The new polycarbonate cared features a hologram with a wave and 3D effect, the words “Hong Kong” embossed in tactile relief, rainbow printing, a transparent window partially showing the card number, a multi-pattern background, micro-printed text and a full-colour ultraviolet image, according a document submitted by the Security Bureau to the Legislative Council.

The government will launch a replacement programme for all residents in the fourth quarter of next year, involving around 8.8 million identity cards. It plans to spend HK$1.46 billion for the programme between 2018 and 2022.

Some members of the public might be under the impression that the co-location arrangement involves a lot of complicated legal concepts, so much so it is incomprehensible to the average individual.

However, they are wrong. As a matter of fact, the core legal concepts involved in the so-called co-location arrangement just can’t be simpler, and all of them simultaneously point to one cast-iron fact: the proposed arrangement is completely against the Basic Law and is therefore unconstitutional no matter how hard the government has sugarcoated it.

As of Wednesday morning 145 people were unaccounted for, according to CNA, Taiwan's official news agency, with four buildings in the area either tilting or already collapsed.

The quake was centered in the East China Sea about 21 kilometers (13 miles) north of the city of Hualien. Light shaking was felt in the capital of Taipei, about 120 kilometers north of Hualien, according to reports sent to the US Geological Survey.The Marshal Hotel in downtown Hualien was one of the buildings that collapsed, Jeff Lin with the Hualien Police Department said.

About 400 rescue workers scrambled to locate people, and a crane was brought in to help, footage from CNN affiliate SET TV showed. One building apparently had collapsed onto what once was the ground floor.

The injured are mainly from the Marshal Hotel, and a few of the injured were in the city buildings. One hotel employee was rescued from the basement and three others remain missing, officials said.

The first images began circulating on the internet last week.

They showed a Chinese amphibious assault ship — usually used to deploy troops and tanks on a beach — fitted with an enormous cannon on its bows.

Traditional guns use an explosive charge to generate a high-pressure cloud of gas, forcing a projectile out the open end of a barrel at high velocities.

But they are limited.

The propellant generates heat and pressure. This restricts the practical size, speed and durability of such a weapon. It also requires large, deadly stores of explosives be carried aboard a ship.

But an electromagnetic rail gun does away with many of these negatives.

Instead of explosives, it uses powerful magnets to sling warheads down its barrel and into the air. It is calculated this will enable larger warheads to be fired much faster — and further — than traditional cannons.

Once fully operational, such guns could sink ships, attack land targets — and even destroy aircraft and missiles in flight — at ranges and accuracy normally expected from missiles.