News

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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The 11th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair will be held from 14 to 18 May at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Cultural Affairs Bureau is organising Macao’s cultural and creative entities to participate in the fair, setting up the Macao Creative Pavilion with the aim to present and sell Macao’s original design T-shirts. The 135 square meter Macao Creative Pavilion is set up at stand no. 2D03, in Hall No.2 of Creative Design Hall. The Pavilion will be themed with Macao’s original design T-shirts, displaying over 50 types of T-shirts, in the hope of conveying the philosophy and style of the brands through various designs and colour configurations. The exhibitors’ special designs will be printed on seven enormous T-shirts placed on a wall with a silhouette of the Macao cityscape in the background, illustrating the liveliness of Macao. Visitors can purchase the T-shirts they like to welcome the early Summer. Entities participating in the exhibition include: Ka Yan An Tai Company Limited, Creative Industries Promotion Association of St. Lazarus Church District–10 Fantasia, Macau Creations Limited, Soda Panda Product Design, Bom Dia Estúdio, Larm’s Legend Limited and UNICAM. Since 2006, the Cultural Affairs Bureau has organised Macao’s cultural and creative entities to participate in the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair every year to promote the image of Macao and its original brands while enhancing the co-operation and interaction between Shenzhen and Macao. The Macao Creative Pavilion has been enthusiastically received for years and has greatly encouraged the development of the Macao cultural and creative industries. The China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair this year will focus on creative design, press publications, audio-visual entertainment and animation, intangible cultural heritage, calligraphy and painting, cultural tourism, culture and technology as well as art crafts, etc. For details, please visit the official website of the fair at www.cnicif.com.
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The application deadline for the “Academic Research Grants”, launched by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), is 31st May 2015. Eligible academics may now submit their applications. Late applications will not be considered. The new “Academic Research Grant Regulations” came into effect on 1 February 2015, with the aim of encouraging original academic research on the culture of Macao and on the cultural exchange between Macao, Mainland China and other countries. Local or overseas doctorate degree holders with proven academic research experience, and local or overseas individuals with sufficient research experience and recognized academic production are eligible to apply for the Grants by submitting the duly filled out application form to IC by double registered mail or in person. Applicants must also submit their curriculum vitae, research project plan and certified copies of certificates and academic transcripts. Applications may be submitted in person at the Cultural Affairs Bureau building, or at the Services Centre of the Macao SAR Government (located at No. 52, Rua Nova da Areia Preta), during office hours (the date of the receipt stamp will be considered as the date of submission). Applications may also be submitted by double registered mail to the following address: Praça do Tap Seac, Edif. do Instituto Cultural, Macao(the date of the postmark will be considered as the date of submission). The following must be written on the envelope: "Application for the Academic Research Grants of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government"; applications must be submitted within the deadline, and incomplete applications or applications that fail to comply with the above will not be accepted. In accord with the Regulations, the Cultural Affairs Bureau receives applications every year from 1 March until 31 May. All applications submitted outside this time period will not be accepted. The “Academic Research Grant Regulations” and application forms are available for reference and download at IC’s webpage: www.icm.gov.mo. For more information, please contact Ms. Silvia Kuan, staff member of IC, through tel. no. 8399 6381 during office hours, or by email to silviak@icm.gov.mo.
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Consumer Council conducted its specific price survey on over-the-counter drugs on 8 May for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. 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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