The Vitality (活力) Big Half Marathon

The Vitality Big Half gets started and will see people deal with various challenges, ranging from a half marathon to a one-mile fun run. It first started last year and saw over 11,000 people take part, with the aim of inspiring more people to get active and take up running.

The Vitality Big Half will start from 9 am today by Tower Bridge, as well as The New Balance Big Relay. The 2.3-mile Little Half will start at 12:45 from Southwark Park, while The Vitality Big Mile will start at Greenwich Park from 12:30.

The Vitality Big Half will start at Tower Bridge and runners will then follow a 13.1-mile route that will take them past Shadwell and Limehouse, before circling around Canary Wharf. The marathon runners will then follow the River Thames back towards Wapping and then go over Tower Bridge and head towards Southwark Park. The route continues along the south side of the River Thames, circling around Rotherhithe before joining up The Little Half runners and travelling through Deptford towards the finish line at the Cutty Sark.

You can go to various points along the route to watch the runners in person or you can also head straight to Greenwich Park which is right near the finish line at the Cutty Sark. It will also be possible to watch the half marathon at home by using the BBC Red Button on your TV or by watching online.

Many schools across the US hold graduation ceremonies this time of year. In some schools, even 5 and 6-year-olds observe their graduation from kindergarten. And so can older people, much older. Meet 70-year-old Jerry Reid, who just graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He earned a bachelor’s degree.

Mr. Reid might not look like the average college student; his hair is definitely grayer. But still Jerry Reid’s age is easy to forget, other UVA students know him as one of their own.

Mr. Reid sat into the “Hoo Crew,” a group that cheers loudly for the school at sports events. He also joined a men's group on campus. He sang drinking songs along with many other students. Mr. Reid’s school friends say they can talk to him just about anything.

About a half century ago, in his 20s, Mr. Reid was not in school. Instead, he was racing cars and chasing girls. But he says his friend Bill invited him to UVA parties.

“Bill told me what a terrible life I had unless I came up here and went to school with him,” said Reid.

That was in 1963. Jerry Reid says it took him 48 years to take that advice. In 2011, he entered college. UVA Professor Luke Wright says Mr. Reid influences students. He opened the minds of the young adults. The teacher says Mr. Reid showed them that life does not end at 40. Instead, the 70-year-old college graduate believes that getting older can be the beginning of a dream.

“Remember that path that you left waits for you. It’s there. It’s yours. All you must do is to get out of your own way and get back to it. And, that's exactly what I did,” said Reid.

Mr. Reid says that he and his wife Susan now would take some time off to enjoy his college degree. Then, he’ll return to UVA to begin studying for his graduate degree.

BEIJING Oct.16 (Friday) (Xinhua)—The Chinese government will enact (将……制成法律) more support policies to lift the country’s 70 million poor people above the poverty line by 2020, President Xi Jinping guaranteed on Friday ahead of the 23rd International Day for the Eradication (根除) of Poverty.

Addressing the Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum (论坛) in Beijing, Xi said China will work to fight the hard battle against poverty. In his speech, Xi drew on his personal experience in the 1960s working as a farmer in a small village in northwestern Shaanxi Province. Over the past several decades, China has made remarkable progress in poverty relief, lifting more than 600 million people out of poverty in the past 30 years, accounting for about 70 percent worldwide.

At the end of 2014, China still had 70.17 million people in the countryside living below the country’s poverty line of 2,300 yuan (376 U.S. dollars) in annual income by 2010 price standards. The president said poverty alleviation will be a major part of China’s post-2015 agenda. While striving to reduce poverty at home, China has actively supported the cause in other developing countries as well. Over the past 60 years, China has provided 166 countries and international organizations with nearly 400 billion yuan in assistance.

China has also announced seven times it would exempt (免除), without any conditions, the matured inter-governmental interest free loans owned by heavily-indebted poor countries and least developed countries. At a United Nations summit last month the goal of eliminating poverty in 15 years was laid out and China guaranteed an initial 2 billion U.S. dollars to establish an assistance fund to help developing nations fight poverty.

In a video message for Friday’s Forum, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (潘基文) praised China’s remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation, saying the UN welcomes those significant and generous proposals from President Xi and looks forward to further progress with an essential partnership with China.

Saturday also marks China’s second National Poverty Relief Day.