Wednesday, September 10, 2014 – edition no. 2147

central hospital admits to
unknowingly using tainted oil
backpacking through southeast
asia to break stereotypes
The Health Bureau director Lei Chin
Ion admitted that the public hospital
bought food products containing
tainted oil imported from Taiwan
A Macanese woman embarked on
an unforgettable journey through
Southeast Asia. She was surprised by
the multiculturalism that she found
P3
report:
malaysian
flight mh17
downed
by outside
impacts P6 MDT FEATURE
P13
WED. 10
Sep 2014
T. 27º/ 32º C
H. 65/ 90%
N.º 2147
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Founder & Publisher Kowie Geldenhuys
Editor-in-Chief Paulo Coutinho
“ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ”
WORLD BRIEFS
CHINA-US U.S. National
Security Adviser Susan Rice
repeatedly raised concerns
about risky Chinese fighter
intercepts of U.S. surveillance
flights in meetings this week
with Chinese leaders in
Beijing, senior administration
officials say. More on p10
YEMEN Police opened fire on
demonstrators led by Shiite
rebels who were marching
toward the prime minister’s
office in the capital yesterday,
killing at least four people
and wounding 10, officials
said. Police first fired tear gas
then switched to live ammo
at the rally, led by so-called
Hawthi rebels who have
been fighting against Sunni
tribesmen in the country’s
north over the past months
and now want to topple the
government.
European business group
says China ‘needs a whole
new era of reform’
P11
LIBERIA World Health
Organization figures show
that a surge in new cases
in Liberia has driven up the
number of people believed
to be infected with Ebola to
more than 4,200. That new
toll includes more than 500
news cases in Liberia in just a
week. The U.N. health agency
has said that it expects
thousands of new infections
in Liberia, the hardest
hit country in the current
outbreak, in the coming
weeks.
More on backpage
ad
Delegates visit tourist attractions
before APEC meeting kicks off
P5
AFA Art
Courses open
for application
To promote contemporary
art education, the Art For All
Society (AFA) is set to launch
a range of art courses in
October. Twelve art programs
for both children and adults
will include Installation Art;
Florentine Painting; Life
Drawing and Life Oil Painting;
Art and Meditation; Digital
Manipulation Workshop;
Stream-of-Consciousness
Workshop; Ready-made Art;
Art x Thinking; Story of Art;
Introduction to Traditional
Chinese Painting; Curatorial
Theory and Practice; and
Painting for kids. Applications
are now open to the public.
UM takes part
in disaster
related learning
program in the
Philippines
The University of Macau’s
(UM) assistant professor
of psychology Brian Hall
(interviewed last week by the
Times) and psychology student
Wu Yan recently participated
in an international service
learning program in the
Philippines. More than 100
students from over ten Asian
universities participated
in the program, hosted by
the Central Philippines
University and organized by
a consortium of universities
in the Philippines. United
Nations officials, presidents
of local universities, leaders
of nongovernmental
organizations, and scholars
from around the world
attended the event to discuss
with student participants the
impact of disasters on the
environment, as well as on the
physical and mental health of
affected populations. Dr Brian
Hall was invited to give a
speech on disasters’ impact on
the mental health of surviving
victims and evidence-based
intervention strategies.
澳聞
Health Bureau urges
Chan Pou U’s family to
share HK medical report
T
he Health Bureau has urged the family of teenager
suffering from chronic pain to
share a medical report with Macau’s public hospital which was
issued by Queen Mary Hospital
in Hong Kong. This report confirms that Chan Pou U’s chronic
pain was caused by a tailbone
injury. The youngster has been
living in severe pain for four
years, after he was pushed to
the ground by a fellow student.
The group, Macau Conscience, helped expose the case in
June, revealing that the 17-year
-old boy had fractured his coccyx and treatment at Macau’s
public hospital had failed to
improve his condition. Chan
Pou U’s family claimed that he
was forced to quit school, due
to being unable to sit down
without being in excruciating
pain.
Macau Conscience also helped
the family launch a fundraising
campaign, aiming to enable
Chan to be seen by Hong Kong
physicians. Jason Chao, member of Macau Conscience, said
that MOP90,000 had been raised so far.
In July, TDM News reported
that the teenager was examined
at Hong Kong’s Queen Mary
Hospital, and results showed
that his chronic pain was caused by a tailbone injury. His
family revealed in a press conference held on Friday that the
hospital suggested a nerve block injection, followed by tailbo-
Teenager Chan Pou U (far right)
ne removal surgery provided
there is no more pain.
Chan Pou U’s family has
claimed that both Conde São
Januário hospital (CHCSJ) and
the Youth and Education Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) have failed
to adequately handle the case.
The head of the Health Bureau Mr Lei Chin Ion, has urged
the teen’s family to share with
Conde São Januário’s medical team the report issued by
Queen Mary Hospital. If this is
not done, the family will not be
allowed to act upon his case.
Questioned by reports last
weekend, Lei Chin Ion recalled
that, if CHCSJ is to be provided
with a copy of the medical report, an assistant physician could conduct an in-depth assessment of Chan’s case, referring it
to the Board of Overseas Health
Care for consideration, if confirmed that medical treatment outside Macau is necessary.
Any treatment shall be based
only on the judgment of a professional physician, the Health
Bureau stressed in a statement,
adding that the case cannot be
judged “by what has been reported by the media.”
Macau’s public hospital cannot ask Queen Mary Hospital
for the medical report and information without the patient’s
authorization, they stressed.
The assessment of the case by
the Board of Overseas Health
Care in Macau would determine whether or not Chan Pou U’s
case qualifies for financial aid
to undergo treatment outside
Macau.
Coutinho advises gov’t
to protect local currency
L
awmakers José
Pereira Coutinho and
Leong Veng Chai have
urged the government to
launch measures protecting the local currency.
Both had addressed the
issue in March, but government responses to
their enquiries were not
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satisfactory, they said in
a recent written enquiry.
José Pereira Countinho
and Leong Veng Chai argue that many services or
shops request payment in
foreign currencies instead
of allowing clients to pay
with patacas.
Coutinho recalled that
back in March he had submitted an enquiry to authorities regarding measures to supervise local
currency use. He was also
eager to know more about
measures taken to simplify pataca exchange procedures in neighboring regions such as Hong Kong,
However, Chan’s mother continues to claim that the Health
Bureau has never shown concern over her son’s case.
“The government hasn’t been
concerned about his case. They
never visited us, and never
asked us about it. We will definitely urge DSEJ and the Health Bureau to take responsibility, and to refer my son to undergo medical treatment overseas,” said his mother, quoted
by TDM News.
On the other hand, the Health
Bureau argues that since the beginning CHCSJ team “has paid
close attention to Chan Pou U’s
health and has never given up
on providing him with the necessary medical treatment.”
When Chan fell on the floor
after an argument with a fellow
student back in 2010, he did
not feel that his injury was too
serious. At first, the pain was
not severe. However, the level
of pain evolved to the point
where he was no longer able to
sit down.
X-rays performed at Macau’s
public hospital showed that he
had fractured his coccyx, but
the family claims he was only
given painkillers.
His mother also claimed that
they had been pressured by the
school to hand in a “recovery
certificate,” which would allow
them to conclude an insurance
claiming process. The parents complied and handed in a
recovery certificate signed by
two Chinese doctors who did
not practice Western medicine.
While Chan Pou U was apparently far from cured, the insurance policy did not reimburse
the family for other medical
treatment or appointments.
The Health Bureau insisted at
the time that they had expressed a willingness to treat the
patient, but both the teenager
and his family “were not always
cooperative.” CP
renato marques
MACAU
th Anniversary
photo archive
2
10.09.2014 wed
Taiwan and Zhuhai.
Lawmakers claim that a
high number of shops and
commercial areas do not
provide prices in patacas,
thus violating the law.
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]
José Pereira Coutinho
and Leong Veng Chai questioned the government yet
again on measures taken
to supervise the use and
exchange of local currency.
A Macau Times Publications Ltd Publication
Administrator and Chief Executive Officer
Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected]
Secretary Juliana Cheang [email protected]
Address 2nd Floor 62 Av. Infante D. Henrique, MACAU SAR
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ISSN 2305-4271
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
澳聞
T
3
Central hospital admits to
unknowingly using tainted oil
renato marques
he Taiwanese gutter oil fiasco has hit a
number of public institutions in Macau. The
Health Bureau (SSM) revealed
that three government departments, including Conde de
São Januário General Hospital
(CHCSJ), had bought food products from a local producer that
used lard imported from the
slated Chang Guann Company
in Taiwan.
SSM director Lei Chin Ion
broke the news during a joint
press conference, comprising
of his department and the Civic
and Municipal Affairs Bureau
(IACM) on Monday.
He said that CHCSJ started
buying from Hang Fong Food
Factory Ltd, one of the food
producers on an IACM list of
local businesses that used the
problematic lard from Chang
Guann around a year ago.
For two months, the company
was supplying the public hospital with 30 kilograms of bread
every day.
“After we verified [the information], we have decided today
[September 8] to immediately
stop using all foods [supplied
by] this company. This is to ensure the protection (…) of medical staffs and patients”, the
director said.
He added that CHCSJ is in the
process of finding a safer and
more reliable food supplier,
MACAU
The Conde de São Januário General Hospital
but claimed that it was “a bit
challenging”.
Lei Chin Ion also revealed that
until August this year, Hang
Fong has supplied a total of 726
kilograms of bread to the Institute for Tourism Studies and
the Marine and Water Bureau.
SSM claimed that it has yet
to receive any reports from patients, medical staff or residents
about experiencing any adverse
effects from consuming food
products that were suspected
to be made with Chang Guann
lard. It has set up a hotline
(2870 0800) for residents to en-
quire about the gutter oil issue.
The concern over the tainted
oil scandal in Macau has led
to concerns regarding the consumption of mooncakes. Some
local bakeries have told TDM
that sales of mooncakes have
decreased by 10 percent due
to the recent food safety incident. In fact, some locals have
expressed their fear that the
gutter oil may have been used
during the production of mooncakes. Nevertheless, a representative of a local bakery claimed to TDM that their business
had not been affected. JPL
Chang Guann lard surprisingly passes hygiene tests
T
he Taiwanese Ministry of Health
and Welfare has published the test
results of an investigation into the lard
produced by Chang Guann Company,
which showed that the food oil did meet
the government’s standards. However,
authorities still believe that the company has breached the law.
The refined lard produced by Chang
Guann Company allegedly met all the
hygiene requirements, except for those
outlined in the heavy metals that is yet
to be completed, according to Taiwan’ s
public health authority.
However, since the process of refining
recycled oil into lard employed by Chang
Guann breached the law, all products
made with the tarnished oil should be
removed from the shelves, the public
health watchdog said.
Chang Guann Company, a well-established cooking oil supplier in Taiwan,
purchased the recycled oil to produce
782 tons of lard, with 645 tons sold to
971 food companies and restaurants
including a number of leading brands.
MDT/Agencies
CSR collects less rubbish on Mid-Autumn night
T
he Macau Residue
System
Company
(CSR) revealed that it has
collected almost four tons
of rubbish from the MidAutumn Festival night,
around two-thirds less
than last year’s 11 tons.
CSR has dispatched 60
workers to collect the trash
left behind by people who
viewed the moon at more
than 10 spots throughout
Macau.
Out of all the JPL
moon
viewing locations, the
amount of rubbish collected at Hac Sa beach, the
Outer Harbour water reservoir and Bacia Norte do
Patane was the highest.
Hong Cheong Fai, CSR’s
general manager, told
TDM yesterday that the reduction may be due to the
weather and the fact that
residents have gained a better sense of hygiene.
“The weather was not
good last night [September 8] and it rained several
times (…) The cleanliness
throughout these past few
years has been improving.
Especially as there was only
very few wax burning cases
last night”, he said.
Mr Hong also added that
the workload for cleaners
was not as heavy as it was
in the previous years.
Additionally, the CSR general manager said that on
average the company collects more than 900 tons
of trash in Macau every
day. He also suggested that
among all the festivals, the
Chinese Ghost Festival is
the day when CSR collects
the most rubbish.
The local waste mana-
gement
concessionaire
started its new contract on
April 1 after the previous
concession contract ended
in 2011.
Hong Cheong Fai revealed that CSR has released
bonuses to its employees.
He also said that the company will finish installing
rear covers for its garbage
collection trucks in October. JPL
ad
MACAU
th Anniversary
澳聞
bloomberg
Macau and Zhuhai to join
forces on World Car-Free Day
M
acau and Zhuhai have
partnered to celebrate
the World Car-Free Day on
September 22. Cooperating
with its Zhuhai counterpart,
the University of Macau and
other organizations, the Macau Environmental Protection Bureau will launch a
“Low Carbon Bike Ride” on
September 20 set between
Macau and Zhuhai. Regisad
tration opens today and runs
until September 16. Organizers hope that participants
will find the eco-tour a healthy and simple way to get to
know the campus.
The Macau Environmental
Protection Bureau (DSPA)
said in a statement that it
aims to promote “ecological
tours” among citizens, while
encouraging Macau people
to choose environmentallyfriendly ways to move around
town, such as walking and by
using public transport.
Until September 16, Macau
residents aged 15 years old
and over can register (citizens under 15 need a parent’s
permission to register for the
event). There are 50 spots
available, with a maximum
registration of two places per
person.
A MOP50 deposit is required and will be refunded
upon collection of the bicycle
and registration plate after
the event.
On September 20, organizers will provide transportation from the Macau Tower
at 8:45 a.m. and will provide
participants with bikes. The
bike ride begins at UM’s Wu
Yee Sun Library square. The
ride includes stops in the
sports complex, and the Old
Students’ Library, lasting a
total of 7 kilometers.
For further information,
those interested in participating should contact the Cycling General Association of
Macau, China, or DSPA. CP
xinhua
4
10.09.2014 wed
Aviation seminar discusses
budget airline benefits
P
articipants of an aviation seminar have agreed
that budget airlines are bringing
more international travelers to
Macau and are helping the competitiveness of the Macau International Airport (MIA).
The seminar took place last
Saturday in the Macau Science
Centre. It was organized by the
Institute of Macau Civil Aviation
(IMCA), with about 80 industry representatives and IMCA
members in attendance.
They discussed the growth of
budget aviation services in the
Asia-Pacific region, their operation in Macau, as well as possible benefits of the sector to the
development of the Macau eco-
nomy.
IMCA president, Dr Deng Jun,
pointed out that among the 20
aviation operations at MIA, eight of them are budget airlines.
They have brought more than
1 million passengers to Macau
in the first eight months of this
year, accounting for 28 percent
of the total amount of passengers in that period.
Dr Deng believes that, as a result of the ongoing development
of the Macau economy, more
low-cost airlines in nearby regions will expand their services
to Macau, thus bringing more
international visitors to the city
and contributing to the prosperity of the local economy.
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
澳聞
APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting
delegates visit local attractions
before event kicks off
D
elegates to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 8th Tourism Ministerial Meeting (TMM8) are
arriving in Macau, with many of them having already taken part in a meeting and
a tour of some of the island’s main attractions yesterday.
Hosted by the China National Tourism
Administration (CNTA) and organized by
the MSAR, TMM8 will be held on September 13. According to a press release
issued by the Government Information
Bureau, preparations for the meeting
“have been finalized regarding venue arrangements, hospitality for visiting delegations, media coverage and security
work.”
A total of 152 attendees, including the
tourism ministers and representatives
of 21 APEC economies, delegates from
the APEC Secretariat, the United Nation
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO),
the World Travel and Tourism Council
(WTTC), the Asia Pacific Travel Association (PATA), and the APEC Center for
International Sustainable Tourism, have
already registered for the event. Around 300 journalists from local, mainland
China and overseas media organizations
have also registered to cover the meeting.
Around 300
journalists are
registered to cover
the meeting
A tourism workshop was held yesterday at the
Four Seasons Hotel
Prior to the opening of TMM8, the APEC
Tourism Working Group held a tourism
workshop yesterday morning. During the
event, delegates from APEC economies
discussed topics relating to integrated
development of tourism and other industries; the use of technology for smart tourism; and connectivity issues.
The 45th APEC Tourism Working Group
Meeting (TWG45) will be held today and
tomorrow. As host country, China will
brief delegates on its preparations for the
TMM8, and exchange views with the attendees on issues of common concern.
The MSAR government will host the
“Macao Night”, a welcome dinner for international delegates, on September 12.
TMM8 will officially open at the Macao
East Asian Games Dome on the morning
of September 13 (Saturday), with the
press conference for meeting achievements being held in the same afternoon.
With the theme “Exploration of Asia
Pacific Tourism Cooperation and Future Development”, the five main topics for discussion during the meeting
are related to exchanges between and
discussions concerning integration of
Asia Pacific tourism markets, facilitating transformation and growth of the
tourism industry, promoting intelligent
tourism with modern technology and
interconnection of Asia Pacific travel,
and encouraging low-carbon development and co-operation between tourism operators.
The ministerial meeting will conclude
with the announcement of the “Macau Declaration”, the event’s key achievement.
P
roposed legislation regulating online gambling
was introduced in Singapore’s
parliament on Monday. According to the newspaper “Today”,
the bill will ban remote gambling
unless it takes place through an
operator which has been issued a
special certificate of exemption.
Under the drafted bill, gamblers
betting online or over the phone
face a fine of up to SGD5,000
and six months jail. Those facilitating remote gambling may
be fined between SGD20,000
and SGD200,000, while also
xinhua
Law proposing ban on remote gambling
tabled in Singapore’s parliament
The Singapore skyline
facing up to a five-year prison
time. Parties facilitating remote gambling outside Singapore
will not be spared either, facing
fines between SGD20,000 to
SGD500,000, and up to seven
years imprisonment.
The newspaper similarly re-
ported that gambling problem
experts have previously highlighted the need to protect youth
from online gambling. The Second Minister for Home Affairs,
Mr S Iswaran, also noted the
risks online gambling poses for
young people, acknowledging
its ubiquity and accessibility.
The remote gambling industry comprises of online poker,
virtual casinos and sports betting. According to Singapore’s
Ministry of Home Affairs, it is
experiencing a boom in urban
regions. It is also important to
note that current laws do not
address remote gambling specifically, as they were drafted
and enacted before the Internet era.
The new bill includes a set
of measures, such as blocking
websites and payments, while
prohibiting advertising bans on
all forms of media.
It creates, however, an exemption scheme, through which Singapore-based organizations can
apply to be exempted from restrictions. They will have to meet
certain criteria, such as being a
non-profit organization, contributing to charitable initiatives
and possessing a good track
record in complying with local
laws, “Strait Times” reported.
MACAU
5
Renovation of
Conde São Januário
operating theaters to
last a year
The operating theaters at Conde São
Januário hospital will undergo renovation
works which are expected to last for
about a year. The Health Bureau said
in a statement that in recognition of the
usual constraints prompted by renovation
works, they have worked on an internal
reorganization, allowing urgent surgeries
to continue being performed. Regular
surgeries, however, will be rescheduled.
Nevertheless, the bureau stated that
Macau’s public hospital will continue to
perform surgeries “in accordance with
a plan to be adjusted to such situation.”
Revamping operation rooms includes
the full replacement of a 30-year-old
air conditioning system, which is no
longer efficient in maintaining a sterile
environment inside the operating theatre.
Other replacements will allow operation
rooms to accommodate “top [quality]
equipment,” computerized systems, and to
enable the development of robotic surgery.
Driver named suspect
in involuntary
manslaughter case
A driver involved in a fatal car accident
has been named an involuntary
manslaughter suspect, after the Public
Prosecutions Office (MP) concluded
its preliminary investigation. Coercive
measures have already been implemented,
the MP declared in a statement. The man,
whose surname is Leong, is a 40-year-old
Macau resident and professional driver.
On September 2, he was driving a cement
truck and stopped at the intersection of
Avenida de Venceslau de Morais and Rua
Francisco Xavier Pereira. The driver then
accelerated and allegedly drove close to
the pavement when he felt the vehicle
vibrating. He stopped upon hearing
shouting from pedestrians that someone
had been hit by the truck. An elderly
woman, aged 80, did not obey traffic
signals and attempted to cross the road,
but her upper body was crushed by the
cement truck. She died at the scene. The
prosecutor investigating the case found
enough evidence to launch an involuntary
manslaughter case, arguing that Mr
Leong acted carelessly, which resulted in
a person’s death. The driver was detained
and coercive measures were applied. The
case has been referred to police authorities
for further investigation.
ad
6
MACAU
10.09.2014 wed
th Anniversary
澳聞
TRAVEL
Macanese woman backpacks through
Southeast Asia to break stereotypes
Highlands or Perhentian Islands
were just some of the places that
made her believe that there is
more to Malaysia than she initially thought.
However, while trailing a backpacker’s path, one eventually
finds realities that provide us
with a glimpse into a different
world, sometimes hidden behind
all the beauty. “What I found
most difficult was to deal with
children asking for money. We
see they are really poor. They try
to sell you things constantly, and
you know their parents are probably behind it,” she said.
Catarina Pinto
A
backpack equipped with a
snorkeling mask and a few
pieces of light clothing easily sets
the scene for a traveling adventure
in Southeast Asia. Twenty-eightyear-old Macau-born Susana
Cruz embarked on a two-and-ahalf-month journey through Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore
without planning too far ahead.
While on the road, she broke stereotypes, and met pure human
kindness. What she brings back
are memories of those she met
along the way: a girl traveling the
world on a bike; a Hungarian family who converted to Islam; or
an Iraqi boy living in Malaysia.
Susana Cruz was born in Macau but spent the last 17 years
almost exclusively in Portugal,
before returning early this year.
Wishing to travel around Southeast Asia, she headed to Bali,
Indonesia, where a friend was
also traveling. A motorbike was
enough to traverse a handful of
beautiful landscapes and towns
before heading to the island of
Lombok.
“I had a friend in Bali. So, after
I finished work [in mid-June],
the following day I was already
on a plane. I have traveled many
times before, but mainly in Europe. This time I didn’t feel like
planning ahead too much. Apart
from Bali, I was going to be on
my own. But it’s interesting that
I met so many people along the
way. I didn’t feel alone most of
the time,” she recalled.
A woman traveling the world by
bike, wishing to go from Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, all the way
up to Bangkok, and another one
traveling the world by boat, were
some of those who inspired her
throughout her journey.
But the most unforgettable
journeys help us to break down
stereotypes; or show us that
human kindness comes exactly
when we need it.
Susana had never met Muslims
until she visited Malaysia in the
Susana Cruz in Penang, Malaysia
second part of her trip.
Making use of the well-known
Couchsurfing network, she requested accommodation from a
Hungarian family living in Penang, Malaysia.
“On the [Couchsurfing website], upon making requests for
accommodation, we should provide a more personalized profile.
I made the request to this family
and the father replied saying I
seemed like a very interesting
girl, adding that he would accept
my request mainly because I am
from Lisbon and he loves Saramago [Portuguese writer who
won the Nobel Prize],” she said.
The Hungarian family lives in
Penang and converted to Islam
a few years back. Meeting them
helped Susana break stereotypes: “What we usually hear
about Islamism is about horrific
things happening, terrorism. So
it was very interesting to discuss
things openly with them, I learned a lot about Islamism.”
Believing that Couchsurfing
is more than crashing on another’s sofa, Susana went on to
meet an Iraqi young man through the same network. Staying at
his house in Kuala Terengganu,
Malaysia, she was once more
allowed to reflect upon labels
and stereotypes that often leave
us far too clueless about distant
realities.
“We have these stereotypes
about people who come from
these countries. I was able to
talk to him about Iraq. He told
me how he grew up having to
fight [against so many different
things]. So he doesn’t fear things
easily. He told me about how his
country has suffered. I think it’s
crucial to know people from all
corners of the world. Hear from
them before judging them,” she
stressed.
While traveling, one must acknowledge that food is another
way to learn from someone else’s
culture – roti, hummus, eggplant, a mix of flavors, a taste of
different cultures. “The Iraqi boy
cooked for us, even though he
doesn’t really usually cook. All
these small things that are possible through Couchsurfing make
it worth it,” she said.
From the clear blue water of
Indonesia’s beaches to Malay islands cradled by coral reefs, Susana met human kindness. Without a map pointing at a certain
path or a plan dictating a specific
way, the young Macanese traveller says she met wonderful
people, who didn’t always speak
English but would always smile.
At a beach in Gili Trawangan, a
local saved her life.
“I love snorkeling. I have been
able to do it in many places. So
in Gili, I had an interesting experience; well, I actually almost
died. I always carry my snorkeling equipment with me, and I
had spent hours snorkeling on
the first day there. The sea current, however, was quite strong.
So the second day I wanted to go
a bit further and swam off shore,
so I could see the fish better,” she
recalled.
Having swam too far off shore,
Susana found herself fighting a
strong ocean current, on the verge of an asthma attack. “I tried
to swim back to the shore, tried
two or three times, but couldn’t. I
really thought I was going to die,
but a local man on a boat jumped
to help me,” Susana said.
Having stayed 28 days in Indonesia, she traveled all the way to
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, meeting a friend who she had met
through Couchsurfing.
“I think it’s a matter of positive
energies. If you are a good person, and a good guest, people
will react in the same way,” she
recalled.
Malaysia was full of interesting
experiences, she said, starting
with Kuala Lumpur, where she
was surprised by such a multicultural environment, and a mix of
languages that she could actually
recognize. Malacca, Cameron
This trip taught
me not to judge
people. To
hear only one
perspective
isn’t the right
approach
Susana Cruz
Susana says she feels blessed
after such a trip and believes in
continuing to be good to others.
In her next trip, she is thinking of
exploring Cambodia, and doing
volunteer work.
“This trip taught me not to judge people. To hear only one perspective isn’t the right approach.
There are so many perspectives
and ways of living,” she stressed.
Susana states that, to travel
around Southeast Asia, one
doesn’t need too much money;
guesthouses, Couchsurfing and
hostels provide not only alternative means of accommodation,
but are also part of a different
way of traveling.
“It always depends on how you
want to travel. Because there’s a
difference between being a traveler and [being] a tourist.”
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
分析
BUSINESS
7
Trump Casinos plan bankruptcy
in new blow to Atlantic City jobs
T
rump Entertainment
Resorts Inc., the company founded by Donald Trump, will file for
bankruptcy again this week, people with knowledge of the situation said, putting a fifth Atlantic
City casino in danger of closing.
The company owns two properties in the struggling New Jersey resort town. Trump Plaza is
set to cease operations on Sept.
16, and the Trump Taj Mahal
may also shut in November, the
people said. Three other casinos
have closed in the city this year,
including Caesars Entertainment
Corp.’s Showboat and the Revel
Casino Hotel last week.
A Taj Mahal shutdown would
put another 2,800 employees
out of work in a city already losing 5,200 casino jobs this month. Moody’s Investors Service cut
the municipality’s bond rating
by two steps on July 23 to Ba1,
the highest speculative standing.
Governor Chris Christie and
other local leaders held a summit
Monday to discuss Atlantic City’s
future after an expansion of gambling in neighboring states ate
into what was once the only legal
market on the East Coast.
“What happened to Atlantic
City, there’s a lot of competition
from a lot of other locations,”
Trump said in a telephone interview Monday. “It’s happening all
over.”
Trump has no active role managing the company. Robert
Griffin, chief executive officer of
Atlantic City-based Trump Entertainment, declined to comment.
The expansion of legalized
gambling in Maryland, Pennsyl-
A Taj Mahal
shutdown
would put
another 2,800
employees out
of work in a city
already losing
5,200 casino
jobs this month
bloomberg
Christopher Palmeri, Elise Young
and Michael Bathon
The gateway into the Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City
vania and New York prompted
seven straight years of declining
revenue in Atlantic City. High
labor costs and real-estate taxes
have also crimped profits.
Christie, 52, a second-term
Republican, met behind closed
doors Monday with political leaders and casino officials on strategies to build Atlantic City revenue on non-gambling attractions
including entertainment and
retail. The summit comes four
years into his five-year plan to
revitalize the city.
On Monday Christie signed an
executive order allowing the state’s casinos and racetracks to accept sports bets, as long as they
don’t involve New Jersey college
matches.
Speaking to reporters after the
meeting with lawmakers, casino
executives, a union representative and city officials, Christie said
the Taj Mahal closing didn’t arise
as a topic of the discussions.
The talks were focused on finding what he called larger shortand long-term solutions to help
Atlantic city adjust to gambling
on a smaller scale, he said. Christie repeatedly declined to discuss
specifics of the meeting, calling it
a “candid discussion.”
Atlantic City casino revenue fell
to USD2.9 billion last year, from
a peak of $5.2 billion in 2006.
The drop means less money for
New Jersey, which collects an 8
percent tax from casinos and dedicates the money - $205 million
last year - to programs for senior
citizens and the disabled.
Lawmakers, trying to save the
state’s declining gambling reve-
nue, have proposed allowing slot
machines in Northern New Jersey. Voters may be asked as soon
as November 2015 to overturn
an almost 40-year-old law that
gave Atlantic City a monopoly on
casinos in the state.
Senator Raymond Lesniak, an
Elizabeth Democrat, said the
move would help the ailing city
because lawmakers can direct
new money there.
A bankruptcy court reorganization could give Carl Icahn two additional hotels in the city. Funds
controlled by the New York- based billionaire are Trump Entertainment’s largest creditor,
according to public filings. Icahn
also controls 68 percent of Las
Vegas-based Tropicana Entertainment Inc., which owns the
Tropicana in Atlantic City.
A bankruptcy filing could set up
a fight between Trump and Icahn
in bankruptcy court. Trump filed
a lawsuit last month asking that
his name be taken off the properties. He licensed his brand to the
company on a royalty-free basis
as part of an earlier restructuring, according to public filings.
The agreement prohibits him
from using the Trump name for
a gambling business in six East
Coast states, including New York.
“It’s not that we’re demanding
rights,” Trump said in a telephone interview. “We just want the
name taken off the building. We
have the hottest hotel portfolio in
the world right now. They are not
operating the hotel in accordance
with our very high standard.”
The Trump Taj Mahal lost
$35 million on revenue of
$108 million in the first six
months of this year, according
to a filing with the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Trump Plaza showed a loss of
$9.8 million on revenue of $28
million in the same period.
That casino is closing after
unsuccessfully searching for a
buyer since 2011, according to
a state filing. Bloomberg
corporate bits
cam takes part in the kansai and osaka
airports anniversary ceremonies
In response to an official invitation from Kansai International
Airport (KIX) and Osaka International Airport (ITM), Macau International Airport Co. Ltd. (CAM)
representative, Ms. Katy Lo –
Chief of the Executive Committee
Office (Director) and Ms. Freda
Chan – Secretary of the Executive Committee Office - attended
the “20th Anniversary of Kansai
International Airport (KIX) and the
75th Anniversary of Osaka Inter-
national Airport (ITM) Ceremony”
which was held on Saturday.
The ceremony was held at
Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport at
11:00 a.m. The opening speech
was given by Keiichi Ando, President and ECO of New Kansai
International Airport, and was
followed by greetings from invited guests and airlines. During
the ceremony, a memorial video
of the history of Kansai International Airport (KIX) and Osaka
International Airport (ITM) was
played. The CAM representative
was also invited to chair in the
“Opening Japanese-Sake Barrel”
ceremony which is a traditional
Japanese celebration ritual, symbolizing peace and good fortune.
Airports from different countries
sent representatives to attend the
ceremony.
xin kang ming previews new honda
7-seat minivan
Xin Kang Ming Motors Ltd.
held a preview last Saturday for the all-new Honda
Odyssey minivan. During
the event, a representative
from Honda’s agent in Hong
Kong, Reliance Motors Ltd.,
introduced the features of
the vehicle.
Xin Kang Ming has said
that since being introduced to the market in 1994,
Odyssey has been popular
among young families.
The model that has been
introduced to Macau customers this time is developed
based on the version previously released in Japan.
More special features have
been added into the vehicle, which will ensure its
suitability to the demands
of customers in Macau. The
Odyssey has, for example,
a 30-cm low floor, which
allows children and elderly
people to get into the car in
one step. The vehicle is also
low in fuel consumption.
hertz chairman and ceo frissora steps down
Hertz Chairman and CEO Mark
Frissora has resigned from his
post for personal reasons. He had
served as CEO since January
2007. On Monday, the car rental
company said that Brian P. MacDonald, president and CEO of
Hertz Equipment Rental Corp.,
will serve as interim CEO of Hertz
Global Holdings Inc. MacDonald
has been serving as president and
CEO of Hertz Equipment Rental
since June.
A representative from the Hertz
Head Office, based in Park Ridge, New Jersey, said that it has
started the search process for
a permanent CEO. MacDonald
has led turnarounds at companies
including Sunoco Inc. and Isuzu
Motors Ltd. In June, the company
said it needed to review and correct financial statements from the
last three years because of ac-
Hertz Chairman and CEO Mark
Frissora
counting errors. It has delayed its
second-quarter filing as a result.
In late August, Hertz withdrew its
guidance for 2014, saying it would
come up far short of expectations.
That same month it was disclosed
that activist investor Carl Icahn
had taken an 8.5 percent stake in
the company.
A spokesperson for Hertz announced on Monday that it is still
committed to the planned separation of its equipment rental business into a separate, publicly traded company and expanding its
off-airport rental business, among
other initiatives.
8
BUSINESS
10.09.2014 wed
th Anniversary
分析
Michael Liedtke, Technology Writer,
San Francisco
ap photo
Will Apple finally reveal its next big thing?
A
pple is poised to reveal its
next big thing in a crucial attempt to prove its technological
tastemakers still have the power
to mesmerize the masses.
The trend-setting company
is expected to rouse the still-slumbering market for wearable
computers with a smartwatch
or bracelet equipped to monitor
health, help manage homes and
even buy merchandise.
Apple is a late arrival to this
relatively new niche: several
other companies already sell
smartwatches that are being
greeted with widespread indifference.
If any company can transform
the landscape, it’s likely to be
Apple Inc. after the company
shifted the direction of digital
technology with the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Other MP3 music players, smartphones and
tablet computers were first to
market, but the devices didn’t
enthrall consumers until Apple
imbued them with a sense of
elegance, convenience and wizardry.
“It means more to us to get
ad
A Chinese man talking on his phone walks into an Apple store in Beijing
it right than to be first,” Apple
CEO Tim Cook explained to
analysts earlier this year.
Apple is likely to provide the
first peek at its wearable device
at an event that was scheduled
for yesterday (today, Macau
time) in the same Silicon Valley
auditorium where Apple’s late
co-founder, Steve Jobs, unveiled the industry-shifting Mac
computer 25 years ago.
Rumors have been swirling
that U2, one of Jobs’ favorite
musical groups, will perform
live to promote its new album,
as well as Apple’s latest gadgetry, which is likely to include an
iPhone with a larger screen.
As usual, Apple hasn’t said
what’s on tap, though the company’s top executives have
repeatedly promised major
breakthroughs without providing any details.
“The location suggests this
will be a historic event and the
historic aspect will be their movement into a new category,”
predicted technology analyst
and longtime Apple watcher
Tim Bajarin.
After yesterday’s glimpse, it
still may be several months before people get a chance to wear
the device. There’s speculation
that the smartwatch won’t be
available until early next year,
although Apple is expected to
take orders during the holiday
shopping season.
A smartwatch or high-tech
bracelet would mark the first
time that Apple Inc. has rolled
out a new product line since the
iPad’s release nearly four-and-half years ago. In that time,
the Cupertino, California, company, has been sprucing up its
selection of iPhones, iPads and
Macs with new models each
year since Jobs died in October
2011 after a long battle with
cancer.
The innovation void raised
questions as to whether Apple’s
creativity was fading under
Cook, Jobs’ hand-picked successor.
Those concerns have waned in
recent months amid high hopes
for the products Apple has lined up for the holiday shopping
season. Even with all the anticipation surrounding the potential smartwatch, the next generation of the iPhone will still be
the star of the show, as well as
the main source of Apple’s profits for at least the next year.
The device, likely to be called the iPhone 6, is expected
to feature a screen spanning
at least 4.7 inches diagonally,
up from the 4-inch display on
the previous models released
during the past two years. Some
analysts have speculated Apple
may also offer an iPhone model
with a 5.5-inch screen. AP
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
published in partnership with macauhub.com.mo
Mozambique
Concessionaires
negotiate funds
to build dams
T
he capital needed for construction of the
Boroma and Lupata hydroelectric dams in
Mozambique, as well as their transmission lines,
is under negotiation with foreign partners, according to the Mozambican press.
Paul Ratilal, representative of the concessionaire companies Hidroeléctrica de Boroma and
Hidroeléctrica de Lupata, said “the required capital will be US$1.8 billion, not counting construction of the transmission lines needed to connect the dams to the national grid. ”
Hidroeléctrica de Lupata’s shareholder structure
includes Hydroparts Holding and Cazembe Holding, both from Mauritius, Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM) and Sonipal from Mozambique
and Hidroeléctrica de Boroma’s shareholders include Rutland Holding (Mauritius), EdM and Sonipal.
The Boroma hydroelectric plant has an estimated cost of US$572.5 million and a construction
period of five years, while the Lupata facility will
cost US$1.072 billion and is expected to take a
similar amount of time to build.
When completed, the Lupata dam will produce 612 megawatts (MW), while the Boroma dam
will have a production capacity of 210 MW.
Ratilal also told Mozambican daily newspaper
Notícias said that a 10 percent share of the two
companies has been handed over free of charge to the Mozambican state, twice the amount
stipulated by law, and an additional 5 percent
stake will be sold in a public offering on the Mozambique Stock Exchange. MDT/Macauhub
中葡論壇
FORUM
9
Angola
Kwanza River to have five
more hydroelectric facilities
Of the
projects already
underway, the
Laúca dam is
expected to start
operating in 2017
Kwanza River
T
he Angolan government
plans to build five more
hydroelectric facilities as
part of the national program for harnessing the potential
of the mid Kwanza River, said the
director of the Office of Utilization
of the Mid Kwanza (Gamek).
Elias Estêvão also said that apart
from the hydroelectric dams of
Capanda Lauca (under construction) and Cambambe (which is
being modernized), there were
also plans to build five dams on
the middle reaches of the river,
and that studies for the projects
have already been conducted.
The Gamek director also told
Angolan news agency Angop that
with the completion of those pro-
jects, the Mid Kwanza will produce about 7,000 megawatts of electricity.
Of the projects already underway,
the Laúca dam is expected to start
operating in 2017 and produce
2,070 MW of power, and become
the largest hydroelectric complex
in Angola, beating the Cambambe (970 MW) and Capanda (520
MW) dams.
The construction of the Laúca
hydroelectric facility was awarded
to Brazilian company Odebrecht,
under the supervision of two companies specialised in dam construction. MDT/Macauhub
ad
10
CHINA
10.09.2014 wed
th Anniversary
中國
ap photo
this year for the first time in
multinational naval drills hosted by the U.S. off the coast of
Hawaii.
U.S. officials said Rice discussed a wide range of issues including economic ties, democracy
in Hong Kong and the rise of the
radical group calling itself the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
They said Washington hopes to
enlist Beijing’s help in opposing
the group but offered no details.
U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, left, shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Olive Hall before a meeting at the Foreign Ministry office in Beijing
Washington and Beijing discuss
avoiding military incidents U
.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice repeatedly
raised concerns about risky Chinese fighter intercepts of U.S.
surveillance flights in meetings
this week with Chinese leaders
in Beijing, senior administration
officials said yesterday.
The matter appeared to be one
of a relatively few contentious
issues raised during a visit intended to lay the groundwork
for President Barack Obama’s
trip to Beijing in November.
Overall, the talks “helped lay
a really great foundation” for
Obama’s trip, said a senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of
anonymity. Obama is to attend
the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders’ summit
and meet with Chinese Presi-
dent Xi Jinping.
Rice’s comments on fighter intercepts mark the second time
the U.S. has raised the issue with
China in the past two weeks, underscoring U.S. concerns about
the danger of a collision and the
effect such an incident could
have on bilateral relations.
Washington has said that a
Chinese pilot acted recklessly on
Aug. 19 during close passes of a
U.S. plane about 220 kilometers
south of Hainan island, which is
home to Chinese naval airfields
and a submarine base. China denied any reckless flying and said
it would continue responding to
U.S. surveillance flights off its
coast, which Beijing believes are
a threat to its security.
In a meeting yesterday with
China’s top general, Fan Changlong, Rice said their two countries “face challenges and we
certainly need to avoid any incidents that could complicate the
relationship.”
“Military-to-military ties between the United States and
China have grown and strengthened. And it is an area of cooperation that the United States
values,” Rice said in her opening
remarks.
Administration officials declined to characterize the Chinese officials’ response, but said
they appeared to understand
U.S. concerns. The officials said
the two sides agreed to work on
confidence building measures to
reduce suspicions, but offered
no details.
“I’d say we had a constructive
conversation with the Chinese”
on the issue, said a U.S. official,
who added that Rice raised the
issue both with Fan and in a
meeting Monday with Xi’s se-
nior foreign policy adviser, Yang
Jiechi. “The general perception
is that they took our concerns
very seriously,” the official said.
U.S. officials are most concerned about the possibility of
a collision such as that in 2001
between a Chinese fighter and a
U.S. Navy EP-3 on a surveillance flight about 100 kilometers
from Hainan. The Chinese jet
crashed, killing the pilot, and
the U.S. plane was forced to
make an emergency landing
on Hainan, where the 24 crew
members were detained and
interrogated by Chinese authorities. Relations between the sides remained frosty for months
afterward.
Despite occasional tensions,
China and the U.S. have increased friendly engagement between their militaries in recent
years. China’s navy took part
McDonald’s sales slump worst
since 2003 due to supplier scandal
Leslie Patton
M
cDonald’s, the
world’s largest restaurant chain, posted the
worst same-store sales
decline in more than a
decade, hurt by sluggish
demand in the U.S. and
a health scare involving a
Chinese supplier.
Sales at stores open at
least 13 months fell 3.7
percent in August, the Oak
Brook, Illinois-based com-
pany said in a statement
yesterday. Analysts estimated a 3.1 percent drop.
McDonald’s also said that
supplier problems in China will reduce third-quarter earnings per share by
15 cents to 20 cents.
McDonald’s Corp. said
earlier this month that it
will monitor its suppliers
in China more closely after a food-safety scandal
in the country hurt its sales and reputation. The
announcement came after
a TV report in July showed
workers at McDonald’s
supplier Shanghai Husi
Food Co. — a division of
OSI Group Inc. — repacking expired meat. McDonald’s stopped using
the plant in Shanghai.
The company plans to
increase audits and video
monitoring at its suppliers
and send more employees
to meat production facilities to ensure its food is
prepared safely. It has also
named a new food safety
officer and created a hotline where employees can
report poor food safety
practices.
McDonald’s is not the
only fast-food company
to be hurt by food-safety
concerns in China. Yum
Brands Inc., whose brands
include KFC and Pizza
Hut, has also stopped
using meat from the
Shanghai plant and said
Xi referenced the breadth of
the challenges in his meeting
with Rice, and said it was important to face them together
through a strong bilateral relationship based on “mutual respect and win-win cooperation.”
“Right now the international
situation continues to undergo
profound and complex changes.
So it has become even more important than ever for China and
the United States to work together,” Xi said.
Rice responded by affirming
the importance of the ties and
the need to “manage and minimize our differences” to avoid
impeding cooperation.
“President Obama firmly believes that the U.S.-China relationship is one of the most consequential bilateral relationships
in the world, and that there is
virtually no problem of global
significance that can’t be better
resolved when the United States
and China are working together
at the same table,” Rice said. AP
ap photo
Christopher Bodeen, Beijing
Rice’s
comments
on fighter
intercepts mark
the second
time the US has
raised the issue
with China in
the past two
weeks
Boys open the door to a McDonald’s restaurant in Beijing
that its restaurants cut all
ties with OSI in China, the
U.S. and Australia.
“There isn’t a lot of good
news here,” Peter Saleh, a
New York-based analyst
at Telsey Advisory Group,
said in an interview. “China is going to be under
pressure for a while; their
traffic is down in the U.S.”
Bloomberg/AP
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
中國
11
Business group says gov’t
needs to speed up reform Joe McDonald, Business Writer,
Beijing
bloomberg
B
eijing needs to
speed up economic
reform and curb the
dominance of state
companies or risk an economic slowdown and a possible
crisis, the biggest European
business group in China said
yesterday.
The report by the European
Chamber of Commerce in
China adds to warnings that
Beijing needs to open the state-dominated economy and
not use regulation to promote
growth of Chinese industry.
It comes while Chinese authorities are conducting a series of anti-monopoly investigations of global auto and
technology brands that business groups say unfairly target
foreign competitors. Premier
Li Keqiang was quoted by the
official Xinhua News Agency
as telling attendees to a World Economic Forum in Tianjin
that foreign companies only
accounted for 10 percent of
companies involved in recent
anti-trust investigations and
that no specific companies or
industries were being targeted.
With
economic
growth
slowing, China “needs a whole new era of reform,” said
the chamber president, Joerg
Wuttke. He said the pace of
reform under President Xi
Jinping has been “too slow
and cautious.”
Beijing’s economic overhaul
plan announced in 2013 plan
calls for making China’s economy more productive by opening more industries to private and foreign competition.
But at the same time Beijing
is trying to create “national
champions” in fields from autos to telecoms to aerospace.
Political analysts say the most
ambitious reforms might also
CHINA
Beijing has
yet to make
significant
changes in the
role of state
companies
that dominate
industries
have been hampered by resistance from state industry and
its allies in the ruling party.
Beijing has announced a
steady drumbeat of regulatory
changes including plans to
allow privately owned banks.
But it has yet to make signifi-
cant changes in the role of state companies that dominate
industries from oil to telecommunications to insurance and
that reform boosters say are a
drag on growth.
China’s economy grew by 7.5
percent in the three months
ended in June, but that was
barely half of 2007’s 14.2 percent rate. Beijing is trying to
steer the economy to growth
based on domestic consumption instead of exports and
investment. But analysts say
the latest growth was achieved
only because of stimulus spending.
The European chamber,
which represents 1,800 companies, appealed for changes
including opening more industries such as banking and
health care to private compe-
tition. It called on the government to make regulation more
even handed and predictable.
Without faster action, “the
commitment of foreign business to China may start to
wane and, at worst, the economy could be headed for crisis,” said the European chamber’s report.
It said European companies
have
reduced
investment
plans and are looking at other
Asian economies as more profitable possible destinations.
The chamber expressed concern last month about the anti-monopoly investigations. It
said it received reports companies were pressured by regulators to accept penalties
without a full hearing and
avoid involving their governments.
Yesterday, Wuttke said the
group had asked to talk to
Chinese regulators about the
complaints but were unable to
obtain a meeting. AP
antitrust probes mostly target local
firms, li says
Foreign companies are
the target of 10 percent of China’s
anti-monopoly probes, Premier Li
Keqiang said yesterday, rebutting
allegations the investment climate
has worsened and the government
is singling out overseas firms.
The numbers show China isn’t targeting specific enterprises, Li told
foreign executives in Tianjin yesterday. His remarks, made ahead of
the World Economic Forum’s “New
Champions” meeting in the northern Chinese city, were posted online
by the official Xinhua News Agency.
“What we’re promoting includes
antitrust investigations being conducted according to the law, in a
transparent and fair manner,” Li
said, according to the Xinhua transcript.
With his remarks, Li became the
highest-ranking official to address
concerns raised by American and
European business groups that
foreign firms face the brunt of antitrust scrutiny. Companies including
Microsoft, Qualcomm and Danone
have been the subject of probes,
while record fines were meted out
to Japanese auto parts makers last
month.
C
hina’s exports grew
more than forecast
in August while imports shrank unexpectedly
for the second month in
a row, a reminder of the
fragile recovery in the
world’s No. 2 economy,
customs data showed
Monday.
Exports rose 9.4 percent
last month, down from a
14.5 percent expansion in
July but higher than many
economists had been forecasting.
Imports, however, contracted 2.4 percent, after
shrinking 1.6 percent the
month before, at odds
with the expectations of
economists, who though
imports would return to
bloomberg
Mainland exports up 9.4 percent, imports shrink again
growth last month.
The figures indicate that
global demand for China’s manufactured goods
is holding up but domes-
tic demand continues to
stumble, exacerbated by
a slump in the property
market.
“While some of this
weakness is because of
falling prices of imports,
especially of raw commodity imports, the momentum of imports is also
weak in real terms. This
reflects sluggish domestic
demand,” especially in industries such as real estate, said Louis Kuijs, chief
China economist at RBS.
China’s communist leaders are relying on exports to help support employment while trying to
nurture growth based on
domestic consumption.
Policymakers in Beijing
rolled out mini-stimulus
measures earlier this year
after economic growth in
the first three months sagged to 7.4 percent, the
lowest in nearly two years.
Growth improved only slightly to 7.5 percent in the
second quarter.
Kuijs said that growth
would not strengthen for
the rest of the year as the
ailing property market is
weighing on the economy.
He expects authorities to
unveil “increasingly significant measures” to support growth.
August’s exports totaled USD208 billion while imports were $158.6
billion, pushing China’s
politically sensitive global
trade surplus up nearly
78 percent to an all-time
high of $49.8 billion.
Economists said that the
continuing export strength and import weakness would put pressure
on China’s currency, the
yuan, to strengthen further against the dollar. AP
12
ASIA-PACIFIC
10.09.2014 wed
th Anniversary
亞太版
AUSTRALIA
man was killed in a shark
attack yesterday at the
popular tourist destination of
Byron Bay on Australia’s east
coast despite a beachgoer’s
brave rescue attempt, police
said.
The beachgoer, Mark Hickey,
swam 15-20 meters from the
shore of Clarkes Beach to retrieve the man, who had sustained severe wounds to his
right leg, Police Inspector Bobbie Cullen said.
The victim, a local man in
his 50s whose name has not
been released, received medical treatment on the beach but
did not survive, Cullen said.
“A gentleman who was on
the beach went out and located the gentleman and pulled
him in,” Cullen told reporters.
“Absolutely it is (an extraordinary act of bravery) and we
can only thank him for his efforts.”
Hickey, a lawyer on vacation
at Byron Bay, told Ten Ne-
In this image taken from video, police officers stand around the covered body of a man killed in a shark attack on Clarkes
Beach of Byron Bay on Australia’s east coast
twork television news that he
saw the shark and its bloodied
victim and swam out to try to
attempt a rescue as the shark
attacked again.
“I went out there and, I don’t
PAKISTAN
ap photo
Death toll in Kashmir
floods reaches 400 Pakistani villagers who have been affected by the flood arrive to find
safe shelter in Pindi Bhatian, 105 km northeast of Lahore
K.M. Chaudhry, Jhang
T
he death toll from
floods in Pakistan and
India reached 400 yesterday as armies in both
countries scrambled to
help the victims and authorities in Islamabad
warned of more flooding
in the days ahead.
The flash floods, which
began on Sept. 3, have put
more than half a million
people in peril and rendered thousands homeless
in the two neighboring
states.
Pakistani and Indian
troops have been using
boats and helicopters to
drop food supplies for
stranded families and
evacuate victims.
The floods have also triggered landslides in both
sections of the divided
Kashmir region, split between the two arch-rivals,
and caused much devastation in northern and
eastern Pakistan.
The rains washed away
houses, bridges, communication equipment
and crops. Pakistani and
Indian troops have evacuated more than 40,000
people to safer places, according to the statements
from Indian and Pakistani armies.
Yesterday,
thousands
awaited rescue teams and
searched for missing loved ones.
On a road near the village of Jamia Abad in the
eastern Pakistani district
of Jhang, 41-year-old
Naseem Akhtar said she
had gone from one gover-
nment office to another,
trying to get someone to
help her husband and
other family members
who had stayed back in
their village, now submerged.
Last time she talked to
him over the cell phone
was on Monday night,
when he told her that they
were sitting on the roof
waiting to be rescued, she
said.
“I went to the police,
I tried to find a private
boat, but nothing, there is
no help,” she said, adding
she had been on the road
for two days after taking
her three children to a safer place.
So far, 205 have died
in Pakistan while 200
perished in India, while
nearly 700 people have
been injured, officials
said.
According to Ahmad
Kamal, spokesman for
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, the floods were
now
moving
toward
Pakistan’s south. Evacuations were already under
way in several southern
districts which could
soon be inundated, said
Kamal. AP
know, I just thought I’ve got to
get this guy in and that’s what
I tried to do,” Hickey said.
He said he dragged the victim onto the beach and attempted to resuscitate him for
20 minutes, but the man had
apparently bled to death in the
water. Ten reported that the
shark had bitten through the
victim’s wetsuit on his upper
right thigh, tearing off much
of his leg.
The leg wounds were being
examined to identify the size
and species of the shark.
Cullen said the crew of a rescue helicopter spotted what
appeared to be a great white shark in the area after the
suspected attack, but had lost
sight of it. She said all Byron
Bay beaches would be closed
for 24 hours due to the potential danger.
The death is the first fatal
attack in Australia since April
3, when a 63-year-old woman
was taken by a 3-to-4-meter
shark near the village of Tathra, 340 kilometers south of
Sydney. AP
JAPAN
New bio says Emperor
Hirohito condemned
WW2 involvement
J
apan’s Imperial Household
Agency has compiled a 61-volume biography of former Emperor Hirohito that portrays him as
being distressed that he could not
stop his country from going to war,
according to Japan’s Kyodo News
agency.
The 12,000-page record says he
complained in July 1939 to Army
Minister Seishiro Itagaki about
the military’s “predisposition” as it
strengthened its relationship with
Germany, Kyodo reported. He also
warned against the navy’s call for
war with the United States, predicting in July 1941 that it would be
“nothing less than a self-destructive war.”
The record also cites U.S. Gen.
Douglas MacArthur, who led America’s postwar occupation of Japan,
as saying Hirohito had said he accepted full responsibility for the
war.
Hirohito’s role in World War II
was never firmly established, as
he was shielded from indictment
in the Tokyo war crimes trials by a
U.S. occupation that wanted to use
him as a symbol to rebuild Japan.
He died in 1989 after 62 years on
the throne.
An advance copy of the report was
made available to some Japanese
media, but the Imperial Household
Agency turned down requests from
ap photo
A
ap photo
Shark kills man despite rescue bid
Japanese Emperor Hirohito waves as Crown
Prince Akihito, left, looks on
The Associated Press for a copy. It
is to be published in stages over
five years beginning next March.
The project began in 1990 and cost
200 million yen (USD1.9 million).
Kyodo said it provides little new
material and is unlikely to change
current thinking about Hirohito. It
does make public some letters and
essays he wrote as a child.
The record confirms that Hirohito said in 1988 that he had stopped
visiting the controversial Yasukuni
Shrine because it had added Class
A war criminals to those enshrined
there, Kyodo said. His last visit to
Yasukuni was in 1975. Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited
the shrine last December, sparking
official protests from China and
South Korea. AP
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
亞太版
13
MALAYSIA AIRLINES CRASH
Mike Corder, The Hague
Report: Flight 17 likely downed
by outside impacts ap photo
M
alaysia Airlines Flight 17 was
likely struck by
multiple “high-energy objects from outside the
aircraft,” causing it to break up
over eastern Ukraine, a preliminary report into the deadly
aviation disaster concluded
yesterday.
The report by the Dutch Safety
Board stopped short of saying
the Boeing 777 was shot down
by a missile, but its findings
appear to point to that conclusion. It also did not say who might have been responsible.
The Boeing 777 suddenly
plunged out of the sky July 17
over pro-Russian rebel-held
territory in Ukraine, killing all
298 passengers and crew on
board.
“The damage observed in the
forward section of the aircraft
appears to indicate that the aircraft was penetrated by a large
number of high-energy objects
from outside the aircraft,” the
report said. “It is likely that
this damage resulted in a loss
of structural integrity of the
aircraft, leading to an in-flight
break up.”
The board is leading the international investigation into the
cause of the disaster. Its full re-
ASIA-PACIFIC
A Pro-Russian rebel stands beside pieces of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 plane
near village of Rozsypne, eastern Ukraine
port is expected within a year of
the crash.
“The initial results of the investigation point toward an
external cause of the MH17
crash,” the board’s chairman,
Tjibbe Joustra, said in a state-
ment. “More research will be
necessary to determine the cause with greater precision. The
Safety Board believes that additional evidence will become
available for investigation in
the period ahead.”
Christopher Yates, an aviation
safety specialist at Yates Consulting, told the AP the report
“is extremely consistent with
damage from a missile for the
simple reason there are penetration marks.
“It must have been moving
at very high velocity to create
the damage,” he said. “It could
only be a missile of the type that
would reach the altitude that
would have struck the aircraft,
potentially a BUK missile.
He said the report gave no
indication whether the missile
had been fired from the ground
or from another aircraft, but it
likely came from the ground as
there were no military aircraft known to have been flying
at the time. The missile could
not have been shoulder-fired
because it would not have reached the necessary altitude, he
added.
Because of the ongoing conflict between pro-Russian re-
bels and Ukrainian forces,
investigators from the board
have not visited the fields
where the wreckage of Flight 17 plunged to the ground.
That likely contributed to the
board’s cautious assessment of
what happened.
“Detailed examination of the
structural damage is ongoing,”
the report said. “Forensic examination will be performed if
the wreckage can be removed.”
Investigators so far have studied photos of the crash site,
radar data and information
gleaned from the downed jet’s
“black boxes” — its cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. They all indicated that
there was no technical fault
that may have caused the plane
to disintegrate.
Pro-Russian rebels officially
deny having shot down the
plane, but unofficially one senior rebel admitted they were
behind a missile strike. AP
ad
14
WORLD
10.09.2014 wed
th Anniversary
分析
UKRAINE
Jonathan Stearns
EU slows new Russia
sanctions as it gauges truce
ap photo
E
uropean
Union
governments abruptly
put on hold for at least
a “few days” new sanctions against Russia, allowing
more time to assess the viability of a cease-fire in Ukraine
without risking further trade
retaliation by the Kremlin.
The EU’s second package of
economic penalties against
Russia was delayed late Monday in Brussels by the bloc’s 28
governments, which approved
the measures in principle while stopping short of giving the
green light for their publication in the Official Journal and
entry into force. The governments will assess the status
of the cease-fire tomorrow at
a meeting in Brussels, the EU
said yesterday.
The planned provisions - originally due to be published yesterday - include barring some
Russian state-owned defense
and energy companies from
raising capital in the EU, according to a European official who
spoke on the usual condition of
anonymity.
The Sept. 5 cease-fire between
the Ukrainian government and
pro-Russian separatists has
raised the prospect of a lasting
truce that would be the biggest breakthrough yet to end a
conflict that has killed at least
3,000 people and soured Russia’s relations with its former
Cold War foes.
“The entry into force through
the publication in the Official
Journal will take place in the
next few days,” EU President
Herman Van Rompuy said in
a statement late Monday. “This
will leave time for an assessment of the implementation of
the cease-fire agreement and
the peace plan. Depending on
the situation on the ground,
the EU stands ready to review
Ukrainian soldiers drive on a truck in the southern coastal town of Mariupol, Ukraine
the agreed sanctions in whole
or in part.”
Today’s meeting of representatives from the EU’s member
nations “will take up this issue again,” Maja Kocijancic,
spokeswoman for EU foreign-affairs chief Catherine Ashton, told reporters today in
Brussels. “Now it’s up to the
member states to look at this situation again and examine the
implementation of the ceasefire agreement and decide how
to take this forward,” Kocijancic said.
The agreement to halt fighting came in the midst of an
EU push to ratchet up penalties
against Russia in coordination
with the U.S. in a bid to force
Russian President Vladimir Putin to end support for the rebels
in eastern Ukraine. Putin’s ba-
cking of Ukrainian separatists
and his annexation of Crimea
have jolted the security order in
Europe.
Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said Monday that
he is “very worried” about the
possibility of Russian countersanctions should the EU enact
the new package. At the same
time, “we are strongly of the
opinion that the cease-fire has
so far not been permanent,”
Stubb told reporters in Helsinki.
In a sign the cease-fire accord has been shaky, Ukrainian
Defense Ministry spokesman
Oleksiy Dmytrashkovskyi said
yesterday in a YouTube video
that pro-Russian rebels overnight shelled government positions near the airport of the
eastern city of Donetsk, as well
as four more positions of Ukrainian troops in other areas, without causing troop casualties.
On Monday, Ukraine said the
rebels targeted Mariupol, a
frontline city in the east of the
country, after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced a visit there.
Road blocks near the port city
on the Sea of Azov came under
fire from militants Monday,
presidential spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko said on Twitter.
“I am not optimistic at all - I
have not been optimistic from
the beginning,” Didier Burkhalter, chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which helped
mediate and is monitoring the
cease-fire, said at a news conference in Geneva. Even so, “we
want to give it a chance.”
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said yesterday
that it appears the cease-fire is
being observed on the whole.
Speaking to reporters in Moscow, he said Russia hopes the
truce “will be consolidated” within days. Bloomberg
GLOBAL WARMING
John Heilprin, Geneva
C
arbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a record high
in 2013 as increasing levels of man-made pollution transform the planet,
the U.N. weather agency
said yesterday.
In an annual report, the
World
Meteorological
Organization said that
carbon dioxide, the heattrapping gas blamed for
the largest share of global
warming, rose to global
concentrations of 396 parts per million last year, the
biggest year-to-year change in three decades.
That’s an increase of 2.9
ap photo
UN says CO2 pollution levels at annual record high Giant machines dig for brown coal at the open-cast Garzweiler mine in front of a smoking power plant
near the city of Grevenbroich in western Germany
ppm from the previous
year — and is 42 percent
higher than before the
Industrial Age, when levels were about 280 parts
per million. The 2012 level was itself up 2.2 ppm
from a year earlier.
“We know without any
doubt that our climate is
changing and our weather
is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the burning
of fossil fuels,” said WMO
Secretary-General Michel
Jarraud. “Time is not on
our side, for sure.”
The report also said the
rate of ocean acidification, which comes from
added carbon absorbed by
oceans, “appears unprecedented at least over the
last 300 million years.”
Between 1990 and 2013,
carbon dioxide and other
gas emissions caused a
34 percent increase in the
warming effect on the climate, the report said.
The warming effect, or
“radiative forcing,” measures the net difference
between the sunlight that
the Earth absorbs and the
energy it radiates back
into space. More absorption leads to higher temperatures.
After carbon dioxide,
methane has the biggest
effect on climate. Atmospheric concentrations of
methane reached a new
high of 1,824 parts per
billion in 2013, up 153
percent from pre-industrial levels of about 700
parts per billion.
About 40 percent of the
methane comes from natural sources such as termites and wetlands, but
the rest is due to cattle
breeding, rice agriculture,
fossil fuel burning, landfills and incineration, according to the agency. AP
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
廣告
ADVERTISEMENT
15
16
INFOTAINMENT
what’s ON
...
Symbols in Cultures
Time: 2pm-7pm (Closed on Sundays)
Until: September 13, 2014
Venue: Creative Macau, G/F Macau Cultural Centre
10.09.2014 wed
th Anniversary
資訊／娛樂
TV canal macau
13:00
TDM News (Repeated)
13:30
News (RTPi) Delayed Broadcast
14:30
RTPi Live
18:45
Woman (Repeated)
Building, Xian Xing Hai Avenue
Admission: Free Enquiries: (853) 2875 3282
19:30
Soap Opera
20:30
Main News, Financial & Weather Report
21:00
Documentary Serie
Exhibition of Mr. Zhang Zhou Xing
Time: 9am-6pm
Until: September 29, 2014
Venue: Lin Zexu Memorial Museumof Macau 2nd
21:40
Cougar Town S4
22:00
Woman
23:00
TDM News
23:30
Miscellaneous
00:30
Main News, Financial & Weather Report (Repeated)
01:00
RTPi Live
floor, Avenida do Almirante Lacerda
Admission: Free
Enquiries: (853) 2872 7066
Calendar Illustrations by Guan
Huinong Time: 10am-7pm (closed on Mondays,
no admission after 6:30 pm)
Until: December 28,
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
cinema
cineteatro
04 Sep - 10 Sep
1963 American Express
comes to Britain
Transformers 30th Anniversary Expo
Time: 11am-8pm
Until: October 5, 2014
Venue: Hall F, Cotai Expo
Admission: MOP100
Enquiries: (853) 2882 8818
Pioneering the New Culture Movement - An
Exhibition of Qian Xuantong
Time: 10am-7pm (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
XXX Collective Exhibition of Macau Artists
Time: 9am-9pm (open on public holidays)
Until: October 5, 2014
Venue: Temporary Exhibitions Gallery of the Civic
and Municipal Affairs Bureau
Admission: Free
Enquiries: (853) 8988 4100
Offbeat
Norway considers renting
Dutch prison cells
Norway is in talks with the Netherlands to rent prison space and export some prisoners while carrying out urgent
maintenance work and to ease overcrowding, an official
said yesterday.
Justice Ministry spokesman Vidar Brein-Karlsen said several practical issues must be dealt with before Norway can
rent the Dutch cells, including whether Dutch wardens can
guard the prisoners.
Another issue to be settled is how often detainees may be
visited by family and friends living back in Norway.
“At first, this is a lesser problem to us. Norway is a long
country and we sometimes have people convicted in southern Norway being incarcerated in northern Norway,”
Brein-Karlsen said. “The distance from Oslo to the Netherlands is shorter.”
Norway currently has 1,300 people waiting to serve prison time. Brein-Karlsen added it had not been decided yet
what kind of prisoner should be jailed abroad but dangerous inmates — like Anders Behring Breivik who killed 77
people in 2011 — will remain in Norway.
Such a deal would be part of a broader plan to renovate
Norwegian prisons, estimated to cost up to 4.4 billion kroner (USD698 million). A vote in Parliament is needed and
expected later this year. No date has been set yet.
The Netherlands for years has been renting prison cells to
neighboring Belgium, Brein-Karlsen said. AP
this day in history
the expendables 3_
room 1
2.30, 7.15 pm
Director: Patrick Hughes
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Jet Li
Language: English (Chinese)
Duration: 126min
cafe. waiting. love._
room 1
4.45 9.30 pm
Director: Chiang Jin Lin
Starring: Vivian Chow, Megan Lai, Pauline Lan, Li Luo
Language: English (Chinese)
Duration: 119min
the hundred-foot journey_
room 2
2.30, 7.15 pm
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Starring: Helen Mirren, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon
Language: English (Chinese)
Duration: 122min
the expendables 3_
room 2
4.45, 9.30 pm
Director: Patrick Hughes
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Jet Li
Language: English (Chinese)
Duration: 112min
American Express, one of the world’s largest banking
houses, has opened a credit card service in Britain. Holders of the cards will be able to use them at nearly 3,000
hotels, restaurants, shops and hire-car agencies in this
country and at more than 83,000 establishments abroad.
The cards can also be used to obtain travel tickets.
This move by American Express is bound to give a
powerful boost to the idea of credit cards in Britain, which have not, so far, spread very far. Until now, American
Express card holders have been able to use their cards
in this country, but only if they could settle their accounts
in dollars.
There will be an annual fee of £3 12s, but supplementary
cards can be obtained at half price for immediate family
members. Companies can also apply for cards and issue
them to members of staff.
Customers use the card to pay for goods on credit.
American Express then issues a monthly bill which covers
all outstanding charges on the account.
The Bank of England has given permission for the scheme to go ahead - on condition users do not spend more
than £75 on any one item purchased abroad.
American Express Vice President Maxwell Elliot said
the people most likely to take up the new card would be
managers and sales executives earning £2,000 a year or
more.
He rejected suggestions the new scheme would be
open to fraud and also said he expected little competition. Diners Club is the only other company operating a
similar credit scheme.
Mr Elliot said: “There is only one (competitor) known to
me and that covers about 2,000 hotels in this country
alone. More than 83,000 establishments around the world
now honor the American Express card.”
Credit cards have been available in Britain since 1951
when Donald McCullough launched Finders Services
after a trip to the United States. It merged with another
company, Credit Card Services, to become Diners’ Club
last year.
BUT ALWAYS_
room 3
2.30, 4.30, 7.30, 9.30 pm
Director: Snow Zou
Starring: Nicholas Tse, Gao Yuan-yuan, Tong Da-wei
Language: Cantonese (English and Chinese)
Duration: 106min
macau tower
04 Sep - 10 Sep
into the storm._
2.30, 4.30, 7.30, 9.30 pm
Director: Steven Quale
Starring: Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies,
Matt Walsh
Language: English (Chinese)
Duration: 89min
Courtesy BBC News
In context
Diners Club was the first universal credit card, introduced
in the United States in 1950. It became the first major credit
card company in Britain in 1962 formed from the merger of
Finders Services and Credit Card Facilities.
American Express was the next big company to launch into
the credit business in 1958.
A report in the Financial Times in 1965 said the average Diners Club card holder was 41, male and married with a family,
earning well over £3,000 a year as a senior commercial or
business executive.
Switch and Visa debit cards were introduced in the 1980s.
Customers use the cards for payment of goods and the money
is directly debited from their account. The cards can also be
used to withdraw money from cashpoint machines and they
act as cheque guarantee cards.
The Credit Card Research Group carried out a survey in 2001
and found there were 62 million credit cards in circulation in
the UK, with many people owning more than one.
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
資訊／娛樂
Taurus
Mar. 21-Apr. 19
April 20-May 20
Honesty is key right now — even if it
means hurting someone’s feelings a
little bit. You need to make sure that
you’re not just bulldozing right over
them, but the truth is of the utmost
importance now.
You’ve got to work your magic on
new people today — maybe folks
from far away! Your energy feels
focused, if maybe a little weak, but
you can certainly show folks a good
time today.
Gemini
Cancer
May 21-Jun. 21
Jun. 22-Jul. 22
You may have felt this good a few
times in the past, but something
today really reaches deep inside
you and pushes the ‘on’ button!
You can clear up old issues or move
on to new victories!
You’re having a hard time getting
much done today, but don’t despair
— it’s just temporary. You may want
to take this time to think about your
future or find a new way to show
your people you care.
Leo
Virgo
Jul. 23-Aug. 22
Aug. 23-Sept. 22
You need to travel! If you’re
somehow out there in the world
now, you’re having tons of fun —
but if not, you need to make plans
and get going as soon as humanly
possible. See the world!
You are incredibly responsible, and
today highlights that quality in a
big way. You may earn props from
the right people as you take care of
what’s most important instead of
goofing off and having fun.
Libra
17
The Born Loser by Chip Sansom
YOUR STARS
Aries
INFOTAINMENT
SUDOKU
Weather
Easy
Sep.23-Oct. 22
Oct. 23 - Nov. 21
You need to let your feelings shift
and sway today — especially if you’re
digging up new philosophical or
spiritual teachings. If you are on the
right path, you should know it in
your gut.
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Dec. 22-Jan. 19
You need to make a show of
goodwill today, if only to help
your people get along better. It’s
easier than you may realize, and
that could make all the difference
between success and failure.
You may fall into a bit of a black
hole today, but don’t despair
— things are sure to get better
if you just stick it out. Your selfconfidence is your strongest asset
at a time like this.
Aquarius
Pisces
Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Feb.19-Mar. 20
You need to spend time with a group
of some importance to you — now
is just one of those times when your
organizational skills (and yes, you
do have some) are much needed by
your people.
You are tempted to slack off or
look away when your conscience
comes calling — but you’ve got to
do what’s right! The karma is one
thing, but the lectures from the
voice within aren’t worth it.
Medium
Hard
Crossword puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com
Down: 1- Sicilian volcano; 2- Booty; 3- Director Preminger; 4- Church perch; 5Building; 6- Disunion; 7- Learned; 8- Formicary residents; 9- Actress Arthur; 10- One
who enjoys inflicting pain; 11- Den; 12- “Judith” composer; 13- Clothes-pins; 18Drop ___ (moon); 19- Book about Nineveh;
23- Author Harte; 24- Deck quartet;
Monday’s solution
25- Chest or closet material; 26- English
architect Jones; 27- Lerner’s partner;
28- Leftover; 29- Author Calvino; 30- The
Hunter; 31- Approach; 32- Coarse file; 36Horrors!; 37- ER VIP; 38- Yard tunneler;
40- Turkish palace; 41- Secret society
of Naples; 43- Musical composition; 44Pecuniary gain; 45- ___ sapiens; 48- “The
Thin Man” dog; 49- Type of gun; 50- I smell
___!; 51- Elisabeth of “Leaving Las Vegas”;
52- Former Fords; 53- Plaster backing; 54Cleveland’s lake; 55- Keats creations; 57Boxer’s warning; 58- Bentley of “American
Beauty”;
Beijing
17
29
cloudy
Harbin
12
20
thundershower
Tianjin
20
27
clear/cloudy
Urumqi
14
25
clear
Xi’an
20
22
moderate rain
Lhasa
13
23
shower/cloudy
Chengdu
21
26
moderat rain
Chongqing
25
34
cloudy
Kunming
17
28
cloudy
Nanjing
22
28
shower/overcast
Shanghai
23
28
cloudy/overcast
Wuhan
24
33
cloudy
Hangzhou
23
29
shower
Taipei
26
32
drizzle
Guangzhou
25
34
cloudy
Hong Kong
27
32
shower
Moscow
17
26
cloudy
Frankfurt
13
23
drizzle
Paris
14
21
overcast/drizzle
London
14
22
drizzle
New York
19
29
drizzle/clear
Condition
world
Crosswords
Across: 1- Take the honey and run; 6- Large mop; 10- Hit with an open hand; 14Lugged; 15- Silver screen; 16- Swiss river; 17- In spite of; 20- From ___ Z; 21- Cooks
in fat; 22- Buenos ___; 23- Life stories; 24- Sighs of relief; 25- Roundabout expression;
32- Actress Taylor; 33- City near Provo; 34- Uno + due; 35- Mine entrance; 36“Awake and Sing!” playwright; 38- Mother of Hermes; 39- Droop, sink; 40- Display;
41- Hue; 42- Forebrain; 46- Guadalajara gold; 47- Capital of Italy; 48- Yoga posture;
51- Replay option; 53- “Seinfeld” uncle; 56- Direct; 59- Milk source; 60- Designer
Gernreich; 61- Knot again; 62- Architectural pier; 63- Repose; 64- Remains of a fire;
Max
China
Easy+
Scorpio
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10.09.2014 wed
th Anniversary
廣告
wed 10.09.2014
th Anniversary
體育
SPORTS
OLYMPICS
T
homas Bach has been
moving at breakneck
speed in his first year
as IOC president. Yet
even he didn’t expect to secure
support for his Olympic reforms
so quickly.
It’s been a manic 12 months
for Bach, who was elected on
Sept. 10, 2013, in Buenos Aires
as the ninth president of the International Olympic Committee,
succeeding Jacques Rogge. He
marks the anniversary today at
IOC headquarters in Lausanne,
Switzerland.
The 60-year-old German has
overseen the Winter Olympics
in Sochi, traveled the globe to
meet sports and political leaders
(81 heads of state and government, according to the IOC), set
up a USD20 million fund to fight
doping and match-fixing, and
struck 13 broadcast and sponsorship deals worth $10 billion —
including a record $7.75 billion
deal with NBC for U.S. TV rights
through 2032. He recently returned from China, where he presided over the Youth Olympics in
Nanjing.
“It’s been pretty dynamic,” Bach
said in a telephone interview with
The Associated Press. “There was
a lot going on. At the same time,
it was a very, very encouraging
first year.” Most surprising, he
said, was how IOC members and
others lined up so swiftly behind
his “Olympic Agenda 2020.” The
roadmap — to be voted on by the
full IOC membership in December — envisions a more flexible
Olympic bidding process and
sports program, lower costs for
hosting the games, and creation
of an Olympic television channel.
Here are a few things on Bach’s
plate:
READY FOR RIO? After a
barrage of complaints from international sports bodies over
Bach reflects on busy 1st
year as IOC president
“We have to explain, explain,
explain the system of the two
budgets,” he said. “I think now
slowly the people start to realize
this. You just have to look at the
high interest we see for 2024 already.”
Cities in the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary,
Qatar, Azerbaijan and South
Africa are among those that have
expressed interesting in bidding
for 2024. “I’m very happy about
this,” Bach said. “I’m optimistic
enough to think that our explanations about the two budgets
and positive legacy of the games
is showing some result.”
ap photo
Stephen Wilson, London
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach
chronic delays in preparations
for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de
Janeiro, Bach said Brazilian organizers are now making good
progress. Work has finally started on the Deodoro venue cluster. A sailing test event went off
relatively smoothly last month,
despite continuing worries over
pollution in Guanabara Bay.
Brazil’s successful hosting of the
World Cup has eased some concerns. Bach has sent veteran administrator Gilbert Felli to Rio to
help sort things out.
“It’s very encouraging to see
what’s happened in the last cou-
ple of months,” Bach said. “The
mayor and the governor took
over some responsibility and are
working well with the organizing
committee. You see now the facilities in Deodoro getting off the
ground. The first test event in
sailing in principle went well. So
it is going in the right direction.”
Bach pointed to recent polls in
Rio showing that 79 percent of
the population supports the games.
COUNTING THE COSTS:
Convincing cities that hosting
the Olympics is not prohibiti-
vely expensive is one of Bach’s
biggest challenges. The $51
billion price tag associated with
the Sochi Olympics has scared
off many potential bidders. A series of voter rejections and withdrawals has left only three cities
in the race for the 2022 Winter
Olympics — Beijing, Oslo and
Almaty, Kazakhstan. Oslo’s bid
remains uncertain amid public and political opposition in
Norway. Bach keeps reminding
everyone that long-term infrastructure costs should be considered separately from the Olympic operating budget.
ON THE AGENDA: Bach’s
Agenda 2020 is moving smoothly through the refining process. IOC working groups and
commissions are in Lausanne
this month to formulate recommendations. The IOC executive
board will hold a brainstorming
session Oct. 22-24 in the Swiss
lakeside resort of Montreux to
finalize proposals. The package
will be put to a vote at the special
session in Monaco from Dec. 8-9.
Among the novelties is creation
of a digital channel to promote
Olympic sports in the years between games. The network, which would include a mix of sports
coverage, archive footage and
other programming, could be
launched next year.
“This is very, very important — to keep Olympic sports
and values relevant outside the
Olympic Games,” Bach said. AP
F
errari’s fall from
grace is no longer just
a worry on the Formula
One track. It’s a cause for
concern in the corporate
boardroom, too. After six
years without a title, the
events at and around the
weekend’s Italian Grand
Prix appear to have set
the stage as a tipping
point for sweeping changes.
For the first time since
2008, Ferrari failed to a
land a car on the podium
in its home race. Fernando Alonso retired Sunday
due to a mechanical problem on lap 30 of 53 and
teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished ninth.
ap photo
Ferrari’s fall in F1 causing corporate concern
Andrew Dampf, Monza
19
“In Formula One, as
in sport in general, there are days to forget and
this was certainly one of
them,” said team principal Marco Mattiacci,
who was installed in April
when Stefano Domenicali
resigned amid the team’s
worst run in nearly 20
years. But the results were
only part of the story.
Speculation had been
swirling even before the
weekend that Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo was being forced
out of the company four
decades after founding
father Enzo Ferrari brought him in.
On Saturday, Montezemolo held court in the
Monza paddock and in-
sisted he was happy to
stay.
“In March I told the
shareholders and especially the people at Ferrari, who I’m very close to,
that I would be available
for another three years,”
Montezemolo said. “If
there is then anything
new, I myself would be
the first to say so.”
Sergio Marchionne, the
CEO of Ferrari’s parent
company Fiat and Chrysler, may have interpreted
Montezemolo’s words as a
warning linked to how big
of a payoff Montezemolo
might demand to step aside before his mandate as
president ends in 2017.
“We’re not talking about
him quitting but nobody
is indispensable,” Marchionne said in nearby
Cernobbio on Sunday —
about half an hour before
Alonso’s retirement.
“There are two elements of Ferrari that are important for us: economic
results, on which Montezemolo has done a great
job, and the sporting management. Ferrari’s heart
belongs to winning in F1.
Seeing it in this kind of
shape, without having
won anything since 2008
— even with the best drivers in the world and
great engineers — upsets
me and bothers me enormously.”
Ferrari has not won all
season and with only six
more races remaining,
the team risks going winless for the first time since
1993 — when Jean Alesi
and Gerhard Berger were
the team’s drivers. AP
THE
Christie says N.J. casinos,
Station
BUZZ tracks can offer sports betting
Benedict Keith Ip
Poorest of the poor
How would you define poor? If we opt for
an international standard, economic data will
help us to draw a poverty threshold. Theoretically, we can collect the statistics to find
“the total cost of all the essential resources
that an average human adult consumes in
one year.” And practically we can give this
assignment to the economists if a government wants to do so.
In our surrounding region, there is a fairy
tale well spread to describe Macau: Macau
has no poor. On different occasions, I have
asked people how they came to this conclusion. The answers are usually related to
money: Our famous Wealth Partaking Scheme; extremely low unemployment rates; no
beggars; various subsidies. Some even describe how a Macau ID card holder equals an
ATM card. It gives you money from time to
time, and also job opportunities.
Indeed, they are right because we have
a very strong economy. The CIA Factbook
shows our GDP per capita (PPP) is estimated to be USD88,700 for 2013, the highest
third position comparing to the rest of the
world. The unemployment rate is currently
at its historical lowest 1.7%. The Gini coefficient is closed to, but not yet beyond the
significant 0.4.
However, after the past weekend, I truly believe that we still have a large portion of poor.
They exist, but very few people care about
them. They are just invisible to the eyes of
the general public.
Last Sunday, I volunteered along with
friends and faithful in the church to help with
an event organized by the Missionaries of
Charity near Ilha Verde. We celebrated Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, also known as Mother Teresa’s day. The mass and food sharing gathered groups of families, vagrants,
elderly, disabled and homeless people. They
may not know each other, and many of them
are not Catholic of course. But they were invited, shared, and filled with both physical
and spiritual sustenance.
The sisters are so humble that they always
keep a very low profile. They even give and
serve whatever they have on their community’s feast day. In the affixed area where the
government recently reclaimed to build tall
public housing marks a huge contrast to the
two story house. Our residents are crying not
to be able to buy an apartment. Indeed, we
deserve a proper place to go home to after a
hard day’s work. Yet, please do keep in mind
that we still have a lot of poor. They urgently
need our compassion and care. They also
deserve to live with dignity by having mooncakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Mother Teresa once said, “I heard the call
to give up all and follow Christ into the slums
to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”
Then she left her position as a school principal to take care of people who were dying,
or the poorest of the poor. We must always
keep in mind that the meaning of poor is far
beyond our imagination in Macau.
French women bid topless
sunbathing ‘adieu’
Thomas Adamson, Paris
F
rance’s summer is
fast becoming a memory, and so is one of its
iconic beach sights: the
topless woman. As few as
2 percent of French women under 35 now say they
want to bare their breasts,
according to an Elle magazine poll this summer. It’s a
far cry from the once-ubiquitous scenes of semi-nudity on the French Riviera,
epitomized by 1960s blond
bombshell Brigitte Bardot.
“It’s seen as vulgar. People are more prudish these
days,” explains 60-year old
Muriel Trazie, keeping her
breasts out of the public eye
while sunning herself on
Paris Plages, the French capital’s summer beach. Sandra Riahi, 22, in a bikini,
chimed in: “I’ve never done
it. I’d be too embarrassed.”
In the 1960s, it took a
country like France to make A Parisian woman takes advantage of the Paris Plage event, an artificial
feminism sexy — and wo- beach set up on the right bank of the Seine river
men did it by going topless
hit by austerity since the
on the beach. Men don’t
start of the financial crisis,”
have to wear bikini tops, so
said Kauffman. “If breaswhy should we? the femit-baring is a sign of risk and
nists cried. The boundary
revolution, covering up is a
-breaking became risque
sign of safety. In uncertain
trend-setting — when photimes, you always dress
tos of La Bardot posing tomore conservatively.”
pless in the Cote d’Azur were
And it’s not just on the
beamed around the world.
beach that breasts are out
The frisson of fun only inof fashion.
creased when toplessness
Cleavage became an afwas denounced by the Vatifair of state this year when
can and condemned by the
Segolene Royal — environSpanish church.
ment minister and former
When France stood up to
partner of President Frana conservative backlash and
cois Hollande — denied
refused to ban topless bamultiple reports she ordething in the 1970s, wearing
red female staff to “dress
the “monokini” — the bikini
bottom without the top — beScholars point to the appropriately” and avoid
came a symbol of Gallic pride. aging of the Generation X revealing tops.
Elle magazine claims healBut times change, and in France and a step back
so do bathing suits. Some to traditional values among th concerns are the chief
link the demise of “le to- the more conservative cause of toplessness’ new
unpopularity, with increapless” to a simple change “Millennial Generation.”
in French fashion styles —
And where once authori- sed awareness of skin canwith a recent trend for full ties defended toplessness, cer. Skin around the nipples,
swimsuits, and ones that there’s now an official push it says, is extremely delicate
and easily damaged.
accentuate the bottom. But to restrict it.
But like many things in
sociologists claim that the
In Paris, an official sign
trend should be taken more shows a faceless bikini-clad our era, others just blame
seriously, with some sug- beauty posing on a pedes- Twitter. Nathan Assouline,
gesting that French women tal. “In parks and gardens, a 22-year-old beach monitor
have forgotten the achieve- we don’t forget to wear the at Paris Plages, said some
ments of feminism.
TOP and the bottom,” says sunbathers could be discou“French young women to- the sign recently put up in raged by the rise of phone
day are more conformist. Paris’ Monceau Park, a po- cameras, and the fear their
They’ve already attained pular sunbathing spot near bodies could end up in a
stranger’s Facebook feed.
freedom ... So they’ve gotten the Arc de Triomphe.
“I see lots of old men loitelazy and taken it for granBelieve it or not, the deted,” said Jean-Claude Kau- cline of topless sunbathing ring around here,” he said. “I
ffman, author of “Women’s has also been linked to the have to stop them from taking
photos on their phones. It haBodies, Men’s Gaze. Sociolo- financial crisis.
gy of Naked Breasts.”
“France has also been hard ppens all the time.” AP
A beach
monitor at
Paris Plages
said some
sunbathers
could be
discouraged
by the rise
of phone
cameras
source: dsmg
20-40
Good
High
Density
20-40
Residental Good
Area
Ambient
20-40
Good
WORLD BRIEFS
AFGHANISTAN President
Hamid Karzai urges the
country’s two presidential
candidates to reach an
agreement on a new national
unity government at a state
function that devolves into
raucous shouting by agitated
supporters of candidate
Abdullah Abdullah. Karzai,
who has been in power in
Afghanistan since shortly
after the 2001 U.S.-led
invasion, said his time
as president is over and
that the country wants a
new government. He told
the crowd of hundreds
of powerbrokers to urge
Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani
Ahmadzai to reach a deal
to end the country’s now
5-month-long election
process.
PAKISTAN-INDIA The death
toll from floods in Pakistan
and India reaches 400 as
armies in both countries
scramble to help the victims
and authorities in Islamabad
warn of more flooding in the
days ahead. The flash floods,
which began Sept. 3, have
put more than half a million
people in peril and rendered
thousands homeless in the
two neighboring states.
More on p12
ap photo
Vox Parva
ffman, said in a directive issued on Monday.
The new push for sports betting came as the governor convened a closed-door summit in Atlantic City with political leaders and casino officials
weighing how to revive the seaside resort. Atlantic
City’s gambling revenue sagged to USD2.9 billion
last year from a peak of $5.2 billion in 2006 as casinos in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and
New York cut into the resort’s haul.
ap photo
opinion
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s administration declared that casinos and racetracks can
offer sports betting without fear of prosecution or
civil liability, setting up another possible showdown with professional and college leagues.
Sports wagering at casinos and racetracks is
now legal as long as it doesn’t involve New Jersey’s college teams or any collegiate events in the
state, Christie’s acting attorney general, John Ho-
Roadside
Air quality
SWITZERLAND Former
Formula One champion
Michael Schumacher
(pictured) has left a
Swiss hospital and will
continue his recovery at
home, his manager said
yesterday. The seven-time
F1 champion suffered a
serious head injury while
skiing in France at the end
of December. “Considering
the severe injuries he
suffered, progress has been
made in the past weeks
and months,” his manager,
Sabine Kehm, said in a
statement. “There is still,
however, a long and difficult
road ahead.”
USA Republican House of
Representatives Speaker
John Boehner said yesterday
that Islamic State group
militants pose a serious
threat that must be dealt with
in Iraq, Syria or wherever
they exist as he pressed
President Barack Obama to
spell out the U.S. strategy
to destroy the militants. The
president was scheduled to
meet with House and Senate
Republican and Democratic
leaders yesterday afternoon
and deliver an address on the
issue today.