Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - edition no. 2088

Transcription

environmental protection
behind expectations
wynn accuses jeffrey fiedler
of ‘bullying’
Asked about the reason behind his
dismissal, Cheong Sio Kei admitted
that environmental protection does
not meet residents’ expectations
The Cotai Land Deal website is another
attempt “to bully Wynn Resorts and
our employees into supporting the
Union,” said the company
world
cup:
spain
hopes to
reverse
luck
P3
P19
P3
WED. 18
Jun 2014
T. 27º/ 33º C
H. 70/ 95%
N.º 2088
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Founder & Publisher Kowie Geldenhuys
Editor-in-Chief Paulo Coutinho
“ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ”
WORLD BRIEFS
ap photo
Japan’s parliament to begin
debate on gaming law
China The world seems
to have moved on from
the frenzied interest in
the mysterious airplane
disappearance, but relatives
of the 239 people missing
cannot. In the more than
100 days since her husband
disappeared along with
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370,
Zhang Qian’s world has
collapsed. She quit her job,
sleeps rarely and prefers not to
go out, except to the Buddhist
temples where she has found
some solace. More on p10
Afghanistan The top
U.S. military commander
in Afghanistan says the
U.S. has increased its
surveillance over the AfghanPakistani border since
Pakistan began pounding
a militant stronghold with
airstrikes, but so far officials
have not seen any militants
fleeing the latest offensive.
More on Pakistan on p12
More on backpage
bloomberg
ad
Osaka, Japan’s third-biggest
metropolis, proposed the reclaimed
island in Osaka Bay as the casino resort
site after lawmakers submitted a bill to
legalize gaming to parliament P8
Opponents to Taipa gas station
received “bureaucratic answers”
P5
MACAU
2
18.06.2014 wed
th Anniversary
澳聞
Thailand’s political turmoil
“a cyclic event,” says historian
Catarina Pinto
T
hailand’s political turmoil
is “nothing new,” says local
historian and former Cultural
Affairs Bureau head Jorge Morbey, who lived for four years in
the Southeast Asian country as a
cultural counsellor for the Portuguese embassy in Bangkok. In
his opinion, military coups have
been used by Thai nationals over
the years, and that somehow military forces have been allowed
to intervene whenever democracy seems “too ill.”
As pointed out by a Reuters
report on Thailand’s political
situation, at the heart of almost
a decade of political turmoil “is
a conflict between the Bangkokbased royalist establishment
dominated by the military, oldmoney families and the bureaucracy, and an upstart clique led
by former telecommunication
mogul Thaksin Shinawatra which draws much of its strength
from the provinces.”
Former prime minister Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006
coup and has lived in self-exile since 2008, is the brother of
the most recent deposed prime
minister of Thailand, Yingluck
Shinawatra. Thaksin, however,
Thai soldiers in Bangkok and Jorge Morbey (inlet)
was the “real power” behind his
sister’s regime.
Talking to the Times on the sidelines of a conference at Rui Cunha
Foundation, Jorge Morbey recalled the first time he visited Thailand, back in 1965. “I was in the
island of Ko Samet and, at that
time, a military coup took place.
We didn’t really understand any-
thing. The Thai TV was transmitting this coup and it was the first
‘coup d’etat’ I had the opportunity
to witness,” he said.
He believes that these are cyclic events in Thailand, as democracy has been established
but interests continue to be so
diverse. “The epicenter [of the
political turmoil] is Thaksin
Shinawatra, who was previously
prime minister, and he’s a business tycoon who generated a lot
of money.”
The historian emphasized that
these are “cyclic events” and
that “it never draws on to worse
scenarios because the military
intervene.”
The National Council for Peace
and Order (NCPO), Thailand’s
ruling junta, seized power by
force of arms on May 22, while
ousting a civilian government
and detaining politicians. As
complex as it gets, “Time” magazine reported last week that the
ruling junta is now saying that
no military coup took place.
Asked about the future of Thailand under the rule of the junta,
Jorge Morbey explained that the
armed forces “do not have conditions to constitutionally structure Thailand, as the only thing
that brings the Thai together is
the King. It’s monarchy.”
“But the King is already quite
old and there are two crowned
princes, the older son and one
of the daughters. When the
King dies, a council of regency
will get together to decide on
who will be the next King. And
they might not choose the first
in the line of succession,” he
added.
Furthermore, although Thailand’s ruling junta might hold
the aim of serving the people,
Jorge Morbey explained that
they don’t hold the necessary
political training to comply with
such a goal. “Sometimes they do
not comply with certain democratic ideas. It’s not very healthy, but [these military coups]
put an end to instability cycles
that Thailand faces periodically,” he said.
The historian describes the
country as a little surprise box.
“The Thai are very friendly
people, apparently very peaceful. But when violence arises, it
tends to escalate.”
Arts Festival comes to a close, ticket sales near 90 pct
T
he 25th Macao Arts
Festival (MAF) has
come to a close, following
over a month of more
than different 30 acts,
and more than 200 performances, exhibitions,
and outreach activities,
including workshops and
master classes. According
to the Cultural Affairs
Bureau (IC), the event
was “well received by audiences from home and
abroad, with ticket sales
figures nearing 90%.”
For this edition of the
festival, IC reiterated the
fact that that it organized a
press conference in Guangdong for the first time. It
also established partner-
ships with local media
outlets, such as a program
exchange with Music FM
Radio Guangdong and the
establishment of an official
Macao Arts Festival Weibo
account.
Furthermore, in order
to commemorate the Silver Jubilee, IC planned
and produced the “Macao
Arts Festival Silver Jubilee Commemorative Documentary,” which allows
viewers to revisit the festival’s history and landmark
moments in the past.
Local shows comprised more than half of the
event’s program, including the opening concert
that took place at Tap Seac
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MDT’s Website has logged over
72 million page views
since January 1st, 2012 up to today.
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Square and the MAF’s
closing performance: “A
Dream of Light.”
In a bid to promote
the arts within different
communities and social
groups, the festival organizers designed over
40 outreach activities,
including master classes, workshops, seminars
and post-show discussion
sessions. This attracted
the participation of over
2000 people. With the
cooperation of the Social
Welfare Bureau, the festival also took underprivileged groups to watch
three performances of
the puppet show “Special
Creatures.”
Director and Editor-in-Chief_Paulo Coutinho [email protected]
Managing Editor_Paulo Barbosa [email protected]
Contributing Editors_Eric Sautedé, Leanda Lee, Severo Portela
China & foreign editor_Vanessa Moore [email protected]
Design Editor_João Jorge Magalhães [email protected] | Newsroom and Contributors_Albano
Martins, António Espadinha Soares, Catarina Pinto, Cyril Law, Emilie Tran, Grace Yu, Irene Sam, Jacky I.F. Cheong, Jenny Philips, João
Pedro Lau, Joseph Cheung, Juliet Risdon, Keith Ip, Renato Marques (photographer), Richard Whitfield, Robert Carroll (Hong Kong
correspondent), Rodrigo de Matos (cartoonist), Ruan Du Toit Bester, Sandra Norte (designer), Sum Choi, Viviana Seguí | Associate
Contributors_JML Property, MacauHR, MdME Lawyers, PokerStars | News agencies_ Associated Press, Bloomberg,
MacauHub, MacauNews, Xinhua | Secretary_Yang Dongxiao [email protected]
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Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected]
Secretary Juliana Cheang [email protected]
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ISSN 2305-4271
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
澳聞
C
heong Sio Kei is leaving his post as director
of the Environmental Protection Bureau
(DSPA). He will be temporarily
replaced by the deputy director
of DSPA, Vai Hoi Ieong, who will
be named as the DSPA’s acting
director.
Asked about the reason behind
his dismissal, Cheong Sio Kei admitted that the environmental
protection works in Macau still
do not meet residents’ expectations.
According to a press release
issued by the Office of the Secretary for Transport and Public
Works, Cheong Sio Kei will be
appointed as director of the Cartography and Cadastre Bureau
(DSCC), filling the vacancy left by
former DSCC director Chan Hon
Peng, who retired last month.
Cheong Sio Kei told the media
that he is complying with the
Macau government’s arrangement and has asked people not
to over-speculate about him
being transferred to the same position. He said that the decision
was made after lengthy consideration. “I think when we look at
this matter, there should not be
any over-speculation (…) DSPA
has entered a [new] stage and
is on track now. Therefore, [the
transfer] is an appropriate arrangement.”
The director believes that DSPA’s works have already achieved some preliminary results. He
expressed hopes that DSPA can
work on narrowing the gap between the bureau’s performance
and residents’ anticipation. “We
hope that our work on protecting the environment will have
port and Public Works, Lau Si Io,
described Cheong Sio Kei as “sincere and earnest” and praised his
efforts in developing the new department.
Cheong Sio Kei is returning to
a previous post; he was the acting director of DSCC before becoming the first DSPA director
Cheong Sio
Kei will be
appointed as
director of the
Cartography
and Cadastre
Bureau
Cheong Sio Kei
the support of the public. I think
criticism is all right and that it is
a type of interaction with the residents to gather their opinions
in order to improve our environmental protection work.”
In the abovementioned press
release, the Secretary for Trans-
Cotai Land Deal “is
another attempt to bully
Wynn,” company says
Catarina Pinto
T
he recently launched
website Cotai Land
Deal has been seen by
Wynn Resorts as another
attempt by Jeffrey Fiedler,
from the International
Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), to “bully”
the company.
Replying to The Times
via email and commenting
on the U.S. trade union’s
recent initiative, Wynn
Resorts stressed that “this
website is the latest effort
in Mr Fiedler’s attempts to bully Wynn Resorts
and our employees into
supporting the Operating
Engineers Union.”
Jeffrey Fiedler was the
initiator of “CasinoLeaks-
3
Cheong Sio Kei leaves
DSPA, admits environmental
protection behind expectations
Macau”, a website promising to release information on organized crime,
which shut down six months after its launch. He is
also the director of special
projects within IUOE.
Last month, the International Union of Operating
Engineers also focused
on Wynn’s operations, as
it called on a review of a
junket operator working
with Wynn, claiming he
had connections with 14K
triad members.
On the Cotai Land Deal
website, the IUOE draws
on a real estate transaction that allowed a Wynn
subsidiary to acquire land,
on which the company is
now building its first casino resort in the Cotai Strip.
They are trying to investigate the companies and
investors behind the deal.
In its statement, Wynn
added that Mr Fiedler
is only resorting to this
website as “he refuses to
accuse us directly of any
misconduct.” Furthermore, Wynn Resorts assured
that if IUOE directly accused the company, they
“would respond to it in
court.”
The company concluded
by saying that Jeffrey Fiedler’s tactics “do not merit
any serious response.”
Mr Fiedler claims that
one of the most interesting questions regarding
Wynn’s land deal in Cotai
remains to be “why were
people given rights to land
after the bureau’s establishment
in 2009.
The bureau has been criticized
on several issues in the past five
years. One of the more noticeable matters involved the Macau
Solid Waste Incineration Plant
in Taipa. Local television broadcaster MAST-TV alleged that
the plant infringed the limits of
exhaust emissions after receiving
a tip-off from an anonymous
worker. “There is no violation of
safety standards and the terms
of the contract between the company and the Government wasn’t
broken,” said Cheong Sio Kei at
the time. Nevertheless, a DSPA
official told the Hong Kong television channel TVB that the
system would experience “operational shock”, and exceeded
the emission limit when it was
incinerating a large amount of
solid wastes made of particular
materials.
It was also alleged that the toxic waste ash that was produced
during the incineration process
was not properly transported
and buried. Media discovered
that the ash was not transferred
in a sealed container. The waste
ash-processing centre also failed
to cover its land with cement,
which meant that the ash could
contaminate the soil and groundwater.
DSPA was also criticized for the
air pollution in Ka Ho. School
principals and residents complained about the pollution that
was allegedly caused by the cement factory nearby for a long
time, but DSPA only addressed
the issue after multiple media
reports and a visit by the Chief
Executive to Ka Ho.
bloomberg
João Pedro Lau
MACAU
Because he [Jeffrey Fiedler]
refuses to accuse us
directly of any misconduct,
which we would respond to
in court, his tactics do not
merit any serious response
Wynn Resorts statement
without those rights being
documented?”
The IUOE has been tracking “unreported circumstances” surrounding
the company’s acquisition of its property in Cotai. Their research is now
focusing on TienChiao
group, to whom a Wynn
Resorts subsidiary paid
USD50 million to acquire
their land rights.
In its latest post, the
IUOE continues to track
an address in Hong Kong
cited by Ho Hoi, majority owner of TienChiao.
This has led them to another company apparently
using the same address
in Hong Kong: Take Roll
Company Limited – as
well as another enterprise
titled Atod Investments.
The latter was registered
using the HK Identification Number of Chan Mei
Seung, the current director of Take Roll Company
Limited, which operates
from the same address
attributed to TienChiao’s
group.
4
MACAU
Macau to build one
more power line to
mainland
Arnaldo Santos, head of the Office
of the Development of the Energy
Sector (GDSE), has revealed that
the Macau government is planning
to build a third power line to the
mainland in 2017. This move is
expected to help meet Macau’s
energy demands in the upcoming
decade. The GDSE head stated that
there has to be a backup line for the
mainland to transmit electricity to
Macau. At present, there are two
electricity transmission channels
between the mainland and Macau,
which are located at Gongbei and
the Lotus border. When the third
channel is finished, it will increase
the total electricity transmission
to 3,150 megawatts. Even if a
power line is broken, there will still
be other channels for electricity
transmission. The authorities are
still choosing a suitable location
for the third power line and will
disclose more information in
the future.Moreover, Arnaldo
Santos suggested that in the first
few months of the year, Macau
relied mostly on the mainland
for electricity. He stressed that
southern China’s power grid is
very dependable and reassured the
public that Macau would not face a
massive blackout even in the event
of a malfunction in the mainland’s
electricity transmission.
ad
18.06.2014 wed
th Anniversary
澳聞
More than 500 students
graduate from MPI
Grace Yu
I
t’s the season of graduation.
Yesterday about 500 graduates from the Macao Polytechnic
Institute (MPI) were conferred
with bachelor degrees or diplomas.
Officiating the graduation
ceremony, the Secretary for
Social Affairs and Culture,
Cheong U, said that the government will continue to support
MPI in developing professionals for practical services for
Macau. He encouraged MPI
to conduct management, teaching and research according
to international standards.
A graduate, Hui, who majored
in information and technology,
said he feels lucky that he has
found a job before graduation.
Working as an IT technician,
he hopes to gain experience to
improve his ability to compete
in the industry.
A social work graduate said
she plans to enroll in continued
education programs to impro-
ve her skill set for the career.
“As a social worker, organizations will also provide training
for us.” Determined to be a social worker, she hopes to serve
families and schools in the future.
Sister Wong told journalists
that she graduated with an associate’s degree in social work
in 1998, and decided to return
to university after more than 10
years. Graduating with a bachelor in social work this year, she
admitted it’s a great challenge
to study at her age but one could overcome all obstacles and
achieve his goals.
A separate ceremony at MPI
marked the inauguration of a
statue depicting Chinese philosopher Confucius. The statue
was sculpted and donated to
to the institute by well-known
artist Wu Weishan, founder
and president of the Chinese
Academy of Sculpture. A contemporary Chinese sculptor,
Wu has been MPI’s guest professor and external expert for
more than ten years. Yesterday
also marked the unveiling ceremony of his sculpture studio at
MPI.
The Confucius statue is in the
ground hall of MPI’s Meng Tak
Building, where Wu’s studio
is also located. Eleven other
sculptures are also displayed in
the studio.
Lei Hong Iok, President of
MPI, said that the exhibition
aims to showcase Wu’s artistic
achievements and contributions to the improvement of
MPI’s art education.
Mr Wu expressed during the
ceremony that the first time he
held a sculpture and painting
exhibition in Macau, and visited MPI, was in 1999. “I have
also witnessed MPI’s development since Macau’s return to
the motherland,” he said.
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
澳聞
João Pedro Lau
R
esidents of Small Taipa
Hill felt that the government
only gave them a bureaucratic
response during a meeting two
days ago regarding the dispute over the installation of a gas
station in Taipa. They also claimed that they would not rule
out other actions to express their
opposition to the station.
Ms Tsang, a representative of
the residents, told the Times
that they felt the responses received during the meeting were no
more than bureaucratic answers.
Authorities, she claimed, have
never stepped into the residents’
shoes and thought about the issue from their perspective. “They
were not truly seeking a consensus and were only standing their
ground.” She added that the residents were very tolerant during
the meeting for if they hadn’t
been, they would have surely rebuked the government officials
on many issues.
Meanwhile, one of the govern-
ap photo
Opponents to Taipa gas station
received “bureaucratic answers”
ment representatives, the head of
the Urban Planning Department
at the Land, Public Works and
Transport Bureau (DSSOPT),
Lao Iong, has told the media that
the location of the future oil station has met the national safety
standard. He also reiterated that
the population in Taipa is increa-
Lawmaker
demands action
on accumulated
court cases
L
eong Veng Chai has asked the Macau government to reveal its plan for reforming the
local judicial system, as well as the assistance
it provides to the people involved in court cases that remain unresolved despite having had a
long trial period.
In a written enquiry, the lawmaker pointed out
that there were more than 17,000 cases accepted
by the courts of Macau in the 2013 legal year,
and more than 8,000 of these cases were not
closed. Thousands of cases are still accumulated
in the legal system, with some of them having a
trial period that has lasted longer than a decade.
This, Leong Veng Chai believes, is bringing huge
distress to the people involved in the cases.
The lawmaker alleges that some residents have
told him that the situation can also cause various
inconveniences. For example, he discovered that
there was a 14 year old case where the property right of a residential apartment was at stake.
Since the property was frozen, the owner cannot
move into the apartment. He was also prevented
from applying for public housing because of the
owner’s disputed right to the apartment.
Leong Veng Chai suggested that the major reason for the accumulation of court cases is the
lack of legal personnel such as judges. Therefore
he asked the government for its plan to reform
the local judicial system, as well as its willingness to increase the number of judges and court
clerks, in order to resolve the issue.
He also wanted the government to clarify whether it has any measure to support residents
whose lives have been disrupted by the long trial
period. JPL
sing. Therefore it can be foreseen
that the demand for petrol in the
area will increase, which means
that it is necessary to build more
gas stations there.
Moreover, Mr Lao claimed that
if the government changes the
contract with the petrol company,
there might be compensation in-
volved. He stated that “if everything was done according to the
law and the government unilaterally changes the contract, it might involve compensation, even
some legal issues.” He also added
that any changes might cause
problems in the future when building social service facilities.
However, Ms Tsang thinks that
this is the officials’ responsibility
and “the consequence of neglecting the will of the public.” “You
build the facilities for the residents. But you did not notify or
discuss [it with residents] beforehand and even demolished something [a park] that people are
using,” Ms Tsang expressed.
The resident claimed that the
government representatives only
promised to ask the Civic and
Municipal Affairs Bureau to inspect the trees in the now enclosed
area to see why their conditions
are deteriorating. She stated that
there will be further actions carried out by the residents, but has
to rule out rallying as a form of
protest.
Gov’t encourages casual clothes
for energy-saving
Grace Yu
T
he annual “Casual Clothes
in Summer, Save the Energy”
campaign kicked off yesterday.
Organized by the Office for the
Development of Energy Sector
(GDSE), the campaign calls for
staff in public departments and
other participating institutions
to dress lightly for work, so as to
avoid resorting to setting a low airconditioner temperature, which
would save energy.The suggested
temperature for air-conditioners
is no lower than 25 ° C.
In the Public Administration and
Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) located in Rua do Campo, the staff
were dressed in their new summer
uniform. According to Michelle
Sou, chief of the administration
and finance division, staff at the
front desk need to dress neatly, so
the uniforms are designed to be light in color and are made with thin
materials.
She said that every summer, they
remind their colleagues of energy
saving measures. “Besides wearing
light materials, the staff turn off lights, computers and some air conditioners when they are out of the
office during lunch time.”
A hotel’s general manager said
that the air conditioners of their
guest rooms and offices had been
adjusted so that they could only be
25 ° C or above. In addition, tungs-
MACAU
5
AMCM issues
warning on bitcoin
transactions
The Monetary Authority of Macau
(AMCM) has called on the public to
be cautious about engaging in bitcoin
transactions. The department has
said that it has received enquiries
recently regarding the transaction
of bitcoin in Macau. It stated that
bitcoin is only a virtual commodity
“which is neither a legal tender nor
a financial instrument subjected to
supervision of AMCM.” It also said
that according to the laws of Macau,
commercial entities are prohibited
from using words like “ATM” to imply
the idea of operating the business of a
credit institute. The trading of virtual
commodities like bitcoin, AMCM
said, also involved “considerable
risks” such as those relating to money
laundering and terrorist financing. It
advises participants and the general
public to be vigilant.
Former CCAC head
says investigations
follow need
The Secretary for Social Affairs and
Culture and former Commissioner
Against Corruption (CCAC),
Cheong U, has said that authorities
would not investigate the alleged
corruption by former Chief
Executive Edmund Ho if there was
no “actual need.” HK media outlet
Next Magazine published a cover
story last week that claimed that
the former CE Ho is being probed
by the central government. On the
sidelines of a public event, Cheong
was grilled by journalists about
the report. “As a former CCAC
commissioner, I would rather say,
‘Be like dad, keep mum’,” said
Cheong. Citing the expression used
by HK Independent Commission
Against Corruption (ICAC) to
promise a silent mode of service,
the Secretary said he would not
comment on the case.
Noise Law penalty
rises to MOP1,000
ten light bulbs have been replaced
with LED lights. The hotel is able
to bring down the power tariff by
3 to 5 percent every year, and two
percent of the revenue is saved as
funds for energy-saving facilities.
The campaign lasts until the end
of August.
An award presentation ceremony
for the fashion design competition,
with the theme of recycling used
clothes, was held at Venetian Macau yesterday evening.
The event is part of the “Macau
Energy Conservation Week 2014”.
A “Light-off for 1 hour” activity was
held from 8:30p.m. to 9:30p.m.
on Monday, during which a music
concert was organized at the Macau Forum. GDSE announced the
event saved 27,000 kilowatts per
hour.
There will be seminars given by
speakers from the mainland and
Korea tomorrow, and a bicycle
competition will take place this Saturday.
The Macau government has
submitted a new draft of the Noise
Law and has proposed to raise the
amount of the fine to MOP1,000. The
President of the Legislative Assembly
(AL) First Standing Committee,
Kwan Tsui Hang, revealed that
committee members have different
opinions on the proposal and
could not reach a conclusion.
“Some [members] suggested that
if [the government] sets a harsher
penalty, people will take the law
more seriously. Others think that
the fine should not be that high to
begin with,” she said.The committee
also advised the administration to
introduce clauses into the legislation
to allow emergency construction
works, such as the repair of water
pipes, to be carried out during the
noise prohibition period between
8 p.m. and 9 a.m. Moreover, the
lawmakers believe that it is not
necessary for the legislation to
include a one-year transition period
for traditional drivers to be phased
out, since they are no longer deployed
in construction projects.
6
MACAU
18.06.2014 wed
th Anniversary
澳聞
M
acau will reduce the maximum number of days that
Chinese passport holders with
transit visas can stay in the city
from seven to five, in an attempt
to prevent them from abusing the
law. Consequently, casino shares
have dropped.
Transit visitors from China who
don’t depart for another destination within the five days will
be in violation of the new rules,
effective July 1, and will be penalized upon their next visit, the
city’s Public Security Police (PSP)
revealedin a statement. Repeated
violations will result in denial of
entry.
A PSP official told local and
Hong Kong media that they will
find and investigate over 100
Chinese passport holders who
don’t comply with the in transit
rule.
Chinese tourists have been
bloomberg
New rules for in-transit visitors to be applied July 1
driving the revenue of casino
companies in the world’s largest
gambling hub. The companies
are competing for gamblers by
adding malls, theaters and restaurants to their resorts. An improved rail connection and an in-
Economy expected to
grow by an average of 11%
M
acau’s Gross Domestic Product is expected
to grow by an average of 11
percent in 2014/2015, with a
rate of 11.3 percent this year
and a slight cooling to 10.6
percent in 2015, according to
projections from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
In its latest report on Macau
the EIU said that economic
expansion was based on “healthy growth in exports of services,” as a result of continuing
strong inflows of visitors from
mainland China seeking out
the territory’s casinos.
Gross fixed capital formation or investment will remain strong in 2014 base don
a large number of large hotel
projects in Cotai, a land reclamation area between the
islands of Coloane and Tai-
ad
pa, which will slow in 2015 as
these projects come closer to
conclusion.
According to the EIU report,
investment this year is expected to grow by 14.2 percent
year on year and then drop
abruptly to 6.0 percent in
2015.
The rate of inflation will remain more or less stable despite a slightly higher rise than
in 2013, of 5.5 percent, and
the EIU projects it to rise to
6.0 percent this year and 6.3
percent in 2015.
The remainder of the main
indicators, such as the base
interest rate, the territory’s
budget deficit and the exchange rate against the main
currencies, such as the dollar,
yen and euro, will remain stable. MDT/Macauhub
crease in hotel rooms are helping
draw more vacationing Chinese
to Macau and the country’s legal
casinos.
“We do not think this new policy
will have a measurable impact on
gaming revenue,” Grant Govert-
sen at investment bank Union
Gaming Group said yesterday.
“It is important to keep in mind
that most high-value casino customers typically come to Macau
about four times per year.” Most
visitors to Macau only stay a day
Acoustics of UM’s new
University Hall tested
B
rian
Montgomery,
Bass/Baritone of the
New York Metropolitan Opera Star, tested the acoustics
of the University of Macau’s
New University Hall. Mon-
tgomery sung Broadway
hits and opera arias without
any amplification or accompaniment. According to a
press release issued by UM,
the singer pronounced the
or two, he said.
The new rules follow a recent
report conducted by the Chinese
state media CCTV, which revealed that around a million people
are estimated to have entered
the region last year using a travel
loophole.
Travel agencies in Shenzhen
and Zhuhai have been promoting the scheme, which promises
to “help” clients enter Macau and
Hong Kong via non-legitimate
visas and flight tickets.
According to the immigration
laws of Hong Kong and Macau,
mainland residents can enter
the two Special Administrative
Regions and stay for up to seven
days if they are in transit and
traveling to a third country later.
They are required to present their
Chinese passport, a flight ticket,
or the visa issued by the country
of destination. MDT/Bloomberg
acoustics to be most agreeable to him whilst both singing and speaking, and the
audience agreed. The test
occurred last week during
a visit organized jointly by
BBAM (British Business
Association of Macau) and
FMBA (French Macau Business Association) with
UM’s Moon Chun Memorial
College to UM’s new University campus.
Eileen Stow, chairman of
BBAM, commented on the
visit, saying that: “The buildings we saw were amazing,
but they are just bricks and
mortar. It is the knowledge that those buildings are
being filled with such drive,
energy and enthusiasm, as it
surrounded us that day, that
fills us with confidence that
the new University is now a
place to watch, and a place
that will put Macau on the
international stage for positive reasons (along with egg
tarts!).”
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
廣告
ADVERTISEMENT
7
8
BUSINESS
分析
bloomberg
J
We need
to consider
measures to
prevent crime,
maintain public
order and
the healthy
education
of the young
as well as
to prevent
addiction
th Anniversary
Japan’s parliament to begin
debate on casino gaming law
Maiko Takahashi, Takashi Hirokawa
and Isabel Reynolds
apan will start debate
today on a bill to legalize casinos, paving the
way for its passage before the end of the year.
Discussions will begin in a
committee of the lower house
at 9 a.m., said Masahiko Shibayama of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party. The bill,
which was submitted to parliament last December, will
not be passed before the end
of the session on June 22 and
will be taken up again when
the Diet resumes in autumn,
said LDP lawmaker Hiroyuki
Hosoda.
Backers of the bill say it will
help boost tourism to Japan,
which is preparing to host the
2020 Olympics, while casino
operators are considering investing billions of dollars in
what could become Asia’s second-largest gaming market
after Macau. Japan currently
allows betting on horse, bicycle and boat races, as well as
pachinko.
“I want to pass it in the lower
18.06.2014 wed
Osaka, Japan’s third-biggest metropolis, proposed the Yumeshima island, a reclaimed island in Osaka Bay, as the casino resort site after lawmakers submitted a bill to legalize casinos
Govt’s strategy
document
house at the beginning of the
next session of parliament,
then enact it without fail in
the upper house,” said Hiroyuki Hosoda, the LDP member who heads the lawmakers’
group on what are called “integrated resorts.”
Shares in Japanese companies that could gain from
gambling advanced. Game
-maker Konami Corp. rose 2.1
percent to 2,300 yen. Japan
Cash Machine Co. rose 8.4
percent to 1,944 yen and Oizumi Corp., which makes equipment for pachinko parlors,
rose 8 percent to 1,049 yen.
Konami announced in May it
would set up a company aimed
at investing in casinos.
“We can expect a boost to
tourism, the regions and to
industry, but we need to consider measures to prevent
crime, maintain public order
and the healthy education of
the young as well as to prevent
addiction,” the government
said in a strategy document on
economic growth released on
June 16. The document urged
the government bureaucracy
to proceed with consideration.
The experience of U.S.-based
gaming companies in dealing
with anti-graft rules in other
countries would reduce the
risk for local leaders, Billy Ng,
head of Asia gaming, lodging
The bill will
not be passed
before the end
of the session
on June 22
and leisure for the Bank of
America Corp. said in an interview. Ng declined to identify any companies that may
be likely to be selected for a
license.
“They
have
experience
dealing with very tight racketeering environments in different jurisdictions, not just
the U.S.,” Ng said of the U.S.
companies. “It’s a lower risk
for Japan politicians if they
pick them.”
Komeito party lawmaker
Masakazu Hamachi, who serves on the cabinet committee,
said in a May interview that it
would be difficult to pass the
bill in the current session for
scheduling reasons. He added
that once debate began, the
bill had a good chance of passage in the next session, which
is likely to start in September
or October.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s
coalition has a majority in both
houses of the Diet, which will ease
passage of the bill. Bloomberg
corporate bits
43rd founders’ day celebration
at hard rock hotel, city of dreams macau
Hard Rock Hotel at City of
Dreams Macau recently celebrated its 43rd Founders’ Day, joining
hundreds of Hard Rock locations
around the globe. Founders’ Day
is the day when everything started for Hard Rock. The first Hard
Rock Café opened in London on
June 14, 1971.
This Founders’ Day, Hard Rock
Hotel’s lobby featured the music
of the era, and staff members
stepped back in time, donning
their best pseudo-70s costumes.
The 1970s Retro Party featured
a dance show, among other activities.
Hard Rock Hotel at City of
Dreams Macau opened in June
2009.
aviation development history lecture
Macau International Airport
Ltd, Co. (CAM) invited Mr Zhang
Baojian, regional vice president
of International Aviation Transportation Association North Asia,
to give a lecture to all staff on
the “History of Aviation Development”. Mr Zhang compiled a
hundred-year history into one
hour, which he delivered with a
personal and lively approach.
The audience said they learned
a lot and have improved their
own knowledge.
The speaker introduced many
meaningful “first times” in the
global aviation history, and
talked about China’s civil aviation industry. According to a
CAM press release, the seminar
not only helped staff to absorb
more knowledge of civil aviation,
but also to learn more about the
civil aviation history.
citigroup pays record hkd5.4b
for hong kong office tower
Citigroup Inc. paid a record
HKD5.4 billion ($697 million)
to a unit of Wheelock & Co. for
a Hong Kong office tower that
will bring most of its 5,000 employees under one roof. The
price for the 512,000 squarefoot property in Kowloon is the
largest ever office transaction in
Hong Kong, the New York-based bank said in a statement
yesterday.
The tower, scheduled for completion by the end of 2015, will
be used to house staff currently
spread out across offices in the
city, said Weber Lo, the bank’s
chief executive officer for Hong
Kong and Macau. Citigroup joins
banks and insurers in buying
buildings in the city, as falling
vacancies pose a challenge for
companies looking for large office spaces, realtor CBRE Group
Inc., which advised the deal, said
in a first-quarter review report.
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
published in partnership with macauhub.com.mo
中葡論壇
FORUM
9
Two Angolan banks plan to buy Banco
Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Portugal
A
ngolan
banks
Banco Atlântico and
Banco
Internacional de Crédito have
made binding proposals to buy
the Portuguese subsidiary of
Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya
Argentaria (BBVA), according
to Spanish newspaper El Confidencial.
According the newspaper report two other proposals have
been put forward by Banco Santander Totta and Caixa Central
de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo, and
the latter is considered to be of
greatest interest to the chairman of BBVA, Francisco Gonzaléz.
In March the Spanish bank
said it planned to sell its branch
in Portugal, which has posted
losses over the last few years.
El Confidencial said that
BBVA deal in Portugal is worth
between 207 million and 381
In March
the Spanish
bank said it
planned to sell
its branch in
Portugal
million euros, but that the transaction was likely to involve
around 500 million euros.
BBVA Portugal has 83 branches and 750 employees, compared to 190 branches and 820
employees in 2007, and assets
of 5.471 billion euros and liabilities of 5.192 billion euros.
In 2013, the Portuguese subsidiary posted a loss of 107
million euros in the banking
segment alone and of 357
million euros including other
business areas such as pension
and investment fund management, vehicle leasing and other
financial services.
The newspaper also reported
that BBVA Portugal accounted
for 0.91 percent of BBVA’s total
consolidated assets on 31 December 2013. MDT/Macauhub
Mozambique
T
he official period
for the sale of seed
cotton in Mozambique
began last week and production this season is expected to total 110,000
tons, an increase of
25,000 tons on the previous season, Mozambican newspaper Notícias
reported.
The newspaper added
that the sales period this
year had been brought
forward by 30 days in
order to take advantage
of prices currently offe-
red on the international
market.
Norberto Mahalambe,
director of the Mozambican Cotton Institute
(IAM) said that as of August international cotton
prices would start to fall
based on publication of
estimates for cotton production in the northern
hemisphere. “If we can
place the cotton on the
market before August we
can take advantage of the
high prices before then,”
Mr Mahalambe said.
This year the Mozambican government has
set the minimum price
for sale of seed cotton
at 11.75 meticals per kilo
for first-rate cotton and
8.70 metical per kilo for
second-rate cotton.
These prices were set
following an agreement
between the companies
that support cotton production in Mozambique,
such as Olam Mozambique and the João Ferreira dos Santos (JFS)
group. MDT/Macauhub
bloomberg
Cotton sales campaign brought forward by 30 days
The silhouette of a cotton bud is seen at sunset
ad
10
CHINA
18.06.2014 wed
th Anniversary
中國
Flight MH370
Didi Tang, Beijing
I
n the more than 100 days
since her husband disappeared along with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Zhang Qian's
world has collapsed. She quit
her job, sleeps rarely and prefers not to go out, except to the
Buddhist temples where she
has found some solace.
"At the temple, I can speak
from my heart to my husband,"
Zhang, 28, said on a recent visit
to the Temple of Spiritual Light
in the western hills of Beijing.
She broke down in sobs before
continuing.
"I think he can hear me ... I
have so much to tell him, there is so much I have not said. I
hope the Buddha will carry those words to him and bring him
back."
Much of the world has moved on from the frenzied interest in the mysterious March
8 disappearance of the plane,
but relatives of the 239 people
missing cannot. Satellite data
shows that the plane went down
in a remote area of the southern
Indian Ocean far from any land,
but with no trace of the aircraft
recovered, many cling to a flicker of hope — however faint —
that their loved ones might still
be alive.
"It may be my fantasy, but
what if one day he sends some
distress signals and he gets saved, and that will be the end of
this?" Zhang said.
Her husband was among 153
Chinese on the plane. Chinese culture places an especially
heavy emphasis on finding and
seeing the remains of people
believed dead before true grieving and the process of moving
on can begin.
The absence of proof of death has made closure elusive for
all relatives, said Lawrence Pa-
ap photo
Time deepens agony for relatives
Zhang Qian holds up a photo taken with her husband, Wang Houbin, 28 and a photo
of a love letter written by him in Beijing
linkas, professor of social work
at the University of Southern
California.
"When there is no physical
proof of death, it is easier to
remain in (denial) for a much
longer period of time," he said.
"At this point, those who have
not accepted the possibility
that the plane crashed and all
aboard were lost are relying on
extended family and friends to
maintain the belief that family
members are still alive, or that
hope is still viable until the remains are found."
Liu Weijie held onto his wife's plane ticket for a U.S. trip
in late May for more than two
months, even though she was
among the Flight 370 passengers. They were supposed to go
to their son's graduation ceremony. He returned the ticket
three days before the flight, and
canceled his own trip as well.
In messages posted to a mobile phone blog, Liu apologized
to his wife for not allowing her
to visit their son earlier. "I truly
regret that I did not let you visit your son during the Chinese
New Year. Now it's been nine
months since you last saw your
son," he wrote.
"The sense of helplessness,
the feeling of powerlessness,
and the pain have not eased but
only worsened as times goes
by," Liu said in an interview.
"Any holiday or days of significance have become unbearable.
I don't want to hear any mention of them."
Many of the Chinese relatives have been reluctant to talk
about their missing kin to avoid
any suggestion that they are
gone for good and to keep the
focus on finding the missing
plane, though they have become somewhat more likely to
speak about them now. They
say their belief that their loved
ones are still alive helps them
get up in the morning and care
for their families.
"With his photos on the walls,
I don't feel that he is absent, and
seeing him in the photos has given me strength to do my best
to take care of our small child
before he returns," said Zhang
Ying, whose husband also was
aboard Flight 370.
At the same time, it is heart
-wrenching for her to be without
the man who hoisted their baby
above his head on weekend outings, and who fell asleep while
holding her tiny hand. Zhang
said she can no longer produce
milk for her daughter, and that
At the temple, I
can speak from
my heart to my
husband
Zhang Qian
Relative
her mother-in-law has lost hearing from crying so much.
Cheng Liping, whose husband was on the plane, called
the missing flight "a fatal blow
that has spun my entire world." Her heart ached when her
6-year-old son called "daddy"
to a stranger who walked out
of a car in their Beijing neighborhood.
As for Zhang Qian, she is rarely outside at all. She quit her
work as an office clerk and shuts herself at home.
"I don't go out anymore because outside I see the shadow
of my husband and me together," Zhang said.
Zhang met Wang Houbin
nearly nine years ago in Beijing
in their college freshman year.
Wang was on Flight 370 returning home after working on an
art exhibit in Kuala Lumpur.
"I am afraid to go out. I don't
speak any more," said Zhang,
who only ventures out to meet
other relatives of Flight 370
passengers and to visit temples.
"I used to sleep a lot but I have
spent many nights without closing my eyes, not even with the
help of sleeping pills."
Her parents have moved in
with her, but sometimes they
become outlets for her grief and
frustration. "I throw tempers
at my dad and mom because I
cannot help myself," she said,
bead-like tears rolling down
her thin cheeks at the mention
of Wang.
She finds comfort in Buddhist
temples, though she was not
religious before the plane vanished. "I didn't believe in this
in the past, but now I pray wholeheartedly for the return of my
husband," she said.
Zhang also recently returned
to the hotel banquet hall where
relatives and journalists were
informed about developments earlier in the search. Those
briefings were often packed,
but they stopped weeks ago.
"It's so empty, not even a chair,"
she said, standing in the middle
of the room. "Just like the hearts
of us relatives. There is nothing,
and we have nothing." AP
A
plan by the world's
three biggest container shipping operators to
create an alliance has been
scrapped after Chinese
authorities blocked it.
Vincent Clerc, chief
trade and marketing officer at Denmark's A.P.
Moller-Maersk, said yesterday that the rejection
by China — which like
other major economies
was reviewing the merger's potential impact on
the market — came as a
surprise. U.S. and European regulators had pre-
viously cleared the deal.
As a result, the alliance
of Maersk, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. and CMA CGM
of France, "as initially
planned will not come into
existence," Clerc said.
The proposed alliance,
first proposed in June
last year, was to be an
independently operated
network with 255 vessels
and was set to start operations in late 2014. The
alliance was to operate
a capacity of 2.6 million
containers between Asia
and Europe, across the
Pacific Ocean and the
Atlantic Ocean.
It was intended to be
an operational, not a
commercial,
cooperation, Maersk said.
Each company would
have continued to have
fully independent sales,
marketing and customer
service functions.
The decision to abandon the alliance will
have no material impact
on the Maersk Group's
expected result for 2014,
the company said. AP
maerskline.com
China blocks alliance of world’s biggest shippers
Vincent Clerc, Maersk
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
Chinese
diplomat set
to discuss oil
rig in Vietnam
deployed May 1, sparking antiChina riots in Vietnam that killed five Chinese nationals and
injured hundreds more.
Yang and Minh will discuss
the oil rig when they meet at an
annual bilateral event Yang is
attending, Vietnamese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Le Hai
Binh told reporters Monday.
“As we have affirmed many times, Vietnam has always been
patient to look for dialogue with
China to peacefully resolve the
tension in the East Sea,” Binh
said, referring to the South China Sea. “This meeting, therefore, will surely be a channel and
an event where the two sides
can discuss the issue to find solutions to the current tension.”
Minh and Yang spoke by phone in early May. Vietnam’s Fo-
Restless football
fans die watching
World Cup
A
t least three Chinese football
fans have reportedly died after
staying up to watch the 2014 FIFA
World Cup.
A 39-year-old surnamed Zhou
in Shanghai died on Sunday after
staying up for three consecutive nights to follow World Cup games, the
Shanghai Daily reported.
He had a history of high blood
pressure and collapsed on his couch
while watching the match between
Uruguay and Costa Rica. Doctors
said his stroke was caused by a brain
hemorrhage, the newspaper said.
A 25-year-old man in Suzhou,
Jiangsu province, was found dead
in front of a television at home on
Saturday morning, with doctors attributing his death to too little sleep.
Another man, 51-year-old Li Mingqiang who used to be a professional
footballer in Dalian of Liaoning province, also died while watching the
Holland-Spain game with his friends,
the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
His friends called emergency services after Li suffered heart failure,
but treatment failed to save his life.
Beijing Time and Brasilia Time
have a difference of 11 hours, meaning Chinese fans have to stay up
through the night to follow the World Cup. The majority of games in the
tournament start between midnight
and 6 am Beijing time. Xinhua
reign Ministry said at the time
that Minh denounced China’s
placement of the oil rig, saying
it seriously violated Vietnam’s
sovereignty, and demanded
that China immediately withdraw the rig and its escorting
vessels.
China’s official Xinhua News
Agency, however, quoted Yang
as telling Minh that Vietnam
should stop harassing China’s
normal drilling operations.
China has said its ships have
been rammed more than 1,500
times by Vietnamese vessels
since the dispute began. On
Monday, Col. Ngo Ngoc Thu,
deputy commander of Vietnam’s coast guard, dismissed
the allegations, saying that 36
Vietnamese vessels have been
rammed, and that 15 Vietnamese fisheries patrol staff and two
fishermen have been injured.
Thu also disputed Chinese
accusations that Vietnamese
divers left obstacles in the water to disrupt drilling operations. He said Vietnam did not
use divers near the rig but that
fishermen were forced to leave
behind nets and other equipment because Chinese ships
used water cannons to force the
fishing boats to retreat. AP
Australian artist detained
in Beijing deported
Chinese-born Australian artist Guo Jian, center, is greeted by friends as he arrives at at Sydney Airport
Rod McGuirk, Canberra
A
11
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, center, arrives at a hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam
ap photo
A
top Chinese diplomat arrived in Vietnam yesterday for the
first high-level meeting between the two countries
since China’s deployment of a
giant oil rig off the Vietnamese
coast last month increased tensions between the neighbors.
Chinese State Councilor Yang
Jiechi is scheduled to have talks
with Vietnamese Deputy Prime
Minister and Foreign Minister
Pham Binh Minh on Wednesday. He also is to meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung
and General Secretary of the
Communist Party Nguyen Phu
Trong, Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Yang’s visit is the highest-level meeting between the two
governments since the rig was
CHINA
ap photo
中國
Chinese-born Australian artist detained in
Beijing ahead of the politically sensitive 25th anniversary of the deadly military crackdown on protests around Tiananmen
Square arrived in Sydney
yesterday after being deported.
The Chinese government
had said Australian citizen
Guo Jian, a former protester in China's 1989 pro-democracy movement, had
been detained for fraudulently obtaining a visa.
Guo told media awaiting
his arrival at Sydney Airport he was happy to be
home. But he had little
else to say.
Australia's Department
of Foreign Affairs and
Trade confirmed in a statement that Guo had been
deported "reportedly due
to visa irregularities" two
weeks after he was first
detained. The department
said it could provide no
further details due to privacy reasons.
The 52-year-old former soldier was detained
by Beijing authorities on
June 1 shortly after a profile of him appeared in the
Financial Times newspaper detailing his partici-
pation in the democracy
movement. Chinese authorities permit no public
discussion of the crackdown. Guo also may have
angered authorities by
creating a morbid diorama
of Tiananmen Square in
a Beijing studio as part of
his commemoration of the
event.
Australia's government
had said it was told Guo
would be detained for 15
days and then deported.
Guo's detention was part
of a string of prosecutions
against artists, lawyers,
scholars and journalists
ahead of the Tiananmen
anniversary amid intense
government efforts to deter coverage by international media of its remembrance.
Guo was studying art in
Beijing when he was swept
into the 1989 student protests and witnessed the
military crackdown that
began on the night of June
3, 1989.
Discussions of the protest and its military suppression are taboo in
China, and authorities
tighten security ahead of
the anniversary each year.
But this year's suppression
was harsher than in previous years, as police rounded up activists who had
received only warnings in
the past. AP
12
ASIA-PACIFIC
18.06.2014 wed
th Anniversary
亞太版
UNITED NATIONS
rose to 14 from 12 in 2010. The
exporters' list was led by the United States and followed by Italy,
Germany, Brazil, Austria, Switzerland, Israel, Russia, South
Korea, Belgium, China, Turkey,
Spain and the Czech Republic,
the survey reported. Sweden
dropped off the list because its
exports fell from $132 million in
2010 to $44 million in 2011.
The eight countries that imported at least $100 million of small
arms in 2011 were the United
States, Canada, Germany, Australia, Thailand, United King-
Philippines
Islamic militant nabbed
for US, Aussie abductions
hilippine security forces have captured two Abu Sayyaf militants in a southern city,
including one who allegedly was involved in the kidnappings of an American
teenage boy and an Australian man, officials said
yesterday.
Police and army troops
captured Jimmy Nurilla and
Bakrin Haris on Monday in
a raid on their hideout in
Sangali village in the port
city of Zamboanga in a volatile region where the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group
has carried out kidnappings for ransom, bombings,
extortion and other acts of
banditry. One other militant
escaped during the raid, police said.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said without elaborating that the militants were
in possession of explosives
and rebel documents when
arrested.
Nurilla was believed to
be involved in a number
of kidnappings, inclu-
Pakistan
8 killed as police,
protesters clash
Zaheer Babar
P
ap photo
P
Australian hostage Warren Richard Rodwell, center, arrives at the
Command’s headquarters in Zamboanga city in southern Philippines
following his release by Al-Qaida-linked militants
ding of American Kevin
Lunsmann, who was 14
when he escaped from his
Abu Sayyaf captors in 2011
after five months in captivity on Basilan island,
near Zamboanga. Nurilla
also has been suspected
of involvement in the kidnapping of Warren Richard Rodwell, a former
Australian soldier who was
freed near southern Pagadian city in March last year
after 15 months of jungle
captivity, according to the
commission.
Ransom
kidnappings
have long been a problem
in the southern Philippi-
nes and have been blamed
mostly on the Abu Sayyaf,
an al-Qaida-linked group
on a list of U.S. terrorist organizations, and its allied
armed groups.
The Abu Sayyaf, which
currently has about 300
armed fighters, was organized in the early 1990s in
Basilan, about 880 kilometers (550 miles) south of
Manila. With an unwieldy
collective of preachers and
outlaws, it vowed to wage
jihad, or holy war, but
lost its key leaders early
in combat, sending it on a
violent path of extremism
and criminality. AP
dom, France and Italy, the survey said. South Korea dropped
from the list because its imports
fell from $130 million in 2010 to
$40 million in 2011.
The Small Arms Survey also
examined records of more than
140,000 small arms, light wea-
olice clashed
yesterday
with
followers of an antiTaliban cleric critical
of Pakistan's government in the eastern
city of Lahore, violence
that killed eight people, officials said.
The cleric, Tahir-ulQadri, is based in Canada but has a network
of mosques and religious centers across
Pakistan. Qadri led a
rally of tens of thousands of his supporters
that shut down the capital last year, calling
for a delay in elections to prevent electoral fraud. His plan
to return to Pakistan
on June 23 and rally
against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has
once again put him in
the limelight.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said
the clashes killed eight
people. The head of
Jinnah Hospital, Dr.
ap photo
T
he latest U.N. figures
show China, Turkey
and the Czech Republic
joining the list of the
world's top exporters of small
arms, which is led by the United
States.
Italy joined the list of the top
importers of small arms, which is
also led by the United States, according to figures for 2011 from
the United Nations Commodity
Trade Statistics Database released Monday in the annual Small
Arms Survey.
According to the U.N. statistics,
the value of the global trade in
small arms and light weapons almost doubled between 2001 and
2011 — from USD2.38 billion to
$4.63 billion.
The international trade in small
arms ammunition saw the greatest
increase followed by pistols and
revolvers, sporting rifles and sporting shotguns, the survey reported.
In 2011, the number of countries exporting at least $100
million of small arms annually
ap photo
China, S Korea, Turkey amongst
major small arms exporters
pons and rounds of ammunition
taken into custody by police in
eight U.S. cities and towns — Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boise,
Idaho; Columbus, Ohio; Denham Springs, Louisiana; Houston; Los Angeles; Satellite Beach,
Florida; and Washington, DC.
The survey reported that handguns accounted for 77 percent of
firearms seized from felons, drug
traffickers and gang members,
and at least 70 percent of the
handguns were semi-automatic
pistols. Rifles accounted for less
than 12 percent of the weapons
seized, and only about half were
semi-automatic including assault rifles it said.
Emile LeBrun, a contributing
editor to the survey, told a news
conference launching the report
that the U.S. figures overturn
stereotypes in the U.S. media of
gang members armed with fully
automatic weapons.
The U.S. figures are also the
opposite of Mexico's, he said.
According to an earlier survey
in Mexico, approximately 72
percent of seized weapons there
were rifles and other long guns.
The Small Arms Survey is an
independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of
International and Development
Studies in Geneva. It is supported by the Swiss Foreign Ministry
and contributions from 10 countries including the United States
and the European Union. AP
Tahir-ul-Qadri
Abdur Raof, said the
hospital received 80
wounded.
The clashes started
when authorities came
to Qadri's house and
seminary complex to
remove security barriers that they said had
turned the entire vicinity into a no-go area.
"The police were heavily fired upon from
inside the ... center,"
said Gujjar, speaking
on Pakistani television. Gujjar said that
gunfire killed the protesters, not police.
A spokesman for Qadri, Shahid Mursaleem,
said the police first
shot tear gas to disperse the protesters, then
opened fire on them.
Mursaleem said police
arrested 40 to 50 of the
cleric's followers. He
said the government is
worried about Qadri's
return and is trying to
quiet him.
Qadri on Twitter accused the government
of trying to divert attention away from the
army operations in
North Waziristan, which Qadri has supported. Pakistan launched
a major offensive Sunday against militants
there after Sharif's push
for peace talks failed to
produce results.
Qadri struck a chord
with people last year
by attacking the state's inability to solve
problems such as electricity and unemployment. But his demand
that the government be
dissolved and replaced
by a military-backed
caretaker administration raised concerns
that he was being used
by the nation's powerful army to delay parliamentary elections.
Qadri denied having
any connection to the
army. AP
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
分析
WORLD
13
ap photo
USA
FDA prepping
long-awaited plan
to reduce salt
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg
Mary Clare Jalonick, Washington
F
ood companies and restaurants could soon face government pressure to make their
foods less salty — a long-awaited
federal effort to try to prevent
thousands of deaths each year
from heart disease and stroke.
The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to issue voluntary guidelines asking the
food industry to lower sodium levels, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told The Associated
Press. Hamburg said in a recent
interview that the sodium is "of
huge interest and concern" and
she hopes the guidelines will be
issued "relatively soon."
"We believe we can make a big
impact working with the industry to bring sodium levels down,
because the current level of consumption really is higher than it
should be for health," Hamburg
said.
The food industry has already
made some reductions, and has
prepared for government action
since a 2010 Institute of Medicine report said companies had
not made enough progress on
making foods less salty. The IOM
advised the government to establish maximum sodium levels for
different foods, though the FDA
said then — and maintains now
— that it favors a voluntary route.
Americans eat about 1½ teaspoons of salt daily, about a third
more than the government recommends for good health and
enough to increase the risk of
high blood pressure, strokes and
other problems. Most of that sodium is hidden inside common
processed foods and restaurant
meals.
In addition to flavor, companies
use sodium to increase shelf life,
prevent the growth of bacteria, or
improve texture and appearance. That makes it more difficult
to remove from some products,
Hamburg noted.
France
Roma teen in
Paris left for dead
after beating
A
vigilante attack against a Roma teenager is causing alarm at France's highest levels, after a group
of people who suspected the boy of burglary seized him
from his camp, beat him into unconsciousness and left
him for dead.
French President Francois Hollande called the attack
"unspeakable and unjustifiable." In a statement yesterday, he said "all efforts should be made to find the
perpetrators of this attack."
Luc Poignant, a police union official, told LCI television in an interview aired yesterday that about a
dozen people went into the Roma camp late Friday in
the suburb of Pierrefitte-sur-Seine north of Paris after
an apartment was burglarized. Police found the victim
abandoned by a road.
Poignant said the young man was put into a medically induced coma "because he was in so much pain."
Anti-racism groups say violence in France is rising
against Roma migrants, also known as Gypsies, who
come primarily from Eastern Europe and are often
blamed for petty crime.
Many live in makeshift camps on the sides of highways or in vacant lots, lacking running water or
electricity. Without regular documentation of their residence, they have a hard time enrolling children into
school, applying for subsidized housing, getting health
care through the national system or finding permanent
work.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, in charge of
French police, condemned the attackers. "It is exclusively up to security forces to ensure that public order is
respected," he said in a statement. AP
Once the guidelines are issued,
Americans won't notice an immediate taste difference in higher-sodium foods like pizza,
pasta, bread and soups. The idea
would be to encourage gradual
change so consumers' taste buds
can adjust, and to give the companies time to develop lower-sodium foods.
"I think one of the things we are
very mindful of is that we need to
have a realistic timeline," Hamburg said.
Health groups would prefer
mandatory standards, but say
voluntary guidelines are a good
first step.
Still, Michael Jacobson of the
Center for Science in the Public
Interest says he is concerned
companies may hesitate, worried that their competitors won't
lower sodium in their products.
If that happens, "then FDA
should start a process of mandatory limits," Jacobson says.
That's what companies are
worried about. Though the limits
would be voluntary, the FDA is
at heart a regulatory agency, and
the guidelines would be interpreted as a stern warning.
Brian Kennedy of the Grocery
Manufacturers
Association,
which represents the country's
biggest food companies, says
the group is concerned about
the FDA setting targets and any
guidelines should be based on a
"rigorous assessment of all available scientific evidence."
The food industry has pointed
to a separate 2013 IOM report
that said there is no good evidence that eating sodium at very low
levels — below the 2,300 milligrams a day that the government
recommends — offers benefits.
The government recommends
that those older than 50, African-Americans and people with
high blood pressure, diabetes or
chronic kidney disease eat 1,500
milligrams a day. The American
Heart Association recommends
that everyone eat no more than
1,500 milligrams a day.
Those pushing for sodium limits say it's pointless to debate how
low the recommendations should go — Americans are still eating
around 3,400 milligrams a day.
Many food companies and retailers already have pushed to
reduce salt. Wal-Mart pledged
to reduce sodium in many items
by 25 percent by next year, and
food giant ConAgra Foods says
it made a 20 percent reduction.
Subway restaurants said it has
made a 30 percent reduction restaurant-wide.
The companies say that in some
cases, just removing added salt
or switching ingredients does
the trick. Potassium chloride can
also substitute for common salt
(sodium chloride), though too
much can cause a metallic taste.
Levels can vary widely. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, sodium
in a slice of white bread ranges
from 80 milligrams to 230 milligrams. Three ounces of turkey
deli meat can have 450 milligrams to 1,050 milligrams.
Those ranges give health advocates hope. AP
USA | Organized crime
Cartel lookouts give go-ahead
from desert hilltops
Astrid Galvan, Tucson
M
en paid to be
lookouts for Mexican drug cartels used
sophisticated technology
to spot law enforcement
and alert smugglers in
the Arizona desert, a trafficking tactic under investigation by local and
federal authorities for
months.
The arrests of the group
of men mark what Pinal
County authorities say is
an ongoing problem in
the county 113 kilometers
north of the U.S.-Mexico
border. Sheriff's officials
say the county is ripe with
cartel activity that travels
north from two Arizona
counties sitting directly
on the border.
The men used cellphones, encrypted radios,
binoculars and other technologies and said they
spent more than a week
at a time in the desert
working as lookouts, or
so-called scouts. They
had guns, lived on hilltops, mountains and caves, and alerted criminals
smuggling people and
drugs when authorities
were nearby.
The Pinal County sheriff's office began investigating the lookouts in
February after pulling
over a 22-year-old man
in Eloy, between Phoenix and Tucson. Ramon
Garcia was driving a van
carrying 270 kilograms of
food and other supplies.
He told deputies he was
being paid USD4,000 to
pick up the van in a Phoenix suburb and drop it off
in the desert.
Over the next few months, deputies and U.S.
Border Patrol agents conducted an investigation
that led to the arrest of
seven suspected scouts.
Early on March 7, a Border Patrol Blackhawk
helicopter descended on
a lookout post near Stan-
field, about 53 kilometers
west of Eloy off Interstate
8. Three suspects ran, hiding in a cave and behind
rocks, but all were arrested.
Two of those men, Jose
Aispuro and Jose Gambino-Ruiz, have pleaded guilty to one count
of conspiracy to possess
marijuana for sale and
were sentenced to 2 1/2
years in prison.
Authorities made more
arrests three days later.
One of those apprehended, Francisco Noriega
-Nunez, pleaded guilty
to the same charge and
received the same sentence.
Garcia has pleaded guilty
to assisting a criminal syndicate, a felony offense.
Border agents frequently
encounter
lookouts and say they
are crucial to drug and
human smuggling. The
lookouts are often men
in their 20s and early 30s
who spend weeks in the
desert and receive food
and materials originating
in the U.S.
The federal government
should redirect money
to secure the U.S. border
with Mexico as it "continues to put up signs warning Americans that it is
not safe to travel due to
criminal smuggling," Pinal County Sheriff Paul
Babeu said in a statement.
"The arrest of these
drug cartel scouts on
mountain tops is further
proof that the border is
not secure," Babeu said.
The case is the first
time the county attorney
has prosecuted suspected lookouts, a sheriff's
spokesman said. Although deputies have arrested them in the past, they
typically were turned
over to the Border Patrol.
The federal agency did
not respond to a request
for comment. AP
14
ADVERTISEMENT
18.06.2014 wed
th Anniversary
廣告
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
分析
A
rgentina's president is refusing to go
along with a U.S. judge's ruling requiring a
$1.5 billion repayment of defaulted bonds, even though the U.S.
Supreme Court rejected her government's appeals and left the
order in place.
In a national address yesterday,
Cristina Fernandez repeatedly
vowed not to submit to "extortion," and said she had working
on ways to keep Argentina's
commitments to other creditors
despite the threat of losing use of
the U.S. financial system.
Her hard line came hours after
the justices in Washington refused to hear Argentina's appeal,
and it could be a last effort to
gain leverage ahead of a negotiated solution that both sides say
they want. But with only days
before a huge debt payment ordered by the court is due, many
economists, analysts and politicians said the country's already
fragile economy could be deeply
harmed if she didn't immediately
resolve the dispute.
Refusing to comply with rulings that have been allowed to
stand by the U.S. Supreme Court
"would be very damaging to the
Argentine economy in the near
future," said Miguel Kiguel, a former deputy finance minister and
15
Argentina
President Fernandez won’t
submit to ‘extortion’ on debt
ap photo
Michael Warren, Buenos Aires
WORLD
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez
World Bank economist in the
1990s who runs the Econviews
consulting firm in Buenos Aires.
Argentine markets were already reflecting fear. The Merval
stock index dropped 11 percent
after the court decision, its largest one-day loss in more than
six months, and the value of Argentina's currency plunged 33
percent on the black market.
Fernandez urged her country-
men to "remain tranquil" in the
days ahead.
Bowing to the U.S. courts would force her to betray a core value
that she and her late husband
and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, promoted since they took
over the government in 2003:
Argentina must maintain its sovereignty and economic independence at any cost.
But a chorus of analysts said
that if she complied with the
ruling, it would become much
easier for Argentina to borrow
again, rebuilding its reserves and
preventing the recession from
getting even deeper.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Griesa order requires that
USD1.5 billion be paid "all together, without quotas, right away,
now, in cash, ahead of all the rest"
of bondholders, Fernandez said.
"This represents a profit of
1,608 percent, in dollars!" she
complained. "I believe that in all
of organized crime there has never been a case of a profit of 1,608
percent in such a short time."
Singer's NML Capital Ltd. has
now won in the U.S. courts — and
if Argentina doesn't hand over
$907 million to the plaintiffs in
the next two weeks, the judge will
order U.S. banks not to process
Argentina's June 30 payment totaling an equal amount to all the
other bondholders.
Fernandez said her govern-
ment "will not default on those
who believed in Argentina." But
analysts have questioned whether holders of restructured debt
would accept payments outside
the U.S. financial system.
"Some people say, 'Why don't
you pay them and end all this
right now?'" the president said.
"It's because there's another problem, even more serious. There's
another 7 percent who would be
able to demand payment from
Argentina, right away and now,
of $15 billion. That's more than
half the reserves in the Central
Bank. As you can see, it's not
only absurd but impossible that
the country pays more than 50
percent of its reserves in a single
payment to its creditors."
"It's our obligation to take responsibility for paying our creditors, but not to become the victims of extortion by speculators,"
she said.
The plaintiffs said her government needs to settle now. AP
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16
INFOTAINMENT
what’s ON
...
18.06.2014 wed
th Anniversary
資訊／娛樂
TV canal macau
Transformers 30th Anniversary Expo
Time: 11am-8pm
Until: October 5, 2014
Venue: Hall F, Cotai Expo
Admission: MOP100
Enquiries: (853) 2882 8818
06:00
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group H: Russia - Korea Republic (Live)
13:00
TDM News (Repeated)
13:30
News (RTPi) Delayed Broadcast
14:30
RTPi Live
16:15
The Life We Lead (Repeated)
17:00
TDM Interview (Repeated)
Pioneering the New Culture Movement
- An Exhibition of Qian Xuantong
Time: 10am-7pm
17:30
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group H: Russia - Korea Republic (Repeated)
19:00
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group A: Brazil - Mexico (Repeated)
20:30
Main News, Financial & Weather Report
21:00
Montra do Lilau
21:30
Cougar Town S3
22:00
The Life We Lead
23:00
TDM News
23:30
Sports
00:00
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group B: Australia - Netherlands (Live)
02:00
RTPi Live
03:00
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group B: Spain - Chile (Live)
(No admission after 6:30pm; closed on Mondays) Until: October 5, 2014
Venue: Macau Museum of Art,
Av. Xian Xing Hai, s/n, NAPE Admission: MOP5
(Free on Sundays and public holidays) Enquiries: (853) 8791 9814
Frames of Time - Photography of Old
Business Units of Macau
Time: 10am-7pm
(No admission after 6:30pm; closed on Mondays) Until: July 13, 2014
(Free on Sundays and public holidays) Enquiries: (853) 8791 9814
this day in history
cinema
cineteatro
12 Jun - 18 Jun
Macau Arts Window:
The Posture of Death - Poetry and
Photography by Wong Man Fai
Time: 10 am to 7 pm
(No admission after 6:30 pm, closed on Mondays) Until: July 13, 2014
(Free on Sundays and public holidays) Enquiries: (853) 8791 9814 The Best German Book Design
Time: 12pm-10pm (Mondays to Sunday)
maleficent_
room 1
(2D) 2.30, 4.30, 9.30 pm
(3D) 7.30 pm
Director: Robert Stromberg
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley
Language: English (Chinese)
Duration: 97min
2pm-6pm (public holidays) Until: June 30, 2013
Venue: Caritas Library, Rua de Pedro Coutinho
No.64 Cave, Edif.Tong Fong Garden Admission: Free Enquiries: (853) 6697 6977
The Best German Book Design
Time: 12pm-10pm (Mondays to Sunday)
2pm-6pm (public holidays) Until: June 30, 2013
Venue: Caritas Library, Rua de Pedro Coutinho
No.64 Cave, Edif.Tong Fong Garden Admission: Free Enquiries: (853) 6697 6977
Offbeat
Florida man hid drugs under
‘stomach fat’
A man who weighs about 200 kilograms faces multiple
charges after Florida police say he hid cocaine and 23
grams of marijuana under his “stomach fat.”
According to a news release, a Volusia County sheriff’s
deputy stopped a vehicle Friday after noticing that the passenger wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
Officials say 42-year-old Christopher Mitchell told the deputy that he’s too big to wear a seatbelt. The deputy says
he requested a drug-detecting dog because Mitchell and
the driver appeared nervous. The dog detected the presence of drugs in the vehicle.
In addition to the drugs on Mitchell, deputies say they
also found a handgun and USD7,000 in cash in the vehicle.
Mitchell and the driver were arrested. It was not clear
whether Mitchell has an attorney.
sabotage_
room 2
2.30, 4.30, 7.30, 9.30 pm
Director: David Ayer
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington,
Terrence Howard
Duration: 109min
x-men: days of future past_
room 3
2.30, 7.15 pm
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman
Duration: 131min
edge of tomorrow_
room 3
4.45, 9.30 pm
Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton
Duration: 113min
macau tower
05 Jun - 25 Jun
maleficent (3D)_
2.15, 4.45, 7.15, 9.45 pm
Director: Robert Stromberg
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley
Duration: 97min
1965 Drink-drive limit
to be introduced
The government has announced it will introduce a
blood alcohol limit for drivers.
Anyone found to be driving when over the set limit
will be penalised in the hope it will deter drivers from
drink driving and make roads safer.
The move comes as the number of road accidents
continues to rise despite a press campaign highlighting the dangers of drink driving.
Existing road safety laws will also be reinforced in a
major crackdown by the government.
A government spokesman announcing the plans
said as yet it was unknown what the blood alcohol
limit would be or how it would be tested.
The Home Office and police will enforce the new law
when it is revealed in the Road Safety Bill expected
next year.
The move is part of the government’s campaign to
make people to take more care on the roads and look
out for themselves, other drivers and pedestrians.
“I think we are all of us conscious of the need to
strengthen enforcement if this is possible at all” the
government spokesman said.
“What is most desirable is that more and more people exercise greater responsibility in the use of our
roads” he added.
Courtesy BBC News
In context
In January 1966 the new Road Safety Bill was introduced. It
set a limit of 80mg of alcohol in 100cc of blood and it became
an offence to drive when over this limit.
In 1967 the breathalyser was introduced as a way of testing a
person’s blood alcohol level.
The introduction of the drink drive limit has dramatically
reduced the number of accidents caused by being drunk when
driving. However, campaigners and the government continue
to promote the ‘Don’t drink and drive’ message.
In 1995 the Campaign Against Drink Driving (CADD) was
formed by relatives of drink-driver victims. It continues to
highlight the issue of drink driving to the public and government.
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
資訊／娛樂
Taurus
Mar. 21-Apr. 19
April 20-May 20
Today requires careful planning on
your part — and fortunately, your
thinking is deliberate. It’s a great
time to absorb all the variables and
come up with something bold and
unexpected.
Someone is trying to get attention
by breaking all the rules — and
while you’re tempted to bust them
for it, you may just be playing into
their hands. Try to take a measured
approach to the situation.
Gemini
Cancer
May 21-Jun. 21
Jun. 22-Jul. 22
You should be seeing things quite a
bit differently by the end of the day
— so make sure that you’re ready
for a big shift in perspective. It’s a
good time to change your plans for
the better.
You have got to display adaptability
today — even if you’d rather just
slink home and crawl back under
the covers. It’s a good time to check
into your newest issue and see if
you can solve it quickly.
Leo
Virgo
Jul. 23-Aug. 22
Aug. 23-Sept. 22
You need to take greater care with
a person or project that seems to be
taking up more mental space than
it deserves. It is actually important,
so make sure that you’re taking it
seriously.
Your energy is a bit diffuse today,
so you may find it harder than
usual to keep your comments
productive. That’s not to say you’re
mean-spirited, of course; just that
you need to keep it upbeat.
Libra
Sep.23-Oct. 22
Oct. 23 - Nov. 21
It may be a bit harder for you to
open up to new ideas today — so
see if you can trick yourself! Just
because you’re not feeling it, that
doesn’t mean you won’t have a
change of heart tomorrow.
Capricorn
Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Dec. 22-Jan. 19
It’s a great day to keep your mind
wide-open — as long as you’re not
just going along with any kooky
idea that comes your way. Retain a
vestige of skepticism to keep from
looking ridiculous.
It’s time to change something up
— maybe your look, or maybe your
career goals. It’s also a good time
for you to step into a new role, as
long as you’re not just jumping for
the sake of jumping.
Aquarius
SUDOKU
Weather
Easy
Medium
Hard
Feb.19-Mar. 20
Your divine energy is radiating out
in all directions, attracting all the
right people to your brilliance. It’s
a great time for some new ideas,
and your creative energy is nearly
boundless!
Change is coming, like it or not.
The weird thing is it feels really
sudden, but if you just let it wash
over you, you should quickly
realize that it’s been coming for
weeks or even years.
Down: 1- Con game; 2- Walking stick; 3- Served perfectly; 4- Perlman of “Cheers”; 5Wooden wheel rims; 6- Decoration at the top of a chair leg; 7- Ballot choice; 8- Concerning;
9- Young bird; 10- Delphic shrine; 11- Rate;
12- Rodeo horse; 13- Squealed; 21- Lisa,
Yesterday’s solution
to Bart, briefly; 23- Must’ve been something
___; 25- Pass into disuse; 27- Wall St. debuts;
28- Fr. miss; 29- Fleshy fruit; 30- Hurried;
34- Limb of a felled tree; 35- Make ___ for
oneself; 36- “The Time Machine” people; 37Feathers; 38- Manure; 40- Collecting; 41- This
was produced by Van Gogh, for example;
43- Mine finds; 44- Re-enter the atmosphere;
45- Sound investment?; 47- The fruit of a hen;
48- Light ___; 49- Autocratic Russian rulers;
50- Puccini classic; 52- Lhasa ___; 53- Public
disturbance; 55- Get one’s ducks in ___; 56Fork feature; 57- “What I Am” singer Brickell;
58- Peruse; 61- Wind dir.
Crossword puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com
Crosswords
Across: 1- Sash; 6- Author Hunter; 10- Spheres; 14- Hiding place; 15- Top-flight; 16- ___
avis; 17- Slippery as ___; 18- Numbered rds.; 19- Lots and lots; 20- Military decorations;
22- Alluring; 24- Vinegar’s partner; 26- Aztec god of rain; 27- Emblem; 31- Mineral suffix;
32- Entreaties; 33- Flat surface; 36- Actor Byrnes; 39- Pearl Buck heroine; 40- For ___
(cheap); 41- Baseball family name; 42- Sun. delivery; 43- Last letter of the Greek alphabet;
44- Destroy by immersion; 45- Madrid Mrs.; 46- Assembly; 48- Bear witness; 51- Feeling of
self-importance; 52- Estimator; 54- Abrading tool; 59- Carson’s predecessor; 60- Egyptian
goddess of fertility; 62- Newly married woman; 63- Regal address; 64- Sgts., e.g.; 65Ancient Greek colony; 66- Estimator’s phrase; 67- Movable barrier; 68- Coarse wool cloth;
Max
Beijing
20
30
thundershower
Harbin
15
23
cloudy/thundershower
Tianjin
22
31
overcast/thundershower
Urumqi
18
28
clear
Xi’an
23
36
clear/cloudy
Lhasa
13
27
clear/cloudy
Chengdu
21
32
cloudy
Chongqing
23
35
cloudy
Kunming
17
24
shower/cloudy
Nanjing
21
30
cloudy
Shanghai
22
28
overcast
Wuhan
22
33
cloudy
Hangzhou
22
30
overcast/cloudy
Taipei
28
33
overcast/drizzle
Guangzhou
26
33
thundershower
Hong Kong
28
32
shower
Moscow
9
16
drizzle
Frankfurt
14
24
cloudy
Paris
13
22
cloudy/clear
London
13
23
clear/drizzle
New York
22
29
drizzle/clear
Condition
world
Pisces
Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Min
China
Easy+
Scorpio
You can get a deeper sense of what
other people are going through today
as long as you tap into your positive
mental energy. It’s not hard, and the
insights are sure to keep you in good
spirits.
Sagittarius
17
The Born Loser by Chip Sansom
YOUR STARS
Aries
INFOTAINMENT
Useful telephone numbers
Emergency calls 999
Taxi (Yellow) 28 519 519
Fire department 28 572 222
Taxi (Black) 28 939 939
PJ (Open line) 993
Water Supply – Report 1990 992
PJ (Picket) 28 557 775
Telephone – Report 1000
PSP 28 573 333
Electricity – Report 28 339 922
Customs 28 559 944
Macau Daily Times 28 716 081
S. J. Hospital 28 313 731
Kiang Wu Hospital 28 371 333
Commission Against
Corruption (CCAC) 28326 300
IACM 28 387 333
Tourism 28 333 000
Airport 59 888 88
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18
SPORTS
18.06.2014 wed
th Anniversary
體育
Roundup
Travel
Germany and US win,
Nigeria-Iran play first draw
Jenny Barchfield, Manaus
L
ap photo
ight plays off the Solimoes River, duplicating
the verdant canopy of the
Amazon rainforest on the
water’s surface.
The landscape that glides
by the Almirante Barbosa
is breathtaking, but almost
no one aboard the boat pays
attention. Nearly all the passengers doze in dozens of
hammocks strung from the
boat’s rafters, lulled to sleep
by the rocking motion, the
motor’s chugging, and the
tropical swelter.
Boats like the Almirante
Barbosa are the lifeline of
Brazil’s Amazon region, carrying passengers and staple
goods ranging from rice to
diapers to remote riverside villages inaccessible any
other way.
They’re also a great way for
World Cup fans in the remote Amazon city of Manaus to
make a quick jungle escape
between matches.
The lumbering wooden
vessels are slow going — the
Almirante Barbosa chugs at
some 20 kilometers an hour —
and trips can stretch out for
days or even weeks.
While most tourists opt for
speedboats for their jungle
journeys, a riverboat day trip
can give even World Cup visitors on a tight schedule a
taste of authentic Amazonian life.
Carved out of the heart
of the world’s largest forest where the onyx waters
of the Rio Negro and milky
tea-hued Solimoes meet to
form the immense Amazon,
Manaus is host to four matches, including the game between Cameroon and Croatia today.
Dozens of boats set sail
from Manaus daily for destinations such as Belem,
about 1,300 kilometers (800
miles) to the east, or to Sao
Gabriel da Cachoiera, 860
kilometers to the west, along
the Rio Negro’s headwaters
near Brazil’s border with Colombia.
Around the port, hustlers
with loudspeakers announce their vessels’ destinations
and the various stops they
will make along the way.
Laborers wearing hats that
look like Turkish fezzes jostle up and down the docks
with giant loads atop their
heads, the hats’ flat surfaces
helping balance impressive
loads — sacks of beans and
sugar, giant bunches of bananas, six-packs of beer.
Manacapuru, about 79 kilometers up the Solimoes
from Manaus, is among
the best destinations for an
easy day trip — and a ticket
that’s just USD11. There’s
not much to see in the town
itself, but the six-hour voyage is stunning. Plus, Manacapuru is among a few destinations easily accessible by
car, and a $65 cab ride gets
day-trippers back to the city
in an hour.
Potential travelers would
be wise to board well ahead
of the scheduled departure
and bring a hammock. Stalls
in Manaus’ Adolpho Lisboa
market in front of the port,
and a row of shops behind
the market, have hammocks
for every budget, from $5 to
$100-plus.
Travelers without hammocks will have a hard time
finding a place to sit on the
boat, and competition for
on-board real estate can be
fierce. On the often-overcrowded vessels, hammocks
are hung from the overhead
wooden beams and stacked
two- or even three-high bunk
bed-style, with adults on the
lower levels and kids above.
Food is included in the ticket price, but gastronomical variety is not: Every day,
there’s bread and coffee for
breakfast, followed by chicken, rice and white noodles
for lunch and dinner. The
only other food available is
fare like cookies and chips at
the boat’s snack bar. AP
ap photo
Amazon boat trips beckon
World Cup visitors
A desperate Cristiano Ronaldo protests in vain to referee Milorad Mazic from Serbia
Stephen Wade
Sports Writer, Rio de Janeiro
G
ermany was supposed
to be a team that would
melt in Brazil’s tropics, and the
United States was supposed to
be a team that can’t beat Ghana.
Both teams flipped the scripts
on Monday and find themselves
tied atop Group G.
In Salvador, Thomas Mueller
scored a hat trick and Germany
dominated Portugal — which
played with 10 men after a red
card in the 37th minute — 4-0,
leaving German President Angela Merkel with a big smile.
Clint Dempsey scored in the
first minute and rookie substitute John Brooks scored in the
86th as the U.S. defeated Ghana 2-1 in Natal, with Vice President Joe Biden watching and
giving the team a postgame pep
talk.
Ghana had eliminated the
Americans from the last two
World Cups.
The two games helped the
World Cup continue to deliver
lots of goals — 44 in the first 14
games.
Nigeria played Iran in the
day’s other match, and neither
team added to that tally. The
Group E
PL
W
DRAW
L
GF-GA
PNT
France
1
1
0
0
3-0
3
Switzerland
1
1
0
0
2-1
3
Ecuador
1
0
0
1
1-2
0
Honduras
1
0
0
1
0-3
0
PL
W
DRAW
L
GF-GA
PNT
Argentina
1
1
0
0
2-1
3
Nigeria
1
0
1
0
0-0
1
Iran
1
0
1
0
0-0
1
Bosnia-Herz.
1
0
0
1
1-2
0
Group G
PL
W
DRAW
L
GF-GA
PNT
Germany
1
1
0
0
4-0
3
USA
1
1
0
0
2-1
3
Ghana
1
0
0
1
1-2
0
Portugal
1
0
0
1
0-4
0
Group F
Men chat as they travel in the “Almirante Barbosa” regional boat, on the
Solimoes river near Manaus
teams played the first draw
of this World Cup, finishing
scoreless. Argentina defeated Bosnia 2-1 on Sunday in
the other Group F match, and
both will feel confident after
watching Nigeria and Iran fail
to produce.
Two seeded teams — defending champion Spain and Uruguay — were upset earlier. That
fate would not befall Germany
on Monday.
It was Germans’ 100th World
Cup match, and they had it wrapped up by halftime.
Mueller, who led the 2010
World Cup with five goals, scored on either side of Mats Hummels’ headed goal as Germany
took a 3-0 lead at the break. He
added his third goal in the 81st.
“To score three goals in the
World Cup opener against such
an opponent is great,” Mueller
said.
“After 20 minutes, we looked
up at the clock and thought
it was going to be a long day,”
he added. “But we got into the
match very well and when you
lead by 2-0 in this heat and
then even get the third, it was
all over.”
Cristiano Ronaldo started at
Arena Fonte Nova despite some
nagging injuries. The winner
of FIFA’s best player award, he
faded after threatening early in
the match. He had a shot from a
break that Germany goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer blocked, but there was nobody from Portugal to
pounce on the rebound.
The United States scored at
beginning and the end, but for
most the match it was on the
back foot as the Africans attacked, pushed the Americans
deep into the box, but failed to
finish in a physical match.
Dempsey’s goal was the quickest ever by an American and
one of the fastest in World Cup
history. He’s the first American
to score in three different World Cups.
Brooks got the winner on a
header in the 86th, just four
minutes after Andre Ayew
equalized.
The 21-year-old defender
was a second-half substitute
and an unexpected addition to
the American roster. He was
overcome and fell to the ground as teammates piled on. He
made his national team debut
in August.
“I said it to the bench minutes
before, we’re going to get some
chances still,” U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “So we are
still in the game after the equalizer, we just need to kind of
push and push and grind it out.
That’s what they did.”
U.S. players ran onto the field
to celebrate at the final whistle,
jumping as supporters chanted
“U-S-A! U-S-A!”
“We have a great spirit,”
Klinsmann said. “The U.S. team
always has a great spirit and fights until the last second.”
The defending Cup of Africa
Nations champion, Nigeria will
be more disappointed with the
draw than Iran.
Neither Iran nor Nigeria has
won a match at the World Cup
since 1998. AP
wed 18.06.2014
th Anniversary
體育
SPORTS
19
BRAZIL BEAT
Match of the day
Spain hopes to reverse
Maracana luck
Drought over
ap photo
Clint Dempsey wasted no time in ending the goal drought
by U.S. forwards at the World Cup. The Americans' captain
scored in the first minute of their opener against Ghana
— the fastest World Cup goal in his country's history.
U.S. strikers had failed to find the net in the previous two
tournaments: The last goal came from Brian McBride
against Mexico in the second round in 2002 in South Korea.
Game room
No. 3 goalkeeper Mattia Perin has one foot high in the air
as he leans down to return a table tennis shot. Daniele De
Rossi is battling Ignazio Abate in a video game. Andrea
Pirlo interrupts a pinball game to glance at the camera.
The photo that defender Leonardo Bonucci posted on
Instagram last week offered insight into what Italy's
players do with their free time at the Portobello Resort &
Safari. On Monday, goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu revealed
which player is better at what on PlayStation and Xbox.
"Thiago Motta gets the gold medal at war games," he said.
"And I'm happy to let everyone know (De Rossi) is no
good," Sirigu added with a laugh.
Words of encouragement
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari sent a message to his
former Portugal players after their 4-0 loss to Germany. "I
tell my friends that when I was the coach at the Euro (in
2004) we also lost the first match and we still went on to
the final," Scolari said. "This is what I can say to motivate
them. They have to regroup to try to win the next match,
and then win again to make sure they can advance. We lost
it that time at home but we still reached the final. It can
still happen and this Portugal team can do it."
Brazilians for Portugal
Outside Restaurant Haddock Grill hangs a big flag of
Brazil, and a small one of Portugal. Inside, businessmen
in suits and ties are having their lunch break — chattering
loudly over their dishes with their eyes glued to the screen
above the buffet offering. Portugal is playing its first World
Cup game, and the mood suddenly turns dour as the team
surrenders its second goal of the first half, en route to a 4-0
thrashing at the hands of Germany. Even though Brazil has
been independent from Portugal for nearly two centuries,
most of the diners appear partial to the squad of their
former colonizers.
Spain’s head coach Vicente del Bosque, left, smiles as Diego Costa, second left, embraces Pedro Rodriguez during a training session at the
Atletico Paranaense training center in Curitiba
Spain v Chile
Home 1.61, Draw 4.5, Away 6
T
he Maracana is not filled with many fond memories for Spain, whose
World Cup title is on the
line at the iconic football stadium.
Spain returns to the Maracana
for today's [Thursday, 3am] must-win match against Chile nearly one year after a 3-0 defeat to
Brazil in the Confederations Cup
final.
Spain's 5-1 loss to the Netherlands to open Group B was its
heaviest competitive defeat since
a 6-1 defeat to Brazil at the famed
stadium in Rio de Janeiro at the
1950 World Cup.
Spain isn't letting its poor history at one of the sport's most storied settings become a distraction,
however, as it looks to reverse its
poor start.
matches
results
Germany 4
0
"The Maracana is mythical, but
the only wish is for the result to
be completely different from last
year's Confederations Cup final
and we can win," Spain midfielder
Juan Mata said.
Spain can take heart from two
victories at the Maracana during
the 1950 World Cup, 1-0 against
England and 2-0 against Chile.
Spain now needs to repeat that
win over Chile, but preferably
with an even bigger scoreline to
make up for its poor goal differential.
"It's a stadium with so much history, and we've played there already. It's an important place and
hopefully that can work in our
favor," said forward Pedro Rodriguez, who many expect to replace
David Silva in the starting lineup
today. "What's clear is that we
cannot afford to fail."
Spain will also have to deal with
another change in temperature as
it goes from the cool, winter weather of its training base in Curitiba to the warmer, muggier confimacau time
Portugal
Thu
00:00
Australia
Netherlands
06:00
Cameroon
Croatia
03:00
Spain
Chile
Iran
0
0
Nigeria
Thu
Ghana
1
2
USA
Thu
nes of Rio de Janeiro. The team
tired in the humidity of Salvador
against the Dutch.
"We'll adapt to the change of
temperature, I don't think it will
affect our chances," Pedro said.
Mata also thought the team would have enough time to adapt after
traveling to Rio late Monday.
"We're happy training here, and
I don't think just because the temperature will rise a few degrees
will be a determining factor or an
excuse," he said.
Spain has tended to start recent
tournaments slowly, losing to
Switzerland in its 2010 World Cup
opener before drawing against
Italy in its first Euro 2012 game.
But both times it went on to lift
the trophy.
This time, however, it finds itself
in an uphill struggle in perhaps
the tournament's toughest group.
Pedro said Spain would be keeping an eye on his Barcelona
teammate Alexis Sanchez, who
guided Chile to its opening 3-1
victory over Australia.
"Alexis is the big star of that
team, he assumes responsibility
for leading it," Pedro said. "His
role at Barcelona is different. Chile relies on him more, and he had
a great season and scored a lot of
goals." AP / Odds by Betfair
Piranhas? No problem at
Manaus beach
ap photo
Paul Logothetis
Sports Writer, Curitiba
Beaches are a big part of life for most Brazilians, and the
locals deep in the Amazon jungle are definitely Brazilian.
In Manaus, the most exotic of the 12 World Cup host cities,
the residents head to the posh neighborhood of Ponta
Negra to lounge on the sandy beach and take a dip in the
Rio Negro, the river that joins up with the Amazon River
on the other side of the city. The warm water, as its name
implies, is dark, but with a bit of a red tint. Oh yeah, there
are piranhas in there, too, but that doesn’t seem to bother
anyone. And neither does the rain.
First draw
The very first day of the 2010 World Cup, both games
ended as draws — one of them scoreless. The 2014
tournament made it to its fifth day and 13th match before
its first tie. Nigeria and Iran ended 0-0 in their Group F
opener, a dull contrast to the streak of high-scoring games,
all with a winner.
THE
HK: Jimmy Lai’s Next Media
Station
BUZZ newspaper lose major ads
opinion
Vox Parva
Benedict Keith Ip
Sylvia Hui, London
C
20-40
Good
High
Density
20-40
Residental Good
Area
Ambient
25-45
Good
WORLD BRIEFS
Persian Golf Nearly 300
armed American forces are
being positioned in and
around Iraq to help secure
U.S. assets as President
Barack Obama nears a
decision on an array of
options for combating fastmoving Islamic insurgents,
including airstrikes or
deploying a contingent of
special forces.
Persian Golf British
Foreign Secretary William
Hague says “circumstances
are right” to reopen Britain’s
embassy in Iran, which was
closed in 2011 after hardliners overran the building
and ransacked it. The
announcement represents
another step in the thaw in
recent days between Iran
and the West.
Queen welcomes Chinese Premier at Windsor Castle
soldiers and a meeting
with Cameron at his office
in Downing Street.
Cameron told reporters
he and Li also discussed
terrorism, Iraq and Ukraine, among other topics.
He did not directly address China’s human rights record, a subject that
often raises Beijing’s ire.
Around 100 rights activists campaigning for
ap photo
hinese premier Li
Keqiang oversaw yesterday the signing of trade
deals with Britain worth
billions during an official
visit that kicked off with a
meeting with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.
Britain pulled out all its
ceremonial stops for Li,
who is on a three-day visit to boost trade ties and
mend diplomatic relations
that had cooled after Prime Minister David Cameron met with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai
Lama in 2012.
Business, not thorny political topics, dominated
the visit, with the two sides focusing on potential
collaboration in nuclear
power, high-speed railways and finance.
Cameron
announced
business deals worth 14
billion pounds (USD23.7
billion), saying Britain is
a “strong and good friend
of China and supporter of
China’s rise.” He stressed
how important the countries’ ties are to Britain’s
economic recovery.
Earlier, a military band
played to welcome Li and
his wife Cheng Hong to
Windsor Castle, before
the queen greeted the pair
in a lavishly decorated
drawing room. The Chinese leader then traveled to
central London for a formal inspection of British
ap photo
China, UK sign business
deals during state visit
O Clarim’s trilingual approach
The Portuguese weekly newspaper O
Clarim took another step forward in the first
week of June – setting out on a journey to
publish its very first Chinese edition. According to MDT’s interview with new director Fr.
Joey Mandia in April, it was “still a dream” to
transform it into a trilingual newspaper. Yet
this dream has come to be realized; and on
the week of Pentecost as well.
This church-owned Catholic newspaper
has a long history. It was founded with the
help of the St. Joseph Seminary in May
1948. Since then it has always been published in Portuguese, until it began to include an English supplement in April as well as
a Chinese supplement this June. Currently
there are three Portuguese daily newspapers (Hoje Macau, Ponto Final and Tribuna
de Macau) and one new Sino-Portuguese weekly newspaper, Plataforma Macau.
Thus there are already two Portuguese
newspapers that have introduced a Chinese edition to broaden its readership.
It is not easy for news agencies to survive
without government subsidies in Macau. O
Clarim’s executive editor Jose Miguel Encarnacao discussed the subsidy situation in
2008, revealing that 16 newspaper agencies in Macau have received a total amount
of 9.3 million subsidies for running their businesses, in which each of them somehow
received an amount ranging from MOP
16,000 to 819,000. And frankly speaking,
it is impossible to run a news agency on a
tiny readership.
So far, after the release of the English supplement in O Clarim, the print run in June
has increased to over 1,000 copies, compared with a mere several hundred copies
being made available in the Portuguese
edition. Reasons vary, mostly because the
supplements are free of charge, while there
is a MOP 12 token for a Portuguese edition.
Yet the Chinese edition has received a very
sound reception from the Catholic community. In my parish, we got 20 free copies
of O Clarim’s Sino-English edition for distribution every Sunday morning, and it was
immediately “sold” out once they were put
on the rack.
No doubt the English edition will become
a very important “information and formation” platform for both information sharing
as well as evangelization. Macau is increasingly having more and more faithful
English speakers who will benefit from reporting both the universal and local church news released in an English medium.
In the Chinese community, the dominating
newsletters are Aurora 晨曦, founded also
by the St. Joseph Seminary in the 1950s;
Macau Observer 澳門觀察報, currently led
by ex-Legco member Paul Chan Wai Chi;
a biweekly newsletter Faith News 信訊, led
by Fr. Joao Evangelista Lau Him Sang; and
many other associations, such as Caritas
Macau. Each of them has a unique feature
and position on reporting news, events and
social issues.
To me I am more than happy to see O Clarim penetrate a trilingual audience and position itself in a newspaper-like layout and
content. The structure is divided by universal news, local news, and reflections on
church doctrines, philosophy and events.
There is also a useful annex at the transitional page, which can serve as material
for continuous learning and study. I foresee
that if O Clarim can work closely with other
news agencies, it will become another influential information platform.
by the Chinese government. Both banks said
their advertising decisions were commercial.
Next Media Limited, a newspaper, television
and Internet company based in Hong Kong
and Taiwan, is known for its strong advocacy
of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong. Under
its owner, Jimmy Lai, Next Media has been
sharply critical of the Beijing government.
Last week, an animated video on its website
excoriated China’s newly issued policy paper
on Hong Kong.
source: dsmg
In what may be a major escalation of pressure
by mainland China on Hong Kong’s independent-minded news media, two major British
banks have stopped advertising with one of the
city’s biggest newspapers, The New York Times
revealed recently, citing a top executive.
The executive, Mark Simon of Next Media
Limited, said that two London-based banks,
HSBC and Standard Chartered, ended a longtime advertising relationship late last year with
the Apple Daily paper after being told to do so
Roadside
Air quality
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, right, meets with British Prime Minister David
Cameron as he arrives for a meeting at 10 Downing Street
Tibetan
independence
and other issues staged
a colorful protest near
Downing Street, fighting
for attention with a rival
pro-China group. A heavy
police presence held the
protesters at arms’ length,
though their chants could
be heard as Cameron and
Li shook hands and posed
for photographers.
Li’s meeting with the
queen was a significant
political gesture because
the privilege is typically
granted to a head of state.
Analysts say China likely
pushed for the royal audience, underscoring its
increasingly
aggressive
approach to diplomacy.
As the world’s second
largest economy and a rising political force, Beijing considers its leaders
deserving of all honors
and distinctions when
they go abroad — and it
isn’t afraid to make demands.
China and the U.S. have
tangled over protocol surrounding state visits, with
Beijing insisting they be
defined as top level.
The last Chinese premier
to visit Britain was Wen
Jiabao in 2011. AP
India Two crowded buses
went out of control and
fell off roads in separate
accidents in the Himalayan
foothills in northern India,
killing a total of 21 people.
Both accidents happened as
the buses were negotiating
winding mountainous
roads. India has the world’s
deadliest roads, with more
than 110,000 people killed
annually and most accidents
blamed on reckless driving,
poor road maintenance or
aging vehicles.
Albania Albanian
authorities are sending
hundreds more police
to a lawless southern
village where suspected
marijuana growers used
rocket-propelled grenades,
mortars and machine guns
in response to a police drug
raid. Police said yesterday
they were increasing their
numbers on the outskirts of
Lazarat from 500 to 800 after
sporadic shooting continued
overnight, wounding a
special forces police officer.
Germany German
prosecutors have charged
Croatia’s former spy chief
with being an accessory
to murder in the 1983
killing of a Yugoslav
dissident in Bavaria. Croatia
extradited Josip Perkovic
to Germany in January
to face prosecution over
the shooting and beating
of Stjepan Djurekovic.
The dissident’s murder
in Wolfratshausen, near
Munich, was allegedly
carried out by Yugoslavia’s
secret service, which was
notorious for eliminating
opponents of the
communist regime.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - edition no. 2088

Transcription

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