227 fined for smoking in casinos in Jan-June

A total of 227 tickets were issued for smoking in casinos’ non-smoking areas between January and June, according to figures released by the Health Bureau (SSM) in a statement yesterday.According to the statement, the bureau issued 3,423 tickets for lighting up in prohibited areas in the city during the first six months of the year. It added that violators were mainly found in Internet cafés, parks, outdoor resting areas and amusement arcades, and 2,783 individuals were fined.According to the

July 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Live poultry sales may resume tomorrow: govt

The Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) said in a statement yesterday that the supply of live poultry from the mainland will resume today. Retail sales of live poultry may be resumed tomorrow – provided that all the birds are found to be in perfect health. The government had stopped the sale of live poultry after discovering the H7-type avian influenza in an environmental sample at Iao Hon Municipal Market late last month.About 9,000 chickens and pigeons at the city’s  only

July 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt to study public housing demand

Housing Bureau (IH) Director Arnaldo Ernesto dos Santos says that his bureau will carry out a survey on the demand for public housing flats, adding that the bureau will complete a report on the matter. Ernesto dos Santos says in a reply to a written interpellation by lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng that the government is currently amending regulations on social housing flats, adding that it will consider the possibility of accepting applications for social housing units on a regular

July 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Council suggests bus terminal for Taipa

The Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council suggested yesterday that the government build a bus terminal in Taipa – which would allow the city’s three public bus companies to operate routes starting in Taipa – so that the impact on bus frequency and flow would be less severe if there’s a major traffic jam along the way.There is no large bus terminal in Taipa, like the one at the Barrier Gate checkpoint or near A-Ma Temple. It means that buses on most of the Macau-Taipa

July 6, 2016 | BY admin

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IPM chief expects ‘fierce’ competition for students

Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM) President Lei Heong Iok said yesterday he expected competition among the city’s 10 tertiary education institutions for local students to become “fierce”.  Lei pointed out that the Tertiary Education Service Office (GAES) has forecast that about 3,000 local pupils will choose to pursue their tertiary education in the city in 2018.Lei made the remarks on the sidelines of a book launch on the IPM campus in Zape. Lei was a guest of honour at the

July 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Expo expects lower turnover over economic woes

Macexpo Exhibition Co. Ltd Managing Director Lo Tak Chong said yesterday he’s expecting a lower turnover at this year’s consumer toys show than in 2015 as the local economy in the doldrums. Lo made the remarks during a press conference at the Macau Business Support Centre (MBSC) announcing this year’s Play Hub Expo. Announcing the return of the annual event, Macexpo Exhibition Co. Ltd Executive Director Mok Chi Ho said this time, apart from booths selling toys and collectibles,

July 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Portuguese artist shows Brazil’s favelas

Portuguese artist Alexandre Marreiros is holding an exhibition to show his impressions of Brazil’s notorious favelas (shantytowns) he visited during his stay in the South American country.Brazil’s slums are known as favelas, a term coined in the late 1800s, named after a skin-irritating tree, according to Wikipedia.Marreiros’s exhibition titled “Cnidoscolus quercifolius” is co-hosted by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) and the Macau Museum of Art (MAM). The exhibition is taking place

July 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Councillor urges govt to review issuing of provisional stay permits

Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council member Jiang Xuchun urged the government yesterday to review its issuing of provisional stay permits to illegal immigrants and overstayers.Jiang made the remarks during yesterday’s plenary session of the council at a community service centre run by the Civic and Municipal Bureau (IACM) in Taipa.According to the current regulation, illegal immigrants and overstayers can be detained for up to 60 days pending the completion of their

July 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Uber petitions govt to legalise its business

Uber Macau yesterday submitted a petition, addressed to Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario, urging the government to legalise its business. According to Wikipedia, Uber Technologies Inc. is a US multinational online transportation network company that develops, markets and operates the Uber mobile app, which allows consumers with smartphones to submit a trip request which is then routed to Uber drivers who use their own cars. As of May, the service was

July 5, 2016 | BY admin

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Legislature passes animal protection bill – finally

The Legislative Assembly (AL) finally passed the government-initiated bill on animal protection, which is slated to take effect on September 1 after its promulgation in the Official Gazette (BO), during a plenary session yesterday. The bill’s outline was approved in October 2014. The legislature’s 1st Standing Committee held 28 meetings to review the bill over the past two years, legislator-cum-unionist Kwan Tsui Hang, who chairs the committee, said during yesterday’s

July 5, 2016 | BY admin

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Lawmaker proposes bill to ‘interpret’ Land Law

Legislator-cum-law professor Gabriel Tong Io Cheng said yesterday that he submitted last week the draft of an “interpretative law” on the Land Law’s clauses regulating provisional land concessions to the Legislative Assembly (AL) for debate and vote.Tong, who will become the acting dean of the University of Macau’s (UM) Faculty of Law later this month, was asked by reporters about his bill before yesterday’s plenary session of the legislature.The Land Law, which was passed by the

July 5, 2016 | BY admin

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Free panda cubs’ post cards to be ready tomorrow

The Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) said in a statement yesterday that free post cards showing the city’s first locally born panda cubs will be available from tomorrow.The bureau said in the statement that that in an attempt to share the double happiness of the births of the twins it would carry out a raft of promotional activities later this month.The panda cubs have been given infant names: the elder panda cub is named Tai Pou in Cantonese. Tai Pou means big baby or “big

July 5, 2016 | BY admin

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Wong slams US human trafficking report for ‘misreading’ data

Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak yesterday denounced a human trafficking report published by the US government last week as having “misinterpreted” the local crime data, because pimping, prostitution and human trafficking were entirely different crimes.The policy secretary made the remarks on the sidelines of a magazine launch ceremony at the Academy of the Public Security Forces in Coloane.Announcing the launch of the Macau Police Magazine, which comprises research articles by judicial

July 5, 2016 | BY admin

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Lawmakers want tourists’ fishing-boat trips to take in Coloane

Lawmaker-cum-urban planner Jose Chui Sai Peng said yesterday the government and the Macau Fishermen’s Mutual Help Association should expand their fishing-boat trips for tourists to Coloane. Chui made the suggestion together with his fellow legislators Kou Hoi In and Cheang Chi Keong during yesterday’s plenary session of the legislature. Since 2011 the government and the association have organised 90-minute trips during the annual fishing moratorium in the South China Sea, Chui

July 5, 2016 | BY admin

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