May312017
May312017
Selling Wales to the world during the Champions League Final
With around 170,000 additional visitors expected in Cardiff and an estimated global TV audience of 200 million across 200 countries and territories, few events can match the Champions League Final for size and scope. With Juventus and Real Madrid taking part in the men’s UEFA Champions League Final and Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain competing in the Women’s Champions League Final, Cardiff is expected to be incredibly busy and alive with not only Spanish and Italian and French voices, but with people and languages from every corner of the globe, including an estimated 2,500 members of the media.
The work of marketing Wales as host nation has been ongoing since the start of 2017. A competition was part of the Visit Wales stand at ITB Berlin, the world’s largest travel market, with a prize to win a week-long holiday in Wales and two tickets for the men’s and women’s champions league final, there were over 16,000 entries. The Champions League Final Trophies also made an appearance at the stand and proved very popular.
Following the launch of the Iberia Madrid to Cardiff flight, familiarisation visits were hosted for journalists and tour operators from Madrid to experience what Cardiff had to offer – should their team make the final. Spanish Tour Operators and Iberia Airways are now promoting The Champions League and city breaks to Cardiff through their own channels. Spanish tour operator, Politours are specifically using the Champions League as a way of clients recognising Wales as a city break and holiday destination.
New videos have also been produced including restaurateurs promoting Cardiff filmed and distributed in Italian – You Tube (external link), Spanish – You Tube (external link) and English – You Tube (external link) . A new video of young Welsh boy dreaming of playing in Champions League final (external link) has been distributed through social media channels.
International pages have been set up on visitwales.com (external link) in French, Spanish and Catalan, which has further promotion of the Champions League Final and Wales as a holiday destination. A digital destination marketing campaign is also running in Spain and France to promote Wales.
In order to inform those travelling fans, a Cardiff Mini Guide has produced in Spanish, Italian and French and distributed through Visit Wales and VisitBritain channels. Welcome messages from Wales will be placed in Cardiff Airport, Cardiff Central Train Station and Cathedral Road and well as gateway branding in London Paddington and Schiphol Airport Amsterdam. Visit Wales will also have a stand in the Champions Festival Village showcasing what the country has to offer – and should the excitement of the matches not be enough – there will be a 360 virtual reality Zip wire and white water rafting experience.
Economy Secretary, Ken Skates, said:
“The UEFA Champions League Final is a fantastic opportunity for people across the world to see what Wales can deliver, whilst providing hundreds of thousands the opportunity to sample our excellent tourism, produce and business offering. I’m delighted that we’re able to welcome legendary footballers from around the world to Wales during our Year of Legends.
“For the first time in eight years, the numbers of overseas visitors to Wales crossed the 1 million mark in 2016 – and we saw record breaking spend figures from our overseas markets. Hosting this event will give Wales further opportunities to raise awareness of Wales has a holiday destination in key overseas markets.
“For many fans, this will be their first visit to Wales, we hope they have a fantastic time in Wales – enjoy the welcome and the atmosphere and will come back to visit again soon. We will continue to make the most of having the opportunity to host such legendary event long after the final whistle sounds.”
May312017
Sturgeon urged to abandon damaging plan for separate Scottish Brexit deal
31 May 2017
The Scottish Conservatives have called on Nicola Sturgeon to abandon her damaging plan for a separate Scottish Brexit deal.
Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Conservatives finance spokesman, said SNP proposals to keep Scotland in the Single Market when the UK leaves the EU would create costly barriers to trade within the UK.
He spoke out after the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank published a damning analysis of the SNP’s election manifesto.
In it, the IFS concluded the cost of creating barriers to trade within the UK could outweigh any advantages of Single Market membership.
Scotland’s trade with the rest of the UK is worth four times as much as our exports to the EU.
Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser said:
“The Scottish and UK governments spent weeks discussing Nicola Sturgeon’s proposals for a separate Scottish Brexit deal.
“The Nationalists failed to produce evidence that it was either desirable or workable – and they pre-empted the conclusion of the discussions by demanding a second independence referendum.
“Since then they have produced no fresh evidence to support their plan yet they are now threatening to put it back on the table after the election.
“As the IFS report shows, their proposals could prove very costly for Scottish businesses and that would be hugely damaging for the economy and jobs.
“The SNP need to work with Theresa May to secure a Brexit deal that works for Scotland and the whole of the UK.
“The United Kingdom should present a united front in Brexit talks.
“Nicola Sturgeon’s demands are just about picking a fight with Westminster and can only undermine efforts to get the right Brexit deal for Scotland.”
The IFS analysis is here: https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/9273
The SNP manifesto (p30) says: “If the SNP wins the election, it will give us a mandate to demand a place for Scotland at the Brexit negotiating table and the inclusion of the case for our place in the Single Market in the UK’s negotiating remit.”
In March, Brexit Secretary David Davis warned the Scottish Government’s proposals would create barriers to trade and cause “significant disruption” to the UK internal market. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-39744871
The Scottish Government’s own figures show trade with rest of the UK is worth four times as much to Scotland as exports to the EU. Statics here: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/Exports/ESSPublication
May312017
Former China Telecom chairman sentenced to 6 years for graft
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| Chang Xiaobing, former chairman of China Telecom, stands trial for accepting bribes on April 18. [Photo/CCTV] |
![Chang Xiaobing, former chairman of China Telecom, stands trial for accepting bribes on April 18. [Photo/CCTV]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/png/site1007/20170531/b8aeed9904561a98e1860e.png "Chang Xiaobing, former chairman of China Telecom, stands trial for accepting bribes on April 18. [Photo/CCTV]")
Chang Xiaobing, former chairman of China Telecom, was sentenced to six years in prison for graft Wednesday.
The sentence was handed down by the Intermediate People’s Court of Baoding city in northern China’s Hebei Province.
The court also fined Chang 500,000 yuan (around US$72,850) and ordered his illicit gains to be confiscated.
Chang confessed to his crimes in court.
It found Chang guilty of taking advantage of his positions as a telecom official and chairman of China Unicom to seek benefits for various institutions between 1998 and 2014.
In return, he accepted money and valuables worth more than 3.76 million yuan.
China Unicom and China Telecom are two of China’s top three telecom service providers.
The court decided to be lenient as Chang pleaded guilty, expressed remorse, returned his illegal gains and offered information on other crimes.
May312017
China completes satellite station network
A network of remote sensing satellite ground stations that cover all of China’s territory and 70 percent of Asia passed its final acceptance examination on Wednesday.
The network is headquartered in Beijing and features three ground stations in a suburb in Beijing, Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Sanya in Hainan Province, respectively.
It will be used to support various remote-sensing systems, especially for the western part of the country and the South China Sea, according to the examination committee.
The project began in 2007.