Jun302017

Xi calls on HK youths to serve HK, country

East Asia

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called on Hong Kong youths to choose the right path and serve Hong Kong and the country, a day before the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China.

Xi made the remarks when visiting the Junior Police Call (JPC) Permanent Activity Center and Integrated Youth Training Camp, where he talked with JPC members and asked about their life, study and training.

Youths are the future and the hope of the country, he told JPC members.

“There would be no promising future for the country without the healthy growth of the youths,” Xi said.

“Every generation of youths has its own historic missions and opportunities. Contemporary youths of Hong Kong shall seize the historic opportunities, and choose the right path forward to serve Hong Kong and the country,” he said.

The president also praised Hong Kong’s over 30,000 police officers, saying they had played a key role in safeguarding the rule of law and maintaining Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity over the past 20 years.

Noting that the Hong Kong police attaches great importance to law-related education among the youth, Xi said it is a far-sighted move.

Affiliated to the Hong Kong Police Force, the JPC is a major youth organization in Hong Kong with a membership of more than 180,000. Xi called on the JPC to make further efforts to cultivate a new generation of youths in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) who love both the country and Hong Kong.

HKSAR Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying accompanied Xi during the visit.

Also on Friday, Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan visited an elderly center in the company of Leung’s wife Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee.

At the TWGHs Jockey Club Sunshine Complex For the Elderly, Peng asked the senior residents about their life, daily routine and rehabilitation treatment. She also joined them in making handicrafts and expressed her wishes for their happy life.

Jun302017

£3.7 million to improve community facilities in deprived areas of Wales

Welsh Government

Thirteen projects will share the funding during 2017/18 from the Welsh Government’s Community Facilities programme. 

The programme provides capital grants of up to £500,000, to develop and improve facilities for communities, aimed at tackling poverty and its effects. 

The 13 projects to receive funding all provide access to services and activities which increase opportunity and help prevent or alleviate poverty, such as sporting facilities, hostel accommodation for homeless young people and library facilities. Seven of the projects are in Communities First areas.

Announcing the funding on a visit to the ASK Centre in Rhyl a previous beneficiary of the scheme, Cabinet Secretary Carl Sargeant said: 

“This funding is not simply about improving buildings. In applying for these grants community organisations have had to demonstrate how the facilities they offer provide vital community services which help prevent or tackle poverty. For example, activities for Communities First or Families First; operating a food bank, hosting advice services or saving a service which would otherwise be lost to the community such as a shop or library.

“Previous funding under this scheme has had a beneficial impact upon Welsh communities and the day to day lives of local people. While this is the last round of awards under the current funding arrangements a revised scheme will reopen this summer.”

Jun302017

News story: No new inquest into military deaths

HM Government

After careful consideration, the Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC MP has decided not to provide his authority for an application to be made to the High Court for new inquests covering the deaths of four Royal Military Policemen.

The families of the four men – Corporals Simon Miller and Russell Aston, and Lance Corporals Benjamin Hyde and Thomas Keys – submitted applications under the Coroners Act 1988 to request a new inquest into the deaths of their sons on the grounds of new evidence.

The men were killed during an incident at a police station in Majar Al Kabir, Iraq, on 24 June 2003. Two other military personnel were also killed.

An application for a fresh inquest may be made only with the authority of the Attorney General. The Attorney can provide his authority only if he is satisfied there is sufficient admissible evidence that there is a reasonable prospect of the Court being persuaded to order a new inquest.

The Attorney concluded that none of the grounds of challenge set out in the applications had a reasonable prospect of success. Therefore he would not be able to provide his authority for the applications to be made to the High Court.

The Attorney General said:

“I offer my deepest sympathy to the families for their loss – and my gratitude for the sacrifices that their sons made for this country.”

“I have given this matter considerable thought but, as disappointing as it will be for the families involved, it would not be right to pass this matter to the High Court when the tests for a new Inquest are not met.”

The original inquests were held by the Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Gardiner in March 2006. The inquests concluded with the verdicts of unlawful killing in respect of each of the six deaths, on 31 March 2006.