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The journey from luxury to thrift will be a test of Beijing’s mettle

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INDONESIA The Indonesian state airline company Garuda began daily flights between the island of Bali and Dili the capital of East Timor on Friday. “I hope that the inauguration of this Denpasar - Dili link serves to deepen the relations between the two countries across the areas of the economy, tourism and in social and cultural terms,” the Garuda Executive Director, Emirsyah Satar, said by statement.

NORTH KOREA may be capable of fielding a nuclear-armed missile that could reach U.S. soil, but because it has not tested such a weapon the odds of it being effective are “pretty darn low,” the commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said Friday.

INDIA Nine people are dead after a passenger bus traveling overnight in India’s remote northeast swerves over a bridge and breaks through the railing to fall into a marshy ravine before dawn yesterday, police say.

More on backpage

mif attendance drops, fruitful in lusophone contracts

al approves animal protection bill Lawmakers welcomed regulations safeguarding animal welfare, but they also called on the government to improve the bill

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Lahiri triumphs over Hend

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hong kong protesters scrap voteThe pro-democracy protests leaders yesterday canceled a vote on what the next step should be in their monthlong street occupation

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legislation on budget execution next year

The SecreTary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam, has revealed that the legislation process to revise the government’s budget execution regulations will most likely commence next year. In 2013, lawmakers called on the

government to perfect the legisla-tion on this matter, so that public money used in major construction projects can be better managed. The AL discussed the budget execu-tion report for 2013 and the report on auditing accounts last Friday.

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DIREcTOR AND EDITOR-IN-cHIEf_Paulo Coutinho paulocoutinho@macaudailytimes.com MANAgINg EDITOR_Paulo Barbosa paulo.barbosa@macaudailytimes.com cONTRIbuTINg EDITORS_Eric Sautedé, Leanda Lee, Severo Portela cHINA & fOREIgN EDITOR_Vanessa Moore vanessa@macaudailytimes.com

DESIgN EDITOR_João Jorge Magalhães magalhaes@macaudailytimes.com | NEwSROOM AND cONTRIbuTORS_Albano Martins, António Espadinha Soares, Catarina Pinto, Cyril Law, Emilie Tran, Grace Yu, Irene Sam, Jacky I.F. Cheong, Jenny Philips, João Pedro Lau, Joseph Cheung, Juliet Risdon, Keith Ip, Renato Marques (photographer), Richard Whitfield, Robert Carroll (Hong Kong correspondent), Rodrigo de Matos (cartoonist), Ruan Du Toit Bester, Sandra Norte (designer), Sum Choi, Viviana Seguí | ASSOcIATE cONTRIbuTORS_JML Property, MacauHR, MdME Lawyers, PokerStars | NEwS AgENcIES_ Associated Press, Bloomberg, Lusa News Agency, MacauHub, MacauNews, Xinhua | SEcRETARy_Yang Dongxiao amy@macaudailytimes.com

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Catarina Pinto

The Animal Protection Bill on Friday passed its first reading in the Le-gislative Assembly (AL).

Lawmakers welcomed regula-tions safeguarding animal welfa-re, but they also called on the go-vernment to improve the draft, and grant more responsibilities to pet owners.

Introduced by the government, the Animal Protection Bill seeks to prevent unlawful actions such as animal abuse, illegal animal slaughter, abandonment, or the exhibition and sale of animals younger than three months old.

While they welcomed the animal protection legislation, lawmakers have raised criticism over the bill’s loopholes.

Some questioned whether the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bu-reau (IACM) has sufficient re-sources for active enforcement to respond to infractions of the law. Lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong kicked off the debate by questio-ning government officials on the number of supervisors able to act on cases of animal abandon-ment, for instance.

“If the police could also interve-ne, it would probably be better. Because we are not sure if IACM

Catarina Pinto

The Society for the Protection of Ani-

mals (ANIMA Macau) has called on the Legis-lative Assembly to im-prove the draft of the Animal Protection Bill, approved by lawmakers in the first reading at the Legislative Assembly

ANIMA vows for improvements on Animal Protection Billplenary on Friday.

ANIMA Macau believes that the draft is merely a replica of a draft dating back to 2008, which was never tabled.

In a document submit-ted to the AL last week, the association advo-cates for clearer defini-tions of the law, namely the definition of animal

abuse. ANIMA’s chief, Mr Albano Martins, told the Times that there are several “subjective defi-nitions included in this law, especially the one referring to animal abu-se, which are not clear enough.”

Furthermore, they belie-ve there is a need to inclu-de a definition of animal

cruelty, focusing on two particular forms: passive and active cruelty.

ANIMA believes that the legislation document provides a good start, but it should be impro-ved before lawmakers vote it in detail, on a se-cond reading.

The licensing and vac-cination of cats is ano-

Florinda Chan said that this is a very “well-adjusted draft”

AL PLENARY

Lawmakers call for more accountability for pet ownerswill be able to tackle all these problems,” he said.

Lawmaker Zheng Anting ad-dressed the same issue, saying that law enforcement is the grea-test concern. “Does IACM have enough capacity to implement the law?” he questioned.

IACM representatives atten-ding Friday’s plenary meeting gave assurances that they have enough staff able to deal with infringements to the Animal Protection Bill, and if necessary other government departmen-ts may be urged to assist. “We believe we are able to supervise and we are counting on the po-pulation’s cooperation to alert us when they know of any illicit ac-tions. They can denounce [them] through IACM. We can also re-quest police authorities help. If needed, we can rely on the su-pport of other authorities,” they stressed.

Lawmakers are also demanding more responsibilities from pet owners. Leong Veng Chai wel-comed a bill protecting animals’ rights, but said that the law was not properly drafted, since some “animals’ fundamental rights have not been defined.”

He believes that pet owners should have more responsibili-ties, particularly when it comes

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The Animal Protection Bill comes to increase penalties for severe animal abuse to 3 years imprisonment. Fines go up to MOP100,000

on the lawmakers’ agenda

Online gaming adS Si Ka Lon has called on the government to revise advertising legislation in order to prevent illegal ads luring people into the world of online gaming. He claimed that illegal ads promoting online gaming have mushroomed around town, and could easily be seen in buildings, tourist buses, and border checkpoints. The lawmaker believes online casinos have been avoiding supervision, leading to cri-minal activities such as money lau-ndering or the use of illegal capital funds. Si Ka Lon said that one of the ads promised that “MOP10 million would be deposited in the gambler’s account within three minutes.” He recalled that legislation states that games of chance cannot be the sub-ject of advertising. He urged the government to conduct a thorough investigation into the display of these ads in the city, as well as strengthe-ning law enforcement. Furthermore, he called on it to further regulate online gaming and revise current ad-vertising laws to tackle more serious issues.

nOn-reSidenT wOrkerS Lei Cheng I has urged the authori-ties to reduce quotas for companies hoping to hire non-resident workers. The growing number of non-resi-dents working and living in Macau is directly harming residents’ career prospects, she suggested. She went so far as to hint that residents are being replaced by non-residents when, ac-cording to government policies and legislation, foreign workers should only be hired if there’s an insufficient number of locals able to perform a certain job. Yet again, Lei Cheng I called on the government to safe-guard residents’ job vacancies. “To safeguard residents’ rights and inte-rests, I ask the government to change its policy and put an end to irregula-rities related to the hiring of foreign workers, adopting rigorous measures and regulation on their recruitment [process],” she said.

Occupy cenTral Au Kam San believes that Macau’s government should respond to people’s call for democracy and initiate talks on uni-versal suffrage, in order to avoid an Occupy-inspired movement in Ma-cau. Hong Kong’s fight for democracy has been on the streets for a conse-cutive fifth week, but the lawmaker thinks that none of the parties invol-ved will achieve their goals. He stres-sed that Macau’s election system has negative effects upon society, since it does not allow everyone to have a say in who is governing the city. There-fore, he urged the government to im-plement a universal suffrage system as soon as possible. The lawmaker recalled that the compensation bill was withdrawn from the Legislative Assembly after Macau’s population took to the streets to show their dis-content, proving that when Macau citizens oppose a certain government policy, they are unafraid of expres-sing their views and demanding change. He advocated for a democra-tic regime that could correspond with Macau’s economic development.

MACAU澳聞

ANIMA vows for improvements on Animal Protection Bill ther matter they’ve hi-ghlighted. Albano Mar-tins recalled that there are more cats than dogs in Macau, and that they should also be vacci-nated for the sake of public health. They are suggesting the govern-ment provide free licen-sing for cats, in order to prevent “their massive abandonment.”

Another problem the bill presents, he said, is related to the definition of animal abandonment, since dropping off ani-mals in a kennel or ani-mal collection centers will not be considered abandonment. “So if people are clever they will not abandon their pets in the streets, they will instead drop them off at the kennel. So instead of having to put down 900 animals, they

will have to kill 3,000,” he said. “The law shou-ld only allow this to ha-ppen within a maximum period of three months, for instance, after pur-chasing or adopting the animal,” ANIMA said in a document addressed to the AL.

ANIMA also recogni-zes that, unlike the 2008 draft, the bill now poses a serious issue regarding scientific experiments involving animals. Alba-no Martins recalled that article 19 allows the use of animals for scientific experiments, but it may also involve apes as well as mice. ANIMA’s direc-tor recalled that Macau does not have labs that work with such animals. Even the new laboratory under development at the University of Macau, whose ethics committee

also comprises ANIMA, has said it will not use this type of animal, Al-bano Martins stressed.

“Animals can be cut, organs removed, even admitting the occurren-ce of suffering, in which case it calls for the ani-mal to be put down. This is called animal cruelty,” ANIMA said.

In the document, ANI-MA also addresses the issue of greyhounds and horses that compete in Macau’s Canidrome and the Jockey Club, respec-tively. The association recalls that at least the Canidrome is located on public land – land that “should be used for green areas, gardens, underground car parks or for public housing.” They also stressed that the Canidrome’s reve-nue has declined, and

they do not even acti-vely promote adoptions. Also, the rate of acciden-ts on the racetrack is the largest in the world, they added.

With the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel under development close to the Jockey Club and an urban project also being developed near the Ca-nidrome, located in the Macau peninsula, Alba-no Martins believes this is an opportunity for the government to advocate for the use of these pro-perties for other purpo-ses.

ANIMA stressed that there’s still a need for an integrated legal fra-mework that not only addresses animal pro-tection, but also regu-lates veterinaries, pet shops, clinics, and ani-mal breeders.

AL PLENARY

Lawmakers call for more accountability for pet ownersto animal abandonment, as he thinks accountability for aban-doning a pet has been transfer-red to the government, instead of pet owners.

IACM representatives recalled that fines would be increased with this bill. For animal aban-donment, the fine can reach MOP40,000, even implying a disobedience crime.

Furthermore, lawmakers called on the government to perfect the draft by providing a more con-crete definition on the type and size of domestic animals’ living environment, and a suitable area for breeding animals. Lei Cheng I said that although the legislation addresses the social responsibili-ty of pet owners, it does not ela-borate on concrete rules regar-ding the space where domestic animals live or are bred.

Lawmakers think this is a par-ticularly important issue, since breeding domestic animals can often cause disturbances to nei-ghbors, usually related to noise and smell.

IACM representatives recog-nized that they have received a high number of complaints rela-ted to these disturbances. Howe-ver, they said it would be difficult to elaborate on concrete rules for living environments, since the type of environment may depend on the animal’s size.

Although many lawmakers have highlighted flaws in the draft, legislator Gabriel Tong said that, “it was worth the wait, as we now have a law that was quite well drafted.” He never-theless recognized that the draft leaves room for improvement.

Lawmaker Mak Soi Kun shared a different opinion, as he believes

the bill failed to detail the protec-tion of animals other than dogs and cats. “A rabbit may be killed. So maybe we should call it the ‘Cats and Dogs Protection Bill’ because we can kill a rabbit to eat it?” he questioned.

The Secretary for Administra-tion and Justice, Florinda Chan, who also attended Friday’s ple-nary meeting, said that this is a

very “well-adjusted draft.” “If the bill is passed, we can still impro-ve it before it is tabled for a se-cond reading,” she added.

The bill will be further discus-sed by one of the AL’s standing committees and will be presen-ted for a second reading at the AL Plenary, where lawmakers will vote the law in detail.

The Animal Protection Bill in-creases penalties for severe ani-mal abuse to three years’ impri-sonment, while also enforcing a maximum fine of MOP100,000. It outlines the responsibilities of pet owners, who should provide their domestic animals with an adequate living environment. It also regulates animals owned by construction sites, wild animals, and the use of animals for scien-tific purposes.

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MACAU 澳聞

SpOrTing Club of Macau celebrated its 88th anniver-

sary on Friday. The local football club is seeking to enhance part-nerships and has initiated talks with Brazilian agency Think Ball & Sports Consulting, which represented famous footballer Liedson, to explore further coo-peration opportunities.

Recently, Sporting Club of Ma-cau also signed a partnership with Osaka FC to procure trans-fer opportunities for both sides.

The club’s president, Mr Antó-nio Conceição Junior met with Marcelo Robalinho, the inter-national director of the Brazi-lian agency Think Ball & Sports Consulting. Mr Robalinho said in a statement that the meeting was “very productive,” adding that they hope to contribute to the development of football in Macau.

On Sporting’s 88th anniver-sary dinner on Friday, António Conceição Junior reviewed the club’s past, and promised that

The opening ceremony for the new Consulate of Mo-

zambique took place on Friday at the Macau Tower. In attendance were the Secretary for Admi-nistration and Justice, Florinda Chan, as well as the Permanent Secretariat to the Forum for Eco-nomic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portugue-se-speaking Countries (Macau), Chang Hexi.

The Mozambique Ambassador to China Antonio Inacio Junior, and the Consul-General of Mo-zambique to Macau, Rafael Cus-tódio Marques, were also at the ceremony.

Florinda Chan has hailed the establishment of a Mozambique Consulate in Macau, saying that it will bring bilateral relations to a higher level.

The Mozambique Ambassa-dor Antonio Inacio Junior said that the Sino-Mozambique rela-tionship has always been good since its establishment about four decades ago. His country hence decided to set up a consu-late in Macau in order to further strengthen this relationship.

Consul-General Rafael Custó-dio Marques, meanwhile, hopes that the Chinese and Macau go-

Conceição Junior speaks about Sporting’s legacy

SPORTS

Sporting Macau celebrates 88th anniversary, seeks to enhance partnerships

Florinda Chan presided the opening ceremony of the General Consulate of Mozambique in Macau

Consulate of Mozambique opens

vernments, as well as organiza-tions in Macau, can provide su-pport in building a relationship of friendly cooperation between China and Macau.

As the Times reported previou-sly the Mozambican diplomat Rafael Custódio Marques, was accused of involvement in the death of former Mozambican rebel Evo Fernandes – leader of the liberation movement turned political party Renamo.

According to an AP report, in 1989 Marques was a diplomat working as third secretary at the Mozambican Embassy in Lisbon when he was expelled from Por-tugal. The expulsion order was allegedly given after Mozambi-que refused to lift his diplomatic immunity. Portuguese authori-ties were seeking to question him on the assassination case.

their future would be inspired by sportsmanship and standards of fair play, which have been some of the team’s core values throu-ghout the years.

“We think football can be a way, like many other ways, to human perfection. By playing football, by competing, one can perfect one’s character, become more and more loyal, honest,

work hard to face all adversi-ties,” he said.

The club’s president said that representatives of other clubs were invited to the anniversary dinner because Sporting wishes to reinforce fair play and spor-tsmanship, uniting local clubs as “the main developers of foo-tball.”

“This is the meaning of our dinner tonight. We celebrate to-gether the cause of [developing] a better future for football in Macau,” António Conceição Ju-nior added.

This year, Sporting was pro-moted to the first division and later played to win last season’s championship. The coming sea-son has its challenges, the pre-sident said, but the team will overcome any hurdles with pri-de and sportsmanship.

Sporting signed a partnership with Osaka FC in September, making it possible to transfer players between Macau and Ja-pan. CP

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MACAU澳聞

João Pedro Lau

YeSTerday the cur-tain fell on the 19th International Trade and Investment Fair

(MIF), with lower attendan-ce compared to 2013. Never-theless, the fair’s organizer, the Macau Trade and Invest-ment Promotion Institute (IPIM), believes that more attention should be on quali-ty, rather than quantity, when analyzing the success or failu-re of the fair.

Speaking to the media yester-day afternoon, IPIM executive director Irene Va Kuan Lau revealed that attendance this year has dropped more than 10 percent between Thursday and Saturday, compared to the same period last year.

The decrease is not a surprise for IPIM and Ms Lau attributed the fall to the fluctuation in ex-ternal factors. “When we look at the exhibitions in the nearby regions, the same situation has arisen as well,” she said.

Ms Lau added that a lot of information regarding com-panies and their products are already available on the Inter-net, which may also be a fac-tor leading to the decrease in attendance. Another reason for the drop may be that the-re are also more exhibitions in Macau where participating en-terprises are able to sell their products to attendees, making MIF less unique.

However, she said that the evaluation of MIF’s achieve-ments no longer depends on quantities, such as the num-ber of people in attendance. Instead, IPIM will look at the quality, including the number of transactions, the profes-sionalism displayed and the services IPIM provided. She thinks that the content of MIF this year is richer and that they were able to provide attendees with more information about Macau and participants.

Moreover, the executive di-rector said that Macau has started taking on the role of a platform for Portuguese- speaking countries, as shown in this year’s MIF. “Macau now is actually a platform. Althou-gh the [MIF] attendance has dropped, we have seen growth

Chief Executi-ve Chui Sai On

has commented on lawmaker Chan Chak Mo’s previous sugges-tion that the changes to Chui’s Cabinet and the upcoming government

Chui thinks change of administration not hindering legislation

holidays will affect the legislative process.

Chan Chak Mo, who is the president of the Le-gislative Assembly (AL) Second Standing Com-mittee, said that gover-nment officials promi-

sed in June to submit a new draft for legislation that his Committee is reviewing, but that the draft has yet to be tab-led. He said that the ab-sence of a new draft will definitely hinder the

Committee’s reviewing process.

Chui Sai On responded by saying that he res-pected the lawmakers’ opinions, but claimed that there is no ineffi-ciency in the govern-

ment’s work. Mr Chui also said that he would meet officials this week to discuss the tabling of legislation to the AL. “We pay close attention to [legislative] works and try [our] best to

finish them. They will not be affected by the change of government,” he said.

The CE has also said that there will be a smooth process in ter-ms of the handover be-tween his old and new cabinet.

As for the selection of new government Secre-taries, Mr Chui reitera-ted that he will consider candidates according to the Basic Law.

IPIM’s executive director Irene Lau speaks to journalists

MIF attendance drops, fruitful in lusophone contracts

in other aspects,” she said.“Through the hard work of

all parties, the 19th MIF has made the platform for Portu-guese-speaking countries the main theme. Of course, we are also working hard on creating a platform for the European Union as well,” she said.

She revealed that the number of participants from Portu-guese-speaking countries has increased by around 20 to 30 percent. This, she believes, is the result of IPIM’s continuous promotion of Macau in various Portuguese-speaking countries throughout the years. She also

mentioned the central govern-ment’s instructions to create a lusophone food centre in Ma-cau, saying that IPIM has also worked hard on inviting food and beverage companies to join the MIF.

Compared to last year, the-re is a fourfold increase in

the number of contracts sig-ned by lusophone companies this year, rising to more than 40. “People can also feel how spectacular the matching has been in the Portuguese- speaking countries exhibition area for the food and beverage businesses compared to last year. This is because we put more emphasis on the food and beverage [industry],” she said.

After working on the crea-tion of a lusophone food and beverage centre, the IPIM exe-cutive director said that they will not rule out providing more Portuguese-speaking countries-related services so that Macau can better develop its features and build a better platform in next year’s MIF, which will be the fair’s 20th anniversary.

Ms Lau also said that exhibi-tions nowadays are no longer only for the display of produc-ts and services, they are also a “meeting place” for businesses where people can learn the newest business information and market trends. She said that this could be a direction in which MIF can develop in future.

Mixed sales results among participants

SOme local and overseas small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exhi-

bitors have expressed disappointment in their MIF sales this year, with only one Portuguese-speaking company saying that they have achieved satisfying results.

Ms Ho owns a local natural food retai-ler, which has a booth in the MIF this year. Having participated in the fair for three years, she said that consumption is far lower than before, with this year’s sa-les only equal to one-third of that in the previous year. Although she has already predicted a fall in sales, the outcome is worse than she expected.

The fact that there are many businesses that sell products similar to Ms Ho’s is be-

lieved to have lowered their competitive-ness. She also observed a significant drop in the number of tourists in attendance.

Another SME who was dissatisfied with this year’s results is Mr Gou from Taiwan. This is the fifth year his toy company took part in the MIF. He said that this year’s attendance and sales are both unexpecte-dly disappointing. In fact, their sales this year were only a third of that in 2013. He said that they will not return to MIF for their sixth year.

The disappointment of the two SMEs is certainly not shared by Casa Angola International CEO Rui Pedro Moreira, who spoke to the Times at the beginning of MIF about his plan to introduce his

company’s soy products to Macau. He revealed yesterday that his company had acquired a very good contract for their soy beverage. He believes that the lack of Portuguese brand soy beverages in the Macau market is a factor. Their Portu-guese wine has also proven popular, as shown by the empty wine shelves in his booth.

However, he has observed a commu-nication problem here, saying that it is difficult to communicate with mainland businesses due to the language barrier. Mr Moreira thinks that meeting and speaking with mainland businesses is a good opportunity and a step towards bui-lding a future relationship.

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MACAU澳聞 7

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri claimed a sensatio-nal one-stroke victory at the USD900,000 Venetian

Macau Open after frontrunner Scott Hend of Australia ago-nizingly bogeyed the last hole yesterday.

Lahiri started the final rou-nd two shots behind overni-ght leader Hend and trailed by four at one stage at the Macau Golf and Country Club before rallying on the home stretch to pip Hend and Thailand’s Prom Meesawat.

The 27-year-old Indian sig-ned for a final round of five-un-der-par 66, which included six birdies, and a winning aggre-gate of 17-under-par 267. The winner’s cheque of US$162,000 raised his season’s tally to US$504,689 as he consolidated his second place on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit and nar-rowed the gap on leader David Lipsky of the United States.

Hend, the defending cham-pion who arrived in Macau in top form after winning the Hong Kong Open last week, li-pped out a par putt from four feet on the 72nd hole as the roles reversed from last year’s edition where Lahiri was the runner-up. Hend settled for a 69 while Prom charged up the leaderboard with a 66.

“It’s really special. Hendy was

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri

It’s really special. Hendy was playing great golf and it was sad to see him missing that putt on the last

LAHIRI

GOLF | VENETIAN MACAU OPEN

Lahiri triumphs over Hend

playing great golf and it was sad to see him missing that putt on the last,” said Lahiri, who secu-red his second win of the season and fifth Asian Tour victory. “I knew he was playing some good golf and I told myself that I was going to keep coming back, keep coming back and keep attacking. I wanted to make him think I was not going to go away. I think I played really well.”

Hend took charge early on and

doubled his overnight lead to four shots after nailing an eagle on two and a birdie on seven. However, a tenacious Lahiri fought back with birdies on ei-ght and nine to make the turn only two back. The pivotal mo-ment came on 14 when Lahiri hit a superb seven iron into the par three hole for an easy birdie while Hend bogeyed.

Lahiri, who had opened his campaign with a stunning 61 on

Thursday, then led for the first time in the final round with a birdie on 15 but Hend leveled with a birdie at the next hole until his slip-up at the last.

Hend was disappointed he missed his par putt which wou-ld have forced a play-off and also the opportunity to join Chi-na’s Zhang Lian-wei as the only two-time Venetian Macau Open champion.

“I hit too many loose shots and then on the last hole, I had a lip out which I thought I put

a good putt on it. Unfortunately it lipped out. I looked up to see it lipping out. I thought I had made the putt,” said Hend.”

Prom came home strongly in 32 but fell one short shy of for-cing a play-off. He rued a roller-coaster start where he went bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie in his opening four holes. “I had a good back nine but it was up and down in the first four holes. But to finish on five under for the round, I’m happy. My goal was to stay inside the top-three. It was not going to be easy to catch Hendy or Anirban,” said Prom.

Meanwhile, The Venetian Macao has extended its title sponsorship of the Venetian Macau Open for a further two years until 2016 following asso-ciation with Macau’s golf cham-pionship this week. The Ma-cau Sport Development Board (MSDB) and its partners, the Asian Tour, Macau Golf Asso-ciation and IMG, jointly annou-nced that next year’s edition will return to the Macau Golf and Country Club from October 15-18, 2015.

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8 BUSINESS 分析

corporate bits

Renowned Hong Kong actor and comedian Dayo Wong brought his bran-

Health product specialist Herbalife held a seminar at the Landmark Hotel ballroom last Thursday, 2014, as the Macau stop on their 2014 Herbalife Asian Tour. The main speaker

stand-up comedian dayo wong returns to venetian 2014 herbalife asian tour – macau

d-new show, Dayo Wong Stand Up Comedy in Macao, to The Venetian’s Cotai Are-

at this Seminar was nutrition specialist Dr. Flechtner-Mors, who explained the importance of maintaining a healthy lifesty-le and answered health related questions.

na Saturday night.Since first taking the Co-

tai Arena stage in October 2012, Wong has been ti-ckling his audiences with his witty sense of humor. Satur-day’s show – his fourth at the marquee entertainment venue – again delivered laughs to the full house in attendance. Tickets for the Saturday night show were in such high demand that a yesterday evening show was added.

Wong started his career in comedy back in 1990, qui-ckly gaining widespread po-pularity in Hong Kong and in other Cantonese-speaking communities. Dayo Wong Stand Up Comedy in Macao is his 14th show.

Dr. Flechtner-Mors disco-vered Macau people have a very fast paced and busy life daily due to the fast growing economy. In Macau, people go out and dine more than other countries, and their love for bu-ffet style dining means they are very likely to overeat. Coupled with lack of exercise, the num-ber of people having one of the 3 major health threats (Lipids, high blood pressure, high blood sugar) is rapidly climbing. If they are not careful, people in Macau can even be at risk of strokes and blood clots. Accor-ding to a survey conducted by Macau Health Services, the top 10 death-related diseases in Macau are all related to heart attacks, high blood pressure, and diabetes, other reports also show that the sufferers are get-ting younger.

Andrew Roberts and Corinne Gretler

Kering SA reported thir-d-quarter revenue that met analysts’ estimates as grow-th for Puma sports gear

offset the effects of weaker Chinese spending on sales of Gucci handbags.

Revenue climbed 3.3 percent to 2.6 billion euros (USD3.29 billion), Paris-based Kering said Friday in a statement after European marke-ts closed. Analysts predicted 2.59 billion euros, according to the me-dian of 17 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales climbed 4.4 per-cent on a comparable basis.

“Luxury activities held firm in a complex economic environment, thanks to a strong sales uptrend in our network of directly opera-ted stores,” Chief Executive Officer Francois-Henri Pinault said in the statement, adding that sport and

Police in Vietnam have arrested a promi-nent businessman and one of the country’s

richest men on suspicion of lending fraud, as authorities step up their crackdown on finan-cial crimes in a bid to clean up the debt-ridden banking sector.

Ha Van Tham, former chairman of the board of the private Ocean Bank, was taken into po-lice custody in Hanoi on Friday for “violating lending regulations,” the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement posted on its web-site late Friday. Police searched his house and workplace.

Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Saturday that Tham in 2012 approved a loan of 500 billion dong (USD23.5 million) to a private real esta-te company without proper collateral and the company is likely to default on the loan.

Tham’s arrest came as Vietnam is trying to clean up high levels of bad debts in its banking system, which have dragged down economic growth in recent years and caused public anger.

The debts have climbed to 8 percent of the ou-tstanding loans as of July this year, according to the State Bank of Vietnam, which targets to bring the bad debts level down to 6 percent by the end of this year.

The central bank said in a statement it has suspended Tham as chairman of the board of the Ocean Bank after finding he committed “se-rious law violations” and to ensure the bank’s operations are safe, stable and are in line with the law.

Tham was chairman of the conglomerate Ocean Group with business interests in real estate, banking, security, retails and hotels. Ocean Group is a major shareholder of unlisted Ocean Bank.

Ocean Group’s shares on the main bourse, Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, tumbled 11 per-cent since Wednesday amid rumors of Tham’s arrest to close at 10,900 dong (51 cents) on Fri-day. He was the 8th richest man in Vietnam’s stock exchange at the end of 2013.

Bad debts are traced to the late 2000s, when Communist authorities encouraged state-ow-ned banks to hand out easy credit to investors and developers as part of an effort to stimulate the economy, particularly the real-estate sec-tor. The property boom crashed and banks are weighed down with bad debt, much of it owed by politically connected conglomerates. AP

Kering SA Chief Executive Officer Francois-Henri Pinault

In the U.S., Gucci’s momentum is vibrant. On the flip side, we’ve experienced deterioration in Hong Kong and Macau

JEAN-MARC DuPLAIXCHIEf fINANCIAL OffICER, KERINg

Vietnam arrests tycoon for lending fraud

Kering sales bolstered by marketing at Puma as Gucci drops

lifestyle products were boosted by marketing at Puma.

Kering, which this week named new CEOs at the Bottega Veneta, Brioni and Christopher Kane brands, said in July operating performance wou-ld improve in the second half of 2014 and forecast a return to positive re-venue trends, including at Gucci. Lu-xury-goods makers including LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA however have recently reported sof-ter demand.

Fewer Chinese tourists are sho-pping in Hong Kong because of pro-democracy protests, while fi-ghting in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions have depressed Russian spending in Europe. Worldwide sales of personal luxury goods will rise 2 percent this year, the slowest pace since 2009, Bain & Co. esti-mated this month.

Gucci sales fell 1.9 percent on a

comparable basis, compared with the 0.5 percent drop anticipated by analysts.

“Given recent market headwinds, it’s in line with the overall indus-try performance,” Chief Financial Officer Jean-Marc Duplaix said on a conference call. “In the U.S., Gucci’s momentum is vibrant. On the flip side, we’ve experienced de-terioration in Hong Kong and Ma-cau, while Singapore remained a difficult market.”

Gucci sales in China saw a stabili-zation, though “still slightly negati-ve in the low-single digits,” Group Managing Director Jean-Francois Palus said, adding Kering doesn’t predict further deterioration.

Revenue at Puma, which is trying to reposition itself as a sports-per-formance brand, rose 6.2 percent, compared with a 3 percent gain predicted by analysts. Bloomberg

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AngOla spends USD1billion every year on importing wine, as national

production is still small, ac-cording to figures issued Thursday in Luanda, at the inauguration of the second edition of the country’s wine festival.

The director of the Angola Wine Festival, Miguel Pinho, noted that the figure was a good representation of a “very large business” in the country, which shows “the importance that wine has in Angolan life and cuisine, which is a unique situation in Africa.”

This second edition of the Angola Wine Festival closed on Saturday. It aimed at pro-moting wine culture in combi-nation with Angolan cuisine.

The event featured 85 exhi-bitors representing 500 brands of wine mainly from Portugal, but also from coun-tries such as Chile, South Afri-ca and Italy, among others.

Miguel Pinho told Portu-guese news agency Lusa that Angola is starting to have wine production projects, so the first Angolan producers may make their debut as soon as next year’s edition of the festival.

The Angola Wine Festival featured 85 exhibitors representing 500 brands

Angola imports USD1b a year in wine

New contracts on concession areas for exploration and oil production in Mozambique will be signed after April 2015,

the Resource Valuation Director of the National Oil Institute (INP) said Thursday.

On the sidelines of the launch, in both Maputo and London, of a tender to award 15 blocks for oil exploration and production, José Branquinho said April 2015 was when he expected nego-tiations between the government and interested companies to be concluded.

Information provided on the occasion showed that offshore areas include the Rovuma basin, with three areas, Angoche, with two and the Zambezi delta, with six areas. Onshore areas included in the tender are in Pande/Temane, with three areas and Palmeiras, with one, to a total of 76,802 square kilometres.

Branquinho said the deadline for proposals ends at 12 noon on 20 January, 2015, to be followed by a phase of clarification of the documents (February/March) and then the negotiation process, which will end with the signing of contracts.

The launch of this tender had to wait for new legislation, whi-ch came about on 18 August with the approval of Law 21/2014, when the National Assembly approved a new legal regime for oil operations in Mozambique and respective tax scheme through Law 27/2014 of 23 September.

Among several provisions, Law 21/2014 requires 25 percent of gas production to be reserved for the domestic market, requi-res local content development, and mandatory registration of oil companies on the Mozambique Stock Exchange. MDT/Macauhub

Mozambique signs new contracts for oil exploration

Among other promotional activities, the festival inclu-des wine themed dinners and guided wine tasting events, emphasizing the importance of pairing wine with Angolan cuisine. MDT/Macauhub

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Lulu Chen

HOng Kong pro-democracy protesters, who have blocked

major thoroughfares, snarled traffic and disrupted businesses in the city for more than a month, have de-layed a planned referendum becau-se of differences in the movement on the issues to be voted on and me-thod of polling.

Protest leaders were due to hold a referendum yesterday and today. The proposed motions were whe-ther they should demand the gover-nment ask China to review its Aug. 31 decision to vet candidates for the chief executive elections, and whe-ther they should call for an outside body to take charge of procedures for 2016 legislative elections and the chief 2017 executive poll.

The protests, entering their fifth week, were sparked by China’s de-cision to exercise control over no-minating procedures for the city’s first leadership election in 2017. Tensions have risen in the city be-tween demonstrators and those who opposed to the disruptions, who have obtained court orders to clear barricaded streets.

“You can disagree, but you cannot just sit in the middle of the road,” said Betty Yung, 65, a retired prin-cipal who spoke on stage at an anti-Occupy rally that sprang up on Sa-turday night in Tsim Tsa Tsui. “This is not the right way to do things. What if the ambulance that’s suppo-sed to bring me to the hospital ends up being stuck in traffic because the roads are blocked by the students?”

The protesters announced plans for the referendum after talks with the go-vernment on Oct. 21 failed to resolve the impasse.

Protest leaders are in talks with pro-democracy lawmakers on a plan for mass resignations to force a de facto referendum on political reform

HONG KONG

Protesters delay referendum amid differences

Hong Kong’s High Court exten-ded until today interim injunctions banning pro-democracy protesters from defending their barricades, as police said events were turning chaotic.

High Court Judge Thomas Au ru-led Friday to continue the injunc-tions over the weekend, until a hea-ring to revoke them resumes today. Although the police weren’t instruc-ted by the court to remove barriers, the injunctions forbid protesters from intervening with their removal by third parties, raising the poten-tial for renewed violence.

Two injunctions were filed on Oct. 20 by an association of taxi drivers and a minibus company at a protest site in Mong Kok, and a third by a property company controlled by Chinese state-backed Citic Ltd. at the main site in Admiralty.

As the injunction hearings are ci-vil suits, plaintiffs have the right to take “lawful action” to remove the barricades, Hui said Friday.

Protest leaders and lawmaker

James Tien have called for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down, saying the people have lost trust in the government.

“I will not resign,” Leung said in comments broadcast on Cable TV Saturday. “We will need to go back to the existing legal framework to solve Hong Kong’s current issues. Anyone who has a different politi-cal view will have to go through the legal framework and not using ille-gal ways to express their views.”

Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s first chief executive after the city rever-ted to Chinese rule, on Friday cal-led on pro-democracy protesters to end their street occupations or risk damaging the city’s economy.

A plan to link trading between the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock ex-changes has been delayed because of the protest in Hong Kong, Ming Pao reported yesterday, citing “authoritati-ve” people in Beijing it didn’t identify.

Hong Kong stock exchange spokeswoman Lorraine Chan de-clined to comment on the report; spokesman Scott Sapp didn’t answer a phone call to his mobile phone. A call to the press office of the Shan-ghai Stock Exchange outside busi-ness hours went unanswered.

Occupy protest leaders are in talks with pro-democracy lawmakers on a plan for mass resignations to force a de facto referendum on political re-form, Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Stu-dents, said Saturday, according to the South China Morning Post.

If lawmakers from each of the ci-ty’s five geographical constituencies resign, the government would have to hold by-elections that would ser-ve as such a referendum, the report cited Chow as saying. Bloomberg

Demonstrators stand on Sai Yeung Choi Street in the Mong Kok area

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SummerS addS wrinkle to China’S hong kong CriSiS

Hopes that Hong Kong would one day transform China in its own image now seem foolish and futile. Beijing appears intent on making the former British colony look more like the mainland - with a closed political system dominated by the Communist Par-ty. For Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, the future may look a lot more like Hong Kong’s present than he’d like to admit.

Mainland leaders have downplayed hopes of any concessions in talks between student leaders and government officials in Hong Kong, which begun on Tuesday. Any sign of weakness, they fear, will have a spillover effect in China itself, encouraging citizens to take to the streets with their own political demands.

Yet the drama currently playing out between Hong Kong’s billionaire tycoons, its urban underclass and a government ill-equipped to maintain social har-mony has to look awfully familiar to Xi. He, too, fa-ces a situation where anger over growing inequality has little outlet except in street protests.

So far Chinese authorities have been able to de-fuse the tens of thousands of such demonstrations that take place every year. That task is only going to get harder, though, as technology evolves faster than the commissars can keep up. For every What-sApp and WeChat the censors know about and can monitor, scores of new messaging programs are constantly emerging. During the term of Xi’s prede-cessor Hu Jintao, smartphones were in their infancy. Now they’re ubiquitous, challenging the Communist Party with every text, tweet and status update.

At the same time, China’s leaders are actively trying to make parts of their economy look more like Hong Kong’s. A free trade zone established in Shanghai is meant to compete directly with Hong Kong for financial services. This week’s par-ty plenum in Beijing is focused on reinforcing the “rule of law,” seen as key to the city’s commercial success. And Xi’s big-bang reforms are designed to shut down China’s smokestacks and recreate Hong Kong’s prowess in services.

Xi cannot expect to make this transition without opening up China’s economy and society. How is the mainland to emulate Silicon Valley’s success if entrepreneurs such as Alibaba’s Jack Ma aren’t part of the big conversations - and controversies - of the day? What value is research from a bank analyst who must hide suspicions about China’s data or the balance sheet of a state-connected company?

Only by becoming more like Hong Kong can the mainland thrive as information- and knowledge-ba-sed industries trump sweatshops. Only by loose-ning restrictions on the media can China make its political system and business sectors accountable. Only by getting out of the way can the government spur the job creation needed to narrow inequality.

The challenge will be to maintain political control during the transition. As a new paper by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Harvard University’s Lant Pritchett shows, that may simply be impossible.

Even as China dismantles the model that produ-ced an astonishing 36-year growth streak, Sum-mers and Pritchett point out, the “transition itself may create an adjustment period of slow grow-th.” While necessary in the long run, the shift will vastly lower gross domestic product growth rates - to around 3.9 percent annually for the next two decades, Summers and Pritchett reckon. (A new Conference Board report provides a similar esti-mate for growth after 2020.) That presents a direct threat to the Communist Party’s legitimacy, which is contingent on growth in the neighborhood of the 7.3 percent.

These are profoundly difficult balancing acts for Beijing to manage. If he wants to see what’s in sto-re, though, Xi should pay close attention to what’s happening in Hong Kong.

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CHINA中國

Christopher Bodeen, Beijing

A coal mine shaft collapsed in nor-

thwestern China, killing 16 miners, an official said Saturday, highlighting the persistence of safety problems in the industry despite a leveling off of demand.

Another 11 miners were injured in the disaster, which struck just before midnight Friday in Tie-changgou township out-side the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi.

Thirty-three miners were in the shaft when the accident occurred, six of whom were brought out

An injured miner is transferred to hospital after a coal mine collapsed in Tiechanggou township, Urumqi

16 killed in Xinjiang coal mine collapse

by rescuers, said an offi-cial with the State Admi-nistration of Work Safe-

ty. The official, speaking on routine condition of anonymity, said that all

of the injured were in sta-ble condition and that the cause of the cave-in was under investigation.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of injured miners sitting up in their hospital beds and descri-bing their experiences to a reporter.

A man who answered the phone at the mine’s offices said he could not comment, and calls to the Xinjiang regional sa-fety administration rang unanswered.

China’s mines are among the most dangerous in the world, although impro-ved safety measures have vastly lowered the num-

ber of fatalities in mine accidents in recent years.

The government’s Chi-na National Coal Admi-nistration reported 1,067 deaths in 604 coal mining accidents in 2013, down 23 percent from the year before. That’s down from more than 6,000 a decade ago, largely due to increa-sed inspections and the closure of small and unre-gulated mines.

The decline has coinci-ded with plateauing de-mand for coal as the Chi-nese economy cools from the dizzying heights of the last few years.

While China still produ-ces and consumes almost

as much coal as the rest of the world combined, the amount it burned in the first three quarters of 2014 was off by about 2 percent from the same period last year, accor-ding to Greenpeace ener-gy analysts in China.

That came despite slower but still robust economic growth of 7.4 percent during the same period, showing that Chi-na’s economy is becoming somewhat more efficient in its energy use.

Widespread use of coal is largely blamed for the choking smog that enve-lops major cities in the country. Beijing on Satur-day was smothered in a toxic cloud that prompted many citizens to don air filtering masks when ven-turing outside. AP

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Christopher Bodeen, Beijing

TwenTy-One Asian nations have signed on to a China-driven initiative to create a

new development bank for Asia that’s aimed at boosting infrastructure investment of all kinds. Beijing sees that as a way to raise its internatio-nal standing, but Washing-ton opposes the move as an unnecessary and potentially damaging rival to established institutions such as the Wor-ld Bank.

— whO’S in The grOup?

Members are overwhelmin-gly developing nations, with Singapore the only advanced economy. The others range from economic powerhouses India and China to smaller but economically dynamic nations such as Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Mongolia. A few are drawn from among the poorest nations including Laos, Cambodia and Oman.

Others taking part are Uzbekistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Brunei, Kazakhs-tan, Kuwait, Malaysia and Myanmar.

Just as important is who’s not in the group: Solid Ameri-can allies Japan, South Korea and Australia, although they, along with the U.S. may enter at a later date if the venture proves to be a success. Althou-gh Singapore is a close U.S. ally, its officials say entering now will give them a chance to make a positive impact on the way the bank plans to do business.

— SO whaT’S waShin-gTOn’S View?

The U.S. is concerned that the new bank will introduce laxer standards for lending when it comes to environmental and

Beijing, 20 other countries initiate new Asian bank

labor protection, transparency of the project bidding process, and human rights. Washing-ton worries that could under-cut existing institutions like the World Bank, the Interna-tional Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank that have sought to impose stan-dards to promote good gover-nance, fair labor practices and a clean environment.

Naturally, Washington is also concerned about any move by China to shift attention away from institutions that it and its allies dominate. The world’s first and second big-gest economies deeply distrust each other and are locked in a ceaseless competition for pre-eminence in Asia, where the U.S. is the dominant mili-

tary power but China’s massi-ve economy carries enormous heft.

— hOw much can iT lend?

China says it’s willing to pony up just about all of the USD50 billion to capitalize the bank, while other institu-tions and private lenders are expected to provide another $50 billion. That $100 billion is still relatively small compa-red with existing institutions. The World Bank’s capital is about $220 billion, while the Asian Development Bank has $175 billion capital.

However, China appears in-clined to streamline the len-ding process, meaning coun-tries may not have to wait as

long or jump through as many hoops to get their money. That could stimulate borrowing all-around if it ends up compe-ting with existing institutions for business.

— whaT’S in iT fOr china?

The bank is in large part Chi-na’s reaction to being cons-tantly relegated to second-class status at existing insti-tutions. China is also backing another alternative insti-tution, the New Develop-ment Bank, sponsored by the so-called BRICS countries that also include Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa.

The idea is that if the U.S. and other major powers won’t make room for China at the

Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, right, toasts with guests during the signing ceremony of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday

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table, then Beijing will make its own. China also hopes the bank will improve its glo-bal stature and end what it views as the West’s bullying and discrimination in the po-litical and economic spheres.

In addition, the bank is ex-pected to bring solid economic benefits to China, whose com-panies already benefit massi-vely from policy loans offered abroad by the country’s sta-te banks. They can expect to pick up port, railway and tele-communications contracts for projects tied to China’s oft-mentioned dream of restoring ancient Silk Road trade links to Europe. The bank could also absorb some of China’s $3.89 trillion in foreign currency re-serves. AP

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Chris Brummitt, Singapore

The longer the Ebo-la outbreak rages in West Africa, the grea-ter chance a traveler

infected with the virus tou-ches down in an Asian city.

How quickly any case is de-tected — and the measures taken once it is — will de-termine whether the virus takes hold in a region where billions live in poverty and pu-blic health systems are often very weak. Governments are ramping up response plans, stepping up surveillance at airports and considering qua-rantine measures. Still, heal-th experts in the region’s less developed countries fear any outbreak would be deadly and hard to contain.

“This is a non-treatable di-sease with a very high morta-lity rate. And even a country like the United States has not been able to completely pre-vent it,” said Yatin Mehta, a critical care specialist at the Medanta Medicity hospital near New Delhi. “The govern-ment is trying. They are pre-paring and they are training, but our record of disaster ma-nagement has been very poor in the past.”

More than 10,000 people have been infected with Ebola and nearly half of them have died, according to the Wor-ld Health Organization. The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is the largest ever outbreak of the disease with a rapidly ri-sing death toll in Guinea, Li-beria and Sierra Leone. There have also been cases in three other West African countries, Spain and the United States.

Early symptoms of Ebola in-clude fever, headache, body aches, cough, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, and patients aren’t contagious un-til those begin. The virus re-quires close contact with body fluids to spread so health care workers and family members caring for loved ones are most at risk.

Asia, home to 60 percent of the world’s population, sco-res higher than West Africa on most development indexes and includes emerging or de-veloped countries like Sin-gapore, Malaysia, South Ko-rea and Japan. But countries like India, China, the Phili-ppines and Indonesia have vast numbers of poor, many of whom live in crowded slums, and underfunded health sys-tems.

The Philippine government estimates there are up to 1,700 Filipino workers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, plus more than 100 peacekeeping troops in Liberia. The Depart-ment of Health is suggesting a 21-day quarantine period before its citizens leave those three countries, but doesn’t know how it will pay for that,

Health workers show the proper way to don an “Ebola suit” during a media tour of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine facility to show the government’s readiness in dealing with the still Ebola-free country at Alabang, Muntinlupa city, south of Manila, Philippines

Countries like India, China, the Philippines and Indonesia have vast numbers of poor who live in crowded slums and underfunded health systems

EBOLA

Poor health systems in Asia cause for alarm said spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy.

“The DOH is doing its part, but it is downstream, it is on the receiving end,” said Dr. Antony Leachon, president of the Philippine College of Phy-sicians. “What is important is that Ebola shouldn’t be able to enter. Since we have 10 million migrant workers, we have pro-blems containing that.”

Indonesia has put 100 hos-pitals that have experience of treating patients suffering from bird flu on standby for Ebola, said Tjandra Yoga Adi-tama, head of the Health Mi-nistry’s research and develop-ment board.

The only way of ensuring that the virus doesn’t spread into a country is enforced quarantine for people coming from countries with an ou-tbreak or — even more effec-tive — a total travel ban. But those measures would mean that doctors and other experts trying to beat the virus at its source in West Africa would be less willing or unable to help, making the outbreak worse.

Airports in Asia have stepped up their defenses: screening passengers who have travelled from affected countries, taking any with high temperature for observation and trying to keep

contact them with for 21 days — the incubation period. Even assuming these measures are carried out effectively, people can and do lie about their tra-vel history, and common dru-

gs like Paracetamol are effec-tive in reducing fever.

Authorities in China say 8,672 people have entered southern Guangdong province from Ebola-ridden areas since Aug. 23.

There are more than 160 di-rect flights per month from Africa to the region’s capital, Guangzhou, a reflection of

the booming economic ties between China and Africa. All arrivals are subject to medical observation, which, according to guidelines from the Heal-th Ministry, involves medical staff visiting or calling them morning and evening for 21 days to ask them about their temperature. People whose temperature is above normal should be immediately qua-rantined for three weeks.

In Hong Kong, around 15 passengers a day arrive from the affected region, chief port health officer Dr. Edwin Tsui Lok-kin said. Prior to the Ebo-la outbreak, Singapore had an average of about 30 peo-ple arriving a month collecti-vely from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the government says.

Dale Fisher, the head of the infectious diseases’ division at the Singapore National Uni-versity Hospital, said gover-nments in the region should be educating health workers about the disease and the need to ask anyone presenting with a fever at a medical facility about their travel history.

“Asia is very diverse in its capacity, and there are some countries with people that travel a lot that may not have the best infrastructure

and are at greater risk,” said Fisher, who has twice been to Liberia to assist in the WHO’s response. “If an index case arrived back in a large Asian city and they were to sit in an open ward vomiting, then you would have a pretty big job on your hands.”

He said that an outbreak could be brought under con-trol with quick isolation and effective tracing of anyone who might have been in con-tact with the patient, citing the example of Nigeria, African’s most populous country. It was declared Ebola free after confirming 19 cases, seven of them fatal.

Asian health systems and workers have experience in countering infectious disea-ses, including severe acu-te respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which first appeared in Hong Kong in 2003, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing about 800. The region grappled a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu around the same time that killed about 800 people in 12 countries, and new strains continue to crop up.

Sujatha Rao, a former In-dian health secretary, said India’s health system kicked into overdrive when confron-ted with a health crisis, as was seen during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. “In India we’re very good at crisis management, but we are hopeless at routine care,” Rao said.

Asked whether the country was prepared for Ebola, she added: “We are not ready. But that said, there is only so much preparation that any country can do.” AP

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Brad Brooks, Rio de Janeiro

Brazilian voters electing a new presi-dent yesterday were being asked to deci-

de what scares them least: the incumbent’s warnings about the “ghosts of the past,” or her challenger’s charges about the “monsters of the present.”

The latest polls either gave left-leaning incumbent Dilma Rousseff a slight edge or saw a dead heat for the runoff elec-tion to choose the leader of the world’s fifth-largest nation. For that reason, few are counting out center-right challenger Ae-cio Neves after a topsy-turvy campaign that has been the most competitive, divisive and dramatic since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985.

“The country is divided in two, with half feeling that so-cial inclusion and protections are what matter most, and the other half believing that ma-croeconomic stability is more important,” said Carlos Pereira, a political analyst at the Gertu-lio Vargas Foundation, Brazil’s

Brazil’s President and Workers Party candidate Dilma Rousseff gives a speech to supporters during a rally for her re-election campaign at Duque de Caxias, on the outskirts of Rio

BRAzIL

Election: ‘Ghosts’ versus ‘Monsters’

leading think tank. “The candi-date who convinces voters he or she is best prepared to combi-ne these two beliefs and make them complementary will win Sunday’s election.”

The race turned dramatic af-ter Eduardo Campos, a main opposition candidate, was kil-led when his campaign plane crashed in August. His running mate, renowned environmen-talist Marina Silva, was thrust

into his spot, and she immedia-tely jumped to a double-digit lead over Rousseff and Neves.

Silva initially tapped into the discontent over poor public services that millions of Brazi-lians expressed in anti-govern-ment protests last year, but her campaign never found its feet and voters drifted away within weeks. That opened the gap for Neves to stage his surprisingly strong showing in the Oct. 5 first-

round vote, coming in second and forcing Rousseff into a ru-noff when her first-place finish didn’t get an absolute majority.

The campaigns hit fever pitch in the three weeks since, with the Workers’ Party that’s been in power for 12 years and Ne-ves’ Social Democracy Party that last held the presidency in 1995-2003 battling it out with no shortage of verbal jabs and nasty allegations.

Rousseff attacked her rival with campaign ads asking Bra-zilians to remember the “ghosts of the past” when Neves’ party ruled, with much of the nation mired in poverty, unemploy-ment rife, and consumers cri-ppled by hyperinflation. The incumbent has emphasized the deep social gains made un-der the Workers’ Party, whose expansive social welfare pro-grams helped yank millions out of poverty and into the middle class and have kept unemploy-ment at historic lows.

Neves urged voters to look at “monsters of the present,” in-cluding an economic recession, inflation that’s floated above the government’s 6.5 percent target, and allegations that the Workers’ Party was involved in an apparent decade-long, billion-dollar kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petro-bras.

Voting stations in far western Brazil closed at 8 p.m. local time (4 a.m. Macau time), and with the nation’s all-electronic voting system, a final result was expected within a few hours. AP

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what’s ON ...

資訊／娛樂

theatre showing of the portuguese speaking countries (october 24-27)time: 3pm Venue: Auditorium of Macau Polytechnic Instituteenquiries: (853) 8791 3368

contemporary art exhibition of eusébio noVikoff de sales – macautime: 11am-5pmuntil: Noverber 15, 2014Venue: Official Residence of the Consul general of Portugal (former Bela Vista Hotel)enquiries: (853) 8791 3368

contemporary art exhibition of benjamim sabby – angolatime: 10am-7pm (Monday-Friday) 3pm-7pm (Saturday-Sunday)until: November 6, 2014Venue: Gallery of Rui Cunha Foundationenquiries: (853) 8791 3368

art exhibition of sebastião matsinhe – mozambiquetime: 11am-7pm (Monday-Saturday) 3pm-7pm (Sunday)date: November 6, 2014

parade of macau, zhejiang, china and portuguese-speaking countries artiststime: 4pm-5:30pmVenue: Ruins of St. Paul to S. Domingos Church Squareenquiries: (853) 8791 3368

beyond pixels, by Victor marreirostime: 12pm-8pmuntil: December 31, 2014Venue: Signum Living Store, Rua do Alm Sergio, 285, R/C enquiries: (853) 2896 8925

this day in history

The British intelligence service MI5 has been brou-ght into the hunt for the missing atomic scientist Bruno Pontecorvo who has not been seen for about seven weeks.

Professor Pontecorvo and his family arrived in Fin-land at the beginning of September but they have since disappeared. There is speculation the family may have gone to the Soviet Union.

The professor had recently left his post as a princi-pal scientific officer at Harwell atomic research sta-tion in Oxfordshire and was due to begin a new job at Liverpool University in January.

His disappearance comes just 10 months after ano-ther Harwell scientist, Klaus fuchs, confessed in Ja-nuary to spying for the Soviet Union.

The Minister of Supply, George Strauss, has told MPs the professor had had only limited access to “secret subjects” for some time. But he admitted it would have been possible for the professor to gather information, at Harwell or while he was in Canada, which could be of value to the enemy.

He said Professor Pontecorvo had been screened several times in the last few years by security offi-cers. Professor Pontecorvo was born in Italy, moved to France in 1936 and from there to the United States in 1940.

In 1943 he became a member of the joint Anglo-Canadian atomic energy team at Montreal. He was posted to Harwell in January 1947.

Information on Professor Pontecorvo’s disappea-rance has been passed to the United States. The professor’s sister, Anna Pontecorvo, who lives in Hampstead in north London, travelled with her bro-ther, his wife and three sons to France and Italy in July.

She said her brother had not mentioned any plans to go to Russia during the time she spent with them.

However, a passenger in the airliner which took the family from Stockholm to Helsinki said that during the flight the Pontecorvos’ five-year-old son Antonio had told him they were going to Russia.

There are direct flights from Helsinki to Leningrad and Moscow.

Courtesy BBC News

1950 hunt for missing atomic scientist

in context

Bruno Pontecorvo’s post as Professor of Experimental Phys-ics at the University of Liverpool was cancelled. Confirmation he had fled to Moscow came in March 1955 when he appeared at a news conference in Russia.He wrote an article in the Soviet newspapers Pravda and Is-vestia saying his family had been granted refuge in the Soviet Union, where he was working with the Institute of Physical Problems of the Soviet Academy of Science.He said he was involved in research into the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes and had left the West because in his view it was intent on “new war using atomic and nuclear weapons as a means for achieving world domination”.Documents released by the Public Records Office under the 50-year rule revealed an administrative blunder had led to Professor Pontecorvo being given security clearance to work at Harwell - even though a search of his home in 1943 had uncovered many documents on communism. He was awarded the Lenin prize for nuclear research in 1963. He died in 1993.

Offbeat

One candidate in Ukraine’s parliamen-tary elections hopes to bring voters to the dark side: Darth Alek-seyevich Vader. Dres-sed in full Star Wars regalia, Vader prowls the streets of Kiev atop his black campaign

van wooing voters with promises to turn Ukraine into a “ga-lactic empire.” So serious is he about his mission that he even legally changed his name to Darth Vader ahead of the elections (He was previously known as Viktor Shevchenko.)

The electrician-turned-interplanetary warlord insists his Internet Party is serious business. Speaking to The As-sociated Press on his van, flanked by Stormtroopers and shrouded in white fumes, Vader explained that his top goal is to computerize all government business.

“When I get to parliament, I will expel all the deputies. They have proven their uselessness,” he said. “Computers will work in their place and they will fulfil their functions without cease.”

Pollsters predict the party, which also includes a Stepan Chewbacca on its list, has little chance of getting into par-liament in Sunday’s vote. Still, the public greets Vader en-thusiastically when he drives around the capital atop his van — which he refers to as “my helicopter.”

Despite his pledge to enhance transparency, Vader decli-nes to ever show his own face. That got him banned from voting in May presidential elections by punctilious electoral commission workers who said he was violating voting rules.

Vader is not shying away from the thornier issues.To the ominous backdrop of the Imperial March theme

from Star Wars, he thundered from the top of his van that he would win the war against separatist rebels in the east — even as he withdrew government troops. And he vowed to reclaim the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in March.

How will he achieve these feats?“A military space station will be built,” he said, “that will

protect the whole territory of Ukraine.”

darth vader hopes force with him in ukraine polls

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cinemacineteatro23 oct - 29 oct

fuRy_room 12.00 4.30, 7.00, 9.30 pmDirector: David AyerStarring: brad Pitt, Shia labeouf, logan lermanlanguage: English (chinese)Duration: 134min

AlExANDER AND THE TERRIblE, HORRIblE, NO gOOD, vERy bAD DAy_room 22.30 4.00, 5.45, 9.30 pmDirector: Miguel ArtetaStarring: Steve carell, Jennifer garnerlanguage: English (chinese)Duration: 81min

lET’S bE cOPS_room 27.30 pmDirector: Luke GreenfieldStarring: Jake Johnson, Damon wayans Jr., Rob Rigglelanguage: English (chinese)Duration: 104min

THE gIvER_room 32.15 4.00, 5.45, 9.30 pmDirector: Phillip NoyceStarring: brenton Thwaites, Jeff bridges, Meryl Streeplanguage: English (chinese)Duration: 97min

wHIPlASH_room 37.30 pmDirector: Damien chazelleStarring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa benoistlanguage: English (chinese)Duration: 106min

macau tower23 oct - 05 nov

fuRy_2.30, 4.30, 7.30, 9.30 pmDirector: David AyerStarring: brad Pitt, Shia labeouf, logan lermanlanguage: English (chinese)Duration: 134min

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INFOTAINMENT資訊／娛樂

THE BoRn LoSER by Chip SansomYoUR STARS

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.comAcROSS: 1- Prophets; 6- Red as ___; 11- Skater Babilonia; 14- When prompted;

15- Numbers game; 16- Baseball’s Mel; 17- A Judd; 18- Academy award; 19- Paid player; 20- Bluish white metallic element; 22- Marsh of mystery; 24- Ensemble; 28- Division of a poem; 30- 1998 Masters winner Mark; 31- ___ lift?; 32- Animal trap; 33- Body of followers; 37- Russert of “Meet the Press”; 38- Last; 39- Vegas roller; 40- Bigfoot; 43- Luster; 45- Useful; 46- French wine region; 47- Sandy; 49- Tiny plant part; 50- To talk, usually in a pompous manner; 51- Fifth Avenue store; 52- It may be picked; 53- Kidney enzyme; 56- Aspirations; 61- Manipulate; 62- Diciembre follower; 63- Lucy’s landlady; 64- Avg.; 65- Group of 12; 66- Lace mat;

DOwN: 1- Junior; 2- Bambi’s aunt; 3- green prefix; 4- grog ingredient; 5- An instance of seizing; 6- Isolated; 7- Winter pear; 8- List ender; 9- Greek vowel; 10- Violent whirlwind; 11- Mineral used as a gem; 12- Skylit lobbies; 13- Langston Hughes poem; 21- ___ little teapot...; 23- Chew on; 24- Prices paid; 25- ___ vincit amor; 26- Joins; 27- Paving material; 28- Psalms interjection; 29- Narrate; 31- Time being; 33- Appropriately; 34- Perfect, something to aspire to; 35- Bridget Fonda, to Jane; 36- “The Maids” playwright; 38- ___ accompli; 41- Throw in the towel; 42- Spoke; 43- Drunk; 44- DDE’s predecessor; 46- Fine; 47- Grain to be ground; 48- Like most movies; 49- Babbled; 50- Blame; 51- Male parent; 54- Brian of Roxy Music; 55- Pince-___; 57- Siouan speaker; 58- ___ Beta Kappa; 59- Moray; 60- Wily;

Friday’s solution

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Mar. 21-Apr. 19Your deep subconscious mind is hyperactive today, which could make life a little weird — but you should soon get used to it! All this freaky business is in the service of the greater good.

April 20-May 20You feel everything more intensely today — so try to avoid the dentist! It’s also a good idea to keep yourself out of emotionally troubling situations — unless they are important roadblocks that have to be cleared.

TaurusAries

May 21-Jun. 21Help someone out today — you both end up feeling better, and the karmic boost you receive is sure to help you in a big way as today’s strange events start to unfold. Service is king!

Jun. 22-Jul. 22You are feeling pretty wishy-washy right now — but there’s nothing wrong with that! If someone is pushing you to make a decision, you know for sure that they’re not looking out for you.

CancerGemini

Jul. 23-Aug. 22You need to look at things in a new way — go deep and see if you can figure out what’s really going on. You may find that your energy is better spent on something entirely new and different!

Aug. 23-Sept. 22Your curiosity may get the better of you today, but that’s a good thing! Let your mind wander and follow up any stray leads, as you should find that things are getting even better as the day progresses.

Leo Virgo

Sep.23-Oct. 22Take care of business matters today — even if you’d rather be reading, sleeping or taking off for the Caribbean. Once practical issues are behind you, it’s time for serious fun.

Oct. 23 - Nov. 21You are the center of some really intense energy today — which is almost entirely positive! Make the most of it and try to spread it around some before it begins to dissipate.

Libra Scorpio

Nov. 22-Dec. 21You are in a weird, dreamlike state for much of today — though you may feel totally alert! Watch out for things that look a little off, as they are almost certainly signals from your subconscious mind.

Dec. 22-Jan. 19You and your friends are in a good place together right now — so make sure they know how you feel! You don’t have to get all mushy, but a quick note or a surprise present wouldn’t hurt.

Sagittarius Capricorn

Feb.19-Mar. 20You are more welcoming than ever before — opening yourself to almost any new person or experience. That can leave you feeling pretty exhausted, but it’s the right kind of tired, so embrace it!

Jan. 20-Feb. 18You need to deal with your job angst today — if you can’t quit, then look for three new leads. If you’re not employed, then dig up one old contact to use as a reference. Small steps get you there!

Aquarius Pisces

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SPORTS體育

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Joseph Wilson, Barcelona

Real Madrid’s commanding 3-1 win over Barcelona at the Santiago Ber-

nabeu on Saturday leaves the two Spanish giants poised to dispute the title that escaped them last season.

Barcelona arrived in the ca-pital unbeaten and aiming for a win that would have increa-sed its lead over Madrid to se-ven points.

Instead, Madrid’s comeback dealt Barcelona its first lea-gue loss of the season and clo-sed the gap to just one point through nine rounds.

The title race could barely be tighter at this early stage. The mood, however, in the rivals’ home cities was entirely diffe-rent on Sunday morning.

Madrid-based sport daily Marca splashed the headli-ne “They Ate Them Alive!” and fellow Madrid-friendly AS declared “That’s The Way Madrid Wins,” playing on a common anti-Madrid chant at rival stadiums.

Meanwhile, SPORT sum-med up the sentiment in Bar-celona with “A Disappointing Leader” after Barcelona faded fast following Neymar’s four-th-minute opener from a pass by newcomer Luis Suarez.

SeBaSTien Ogier of France clin-ched his second consecutive rally

world title after winning the Rally of Spain yesterday.

Ogier held off Volkswagen Polo teammate and title rival Jari-Matti La-tvala through the event’s final day to successfully defend his title with one race to go.

“It’s a great achievement to win one title but even better to take a second,” said Ogier. “It’s a confirmation and proves the first title was not a one-off.”

Ogier stayed 11.3 seconds ahead of Latvala, who needed to overtake him to keep the title in doubt until the sea-son-ending Wales Rally.

The 30-year-old Ogier became the ei-ghth rider to win multiple titles. AP

France’s Sebastien ogier and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia steer their Volkswagen Polo during the Rally of Catalonia in Barcelona

Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema (R) Iin action against goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (L) of FC Barcelona

MOTORSPORTS

Ogier successfully defends rally world title

Madrid win sets up season-long fight with Barca

Lionel Messi could only ma-nage one good scoring chance that Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas did well to turn away, and Barcelona’s defense went from shaky to shambles in the second half.

But Barcelona can take heart from Suarez’s surpri-singly strong return after a four-month ban from com-petitive matches for biting an Italian opponent at the World Cup.

Although still not fit for a full match, in his 69 minutes the Uruguay forward offered the most constant threat Bar-celona could muster, setting up Neymar’s opener and al-most getting a second assist for Messi that would have made it 2-0.

His sturdier frame— com-pared to Messi and Neymar— was clear by the way he held his own against Madrid’s physical defenders, and he

showed no signs of rust from his long layoff.

“The result doesn’t sink us,” said Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez. “We believe in what we are doing.” Coach Luis Enrique, however, faced questions over why his team failed to compete in the se-cond half, and the first-year manager will surely be scruti-nized for his decision to take Xavi off with his team down 2-1 and not to start speedy back Jordi Alba.

Madrid lost its two league “clasicos” last season, but overall it has turned the tide against Barcelona since the departure of former coach Pep Guardiola in 2012.

Under Guardiola, Barcelona dominated Madrid with a re-cord of nine wins, four draws and 2 losses. Since then, Ma-drid has won five, drawn two and lost three. AP

Flower arrangements exhibited during the two-day opening of the Government Headquarters

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Van slips off mountain road in nepal, killing 8

A passenger van has slipped off a mountain road in eastern Nepal, killing eight people and injuring 13. Police say the van slipped off a narrow gravel road yesterday and rol-led 200 meters near Sidhicharan town, about 400 kilometers east of Katmandu, Nepal’s capital.

The 13 injured are being treated at a hospi-

tal. Accidents are common in mostly moun-tainous Nepal during the festival season that ended this weekend. Many of the accidents are blamed on poor maintenance of roads and vehicles. Fourteen people were killed Friday when an overcrowded bus loaded with 100 people veered off a mountain highway near Katmandu.

50-70Moderate

Frances D’Emilio, Rome

A Roman villa’s wine ce-llar, which was conver-

ted into an air raid shelter for Benito Mussolini and the Italian dictator’s family, is opening its anti-gas, dou-ble steel doors to tourists.

The shelter was quickly constructed in 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, in what had once been the wine cellar of a noble fa-mily who lived there before Mussolini took up residence during his Fascist rule.

Visitors at a preview Satur-day saw the iron-rung ladder used for emergency exits and a rusting contraption to pu-rify air in case of a gas atta-ck. A label on the apparatus was dated November 1940 in Roman numerals, in kee-ping with Mussolini’s style of evoking the ancient Roman empire’s glory days as inspi-ration for his own rule.

The tours, which will run on weekends starting Oct. 31, will also take visitors to

Mussolini air raid shelter opens to tourists

see a separate underground bunker that was later built for Mussolini directly under the villa.

Mussolini had the bunker made by encapsulating the 19th-century villa’s un-derground kitchen area in reinforced concrete. Before

that, the Mussolini family would have had to dash across the villa’s sprawling lawn and gardens to reach the wine-cellar shelter in a separate structure if air raid sirens sounded.

Work began in 1942 to expand and fortify the bunker. Archaeologist Giu-

50-70Moderate

50-70Moderate

opinion

the law of the jungle A recent feature published by The New York Ti-

mes (“Historic Loss May Follow Rise of Rents in Barcelona,” by Raphael Minder, Oct 19) describes what’s happening in the capital of Catalonia, one of my favorite cities. It’s a story that resembles that of innumerable cities worldwide, including Macau.

Barcelona is a city with a special charm, where immaculate historical districts coexist with moder-nist architecture (some of the world’s best archi-tecture schools are there). On one of my visits I was lucky enough to tour the city with a local, who took me to some of the Barcelonians’ favorite shops. We shopped in the Boqueria food market, located on Las Ramblas. We ate churros and hot chocolate at lively cafés, and partied in the pic-turesque Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter), drinking beer in a bar frequented by Manu Chao, who lives nearby. Although my hopes that the great Lati-no musician would appear singing “Clandestino” were dashed, we had a great time.

But upcoming changes are threatening this “way of life.” Like Portugal, Spain is scrapping rent control legislation that kept small businesses like family-run shops thriving for decades. The NYT reports on the consequences: “It is not that the establishments did not know the changes were coming — they had 20 years’ warning. But slowly, now suddenly, that time has arrived, provoking 11th-hour resistance as small shops are pushed from historic districts by an inundation of interna-tional brands, which are virtually the only ones that can afford the staggering spike in rents. The rapid turnover has spurred soul-searching and debate about just how far the city should go to protect its distinctive character in the face of the homogenization that accompanies the arrival of multinational chain stores.”

The local association of traditional stores esti-mates that over 100 shops in Barcelona will close their doors this year, in many cases to be replaced by multinational chains that look the same (and sell the same) all over the world.

The report illustrates the challenges faced by Barcelona’s traditional retailers with the case of “Palacio del Juguete” (the Toy Palace), owned by Xavier Banchs’ family since 1936. Mr Banchs is relocating, firing some staff, and handing over the shop to Geox, which pays rent of about 35,000 euros a month (MOP354,000). The Toy Palace owner used to pay 1,000 euros a month. “This has been a long countdown, so I’ve had time to get over the sorrow of moving out and getting rid of my staff,” Mr Banchs said.

Others don’t accept the changes so peacefully. The removal of traditional stores from the Gothic Quarter, is seen by Josep Maria Roig, the owner of “La Colmena” (a pastry shop founded in 1872) as “a criminal loss of patrimony in a city that is getting drowned by big money and international brands and is losing all sense of history, order and proper urban planning.”

In Macau we witness the closing of traditional stores that have been visited by generations of locals. Almost nobody seems to care, but when places like the old Cantonese restaurant “Long Kei” close, the city loses part of its soul. Eating at Senado Square’s “Long Kei” (closed in 2011) was priceless because the place had character. We entered and it almost seemed that we were traveling back to 1945, when it was founded.

Like in Barcelona, we should discuss the state of traditional stores in Macau and assess whe-ther authorities are doing enough to protect them from speculation. If nothing is done, the few old and significant family shops that remain will close down and be replaced by multinationals. If so, the city will be a step closer to the loss of its identity.

Instead of leaving market forces to their own de-vices, as the government intends, rules should be introduced to protect the city’s commercial herita-ge and the locals’ livelihood. Legislation to control the rental increase (both for shops and residential buildings; establishing a ceiling on the rate of in-crease some percentage points above inflation) must be introduced. Otherwise we are heading towards Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The Law of the Jungle”: “Now this is the Law of the Jungle/as old and as true as the sky;/And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,/but the Wolf that shall break it must die.”

insight Paulo Barbosa

IRAN hanged a woman on Saturday who was convicted of murdering a man she alleged was trying to rape her, drawing swift international condemnation for a prosecution several countries described as flawed. Reyhaneh Jabbari was hanged at dawn for premeditated murder, the official IRNA news agency reported. The UN as well as Amnesty International and other human rights groups had called on Iran’s judiciary to halt the execution, which was carried out after the country’s Supreme Court upheld the verdict. The victim’s family could have saved Jabbari’s life by accepting blood money but they refused to do so.

bOTSwANA’s ruling party has won re-election despite a vigorous challenge from the opposition, extending its decades-old hold on the southern African nation, an election official said yesterday.

uKRAINE Voters in Ukraine headed to the polls yesterday to elect a new parliament, overhauling a legislature tainted by its association with ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. The election is set to usher in a contingent of largely pro-Western lawmakers. President Petro Poroshenko’s party has campaigned on an ambitious reform agenda and is expected to get the largest share of the vote, but there is a strong likelihood it will need to rule in a coalition.

uSA The nurse who has been quarantined at a New Jersey hospital because she had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa is criticizing the way her case has been handled, raising concerns from humanitarian and human rights groups over unclear policies for the newly launched program.

uSA A newly hired teacher who confronted a gunman is being hailed as a hero after a deadly shooting rampage in the cafeteria of a Washington state high school. First-year social studies teacher Megan Silberberger intervened in the attack on Friday at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, teachers union president Randy Davis says. The attacker killed one female student on Friday and seriously wounded four others — including two of his cousins — before he died of what police said was a self-inflicted wound.

The dictator had the bunker made by encapsulating the 19thcentury villa’s underground kitchen area in reinforced concrete

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seppe Granata said Musso-lini had lamented in writing that the updated bunker was running behind sche-dule and over cost. It is not known if the dictator ever used the bunker. By the time Allied bombings hit Rome, the dictator had been depo-

sed and, under Nazi protec-tion, was leading a puppet state in northern Italy. In 1945, partisans captured and executed him.

Today, Villa Torlonia is a pine-and-palm-studded park where Romans jog, stroll, play soccer or dine at an outdoor restaurant. AP

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A view of Benito Mussolini’s residence Villa Torlonia, in Rome

The entrance of Benito Mussolini’s concrete-reinforced air raid bunker, created to substitute on older shelter in old wine cellars, is seen in Villa Torlonia