CE can close failing tertiary institutions: bill

A government-drafted bill proposes to give the chief executive the power to close any local privatelyowned higher education institution if their teaching standards have  “obviously declined”, Tertiary Education Services Office (GAES) Director Sou Chio Fai said yesterday. Sou talked to reporters after attending a closed-door meeting of the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) 2nd Standing Committee’s about the bill, which proposes that the chief executive should also be able to close

May 20, 2016 | BY admin

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Gaming staff urge govt to mandate holiday compensation

Kelvin Choi Kam Fu, a gaming industry representative on the government-appointed Standing Committee for the Co-ordination of Social Affairs, urged the government yesterday to mandate employees’ holiday entitlements in its next revision of the Labour Relations Law. Choi made the appeal during a forum at Tai Peng Industrial Building in Istmo de Ferreira do Amaral. Choi said many gaming employees had told him that their companies were violating their right to have days off. Kelvin

May 20, 2016 | BY admin

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Group urges govt to treat low-ranking retirees better

Macau Association of LowRanking Public Sector Staff President Lam Wai Koi said yesterday the government should show more concern about the financial difficulties faced by its retired low-ranking employees.Lam said the government should improve the retirement protection of its contract staff who are only protected by its provident fund system.Lam made the remarks after handing a petition to an official out side Government Headquarters. The petition was addressed to Secretary for

May 20, 2016 | BY admin

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Lawmaker calls for cap on casino buses

Lawmaker Wong Kit Cheng has urged the government to say whether there will be an official cap on the number of the city’s ubiquitous casino shuttle buses.Wong, a nurse by profession, made the request in a written interpellation submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday. A copy of the interpellation was sent to the media. Wong, a vice president of the Women’s General Association of Macau (commonly known as Fu Luen), says in her interpellation that the Transport Bureau (DSAT)

May 20, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt to look into how much is wasted during butchering

Central District Social Services Consultative Committee Deputy Convenor Kuong Iok Kao said yesterday government officials agreed to the need to study how much of a pig is wasted during the butchering process. Kuong made the remarks after a special session held at the Government Service Centre in Areia Preta, in which officials from the government’s Working Group on Food Prices briefed the city’s three government-appointed social services consultative committees on the current meat

May 20, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt mulls banning dealers from gambling in casinos

The Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) will start studying before the end of the year whether local dealers – also known as croupiers – should be barred from gambling in local casinos, DICJ Director Paulo Martins Chan said yesterday.Chan made the remarks after attending a phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of government broadcaster TDM. The former prosecutor also said the bureau would talk to representatives of the gaming sector

May 19, 2016 | BY admin

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Election amendment bill elicits different views

Lawmakers yesterday raised starkly divergent opinions on the government’s proposed changes to the Legislative Assembly Election Law yesterday. Some lawmakers slammed the bill for failing to increase the number of directly-elected seats and change the method of the indirect legislative election. Senior officials including Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi Fan presided over a meeting at the Legislative Assembly to collect lawmakers’ opinions about the

May 19, 2016 | BY admin

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‘No urgent need’ to make indirect elections more competitive: govt

Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) Director Kou Peng Kuan said yesterday that as the Legislative Assembly Election Law’s articles on the legislature’s indirect election were amended in 2012, there was “no urgent need” to make further changes right now. Kou made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the government’s previous announcement that it planned to improve the competitiveness of the legislature’s indirect election.  Senior

May 19, 2016 | BY admin

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Group calls for official measures to lower prices

Local activist group People Power urged Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi Fan and Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac yesterday to come up with measures to lower consumer prices, especially the retail price of pork, before September 1, adding that the group would stage a protest if the two officials fail to do that.Cheong Weng Fat, the vice-chairman of the group, made the appeal during a press conference held at the office of grassroots lawmakers Au Kam

May 19, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt to axe Human Resources Office next week

The Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) will set up a Non-resident Workers Employment Department on May 28 to take over the functions of the Human Resources Office (GRH), which will be axed the same day.The Executive Council (ExCo) has finished discussing the draft of a by-law regarding the bureau’s new organisational structure, the advisory body’s spokesman Leong Heng Teng told reporters during a press conference at Government Headquarters yesterday.The bureau currently has 421 staff members

May 19, 2016 | BY admin

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20 Pearl Horizon petitioners denied entry to HK: reports

Of around 40 pre-sale buyers of Pearl Horizon flats who planned to petition visiting National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Chairman Zhang Dejiang in Hong Kong yesterday, 20 were denied entry to the city by the HK Immigration Department (ImmD), without stating any reason for the decision, a female buyer surnamed Chan told government broadcaster TDM yesterday. Yesterday morning, the remaining 20 or so buyers were directed to a designated demonstration area near the Hong Kong

May 19, 2016 | BY admin

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Disease centre’s eco-impact report accepted: Tam

The Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) has accepted a consultancy’s environmental impact assessment report for the Health Bureau’s (SSM) planned infectious disease centre, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng told lawmakers yesterday, insisting that the “high-standard” facility would be “absolutely safe”.He made the announcement during a plenary debate on whether the centre should be built next to the public Conde de Sao Januario Hospital Centre (CHCSJ)

May 18, 2016 | BY admin

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Police arrest 2 ‘bored’ teens for arson

The police have arrested two 15-year-old boys for an arson attack in a residential building in Iao Hon on Monday, a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said during a regular press briefing yesterday.The spokesperson said the case was passed to the police by the Fire Services Bureau (CB) after firefighters were called to the scene at around 10 p.m. on Monday and found the circumstances to be suspicious as there wasn’t anything that could have started a fire nearby.The spokesperson said that

May 18, 2016 | BY admin

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Burglaries rise 18 pct in first 4 months: PJ chief

Judiciary Police (PJ) Director Chau Wai Kuong said yesterday that the city recorded an 18 percent increase in burglaries in the first four months of the year, but insisted that the situation was still manageable.Chau made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with local property management associations at the PJ headquarters. The meeting was open to the media.According to Chau, the number of burglary cases recorded in the first four months of this year was 26, compared with 22 cases in the

May 18, 2016 | BY admin

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