September 23, 2008Three consecutive days of Mid-Autumn holidays did not bring any increase in the number of tourists to Macau, according to Wu Keng Kuong, president of board of directors of Travel Industry Council of Macau.
Mr Wu said that the number of tourists had remained similar to that of the previous year, saying that the flow of tourists was about the same as during a regular weekend.
Posted in Economy & Business, Macau Government, Macau Tourism, Shopping, Social and Politics 
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September 14, 2008According to the president of the Council for Chinese Affairs, Lai Shin Yuan, an organisation that works with the relations between China and Taiwan, Taiwan wishes to increase official contact with Hong Kong and Macau.
This is part of their policy to increase relations within the Strait of Taiwan in general politics.
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July 25, 2008Macau’s Composite CPI for June 2008 rose by 9.05% year-on-year to 124.72, of which the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages, Health and Transport soared by 18.16%, 14.63% and 12.94% respectively.
Among the subgroups of Food & non-alcoholic beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of canned meat (+83.32%), fresh beef (+75.08%), rice (+69.54%), edible oil (+55.94%), fresh pork (+45.46%), chilled or frozen pork (+41.22%), fresh water fish (+36.01%), noodles (+30.43%), vegetables (+18.66%) and charges for meals bought away from home (+15.35%). For the subgroups of Health and Transport, charges for medical consultation service (+25.65%) and prices of unleaded gasoline (+32.75%) registered marked increase. Despite Government’s pay out of electricity subsidy to all households, the price index of Housing & fuels rose by 7.96%, as a result of the substantial surge in the prices of LP Gas (+26.47%), charges for maintenance & repair services of dwelling (+27.18%) and rentals for housing (+14.87%).
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July 22, 2008The Global Human Rights Torch Relay was disrupted by Macau authorities on the weekend and five arrests were made, which were described as unwarranted by organizers.
The Global Human Rights Torch relay commenced in Athens on August 8 2007 to raise awareness of China’s human rights crimes in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
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June 7, 2008Chan Meng Ieng, wife of imprisoned former Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) high-ranking official Ao Man Long was sentenced to 23 years in prison by the SAR’s Court of First Instance (TJB) Wednesday.
Chan along with three of Ao’s family members and three business associates were convicted of money laundering and bribery, according to the verdict. The trial of the case began in January this year.
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June 1, 2008In the first quarter of 2008, performance of the gaming sector continued to stay vibrant, with gross gaming revenue (excluding gratuities) soaring substantially by 61.8% in nominal terms compared with the same quarter of 2007, while total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) rose slightly by 4.3%; gross fixed capital formation dropped by 17.6% upon successive completion of large-scale construction projects, and exports of goods fell by 11.2%. Taking all relevant data together, GDP for the first quarter of 2008 expanded by 31.6% in real terms, higher than the 22.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In terms of major GDP components, private consumption expenditure in the first quarter of 2008 increased by 9.6%, lower than the 9.7% growth in the previous quarter. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market rose by 8.6%, while that abroad fell slightly by 1.7%, with the expenditure in Mainland China amounting to MOP 606 million.
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June 1, 2008Police in Macau today carried out a controlled explosion after finding a cache of weapons and explosives in a popular tourist street.
Two grenades, a revolver, a knife and bag of explosives along with a timer were found in a hotel in the territory’s so-called Souvenir Street in the heart of Macau’s tourist district.
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May 24, 2008The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen, met with the management of six casino concessionaires to exchange views on the development of the industry.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Mr Tam disclosed that the discussions were focused on the commission rate on VIP chips and the number of tables.
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