Category Archives: Macau

SEREMBAN: A 66-year-old retiree from Port Dickson has lost almost RM110,000 in a Macau scam.

Negri Sembilan Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Aibee Ab Ghani said the victim, who worked in the oil and gas industry previously, received a call from a man who introduced himself as "Sergeant Lee" from the Ipoh police headquarters on Dec 10.

The caller claimed that the retiree's savings were from ill-gotten gains, Supt Aibee said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec 22).

"The victim then told the caller that the money in his bank account was inherited from his father.

"The suspect then told the victim to transfer the money to another account to allow the police to probe the case," he said.

The victim went to the bank on Dec 13 and transferred RM50,000 into an account in another bank belonging to one Hadir Andi.

After the victim did this, the suspect sent him a copy of a letter purportedly from the National Audit Department via WhatsApp, stating that his case was being investigated.

The suspect then told the victim that he would have to transfer more of his savings to allow the authorities to continue their investigation.

On Dec 14, the victim made two other transactions and transferred a total of RM53,500 into the same bank account. He transferred a further RM5,000 the following day.

"The victim then called the suspect and was told that the money would be returned to him once the probe was completed after a certain time.

"However, when the victim did not hear from the suspect after a few days, he realised that he had been cheated and lodged a police report," Supt Aibee said.

The case is being probed under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. The offence carries a jail term of between one and 10 years, whipping and a fine, upon conviction.

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Retiree cheated of over RM100,000 in Macau scam - The Star Online

Bars in Finland will be forced to close at 9:00 pm on Christmas Eve as part of new restrictions designed to fight record Covid infection levels, the prime minister said on Tuesday.

Speaking after negotiations with her coalition partners, Prime Minister Sanna Marin laid out further controls on hospitality opening hours and alcohol sales for a three-week period starting December 28.

We must take this situation seriously and react accordingly, Marin said, on the day that health chiefs announced over 23,000 new coronavirus infections in the past two weeks, an all-time record in the Nordic nation of 5.5 million people.

The government will begin preparing a support package to compensate hospitality businesses affected by the restrictions, Marin said.

EU citizens arriving at the Finnish border will be required to show a negative Covid test under the new rules, while universities will be advised to move to distance teaching.

Despite record infection levels in recent weeks, Finland has maintained some of Europes lowest incidence rates throughout the pandemic.

Health authorities have registered a total of 221,292 infections and 1,495 Covid-related deaths, equating to one of the lowest fatality rates on the continent.

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Finland to shut bars early in Christmas Covid drive - Macau Business

MACAU (Xinhua): China's Macau Special Administrative Region on Thursday (Dec 16)released its second five-year plan, setting economic and social development goals for the next stage.

According to the plan, by 2025, Macau will have enriched its position as a global tourism and recreational centre, expanded its function as a service platform for business and trade cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Portuguese-speaking countries, steadily advanced the construction of an exchange and cooperation base with Chinese culture as the mainstream and the co-existence of multiple cultures.

The SAR also aims to make substantial progress in appropriate economic diversification, continuous improvement of people's livelihood, higher cultural prosperity, better governance, further improvement of the legal system and enforcement mechanism on safeguarding national security, and better integration into the country's overall development.

The plan noted that by 2025 the SAR will have realised the short-term goals of building the Guangdong-Macau in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin, Zhuhai city, which is just across Macau in the Chinese mainland, initially establishing the integrated development pattern of Macau and Hengqin.

The SAR government publicly solicited opinions on the plan from mid-September to November, collecting over 3,000 pieces of opinions and taking in those with wide public support.

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Macau releases second five-year plan - The Star Online

Poland on Tuesday rejected accusations that it had used Pegasus spying software for political ends after a top lawyer opposed to the current government said he had been targeted.

The suggestion that Polish services used operational methods for political ends is unjustified, said Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the ministry in charge of the secret services.

Roman Giertych, a lawyer involved in several cases against the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, told Gazeta Wyborcza that Poland was using the spyware to fight the democratic opposition.

Using this type of programme to fight the opposition completely eliminates the sense of democratic elections, he said, explaining that the spyware was used ahead of the 2019 elections.

Ewa Wrzosek, a prosecutor and opposition figure, also said the spyware had been used against her. She had been alerted by Apple, she added.

Citizen Lab, a cyber-security watchdog based in Canada, confirmed it had looked into the use of Pegasus against Giertych and Wrzosek.

We conducted these investigations and provided confirmation to the two named individuals that they were repeatedly infected with Pegasus spyware, John Scott Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, told AFP.

Smartphones infected with Pegasus are essentially turned into pocket spying devices, allowing the user to read the targets messages, look through their photos, track their location and even turn on their camera without them knowing.

The Polish channel TVN in 2019 reported that the countrys anti-corruption agency had spent 7.6 million euros ($8.6 million) on phone spyware.

Zaryn said Tuesday the activities of operational control were carried out in accordance with the law only after obtaining the consent of the Prosecutor General and a court order.

He did not confirm or deny if Poland used Pegasus.

The NSO Group, the Israeli owner of Pegasus, told AFP it was sold only to legitimate law enforcement agencies who use these systems under warrants to fight criminals, terrorists and corruption.

Once a democratic country lawfully, following due process, uses tools to investigate a person suspected in committing a crime, this would not be considered a misuse of such tools by any means, a spokesperson told AFP.

Hungary earlier this year was the only EU country listed by an investigative journalism consortium as a potential user of Pegasus, with hundreds of targets including journalists, lawyers and other public figures.

A senior official in Hungarys ruling party Fidesz, Lajos Kosa, last month confirmed that the country had used the software.

In the latest in a string of commercial cases, Apple last month sued the Israeli spyware maker, seeking to block NSO Group from targeting the more than one billion iPhones in circulation.

NSO has consistently denied any wrongdoing and defended use of its software.

by Dario THUBURN

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Poland rejects accusations of 'political' spyware use - Macau Business

The United States said Tuesday it expects talks with Russia over Ukraine tensions and European security more broadly to start in January, while warning Moscow some of its proposals are unacceptable.

The US administration has already said it is ready to hold direct talks with Moscow, and also through the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

There will be no talks on European security without Europe, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried told reporters.

We have been clear we will do this with the NATO Western defensive alliance of 30 states, she added, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated a preference for one-to-one talks with the United States.

On the bilateral engagement, we will decide on a date together with Russia and we believe that that will take place in January, said the diplomat.

She added the Washington-led transatlantic alliance would soon invite Moscow to a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council a consultation forum created in 2002 a proposal rejected so far by the Russians.

My sense is that we will be seeing movement in these channels in the month of January, Donfried said.

The United States has been sounding the alarm since mid-November that Moscow could be planning a large-scale attack on its ex-Soviet neighbor Ukraine and has warned Putin of unprecedented sanctions.

Western governments have accused Moscow of amassing some 100,000 troops near its border with eastern Ukraine, where Kiev has been fighting pro-Russia separatists since 2014.

When asked whether sanctions could include the radical option of cutting Russia off from the Swift international payment network, an essential cog in the wheel of global finance, the US official said nothing was off the table.

Russia denies plotting an invasion and has demanded legal guarantees over its security from the United States and NATO, demanding the alliance stop an eastward expansion.

Last week Moscow presented demands to Washington and NATO, saying the alliance must not admit new members or establish military bases in ex-Soviet countries.

There are some things that were prepared to work on, Donfried said.

But, she added, there are other things in those documents that the Russians know will be unacceptable.

She said she had no new information of whether Moscow was continuing to build up its troops on the Ukrainian border but called on Russia to de-escalate.

We continue to be deeply concerned about the Russian military presence on Ukraines borders.

On Monday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington had not seen anything that would allay our concerns.

Donfried also confirmed the United States continues to provide defensive military systems to Kiev, noting there was a delivery in the past week.

Should Russia further invade Ukraine, we will provide additional defensive material to the Ukrainians above and beyond that which we are already in the process of providing, she said.

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US expects January talks with Russia over Ukraine, Europe security - Macau Business

The United States will give $580 million in additional aid to international organizations to fight Covid-19 in the face of surging Omicron cases, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant reinforces that we must all continue to accelerate our efforts to end this pandemic and that none of us are safe until all of us are safe, Blinken said in a statement.

The world is at a critical point in our global response to this virus.

Blinken said he was scheduled to hold a meeting later Tuesday with his counterparts from other countries to coordinate the international response to the new variant, which has already become the dominant strain in the United States.

I call on my counterparts to fulfill and bolster their commitments in fighting the pandemic. We must work together, and we must act quickly, he said.

The additional funds to seven multilateral agencies bring overall US assistance to $19.6 billion, according to the State Department.

In addition to the 330 million vaccines Washington has given to the rest of the world, the $580 million is a significant contributionto turn vaccines into vaccinations; strengthen public health capacity; support communities in need, and provide urgent, life-saving relief, Blinken said.

$280 million of the additional funds will go to the World Health Organization, which is once more at the heart of US health strategy under President Joe Biden, after a break under his predecessor Donald Trump.

UNICEF will receive $170 million to help with its efforts to vaccinate vulnerable populations.

The United States has sought to galvanize global collective action with our own example and leadership, and it is critical that other governments fulfill their commitments and support those on the frontline of this pandemic, said Blinken.

His announcement comes hours before a much-anticipated speech from Biden on his governments response to the Omicron variant.

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Washington to give additional US$580 mln in international Covid aid - Macau Business

Faced with a surging Omicron variant, US authorities will distribute 500 million free Covid-19 tests, mobilize military medical personnel if needed and increase vaccination capacity, a senior White House official said Tuesday.

We have the tools to get through this wave, the official said, noting there are no plans to impose new restrictions.

If Americans are vaccinated and follow the precautions that we all know well, especially masking when traveling, they should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays.

There is no need to lock down our schools, nor our economy, the official said.

The Joe Biden administrations response is based on three principles: more hospital resources, more testing and more vaccines.

The federal government will mobilize 1,000 doctors, nurses and military medical personnel to be deployed across the country as needed in January and February.

Washington is already sending additional emergency teams to the states of Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire and Vermont.

The government is also preparing emergency transport and equipment, including protective gear and respirators, for hospitals that may need them.

Were prepared for what we think will be an increase in unvaccinated hospitalizations in the coming months, the official said.

Bidens administration will also take action in an area where it has been heavily criticized Covid screening by purchasing 500 million at-home rapid tests.

The Covid tests will be delivered free of charge to Americans who request them via a dedicated website, starting in January.

The government is also promising to open new vaccination centers.

We should take Omicron seriously, but this is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic, the official said, echoing a sentiment often stressed by Biden.

The president was elected on promises to defeat the virus and protect Americans after the mixed messages of Donald Trump.

But getting the virus under control has proved difficult in a country where vaccination and mask-wearing have become divisive political issues, and federal mandates end up in protracted legal battles.

Biden has attempted to impose vaccine mandates on private businesses and federal employees but has resorted in recent weeks to little more than publicly beseeching people to get their shots.

He has also decided not to impose further restrictions for the time being, such as by imposing regulations on domestic flights.

Shows and sporting events are increasingly getting canceled in the United States, while some cities such as Boston are implementing beefed up health protocols.

In some areas, schools have decided to temporarily switch to virtual learning after the winter vacation.

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Biden focuses on testing, vaccines to fight Omicron, not restrictions - Macau Business

President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday that Russia is prepared to take military-technical measures in response to unfriendly Western actions over the Ukraine conflict, in a sharp escalation of rhetoric.

The Russian president has for weeks accused the United States and the Washington-led NATO military alliance of stoking tensions near Moscows borders, but these were his first comments hinting at potential conflict.

In the event of the continuation of the obviously aggressive stance by our Western colleagues, we will take appropriate retaliatory military-technical measures, he told a defence ministry meeting.

Russia will react toughly to unfriendly steps, Putin said, adding that he wants to emphasise that we have every right to do so.

The United States has been sounding the alarm since mid-November that Moscow could be planning a large-scale attack on its ex-Soviet neighbour Ukraine and has warned Putin of unprecedented sanctions.

Western governments have accused Moscow of amassing some 100,000 troops near its border with eastern Ukraine, where Kiev has been fighting pro-Russia separatists since 2014.

Russia denies plotting an invasion and has demanded legal guarantees over its security from the United States and NATO, demanding the alliance stop an eastward expansion.

Last week Moscow presented demands to the United States and NATO saying the alliance must not admit new members or establish military bases in ex-Soviet countries.

But Putin on Tuesday cautioned that he would not trust US security guarantees even if Washington provides them.

We need long-term legally binding guarantees, Putin said, but warned that we cant trust them because the United States easily withdraws from all international treaties that for one reason or another become uninteresting to them.

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Putin warns West of counter measures over Ukraine threats - Macau Business

There are only some weeks left to revive the nuclear deal with Iran if it continues its nuclear activities at the current pace, US negotiator Rob Malley said Tuesday.

Malley, in an interview with CNN, warned of a period of escalating crisis if diplomacy failed to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Negotiations restarted in November, after a five-month hiatus, to try to restore the deal with Iran, which the United States withdrew from under former president Donald Trump in 2018.

The indirect talks have been suspended but Malley said he hoped they would resume relatively soon.

Iran claims it only wants to develop a civilian nuclear capability but Western powers say its stockpile of enriched uranium goes well beyond that, and could be used to develop a nuclear weapon.

Washington has warned recently that it may soon be too late to revive the JCPOA.

It really depends on the pace of their nuclear process, said Malley, the US special envoy for Iran. If they halt the nuclear advances, we have more time.

If they continue at their current pace, we have some weeks left but not much more than that, at which point the conclusion will be theres no deal to be revived, he said.

At some point in a not-so-distant future we will have to conclude the JCPOA is no more and we would have to negotiate a wholly different deal and we would go through a period of escalating crisis, he added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that he was not going to set a deadline for the talks.

Im not going to put a time limit on it, Blinken told reporters, but the remaining runway for a deal is getting very, very, very short.

We continue to have a strong interest in seeing if we can put the nuclear program back into the box that it was in, he said. But if we cant do that, because Iran will not engage in good faith, then we are actively looking at alternatives and options.

The 2015 agreement ensured sanctions relief for Iran in return for tight curbs on its nuclear program, which was put under extensive UN monitoring.

Trump went on to re-introduce sanctions, prompting Tehran to start disregarding the deals limits on its nuclear activities in 2019.

Recent rounds of talks have stumbled on which sanctions Washington is prepared to lift, and guarantees demanded by Iran to protect against the prospect of a future US withdrawal.

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Only weeks left to revive Iran nuclear deal: US negotiator - Macau Business

Macau is a Special Administrative Region of China with an area of 115.4 sq. km. As observed on the physical map of Maco, the region comprises of a peninsula attached to mainland Asia and the islands of Coloane and Taipa in the South China Sea.

Macao was formerly an island itself but was gradually connected to mainland by a growing sandbar. In more recent times, land reclamation has converted it into a peninsula. Constant land reclamation in the region has helped increase the area of Macau over the years.

The Macau Peninsula is mostly flat, but there are a few elevated spots.

Some steep, rolling hills are located on the island of Coloane, and along the southern coastline of the island of Taipa.

The highest point is Coloane Alto at 567 ft. (173 m). It has been marked on the map by a yellow upright trianble.

There are no major rivers or lakes in Macau.

Macau is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. It has seven parishes for symbolic reasons only. These are: Nossa Senhora de Ftima, Santo Antnio, So Lzaro, S, So Loureno, Nossa Senhora do Carmo, and So Francisco Xavier.

The Aterror de Cotai is a special territory of Macao that is not part of any of the parishes.

Macao, formally known as the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is the world's most densely populated region. It is located on the western Pearl River Delta along the coast of the South China Sea in Southeast Asia. Hong Kong is located to the east of Macao. The South China Sea bounds it to the south and east while the Zhuhai city of Guandong, China, borders Macao to the north and west.

Regional Maps: Map of Asia

Macao (651,875)

This page was last updated on February 24, 2021

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Macao Maps & Facts - World Atlas