Briefs | Scooter driver crushed to death by shuttle bus

A motorcyclist has been crushed to death after being run over by a casino shuttle bus yesterday morning. The incident occured at a roundabout near the Rotunda da Amizade. The victim, a 40-year-old Hong Kong identity card holder, allegedly fell from his motorbike after a slight collision with a scooter traveling in front of him. The shuttle bus, loaded with passengers and with a dual license plate, came from behind and crashed into him. The 50-year-old bus driver has passed the breathalyzer test. The fatal incident, which happened at around 9.30 a.m., caused extensive traffic congestion in the area.

Meal and learning material subsidies up

Subsidies for both meal and learning materials granted to students studying at local secondary schools, elementary schools and kindergartens have increased for their upcoming semester. Students studying at the abovementioned levels will enjoy a meal subsidy of up to MOP3,200, a MOP200 increase from this term. In addition, the learning material subsidy for secondary students will go up from the current MOP2,500 to MOP2,700, while the amount for kindergarten and primary school students will see an increase of MOP100 from their current MOP2,000. The authorities also relaxed application requirements for eligible families, with a 6.4-percent adjustment to the upper limit of the families’ average incomes.

Woman loses thousands in phone scam

A local woman approached the Judiciary Police last Saturday after being swindled out of a total of HKD130,000 and RMB80,000 from her bank account last month. She received a call allegedly from a post office in the mainland, during which the victim was told that she had faked documents using another’s identity, and was subsequently offered a contact number of the public security department in Shanghai. She then dialed the number in the hope of getting rid of any trouble. However, the man who answered the call asked her to give him her bank account information and the account’s password in Macau, claiming that these actions were necessary in order to investigate the incident, and telling her not to check the balance on the account. The victim, who finally became suspicious of these events this month, called police after seeing that HKD130,000 and RMB80,000 was missing from her account.

Minimum wage effective in May

The government has granted a salary enhancement to the outsourced cleaning personnel and security guards who work for public departments. This increase will come into effect next month, according to an announcement published in the Official Gazette. The Executive Council spokesperson Leong Heng Teng, announced earlier that the MSAR will extend the minimum wage scheme for the two types of labors to the private sector, eight years after it was introduced into the public departments. However, such a proposal has ignited strong opposition from some private companies, which reportedly hope to adjust management fees in response to the rise in cost.