Category Archives: Macau

Madagascar authorities on Sunday were on the hunt for a gang of cattle rustlers that killed at least 32 people by setting homes on fire in a village north of Antananarivo.

Army helicopters have been deployed to locate the suspects and help ground troops searching the Ankazobe area about 75 kilometres (47 miles) north of the capital, the defence ministry said in a Facebook statement.

The perpetrators must be found and punished according to the law, President Andry Rajoelina said in a social media statement, describing the killings as a massacre.

The Malagasy army is in charge of rescuing the local population and hunting down the outlaws.

Police said 32 people were killed and three injured as a gang of about 12 bandits attacked the village of Ambolotarakely, in Ankazobe, on Friday.

The attackers cattle rustlers, known locally as the dahalo rounded up the victims inside three houses and set the buildings on fire, police said. The three wounded were in intensive care at a local hospital.

Located on a small hill, the village of Ambolotarakely is made up of about a dozen homes with thatched roofs.

Television footage from the scene showed the three houses completely burnt down, with only parts of the walls still standing.

Police said the culprits likely lived in surrounding areas.

The army will do everything possible to arrest the perpetrators of this massacre as soon as possible, Defence MinisterRichard Rakotonirina told local media as he visited Ambolotarakely on Saturday.

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Madagascar hunts gang that killed 32 in burning homes - Macau Business

Saudi Arabias year-on-year economic growth hit nearly 12 percent for the second quarter, led by a surging oil sector, the governments statistics agency said Sunday.

The Middle Easts largest economy has benefited from a spike in oil prices triggered by Russias invasion of Ukraine, and has largely resisted appeals from Western countries to raise output in order to bring prices down.

Growth in the second quarter was 11.8 percent compared to the same period last year, according to initial flash estimates published by the General Authority for Statistics.

This dynamic growth was mainly due to the increasing in oil activities by 23.1 percent, the agency said.

Non-oil economic activities grew by 5.4 percent and government services grew by 2.2 percent compared to the second quarter of 2021, it said.

The Ukraine war and the resulting rise in crude prices has been a boon to oil-producing states like Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest crude exporter whose gross domestic product is expected to grow by 7.6 percent in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund.

As the war got underway, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stressed their commitment to the OPEC+ oil alliance, which Riyadh and Moscow lead, underscoring Riyadhs and Abu Dhabis increasing independence from long-standing ally Washington.

US President Joe Biden, who once vowed to make Saudi Arabia a pariah over human rights abuses, visited the kingdom earlier in July, drawing criticism from human rights activists for greeting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a fist bump.

Oil was on the agenda during Bidens meeting with Saudi leaders and during a subsequent summit of regional leaders, but the visit ended without any agreements to raise production.

The OPEC+ group is to meet on Wednesday.

The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate crude, surged by more than five percent on Friday to rise back above $100 per barrel.

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Saudi GDP climbs nearly 12% in 2nd quarter on oil gains - Macau Business

Monday marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Liberation Army. During that course of time, the PLA has made historical achievements in striving for national independence, peoples liberation and national prosperity and safeguarding world peace and promoting human progress.

Entering the new era, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the PLA has made great strides on the road to building a strong military with Chinese characteristics.

From guarding borders and defending territory to counter-terrorism, from emergency response and disaster relief to helping rural vitalization, the PLA has diligently fulfilled all the missions and tasks it has been called on to undertake and resolutely safeguarded Chinas sovereignty, security and development interests.

At the same time, the PLA has taken an active part in international peacekeeping operations, naval escort missions in Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, international anti-epidemic cooperation, international disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, and provided more and more public security goods to the international community.

With various security challenges emerging one after another, and instability and uncertainties on the rise, the PLA must enhance its awareness of potential dangers and resolutely shoulder its responsibilities.

One of the most pressing challenges is the United States support of the secessionists in Taiwan. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis proposed visit to the island, if materialized, will constitute a grave violation of Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity and seriously shake the political foundation of the Sino-US relations. The ongoing military drills in the waters near the island and in the South China Sea demonstrates the PLA is fully prepared to thwart any endeavors to split the island from its motherland.

It is the US side that has taken the initiative to try to unilaterally change the status quo of the situation in the Taiwan Straits. And it is the US side that should be held accountable for all possible dire consequences that might have been caused by doing that.

China will do its utmost with utmost sincerity to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. However, the nation is unyieldingly opposed to Taiwan independence. No one should underestimate the PLAs determination and ability to defend the nations territorial integrity.

At the same time, while striving to achieve its centenary goal of becoming a world-class military by 2027, the PLA will continue to be a staunch force committed to maintaining regional stability and promoting world peace.

The country has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order, and the Global Security Initiative that China has proposed, which insists on common, integration, cooperation and sustainable security concept, and calls for dialogue rather than confrontation, and non-aligned, win-win cooperation rather than zero-sum game mentality, can help make up for the peace deficit in the world. It also provides the orientation for the PLA in its efforts to safeguard regional and world peace, security and stability.

Editorial, China Daily

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PLA shows it stands ready to safeguard nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity - Macau Daily Times

No new fever cases were reported in the past 24 hours through 0900 GMT on Friday in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday.

It is the first time that zero fever cases have been reported nationwide since COVID-19 broke out in late April.

Citing information of the state emergency anti-epidemic headquarters, the KCNA said that since late April till Friday evening, 4,772,813 fever cases have been reported across the country with 4,772,535 recoveries and 74 deaths.

The anti-epidemic agency is still intensifying operation and command to stamp out the spread of the malignant epidemic, strengthen liaison, assistance and cooperation between sectors in the anti-epidemic campaign across the country, the report said.

On May 12, the KCNA reported that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 was detected after samples were collected from a group of patients in the capital Pyongyang on May 8, marking the first time that COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in the country.

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No new fever case reported in DPRK - Macau Business

Britains Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher waves to the media on returning to No. 10 Downing Street from Buckingham Palace, in London, May 11, 1980

Two people are running to be Britains next prime minister, but a third presence looms over the contest: Margaret Thatcher.

The late former prime minister dominated Britain in the 1980s, and has left a large and contested legacy. Critics see her as an intransigent ideologue whose free-market policies frayed social bonds and gutted the countrys industrial communities. But for the governing Conservative Party, Thatcher is an icon, an inspiration and the presiding spirit who made Britain fit for the modern era.

In the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative leader and prime minister, both Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak claim to embody the values of Thatcher, who died in 2013 at 87.

Asked who was Britains greatest prime minister? Both candidates unhesitatingly say Thatcher. Sunak made a key speech in the late leaders hometown of Grantham, declaring himself a proponent of common-sense Thatcherism, while his wife and children took selfies in front of the Iron Ladys bronze statue.

Truss talks about her own modest origins, inviting comparisons to grocers daughter Thatcher, and adopts poses and outfits bold blue dresses, pussy-bow blouses that echo the distinctive style of Britains first female prime minister.

Historian Richard Vinen of Kings College London says Truss is an Instagram Thatcher.

Victoria Honeyman, associate professor of British politics at the University of Leeds, says Thatcher is a talisman for Conservatives. Robert Saunders, a historian of modern Britain at Queen Mary University of London, believes she has become a creature of myth.

Like Thors hammer, Thatchers handbag can bestow godlike powers on those deemed worthy to lift it, Saunders wrote on the Unherd website.

In one sense, the Thatcher fixation is easily explained. She led the Conservatives to three successive election victories and was never defeated at the ballot box. She was eventually brought down like Johnson by her own party, ousted in 1990 after 11 years in power.

Every Conservative leader since Margaret Thatcher has failed, said Vinen, author of the book Thatchers Britain.

John Major lost the party power in 1997, and the three leaders after him kept the Tories in opposition. Prime Minister David Cameron gambled on a 2016 referendum that, against his wishes, took Britain out of the European Union. His successor Theresa May was defeated by Brexit infighting, and Johnson has been given the boot by Conservative lawmakers after months of ethics scandals.

Thatchers decade in power, through war and peace, boom and bust, also offers rich pickings for acolytes to choose from. She was a wartime leader who defeated Argentina over the Falkland Islands, a democrat who stood up to the Soviet Union and saw the Cold War end, a union-bashing capitalist who unleashed the power of the financial markets.

You can basically cherry-pick what you want, Honeyman said.

That selective memory is at work when todays Conservatives, who are overwhelmingly pro-Brexit, say Thatcher would have supported the decision to leave the EU. Vinen says its almost sacrilegious to point it out, but Thatcher was actually pro-European for most of her time in office.

Thatchers economic legacy is also contested. Truss and Sunak both claim to be offering Thatcherite economics, but their policies are very different. Truss says she will boost borrowing and cut taxes immediately to ease Britains cost-of-living crisis, while Sunak says its vital to get the countrys soaring inflation rate under control first.

Both can point to decisions Thatcher made in support of their stances, although Vinen thinks Sunaks inflation-busting focus is closer to Thatcher economically.

She (didnt) believe that you can lower tax unless you cut spending, he said.

Britains new leader will be elected by about 180,000 members of the Conservative Party, many of whom regard Thatcher as a heroine. Millions of other British voters remember her differently.

Thatcher privatized state-owned industries, sold off public housing and defeated Britains coal miners after a bitter, year-long strike. Under her leadership, industries shut and millions were thrown out of work, especially in the north of England.

Johnson, whose Conservative hero is Winston Churchill rather than Thatcher, secured a huge election victory in 2019 by winning over voters in northern Englands post-industrial towns who had never considered supporting the Conservatives before.

Honeyman said that Johnsons successor would be wise not to laud Thatcher too loudly if they hope to hang onto those northern districts, where people still talk about the closure of factories and mines and about the impact that that had upon their communities, about the way it fractured peoples lives.

This isnt ancient history for some of these people, she said. This is their lived experience.

Those memories are not so vivid for the 47-year-old Truss, who was a teenager when Thatcher left office. Sunak, now 42, was just 10 years old in 1990.

But 84-year-old Conservative veteran Norman Fowler, who served in Thatchers government and later served as speaker of the House of Lords, warned the candidates against overdoing it with the Iron Lady worship.

I was in her Cabinet, shadow and real, for 15 years, Fowler told Times Radio. Even I wouldnt say that she was perfect in every way. And therefore, the party need not model itself entirely upon her. So I would give it a rest. JILL LAWLESS, LONDON , MDT/AP

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Maggie's legacy: Divisive Thatcher looms over UK Tory race - Macau Daily Times

Hengqin authorities have announced plans to develop aMetaverse Super Testing Groundthat will include a 3,000-square meters technology exhibition hall.

The project will focus on the study of real-life applications of the concept and will be developed together with the group responsible for Chimelong Group Co., Ltd,the group responsible for the ChimelongOcean Kingdom in Hengqin.

Themetaversecan be defined as a simulated digital environment that uses augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and blockchain, along with concepts from social media.The Metaverse Super Testing Ground to be built in Hengqin willput itsfocus on the development ofsome majorindustries,including cultural tourism, exhibitions, high-end manufacturing, and smart cities, Nie Xinping, Deputy Director of the Executive Committee of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin indicated yesterday (Tuesday).Concrete construction plans, technical approaches and timetables for the testing grounds developmentwillbeformulated soon,with the aim to becreatingaMeta-Hengqinand makingthe possibilities of future life and technologyto be applied in reality, the deputy director said at the Hengqin Metaverse Discovery Road High-level Expert Seminar.In the early incubation stages of the metaverse industry, Hengqin will cooperate with the Chimelong Group Co., Ltd to create the Metaverse Super Testing Ground.The Chimelong Group owns and operates theme parks in mainland China, with its tourism resorts located at Hengqin District in Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Qingyuan.

The testing is to be constructed into a technology exchange platform with support provided by the government and no participation restrictions while adopting a market-based approach to verify the technical feasibility of the metaverse products and generate large-scale replication and promotion of commercial models.The Chimelong Group also plans to build a Metaverse technology exhibition hall of no less than 3,000 square meters, for the display and integration of Metaverseproducts.A Special Office on Promoting the Development of the Metaverse Industry in the Cooperation Zone has been jointly established by the Economic Development Bureau, Legal Affairs Bureau, Financial Development Bureau, Commercial Service Bureau, and Livelihood Affairs Bureau of Hengqin.In the future, the cooperation zone will launchaThree-Year Action Plan for the Development of Metaverse Industries, while studying and implementingtheSeveral Measures to Promote the Development of Metaverse Industries,so as toprovide institutional protection for the development of the metaverse industries.The acting director of the Economic Development Bureauof Hengqin, Li Ziwei, expressed that the cross-border development characteristics of Metaverse are highly compatible with the development direction of the four major industries high-tech manufacturingandscientific research, Macau-branded industries, tourism and exhibition services, and modern finance in the cooperation zone, and themetaverse industry can promote the construction of Hengqin as an internet industry cluster and international digital trade hub port.At the same time, Zhu Jiaming, chairman of the Academic and Technical Committee of the Hengqin Digital Finance Research Institute, noted that Hengqin can share the international scientific research resources and cultural tourism market in Macau, and the digital economy and high-tech resources of the Greater Bay Area.Hengqin can choose its own advantages and characteristics to develop related industries, attract high-quality corporate resources, to build a regional or even international metaverse base,the scholar added.

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Hengqin to develop 'Metaverse' testing ground together with Chimelong Group - Macau Business

Health authorities have announced today (Wednesday) that the current consolidation period will be extended three more days.

A consolidation period during which the previous partial lockdown restrictions will be gradually eased was initiated on July 23, with some limitations on essential and non-essential businesses eased until midnight of July 30.

Speaking in todays pandemic update press conference, Novel CoronavirusResponse and CoordinationCentre Coordinator Dr.LeongIek Hou stated that authorities decided to await to see if the results of the citywide mass testing drive planned for July 30 and 31 are satisfactory to advance with a new consolidation stage.

Therefore it was decided the current state could be extended by three days until August 2, with health authorities studying if some restrictions could already be lifted during this period.

These could include reopening shopping malls or allowing interior construction works and for outdoor workers to drop the KN95 masks for other models of lower grades, could.

No confirmed cases have been reported in the community for four consecutive days, with yesterday ending with no cases reported, either in controlled key areas or within the city.

According to Leong if the number of infections remains low, further restrictions could be relaxed in the next days, such as allowing for dine-ins.

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Current consolidation period to be extended by three days - Macau Business

The northwestern Chinese city of Dunhuang is more than 2,000 km away from Beijing, but thanks to digital technology, its renowned traditional heritage can be freely enjoyed by the residents of the capital.

Dunghuang is home to the Mogao Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage site, elements of which are on display in an ongoing exhibition at the National Base for International Cultural Trade in Beijing. Murals, grottoes, painted sculptures and other splendid items of cultural heritage have been reproduced, while those caves that are now closed have now been reproduced in digital form.

The exhibition area, covering some 1,600 square meters, features the results of research on nearly 50 sets of cultural relics from the Dunhuang Academy.

The No.3 grotto in Dunhuang is a typical example of the ancient frescoes, but it is steadily deteriorating.

There are small blisters on the wall, and these blisters will make the pigment layer fall off. Some experts have concluded that it will not be long before this fresco disappears, said Tang Li, who is in charge of the exhibition.

Although the real grotto in Dunhuang is no longer open to the public, the digitally restored grotto can be preserved forever in the digital space.

Opening in July, the exhibition will last for three years. It is the first time that the Dunhuang Academy has held such a long exhibition in Beijing.

Through digital scanning technology, the buildings, painted sculptures and murals of Mogao Grottoes are scanned, stored and transformed into a digital format.

The 3D scanning and printing technology restores the charm of painted sculptures, while 3D reconstruction and artistic restoration replicate the shape of painted sculptures in the same proportions, said one exhibition lecturer.

The idea of digitalizing Dunhuang culture was first put forward in the late 1980s. The subsequent decades have seen much development and numerous achievements in digital preservation.

By the end of 2021, the digital Dunhuang project had completed the digital collection of 268 grottoes, the image processing of 164 grottoes, and the 3D reconstruction of 45 painted sculptures, 146 grottoes and seven large relics sites. A professional and technical team of more than 100 people have been established.

The Dunhuang Academy has created a set of digital techniques suitable for murals that cannot be moved. In the process, it has not only applied various mature technologies to the digital protection of the grottoes in Dunhuang, but has also established standards for the digitalization of immovable cultural relics.

The protection and revival of Dunhuangs ancient culture is not an isolated case in China. The Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi also have 3D digital archives, which allow precious cultural relics and historical archives to be permanently preserved. Meanwhile, tourists can now enjoy a dynamic experience of the terracotta warriors and horses in Xian through AR technology.

Such projects have provided a means of preserving Chinas splendid cultural heritage for future generations, while making it more widely available both at home and abroad.

Zhao Shengliang, Party secretary of the Dunhuang Institute, said, It is hoped that the digital Dunhuang will not only allow more audiences to experience the artistic charm of Dunhuang, appreciate the outstanding achievements of traditional Chinese culture, enhance artistic appreciation, and enhance cultural self-confidence, but also promote exchanges between cultures along the Belt and Road under new historical conditions.

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Dunhuang's ancient beauty shared in digital form - Macau Business

Mexico said Tuesday it had recovered around 2,500 pre-Columbian artifacts from a private collection in Spain, as part of a campaign to retrieve what it considers stolen heritage.

Carved stone figures, arrowheads and ceramics are among the items handed over by an unnamed family in Barcelona that will be exhibited at Mexico Citys Templo Mayor Museum.

Mexicos archaeological and cultural heritage is being recovered abroad thousands of archaeological pieces that had been stolen, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters.

Since Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018, 8,970 artifacts have been recovered, mostly in Europe, according to Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.

Auction houses and foreign governments usually ask Mexico to prove that the pieces belong to it, Ebrard said.

But in some cases, the Mexican government has successfully argued that sellers must prove the items legal origin, he added.

Some pieces have been recovered through police raids, such as in Italy in 2021.

Belgium stopped an auction in March at the request of Mexico.

Some museums and individuals have also voluntarily returned artifacts, although efforts have been less successful in certain countries such as France, whose auctions Lopez Obrador has branded immoral.

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Mexico retrieves 2,500 artifacts from family in Spain - Macau Business

The Federal Reserve is set to announce another big interest rate increase on Wednesday, the fourth this year, in its ongoing battle to tamp down price pressures that have been squeezing American families.

US central bankers are hoping that their aggressive stance will start to cool red-hot inflation that topped nine percent in June, the highest in more than 40 years, without derailing the worlds largest economy.

President Joe Biden is paying the political cost for surging prices, which he blames mostly on Russias war in Ukraine, which has sent global food and energy prices soaring.

Biden insists the American economy will avoid a recession, but even as hisapproval ratings have cratered, he has supported the Fed in its battle to quell inflation.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and others have made it clear they are willing to risk a downturn and will keep raising interest rates until they see clear evidence inflation is moving back towards the two percent goal.

The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to announce another three-quarter-point increase in the benchmark borrowing rate at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting at 1800 GMT.

From zero at the start of the year, the Fed has raised the policy lending rate to a range of 1.5 to 1.75 percent, which has pushed mortgage rates higher and slowed housing sales for five straight months.

Economists say this has been the most aggressive Fed tightening cycle since the 1980s, when stagflation a wage-price spiral and stagnant growth crippled the US economy.

The challenge for policymakers is to quell inflation before it becomes dangerously entrenched, but without sending the worlds largest economy into a recession that would reverberate around the globe.

While prices have continued to rise, with home prices hitting a new record, there are signs the pace of the increases has begun to slow, which may allow the central bank to ease up on its rate increases.

Global oil prices are trending down, with the US benchmark WTI falling to below $95 a barrel from its peak of more than $123 in March, and gasoline prices at the pump have fallen 69 cents from the record of just over $5 a gallon in mid-June.

Meanwhile, the job market has remained strong, consumer demand has not fallen dramatically, and surveys show inflation expectations in the months ahead have started to trend lower.

Policymakers want to engineer a soft landing, taming inflation without causing a downturn, but economists warn they face an increasingly narrow path to success and it would be easy to overshoot by being too aggressive.

The Fed is now stuck between a rock and a hard place, with no easy way out without the economy feeling pain, KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk said in an analysis, noting that Powell has started to underscore that reality by admitting a recession could occur.

In fact, it is rare that the central bank moves so decidedly without causing a downturn, and there are signs of concern among Fed policymakers.

Kansas City Fed President Esther George dissented at the June meeting, saying she preferred a smaller half-point rate hike and warning that going too fast could be unsettling and raise recession fears.

GDP in the first quarter contracted 1.6 percent, and the first reading on the April-June period is due out Thursday. Though the consensus forecast calls for modest growth, many economists expect a downturn.

Two quarters of negative growth are generally considered a recession, although that is not the official criteria.

But Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he was prepared to move even faster, with an unheard-of full point increase if inflation continued to accelerate.

Swonk said the Fed is in uncharted waters, so uncertainty and disagreement about the course of rate hikes is a natural consequence.

by Heather SCOTT

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Fed poised to attack inflation with another interest rate hike - Macau Business