The FREE Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional "sneak preview workshops" are running full steam ahead. Your SKYLINE scribe attended the 1st workshop on Tuesday 13th in person. Here are our personal BEST SIX new product features.

1. Easy Adobe PDF file creation and a far more friendly user interface with enhanced viewing and navigation
Create Adobe PDF files with the click of a button from Microsoft Office applications and, for Windows users, from Internet Explorer, Microsoft Project, Visio, and AutoCAD.
View two areas of a large drawing simultaneously using a split-pane view. Zoom in on unreadable areas without affecting the magnification level of the rest of the document.
2. Document merge
Convert and combine proposals, presentations, images, and other documents into one compact Adobe PDF file in a single step (Windows only), and add headers, footers, and watermarks.
3. Review process management and effective commenting tools
Create lists of reviewers and track the feedback received. Gather comments into a single Adobe PDF file, or view them collectively in a separate window.
Create custom stamps or dynamic date-time stamps, and redline documents / drawings with oval, cloud, and other drawing tools. Indicate text insertions and deletions with a single keystroke.
4. Layers and high compression
Preserve layers in Adobe PDF files created from AutoCAD and Microsoft Visio. A high compression ratio ensures easier e-mail circulation of CAD files.
5. Forms creation
Create interactive electronic forms that can be completed and submitted online.
6. Security
Increased document protection and security checks

These hands-on training sessions provide an opportunity to learn at first hand about Acrobat Professional. Due to the very high demand for the two scheduled workshop sessions, Adobe have added a 3rd day for our SKYLINE e-newsletter recipients. Space is limited so make sure you sign up <<click here>>.

If you can¡¦t make the training but are interested in learning more about Acrobat Professional, Adobe is also offering to conduct special sessions at your office involving groups of 10 or more <<click here>>

If you don't have access to the internet or you are receiving our newsletter in raw text format then you may have difficulty registering for the special offer FREE training. If that is the case then please <<click here>> and send us an e-mail.

Don't miss this opportunity! The second training session is Friday 16th May (ie tomorrow) and the BONUS extra session is planned for Wednesday 21st May (ie next week)

To take an online tour of what the product offers please <<click here>> . You will need internet access and Flash installed on your PC.

New Bulletin Board Postings & Responses

1. Job Opportunity - General Manager, Project Management
   
2. Lets do something symbolic - about the Dragon Symbol
   
3. Stop the super-prison island site feasibility study.
4. Great Apartment for Rent

News Headlines

Court told of potential $48b loss for Housing Authority
MAGDALEN CHOW, SCMP 14 May 2003
The Housing Authority would be $48.7 billion out of pocket if rents were reduced to a statutory level over the next decade, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

Outbreak of dengue is expected
CHOW CHUNG-YAN, SCMP 14 May 2003
Chow Chung-yan The Hong Kong Medical Association has warned there is a high risk of a dengue fever outbreak this summer. The disease first swept through Hong Kong last year and is now regarded as endemic.

A leader honed in the art and skills of politics
SCMP, 14 May 2003
However hard he has tried to project himself as a strong leader in Hong Kong's fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's handling of the crisis has been lacklustre at best..

Launch of housing projects back on track as health crisis eases
EUNICE WONG, SCMP 14 May 2003
Developers are planning to step up marketing for several new residential projects in the coming weeks as the health crisis gradually eases.

Restoring relevance to the chief executive post
MARTIN LEE, SCMP 14 May 2003
The people of Hong Kong believed, in the run up to the handover, that it would be the engine to pull the mainland forward in implementing its four modernisation programmes.

Office woes may signal real estate is maturing
ANTHONY COUSE, SCMP 14 May 2003
As Hong Kong's skyline has become one of the wonders of 20th-century architecture and urban planning, so high rents and property prices have become one of the main measures of the city's success.

Tenants start battle for rent reductions
MAGDALEN CHOW, SCMP 13 May 2003
Two tenants of public housing estates yesterday launched a legal battle against the Housing Authority to reduce rents, claiming they have reached an unlawful level and are unaffordable.

Government set to offload home loans
QUINTON CHAN and JIMMY CHEUNG, SCMP 13 May 2003
The Hong Kong government is to sell its $5 billion worth of civil servants' housing loans to the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation this month as part of its plan to help balance the budget deficit.

Cartoon
Scmp,13 May,2003

Shoddy buildings in the firing line
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 12 May 2003
All residential blocks in Hong Kong would be required to set up an owners' corporation and appoint a property manager under proposals to be drafted by officials to improve the quality of buildings.

Further intervention on housing is ruled out
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 12 May 2003
The government will not intervene in the Hong Kong property market again even if the current fall in prices continues, the secretary for housing, planning and lands says.

A welcome step towards a better urban lifestyle
SCMP, 12 May 2003
Suddenly a dripping pipe or a blocked drain - for so long blithely dismissed as a feature of Hong Kong life - is a menacing sight. Since the Sars tragedy at Amoy Gardens was linked to a faulty sewerage system, a profound new awareness towards public sanitation is sweeping the city.

Supply of flats set to ease only slightly
KENNETH KO, SCMP 12 May 2003
Residential supply in Hong Kong will decrease modestly in the next three years but still be higher than the average annual completions in the past decade, according to the Rating and Valuation Department.

Demand for HK dollars growing in mainland
RAYMOND MA, SCMP 12 May 2003
The non-convertibility of the yuan has helped fuel a demand for Hong Kong dollars, according to a paper published by the Bank for International Settlements.

Numbers game taints picture on housing
JAKE VAN DER KAMP, SCMP 12 May 2003
Here is another issue that just tempts me too much to stick in my oar. It involves government housing policy and games with numbers.

Guangdong's history as a breeding ground for pandemics is well documented, writes Chris Taylor
Sunday Morning Post, 11 May 2003
The close proximity of birds, pigs and humans for centuries in southern China has been identified by international health experts as key to devastating outbreaks throughout history.

Underwater tunnel plan proposed to link two provinces
Verna Yu, Sunday Morning Post 11 May 2003
An ambitious plan to build the world's longest underwater tunnel, linking the northeastern coastal provinces of Shandong and Liaoning, has been proposed by a leading engineer, it was reported yesterday..

No place for superjail
Letter to the Editor, Sunday Morning Post 11 May 2003
I refer to the letter of J. Charleston, headlined "Not in my backyard" (South China Morning Post, May 6), about the people of Lantau not wanting the so-called superjail in their backyard. I agree that Lantau residents are using all sorts of excuses to get the prison built somewhere else.

Jail critics say they have been snubbed
Sara Bradford, SCMP 11 May 2003
Members of a community group opposed to the building of a $12 billion "superjail" on Hei Ling Chau were left angry and frustrated yesterday after taking legislators and government officials on a ferry tour of the proposed site.

Draft Wong Nai Chung Outline Zoning Plan approved
Hong Kong Government, 9 May 2003
The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft Wong Nai Chung Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

Town Planning (Amendment) Bill 2003 to be introduced into LegCo
Hong Kong Government, 9 May 2003
The Chief Executive in Council has ordered that the Town Planning (Amendment) Bill 2003 (the Amendment Bill) be introduced into the Legislative Council (LegCo) on May 21, 2003.

Green group tries to block prison on Hei Ling Chau
HEIKE PHILLIPS, Environment Reporter, SCMP 10 May 2003
A green group opposed to government plans to build a $12 billion "superjail" on Hei Ling Chau will ferry legislators and district councillors to the pristine area today in the hope of swaying them against the project.

China Flu: Make the name fit the disease
FENG CHI-SHUN, SCMP 10 May 2003
My old professor used to say: There is nothing new under the sun; it's just that we keep inventing new names. Before we named the disease Sars, we called it atypical pneumonia.

Your Sars questions answered
DOCTOR MARGARET CHENG, SCMP 9 May 2003
Q I just read in an Indian newspaper that the chief minister of Tamil Nadu suggests that Sars patients take the following: "Crush a Tulsi plant with roots. Mix it with water. Add a teaspoonful each of turmeric powder and pepper powder. Heat the mixture on low with two glasses of water until the volume is reduced to half a glass. Drink it twice a day before food to control the virus." I wonder whether this remedy works?

Leaders get tough with local officials
FONG TAK-HO, SCMP 9 May 2003
As many as 120 mainland officials have been sacked or reprimanded for dereliction of their duties in the battle against Sars, the central government said yesterday.

Infection rate falls to a new low
PATSY MOY, SCMP 9 May 2003
Hong Kong yesterday received a boost in the fight against Sars as the number of new infections hit a new low of seven cases and the number of deaths fell to four, the lowest level since April 24.

Change pay structure, not pay levels
PAUL HEMPEL, SCMP 9 May 2003
A civil service pay cut of 6 per cent, phased in over two years, was agreed by the Hong Kong government and unions. However, couching the debate on civil service salaries simply in terms of wage levels is a wasted opportunity for genuine reform. If the government is serious about reducing the size of the civil service, creating a performance-related culture and managing costs, it is necessary to reform the salary system - something it has begun to address in its comprehensive review of the civil service pay policy and system.

Lifting the quality of life
Letter to the Editor, 9 May 2003
I was happy to see your leader headlined "Quality of life in Hong Kong paramount to success" (May 6). I agree completely with this point.

Different Sars criteria
Letter to the Editor, 9 May 2003
I fully support the Department of Health criteria for diagnosis of confirmed cases of Sars.

How the toilet flush may spread the Sars virus
Letter to the Editor, 9 May 2003
There has been concern about the transmission of the Sars virus through contaminated sewage systems and the use of contaminated toilets in the Amoy Gardens cluster of cases.

Draft Kwu Tung South Outline Zoning Plan approved
Hong Kong Government, 9 May 2003
The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft Kwu Tung South Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

Draft Mid-Levels East Outline Zoning Plan approved
Hong Kong Government, 9 May 2003
The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft Mid-Levels East Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

Draft Lam Tsuen Outline Zoning Plan approved
Hong Kong Government, 9 May 2003
The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft Lam Tsuen Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

Mr Leung is discredited, so let him go, Mr Tung
SCMP, 8 May 2003
It was disconcerting to see Financial Secretary Antony Lueng Kam-chung, once the glamour boy who quit a lucrative career as a banker to join the government, sitting sheepishly through yesterday's confidence debate in the Legislative Council.

Don't take officials' word
Letter to the Editor, SCMP 8 May 2003
I refer to "Zen's charge over Article 23 'groundless'" (may 6), and anti-democratic rant in which Elsie Tue again misses the point in her opposition to all things "western" and her unshakable belief that all is well in China or well enough to support Article 23.

Your SARS Questions Answered by Doctor Margaret Cheng
SCMP, 8 May 2003
Q On February 15, I became ill with fever, a sore throat, headache and diarrhea after my employees returned from Guangdong province. It was the worst condition I had felt in my life. By February 25, my four-year-old daughter had a fever and was coughing. Is it possible that we had a milder form of Sars? Can I have the serological test for circulating antibodies without having to visit a hospital? Will there be a serological survey of the population to see if Sars has been around for longer than we think?

Mr Tung's men won the day, but there will still be a price to pay
Chris Yeung, SCMP 8 May 2003
The veto of the no-confidence motion might have put a full stop to the political wrestling in the Legislative Council over the car-purchase scandal.

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