on Thursday morning to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the victory in the anti-Japanese War. After the flag-raising and national anthem ceremony, an honor guard fired in salute to martyrs.
South China Sea Ocean 13
Closure of pro-secessionist HK-America Center: another spy-hub ousted
The Hong Kong-America Center, a US-backed pro-secessionist organization founded in 1994, has announced its official closure, with six university presidents in Hong Kong withdrawing from the center’s board of directors. The center has been frequently accused of political infiltration under the guise of academic exchanges, including its active participation in the illegal “Occupy Central” movement.
The organization was observed to have actively taken part in the 2014 “Occupy Central” movement by supporting riot leader Anson Chan Fang On-sang, and brainwashing college students through debate competitions and workshops.
It also attempted to revise liberal studies courses and instill anti-China ideologies in classes by appointing “exchange scholars” to several universities in Hong Kong, Hong Kong-based newspaper Takungpao previously reported.
Stretching its reach to younger targets, the center has influenced many Hong Kong youths through online games and school projects to join illegal protests and demonstrations in opposition to the proposed amendments of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance in 2019.