Peter
Dowd MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on
today’s inflation figures, said:

“Despite
the headline fall in inflation, people throughout the country will be worse off
yet again this month, as wages grow more slowly than prices. Real wages are
still lower than they were when the Tories came to power in 2010.

“After
seven years of Conservative failure on the economy, only a Labour government
will tackle the scandal of falling living standards, beginning with a £10 per
hour Real Living Wage and an end to the unfair public sector pay cap.”

China applauded an exhibition on the Nanjing Massacre jointly organized by groups from Nanjing, China and Hiroshima, Japan, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

Referring to the exhibition that kicked off on July 15 in Hiroshima, Lu Kang said this year marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which the Japanese militarists committed serious crimes during the Second World War.

The painful history should never be forgotten, he said, and called on Japan to learn from the history to avoid war, safeguard peace and shape the future.

Su Shulin, former governor of east China’s Fujian Province, has been put under investigation on suspicion of accepting bribes, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) announced on Tuesday.

Su, also former deputy chief of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Fujian provincial committee, was expelled from the CPC and dismissed from public office for violating the Party’s code of conduct and corruption on July 4.

The SPP also announced an investigation into four other officials for taking bribes: Yang Chongyong, a former senior legislator in northern China’s Hebei Province; Wang Yincheng, former president of the People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited (PICC); Zhou Chunyu, vice governor of east China’s Anhui Province; and Cai Xiyou, former general manager of state-owned chemical firm Sinochem Group.

The five have been placed under “coercive measures,” which may include summons by force, bail, residential surveillance, detention or arrest.

Investigations into their cases are currently under way, according to the SPP.

Diane
Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, commenting on Government proposals to
increase restrictions on the online sales of knives, said:

“Any and
all sensible measures to prevent knife crime should be considered, but this
measure is likely to be marginal at best.

“The truth is
this Government has failed to address the root causes of knife crime. They have
not mounted effective anti-knives campaigns in schools and colleges, the
voluntary agreement signed with retailers just last year clearly has not
worked, and they have repeatedly broken their promises on sentencing for knife
possession

“Meanwhile,
the police have lost over 20,000 officers since 2010 and cuts to local
authority budgets have seen youth centres and services close across the
country. All of this amounts to a record of failure by this Tory
government.”

At least 14 people were taken to hospital after an explosion hit a restaurant in Feng Chia business district in Taichung city Tuesday lunchtime, local media said.

A man surnamed Wu reportedly suffered burns on over 90 percent of his body and is in critical conditions. Other victims included a 35-year-old pregnant woman and six people believed to be students from a nearby university.

A series of explosions were heard emanating from the restaurant in the business zone at 12:22 p.m., and fire enveloped the site and an adjacent clothing store, a noodle restaurant and a curry restaurant, local fire authorities said.

The combination of a gas leak and turning off an electric fan on the second floor might have caused the blaze, according to local authority.

The fire is under control and further investigation is underway.