FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho www.macaudailytimes.com.mo THURSDAY T. 10º/ 16º Air Quality Bad MOP 8.00 3834 “ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ” N.º 12 Aug 2021 HKD 10.00 WORKERS ON MANDATORY QUARANTINE HEALTH BUREAU SEES THE 2021 MACAU BADMINTON DUE TO RESIDENCES BEING IDENTIFIED OPEN HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN AS RED OR YELLOW ZONES SHOULD BE THE COMING WEEK AS CANCELED BY THE GOVERNING PUT ON JUSTIFIED LEAVES: DSAL ‘CRITICAL JUNCTURE’ WORLD FEDERATION P2 P3 P2 AP PHOTO North Korea yesterday repeated a threat to respond to U.S.-South Korean military exercises it claims are an invasion HURRY TENDER rehearsal, while the United AL Committee pushes for States insisted the drills were “purely defensive in nature” to maintain gaming consultation kick-start the South’s security. In a P5 statement released by state media yesterday, senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol condemned South Korea for continuing the allied drills and warned of unspecified counteractions that would make Seoul “realize by the minute” that it had walked into a security crisis. AP PHOTO Afghanistan The Taliban seized three more provincial capitals in Afghanistan and a local army headquarters completing their blitz across the country’s northeast and pressing their offensive elsewhere. The insurgents now control some two-thirds of the nation as the U.S. and NATO finalize their withdrawal after a decades- long war there. The fall of the capitals of Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces to the northeast and Farah province to the west put increasing pressure on the country’s central government to stem the tide of the advance. BLOOMBERG Iran’s new president presented a Cabinet dominated by hard-liners yesterday, state TV CHINA AP PHOTO reported, providing one of the first glimpses into the policies he might pursue Foreign trade over the next four years. The conservative cleric and former judiciary chief, growth rate Ebrahim Raisi, nominated hard-line career diplomat Hossein Amirabollahian to on 10-year high the crucial post of foreign minister as Iran and the U.S. seek to resuscitate Tehran’s signals ‘steady landmark nuclear deal with world powers. recovery’ More on backpage P10,12 OPINION page 2 www.macaudailytimes.com.mo MACAU 澳門 12.08.2021 thu MACAU’S LEADING NEWSPAPER earlier this year. At the time the BWF decided to schedule only an All-England tournament: which was the only BWF event hosted this year before the Olympic Ga- mes in Tokyo. Despite the large number of canceled events, the BWF says it is “still committed to delive- ring the remainder of the 2021 calendar as planned,” adding, “We look to provide players with a safe and structured platform to earn important world ranking points and prize money in these coming months.” Two of the planned upcoming events are the Malaysian Open and Malaysian Masters, which are currently postponed. On such a matter, the BWF added, “A few other remaining Macau Badminton Open canceled tournaments [the Malaysian ones] are still categorized as pos- tponed. Final decisions on those due to Covid-19 restrictions tournaments will come at a later RENATO MARQUES round, have fallen victim to the ble to conduct any tournamen- (August 31 to September 5), Chi- date.” Covid-19 pandemic and the res- ts in China this year,” the global na Open (September 21 to 26), Also postponed are the World HE 2021 Macau Badminton trictions imposed to control and organization said, adding that Japan Open (September 28 to Junior Championships, schedu- TOpen has officially been can- prevent the virus. no dates or locations have been October 3), Fuzhou China Open led for October 4 to 17 in China. celed by the Badminton World “The ongoing Covid-19 res- rescheduled. (November 9 to 14) and Hong The Macau Badminton Open Federation (BWF). trictions and complications left The Macau Open was set to Kong Open (November 16 to 21). was part of the HSBC BWF Wor- In a statement, the interna- local organizers with no choice take place between November 2 The Korean Open was expec- ld Tour - Super 300 series, a tional governing body of the but to cancel the tournaments,” and 7 this year, and it now joins a ted to mark the resumption of Grade 2 tournament awarding sport announced that the local BWF said in the statement. long list of other canceled even- the BWF World Tour, the calen- USD200,000 (1.6 million pata- event, together with the Korean “Unfortunately, it is not feasi- ts including the Korean Open dar of which was interrupted cas) in prize money. COVID-19 Mandatory quarantine Man faces up to two years constitutes ‘justified leave’: DSAL imprisonment for ORKERS living in red the control of either the em- Wor yellow zones who ployers or the employees. spreading rumors are in mandatory quaran- In his statement, Chan tine should be considered has urged employers to con- HE local resident pandemic situation as being on justified leave, sider not deducting the pay Twho spread fake in Macau, with intent Chan Chon U, vice director covering the period their information on social to cause panic in the of the Labour Affairs Bureau employees are in quarantine, media could face a sen- community. (DSAL), said. or negotiating with the em- tence of up to two years This was, in the cur- Since the city has recor- ployees to take that period in prison, according to rent climate, conside- ded four new Covid-19 cases, as annual leaves. Employers the Public Prosecu- red to be “enough to certain areas on the Peninsu- should also make special ar- tions Office (MP). provoke panic or pu- la have been identified as red rangements to the work of Last week, the Ju- blic anxiety, harming zones or yellow zones and the affected workers. diciary Police (PJ) an- the security and public have been cordoned off. Chan added that em- nounced the arrest order and affecting the The four patients were ployers should not pressure of a 46-year-old local MSAR government’s circulating freely in the com- employees with yellow heal- man, suspected of ha- epidemic prevention munity before being diagno- th codes to take time off so ving committed crimes work,” the PJ stated. sed with the disease. that their salaries can be de- against public security, The resident pos- Residents living in the red ducted. On the other hand, order, and peace during ted the rumors online zone are not allowed to leave -management until August buildings. employees should not take sudden incidents during Macau’s “im- their homes until August 17. 17. The cordon will hinder time off on the grounds of of a public nature. mediate prevention Businesses within the zone According to an Executive and even obstruct residents having yellow health codes. According to the re- status,” which the must also suspend operation Order, they are not allowed needing to work. The DSAL Any exemption from port, the man is ac- Chief Executive Ho Iat until then. to take public transport, and stressed that quarantine work should be mutually cused of fabricating Seng ordered on Au- Residents living in the they may be prohibited from conditions are government agreed upon through nego- and disseminating gust 3 following the yellow zone, meanwhile, will entering certain indoor ve- policy, meaning that it shou- tiation, the DSAL vice direc- rumors online about detection of four Delta need to conduct health self- nues, such as commercial ld not be considered within tor hinted. AL the current Covid-19 cases. MDT www.macaudailytimes.com.mo DIRECTOR & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF_Paulo Coutinho [email protected] A MACAU TIMES PUBLICATIONS LTD PUBLICATION ASSISTANT EDITOR_Lynzy Valles SENIOR WRITER_Honey Tsang CONTRIBUTING EDITORS_Leanda Lee, Severo Portela, Sheyla Zandonai ADMINISTRATOR & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected] NEWSROOM AND CONTRIBUTORS_Albano Martins, Annabel Jackson, Anthony Lam, Emilie Tran, Irene OFFICE MANAGER Juliana Cheang [email protected] REACHING OUT! Sam, Ivo Carneiro de Sousa, Jacky I.F. Cheong, Jenny Lao-Phillips, João Palla Martins, Joseph Cheung, ADDRESS Av. da Praia Grande, 599, Edif. Comercial Rodrigues, 12 Floor C, Juliet Risdon, Linda Kennedy, Paulo Cordeiro de Sousa, Renato Marques, Richard Whitfield, Viviana Seguí MACAU SAR Telephones: +853 287 160 81/2 Fax: +853 287 160 84 DESIGNERS_Eva Bucho, Miguel Bandeira | ASSOCIATE CONTRIBUTORS_JML Property, MdME Lawyers, Advertisement [email protected] +20,500 PokerStars, Ruan Du Toit Bester | NEWS AGENCIES_ Associated Press, MacauHub, MacauNews, Xinhua For subscription and general issues: [email protected] | Printed at Welfare Printing Ltd Like us on facebook.com/mdtimes SECRETARY_Yang Dongxiao [email protected] SEND NEWSWORTHY INFORMATION AND PRESS RELEASES TO: [email protected] WEBSITE: WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO www.macaudailytimes.com.mo page 3 thu 12.08.2021 澳門 MACAU MACAU’S LEADING NEWSPAPER Macau records MOP659b in BLOOMBERG financial reserves As of June this year, the city has recorded a total of MOP658.9 billion in financial reserves. Of this sum, the city has MOP309 billion in deposits and current accounts. It also holds bonds to the value of MOP180 billion. The amount in investments, meanwhile, totaled MOP169 billion. Macau also has approximately MOP1.6 billion in other assets. As for liabilities, the city has MOP3.7 billion in debt. In fiscal reserve capital, the city has MOP656.8 billion, of which MOP151 billion is in basic reserves and MOP494 billion is in surplus reserves. A surplus of MOP12 billion was recorded for this and teenagers (aged below 20) is still period. COVID-19 considered “low,” at only about 20%. Currently, the city can offer 140 realtor upwards of 10,000 doses every day. ‘cold-call’ Each vaccination center has suffi- cient walk-in capacity.