Fitch keeps Macau’s credit ratings at ‘AA’

Fitch Ratings Inc. announced yesterday that it has affirmed Macau’s long-term foreign-currency issue default rating (IDR) at “AA” with a stable outlook.“AA” is the agency’s second-highest rating, denoting “high quality”. The top rating, “AAA”, denotes “exceptionally high quality”.The New York-based credit rating agency, one of the “Big Three” alongside Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, said in a statement that Macau’s ratings “are underpinned by the

December 20, 2018 | BY admin

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Xi hails reform & opening-up as ‘great reawakening’

BEIJING – The central authorities yesterday held a grand gathering to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the country’s reform and opening-up, a great revolution that has changed the destiny of the Chinese nation and influenced the world.Addressing the meeting, President Xi Jinping described the reform and opening-up as “a great reawakening” of the Communist Party of China (CPC).“Chinese Communists accomplished the most profound and the greatest social transformation in China’s

December 19, 2018 | BY admin

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2 women disguise drugs as sweets, condoms

Two women were arrested last night when police officers carried out a raid and uncovered a haul of 1.2 million patacas worth of ketamine and “happy powder” disguised as sweets and condoms the suspects had in their possession.According to a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson at the scene of the raid, the two women are a 33-year-old surnamed Zhao from the mainland who claimed to be jobless and a 49-year-old local resident surnamed Lam who works as an investment consultant.The spokesman said

December 19, 2018 | BY admin

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University student loses 3.6 million yuan in phone scam

An 18-year-old female student from the mainland enrolled in a local university has lost 3.6 million yuan (4.2 million patacas) in a phone scam in which she was conned into believing that she was connected to a money laundering case, the Judiciary Police (PJ) announced said yesterday.Addressing a press conference, a PJ spokesperson said that the victim received a phone call on Saturday from a courier company telling her that a parcel she had posted to Beijing – allegedly – containing

December 19, 2018 | BY admin

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Chui’s popularity ‘rebounds significantly’: HKU survey

Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On’s popularity has “rebounded significantly” after last year’s plunge, the Public Opinion Programme (POP) of The University of Hong Kong said in a special announcement yesterday. According to the announcement, Chui’s support rating has increased from 49.5 to 56.3 marks. The latest survey showed that 30 percent supported Chui as chief executive and 54 percent opposed him, giving him a net approval rate of negative 24 percentage points, the

December 19, 2018 | BY admin

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About 300 roadworks to start next year: official

About 300 roadworks will be carried out next year, the Transport Bureau (DSAT) announced yesterday during a press conference at the bureau.Addressing a press conference about next year’s roadwork projects, DSAT Deputy Director Chiang Ngoc Vai said that the government’s interdepartmental Road Projects Coordination Group, which was established in 2009, has received 298 applications for roadwork permits from government entities and public utilities to be carried out next year, a three percent

December 19, 2018 | BY admin

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Govt sets up group studying possible criminalisation of illegal inns

The government has set up an interdepartmental working group for studying the possible criminalisation of the operation of illegal inns, the Secretariat for Administration and Justice (GSAJ) said in a statement yesterday.In view of Macau’s civil society having recently paid close attention to the issue about whether the illegal provision of accommodation should be criminalised, the government has set up the working group – as instructed by Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On – in order

December 19, 2018 | BY admin

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Nearly 2/3 of residents ‘concerned with responsible gambling’

The proportion of local residents who are concerned with responsible gambling has increased from 16.2 percent in 2009 to 63.7 percent last year, according to the findings of a survey cited by University of Macau (UM) Rector Song Yonghua yesterday. Song quoted the figures in a speech at the public university’s Responsible Gambling Symposium on the UM campus. According to a UM statement on the symposium, Song also said that according to the survey on the awareness of responsible gambling

December 19, 2018 | BY admin

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Lawmakers pass bill banning off-duty gaming staff from casinos

The Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday passed a government-initiated bill banning off-duty gaming staff from entering local casinos, with the aim of reducing the risk of gaming staff becoming addicted to gambling.The government launched a one-month public consultation on the matter in September last year.The bill’s outline was passed during a plenary session of the legislature in July. The legislature’s 1st Standing Committee held eight meetings to review the bill.Secretary for Economy and

December 19, 2018 | BY admin

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Xi ‘fully endorses’ work by Chui & local govt

BEIJING – President Xi Jinping yesterday met with Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On, who was on a duty visit to Beijing, “fully endorsing” the work by Chui and his government and stressing that Macau can play an “irreplaceable role” also in the new era.During the meeting, Xi was briefed by Chui on Macau’s current situation and the local government’s work.Xi said that over the past year, the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) government, under Chui’s leadership, had

December 18, 2018 | BY admin

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DNA test confirms maternity of baby left on air-con ledge

A DNA test has proved that a 27-year-old Burmese domestic helper is the mother of an abandoned baby girl found on the ledge of the external unit of an air conditioner outside the bathroom window early last Thursday morning, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said yesterday morning at a special press conference.According to Chan, the Burmese maid was discharged from the public Conde de Sao Januario Hospital Centre on Sunday. Under questioning, she admitted to having given birth and

December 18, 2018 | BY admin

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Filipina helper performs oral sex on 3-year-old boy: police

A Filipina live-in domestic helper sexually abused her employers’ 3-year-8-month-old son by performing oral sex on him in the family flat in Rua Nova a Guia, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said yesterday at a regular press conference.Chan said that the 46-year-old maid had been employed since August last year. She allegedly performed oral sex on the boy while giving him a shower. The boy told his mother while she was changing his clothes a few days ago that he hated the worker

December 18, 2018 | BY admin

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Taipa-Barra LRT section to cost 4.5 billion patacas, start operation in 2024: Rosario

Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario said yesterday that the project to construct the Light Rail Transit (LRT) section connecting Taipa and Barra on the peninsula – via Sai Van Bridge – is budgeted at 4.5 billion patacas.This project includes the construction of the section, the Barra LRT station project, the setting-up of the system, and the rolling stock, according to Rosario.The policy secretary also said that the Taipa-Barra LRT section project was expected to

December 18, 2018 | BY admin

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Chui Talks After Meeting Xi & Li

Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On (left) talks to reporters in Beijing after meeting with President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound yesterday, as his chief-of-cabinet O Lam looks on. According to a statement by the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS),Chui revealed that the central government has approved his government’s flood gate project in an attempt to control Macau’s tides. Chui said he was “very satisfied” with the central

December 18, 2018 | BY admin

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