10點!!!!!想揾一篇最近既英文新聞...

Tragic deaths spur action on mental health

Scarlett Chiang

Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Eleven task force groups are to be set up across Hong Kong to help the mentally ill, in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the tragedy at Tin Shui Wai on Sunday in which a woman is believed to have flung her two young children out of their flat before leaping to her death.

Each group will consist of doctors, nurses and social workers who will visit homes where family members are suspected to be mentally unstable and provide them with initial treatment.

One group will be assigned to Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai - the new town which has seen the most cases of serious domestic violence in recent years.

Announcing the move yesterday, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said the government had planned to help the mentally unstable months ago, but staffing problems had caused delays. Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong Tam Yiu-chung, after a meeting with Cheung, said: "But now these groups will get down to business."

In Sunday's incident, a 36-year-old woman, Mak Fu-tai, who had a history of mental illness, apparently hurled her 12-year-old daughter, Chan Po-yee, and nine-year-old son, Chan Tung-man, from the window of their 24th floor flat at Yiu Fung House, Tin Yiu Estate, before jumping to her death.

The bodies of Mak and the siblings, who had their hands and feet bound with rope, were found sprawled at the foot of the building shortly after 4am.

The woman's husband, Chan Kai- lam, who also has a history of mental problems, is terminally ill with cancer at Tuen Mun Hospital.

According to Chan's brother, his sister-in-law had been mentally ill for eight years and had refused to take medicine prescribed by psychologists.

Mak is believed to have been discharged from Castle Peak mental hospital only a month ago to look after her two children after Chan was admitted to hospital.

The brother said the authorities had failed to help the family, which has been on the dole for several years.

"I had never seen a social worker visiting their home," he said yesterday.

Cheung admitted at a meeting of the Legislative Council's welfare panel yesterday that hotline services at the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau have been inadequately manned.

"We provide 24-hour services for emergency calls, but they are not direct lines," he said. "If the line is busy, callers would be asked to leave a message so that social workers can get back to them within 20 minutes."

Cheung said the department would arrange for more social workers to operate the service in the short term.

"In the long term, we'll try to refer all emergency calls to the government hotline 1823 directly so that social workers can answer less calls and concentrate on counseling," he said.

Meanwhile, teachers and students at Chiu Yang Por Yen Primary School in Tin Shui Wai, where Po-yee and Tung- man studied, have been given counseling by psychologists from the Education Department and social workers.

The school's principal, Lam Pik- chu, said counseling services will also be given to parents and two teachers who had taught the two children.

照你咁講...應該是 Memphis police find mother of child found wandering

Associated Press - October 22, 2007 12:05 PM ET

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Police in Memphis say they have located the mother of a 3-year-old boy, who was found wandering before dawn today along a major street.

Employees of a convenience store say a man walked in with the barefoot child and told them he had found him walking alone. Store employees gave the child something to eat while they called police.

Investigators say a woman called police around 8 a.m. to report her son missing.

Authorities say the boy told them he left home because of a "noisy monster" in the house.

The child is in protective custody while police question the mother.

No charges were immediately filed.


Information from: Shane Myers/WPTY-TV, http://www.abc24.com/

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


希望幫到你 =)

Hong Kong to dress up city for the Olympics
Hong Kong people are too slow to react and they lack the Olympic spirit,the Sports federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong president Timothy Fok Tsun-ting has said.For the Olympics, the Committeehad already started promotion activities late last year,but Fok added that the the public's spirit towards the event seemed muffled.The Olympics,he said,concerned the government as well as the entire community.
Permanent Secertary for Home Affairs Carrie Yau Tsang Ki-lai believed it was still not too late to step up promotion work.This would include dressing up the ncity with Olympic themes.