Tag: Macau

Four New Zealand Lawmakers Banned From China After Taiwan Trip

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Four lawmakers from New Zealand have been barred from traveling to China for a year following a visit to Taiwan last month, government officials said on Thursday, the first time such a restriction has ever been imposed. The lawmakers, Maureen Pugh, Duncan Webb, Laura McClure and David Wilson, visited Taipei for five days in May as part of a cross-party group that was established in 2023 to maintain relations between Taiwan and New Zealand, the local media reported. The travel ban, which emerged on Thursday, was met with shock in…

Macau’s Grand Emperor hotel rips up lobby floor to sell off gold bricks

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The Grand Emperor hotel in Macau has ripped up and sold the gold bricks lining its lobby floor, earning nearly $13m (£9.6m) amid a rise in the metal’s value due to turbulent geopolitical conditions. The hotel, which opened in 2006, is known for its opulent decor including a “golden pathway” featuring dozens of gold bars in its entranceway. But the resort’s Hong Kong-based parent company, Emperor Entertainment Hotel Ltd, announced in a Wednesday filing that while the gold bullion had created a “sumptuous and resplendent atmosphere” in the hotel, “in…

Ballad of a Small Player review – Colin Farrell seeks redemption in Edward Berger’s high-stakes gambling yarn

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The vast emptiness of luxury hotels is part of the mystery and spectacle of Edward Berger’s intriguing if static and overwrought psychological drama-thriller; it is about a desperate chancer and gambling addict, faced with the metaphysical crisis of renewing or annulling his existence by staking everything on a single bet. Screenwriter Rowan Joffe adapts the 2014 novel by Lawrence Osborne, whose title is ironic. He would not have these problems if he really was a small player. He is a big player and a big loser, although his smallness comes…

Weakened Super Typhoon Ragasa heads towards Vietnam after battering China and Hong Kong

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Huge clear-up operations were under way in southern China and Hong Kong on Thursday, after Super Typhoon Ragasa battered the region, causing widespread flooding and damaged roads. Ragasa, the most powerful tropical cyclone so far this year, left a trail of damage across Hong Kong, which resumed international flights on Thursday but kept kindergartens and some schools closed. In the economic hub of Guangdong province in mainland China, where more than 2 million people were evacuated ahead of the super typhoon, crews used excavators to clear thousands of toppled trees…

Chinese flock to Hong Kong to get private Covid booster shots

Chin@Strategy

Private services offering Chinese travellers access to mRNA vaccines are attracting droves of mainlanders to Hong Kong and Macau seeking a booster shot that their government has refused to approve. As part of its dismantling of the country’s zero-Covid policy last month, China’s government also lifted quarantine and other border restrictions. It prompted a wave of interest in overseas travel, particularly for the upcoming lunar new year holiday later this month. However, there also appears to be a large contingent chasing the mRNA bivalent vaccines. Throughout the pandemic the Chinese…

Macau shuts all casinos in bid to contain worsening Covid outbreak

Chin@Strategy

Macau has shut all its casinos for the first time in more than two years as authorities struggle to contain the worst coronavirus outbreak yet in the world’s biggest gambling hub. The city’s 30-plus casinos, along with other non-essential businesses, will shut for one week from Monday and people have been ordered to stay at home. Police would monitor flows of people outside, the government said, and stringent punishments would be imposed for those who disobeyed. Hospitals, pharmacies, supermarkets and fresh food markets are some of the essential services that…