MUNICIPAL NEW SMOKING RULES Five people were fined AFFAIRS HAPPY NEW YEAR! BUREAU during the first day of implementation of new Macau Daily Times wishes our BEGINS rules that highly restrict readers, advertisers and friends OPERATION smoking the best of times in 2019! P2 P5 THU.03 Jan 2019 T. 11º/ 15º C H. 75/ 95% facebook.com/mdtimes + 11,000 MOP 8.00 3201 N.º HKD 10.00 FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho www.macaudailytimes.com.mo “ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ” WORLD BRIEFS PHILIPPINES Suspected Muslim militants remotely detonated a bomb near Taiwan rejects Xi’s the entrance of a mall in the southern Philippines, killing at least two and wounding nearly 30, officials said. call for unification P11 AP PHOTO AP PHOTO BANGLADESH While Sheikh Hasina is set to begin her third consecutive term as Bangladesh’s prime minister following a landslide election victory, critics say having such an overwhelming majority in Parliament could create space for her to become even more authoritarian. IRAQ The latest plunge in oil prices has dealt a heavy blow to Iraq’s stagnating economy, threatening the new government’s ability to rebuild after the war with the Islamic State group and provide basic services to areas roiled by recent protests. AP PHOTO SYRIA Two days of fighting in rebel-held parts of northern Syria killed dozens of people as al-Qaida-linked militants press their offensive against Turkey- backed rebels, a war monitor and activists said yesterday. SUDAN’s largest opposition bloc has joined calls by a wide array of political groups for President Omar al-Bashir to step down, turning up the pressure on the longtime autocrat Gaming revenue grows 14 percent in after two weeks of street protests. P4 More on backpage 2018, shrugging off trade war fears 03.01.2019 thu 2 MACAU 澳聞 WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO Chui calls for Municipal Affairs Bureau continued launched with new service economic HE new Municipal Affairs progress in TBureau (IAM) was officially established on January 1, ac- final year companied by the launch of an online platform which allows N delivering his New Year the public to more quickly ex- message, Chief Executive press their opinions to the bu- I Chui Sai On this week called for reau regarding environment a concerted effort to advance and hygiene, garden and recrea- Macau’s overall competiveness, tional zones, facilities, and food as well as the development of safety. every economic sector. The inauguration ceremony of He also mentioned that Ma- the new leadership of IAM was cau had more to do in ter- conducted on Tuesday morning. ms of its integration into the The president of the previous country’s overall development Civic and Municipal Affairs Bu- and the implementation of the reau (IACM), José Tavares, and principle of ‘one country, two vice-president Lei Wai Nong, systems’. among others, took their oaths Recalling his speech last mon- to serve and support the new th on the anniversary of the bureau. Macau handover to China, Chui Also on Tuesday morning, the pledged to use his final year in bureau’s advisory council held a office to advance Macau’s in- meeting where it chose the pre- managed by more than ten IAM that the bureau will inform con- pledged to simplify the process volvement in the development sident and vice president of the employees, and that the plat- cerned residents of a deadline for residents that require a ser- of the Guangdong-Hong Kong- council itself. form itself is able to receive a to- if the bureau cannot solve their vice at the service centers under Macau Greater Bay Area and António José Dias Azedo and tal of 6,000 cases per hour. problems within seven working the administration of IAM. the Belt and Road Initiative. Chong Cok Veng were elected as After IAM collects the resi- days. Previously, these residents In addition, the government chairman and vice-chairman of dents’ opinions, the bureau will The platform is available in would have to visit different hopes to develop Macau’s stra- the council. reply to each resident within 24 Chinese, Portuguese, and En- counters at the IACM office for tegic roles as a world center of IAM provides residents with hours when the questions invol- glish languages. Users can ex- different services. tourism and leisure, and as a cultural and leisure services, as ve such topics as hygiene or food press their opinions and offer In order to provide convenien- commercial and trade coope- well as services related to envi- safety issues. suggestions in the form of text, ce and also to shorten service ration platform between Chi- ronment and hygiene. “Hopefully, we can use three audio messages or pictures. times for residents, all IAM ser- na and Portuguese-speaking Regarding the aforementioned to seven days to solve the pro- In addition to implementing vices can now be conducted at countries. online platform, IAM president blems [raised by the residents],” the above service, the mana- just one counter at IAM service Reviewing the achievements José Tavares said that it is being said José Tavares, who added gement of the new bureau also centers. of the government in 2018, Chui pointed out that the special ad- ministrative region had main- tained social stability, steady public finances, a high rate of Package tour visitors from Korea, employment, and enhanced social well-being. These thin- gs had collectively provided a Taiwan record increase strong foundation for the stabi- lity of the city’s economy, and ISITORS on pa- percent of total) visiting Kong (114,000) increa- helped maintain momentum in Vckage tours totaled mainland China. In the sed by 7.9 percent and relation to the goal of achieving 908,000 in November, first eleven months of 1.9 percent respectively. moderate economic growth. up by 16.5 percent mon- BARBOSA PAULO 2018, outbound resi- The number of gues- With the united effort of the th-to-month but down dents using services of ts from South Korea community over the past year, slightly by 0.9 percent travel agencies totaled (40,000) remained sta- the government had been able year-on-year. 1.43 million up by 13.6 ble, however the number to improve its work in relation Information from the percent year-on-year. of guests coming from to disaster prevention and mi- Statistics and Census Meanwhile, the num- Taiwan (34,000) de- tigation in the city. Such effort Service indicated that ber of guest rooms grew creased by 6.5 percent had helped Macau to minimize the number of package by 5.8 percent year-on- In the first eleven mon- the effects of Typhoon Man- tour visitors from main- year to 39,000, with the ths of 2018, guests of gkhut, a powerful storm that land China (721,000) number of 5-star hotel hotels and guesthouses struck the city in September. dropped by 4.1 percent rooms rising by 9.7 per- totaled 12.84 million up Chui outlined in his New Year year-on-year, whereas cent to 25,000. by 7.5 percent year-on- message that protecting the sa- those from South Korea There were 1.2 million year. The average oc- fety of Macau people and their (59,000) and Taiwan guests checking into cupancy rate of hotels property remained Govern- (63,000) surged by 24.3 8.19 million up by 6.1 percent year-on-year to hotels and guesthou- and guesthouses rose ment priorities. percent and 40.5 per- percent year-on-year. 139,000. ses, up by 6.1 percent by 4.1 percentage points Finally, on behalf of the gover- cent respectively. The number of ou- The number of re- year-on-year. The num- to 90.7 percent and the nment, the Chief Executive ex- In the first eleven mon- tbound residents using sidents travelling on ber of guests coming average length of stay of tended to the Macau public his ths of 2018, visitors on the services of travel package tours totaled from mainland China guests remained at 1.5 sincere good wishes for a pros- package tours totaled agencies grew by 11.8 46,000, with 35,000 (77 (828,000) and Hong nights. perous and healthy New Year. www.macaudailytimes.com.mo EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (DIRECTOR)_Paulo Coutinho [email protected] A MACAU TIMES PUBLICATIONS LtD PUBLICATION MANAGING EDITOR_Paulo Barbosa [email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS_Eric Sautedé, Leanda Lee, Severo Portela ADMINISTRATOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER + 4 Million page views Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected] NEWSROOM AND CONTRIBUTORS_Albano Martins, Annabel Jackson, Daniel Beitler, Emilie Tran, Irene Sam, SECRETARY Juliana Cheang [email protected] PER MONTH Ivo Carneiro de Sousa, Jacky I.F. 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Ruan Du Toit Bester | NEWS AGENCIES_ Associated Press, Bloomberg, Financial Times, MacauHub, MacauNews, For subscription and general issues: [email protected] | Printed at Welfare Printing Ltd +12,000 like us on facebook.com/mdtimes Xinhua | SECRETARY_Yang Dongxiao [email protected] SEND NEWSWORThy INFORMATION AND PRESS RELEASES TO: [email protected] WEBSITE: WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO thu 03.01.2019 th Anniversary MACAU’S LEADING NEWSPAPER 澳聞 MACAU 3 03.01.2019 thu 4 MACAU 澳聞 WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO UREAU B BLOOMBERG OORDINATION OORDINATION C NSPECTION AND I AMING G ACAU ACAU M OURCE: OURCE: S Macau gross gaming revenue by year GAMING in the previous month.