News

Consumer Council conducted its fourth ‘Supermarket price survey’ in May on 13 May for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included supermarkets near Horte e Costa, Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga and Rua da Emenda areas in Santo António Parish. The latest ‘Supermarket Price Survey’ is now available on Consumer Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. The survey is also available free of charge at the offices of Consumer Council, IACM’s Iao Hon and S. Domingos Markets, bookstores and libraries. Consumers may also access the resources through WAP channels on their mobile phones. With reference to the local six parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided over 100 supermarkets into 8 areas for price collection. The Council collects prices from these supermarkets for the provision of a more comprehensive database for consumers to check price discrepancies and make price comparisons according to their desired locations. For inquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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Ma Ieng, a first-year student of electromechanical engineering from the University of Macau’s (UM) Faculty of Science and Technology recently placed second in the longest airtime category at the 2015 Red Bull Paper Wings. Ma’s plane lasted 13.76 seconds in the air, beating more than 46,000 contestants from 80 countries and regions. Ma and another first-year student of electromechanical engineering, U Kin Lok, won the Best Team Award with a student from a secondary school in Macao. The Red Bull Paper Wings is one of the largest international contests in the world, held every three years under the rules developed by the Paper Aircraft Association (PAA) and the Guinness World Record. Of the 46,000 contestants who participated in this year’s contest, only about 200 entered the final, with three coming from Macao. Ma is the only winner from the Hong Kong and Macao region. This year’s contest was held in Salzburg, Austria. There are three categories in the competition: the longest distance, the longest airtime, and aerobatics. An Armenian contestant won the championship in the longest airtime category.
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For the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June, Consumer Council conducted its specific price surveys on household cleansing products, and shampoo & shower gels on 12 May. Result of the mentioned survey has been uploaded to the Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and is available in the Council’s ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. For inquiry, please call the Council’s hotline: 8988 9315.
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To cope with the BOAO Asia Development Forum (Macau), Macao Post announces that a Temporary Post Counter will be set up at Sands Cotai Central 4th Floor, Loulan Ballroom at 9:00 to 18:00 on 18th May 2015 providing the commemorative postmark cancellation service for the “BOAO Asia Development Forum (Macau)”. A commemorative envelope will be distributed to public, and various philatelic products will also be available for sale during the above activity. Welcome to visit and collect Macao Stamps.
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To commemorate the Birth of Buddha, Macao Post announces that a Temporary Post Counter will be set up at Rotunda de Carlos da Maia, at 14:00 to 17:00 on 17th May 2015 providing the commemorative postmark cancellation service for the “Auspicious Beginnings of Peace and Harmony”. A commemorative envelope will be distributed to public, and various philatelic products will also be available for sale during the above activity. Welcome to visit and collect Macao Stamps!
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that there were 31 institutions offering vocational training courses in 2014, an increase of 1 institution year-on-year. A total of 1,387 courses were provided, down by 7% year-on-year. Participants in vocational training courses tumbled by 17% year-on-year to 52,636. The decrease in number of courses and participants was mainly due to the shorter duration of the Continuing Education Development Plan in 2014 as compared with 2013. The first phase of the Plan lasted from July 2011 to December 2013, covering the whole year of 2013. The second phase of the Plan started accepting applications from organizations and residents at the end of April 2014, leading to a decline in participants in the first half of the year. Consequently, number of vocational training courses and participants registered year-on-year decrease in 2014. The vocational training course completion rate was 88% in 2014, down by 1 percentage point year-on-year. Analysed by course type, 35% of the participants (18,680) attended courses in Business & Administration, 15% (7,675) in Language, 10% (5,499) in Computing, and 8% (3,996) in Hotels & Catering. Participants in most of the courses decreased year-on-year, with those attending courses in Social Services and Beauty & Hair Design dropping by 83% and 51% respectively while those in Construction courses rising by 48%. In addition, among the 1,387 vocational training courses, 605 were organized by 12 training institutions on behalf of enterprises or institutions, up by 4% year-on-year. Participants decreased by 8% year-on-year to 25,710, with 11,833 attending courses in Business & Administration, 4,898 in Language and 1,900 in Health. Survey on Vocational Training covers institutions that had offered vocational training courses. Information on course types and participants are collected with the aim to reflect the provision of and resident participation in vocational training in Macao.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the total population was 640,700 as at end-March 2015, an increase of 4,500 quarter-to-quarter; female population (324,200) accounted for 50.6% of the total. There were 1,711 live births delivered in the first quarter of 2015, a decrease of 375 or 18.0% quarter-to-quarter. Male babies totalled 902 and the sex ratio at birth stood at 111.5, corresponding to 111.5 male babies per 100 female babies, higher than the normal sex ratio at birth (102-107) confirmed by the United Nations. Meanwhile, mortality totalled 536, an increase of 49 quarter-to-quarter; the top three underlying causes of death were Neoplasms (184), Diseases of the Circulatory System (139) and Diseases of the Respiratory System (92). In the first quarter of 2015, there were 2,639 Chinese immigrants, up by 995 quarter-to-quarter. Individuals granted right of abode totalled 600, a slight increase of 3. Non-resident workers totalled 174,924 at the end of the first quarter, up by 4,578. A total of 952 cases of marriage registration were recorded in the first quarter, down by 64 quarter-to-quarter.
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The official website of the Chief Executive's Office has launched a new column – “Words from the Chief Executive” -- adopting a new approach in which the Chief Executive shares his thoughts and emotions with the public in his own voice. Through this platform, the Chief Executive hopes to express his perceptions regarding society, the economy, livelihood and other issues. The first article for the "Words from the Chief Executive" column is titled Stay calm and peaceful to observe trends with wisdom. In his own voice, the Chief Executive talks about his philosophy of life, his beliefs, and views on Macao’s economic development trend. He also encourages the people of Macao to join hands to overcome challenges to achieve their common goals. This column was launched on 10 May and co-incided with Mother’s Day, when the Chief Executive took the opportunity to pay tribute to all mothers in Macao, and admire the greatness of maternal love. For the convenience of the audience, the column is uploaded with the full version and separate clips from the Chief Executive’s original voice recording, together with the script for interested parties who want to read it in detail. In addition to promoting and supporting the development of Macao’s creative industry, the background music for this column is selected from the works of local composers. The website of the Chief Executive’s Office (www.gce.gov.mo) is available in Chinese (traditional and simplified Chinese) and Portuguese, the two official languages of the MSAR. It is a platform to deliver relevant information about the Chief Executive, including news on political affairs and administration, policy addresses, speeches, photos of events and newly available video clips, to facilitate public access to information about the Government.
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IFT Tourism Retail and Marketing Management students successfully completed a visual merchandising and store design project which helped the Macau Outdoor activity Promotion Association (MOAPA) with a focus to identify business opportunity, developing business model as well as designing “extreme sports centre” in Macao. We believe that this project is very important to Macao as the government and local industry need to be identifying ways to diversify our economy and industry. Via this project, students engaged in research leading to the development of mood-board to stimulate the development of concepts and business models. Subsequently, students used floor planning, 3D modelling as well as graphics programmes to turn their ideas into professional illustrations as well as videos for their final presentation. The course instructor Dr. Fernando Lourenço and president of ‘MOAPA’ and architect André Ritchie as well as chief interior designer and director of ‘615 Concepts’ Hermes Lai, were very impressed with the outcomes and professionalism. This was an excellent way to build a stronger link with the industry by offering our support to local non-profit organisations. For more information about the projects, please check out IFT YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/iftdesigncourses.
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To celebrate the International Children’s Day, Communications Museum will be having free entrance on May 30 and 31. The “Children’s Games” special activity introduces the Children’s Day customs of different places, and how the children in these places celebrate this special festival. There will also be interesting interactive activities. All kids are welcomed to celebrate this special festival with us! The “Children’s Games” special activity will be held at the “Kid’s Playthings” area of the Communications Museum from 2:30pm to 5:30pm on May 30. Children of 12 years old or below are welcomed to join with their parents. The five special games on that day include “Where are we sending the letters?”, “Postal Pioneer”, “Puzzle Game”, “Ace Postman” and “Secret of Magnet”. Participants can try the maze challenge, shoot on the prohibited postal objects, play the treasure hunt and matching game, take part in the role play and throw the magnetic ball. Participants will have their card stamped after playing each game. They can redeem for souvenirs with five stamps on the card. There will also be two workshops on that day, each accepting a maximum of 40 participants. All materials will be provided by the museum. The first workshop will be held from 2:30pm to 4:00pm. The children can make a “greeting card” for their parents with cardboard paper and color pencils. The second workshop will be held from 4:00pm to 5:15pm. Children will learn origami to make the traditional Japanese decorative gift bags, for example, the carp streamer for the Boys’ Day and the Hina dolls for the Girls’ Day. Registration for the above activities starts now, first-come-first-served. Please call or email to the Communications Museum for registration. Wish all kids a Happy Children’s Day!
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