Councillors urge govt to release list of dangerous buildings

Three members of the government-appointed Central Districts Community Service Consultative Council – Kuong Iok Kao, Choi Tat Meng and Ron Lam U Tou – yesterday urged the Lands, Public Works and Transports Bureau (DSSOPT) to allow public access to its database listing the city’s dangerous buildings.Addressing yesterdays meeting of the council at the government’s service centre in Rotunda de Carlos da Maia, Lam, a vice-president of local think tank Choi In Tong Sam, said that the past

April 7, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt won’t cap its school fee subsidy: official

Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) Director Leong Lai said yesterday the government wouldn’t be putting a cap on its school fee subsidy scheme.Leong made the remarks after attending a phone-in programme at government broadcaster TDM’s Chinese-language radio station.St Joseph Diocesan College of Macau 5 (CDSJ5) recently came under fire as a number of parents were unhappy about the school’s plans to increase its tuition fees by 3,000 patacas per year for the next three academic

April 7, 2016 | BY admin

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Group calls for ‘complete reform’ of Urban Renewal Council

The government should “completely reform” the composition and workings of its recently-established Urban Renewal Council (CRU), otherwise it should abolish the advisory body, New Macau Association (NMA) President Scott Chiang Meng Hin said yesterday.The grassroots group petitioned the government about their concerns.After handing the group’s petition, which was addressed to Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On, to an official outside Government Headquarters, Chiang told reporters that the

April 7, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt axes leaseholds of 2 Transmac bus depots

The leaseholds of three plots of land, two of which are public bus operator Transmac’s bus depots, have been annulled because their leaseholders, the government says, failed to develop them within the legal period, according to yesterday’s Official Gazette (BO).Of the depots, the larger one, covering an area of 4,081 square metres, is located in Ilha Verde, while the smaller one, covering an area of 3,754 square metres, is in Taipa’s Pac On industrial zone, according to the

April 7, 2016 | BY admin

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Cabbies plan slow drive against tougher penalties

The Taxi Drivers Rights Association said yesterday that in response to the government’s proposed tougher penalties for rule-breaking cabbies and taxi operators, such as licence suspensions and cancellations as well as sting operations, it was urging taxi drivers to join a slow-drive protest on Monday. Carlos Cheong, who chairs the association, made the announcement after handing a petition from his group to a Transport Bureau (DAST) official outside the bureau. The association,

April 7, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt urges local academics to return home for sabbaticals

The government-appointed Talents Development Committee plans to launch a pilot scheme by the end of the year to attract local academics who are living abroad to provide short-term services to Macau’s higher education institutions, Sou Chio Fai, secretary-general of the committee, said yesterday.Sou, who heads the Tertiary Education Service Office (GAES), made the remarks at Government Headquarters on the sidelines of the committee’s first plenary meeting this year. Chief Executive

April 6, 2016 | BY Davis Ip

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Lawmaker urges harsher punishment for drunk drivers

Lawmaker-cum-unionist Ho Ion Sang urged the government in an interpellation yesterday to introduce harsher punishments for drinking and driving, so as to deter drivers from violating the law.Ho lamented that between 2008 and 2015, the Public Security Police’s (PSP) records show that the police busted over 9,000 drunk driving offences, averaging three cases a day.However, Ho said that unlike other countries and regions, drunk drivers in Macau only have to pay a fine for the violation. Besides,

April 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Construction workers still lack safety awareness: union

Macau Federation of Trade Unions Vice-Chairman Cheong Man Fun said yesterday that as construction technologies were advancing, local workers had yet to adapt to the new environment.The federation is generally known as Gung Luen, its Cantonese name.Cheong made the remarks during a press conference at the federation’s community centre “Stage” in Rua do Campo.Macau Federation of Trade Unions Vice-Chairman Cheong Man Fun speaks to reporters during a press conference at the federation’s

April 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Visitors take a selfie in front of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ruins of Saint Paul’s Church

Visitors take a selfie in front of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ruins of Saint Paul’s Church yesterday. The Public Security Police (PSP) said in a statement yesterday that the number of visitor arrivals recorded during the three-day Ching Ming Festival stood at 450,958, an increase of 6.5 percent compared with the same holiday period of last year. The festival – also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, ended on Monday.  Photo: Ian Sio Tou

April 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Air from disease centre will be safe: WHO

World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for the Western Pacific Shin Young-soo said in Macau yesterday that a WHO expert team which visited the city last month determined that the air expelled from the “highly effective filtration facility” in the government’s planned infectious disease centre will be safe, according to a statement released by the Health Bureau (SSM) last night.  The South Korean medical expert made the remarks during a meeting with representatives from

April 6, 2016 | BY admin

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Group to train young ‘Basic Law promotion ambassadors’

The Macau Basic Law Promotion Association (ADLBM) plans to provide 40 young locals with training courses later this year about the Macau Basic Law so they can become “Basic Law promotion ambassadors”, Ho Sio Kam, secretary of the association, said yesterday,Addressing a press conference in The Plaza Restaurant about the programme, Ho said the participants would also visit Beijing to meet some members of the former Drafting Committee for the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative

April 6, 2016 | BY admin

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New Economic Services chief vows to boost ‘community-based economies’

Newly-appointed Economic Services Bureau (DSE) Director Tai Kin Ip said yesterday his bureau would do more to boost “community-based economies” by providing support to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and improving the business environment.Tai made the pledge after the swearing-in ceremony for his new post at the Bank of China Building in Nam Van.Tai, who holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and two master’s degrees, one in governance and the other in European studies, was

April 6, 2016 | BY admin

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School rebuts doubts over its Montessori kindergarten

Asked about a recent article questioning whether Escola do Santíssimo Rosário is qualified to operate a Montessori kindergarten as mentioned in its advertisement, Ieong Wai Cheng, principal of the school, said yesterday that at least two teachers of the kindergarten were certified Montessori teachers. The article was posted on Friday on the online activist media outlet Macau Concealers, an offshoot of the grassroots New Macau Association (NMA). Macau Concealers said the article was a

April 6, 2016 | BY Davis Ip

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‘Mainland official’ cheats local woman out of HK$890,000

The police arrested a conman on Thursday for pretending to be a mainland government official who cheated a local woman out of HK$890,000 last year, a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said at a regular press briefing yesterday. According to the spokesperson, a friend of the victim introduced her to the suspect in July last year, telling her that he was a government official in the mainland.The victim lent him HK$220,000, believing that as a government official in the mainland she could

April 6, 2016 | BY staff Reporter

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