Police nab 8 loan sharks

The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested 8 men and women from the mainland on Monday for alleged membership of a loan-sharking gang which for six months had offered casino patrons usurious gambling loans.PJ spokesman Lai Man Vai announced details of the case during a special press conference yesterday at the PJ headquarters in Zape. According to Lai, the five male and three female suspects are aged between 23 and 43. Five of them are from Jiangxi province, one from Hunan province, one from Sichuan

May 16, 2018 | BY admin

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Customs busts 7 IIs, 3 ‘snakeheads’

The Macau Customs Service said in a statement yesterday that its officers busted two illegal immigration cases earlier this week.In the early hours of Monday, a resident saw a suspicious boat in the waters outside the oil depot at Ka Ho on the north-eastern shore of Coloane and suspected that the vessel was transporting illegal immigrants (IIs). The resident tipped off the Customs Service, the statement said.A Customs Service speedboat was deployed to intercept the vessel and the seven people

May 16, 2018 | BY admin

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Tam vows ‘zero tolerance’ for child abuse

Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng said yesterday he had “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse of children as well as domestic violence against children, adding that “there shouldn’t even be one case”.Tam made the remarks while speaking to reporters after a regular meeting of the government-appointed Women and Children Affairs Committee at the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ).He said that the government was “angry” and “condemns” the alleged

May 15, 2018 | BY admin

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Suspended lawmaker, fellow activist reject disobedience charge

Suspended directly-elected lawmaker Sulu Sou Ka Hou and fellow non-establishment activist Scott Chiang Meng Hin rejected their alleged aggravated disobedience charges during the first hearing of their trial at the Court of First Instance (TJB) yesterday.Sou and Chiang stand accused of aggravated disobedience in the wake of a demonstration on May 15, 2016 against the public Macau Foundation’s controversial decision to donate 100 million yuan (122 million patacas) to Jinan University in

May 15, 2018 | BY admin

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4 gaming firms extend maternity & paternity leave

Four of Macau’s six gaming operators announced yesterday in separate statements increased paid maternity and paternity leave for their employees.SJM said that that it “puts employees first and is dedicated to enhancing the welfare benefits of its staff members,” adding paid maternity leave will be increased from 56 days to 70 days, while paid paternity leave will be increased from 3 days to 5 days.The SJM statement pointed out that its measure results from “the report on the

May 15, 2018 | BY admin

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4 bus pickpockets nabbed by police

Four male mainlanders were arrested over the weekend at the Barrier Gate checkpoint for a pickpocketing spree on public buses since the middle of last month, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lai Man Vai said during a special press conference at the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday.According to Lai, the four suspects, aged between 33 and 41, are all from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Two of them are peasants and one is a labourer while the fourth suspect claimed to be unemployed.Lai said

May 15, 2018 | BY admin

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Police probe suspected arson in residential unit

The Judiciary Police (PJ) said in a statement that they are investigating a suspected arson case in a residential unit in Fai Chi Kei yesterday morning.According to the statement, several residents in a high-rise in Rua da Bacia Sul saw a man, who appeared to be drunk, lying on the floor of a smoke-filled corridor outside a flat at 7:30 a.m. and called the Fire Services Bureau (CB).Firefighters rushed to the scene where the man told them that his family members were in the flat where the smoke

May 15, 2018 | BY admin

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Kindergarten assistant faces sexual abuse charges: police

A male kindergarten assistant facing sexual abuse charges has been released on his own recognisance, the Public Prosecution Office (MP) has announced.Speaking during a press briefing on Friday, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam had announced the suspect’s transfer from the police to the Public Prosecution Office for further questioning.Ho identified the suspect as a 26-year-old non-resident worker from the Philippines surnamed De Leon. Earlier last week, the Judiciary Police had

May 14, 2018 | BY admin

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Measles won’t be prevalent: govt

The government has reassured the public that measles will not be prevalent in Macau.Lam Chong, who heads the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of the Health Bureau (SSM), made the remarks while speaking to reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of a campaign to raise residents’ awareness of the prevention of dengue and Zika that took place outside Flower City Garden in Taipa.Lam’s remarks came after his bureau confirmed on Friday the case of a local woman who had travelled to

May 14, 2018 | BY admin

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Health Bureau ‘watches’ Legionella in Gongbei

The Health Bureau (SSM) said in a statement last week that the bureau would keep a close watch on the reported Legionella bacteria discovery at the Gongbei border checkpoint.Government-owned broadcaster TDM reported on Friday that during a sanitary inspection, the authorities in Zhuhai had found Legionella bacteria in water samples taken from the air-conditioning units at the Gongbei border checkpoint.The report didn’t say when the inspection was carried out and when the bacteria were

May 14, 2018 | BY admin

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Forum slams Rosario’s urban renewal remarks

Guest speakers at yesterday’s Macau Forum said they were “shocked and disappointed” at the recent remarks made by Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario, who said last week that none of the members of the government-appointed Urban Renewal Council had ever suggested that there’s a need for the government to draft legislation to push for the city’s urban renewal.The weekly open-air debate is hosted by government-owned broadcaster TDM in Areia Preta Park every

May 14, 2018 | BY admin

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Customs officers seize air rifle in parcel

The Macau Customs Service has announced that it has seized parcel containing an air rifle sent from Taiwan which a local resident had bought on the Internet.According to a statement by the Customs Service on Friday, customs officers checked a parcel, via an X-ray scan, sent from Taiwan at the local airport on Tuesday last week.The officers discovered what appeared to be a firearm in the parcel, the statement said, adding that the Customs Service therefore deployed more officers to the post

May 14, 2018 | BY admin

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Police probing alleged sexual abuse in kindergarten

The Judiciary Police (PJ) confirmed yesterday that they have received parents’ reports about suspected sexual abuse at a local kindergarten, in which two girls are the alleged victims.The Judiciary Police (PJ) said during a press conference that the parents of the two girls reported the alleged sexual abuse to the police on Tuesday.A PJ spokesperson said that a male Filipino national in his thirties was being investigated for the alleged child abuse.Since the parents’ report, the suspect,

May 11, 2018 | BY admin

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‘The Night Just Before the Forests’, an immigrant’s cry for help

The monologue of an immigrant in “The Night Just Before the Forests” has been re-imagined, with an adaptation to be performed in Macau that will allow the audience to immerse into the thoughts, the feelings and the psychological state of a foreigner making a desperate cry for help.“The Night Just Before the Forests”, written in 1977 is considered one of the most captivating and unsettling texts by French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès (1948-1989).The play will be presented on stage in

May 11, 2018 | BY admin

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