Sarwar woos businesses
Scottish Labour is now the party of businesses and of job creation, leader Anas Sarwar said as he announced the launch of a Scottish Labour Business Network.
Sarwar has appointed former trade minister Brian Wilson to rebuild the party’s relationship with employers across the country.
He said: “Having good businesses is vital to creating good jobs.”
An investigation has been launched into the death of a Welsh Guards sergeant who died after being injured in a live firing exercise in south-west Wales.
The tragedy occurred at the Castlemartin RAC Range in Pembrokeshire on Thursday. Dyfed-powys Police said it was leading the investigation.
An Army spokesperson said: “It is with great sadness we can confirm the death of a soldier on March 4. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this tragic time.”
Police said: “Dyfed-powys police were called to the site at just before 10.45pm on Thursday. Sadly, a man was pronounced dead shortly after. Our thoughts are with his family, who have been informed of the incident and are being supported by specialist officers.”
Previous incidents at the Castlemartin ranges have claimed the lives of soldiers.
In 2017, corporals Matthew Hatfield and Darren Neilson of the Royal Tank Regiment died after their tank exploded during a training exercise.
A 21-year-old soldier, Mike Maguire, died at Castlemartin in 2012 after being shot in the head by a single machine gun bullet fired by a fellow soldier. An inquest jury later ruled that Ranger Maguire, of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment, had been unlawfully killed.
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric has affirmed that religious authorities have a role in protecting the country’s Christians after a historic meeting with Pope Francis.
The Vatican said the Pope thanked Grand Ayatollah Ali al-sistani and the Shiite people for having “raised his voice in defence of the weakest and most persecuted” during some of the most violent times in Iraq’s recent history.
He said Al-sistani’s message of peace affirmed “the sacredness of human life and the importance of the unity of the Iraqi people”.
The Vatican said the visit was a chance for Pope Francis to emphasise the need for collaboration and friendship between different religious communities.
Pope Francis met with Al-sistani, one of the most senior clerics in Shiite Islam, in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf to deliver a joint message of peaceful co-existence.
He urged Muslims to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority.
In a statement issued by his office after the meeting, Al-sistani affirmed that Christians should “live like all Iraqis, in security and peace and with full constitutional rights”.
He went on to point out what he described as the “role that the religious authority plays in protecting them, and others who have also suffered injustice and harm in the events of past years”.
Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase “To infinity and beyond” has been deemed a suitable inscription for gravestones because it does not offend “Christian doctrine”, a Church of England judge has said.
Mark Hill QC, Chancellor of the Diocese of Leeds, said it was allowed after it emerged it had been suggested for a new inscription at a churchyard in the city.
Buzz Lightyear, the Toy Story film character, first appeared on screens in 1995 voiced by Tim Allen.