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PHILIPPINES Police officials say they have captured two local sympathizers of the Islamic State group who tried to detonate a bomb near the U.S. Embassy, prompting authorities to raise a terror alert. National police chief Director-General Ronald de la Rosa said yesterday the two militants, who were separately arrested, initially wanted but failed to detonate the homemade bomb at Manila’s seaside Rizal Park, their initial target.

THAILAND prepares to welcome a new king, with final arrangements scheduled to formalize the accession of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to the throne.

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alexis tam rolls out plansDuring the Policy Address presentation by Alexis Tam, tourism, education and healthcare topped lawmakers’ concerns

father-daughter duo set for classical recital Father and daughter duo, Mischa and Lily Maisky, are set to take the stage of the Macao Cultural Centre tonight

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Renato Marques

SEATTLE resident Francis-co Colaço Xavier, a first-ti-

me participant in the trien-nial Gathering of Macanese Communities, shared with the Times his ideas and feelings about the event, the community and the memories of Macau’s “Old Days” on the sidelines of the event’s welcoming dinner. The Macanese diaspora mee-ting concludes today.

Macau Daily Times (MDT) – You mentioned that this is your first time attending the “Gathering” – what made you decide to come this time?

Francisco Colaço Xavier (FCX) – Well, to start, I would say that everybody in my family has attended most of them (if not all of them). So I decided, since I retired [this year], I must come to one at least. So I did and I’m finding long-lost rela-tives and friends that I haven’t seen for a while, mostly cou-sins that moved away to Brazil and friends that I grew up with here, and that is so wonderful.

MDT - Was that your main objective, to find long-lost friends and relatives?

FCX – To be completely ho-nest, my priority was to eat the food (which I came here to do) but it turns out that meeting long-lost friends and family was more exciting and more fulfilling. I was told that I wou-ld find a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time and even meet relatives that I didn’t even know about, but I always thought that was secondary as I wanted to eat [Macanese food] first – but it turned out just the opposite.

CARITAS Macau is set to launch a new cen-

ter next month to provide essential support services to ethnic minority groups in the territory.

According to Paul Pun, Caritas Macau secretary general, the charity ou-treach aims to expand its services to reach out to the growing minority groups.

Welancer Center will continually host Caritas’ quarterly legal seminars

Q&A

‘If people were away long enough they probably would not recognize Macau’

FRANCISCO COLAÇO XAVIERPARTICIPANT ON THE GATHERING OF MACANESE COMMUNITIES

MDT – How do you feel about meeting these peo-ple?

FCX – I’m really excited and I have lots of pictures and stories to take back home to tell my mother and everybody there. I have pictures of people in our family that they haven’t seen since they were little.

MDT – How long had you been away from Macau? How do you see the chan-ges of its landscape and people?

FCX – Although this is my first “Encontro” [Gathering] I have been coming to Macau more or less regularly. I have been here before in April and May this year and also last December, and I’m planning to come back again in January next year because I have friends and relatives that live in Hong Kong as well, and I do site trips to mainland China. I do believe that if people were away long enough they proba-bly would not recognize Macau at all. When I was little, all my relatives lived here and I used to come often just to pass some time. It was so different, I re-member especially how quiet it was, like a “Little Europe”… cobblestones… everybody knew

everybody or they were related. I’d gone away: first, I grew up in Hong Kong and then moved to the U.S., but I returned regu-larly because I used to work for the airlines and would often fly to Hong Kong. I would make

some “special trips” to Macau to see my “Tios” [uncles] and as I walked around, I saw the changes happening so quickly – I miss the old Macau! And I’m even disappointed with the ex-tent of some of these changes. I

see that people from many other countries came in and changed it and made it too commercial. It’s good progress but I miss the “old Macau.”

MDT – What positive sur-prises are there?

FCX – The people are still here! I like to see that! Yester-day I saw so many old friends – and I really mean old – that when they see each other they don’t even immediately recog-nize each other, but suddenly – bang! – they are embracing and hugging. That’s the “old Macau” I remember. In the old Macau, everybody hugged each other every day. We don’t see that now. As I walk around, I still see things from the old days and that makes me a little ha-ppy, but yeah, it’s not the same!

MDT - Are these “Gathe-rings” also opportunities to discuss the community and its own development?

FCX – Most definitely! It’s such a great opportunity for everybody to come back from all over the world and relive the old days, remember tho-se feelings and through those, orient new ideas and projects for the future.

Paul Pun, secretary general of Caritas Macau

Caritas to expand its services, reaches out to ethnic groups

on topics such as labor re-lations law and minimum wage discussions in part-

nership with the Philippi-ne Consulate.

Caritas has also been

running an Overseas La-borer Service to provide necessary support to mi-grant workers.

“We will continue our work [on hosting] legal seminars, social adjust-ment program, some counseling services [and] also networking services for them,” he told the Ti-mes through a phone in-terview.

He added that they are also looking into hos-ting cultural activities for

ethnic groups.The center will also fo-

cus on assisting the non-Chinese speaking com-munity in adapting to the local culture, so that the migrant workers will gain a sense of belonging to the region.

As language barriers are one of the main difficul-ties the groups face, Pun hopes that the new cen-ter will assist the migrant workers in being integra-ted into the local culture

and lifestyle.“Some of them [also]

face marital problems, problems with the nei-ghborhood and lan-dlords,” he noted, adding that they would also assist migrant workers in com-municating with proper-ty-owners.

Welancer Center, whi-ch has a budget of MOP2 million, is set to accom-modate both residents and non-residents. Accor-ding to Pun, there are still several permanent resi-dents who are estranged in Macau. LV

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Daniela Wei

MACAU extended ga-ming revenue gains in

November, posting the stron-gest growth in almost three years and advancing a reco-very that’s seen more visitors flock to the world’s largest gambling hub.

Gross gaming revenue rose 14.4 percent to MOP18.8 billion (USD2.4 billion), ac-cording to Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. That compares with the median estimate for an 11 percent advance in a Bloom-berg survey of nine analysts. It is the fourth straight mon-th of gains and the strongest year-on-year growth since February 2014.

“Visitation is starting to grow again and more im-portantly, people are staying longer,” said Marcus Liu, a gaming analyst at CLSA Ltd, before the release. The strong growth is also due to a low base, as November 2015 pos-ted the worst performance in

Adjustment of election law seen as censorship New Macau Association (ANM) delivered a letter to the Legislative Assembly (AL) opposing the government’s latest revision of the city’s AL Election Law, which would bar AL candidates from standing for office if they are found to have violated the territory’s Basic Law, or if their loyalty to the MSAR is considered questionable. ANM considers that the regulation lacks objective standards and could easily be abused. Moreover, ANM states that the regulation will create censorship of political opinions, and that it will let the Electoral Affairs Committee expand its censorship over all voices against the government.

Children report their father for domestic violenceA 14-year-old girl, accompanied by her 11-year-old brother, went to the Judiciary Police (PJ) to report their father for his domestic abuse of their mother. The PJ went on to arrest the 59-year-old local man, surnamed Lau. The couple had been together in mainland China since 2003. Following their marriage, the female victim came to Macau in 2004, but because she was unable to work in Macau legally at that time, Lau was the only source of income in the family. According to the PJ, the victim once denied Lau sex because she was feeling sick. Lau then assumed that his wife was cheating on him and started insulting and beating her frequently, and had continued abusing her since then.

Biggest gaming revenue growth since 2014

five years, he said.The $30 billion gaming in-

dustry in Macau, the only pla-ce in China where casinos are legal, has rebounded from a two-year slump as operators including Wynn Macau Ltd. opened new, billion-dollar resorts. Casino operators in the Chinese special adminis-trative region have turned to attracting more families and casual gamblers amid Presi-dent Xi Jinping’s efforts to curb official corruption and limit capital outflow that cha-

sed away high-stakes players who accounted for the bulk of bets.

Macau casino shares gained after the release, with SJM Holdings Ltd. advancing as much as 4.1 percent, while Sands China Ltd. increased 2.8 percent in Hong Kong tra-ding yesterday. The Bloom-berg Intelligence Macau Ga-ming Index rose as much as 2.5 percent.

Macau’s gaming industry was boosted as more visitors seek out Macau. Total visitor arrivals in Macau reached 2.7 million in October, with over-night visitors seeing year-on- year growth of 12 percent.

Lawrence Ho, Melco Crown’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the in-dustry is experiencing a heal-thy rebound.

“We are in a recovery. That recovery is not going to be the same as the recovery during the global financial crisis,” Ho said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s going to be more of a na-tural recovery.”

Despite the positive signs of a rebound, the city’s govern-ment targeted a conservative forecast for gambling revenue next year, keeping it unchan-ged from 2016 at MOP200 billion. That was 13 percent below analysts’ estimates. The government has pushed operators such as Las Vegas Sands and Galaxy Entertain-ment Group Ltd. to focus on tourists instead of the high rollers the industry’s relied upon in previous years.

Still, there are signs high- stakes players are returning to the tables. HSBC Holdings Plc. analyst Charlene Liu no-ted there is “genuine and sus-tained” VIP demand as rooms for those premium players re-opened for the first time in two years and the availabi-lity of credit increased. That comes as the Chinese gover-nment announced this week a 10 percent tax on luxury cars in a bid to combat cons-picuous consumption and promote more fuel-efficient vehicles. Bloomberg

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Julie Zhu

THE Secretary for So-cial Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, said yester-day that “health, educa-

tion and social welfare are the priorities” for the government.

During the first day of the Policy Address presentation by Tam, questions on tourism development, education and healthcare topped lawmakers’ concerns.

Ma Chi Seng voiced his con-cern about public health, su-ggesting that Tam pay more attention to sports rather than education and healthcare. He recommends that the city shou-ld develop the “Sports for All” program. Resorting to the latest reports about the region’s heal-th, specifically youth health, Ma said that sports education should be given priority in the development of the city.

The lawmaker pointed out that from 2010 until 2015, local people’s average weight increa-sed. The percentage of overwei-ght people increased 3.4 per-cent and currently there are approximately 150,000 people who are overweight. Ma, citing a newspaper, said that Macau’s residents “eat good, live well, but their health is not good.”

“The overall [health] quality [of the population] has impro-ved,” said Tam, opposing Ma’s statement that local people’s

Renato Marques

THE Executive Coun-cil announced yester-

day in a press conference that its period of analysis of the government’s pro-posal that aims to control the entry and exit of cash and other tradable pro-ducts across the borders has concluded.

The measure would fulfill the 40 recommen-dations made by the Fi-nancial Action Task For-ce on Money Laundering (FATF) to all the group members of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money

gov’t willing to allow smoking lounges THE GOVERNMENT is willing to allow the city’s gaming opera-tors to establish smoking lounges inside the casinos. However, according to Alexis Tam, these lounges must carry “high stand-ards.” He said that several govern-mental departments are still doing research on this subject. “[Es-tablishing the lounges] must be agreed by the casinos’ employees,”

Tam explained. He pledged that Macau’s “tobacco control laws will not become trash.” Lei Chin Ion, director of the Health Bureau, re-vealed that many members of the AL standing committees agreed with the decision to establish smoking lounges inside casinos. The committee will deliver new amended laws to the AL in less than 10 months.

Alexis Tam (center)

customs service director reacts to worker’s arrest

ON THE sidelines of a press conference of the Executive Council, the Macao Customs Service (SA) director Alex Vong expressed his sadness at the arrest of an SA staff member by the Judiciary Police (PJ) under allega-tions of fraud involving credit cards and stolen information. “We are very

sad about this case. We had a meeting with the Chiefs [of SA] to ensure that our work was not af-fected,” he said. In addi-tion, Vong stated that the Customs Service will start disciplinary proceedings against this staff member as well as continue to cooperate with the inves-tigation.”

POLICY ADDRESS | ALEXIS TAM

‘Health, education and social welfare are the priorities’weight had increased.

Ma vows that “developing sports tourism will be the pa-thway of Macau.” According to him, 10 percent of the world’s economy comes from sports tourism. He noted that reforms in sports courses are the target of many of the world’s govern-mental reforms.

Tam pointed out that compa-ring the results of the first glo-bal physical tests of Macau’s population back in 2005 with that of the third test in 2015 shows that local people in fact have improved their health.

Regarding the development of sports tourism, Tam agrees with Ma, “Sports tourism is indeed a project which can be greatly developed.”

The secretary promised to enhance sports training pro-grams in the city. He also hopes that Macau can have a specific training centre. Moreover, the secretary noted that the Macao Government Tourism Office has already established develo-

pment plans related to sports tourism, with hopes of organi-zing further sports activities that attract more tourists to Macau.

In his reply to Wong Kit Cheng, who posed questions about the Children Assessment Center established in June, Tam said that 339 children have already completed an assessment from the center, 127 of whom were children who were already on the waiting list before the cen-ter’s establishment. “Our work is very efficient,” said Tam.

Questioned by Lei Cheng I, Tam revealed data related to the city’s medical professionals who specialise in treating men-tal illness. He argued that Ma-cau has a reasonable number of experts working in this field.Tam also claimed that the city

has prepared enough doctors and social workers to provide the necessary medical services.

According the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, for every 1,000 Macau residents there are 2.6 hospital beds. Tam pledged to increase the number of beds to 4.4 per 1,000 people.

Education was other topic dis-cussed. Chan Hong pointed out that teachers providing educa-tion to students with learning difficulties or students with di-seases often leave their positions. These teachers have poorer wel-fare conditions and reduced sala-ries compared to other teachers.

Tam said that in order to res-pond to this issue, Macao Poly-technic Institute will start of-fering courses specifically for special education teachers. It

will enrol new students starting from the next academic year. Tam also said that salaries for public school teachers have been upgraded. The city has revised policies related to teachers, and it has already entered the next stage of legislative procedures.

Chan Hong issued a reminder that some teachers who work in public schools do not have long-term contracts with their employers or do not have a permanent contract. She ques-tioned Tam about which stage the authority is in regarding the establishment of a system for public school teachers that can make clear regulation with respect to the aforementioned issues. She further questioned whether such a system could be implemented before 2017.

Mandatory declaration of valuables flowing across the border

Laundering (APG), of which the MSAR is a part.

The bill, called “Control of the cross-border trans-portation of cash and bea-rer negotiable objects,” proposes the obligation of a declaration to the Customs Service of cash and tradable values to the value of USD15,000 (MOP120,000) or above. The measure is applicab-le to any person entering the territory regardless of whether the entrant is a foreigner or a local resi-dent.

Adding to this, the bill also proposes that any per-

son leaving the territory could be asked by customs officers to declare values of the same amount.

As explained by the Exe-cutive Council spokesper-son Leong Heng Teng, “Anyone who fails to com-ply with the duty of filing a declaration is guilty of an administrative offense pu-nishable by a fine worth 1 to 5 percent of the amount that exceeds the referen-ce amount,” adding that such fines would not be in an amount less than MOP1,000 nor more than MOP500,000, although in “justifiable situations,

the fine can be reduced or waived.”

Questioned by the press on whether or not such a measure would fail to comply with the Basic Law that states that Ma-cau enjoys a free move-ment of capital status, Leong said, “This will not affect the free movement [nor] stop any commer-cial activity.”

Adding to this reply was a representative of the SA who said, “There is no limitations on the maximum amount [that people can bring] into the territory. It is merely ne-

cessary to declare it.”Regarding what would

happen to the data collec-ted by the SA in the de-claration forms, the same representative said: “The information will be sent to the competent authori-ties, such as the Financial

Intelligence Office,” ad-ding that such informa-tion, “will not be shared to any third-party and namely to the Central Go-vernment authorities.” As informed, such data will then be destroyed after a period of five years.

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Daniel Beitler

FATHER and daughter duo, Mischa and Lily Maisky, are set to take the stage of the Macao

Cultural Centre’s (CCM) Grand Auditorium tonight, for a reci-tal of several renowned classi-cal works, including some from Gabriel Fauré, César Franck and Astor Piazzolla.

Described by CCM as “a true heir of Russia’s delicate poetic and technical brilliance,” the 68-year-old, Latvian-born Mis-cha Maisky was the sole disci-ple of master cellists Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Pia-tigorsky.

Proudly donning a traditional Chinese silk jacket (a minap) that Mischa Maisky told the Ti-mes he purchased in Shanghai, the renowned cellist yesterday recalled his dozens of perfor-mances in East Asia, debuting in the region during a concert in Hong Kong in 1974, and vi-siting Macau just once before in 2003. “It’s nice, right?” he asked, in reference to the ja-cket.

The 68-year-old’s history is an unusual one. Although he was born in Latvia, Mischa Maisky received most of his formal mu-sical education in Soviet Rus-sia; a fact to which he says he is ultimately grateful. After his later repatriation to Israel, the first-rate musician turned his attention to the major music centers of the world, including London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, New York and Tokyo.

Julie Zhu

THE Secretary For So-cial Affairs and Cul-

ture, Alexis Tam, has re-vealed yesterday during the Policy Adress presen-tation (see page 4) that the Macau Wine Museum will move to the former CEM facilities in Ká Ho (Coloane). The museum’s relocation is due to the expansion of the Macau Grand Prix Museum, which is also located at the Tourism Activities Center.

A 50-year-old woman who lives close to the Wine Museum, and works in a nearby grocery store, expects that fewer touris-ts may visit the area and there may be fewer cus-tomers in her shops. “If [the wine museum] mo-

Mischa and Lily Maisky

MUSIC

Father-daughter duo set for classical recital tonight

Having toured and lived in many places around the globe, Mischa Maisky holds himself to be a “citizen of the world.”

“I say [that I am a] ‘Citizen of the World’ as I feel this way,” he replied yesterday when asked on the matter. “But I also have many factors that prove this; I’ve lived in many, many places. I think this [mix of culture] is very healthy.”

“The personality of a musi-cian is influenced by his or her life experiences. I was lucky, in a way, to grow up in the Soviet Union as I received an exce-llent musical education,” ex-plained the cellist. “At the time, and strangely on a daily basis, I used to bump into great mu-

sicians [in the USSR]. It’s quite unbelievable really.”

However, his years living in the Soviet Union – which Mis-cha Maisky frequently terms his “first life” – also came at a cost.

“The other side of the coin was that in the last few years of my ‘first life’ in the Soviet Union, I was arrested and sent to labor camps, spent time in a mental hospital to avoid military service… I di-dn’t see my cello for years [at one point].”

Despite the hardships, the mu-sician settled with an optimistic note on the fact the he remains “grateful to [his] destiny for ha-ving received that history,” as it

has inevitably shaped his style and ability as a performer.

It may have also been the key differential that has set him apart from his colleagues who have also mastered their

respective instruments. His experiences act as a sort of emotional reserve, providing a limitless source of vigor that Mischa Maisky is able to draw upon and convey through his work.

“There are thousands of mu-sicians who master this level and play their instruments per-fectly. [… What differentiates them] are the philosophical elements that go past what peo-ple can just hear – that which goes past [one’s] ears and rea-ches the mind. This is a higher emotional element which is a heart-to-heart [connection],” he explained.

Mischa Maisky’s daughter, Lily Maisky, plays the pia-no and has received critical acclaim in her own right, described by The Scotsman newspaper as “an equal part-ner in a gritty and thrilling performance.”

When asked about what it is like to work with such a renow-ned musician as her father, Lily Maisky held her own without evidencing that she feels in any way overshadowed.

“It’s a great privilege to play with my father… it’s very na-tural,” she said yesterday, “We tried it [first] at a dinner party and we found it so easy and natural, so we just star-ted doing it in concert. We don’t even need to rehearse that much.”

east asian children on the rise as musicians

MISCHA MAISKY also re-marked yesterday on the boom of East Asian children in the global orchestra scene. While recogniz-ing that the populations of China, South Korea and Japan are sig-nificant - and therefore it is no surprise that these countries are fielding huge numbers of talented musicians - Maisky said that he has been overwhelmed by the changes he has observed within

the last few decades. Maisky first visited Asia in 1974, but would not make it to Beijing until 1999. After many more concerts in the Chi-nese capital, the cellist told report-ers yesterday that “the change in [the number of] talented Chinese musicians has been extraordinary – both in the professionalism of orchestras and the opera halls that have mushroomed [sprung up] since my first visit.”

HERITAGE

Wine Museum to move to Ká Ho

ves away, it will have some impact over our business, more or less,” she said.

Tina Loi, a Macau stu-dent at the Macao Poly-technic Institute, also expects fewer visitors to

the area. “It might be be-tter [for the traffic],” she said. “Often, when I go to school in the morning, many people walk on the roads, and the traffic is bad. Many tourism buses

park here.”Lois said that these tou-

rism buses normally pre-vent other buses from moving through the streets during rush hours in the morning.

A 27-year-old Hong Kong tourist, surnamed Chan, offered the Times a different opinion. “I don’t think there will be much of an impact becau-se most people come here to gamble and to visit the Oceanus,” he said.

The museum is a 2,400 square meters space, di-vided into three different areas: Historical Infor-mation, Cellar, and Exhi-

bition Area. One of the main aims of

this museum is to bring the visitor into contact with the social, economic and cultural importance

of wine in Portuguese cul-ture, traditions, daily life and celebrations.

The exhibition space houses around 1,143 di-fferent brands of Portu-guese and Chinese wine from various regions in Portugal.

Around 756 are com-mercial wines and the re-maining wines are collec-tion wines. The oldest bo-ttle is an 1815 vintage Port.

The museum also pre-sents various examples of wine production in China.

Additionally, there is a set of mannequins wea-ring the regional costumes from different regions of Portugal.

The Macau Grand Prix Museum, is expected to be closed for renovation after the first half of next year.

The museum’s relocation is due to the expansion of the Macau Grand Prix Museum

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corporate bits

MGM has announced that it has expanded its intensive PRIDE training program into four specific tracks, providing opportunities to 111 local team members. A total of 45 PRI-DE associates (PRIDERs) will be sent abroad for a cross-training experience this year, of which 21 Leadership PRI-DE associates will take off for Las Vegas early this month.

The program is offered to high-potential employees from both of the operator’s properties in Macau and Cotai. The purpose, according to a statement from MGM, is to enhan-ce the career and personal development prospects of local employees.

The four tracks, namely Leadership, Managerial, Spe-cialist and Supervisory, are designed to prepare staff from different levels and departments to take on the challenges that will arise in the next stage of their career advancement.

mgm expands employee development program

special feature

HERITAGE

Wine Museum to move to Ká Ho

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI) announced that it has received a license to provide insurance and reinsurance in Macau and has filled key po-sitions in its newly established Macau office.

“It is a very interesting time in Macau, with continued di-versification of the territory’s economic profile,” said Marc Breuil, president of BHSI in Asia.

“We are pleased to expand our Asian footprint and bring to Macau local knowledge and expertise along with BHSI’s unique balance sheet and financial strength.”

Effective immediately, BHSI Macau will offer insurance for commercial property, energy, construction, terrorism, casualty, executive and professional lines, surety, accident and health, as well as marine insurance.

berkshire hathaway insurance company expands to macau

THE second batch of the Sands China team

members graduated yes-terday from the one-year diploma program in busi-ness management at the University of Macau (UM).

Forty-four team mem-bers for the 2015-2016 academic year participated in the program that featu-res coursework tailor-ma-de for Sands China team members – an initiative of the Sands China Academy.

The academy provides a platform through which Sands China can focus on team member training and development and the pro-fessional development of locals, including associates, such as staff hired by Sands China’s partner retailers.

Antonio Ramirez, Sands China’s senior vice presi-dent of human resources, touted the importance of investing in its team mem-bers. The gaming operator covered 55 percent of the course fees for the diplo-ma participants. “It offers a firm foundation for our local team members to de-velop their talents further, and provides them with

44 Sands China employees complete diploma program at UM

an opportunity to advance their business knowledge,” he said. “By gaining know-ledge and a broader set of skills in the program, they are investing in their own career enhancement and future development.”

The company further su-pported team members’ attendance in the initiative by asking affected depart-ments to arrange rosters according to team mem-bers’ class schedules.

Ronnie Leong, one of the participating team mem-bers who works in the Hu-man Resources Training and Development depart-ment, told the Times that

the program was a helpful opportunity for the em-ployees, adding that he was particularly fond of the program’s business psychology module.

“Through this program, I’ve gained a lot of knowle-dge in the area of manage-ment, and have also deve-loped a broad set of skills, such as communication skills, mental toughness and English language pro-ficiency,” he said.

“This program has hel-ped us become more pro-ductive at work, and has improved our interperso-nal skills. It’s helping us communicate more effec-

tively with our colleagues and friends,” Leong added.

Initiated by the company and in cooperation with UM’s Centre for Conti-nuing Education, the ex-clusive Corporate-Univer-sity Partnership Program was developed to give Sands China’s local team members an opportunity to earn a diploma in busi-ness management.

According to the casino operator, the one-year di-ploma program contributes to the push for non-gaming diversification in the terri-tory, citing its commitment to developing the careers of locals. LV

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REAL ESTATE MATTERSWhat To Expect As A LandlordClarifying Costs For Owners / Landlords

As a property owner about to lease out your property for the first time, the road ahead may appear straigh-tforward. But are there hidden costs waiting for you?Experienced landlords know what to expect. The cost of owning and leasing a property does not end with the pur-chase price, landlords have nume-rous costs to consider when renting a property and these can be broken down into three different areas;

1. Property Costs - Improvements and furnishing, negative cash-flow

2. Administration Costs - Legal Fees, Agency Fees

3. Maintenance Costs - Ongoing maintenance

Property CostsThe first decision to be made by a landlord is what type of rental property they are going to provide. Unfurnished, Furnished, Fully Fur-nished? This very much depends on the property type, and who the target audience is of course.FurnishingEven when a property is ‘unfurnished’ it usually contains ‘white goods’ such as a fridge and washing machine. Furnished means basic furnitu-re such as a sofa, beds, tables and chairs, whilst fully furnished usually means cutlery, plates and cups etc.The budget will depend on the size

* Figures expressed in MOP unless otherwise stated

of the property and the choice of furnishing level. Be warned that unfurnished apart-ments are less popular and take longer to rent, and money saved on furnishing is often a false economy if a unfurnished property sits empty for months.ImprovementsLandlords may want to invest some money improving a property. Pain-ting walls, a new TV and new audio equipment are all popular ways of improving an apartment and making it an attractive rental proposition.Cash FlowThis is often overlooked, but whilst a property is under renovation and without a tenant, the landlord is still paying a mortgage. With no inco-me, this means a negative cash flow, which must be accounted for when considering the overall cost. Once a property is rented, if the rent does not cover mortgage payments the cash flow shortfall must also be taken into account.

Administration CostsLegal & Tax CostsAn often overlooked cost, landlords may have cause to consult lawyers on contractual issues, but they will certainly have to consider rental in-come tax. The rental income tax is 10 percent of the rental revenue received, with a maximum allowance of 10 percent of the annual rent for maintenance costs.

InsuranceThe contents of the property are the responsibility of the tenant, and te-nants should take out insurance in case of fire or burglary. However, landlords must purchase insurance to cover the cost of a re-build should something happen to the structure. This is often a bank re-quirement if the property has a loan.Agency FeesAgency fees vary from country to country. In Macau, the standard agency fee is equivalent to one mon-th’s rent when renting an apartment.

Maintenance CostsOngoing maintenanceOnce a tenant is renting your pro-perty, there will be some ongoing maintenance costs. It is usual that most of these cos-ts will occur during the first three months of occupancy. As the tenant moves in and uses the facilities, it soon becomes obvious if something is not working properly.Periodic MaintenanceDuring the tenancy there will be some periodic maintenance requi-red. Landlords may be tempted into thinking that all costs should be paid by tenants, but in many cases this is a false economy. For example, re-gassing air-cons every two years keeps them in good shape and means they will last a lot longer, and therefore do not need to be replaced.

Juliet Risdon is a Director of JML Property and a property investor. Having been established in 1994, JML Property offers Investment Property & Homes. It specializes in managing properties for owners and investors, and providing attractive and comfortable homes for tenants.www.JMLProperty.cominfo@JMLProperty.com

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advertorial

Kelvin Chan, Hong Kong

ACTIVITY at China’s factories and services

companies accelerated last month to the highest level in more than two years, in the latest sign that the world’s No. 2 economy is stabilizing, according to official data released yes-terday.

The monthly purcha-sing managers’ index by the Chinese Federation of Logistics and Purchasing climbed last month to 51.7 from 51.2 in October.

The last time the index was at this level was July 2014.

A separate index compi-led by financial publica-tion Caixin showed that factory activity eased from the previous month but still maintained a robust pace. The index slipped to 50.9 from 51.2 previously.

The two indexes are ba-sed on a 100-point scale with the 50-point mark separating expansion from contraction.

In another upbeat sign, service sector activity gai-ned further momentum as the official non-manu-facturing PMI rose to its highest since June 2014,

climbing to 54.7 from 54.0.Both the official and pri-

vate indexes for the coun-try’s outsize manufactu-ring sector are seen as important proxies for the wider Chinese economy, which posted steady grow-th of 6.7 percent in the la-test quarter.

China’s economy has cooled gradually over the past six years as Beijing tries to pivot it away from heavy reliance on export- based manufacturing and investment toward consu-mer spending.

Analyst say the latest fac-tory numbers reflect how China’s larger, state-ow-ned enterprises, which are more heavily represented by the federation’s survey, are bigger beneficiaries of government stimulus mea-sures aimed at shoring up growth than the small and midsized private busines-ses that Caixin’s survey fo-cuses on.

“While today’s data sug-gest that growth remains strong, much of the cur-rent recovery has been dri-ven by policy stimulus, the boost from which is likely fade soon,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics. AP

OFFICIAL SURVEY

China factory activity rises to two-year high

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Louise Watt, Beijing

A Chinese online vi-deo site announced yesterday it will be working with Sony

Pictures Television to produ-ce a Mandarin-language ac-tion thriller series for online viewers.

Chinese and foreign produ-cers have increasingly teamed up in recent years to make movies for distribution in both markets, but the deal be-tween iQIYI and the division of Hollywood studio Sony Pic-tures is a rare example of col-laboration between Chinese and Hollywood companies to produce programming for the Chinese audience.

Streaming sites in China showing Chinese and foreign films and TV shows as well as user-generated content have become hugely popular in recent years. Companies like iQIYI, which is owned by Chinese search engine Baidu, have also developed their own shows.

iQIYI said at a news confe-rence that the co-production

USERS of the WeChat ins-tant-messaging platform

can have their content censored even if they leave China or swit-ch to an overseas phone number, according to a research group.

WeChat accounts registered with a mainland China-based phone number have keywords filtered out or messages blocked anywhere in the world as long they keep the same user name, according to a study by the Uni-versity of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. Accounts created abroad, such as through carriers in Hong Kong or the U.S., don’t face the same restrictions, it said.

“The idea that you can’t esca-pe a censorship system impo-sed on you at the time of regis-tration is a troubling one,” said Jason Q. Ng, a research fellow at the Citizen Lab.

The dual systems are crucial to understanding how Ten-cent Holdings Ltd. can expand China’s most-popular message service overseas while still com-

CHINESE buyers of eye-po-ppingly expensive luxury

cars will have to pay extra un-der Beijing’s latest effort to rein in ostentatious spending.

The communist government has added a 10 percent im-port tax, effective yesterday, on “super-luxury vehicles” priced above 1.3 million yuan (USD190,000). The Finance Ministry said it is aimed at en-couraging “rational consump-tion” and curbing energy use and emissions.

Chinese leaders are trying to nurture domestic consumption to reduce reliance on trade and investment, but worry extrava-gant spending by the elite is po-litically dangerous at a time of slowing economic growth.

The government of President Xi Jinping has imposed a stea-dily widening series of austerity measures since 2013 to discou-rage corruption and what Bei-jing deems excessive spending. They have chilled revenues for

WeChat censoring messages even outside China, study says

plying with domestic govern-ment controls on information. With 846 million active users on WeChat, the company scra-pes news posts deemed sensiti-ve and blocks private texts con-taining certain words in both one-on-one and group chats, Citizen Lab’s research on Thur-sday showed.

Tencent said it complies with local laws and regulations in the countries where it operates.

“WeChat has and will always adhere to Tencent’s core mis-sion to create value,” the com-pany said in an e-mailed state-ment yesterday.

The researchers tested 26,821 keywords that have been blo-cked on other websites, inclu-ding Weibo Corp. and YY Inc. They found that 174 words and expressions, such as “Free Ti-bet” and “ISIS Crisis,” triggered censorship. If those words are detected by WeChat servers in China, the message won’t be sent. Bloomberg

Beijing hikes tax on imported luxury cars

high-end restaurants and sales of brandy, designer handbags and watches and other luxury imports.

It wasn’t clear whether the latest tax, which explicitly tar-gets imports, might run afoul of Beijing’s World Trade Orga-nization commitments to treat foreign and domestic goods equally.

China has been the fastest-growing market for Rolls Roy-ce, Ferrari and other luxury au-tomakers, with some reporting annual sales gains of 50 to 100 percent in recent years.

The latest tax comes at a time when overall auto sales growth is slowing. AP

iQIYI and Sony to produce online series in Mandarin

will be a three-part adaptation of an American drama called “Chosen,” which aired in the U.S. on an online streaming video service owned by Sony called Crackle.

iQIYI said the series is ex-pected to feature top Chinese stars while also using interna-tional actors and production professionals. Production is expected to begin in spring 2017 with an anticipated lau-nch in the fall. It will be pro-duced by Sony’s Playmaker Media with support from Aus-tralian regional fund Screen NSW.

Chinese and Hollywood companies are increasin-gly working together to pro-duce content and market Hollywood movies. Sony said in September that it had tea-med up with China’s Wanda Group, which owns theater chains around the world, to cooperate on big-budget mo-vies.

iQIYI earlier this week an-nounced it had signed a li-censing agreement with Hollywood studio Lionsgate to give it exclusive streaming

rights in China to upcoming Lionsgate movies and some library titles.

Hollywood is keen to ex-tend its reach to China to make more bucks from the world’s second biggest mo-vie-going market, while Chinese producers want to learn technological know- how and storytelling techni-ques from abroad.

That is why iQiyi also an-nounced yesterday a program that aims to enlist world-class directors to act as mentors to Chinese filmmakers as they attempt to appeal to China’s increasing numbers of online viewers.

Its first sign-up is low-budget horror film producer Roger Corman, who attended yes-terday’s news conference. The 90-year-old American pro-ducer of films including “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” and “Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader” will lead a team of young Chinese filmmakers and act as producer on a sci-fi film made for viewing on the internet or mobile phone cal-led “Invasion.” AP

American film producer Roger Corman (right), attends a news conference to announce the co-production between Chinese online video site iQIYI and Sony Pictures in Beijing

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THE Chinese enginee-ring firm responsib-

le for building a cooling tower where 74 workers were killed has offered about USD175,000 in compensation to each of the victims’ families, state media reported.

Gov’t says families of 74 workers killed to receive payments

The official Xinhua News Agency said all the workers’ families had agreed to accept the com-pensation, although it was impossible to indepen-dently verify that claim.

The workers were bui-lding a tower at a power

plant last week in eastern China’s Jiangxi province when scaffolding inside collapsed. It was one of the deadliest workplace accidents in recent years, bringing new attention to China’s problems with en-suring worker safety and

raising questions about whether regulations were followed.

An explosion last year at a warehouse in Tianjin kil-led 165 people, less than a year after an explosion at an auto parts factory in the eastern city of Kunshan killed 146 people.

Authorities have moved swiftly after the latest ac-cident, possibly to head off any protests or unrest over another high-profile instance of mass worker deaths. Police have alrea-dy detained 15 company executives and other offi-cials deemed responsible for the project, including the board chairman of Hebei Yineng, the engi-neering firm reported to be paying compensation to the families.

Xinhua reported that the bodies of the dead workers had already been cremated, and most of the families had been paid the agreed to amount of com-pensation. AP

Rescue workers look for survivors after a work platform collapsed at the Fengcheng power plant in eastern China’s Jiangxi Province

THE managers of an apparently unregistered coal mine in northeast China are under questioning

as rescuers tried yesterday to reach 22 workers tra-pped for a third day.

State media reported that the mine in the city of Qi-taihe in Heilongjiang province was unlicensed. Chi-na is the world’s top producer and consumer of coal, and government officials have made a years-long commitment to shutting down unlicensed mines in an attempt to improve safety.

Rescuers are still trying to get to the miners, a local official told The Associated Press.

Although the cause of the blast has not yet been identified, such incidents usually occur when unven-tilated coal gas is ignited by a spark or open flame.

Top safety regulators have acknowledged that some mines cut corners on safety standards under finan-cial pressure.

It announced plans earlier this year to shutter more than 1,000 underperforming mines, though hun-dreds of new coal plants are also under construction.

An Oct. 31 explosion at a mine in the southwestern region of Chongqing killed 33 people, weeks after a gas explosion in another mine in a AP

Managers questioned as 22 Chinese coal miners trapped

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ASIA-PACIFIC亞太版macau’s leading newspaper 13

th Anniversary

FOR decades, Singapo-re has walked a careful line between the U.S. and China. Now, the

tiny Southeast Asian state is finding itself in Beijing’s cross hairs.

China has gone public in re-cent months to chastise Singa-pore for a perceived alignment with the U.S. against China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea. For Singapore, whi-ch the American Navy uses as a launch point for patrols of the strategic Strait of Malacca, the tensions cast doubt on its long-cherished ability to steer clear of political spats and focus on trade and investment.

The latest episode has the ad-ded wrinkle of Taiwan, which China considers its territory. Nine Singaporean armored personnel carriers were seized by Hong Kong customs last week, with the vehicles en route from Taiwan on a commercial ship after being used in training exercises. Singapore army chief Major General Melvyn Ong said the military was still seeking to ascertain the exact reason the vehicles were impounded.

While Ong said Hong Kong was a common port of call for fo-reign militaries and noted “there have been no issues in the past,” the shipment elicited a formal protest from Beijing, which war-ned Singapore to abide by Hong Kong law and the One-China principle that China uses to gui-de its affairs with Taiwan.

“This is not the first time Sin-gapore ships equipment from Taiwan through Hong Kong,” said Bilahari Kausikan, an am-bassador-at-large for Singa-pore. The fact this particular consignment was picked up shows China wants to “send a signal not only to us, but to all” Southeast Asian nations. China’s long-term strategy is to turn Singapore into an ally and “mouthpiece” for its positions, he said.

China might be seeking to gain the advantage ahead of Donald Trump’s January inau-guration as U.S. president - and amid questions about the futu-re of President Barack Obama’s military and economic “pivot” to Asia - by prodding countries like Singapore to stay out of po-litical disputes like the South China Sea.

The spat highlights the diffi-culty for smaller Asian nations amid the broader tussle for re-gional influence between China and the U.S. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has warned several times that the region’s nations don’t want to take sides. While countries are building economic links with China, some have also sought the buffer of strategic relations with America.

Singapore has strong histori-cal and cultural ties to China, since the ancestors of many re-sidents were traders from the mainland. The late Lee Kuan

It’s getting really hard for Asian nations to balance between China and the U.S. when the two powers have shown growing signs of friction.

JIA XIUDONG CHINA INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL

STUDIES

China-Singapore tensions spill into open after customs spat Yew - the former prime minis-ter and current leader’s father - was regarded as a conduit for China to the rest of the region. Singapore last year hosted the first summit between presiden-ts of China and Taiwan since their civil war.

“For quite some time, Singa-pore has been pretending to seek a balance between Chi-na and the U.S., yet has been taking Washington’s side in reality,” China’s state-run Glo-bal Times newspaper said in an editorial on Monday. “This has turned Singapore into a plat-form for Washington to contain and deter Beijing.”

Singapore has strengthened military ties with the U.S. over the past year, allowing Posei-don surveillance aircraft to operate out of its territory, as well as littoral combat ships. Neither Singapore nor the U.S. are claimants in the South Chi-na Sea.

The Global Times warned that Singapore’s actions could deal a “huge blow to bilateral ties, result in a possible adjustment to Beijing’s foreign policies and profoundly impact Singapore’s economy.” Singapore has said it wants a diplomatic solution to the maritime disputes, and

for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to take a joint position.

China is Singapore’s lar-gest trading partner, closely followed by the U.S. More than a fifth of Singapore’s gross do-mestic product is linked to Chi-na, according to Natixis SA. Singapore has a growing role as a gateway to Southeast Asia for President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, whi-

ch aims to revive ancient tra-ding routes to Europe. Still, the tensions won’t necessarily hit economic ties.

“The issue between Singapore and China needs to be handled between the two governments in accordance with the appli-cable laws and in the context of a deep and wide-ranging re-lationship,” Simon Tay, chair-man of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said in a statement.

The military vehicles seized in Hong Kong lacked appropria-te permits, and weren’t speci-fically declared on the ship’s manifest, the South China Mor-ning Post reported yesterday, citing an unnamed person with knowledge of the matter. The Singaporean Defense Ministry said in a statement that Hong Kong authorities gave the shi-pping firm no formal reason for the seizure. It urged coopera-tion with the investigation.

For now, Singapore is reacting cautiously. No single issue would hijack Singapore’s “longstanding, wide-ranging relationship with China,” Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said at a fo-rum this week in Singapore, ac-cording to the Straits Times.

Singapore hasn’t said it if

plans to alert or stop mili-tary training in Taiwan. It has used the island for decades, in part because of its own limited size. China’s relationship with Taiwan has deteriorated sin-ce January, when the pro-in-dependence Democratic Pro-gressive Party swept the more conciliatory Kuomintang from power.

Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Sin-gapore, said the seizure “kills two birds with one stone by de-monstrating China’s displeasu-re with Taiwan’s military enga-gement with other countries.”

The risk now is other behavior that was previously tolerated becomes a problem, said Jia Xiudong, former counselor for political affairs with the Chine-se embassy in Washington.

“It’s getting really hard for Asian nations to balance be-tween China and the U.S. when the two powers have shown growing signs of friction,” said Jia, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of Interna-tional Studies under the foreign ministry. “One may have to pick a side, or at least it has to be very careful to not damage the core interest of any side.” Bloomberg

Fireworks adorn the skies above the Singapore’s Chinatown Lunar New Year light up ceremony

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WORLD分析macau’s leading newspaper 15

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Fernando Vergara & Joshua Goodman, Medellin

THE pilot of the char-tered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team told air traffic con-

trollers he had run out of fuel and desperately pleaded for per-mission to land before crashing into the Andes, according to a leaked recording of the final mi-nutes of the doomed flight.

In the sometimes chaotic ex-change with the air traffic tower, the pilot of the British-built jet requests permission to land be-cause of “fuel problems” without making a formal distress call. A female controller explained ano-ther plane that had been diverted with mechanical problems was already approaching the runway and had priority, instructing the pilot to wait seven minutes.

As the jetliner circled in a hol-ding pattern, the pilot grew more desperate. “Complete electrical failure, without fuel,” he said in the tense final moments before the plane set off on a four-minu-te death spiral that ended with it slamming into a mountainside this week.

By then the controller had gau-ged the seriousness of the situa-tion and told the other plane to abandon its approach to make way for the charter jet. It was too late. Just before going silent, the pilot said he was flying at an altitude of 9,000 feet and made a final plea to land: “Vectors, se-norita. Landing vectors.”

The recording, obtained by Colombian media, appeared to confirm the accounts of a survi-ving flight attendant and a pilot flying nearby who overheard the frantic exchange. These, along with the lack of an explosion upon impact, point to a rare case of fuel running out as a cause of the crash of the jetliner, which experts said was flying at its ma-ximum range.

For now, authorities are avoi-ding singling out any one cause of the crash, which killed all but six of the 77 people on board, including members of Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer team tra-veling to Medellin for the Copa Sudamericana finals — the cul-

PRESIDENT Bara-ck Obama welcomed

four recipients of the Nobel Prize to the White House yesterday [Macau time]. Singer Bob Dylan wasn’t among them.

Obama used the Oval Office meeting to send a reminder that America is unique in its ability to at-tract talent from all arou-nd the world to study at its universities.

Obama met with Dun-

In a four-minute recording circulated on social media, [a key witness] described how he heard the flight’s pilot request priority to land because he was out of fuel

THE ANDES TRAGEDY

Pilot told Colombia controllers ‘no fuel’ before crash

mination of a fairy tale season that had electrified soccer-cra-zed Brazil.

A full investigation is expected to take months and will review everything from the 17-year-old aircraft’s flight and maintenance history to the voice and instru-ments data in the black boxes recovered Tuesday at the crash site on a muddy hillside. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board was taking part in the investigation because the plane’s engines were made by an American manufacturer.

As the probe continued, mour-ning soccer fans in Medellin

and the southern Brazilian town of Chapeco, where the team is from, held simultaneous sta-dium tributes to the victims. The six survivors were recovering in hospitals, with three in criti-cal but stable condition, while forensic specialists worked to identify the victims so they cou-ld be transferred to a waiting cargo plane sent by the Brazilian air force to repatriate the bodies.

Alfredo Bocanegra, head of Colombia’s aviation agency, said that while evidence initially pointed to an electrical problem, the possibility the crash was caused by lack of fuel has not

been ruled out. Planes need to have enough extra fuel on board to fly at least 30 to 45 minutes to another airport in the case of an emergency, and rarely fly in a straight line because of turbu-lence or other reasons.

Before being taken offline, the website of LaMia, the Bolivian- based charter company, said the British Aerospace 146 Avro RJ85 jetliner’s maximum ran-ge was 2,965 kilometers — just under the distance between Me-dellin and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where the flight originated car-rying close to its full passenger capacity.

“If this is confirmed by the investigators it would be very painful because it stems from negligence,” Bocanegra told Caracol Radio yesterday when asked whether the plane shou-ld not have attempted such a long haul.

One key piece to unlocking the mystery could come from Xime-

na Sanchez, a Bolivian flight at-tendant who survived the crash and told rescuers the plane had run out of fuel moments before the crash.

“’We ran out of fuel. The air-plane turned off,’” rescuer Ar-quimedes Mejia quoted Sanchez as saying as he pulled her from the wreckage. “That was the only thing she told me,” he told The Associated Press.

Investigators also want to speak to Juan Sebastian Upegui, the co-pilot of an Avianca com-mercial flight who was in contact with air traffic controllers near Medellin’s Jose Maria Cordova airport at the time the chartered plane went down.

In a four-minute recording circulated on social media, Upe-gui described how he heard the flight’s pilot request priority to land because he was out of fuel. Growing ever more desperate, the pilot eventually declared a “total electrical failure,” Upegui said, before the plane quickly began to lose speed and altitude.

“I remember I was pulling really hard for them, saying ‘Make it, make it, make it, make it,’” Upeqgui says in the recor-ding. “Then it stopped. [...] The controller’s voice starts to break up and she sounds really sad. We’re in the plane and start to cry.”

No traces of fuel have been fou-nd at the crash site and the pla-ne did not explode on impact, one of the reasons there were six survivors.

However, there could be other explanations for that: The pilot may have intentionally dumped fuel in the hopes of reducing the risk of a fireball in a crash, or the aircraft could have suffered a fuel leak or other unexplained reason for losing fuel. AP

USA

Obama welcomes four Nobel Prize laureates, minus Dylan can Haldane and J. Mi-chael Kosterlitz, laurea-tes of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics; Oliver Hart, laureate of the No-bel Prize in Economic Sciences; and Sir J. Fra-ser Stoddart, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Che-mistry.

Obama said their work would lead to new pro-ducts and technology, some of which can’t be anticipated yet, and wou-

ld inspire future scholars and scientists.

Dylan was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for li-terature but won’t be attending the prize cere-mony. He may travel to Stockholm next year and might give his Nobel Lec-ture then.

There was much spe-culation going into the day about whether Dylan would skip the White House meeting.

But White House spokesman Josh Earnest said during Wednesday’s press briefing that “un-fortunately, for those of you wondering, Bob Dylan will not be at the White House today, so everybody can relax.”

Earnest says Dylan di-dn’t give a reason, but he noted that Dylan and the president had met previously and “the pre-sident enjoyed meeting him.”

In 2012, Obama presen-ted the singer-songwriter with a Presidential Medal of Freedom. AP

A fan of Brazil’s soccer team Chapecoense mourns the loss of team members who perished in a plane crash, inside the Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco

President Barack Obama with the 2016 American Nobel Prize winners in the Oval Office of the White House

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Offbeat

Mexican airline In-terjet says it has found an 8-year-old dog named Mika who had escaped her cage and gotten lost at Mexico City’s international airport.

Photographs on the airline’s Twitter ac-count this week show Mika reunited with her owner Pamela Alvarez of Houston. Details were not immediately available on where the dog was found.

But a post by Alva-rez on Twitter thanks friends, family and In-

terjet for helping find Mika.The airline had posted photos of the search effort and flyers

with a picture of Mika with a pink neckerchief. The flyer offered a 5,000-peso (USD250) reward.

Alvarez was not informed of Mika’s disappearance until her flight arrived in Houston. Mika apparently escaped when her cage fell at the airport.

dog lost, then found by mexican airline

this day in history

US President Dwight D Eisenhower has announced the signing of a pact of mutual security with the Na-tionalist Chinese Government.

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles concluded the agreement with Chinese foreign minister Geor-ge Yeh for the defence of the islands of Formosa (Taiwan) and Pescadores.

At a news conference, Mr Dulles made it clear that any attack on the two islands from the mainland would result in a “state of war” with the Chinese Communists.

He was asked whether the US would retaliate if Formosa was attacked.

Mr Dulles replied: “That would be a probable result. There must be a certain liberty for mobile forces to retaliate at places of their own choosing, though, this would not necessarily mean general war and the use of atomic bombs.”

Negotiations for the defence pact between the US and head of the Nationalist Chinese Government, Chiang Kai-Shek, have been in progress for many months but there was no indication that the agree-ment would be completed so quickly.

The secretary of state’s formal announcement de-clared that the pact would follow the pattern of other security treaties concluded by the US in the Pacific area.

This pact, the statement added, would forge ano-ther link in the system of collective security, and pro-vide the essential framework for the defence of the Western Pacific against communist aggression.

The agreement comes as 11 American soldiers and two civilians remain imprisoned in China.

The Americans were captured and detained for alleged espionage last month after their planes were shot down over a recognised combat zone of Korea.

President Eisenhower condemned their imprison-ment as “completely indefensible” and warned that Chinese ports would be blockaded if they were not released.

Courtesy BBC News

1954 us pledges to defend nationalist china

in contextThe Nationalist Government, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek, fled from mainland China in 1949 to Taiwan (formerly Formosa), after the Chinese Communists defeated the Chinese Nationalists in a long civil war and established the People’s Repub-lic of China. With the help of American aid in the form of the mutual security pact in 1954, he succeeded in setting Taiwan on the road to eco-nomic development over the next 20 years . The 11 US soldiers and two civilians that were imprisoned for al-leged espionage were released on 1 August 1955 and China agreed to negotiate over Taiwan. Chiang died in 1975 and the US broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 to establish full relations with the People’s Republic. Taiwan has made great economic progress over the years and is now one of the wealthiest and most industrialised nations in Asia.

cinemacineteatro01 dec - 07 dec

CRAYON SHINCHAN MOVIE 2016_room 12.15, 6.00, 9.45 pmDirector: Wataru TakahashiLanguage: Cantonese (English and Cantonese)Duration: 104min

YOUR NAMEroom 14.00, 7.45 pmDirector: Makoto ShinkaiLanguage: Japanese (English and Cantonese)Duration: 115min

FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO FIND THEM_room 22.15, 4.45, 7.15, 9.45 pmDirector: David YaresStarring: Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol Language: English (Cantonese)Duration: 133min

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS_room 32.30, 4.45, 7.15 pmDirector: Derek CianfranceStarring: Michael Fasssbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel WeiszLanguage: English (Cantonese)Duration: 133min

SHUT IN_room 39.30 pmDirector: Farren BlackburnStarring: Charlie Heaton, Naomi Watts, Jacob Tremblay Language: English (Cantonese)Duration: 91min

macau tower01 dec - 07 dec

UNDERWORLD BLOOD WARS_2.30, 4.30, 7.30, 9.30 pmDirector: Anna FoersterStarring: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Lara Pulver Language: English (Cantonese)Duration: 91min

TV canal macau

10:3511:0012:0013:0013:3014:5015:5017:4519:0019:3020:1020:3021:0022:0023:0023:3023:5000:30

Young Children Sunday Mass (Live) Miscelllaneous TDM News (Repeat) News (RTPi) Delayed Broadcast Zig Zag Miscellaneous Documentary Serie Miscellaneous Comedy Miscellanoeus Main News, Financial & Weather Report Non-Daily Portuguese News KKK - The Fight For White Supremacy TDM News Non-Daily Portuguese News UEFA Europa League 2016/2017 Magazine Programme Main News, Financial & Weather Report

sunday

saturday10:3011:0511:3012:0013:0013:3014:5016:5017:1517:4018:2018:4519:4020:3021:0022:0022:4523:0023:3000:10

Comedy Blaze Riders Documentary Serie Miscellaneous TDM News (Repeat) News (RTPi) Delayed Broadcast Zig Zag News Miscellaneous Documentary Serie Miscellaneous Contest Miscellaneous Main News, Financial & Weather Report Drama Revenge S.4 Non-Daily Portuguese News TDM News Musical Main News, Financial & Weather Report (Repeated)

friday13:0013:3014:5520:3021:1521:4522:1023:0023:3001:0502:00

TDM News (Repeat) News (RTPi) Delayed Broadcast Debate on Economy and Finance Policy Report for 2017 Main News, Financial & Weather Report Documentary Serie Documentary Serie Precious Pearl TDM News Portuguese Movie Main News, Financial & Weather Report (Repeated) RTPi Live

Dwight D Eisenhower

fri 02.12.2016

INFOTAINMENT資訊／娛樂 macau’s leading newspaper 17

th Anniversary

THE BORN LOSER by Chip SansomYOUR STARS

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.comACROSS: 1- Gore and more; 4- Mennonite sect; 9- Building additions; 13- Like Abner;

14- Ball girl; 15- Running wild; 16- Growing in swamps; 18- Protuberance; 19- Port near Hong Kong; 20- Avoidance of reality; 22- King’s staff; 25- Compass direction; 26- Down source; 28- Large beer mug; 32- Cereal box abbr.; 35- Chest or closet material; 37- Conductor Georg; 38- Ethereal: Prefix; 40- Thermoplastic yarn; 42- TV’s “Nick at ___”; 43- Examines closely; 45- Borden bovine; 47- ___ deferens; 48- Robbery at gunpoint; 50- Shouts; 52- “Only Time” singer; 54- Make sure; 58- White wine; 62- Swearword; 63- Stradivari’s teacher; 64- Muchness; 67- Atlas feature; 68- ___ evil...; 69- Not in; 70- Mutual fund fee; 71- Male voice; 72- Paris possessive;

DOWN: 1- Grads; 2- Pale purple; 3- Pizzeria order; 4- Of the absence of life; 5- Adult males; 6- UN agency; 7- Swing around; 8- “Siddhartha” author; 9- Outburst; 10- Taylor of “Mystic Pizza”; 11- Records; 12- Stalk; 15- Humbles; 17- Open wide; 21- ___ in Charlie; 23- First place?; 24- Color anew; 27- Inspire anew; 29- 554, in stone; 30- Blues singer James; 31- Untruths, tells falsehoods; 32- Impetuous; 33- Art ___; 34- Asian inland sea; 36- Thorny flowers; 39- Beholden; 41- The world’s longest river; 44- Lighted by the sun; 46- Voter; 49- Monetary unit of Burma; 51- Flabbergast; 53- Emo anxiety; 55- Cream-filled cookies; 56- Magazine copy; 57- Trials; 58- Colorado ski resort; 59- ___ expert, but...; 60- Cape Canaveral org.; 61- Algonquian language; 65- Dusk, to Donne; 66- Year abroad;

Wednesday’s solution

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Emergency calls 999Fire department 28 572 222PJ (Open line) 993PJ (Picket) 28 557 775PSP 28 573 333Customs 28 559 944S. J. Hospital 28 313 731Kiang Wu Hospital 28 371 333Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) 28326 300IACM 28 387 333Tourism 28 333 000Airport 59 888 88

Taxi 28 939 939 / 2828 3283Water Supply – Report 2822 0088Telephone – Report 1000Electricity – Report 28 339 922Macau Daily Times 28 716 081

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Mar. 21-Apr. 19Things are going on deep within you that you can’t understand — but you don’t have to! You’re in a really good position to make a difference when it comes to family or other group dynamics.

April 20-May 20An intense wave of longing or happiness comes over you today, and you should feel drawn to someone or something new. It’s not the most comfortable feeling, but it is a step in the right direction nonetheless.

TaurusAries

May 21-Jun. 21Help someone out today — even if they don’t really deserve it. You still get something good back from the universe when you extend your energy out in new directions, and that is certainly worthwhile.

Jun. 22-Jul. 22Your indecision isn’t a problem — it’s actually a benefit today! You should find that people give you the room to hem and haw and keep absorbing new information while your intuition chews at the problem.

CancerGemini

Jul. 23-Aug. 22You’ve got to look at things more intensely today — a superficial glance isn’t nearly enough to make a difference. Once you’ve gotten to the bottom of it all, things start to make a lot more sense.

Aug. 23-Sept. 22Your brain is hungry for new information, and you should be able to get what you need with ease. If you know just what you’re looking for, it comes to you unerringly; if not, expect a fun ride!

Leo Virgo

Sep.23-Oct. 22You’ve got to deal with some important business today — so pay attention and make sure that you’re on top of your game. Things may get awkward midday, but you can get it together quickly.

Oct. 23 - Nov. 21‘Intense’ is a word people often use to describe you, and today shows how they’re right. Your energy is focused like a laser, but it is entirely positive, so don’t worry about the consequences.

Libra Scorpio

Nov. 22-Dec. 21A dream bearing a significant message comes your way tonight — so do what you can to remember it! Keep a journal by the bed or just let the information soak into your subconscious.

Dec. 22-Jan. 19Your friends are all over you for some reason — let’s hope it’s a good one! Even if they’re confused or mistaken, your energy is good enough to convince them that all is well in your world.

Sagittarius Capricorn

Feb.19-Mar. 20You may feel like a doormat — but others see you as a saint! Your energy is actually better than you think it is, and you can offer more to the outside word while still retaining your dignity.

Jan. 20-Feb. 18Your job prospects are opening up in a new way — so unless you are totally committed to staying where you are, you need to open your eyes and apply for something new and exciting!

Aquarius Pisces

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fri 02.12.2016

SPORTS體育macau’s leading newspaper 19

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Steve Douglas, Manchester

IT took Swansea’s new American owners less than three months to make their first managerial change,

installing Bob Bradley in a bid to steer the club to Premier League safety.

The U.S. businessmen in part- control of Crystal Palace have been in situ for nearly a year and now have their own coa-ching decision to take.

Is it time to get rid of Alan Par-dew?

Pardew’s position as Palace manager looks increasingly fra-gile, with the team losing its last six league games and conceding goals at an alarming rate. The chaotic 5-4 loss at Bradley’s Swansea last weekend saw Pa-lace at its infuriating worst, unable to defend set pieces or a lead going into injury time.

Pardew has reportedly held talks with Palace chairman Ste-ve Parish, who along with Ame-rican co-owners David Blitzer and Josh Harris will decide on the manager’s future. A home loss to Southampton on Satur-day could drop Palace, which is currently fourth-to-last in the standings, into the relegation zone.

“They are very patient and loyal,” Pardew said two weeks ago of his American bosses, ad-ding: “They’re not looking for a

FOOTBALL | EPL

Under pressure: Pardew’s position looking fragile at Palace

short-term fix or a quick profit margin.”

Yet, the statistics don’t make good reading for Pardew: Pa-lace has the worst points-per-game record of all teams in England’s four leagues in 2016,

has the second-worst defensive record in the Premier League (26 goals against in 13 games), and has conceded 13 goals from set pieces this season.

Pardew joined Palace in Ja-nuary 2015 after quitting New-

castle, where he made headli-nes because of his frequent fla-re-ups in the coaches’ technical area - including head-butting an opposing player as they jost-led for a ball at a throw-in. He is calmer on the touchline now, while much of the arrogance some accused Pardew of having appears to have gone.

Palace finished in a club-re-cord 10th place in the Premier League in Pardew’s first season in charge, then started last sea-son well before a drastic dip in form saw it narrowly avoid re-legation. A run to the FA Cup final, where Palace lost to Man-chester United, spared Pardew from more scrutiny.

Palace broke its transfer re-cord twice in the offseason to sign England winger Andros Townsend and then Belgium striker Christian Benteke. Sco-ring hasn’t been a problem for the team nicknamed “The Ea-gles,” who are the fifth-highest scorers in the league, but they

can’t keep the goals out at the other end.

The loss of Pape Souare, who broke his leg in a car crash in September, has deprived Par-dew of his starting left back and the coach has been unable to improve Palace’s defending at set pieces even though the team is spending more time on that area on the training ground. Three of Swansea’s goals came via that route last weekend.

Southampton, meanwhile, is buoyant after beating Arsenal 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the semifinals of the English Lea-gue Cup.

Also, second-place Liverpool begins a five-week spell without playmaker Philippe Coutinho in a match at Bournemouth on Saturday, when fourth-place Arsenal visits West Ham and Tottenham hosts Swansea.

Defending champion Leices-ter is two points above the bot-tom three going into a match at last-place Sunderland. AP

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew

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Docomomo to holD heritage seminarDocomomo Macau has organized the “3rd Doco-

momo Macau Seminar – Hertiage Protection Stra-tegies”, which will take place tonight at 6 p.m. in the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) Amphitheater.

Among the topics to be discussed is the threat now facing modern heritage in architecture, spe-cifically in 20th century buildings.

Attendees will attempt to draft strategies and approaches that architects and stakeholder can enact to reduce the threat.

Dealing with heritage issues in both Macau and Taiwan, the event’s three speakers are Remy Wang from the Taiwan branch of Docomomo, Alexande Lou from the Cultural Heritage De-partment of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Ma-cau, and architect Carlotta Bruni.

Docomomo Macau is an organization that seeks to document and conserve buildings and neighborhoods with a particular focus on pre-serving their cultural and architectural heritage.

30-50Good

AIRBNB has agreed to limit private home

rentals in Amsterdam, in a move city authorities had wanted to curb complaints about illegal hotels.

The Dutch capital and the online rental service said yesterday that they will work together to ensure that home owners can only rent out their properties for a maximum of 60 days per year.

Amsterdam had introdu-ced the limit earlier, but Airbnb said that from Jan. 1 its site will introduce au-tomated tools to ensure ho-mes aren’t listed for more than 60 days a year unless the owners have a license.

“A home should remain a home,” Amsterdam alder-man Laurens Ivens said in

a statement.“With this new approa-

ch we are showing that working together with plat-forms such as Airbnb gives the city a new and efficient weapon to tackle illegal ho-tels,” he added.

Airbnb’s General Manager for Northern Europe, James McClure, said, “We want to be good partners for everyo-ne in the city and ensure home sharing grows respon-sibly and sustainably.”

Airbnb says a typical host in Amsterdam earns 3,800 euros (USD4,041) by sha-ring their space for 28 ni-ghts a year.

Since the company laun-ched in 2008, when the co-founders invited travelers to sleep on an air mattress in their San Francisco loft,

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opinion

On/Off again, Japan casinOsIn the latter part of the year, for the last few

years, there have been storms of analysts and would-be investors in Japan’s casino IRs talking up the greatest thing in Asian gaming since Macau. “Time and time again we hear that Japan will finally pass the draft casino enabling bill through the Diet,” wrote a gaming analyst in March 2012. In September 2013 while reviewing commentary for MDT by Japa-nese gaming expert Takashi Kiso, I was remin-ded that there had been 8 years of persistent rumours and statements of the pending issue of gaming licenses in Japan. The big question back in 2013 was “Is it real this time?” Eleven years on, and Japan, with its own timeframe and shifts in politics, has made fools of tho-se who each and every year state claim that this time there are indications that it’s about to happen. The title of my October 2014 opinion piece on the subject cautioned, “Don’t hold your breath”.

Nobody much bothered with the topic late 2015 with the 2016 mid-year upper house elections on the horizon. The casino legisla-tion, being the political hot potato that it is, was never going to get much airing.

In 2014, MGM’s Alan Feldman suggested that Japan’s IRs would only move forward with a “confluence of political need and politi-cal will”. He stated that Japan’s political need was to increase foreign investment, tourism and drive the service economy. At the same time, he raised doubt as to whether the go-vernment had decided if casino IRs were the best way to achieve these given other options for economic stimulus. Prime Minister Abe’s announcement of a new round of spending post-election supports this.

As debate opened again on November 30 in the Lower House Cabinet Committee, a di-fferent list of IR investment advantages emer-ged from LDP Executive Council Chairman Hiroyuki Hosoda. Hosada had headed up the group of lawmakers who initially submitted this private members’ bill to the Diet in 2013. The outcomes he mooted on Wednesday were four- fold: a boom in construction, more jobs, an in-crease in overseas visitors and tax revenue. The foreign investment topic dropping from the list is another sign of the political sensitivity of this yet, and yet to be, long-in-the-tooth bill.

Public opinion polls show opposition to ca-sinos in Japan. Many on the pro-IR develop-ment side retort that this is due to the public being ill-informed. This, however, is Japan, a country whose citizenry is sophisticated, no-toriously well informed and educated. Shifting the tide of public opinion, even with a two-thirds majority in the Diet, will be a long road for the LDP, especially as this majority gives more powers to progress with the more pres-sing constitutional reform.

The IR Promotion Bill was discussed Wed-nesday with the aim to pass the bill through the Lower House Cabinet Committee today. The next step is to put it to the Lower House plenary session on December 6 and if succes-sful, to have the bill passed through the Upper House before the session ends on December 14. Ahead are still uncertain outcomes for a bill that sits behind other government agency bills.

The political timing appears right, however, for baby-step beginnings but will require an ex-tended period of public discussion on the ills and the benefits of gambling, developing the IR concept and gaming policies, local resident access, gambling addiction, money launde-ring, and organized crime.

Regardless of the optimism by those with vested interests and those paid to have them, it is not a done deal, and even if all goes smoo-thly this month, not before 2023. And, this is only the promotion bill, not the implementation bill. As one analyst quipped recently, “[I] don’t know which bit of ‘majority of public don’t want casinos’ the ####s don’t understand”.

BizcuitsLeanda Lee

Airbnb has grown to be one of the world’s most valua-ble private startups by col-lecting fees when private hosts rent out accommoda-tions listed on the site.

But it also has run into problems with city fathers and local residents con-cerned by the rapid rise in rentals.

Last week, Barcelona au-thorities said they would fine Airbnb and another rental site, HomeAway, 600,000 euros each for of-fering lodging that doesn’t have the necessary permits.

Barcelona Mayor Ada Co-lau told Catalunya Radio that while tourism was a positive asset for the Spa-nish city, it had grown too much and was denying lo-cals access to housing. AP

SOUTH KOREA Battered by massive protests and an impeachment push, South Korea’s president cries during her first public appearance among her citizens since a huge political scandal exploded in October, as police arrest a man accused of setting fire to her dictator father’s birthplace in a nearby city.

INDIA An official says India will buy 145 American M777 ultra-light howitzers to be mostly deployed near its borders with China. An agreement was signed during a meeting of the India-U.S. Military Cooperation Group in New Delhi. India will buy the artillery guns via the U.S. foreign military sales route for about USD737 million

BRITAIN’s Prince Harry has joined Rihanna in celebrating 50 years of independence for her native Barbados. The prince and the singer shared the stage with the prime minister during a concert and dance performance marking the date the island broke away from Britain. He read a message from Queen Elizabeth II congratulating Barbados for its vibrant culture and natural beauty.

NIAGARA FALLS A USD4 million lighting makeover promises to dial up the wow factor of Niagara Falls at night. Officials say energy-efficient LED lighting being unveiled yesterday will provide brighter and more robust color than the halogen technology that’s been used to cast the Falls in rainbow hues after dark for the past 20 years.

IBERIA Authorities have detained 34 people, including six tennis players, involved in a tennis match-fixing network that made more than half-a-million dollars from lower-tier tournaments in Spain and Portugal. Police said that Operation Futures probed several Futures and Challenger tournaments in Iberia for the past several months and found evidence that results were rigged.

Airbnb agrees to limit private rentals in Amsterdam

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Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky

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