Category Archives: Macau

Russias defence ministry warned Friday it will intensify attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in response to strikes on Russian soil, after accusing Ukraine of targeting Russian border towns.

The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or sabotage committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime on Russian territory, the ministry said in its daily update.

It added that Russian troops hit a military factory outside Kyiv late Thursday using Kalibr sea-based long-range missiles.

As a result of the strike on the Zhulyansky machine-building plant Vizar, the workshops for the production and repair of long-range and medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as anti-ship missiles, were destroyed, the ministry said.

The ministry also said its S-400 missile system shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that carried out an attack on civilians in the locality of Klimovo in Bryansk region on April 14.

On Thursday, Moscow accused Ukraine of sending helicopters to bomb a village in Russias Bryansk region not far from the border with Ukraine injuring eight people.

Later the same day, the head of Russias Belgorod region said a village close to the border was shelled by Ukraine, while residents from this and a nearby village had been evacuated as a precaution.

Kyiv has denied the helicopter attack, instead accusing Russia of staging the incidents to stir up anti-Ukrainian hysteria in the country.

Separately, the Russian defence ministry said Friday its strategic rocket forces eliminated up to 30 Polish mercenaries in a strike on the village of Izyumskoe, not far from the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.

It said the mercenaries belonged to a private Polish military company, but did not say whether any Ukrainian troops were also killed.

The reported rocket strike was one of the biggest against foreign targets in Ukraine since another missile killed what the Russian military claimed was up to 180 foreign mercenaries in Western Ukraine last month.

Kyiv said at the time that only Ukrainian soldiers were killed.

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Russia warns of bigger attacks on Kyiv - Macau Business

South Koreas automotive production, sale and export fell last month due to the global supply chain disruption, a government report showed Friday.

The number of cars produced in local factories was 302,161 in March, down 9.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It was attributed to the disruption of global supply chain, especially semiconductors used to make vehicles.

The domestic sale of locally-made and imported vehicles sank 19.1 percent over the year to 138,647 units in March.

The number of exported cars retreated 7.7 percent to 179,630 last month. In terms of value, the automotive export reduced 9.7 percent to 3.97 billion U.S. dollars.

Solid global demand continued for environmentally-friendly vehicles, the export of which surged 45.5 percent from a year earlier to 41,320 units in March.

The local sale of the environmentally-friendly vehicles jumped 26.8 percent to 38,784 units last month.

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S.Korea's automotive production, sale, export fall in March - Macau Business

Violence has spiralled in Israel and the West Bank after a series of attacks inside the Jewish state since last month, prompting raids and clashes in the occupied Palestinian territory.

A total of 14 people have been killed in attacks inside Israel, most of them by Palestinians but also by Arab Israelis and a Bedouin, since March 22.

More than 20 Palestinians have been killed in the same period, including the assailants behind the anti-Israeli attacks, according to an AFP tally.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has given Israeli forces a free hand to defeat terror in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War.

Here is a timeline of the attacks:

On March 22, four people are killed when a convicted Islamic State group sympathiser goes on a stabbing and car-ramming rampage in the southern city of Beersheba in Israels Negev desert.

The assailant a Bedouin man who previously tried to join IS is shot dead by armed locals.

On March 27, two policemen are shot dead and several others wounded in the northern Israeli city of Hadera, in an attack later claimed by IS.

Police say the two gunmen Arab Israelis identified by Israeli intelligence as local IS operatives are killed by counter-terrorism officers.

On March 29, five people are killed after a Palestinian from the West Bank village of Yabad opens fire at passers-by in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox Jewish city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv.

A response team shoots dead the attacker.

The five victims include an Arab-Israeli police officer who was part of the team responding to the shooting.

On March 31, a Palestinian man stabs an Israeli civilian with a screwdriver on a bus south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, before a civilian shoots the assailant dead.

The same day, Israeli police kill two Palestinians, aged 17 and 23, during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.

On April 1, Israeli forces shoot dead a Palestinian during clashes in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron.

The man is identified asa former detainee who spent six years in an Israeli prison.

On April 2, an Israeli raid in the West Bank kills three members of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.

Police say the three men opened fire when troops tried to arrest them near Jenin and that they were killed in the ensuing shootout.

On April 7, a Palestinian gunman kills three people and wounds more than a dozen others in a popular nightlife district of Tel Aviv.

After an all-night manhunt, Israeli police say they shot dead the Palestinian gunman, who is also from Jenin.

The Israeli premier gives security agencies full freedom to curb the surge in violence.

On April 9, Israeli security forces raid Jenin, killing one Palestinian. Islamic Jihad says one of its fighters died during clashes.

On April 10, three Palestinians are killed in different incidents across the West Bank.

Israeli forces shoot dead a Palestinian woman identified as a widowed mother of six near Bethlehem.

The Israeli army says troops fired warning shots into the air when the woman approached them, before they fired towards the suspects lower body.

In the village of Al-Khader near Bethlehem, the Israeli army opens fire on a 21-year-old Palestinian throwing a Molotov cocktail, killing him.

On the same day, a woman stabs and lightly wounds an Israeli officer in Hebron before she is killed.

Overnight, a 17-year-old dies of gunshot wounds after an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers in Jenin.

On April 12, a Palestinian stabs a police officer with a kitchen knife, lightly wounding him, before being shot dead in the Israeli port city of Ashkelon.

New Palestinian deaths in West Bank On April 13, a Palestinian lawyer and two teenagers are killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank.

A day later, two youths and a 45-year-old Palestinian father of six are killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces.

On April 14, more than 100 Arabs are wounded in clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police at annexed east Jerusalems Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

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More than three weeks of Israel, West Bank violence - Macau Business

More than five million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, UN figures showed on Friday, in Europes fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 4,796,245 million Ukrainians had left the country since February 24.

The UNs International Organization for Migration (IOM) says nearly 215,000 third-country nationals have also escaped to neighbouring countries.

Fridays figures from the UNHCR were up 59,774 on those issued Thursday.

More than 2.7 million Ukrainian refugees nearly six in 10 who have left since the war began have fled to Poland. More than 725,000 reached Romania.

UNHCR figures show nearly 645,000 Ukrainians fled in February, with nearly 3.4 million doing so in March and more than 760,000 leaving so far this month.

Women and children account for 90 percent of those who escaped, with men aged 18 to 60 eligible for military call-up and unable to leave.

Nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have been forced from their homes, including those still inside the country.

The nearly 215,000 third-country nationals who have fled people who are citizens of neither Ukraine nor the country they entered are largely students and migrant workers.

Beyond the refugees, the IOM estimates 7.1 million people have left their homes but are still in Ukraine.

Before the invasion, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in the regions under government control, excluding Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist-controlled regions in the east.

Here is a breakdown of how many Ukrainian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries, according to UNHCR:

Nearly six out of 10 Ukrainian refugees 2,720,622 so far have crossed into Poland, according to the UN.

Many people who go to Ukraines immediate western neighbours travel on to other states in Europes Schengen open-borders zone.

The World Health Organization said Poland had made 7,000 hospital beds available for the sick and wounded from Ukraine, of which 20 percent were currently in use.

Some 652,000 people have crossed from Poland into Ukraine since the war began.

Before the crisis, Poland was already home to around 1.5 million Ukrainians, chiefly migrant workers.

A total of 726,857 Ukrainians entered the EU member state, including a large number who crossed over from Moldova, wedged between Romania and Ukraine.

The vast majority are thought to have gone on to other countries.

Another 484,725 refugees have sought shelter in Russia.

In addition, 105,000 people crossed into Russia from the separatist-held pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine between February 18 and 23.

A total of 447,053 Ukrainians have entered Hungary.

The Moldovan border is the closest to the major port city of Odessa.A total of 419,499 Ukrainians have crossed into the non-EU state, one of the poorest in Europe.

Most of those who have entered the former Soviet republic of 2.6 million people have moved on but an estimated 100,000 remain, including 50,000 children of whom only 1,800 are enrolled in schools.

Refugee children from Ukraine have fled a brutal war and have arrived dispossessed and traumatised in Moldova. They are very vulnerable and need immediate support, said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.

Public schools are open to refugee children; however, the capacity is over-stretched and there is a need for urgent mental health and psycho-social services, sanitation, and teachers.

A total of 329,597 people crossed Ukraines shortest border into Slovakia.

Another 22,827 refugees have made it north to Russias close ally Belarus.

by Robin MILLARD

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Five million people flee war in Ukraine - Macau Business

A springtime blizzard walloped Canadas western Prairies region and parts of Ontario province this week, closing roads, airports and schools, and leaving a dump of snow to shovel.

Whiteouts were also reported in the US states of North Dakota and Montana.

Natalie Hasell, a meteorologist at Environment Canada, told AFP it was rare to see a major weather event dropping 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow in April, when most Canadians are gearing up for spring.

Only two winter storms of this intensity have ever been recorded around this time of year in the region since 1902. The last one of this magnitude, in 1997, pummeled Manitoba province for three days and went into history books as the storm of the century.

Just weeks after the last of the 2021-2022 winter snowfall had melted away, forecasts warned of a historic winter storm, with an average of 30 to 50 centimeters of fresh snow expected to accumulate in Manitoba and Saskatchewan by the time it ends on Friday, with some parts seeing as much as 80 centimeters of snow coupled with strong winds.

Hasell said the worst-case scenario hadnt materialized so far, but the snow was continuing to fall, with an additional five to 10 centimeters expected on Thursday in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba.

Few power outages were reported, but many schools and roads were closed in and around the city.

Air Canada told AFP it planned to resume flights Thursday after canceling 21 flights to and from Winnipeg the day before.

A weather alert for Saskatchewan has been lifted, but another was issued for Ontario as the storm tracked eastward.

It is expected to peter out by Friday evening.

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'Rare' springtime blizzard wallops parts of Canada - Macau Business

European researchers have developed a way of decoding the feelings of pigs through their grunts, oinks and squeals in a project aimed at improving animal welfare.

Biologists studied over 7,000 recordings from 411 pigs, from the brief squeaks of satisfaction at feeding time to the desperate cries at slaughter, before classifying them into 19 different categories.

We show that its possible basically to figure out the emotions of the pigs according to their vocalisations, project leader Elodie Briefer, a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, told AFP.

The project, split between Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, France and the Czech Republic and published in the journal Nature, offers a new way of improving animal welfare by laying the groundwork for a tool that can categorise an emotion based on the noise produced, according to the researcher.

We also run a machine learning algorithm which produces a spectrogram, then it is trained to recognise negative and positive contexts.

Once developed, the new tool would allow farmers, who today can mostly only check the physical well-being of the animals, to monitor their mental health.

The researcher said if the negative squeals increase, the farmer would be alerted that something was wrong and could check.

The Scandinavian country is home to 13.2 million pigs making it the leader in Europe with over two per capita and for the Danish Agriculture and Food Council the implications of the study are promising.

This concept could potentially be a useful tool among others in the work to monitor the health and well-being of pigs, Trine Vig, a spokeswoman for the council, said.

According to Briefer they reached 92 percent accuracy of classifying the valence (or) whether the call is negative or positive, and 82 percent accuracy in classifying the actual context in which the sounds were produced.

According to the findings, positive feelings are expressed in short grunts, while negative sentiments are most often expressed with longer sounds.

But why focus on the pig rather than a cow or a rabbit?

For the authors of the study, the pig, known for its wide range of squeaks and noises, was the perfect match.

Theyre very vocal, which makes them easier to study, the researcher said.

They produce vocalisations all the time, even in a low intensity situation, they would still vocalise.

by Camille BAS-WOHLERT

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Researchers decode pigs' well-being through oinks and grunts - Macau Business

Catholic zealots in the Philippines whipped their backs bloody and raw on Good Friday, as the fervently religious country marked Easter with gruesome displays of faith.

Scores of men their faces covered walked barefoot as they flogged themselves with bamboo whips under a blazing sun near the capital Manila, while others carried wooden crosses as they were beaten, in a ritual frowned upon by the Church.

Roy Balatbat, his skin still bearing fresh wounds from a public flailing on Thursday, walked for about a kilometre, striking himself and stopping to prostrate in prayer on the hot ground.

Its punishing but if you have a wish, you will endure the pain, Balatbat, 49, told AFP in Hagonoy municipality, Bulacan province.

I have been doing this for 30 years since I was a young man. My devotion is that I will only stop when I cant do it anymore.

While most devotees in the mainly Catholic nation spend Good Friday at church or with family, others go to these extreme lengths to atone for sins or seek divine intervention.

Before the grisly flogging begins, the mens bare backs are deliberately punctured to make them bleed.

Veterans of the gory spectacle display scars of previous whippings, while others endure the punishing act for the first time.

I inflict the wound to the penitents, if theres not much blood coming out, theyll ask for another one so their sins would be forgiven, Reynaldo Tolentino, 51, explained.

They wont feel the pain when theyre doing the penitence as long as they are sincere in doing it.

Good Friday is also usually marked by crucifixion reenactments in a city north of Manila, but the event was cancelled for the third year in a row due to Covid-19.

About a dozen Catholics regularly have themselves nailed to wooden crosses as penance for their sins. The event attracts thousands of tourists.

We do not encourage acts of self flagellations and crucifixions, said Father Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines public affairs committee.

The suffering and crucifixion of Christ is already enough to save humanity, he told AFP, adding devotees should instead confess their sins.

The Philippines has lifted most Covid-19 restrictions after a sharp fall in infections and rising vaccination rates.

But the health department warned Thursday of a possible surge in cases as Filipinos dropped their guard and mingled more freely.

by Ron LOPEZ

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Religious whipping marks Good Friday in the Philippines - Macau Business

Welcome to the fourteenth and final in a series of articles on the Macau gaming law IAGpublished throughout the month of March and early April:

Thank you all for your great support during this Macau gaming law series. What began as a planned 10-part series finished as 14 parts, as there were so many important issues to cover. As of the time of writing this series has received over 18,000 page views, and no doubt that number will creep up to perhaps over 20,000 eventually.

So, where to from now? The next step in the process is for the Second Standing Committee of the Macau Legislative Assembly (AL) headed by Andrew Chan Chak Mo to complete its review of the law, and then for the wider AL to pass the law, no doubt with some amendments, which Mr Chan has promised to do by 26 June. I fervently hope that some of the issues raised by IAG in this Macau gaming law series, and raised by others, are considered and we see a more efficient law governing the industry in Macau. After all, this is the law which will set the ground rules for the next decade. The Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng, will be attending a plenary session of the AL on 12 April, and this should be an excellent opportunity for his input.

Of the issues raised in this series, which are the most crucial? Judging from the number of page views (around 2,700), reversion of gaming areas is a very important one. I also think the chip cap rule as it currently stands is unworkable, and more clarity would be very useful on the provisions relating to minimum income, directors liability, the Managing Director, and operating in other jurisdictions.

I have no doubt the law will be passed as planned by late June. And I have no doubt the tender documents are already substantially drafted, waiting to be released within days of the law being passed.

While no-one knows how long the government will provide for the tender process, we all know the finish line is on 31 December, so it seems plausible the government will provide perhaps two to three months essentially Q3 of this year for the tender process to play out. Expect the announcement of the winning six bidders sometime in say October or perhaps early November. After that we will see a period of negotiation of the concession contracts about four to six weeks feels right to me. This takes us to some date in December, during which we will likely see six signing ceremonies or if were running close to the wire maybe one big ceremony for all six concessionaires! What a sight that would be.

Expect to hear the popping of champagne corks in December.

After that, the sleeves will be rolled up and the truly hard work of recovering from the COVID disaster will begin. Bring on the 2023 to 2032 new decade of the Macau gaming industry. It will be fascinating to watch.

This is the final article in the series.

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Macau Gaming Law series part 14: And that's a wrap where to from here? - IAG - Inside Asian Gaming

CMB Wing Lung Bank Limited and FWD Insurance have signed a bancassurance partnership in Macau to provide insurance products and services.

Bancassurance isan arrangement between a bank and an insurance company allowing the insurance company to sell its products to the banks client base.

Both sides also considered that thepartnership will provide a competitive advantage to both companies in capturing the vast opportunities in the fast-growing market of the Greater Bay Area

The new partnership with FWD will enrich our insurance productsandservice scope for Macau residents who constantly look for more innovative and comprehensive options. We believe the partnership will also further strengthen CMB Wing Lung Banks advantage in GBA cities, the banks Deputy General Manager, Li Qi, said in the announcement.

CMB Wing Lung Bank is a subsidiary of China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. (CMB), a bank based in Shenzhen and the first share-holding commercial bank to be wholly owned by corporate legal entities in China upon its founding in 1987.

At present, the Bank has over 30 banking business outlets and CMB Wing Lung Private Banking Centre in Hong Kong, its service outlet network also covers mainland China, Macau and overseas, more than 2,000 people in its staff force.

Meanwhile, FWD Hong Kong & Macau are part of the FWD Group, a pan-Asian life insurance business offering life and medical insurance, employee benefits, and financial planning.

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CMB Wing Lung Bank Limited and FWD Insurance sign bancassurance agreement - Macau Business

Chinas factory-gate inflation was higher than expected in March, official data showed Monday, as Russias war on Ukraine pushes up oil prices while a domestic Covid-19 resurgence strains food supplies and consumer costs.

The producer price index (PPI) measuring the cost of goods at the factory gate grew 8.3 percent on-year, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures showed.

This was slightly more than a Bloomberg poll of economists expected, while PPI also rose on-month.

Geopolitical and other factors have pushed global commodity prices to continue increasing, driving the prices of oil, non-ferrous metals and other related industries to rise further domestically, NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan said in a statement.

Chinas consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of retail inflation, rose more than expected as well, by 1.5 percent on-year in March, the NBS said.

Although consumer demand eased after festive periods earlier in the year, some food prices have picked up due to rising international prices of wheat, corn and soybeans and domestic Covid-19 outbreaks, Dong said.

This comes as world food prices hit an all-time high in March following Russias invasion of Ukraine, an agricultural powerhouse, according to a UN agency.

Russia and Ukraine make up a massive share of exports in major commodities such as wheat, vegetable oil and corn.

Zhaopeng Xing of ANZ Research said energy prices had become the major driver for both CPI and PPI.

CPI inflation could rise further in April as households across China have been stocking up on food and other necessities after taking lessons from the fallout of Shanghais lockdown, Nomuras chief China economist Ting Lu told AFP.

As the financial hub locked down almost entirely in recent weeks, residents had trouble getting groceries while Covid controls snarled supply chains to the rest of the country.

Due to lockdowns and transport disruptions in northeast China, the largest grain production base in China, this years spring farming may have been delayed and the risk of food shortage may rise in the second half, Lu added.

This piles pressure on the worsening global food shortage caused by the military conflict in Ukraine, he said.

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China factory inflation higher than expected as oil prices bite - Macau Business