Latest news with #Mainland
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's economy shows resilience amid trade war but headwinds lie ahead
China's economic growth in the second quarter proved robust while exports in June were better than expected. Gross domestic product grew by 5.2 per cent between April and June despite a trade war with the United States. That has helped fuel cautious optimism the economy can achieve the full-year growth target of 5 per cent. Mainland exporters moved quickly to ship goods ahead of the end of a 90-day tariff truce in August, helping the monthly trade figure to a 5.8 per cent jump year on year. In the coming Politburo meeting, policymakers have to decide whether to extend measures to boost stimulus and consumption, or conserve the ammunition and keep policy options open for the rest of the year. Beijing is focusing on what it calls a 'unified national market' . This means discouraging self-defeating cutthroat competition among low-tech, low-margin companies and counterproductive contests between provinces that often penalise each other's cross-boundary goods and services. While the latest data show the economy's resilience, all eyes will be on the August 12 truce deadline. Will the two sides finalise a deal, as US President Donald Trump claimed they would after high-profile meetings in Geneva and London? Or will he change his mind and make new demands? Washington is in no mood to help Beijing stabilise its economy. But it desperately needs China's supply of rare earths. Trump is also eager for a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping soon. Beijing has been wise in approving exports of critical minerals to the US on a case-by-case basis. Unless there is a viable trade bargain next month, this is unlikely to change.
The Standard
6 days ago
- Business
- The Standard
MTRC invests in the first project in the railway equipment industry in Guangdong
Jacob Kam Chak-pui, chief executive of MTR Corporation (fourth from left), and Sammy Wong Kwan-wai, mainland China business director (second from left), attended the Capital Cooperation Signing Ceremony held in Beijing.
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Village GP is struck off after sending barrage of abuse to female colleague in drunken late-night phone calls
A village GP on a remote Scottish island has been struck off after making abusive late-night phone calls to a female doctor at the practice. Paul Scott, 59, was also accused of initimidating another female colleague by kicking the door of a consultation room before shouting at her while inches from her face. Scott, a general practitioner at the health centre in the tiny fishing village of Brae on the Shetland island of Mainland, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and his name was ordered to be erased from the medical register. It was claimed during the probe that an officer declined to call the Scott because 'he doesn't respond well to police contact.' At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, Scott, who qualified in medicine 36 years ago, was described by patients on Facebook as a 'wonderful empathetic doctor'. However, Scott - nicknamed 'Doc MacMartin' - was struck off following a series of temper-fuelled tirades against female colleagues at his surgery. In the first incident in March 2018, the GP flew into a rage at a female workmate known as 'Colleague A' after a complaint was made against her regarding patient care. The Manchester hearing was told there had been a 'tense clinical situation involving a potentially unwell patient requiring an ECG' and the woman who was with a patient was shocked when Scott began 'hammering' and 'kicking' the door to her room. He eventually gained access before backing the woman against the wall and berating her in such close proximity that she could 'feel his spittle on her face'. In a statement the woman, who had just returned from leave, said: 'He was about a millimetre from my face. All through the day he was telling staff that he was going to report me, on what grounds no-one knew. His actions were so premeditated. 'It appeared to me that he had been thinking about how he could bully me out of the workplace whilst I was on annual leave. 'He approached me the minute I arrived that morning - it was full on aggressive and intimidating behaviour.' Scott was later suspended from the practice in April 2020 by NHS Shetland for undisclosed reasons but reportedly while at home he began drinking heavily and turned on another colleague known as Dr C in August 2021 after discovering she had been working as a locum alongside Colleague A. But he later bombarded a second female colleague with abusive and drunken late night phone calls over a week long period in which he told her repeatedly to 'f*** off'. Both women were said to have been left severe distress and upset by the incidents and Police Scotland were subsequently called in to investigate Scott. The GP had previously worked with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to help local fishermen undergo medical examinations before going to sea. He became a partner at the Brae Health Centre in 1999 after a period working for the Scottish Office, before taking early retirement from the NHS in 2021. Dr C said: 'I was awakened from sleep by a phone call from Dr Paul Scott. He was very agitated when he phoned. Shouting at me, repeating my name over and over. 'He seemed to be very angry because I had worked the Friday and had been in the next room. 'He said: "What did you talk about at coffee?" and "You had coffee with her" and [was] saying "She is a bad person", "Have you ever been referred to the GMC?", "Are you colluding with them?" 'He said he wouldn't put it on FB - yet. He would not let me speak. He was pretty intimidating and I felt extremely upset, ended up putting the phone down and had little sleep that night before going to do a day's locum in the morning.' Concerned by Scott's beahviour, Dr C kept a timeline of events. She recalled how on September 4 Scott started phoning her at about 11pm and then 'phoned roughly every half an hour a further twice into Sunday morning'. She wrote in her timeline: 'He has been on the phone tonight, abusing me, saying he doesn't trust me and saying he had the right to do this. He was drunk. I'm minded to speak to the police to make them aware - he has no right to abuse or frighten me. 'He wouldn't listen to me when I asked him to get off the phone and stop this. He sounded drunk and in a rage. 'One of the phone calls was just "f*** you, f*** you, f*** you" over and over. The calls got progressively worse, in the night at half hour intervals. In the end shouting at me to f*** off and saying he doesn't like me or trust me that I'm a liar, in collusion. 'Anything I said was twisted and thrown back. I couldn't get a word in to respond if. If I tried, he screamed at me. He repeated my name over and over, was intimidating and me saying "You need help Paul" made it worse. 'All of this seems to have been kicked off by me doing that locum work for two days. I spoke with the police and said it's intolerable, I'm on call and have to answer the phone, and eventually spoke to the police in Lerwick. 'But the officer I spoke to was reluctant to phone him as he said, "He doesn't respond well to police contact". 'I said I was concerned after speaking with his relative that he might try and come through my door, if he was in the vicinity. But he said I shouldn't be worried about that and in the end the best I could do was put the phone through to the hospital. 'The policeman said if he abused the person on hospital switchboard then they would act. The hospital agreed to phone me on another line if there were any calls.' She told other colleagues about the calls and they responded: 'He's very unpredictable and its affecting everyone. He is drinking and has been phoning (people) when drunk during the night and sending abusive texts - trying to control and intimidate. 'He seems to be in a terrible rage much of the time. Apparently, he is completely in denial - it started getting worse after his suspension.' When quizzed Scott claimed he did not believe he had acted aggressively towards Colleague A and said he 'may have had one or two glasses of wine' when he contacted Dr C. His lawyer Stephen Brassington said the abusive phone calls arose out of a 'mistrust of colleagues' and added: 'The distress caused to Colleague A and Dr C was not the product of any intent on Dr Scott's part. 'The incident with Colleague A occurred in a tense clinical situation involving a potentially unwell patient requiring an ECG. 'His conduct amounted to an overreaction in a high-pressure setting not an act of misconduct warranting disciplinary sanction. 'Characterising such conduct as misconduct could risk setting an unhelpful precedent for clinical professionals working under pressure. He had a previously unblemished 30-year career in the NHS.' But Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service chairman Mr Douglas Mackay said: 'The Tribunal determined that the doctor's actions in forcefully hitting the door of the consultation room, causing genuine alarm to Colleague A. 'It found this to be an unacceptable and aggressive confrontation with Colleague A in the workplace and Dr Scott's actions caused Colleague A to fear for her personal safety. He added: 'Persistent telephone calls were made by Dr Scott to Dr C. The abusive language involved the repeated use of Dr C's name and some of the calls were made during antisocial hours. 'The nature and number of these calls, as well as their content, were such that they caused Dr C to feel fearful for her personal safety and prompted her to contact the police for advice on that issue. Dr C described feeling terrified.'
CNA
07-07-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Shandong aircraft carrier's Hong Kong visit underscores Beijing's ambitions: Analysts
China's first domestically built aircraft carrier has ended a five-day port call in Hong Kong. The Shandong is the second Chinese aircraft carrier to visit the city, coinciding with the 28th anniversary of its return to the mainland. Beyond stirring patriotic sentiment in the Special Administrative Region, analysts say the visit underscores China's resolve to advance its military ambitions. CNA's May Wong reports.
The Guardian
07-07-2025
- The Guardian
The ‘wow' factor: island hopping and otter spotting on a family break in Shetland
It takes us 38 hours – two trains, a tube, the Caledonian Sleeper, a day in Aberdeen, a hire car and the NorthLink ferry – to reach Shetland from our home in Oxfordshire, and yet the immortal words 'Are we there yet?' are not uttered once. When the ferry docks at Lerwick, the kids, Lydia (11) and Alex (eight), are uncharacteristically silent as we take in the view: the town huddled on a low hill, the water shimmering in the morning sun, and islands as far as the eye can see. We are spending a week in the archipelago, travelling first around Mainland, the main island, and then north to the less populated islands of Yell and Unst, linked by regular ferries. It turns out to be the perfect location for a family holiday: short journey times (it takes 80 minutes to drive from the southern tip of Mainland to the northern) combined with the sea almost always being in view, and the excitement of a boat or ferry trip every day. On Mainland, we base ourselves at Hayhoull B&B. Mary, the owner, makes us feel like part of her family and cooks us delicious dinners that even my picky son doesn't turn his nose up at. We wake to spectacular views of St Ninian's Isle, before heading to Lerwick harbour to join a boat trip with Shetland Seabird Tours. Skipper Phil tells us we'll be sailing up to Noss island to see the gannet colony. Alex turns to me with wide eyes. 'They dive like missiles!' he whispers excitedly. First, though, we see eider ducks, paddling just outside the harbour, and fulmars in cosy pairs on the cliffs. The latter, Phil tells us, 'have a nasty defence mechanism against birds of prey – they vomit on them and ruin their flight feathers'. The kids are delighted and repulsed at the same time. Then there are sentry-like shags inside a cave, crowds of black guillemots and a solitary puffin bobbing on the waves, which sends a ripple of excitement around the boat. But it is those gannets that steal the show. They appear as we approach the uninhabited, sheer-cliffed island of Noss, unmistakable with their pointed white beaks and yellow head feathers. As the birds (about 600–700 according to Phil's estimate) circle and call above us, Phil submerges a long metal tube in the water; he throws a mackerel down it and within seconds the first gannets are folding their wings back and in and shaping themselves into bird torpedoes, before plunging bullet-like into the deep blue water. It is a phenomenal sight. The only word I hear out of either child for the next 15 minutes is 'Wow!' In fact, if there's a word that characterises our visit to Shetland, 'wow' is it. At Jarlshof prehistoric and Norse settlement, where thousands of years of human habitation are revealed in the remains of countless buildings, the kids wander off happily with their audio guides, pointing things out to each other with glee; what I had anticipated being a 10-minute visit takes us an hour and a half. Just down the road is Sumburgh Head lighthouse, where the season's first puffins have recently arrived. We listen to a recreation of the sound of the lighthouse foghorn that is so loud the kids cover their ears, and climb up the foghorn tower to see the land drop away into the seemingly endless sea. Another boat trip takes us out to the small, uninhabited island of Mousa, an RSPB nature reserve. A huge broch (an iron-age circular tower unique to Scotland) stands on its south-western shore; though it's closed on our visit, we peer through the gate to look at the layered stone interior and imagine the people and animals that would once have lived there. We have three hours on Mousa, and spend them wandering the two-mile path around it at a leisurely pace, losing time watching seals play in East Pool and spotting nesting fulmars. 'Stay away from them,' Alex tells us. 'You don't want to be sicked on.' Back on land, we walk the short distance from our B&B to St Ninian's Isle, reached via the UK's largest active tombolo (a sand bar). The kids immediately whip off their shoes to submerge their feet in the soft white sand; while they play, my husband and I walk across to the island. From the top, we have a clear view of both the kids and the skerries (small rocky islands and reefs) that pepper the isle's south side. Just up the road is West Lynne croft (small farm), where the multitalented Cecil Tait shows us around and demonstrates the skills of his sheepdog, Bess, who is convinced that we need herding too. Tait, who also makes furniture and wool, and runs woodworking courses, tells us that all the while we're talking he's translating in his head from his native Shetland dialect into English. I watch the kids digest this. 'Wow, Mum,' Alex says afterwards, 'I didn't know English wasn't everyone's main language here.' The next day, we head for Unst, the archipelago's most northerly island. Getting there involves driving through Mainland and the neighbouring island of Yell, and two short ferry journeys (Mainland to Yell, and Yell to Unst), with the excitement building as we go. Most people come here for the birds and dramatic coastal scenery of Hermaness national nature reserve, on the northern tip of the island, but we decide against a three-and-a-half-hour walk battling the wind (and the children). Instead, we opt to head along the south coast with Catriona Waddington, the chair of Wild Skies Shetland, which has set up interactive 'sky stops' to help visitors explore the island. Sign up to The Traveller Get travel inspiration, featured trips and local tips for your next break, as well as the latest deals from Guardian Holidays after newsletter promotion We walk for a mile along the blue-tinted sands of Easting beach and then above the rocky shoreline to one of the stops, Framgord. A listening post invites us to hear a Norse story or a fiddle tune that Catriona says 'always makes people waltz'. The kids are soon doing exactly that. That night, they sleep – much to their excitement – in traditional alcove beds at the elegant Belmont House. En route back to Mainland, we pause in Yell for the afternoon, spending more than two hours wandering its gentle north-eastern shoreline on an otter-watching tour with Brydon Thomason of Shetland Nature. Armed with binoculars, the kids tramp happily for miles, stopping every time Brydon does, to join him in scanning the shore and water. There are no complaints about the cold or the distance; there is too much to learn about otters, such as how we have to walk downwind so they can't smell us, and how to identify their toilets. Brydon has been otter–spotting since he was Alex's age. 'I was excited by the thrill of how hard they were to find,' he tells us. 'It's like being a detective in nature.' The kids are clearly happy being detectives, too. But when the shout to 'Get down!' comes, they are more than ready, dropping straight on to their fronts as we follow Brydon's instructions to crawl on to the beach. There, in the water, is the slick, dark curve of an otter. Brydon sets up his camera so the kids can take photos when the otter comes on to the shore. When she does, though, she is not alone; she is with her two cubs and is busy demolishing an octopus she has caught. We watch, through binoculars and Brydon's camera, in a silence that is broken only by emphatic wows. 'This is why I do it,' Brydon says with a smile. 'For reactions like these.' In Shetland, it seems to me, they are the only reactions to have. The trip was provided by and Transport to Scotland was provided by Caledonian Sleeper, and transport to Shetland by NorthLink Ferries. The best time to see most seabirds is from May to the end of August, though puffins tend to head back out to sea in August
