Speaker says legislature can’t accept ‘interpretive bill’ without CE assent

Legislative Assembly (AL) President Ho Iat Seng said yesterday that the legislature’s executive board has agreed unanimously that written consent from Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On is needed for the legislature to accept a bill proposed by lawmaker Gabriel Tong Io Cheng to “interpret” the Land Law’s articles regulating provisional land concessions.Ho also said that Tong, a law professor, insisted that he had the right to submit the bill and had refused to ask for Chui’s

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt confirms ‘multi-function rooms’ at MGM

The Health Bureau (SSM) said yesterday it found that several “multi-function rooms” where gamblers are allowed to smoke at the MGM casino in Nape.The New Macau Gaming Workers’ Rights Union submitted a petition on Wednesday to the bureau, urging the bureau to investigate the setting-up of such rooms without separate ventilation systems for gamblers, supposedly “to take a rest”.Under government rules, smoking lounges are allowed to be set up in casinos’ mass market areas. A separate

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Customs bust two 16-year-old ‘snakeheads’

The Macau Customs Service said in a statement yesterday that it foiled an attempt by six mainlanders to enter Macau illegally early Wednesday morning, during which customs officers arrested two 16-year-old ‘snakeheads’People smugglers are known as ‘snakeheads’ in Cantonese jargon.The statement said that while patrolling near the Taipa end of Sai Van Bridge at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, customs officers spotted a group of people disembarking from a sampan, so they immediately went to stop

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Lawmaker likens Uber petition to ‘organised crime’

Lawmaker Melinda Chan Mei Yi asked the government yesterday whether it should consider Uber’s petition last week as an act of organised crime.Chan, who heads the Sin Meng Charity Association, made the remarks during a plenary debate on the government’s draft of a new taxi service regulation in the legislative hemicycle. The regulation has not been amended since 1999.The draft suggests that the taxi-driving licence of a cabbie found breaking the regulation four times in a year would be

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Police arrest 8 locals for illegal gambling

Public Security Police (PSP) officers arrested eight local residents aged between 50 and 70 on Tuesday for illegal gambling, a PSP spokesperson said yesterday.The spokesperson announced the case during a regular press briefing yesterday.The spokesperson said that during a regular patrol PSP officers saw five men and three women gambling in a sitting-out area near Rua Norte do Patane.Please read the full article in our print edition.

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Police nab man for primary school burglary

The Judiciary Police (PJ) on Wednesday arrested a mainland man for stealing several computer storage data devices commonly known as RAM (random-access memory) worth around 50,000 patacas from a primary school in the city centre earlier this month, a PJ spokesperson said during a special conference yesterday.CCTV footage from the school shows that the 46-year-old suspect, a labourer surnamed Zhen, sneaked into the school after dark from an adjacent construction site on July 2, the spokesperson

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Cool: Eat, shop and have a beer to save sight

What’s better than to have a meal, do some shopping, then having a beer or two in one place all the while helping Orbis raise funds for its sight-saving mission around the world?Cool Italian Kitchen, located inside Cool Gallery next to Beer Temple in Patio de Sao Lazaro are among the local merchants that have joined Orbis Macau’s latest fundraising campaign titled “Darkness To Go”, urging the local community to wipe out darkness through their daily lives so that people with visual

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Mind-blowing: Balloon carnival to work its magic this summer

If a balloon animal made from just a few twists and turns is amazing, the upcoming balloon carnival with an almost life-size dinosaur, a 10-metre Ferris wheel, a carousel and a railway engine made from over 100,000 balloons would no doubt be mind-blowing.As if that’s not enough to blow the mind, people can see the whole process of the balloons being made from inflating the balloons to twisting, turning and tying them together to form a nest with dinosaur eggs, and then see how the eggs hatch

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Police bust local-HK duo for selling drugs

Judiciary Police (PJ) officers have arrested a local man and a Hong Kong man on suspicion of selling drugs.A spokesperson announced the case during a special press conference yesterday.The spokesperson identified the duo as an unemployed 47-year-old Hong Kong resident surnamed Yau, and a 27-year-old local resident surnamed Cheang, who works as a driver for a local VIP room.Please read the full article in our print edition.

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Portuguese artist holds ‘caffeine’ exhibition

Portuguese artist Joao Jorge Magalhaes is sharing his love for the city through an exhibition at a local café.Magalhaes’ exhibition titled “Caffeine” is being held at the Tom N Toms Coffee in Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida until September 30.According to a statement by the café, Magalhaes was born in Lisbon, but moved to Macau when he was four year old, which triggered his curiosity about the city’s unique blend of Chinese and Western culture.Please read the full article

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Lawmakers urge govt’s clear stance on provident fund

The legislature’s 1st Standing Committee President Kwan Tsui Hang said yesterday her committee members were primarily concerned about how the government will be able to encourage more companies to join the planned non-mandatory central provident fund system.Kwan briefed reporters after a closed-door meeting with government officials at the Legislative Assembly (AL).Yesterday’s meeting was the first committee meeting for the government-initiated bill on the non-mandatory central provident

July 15, 2016 | BY admin

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Firecracker plant land swap is invalid: govt

Upon yesterday’s release of a hard-hitting Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) report on a land swap deal involving the former Iec Long Firecracker Factory site in Taipa, the government said it had determined that the agreement is invalid and defective, adding that the anti-graft body would launch a criminal investigation into the case if any indication of corruption is found. Almost one year after Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario passed the case to the graft

July 14, 2016 | BY admin

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Man with ‘unknown disease’ flashes women in park: police

The Public Security Police (PSP) arrested on Tuesday a man suffering from an “unknown disease” on suspicion of exposing himself to two women in Flora Garden, a PSP spokesperson said yesterday.The spokesperson announced the case during a regular press briefing at PJ headquarter in Zape.According to the spokesperson, the suspect is a local unemployed man in his thirties, surnamed Wong.Please read the full article in our print edition.

July 14, 2016 | BY admin

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Filipino swindles compatriots out of 200,000 patacas

Judiciary Police (PJ) officers arrested a local man on Friday for allegedly cheating 20 Filipinos out of a total of 200,000 patacas via a job scam, a PJ spokesperson said yesterday.The spokesperson announced the case during a regular press briefing. The 30-year-old suspect surnamed Viovicinte is a Philippine national, who told police that he works in the information technology (IT) sector.The spokesperson said five victims called the police last week, claiming that they had been cheated out of

July 14, 2016 | BY admin

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