280,000 syringes found in 7 years: legislator

About 280,000 discarded syringes by intravenous drug users were found in the city’s northern district between 2008 and last year, Cheang Chi Keong, president of the 3rd Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly, told reporters yesterday. Cheang described the number as “frightening”, pointing out that on the average 40,000 discarded syringes were found in the densely populated district per annum during the seven-year period. “The number is frightening, isn’t it?”,

October 26, 2016 | BY admin

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Local wedding market is small: contractor

Lo Tak Chong, the managing director of MacExpo Exhibition Co. Ltd, said yesterday that the size of Macau’s wedding market is small, as there are only 4,000 couples getting married per year in the city.Lo made the remarks during a press conference at the Macau Business Support Centre in Nape. The press conference was held by the Macau Wedding Industry Commercial Association about the 8th Asian Wedding Celebration Expo.According to a statement by the association, the fair will be held at Macau

October 26, 2016 | BY admin

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City’s 1st ‘WiFi Street’ activated in northern district

Macau’s first “WiFi Street”, extending from the Barrier Gate Plaza to the Lin Zexu Memorial Museum, was activated yesterday for a one-year trial. The project is being organised by the Macau International Industrial Technology Development Association (AIDIT).Users can enjoy a 30-minute session of free WiFi for each log-in within the one-kilometre length of the street. The service runs 24/7 and users can log in for an unlimited number of times.According to AIDIT President Lei Choi Hong, the

October 26, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt vows to boost transparency of urban renewal council

Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario said yesterday that the Urban Renewal Council will release as much information as possible after each meeting.Rosario made the remarks when replying to an oral interpellation by directly-elected lawmaker Wong Kit Cheng as well as several other lawmakers’ follow-up comments, during a plenary session of the legislature.In her interpellation, Wong, a nurse by profession, urged the government to speed up the urban renewal

October 26, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt once mulled scooter ban on bridges during No.3 signal: Rosario

Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario told the legislature yesterday that the government once considered banning scooters from using Sai Van Bridge and Friendship Bridge when the No. 3 typhoon signal is hoisted.Lawmakers Melinda Chan Mei Yi and Jose Pereira Coutinho yesterday urged the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) to review and improve its mechanism for the hoisting of typhoon signals – which comprise the No. 1, No. 3, No. 8, No. 9 and No. 10 signals.Both

October 26, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt decides to raise FSS dues despite lack of consensus

The Social Security Fund (FSS) announced yesterday that the monthly dues paid by employers and employees will be increased from the current 45 patacas to 90 patacas from the beginning of next year, with the ratio that both sides contribute remaining unchanged at 1:2, despite a lack of consensus on the ratio. Addressing a press conference at the fund’s office, FSS President Iong Kong Io said the dues would continue to be split 1:2 whereby employees will pay 30 patacas and employers 60

October 25, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt vows to improve workers’ holiday rules ASAP

Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Director Wong Chi Hong pledged yesterday that the government will finish drafting a bill to amend the Labour Relations Law as soon as possible, in response to demands by the labour sector to make it compulsory that all employees have a day off in-lieu, when a particular statutory holiday falls on their weekly day off.According to the Labour Relations Law, employees must be given one day off every week. Besides, there are 10 statutory holidays every year.Wong made

October 25, 2016 | BY admin

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HK scholar urges local youth to make the most of Macau’s Sino-PSCs role

Hong Kong international relations scholar Simon Shen Xu-hui has urged young people in Macau to make good use of the city’s “unique” role as a service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs).Shen made the remarks on Sunday while speaking to reporters at Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau where he gave a lecture to participants in an ongoing programme that aims to encourage young local people to get involved in public affairs. The lecture was organised by think tank

October 25, 2016 | BY admin

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CE says cash handout set to continue: group

Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On said yesterday the government was not likely to cease its cash handout scheme next year, Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen) President Chiang Chong Sek told reporters after meeting Chui at Government Headquarters yesterday. Pointing out that Macau has a fiscal surplus, Chui told Chiang that “it will be okay to continue the [cash handout] scheme next year”, according to the report.Moreover, Chiang said Chui also stressed

October 25, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt should lead urban renewal process: Rosario

Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario, who chairs the Urban Renewal Council, said yesterday that the government should lead the urban renewal process, whether by putting one of the current bureaus in charge, by establishing a new bureau, or by setting up a government-owned company.Rosario made the remarks yesterday after the Urban Renewal Council’s fifth meeting.The closed-door meeting was held at the Transport Bureau (DSAT). The government-appointed council is tasked

October 25, 2016 | BY admin

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Any passenger transport service must be licensed: Rosario

Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario yesterday reaffirmed that any passenger transport service must be licensed to operate in the city.Rosario made the remarks yesterday when replying to an oral interpellation by grassroots lawmaker Au Kam San during a plenary session of the legislature.In his interpellation, Au criticised the government for its “rigid” approach to the city’s passenger transport services as, he said, it was not willing to legalise new types of

October 25, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt should take initiative to protect heritage: Hangzhou official

The local government should take the initiative to protect cultural heritage sites by carrying out crowd management measures and promoting new tourist routes, World Cultural Heritage of the Hangzhou West Lake Monitoring and Management Centre Director Yang Xiaoru said yesterday.Yang made the remarks on the sidelines of a one-day seminar hosted by the Macau Heritage Ambassadors Association (MHAA), about Hangzhou’s experience in protecting West Lake.West Lake (Xi Hu in Putonghua) is a freshwater

October 24, 2016 | BY admin

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Weather chief admits wrong typhoon forecast

Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) Director Fong Soi Kun admitted on Friday that the wind speed on that day in Macau was weaker than forecast, when the No.8 signal was hoisted for Typhoon Haima.Fong made the comments when speaking to the Chinese-language TV channel and radio channel of government-owned broadcaster TDM on Friday.Macau’s top weather forecaster told TDM’s Portuguese-language TV channel on Friday that his bureau’s forecast was “not very perfect”, admitting that

October 24, 2016 | BY admin

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Forum disagrees with axing LRT peninsula plan

Guest speakers and members of the audience at yesterday’s Macau Forum urged the government to go ahead with its plan to build a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system on the peninsula, in the wake of three lawmakers’ suggestion last week to cancel the plan for the LRT construction on the peninsula.Three out of the four guest speakers said that an LRT system would be fundamental to improving the city’s traffic in the long term. They also said that the LRT project on the peninsula should not be

October 24, 2016 | BY admin

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