THE SCMP WILL KUNG HEI FAT CHOI BE BACK ON Dragon year points to success; prepare for the baby boom > FAMILY POST Cultural district launches with Cantonese opera > POST MAGAZINE WEDNESDAY Gala event – mainland sits down to watch TV > CHINA PAGE 7 PUBLISHED SINCE 1903 / VOLUME LXVIII / NO 22 Sunday, January 22, 2012 / See live updates at www.scmp.com SUBSCRIPTION COPY ONLY – NOT FOR SALE INSIDE LUNAR NEW YEAR CRIME Rugby Sevens chiefs tackle ticket touts Organisers of the Hong Kong Sevens believe they have struck a blow to ACCUSED the heart of the army of ticket touts that plague the rugby showcase. Their claim comes amid fury at their decision to cut the number of tickets available to the public. > LEADING THE NEWS PAGE 3 PIRATE Hong Kong doctor sets sights on mission to Africa VOWS TO A doctor who describes herself as an “ordinary girl from Hong Kong” is heading to the Republic of Congo hoping to save the sight of thousands of people. Joyce Samoutou-Wong and her husband FIGHT ON decided to set up an eye centre in the country after hearing simple cataract surgery was not available. > HONG KONG PAGE 6 Flamboyant millionaire confident he will beat raft of US charges including copyright infringement Pandemic fears lead to as hackers target record company sites in retaliation bird-flu research ban ...................................................... The Lunar New Year fair at Victoria Park yesterday. Vendors were concerned that rain and cooler weather would scare shoppers off. Photo: Felix Wong Three other men Lana Lam Researchers have called a 60-day were also arrested, in- [email protected] halt to their work on the deadly cluding Mathias Ort- H5N1 bird flu to allow scientists mann, 40, a German cit- around the world to discuss their The Hong Kong man accused of izen and Hong Kong work on mutant variations – and Rivals join crowds at holiday fairs spearheading one of the biggest-ever Hong Kong resident. determine how work can proceed online piracy networks will seek bail resident Dotcom’s lawyer, without putting humans at risk of a and vigorously fight the charge Kim Paul Davison QC, said catastrophic pandemic resulting Candidates for top job show up at Lunar New Year in the Year of the Horse, joined the are familiar with us. We want to be against him, his lawyer says. Dotcom his client had nothing to from an accidental leak or terrorist crowds in Victoria Park with his wife consistent for them,” she said. “They German-born Kim Dotcom was hide and he was confi- attack. > WORLD PAGE 9 events that were bracing for a blast of cold weather Tong Ching-yi before flying to Brit- trust that our flowers are top quality, arrested on Friday in a dramatic raid dent that the allegations ...................................................... ain, where the couple will visit their and that is the only way we’ve man- on his rented multimillion-dollar would not be sustained. He said he children for the holiday. They spent aged to stay in business. New Zealand mansion. would seek bail when the case re- Jennifer Cheng more than HK$1,000 on soft toys and “Last year, people were more will- He was charged with a raft of sumed tomorrow. Hollywood fury as [email protected] flowers. ing to spend, but this year, people are crimes including copyright infringe- Davison refused to comment fur- Google wins piracy battle While Leung heads for a British not as easy with their purse-strings.” ment and money laundering after an ther but did confirm that Dotcom’s The candidates for chief executive winter, Hongkongers are bracing for She said people visiting her stall were investigation into his Megaupload wife, Mona, was pregnant with twins The wave of protests led by Google joined the crowds browsing Lunar chilly conditions during the holiday. typically spending around HK$100 website involving the FBI, US Justice but was not due to give birth for a few and Wikipedia may have put anti- New Year fairs ahead of the holiday – The mercury will drop to as low as 10 on flowers. Department, Hong Kong customs months. Dotcom, who changed his online piracy legislation on hold but but it will take the fiery breath of the degrees Celsius today and may fall as officials and other international name from Kim Schmitz, already has it has caused anger and frustration dragon to keep vendors and shop- low as 9 degrees tomorrow – New > ‘NO POLITICAL AIM’ PAGE 5 agencies. > CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 in Hollywood. The movie industry pers from shivering through the last Year’s Day. says internet bootleggers are costing hours of the events. Stallholders, who will be looking it billions of dollars a year. Henry Tang Ying-yen, a child of to maximise profits before the fairs > WORLD PAGE 9 the auspicious Year of the Dragon, at- close in the early hours of tomorrow tended a fair at Morse Park in Wong morning, say they are concerned that Tai Sin with his wife, Kwok Yu-chin, the cold and expected rain will FOCUS °C and three of his four children. dampen the mood. 9 Arriving shortly after the opening One flower seller in Wong Tai Sin, of the fair, arranged by the Demo- already struggling after the price of The temperature in degrees cratic Alliance for the Betterment and flowers rose by 20 per cent due to the Celsius that the mercury is Progress of Hong Kong, Tang and his rise of the yuan, said she planned to The high forecast to drop to tomorrow, family visited stalls and chatted to cut prices to clear her stock. New Year’s Day district councillors. They snapped up “I’ve kept my prices the same as HK$300 worth of sweets and trinkets. last year because we serve customers cost of His rival Leung Chun-ying, born that live in the neighbourhood and heritage ANIMALS With a HK$7b price tag on one ‘monument’ how can past be preserved? > PAGE 4 Games that may enrich zoo life sit unused ...................................................... ed over by Masarang Hong Kong in simulate foraging – were “fine and Kanglei Wang April last year. But since the hand- equally effective”. SKIN DEEP [email protected] over, the charity has heard nothing. Masarang Hong Kong says that is A spokesman for the Leisure and not enough to keep the intelligent As Hong Kong’s orang-utans spend Culture Services Department, which creatures happy. It points to zoos their days swinging through a con- runs the zoo, said it had consulted the around the world, from the Nether- crete enclosure that animal rights World Association of Zoos and lands to Washington, which had groups say is inadequate for their Aquariums, which said its current made good use of similar technology. needs, a tablet computer that could forms of environmental enrichment At Zoo Atlanta, a touchscreen pro- enrich their lives lies sealed in a metal for the orang-utans – providing card- gramme is built into a tree-like struc- case, out of reach of the creatures it board boxes and palm fronds to play ture and is used by researchers to was meant to help. with, and hiding food inside bags to study the animal’s cognition. The HK$12,000 touchscreen com- “The objective with any enrich- puter is loaded with games designed ment program is to provide animals WAR AGAINST RACISM to stimulate the creatures. The zoo with challenges, something to occu- says its methods of stimulating py their time, having to forage with IN SOCCER TAKES A orang-utans are in line with interna- their food, trying to present them tional guidelines. In the forest, their with the sorts of challenges they STEP BACKWARDS “Orang-utans are such intelligent might need in the wild: to keep them > SPORT PAGE 4 creatures … they need stimulation,” whole life is a occupied, busy, entertained,” said said Adrienne Watson, president of Lori Perkins, director of animal pro- Masarang Hong Kong, a conserva- complicated 3D grammes at Zoo Atlanta. NEWSMAKER tion group dedicated to orang-utan puzzle … they But she said only about half of the welfare, which donated the comput- orang-utans had shown any interest er last autumn. have so many in the technology. “Computers will enrich the problems to solve Mara McCaffery, of Orang-utan That orang-utans’ lives,” said Dr Willie Aid, has previously described the Smits, a scientist and conservationist CONSERVATIONIST DR WILLIE SMITS Hong Kong Zoo’s orang-utan enclo- who runs a sanctuary in Borneo sure as falling far short of internation- sinking which is home to more than 600 of al standards. the endangered primates and works She agreed that technology alone with Masarang Hong Kong. may not solve the problem of enrich- feeling “In the forest, their whole life is a ment in zoos. “But it has to be tried,” complicated 3D puzzle … they have she said. “Maybe it won’t be a suc- so many problems to solve,” he said. cess, but effort has been made. If it’s Costa Concordia’s captain “It’s one big intelligence challenge.” not going to cost anything, why not had the makings of a hero The games were developed by Dr try it?” Hanna Wirman of Polytechnic Uni- but failed the test > PAGE 13 versity’s school of design, and hand- > THE KEY TO HAPPY ANIMALS PAGE 11.