MSAR land area grows by over 1/3 since 1999

The total land area the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) reached 32.9 square kilometres at the end of last year, an increase of 38.2 percent from the end of 1999, when the MSAR was established and its land area stood at 23.8 sq. km.During the same period, Macau’s population rose by 52.4 percent, from 438,000 at the end of 1999 to 667,400 at the end of last year.According to data released by the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) this week, the MSAR’s land area grew by 2.1 sq. km

April 25, 2019 | BY admin

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NPC greenlights Ho's CE bid

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing yesterday passed a decision to approve a request by Macau Legislative Assembly (AL) President Ho Iat Seng to resign from the nation’s top legislature, according to a statement published on the official NPC website.The decision clears the way for Ho’s bid for chief executive of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR)The statement did not mention Ho’s reason for having tendered his resignation.Yesterday’s

April 24, 2019 | BY admin

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Inflation rate hits 2.84 pct in March

Macau’s inflation rate reached 2.84 percent last year, slightly higher than February’s growth of 2.79 percent, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced yesterday.A DSEC statement attributed last month’s increase in the composite consumer price index (CPI) to the rising cost of eating out and renting a flat, as well as rising prices of cars, gasoline, vegetables and fruit.The price indices of education and transport grew by 5.89 percent and 5.40 percent respectively.PLEASE READ

April 24, 2019 | BY admin

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Easter visitor arrivals rise 39.3 pct: police

The Public Security Police (PSP) announced in a statement yesterday that they recorded 556,193 visitor arrivals during the four-day Easter holiday period from Good Friday to Easter Monday, a 39.3 percent increase compared to the corresponding period last year.The previous four-day Easter holiday period was between March 30 and April 2, 2018, according to the statement.This time, the police recorded some 2.46 million entries and exits at the city’s eight border checkpoints during the four-day

April 24, 2019 | BY admin

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Over 10 million visitors in Q3, up 21 pct

Macau recorded 10.36 million visitor arrivals in the first quarter of the year, a year-on-year increase of 21.2 percent, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced yesterday.In 2000, the first full year after the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), the number of visitor arrivals stood at 9.1 million.Overnight visitors (4.7 million) and same-day visitors (5.6 million) rose by 9.3 percent and 33.4 percent respectively.PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN OUR PRINT

April 24, 2019 | BY admin

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Lawmakers reject trade union bill for 10th time

Only 13 out of 29 lawmakers who were attending yesterday’s plenum voted yesterday in support of a trade union bill proposed by legislator-cum-unionist José Maria Pereira Coutinho.The legislature has 33 members.Yesterday was the 10th time the legislature has rejected a trade union bill since the establishment of the Macau Special Administration Region (MSAR) in 1999.PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN OUR PRINT EDITION.

April 24, 2019 | BY admin

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Gang provides ‘fraud training’ for cheating loan sharks: police

The police arrested on Monday a female and six male members of a fraud gang from the mainland that provided its members with “fraud training” specialising in cheating casino loan sharks in Macau, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference at the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday.According to Chan, the seven suspects, aged between 25 and 51, are from Guangxi, Henan and Heilongjiang, surnamed Bai, Huang, Sun, Wang, Xie, Xu, and Yu. The gang’s five

April 24, 2019 | BY admin

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Lawmakers reject Sou’s appeal over his CE election bill

The Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday roundly rejected an appeal by non-establishment lawmaker Sulu Sou Ka Hou against a decision by the legislature’s executive board which had prevented Sou from initiating a bill proposing that the chief executive election must have at least two candidates by amending the Chief Execution Election Law.Yesterday’s plenary session, which was chaired by Legislative Assembly Vice President Chui Sai Cheong, was attended by 30 lawmakers. Four non-establishment

April 24, 2019 | BY admin

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Govt promotes citywide reading culture

In celebration of yesterday’s World Book Day, the local government organised a citywide half-hour reading activity called “April 23 Reading in the City” at 3:30 p.m. with nearly 20,000 people reading at the same time in Macau, Hong Kong and Guangdong, Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Mok Ian Ian said yesterday.The Cultural Affairs Bureau and the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) co-organised the reading activity at the Old Courthouse in Avenida da Praia Grande. Mok talked

April 24, 2019 | BY admin

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Housewife robs moneychanger after spiking drinks with sleeping pills

The police arrested a woman from the mainland on Sunday for robbing a female money-changer in a lobby in a Cotai casino resort, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference at the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday.The victim is a 37-year-old woman from the mainland. Her surname was not released. The victim told the police that she runs a currency-exchange business via text messages, according to Chan. The suspect is a 35-year-old woman from the mainland

April 23, 2019 | BY admin

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Police nab ex-staff for stealing 2 diamonds rings from boss 6 years ago

The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a local man on Saturday for stealing two diamond rings worth 300,000 patacas about six years ago from a jewellery shop where he worked at that time, PJ spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference yesterday.The suspect, who went to the mainland on the same day after committing the theft and pawning the two diamond rings in May 2013, was arrested on Saturday when he returned to Macau via the Barrier Gate border checkpoint, according to Chan,

April 23, 2019 | BY admin

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Customs fine 3 visitors for failing to declare excess cash

The Macau Customs Service says that its officers fined three visitors – two from Hong Kong and one from the mainland – last week for separately bringing large quantities of cash in Hong Kong dollars into Macau via the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal without declaring it to customs officers.The statement did not reveal how much each of the three visitors was fined.The cash brought by the three visitors, whose genders were not revealed, amounted to a total of HK$22,132,000, according to a

April 23, 2019 | BY admin

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Portuguese president to visit Macau next week: official

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will visit Macau between Tuesday and Wednesday next week (from April 30 to May 1), the local government has announced.According to a statement by the Government Spokesperson’s Office on Saturday, Rebelo de Sousa will visit Macau during a state visit to the nation at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. Macau is one of the Portuguese president’s stops during the state visit between this coming Sunday and Thursday next week.The statement pointed

April 23, 2019 | BY admin

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3 Macau people vanish when fishing boat sinks

The local government says that it is paying close attention to a case in which a fishing vessel with three Macau residents and five mainlanders on board went missing in the sea around the Wanshan Archipelago last Thursday, which is situated south of the mouth of the Pearl River estuary and Hong Kong.Wanshan Archipelago refers to a group of some 100 islands and islets in the area, most of which are administered by Zhuhai. The archipelago also includes Macau’s Taipa and Coloane islands as well

April 23, 2019 | BY admin

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