🌊 The $3 million job
🌊 The $3 million job
The kids are getting high, facial recognition arrives at border security, and more
Good morning.
The weather isn’t reserved for Cyril’s Sunday High Tides – I’m also checking in to warn everyone to bundle up for a chilly sub-14 degree Celsius kind of morning.
What I’d do for a 14-degree day in the gross UK.
PS. High Tide is coming in late today; to make it up to you, there is no paywall today. Hooray!
Today On Tide:
Uber Eats its way out of Hong Kong
COVID News: HKU isolates Omicron variant
Smile! Facial recognition comes to HK borders
Events: Transforming Business for Sustainability (TODAY!)
Make HK$3 million a year in this job
The Ho Family Drama & other news
Uber Eats its way out of HK
After five years in Hong Kong, Uber Eats is officially calling it quits with this city. The food delivery app has not made the success it expected in the SAR, and has decided after much deliberation to cease operations on 31 December of this year.
"Whilst we wind down our delivery platform operations in Hong Kong, we are more committed than ever to growing our mobility platform in the city, which is home to our largest Uber Taxi business globally."
— Official statement from Uber
With Hong Kong contributing over 25% of the global Uber Taxi business, it’s no wonder Uber HK is choosing to focus its efforts there rather on Uber Eats.
Does this move surprise you? Are you going to miss your Uber Eats delivery guy or are you more into Deliveroo? Either way, I hope you’re tipping your driver.
HKU isolates Omicron variant
The research team at the University of Hong Kong are the first in Asia to isolate the Omicron variant, which will aid in the development of vaccines against it.
Other COVID-19 news:
New cases: 4
The government announced a pilot scheme that would allow the public to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at private healthcare institutions as of next Monday (6 December).
HK is changing travel restrictions on arrivals coming in from Japan, Portugal and Sweden due to arising cases of the Omicron variant. Any non-residents who have been to those countries over the last three weeks won’t be allowed into the SAR. Vaccinated residents will have to undergo a 21-day quarantine along with mandatory testing.
Compulsory testing notices have been gazetted for four specified premises.
Smile! Facial recognition comes to HK borders
Get ready for your headshot, because you’ll be on camera whenever passing through any of the automated clearance channels at HK’s border crossings. The Hong Kong International Airport, the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint and the HK-Zhuhai-Macau bridge will be getting 10 e-channels each for a smoother border experience.
"Public health awareness has been greatly aroused during the pandemic. Contact-less e-channels offer fast, convenient and hygienic immigration clearance services for residents … After completing simple enrolment of contact-less e-channels, residents can use mobile app to generate an encrypted QR code to enter the e-channel and then verify their identity with facial verification technology for automated immigration clearance."
— Assistant Immigration Director Gavin Ho
Officials are assuring the public that the photos will be immediately deleted after the person is cleared to pass through the barrier. Residents who choose to can continue to use fingerprint verification or traditional passport/border control counters.
Talking to a border officer? I’d much prefer the headshot option any day.
Civil service college head to earn $$$$$$$
If you’ve ever wanted to change jobs, now may be the time. The government is recruiting a new head of HK’s civil service college, and the salary is looking like a sweet HK$3 million+ each year.
Job requirements include at least 15 years of administrative or managerial experience, enhancing civil service training, and ensuring that ‘one county, two systems’ is upheld.
Recruitment has begun and the government is planning to appoint a candidate during the first half of 2022.
Does this sound like you? If one of our readers gets the job, please write me a reference letter for my next job interview.
Events / Exhibitions, etc.
We want to make sure that what we advertise is interesting for our readers, so if you go to an event that you saw here, let us know by taking a selfie and tagging us on Twitter or Instagram ( both @harbourtimes ).
We’ll throw in a free month of Paid High Tide for yourself or a friend!
BEC EnviroSeries Conference: Transforming Business for
Sustainability
Following the June 2021 EnviroSeries Conference entitled “Redefining Business Leadership for Green Growth”, this conference aims to continue the conversation on how business transformation would enable the building of a green and sustainable Hong Kong.
Specifically, the conference will
Share, showcase and discuss best practices and success stories in business
transformation from selected industries, andInspire BEC members and the wider business community to push for transformational strategies and ambitious actions conducive to long-term sustainability and the creation of shared value for society
Harbour Times is proud to be an official media sponsor for the BEC. Read our coverage of their June conference here.
Want your events on Tide as well? Let us know!
The Ho Family Drama
As the aftermath of billionaire casino tycoon Stanley Ho’s death unfolds, all we can do is whip out the popcorn and enjoy the show. Apparently, Mr Ho did not leave a will, causing much disagreement over the value of his estate.
To summarise (these are not direct quotes):
Daughter Angel Ho: It must be worth HK$11 billion
Daughter Pansy Ho: It must be worth at least HK$1.72 billion
The Ho family is still deliberating over whether two people can or should be added as estate managers, and it honestly seems like a petty, bureaucratic nightmare.
I bet the lawyers involved are absolutely raking it in though.
Other news that matters (to us peasants):
Bar association chief Paul Harris was removed from a national security trial case (paywalled) against the client’s wishes.
Youths are toking up more and more, with the number of peopled aged 10-35 who have used marijuana has jumped up 80% over the last two years.
Retail sales have gone up 12% in October year-on-year, making for a total of HK$30.7 billion.
“Chinese culture as the backbone”: Schools have gotten new guidelines on values education, which focuses on teaching students traditional Chinese values and culture.
Eligible persons can now apply for their JoyYou Card (public transport concessions card).
That’s all for today
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