For Dr Mizeck Chagunda a mobile phone means more than just access to social media.
Apr32017
SRUC dairy researcher in Dumfries uses mobile phone to monitor cows in Naorobi
Apr32017
Aldi’s new Welsh regional Distribution Centre opens having created 422 new jobs – with a further 400 jobs in the pipeline across South Wales
The news was warmly welcomed by Economy Secretary Ken Skates when he launched the company’s new 40,000 sq. mt. distribution centre and regional offices on the Capital Business Park in Wentloog.
This major development, which will serve as a hub for Aldi’s growing portfolio of stores across South Wales and the South West of England, was supported with £4.5m business finance from the Welsh Government.
Speaking at the opening Ken Skates said the Welsh Government is continuing to support Aldi’s expansion plans across South Wales targeting Cardiff, Swansea and west Wales which will create a significant number of additional jobs and career opportunities over the next four years.
Ken Skates described the retail sector as one of the most important sectors for Wales, both in numbers of businesses and the number of people working in the sector and the range of job opportunities they provided.
He said:
“Retail is one of those sectors where both youth and experience are equally valued and each can find its place in either sustaining or driving the business forward.
“Supermarkets, along with their various operational support structures, provide different opportunities – from that first Saturday job for young people to fully fledged careers for those seeking supervisory and management roles.
“For many young people it is almost a rite of passage into the world of work and in many cases entire families can be employed by the same business.
“I also know that Aldi offers career paths for graduates and given its wider global reach, the opportunity to gain vital international experience of working in some of the world’s largest market places which is very welcome.”
He said the opening of the centre was a mark of confidence in the Welsh economy that has already created hundreds of jobs as well as opportunities for Welsh food producers.
Dan Oakenfull, Managing Director of the Cardiff Regional Distribution Centre, said:
“South Wales and the South West of England continue to be areas of significant growth for us, and the new distribution centre will help support our immediate and future expansion across the regions.
“The centre has created over 420 jobs for people living in Cardiff and the surrounding areas.”
The Welsh Government has run a number of Meet the Buyer events with Aldi and will continue to discuss further opportunities for Welsh suppliers. Last month Aldi announced it has introduced five new Welsh lamb products to its stores in North Wales. It follows a similar initiative in South Wales last year and means that all of Aldi’s 38 stores in Wales will now stock an extensive range of fresh Welsh lamb products all year round.
Welsh Government support ensured the new centre was based in Wales as alternative sites in England were under consideration.
Funding was towards the abnormal land development costs of more than £5m to get the site ready for construction. Unforeseen ground conditions and hydrological and ecological restraint meant the construction of the new centre would not have been viable without funding support.
Apr32017
Press release: Making sense of big data to improve the nation’s defence, security and prosperity
Dstl challenges data scientists to solve real world challenges in first public competition
Apr32017
Pollution check steps up as smog covers areas N. China
China’s environmental inspectors intensified pollution checks around Beijing as a new round of smog hit the region.
The new round of air pollution will continue in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region between April 3 and 7, with the cities of Tianjin, Tangshan, Langfang, Puyang and Anyang issuing orange alerts, the second highest in the country’s four-tier warning system.
To ensure policies on fighting air pollution, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on its website that seven teams have been sent to Beijing, Tianjin as well as the cities of Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Baoding, Xingtai and Anyang in neighboring Hebei and Henan provinces.
Inspectors found several companies in Tianjin and Baoding had failed to meet requirements for cutting pollutants, while some vehicles in Beijing failing to meet emission requirements.
The ministry urged local authorities to address the problem.
China has been under growing pressure to address air pollution as smog frequently smothers the country’s cities.
The government aims to cut the density of inhalable particulate matter in major cities by at least 10 percent by 2017.
Apr32017
Man caught in Yunnan for cross-border drug trafficking
A man was caught in southwest China’s Yunnan province carrying drugs from Myanmar to China, according to local police Monday.
The man, surnamed Wang, was driving a red car to Mangshi city last Tuesday morning, when border police stopped him and found him very nervous. After a thorough check, they found 17 lumps of methamphetamine in the car boot. They later seized a further ten lumps from the seat.
The methamphetamine weighed 13.45 kilograms in total. Wang told police that a man in Myanmar asked him to carry it to Kunming, capital of Yunnan, and offered to give him 500,000 yuan (about 72,500 U.S. dollars) after the trip.
The investigation is ongoing.
Mangshi is the capital city of the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, which is near the opium-producing Golden Triangle. Border police in the prefecture seized 1.6 tonnes of narcotics, completed 668 drug-related investigations and arrested 662 suspects in 2016.