US double standard on terrorism encourages slaughters

 

Mass Knife Attack in China Kills 29 People by 8 terrorists armed with knives rampaged through a train station in southwestern China killing dozens of people and injuring 130 others 

China vows to crackdown on violent terrorist attacks

• < Video

  
  

  .Washington encourages attackers by downplaying terrorism
  
  For the world's "most active human rights defender," the latest random killing of 29 innocent civilians at a crowded Chinese train station is too insignificant to be a terrorist activity.
  
  The U.S. Embassy in China has downplayed the severity of the bloody carnage in southwestern Kunming City, calling it on its official Weibo account a "horrible and totally meaningless act of violence," short of calling the murderers "terrorists."
  
  The wording is the continuation of the government's ambiguous stance on China's counter-terrorism drive in Xinjiang, the northwestern autonomous region haunted by suicide bombs and deadly assaults.
  
  In a related development, CNN, which apologized after its biased news photo editing in reporting of the March 14 riot in Tibet's capital of Lhasa in 2008, has again showed its doubts and disbelief, if not irony, by using quotation marks around the word "terrorists" in its latest reportage of the Kunming slaughter.
  
  How the U.S. government and some media described the terrorist attacks in China has revealed their persistent double standard in the global fight against terrorism.
  
  Their leniency for the terrorists is sending signals of encouragement to potential attackers.
  
  This is not the first time they have adopted this double standard on terrorism.
  
  In October, CNN published an op-ed article titled "Tian'anmen crash: Terrorism or cry of desperation?" after separatists in a vehicle slammed into the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, killing five and injuring 40.
  
  The latest train station killings, which evidence pointed to politically motivated Xinjiang separatists, is the latest in a spate of terrorist attacks carried out by them.
  
  It is perpetrated by non-state entities, involves violence and designed to have psychological impact far beyond the immediate victims.
  
  It is China's "9/11," only on a smaller scale.
  
  The latest civilian slaughter conforms with any typical terrorist attack and bears striking similarities with what happened in Boston and Nairobi, which the U.S. government condemned as terrorism without a minute's hesitation.
  
  Behind its wording is the entrenched U.S. belief that the Xinjiang murderers were the "ethnically oppressed seeking autonomy."
  
  Nothing, however, justifies the act of realizing political and religious motives by slaughtering the innocent.
  
  Washington is once again playing its "counter-terrorism card." For the U.S. government and biased media like CNN, the only standard for terrorist activities is whether it happened within the territories of its own or its allies.
  
  The U.S. government and biased media should know that their double standard on terrorism will one day backfire and hurt their own interests.
  
  Commentary by Gui Tao Xinhua
  
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Terrorists Attack Kunming Train Station, China's 9/11 !

Horror: Photos shared on the Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo showed bodies strewn across the floor

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Nothing justifies civilian slaughter in China's '9-11'

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More than 140 injured still being treated after Kunming terrorist attack

China was outraged and the world shocked after separatists from Xinjiang knifed down innocent civilians at a crowded train terminal in Kunming Saturday night.


It was a typical terrorist attack and also a severe crime against the humanity.

It was China's "9-11."

Any explanation for the attack, like those in previous cases elsewhere in China, would be feeble at the bloody scene, where mothers, sons and daughters were slaughtered by strangers. Nothing justifies such a carnage against innocent civilians.

This was a random attack, with the sole purpose of causing the greatest casualties and impact within the shortest period of time.

It seems that the terrorists have had their way. Their killing spree has left 29 dead and over 130 injured, shrouding the southwestern city and the whole nation in terror.

This is not the first time that terrorists from Xinjiang launched deadly attacks over the past months, years and decades. In October 2013, Xinjiang separatists on a vehicle slammed into the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, killing five and injuring 40.

The latest attacks in Beijing and Kunming have clearly indicated a despicable trend that separatists are targeting civilians out of Xinjiang.

It also showed a shift in their attack strategies from targeting symbols of the government, such as public security stations and police vehicles, to roadside civilians.

If the proliferation of their terrorist attack is not reined in, more innocent people will fall victim.

The latest attack showed that China's recent decision to set up a state security committee, headed by President Xi Jinping, to improve systems and strategies to ensure national security is very timely and necessary.

A nationwide outrage has been stirred. Justice needs to be done and terrorists should be punished with iron fists.

Countries and institutions such as the UN and France have condemned the attack. More voices of condemnation are expected.

Anyone attempting to harbor and provide sympathies for the terrorists, calling them the repressed or the weak, is encouraging such attacks and helping committing a crime.
-  Xinhua

Penang bets on IT-BPO Hub

High-tech industry: An artist impression of the BPO Piazza and the BPO Prime building (right).

GEORGE TOWN: The RM3.3bil Infor-mation Technology Outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) Hub in Penang will generate some 30,000 high-paying jobs when the project is fully developed in 10 years.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said in the first five years, about 21,000 high-paying jobs would be created.
“The fastest-growing sector in the BPO industry in Malaysia is in banking, financial services and insurance with a 30% market share followed by manufacturing (27%), oil and gas (22%), and others such as retail, logistics, government and telecommunication.

“The outsourcing sector in Malaysia is expected to expand at an average rate of 15% in the next three years in terms of revenue,” he said at the ground-breaking ceremony of the IT-BPO Hub in Bayan Lepas (next to the Penang International Airport) yesterday.

The IT-BPO Hub comprises three components involving a 30ha IT-BPO Park in Bayan Lepas, a planned development of 2.8ha BPO Prime in Bayan Baru and a 9,290sq m of Creative Animation Triggers (CAT) in the George Town heritage enclave.

Lim said he was informed that the outsourcing industry had created about 50,000 new jobs as of June 2013, adding that the Multimedia Development Corp targets the creation of at least 85,000 jobs by 2017 for Malaysia.

BPO services include customer operations, data processing, back office administration, accounting, technical support, transcription, software development, IT consultancy and disaster recovery services.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar represented the Prime Minister at the event.

He said the global outsourcing market was currently worth US$458bil (RM1.501 trillion) and was expected to reach US$625bil (RM2.048 trillion) by 2017.

“Malaysia’s outsourcing industry worth US$1.7bil (RM5.57bil) in 2012 is projected to grow even faster, doubling in value by 2017. The federal and state governments must work together to ensure the success of the IT-BPO Hub,” he added.

 - The Star/Asia News Network

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Human Rights Record of the United States in 2013

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China published a report on the United States' human rights record on Friday, in response to U.S. criticism and "irresponsible remarks" about China.

"The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2013" was released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, in response to "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013" made public by the U.S. State Department on Thursday.

China lashes out at US human rights record 

Press TV
China's report states that there were serious human rights problems in the U.S in 2013, with the situation deteriorating in many fields. Once again posing as "the world judge of human rights", the U.S. government "made arbitrary attacks and irresponsible remarks" on almost 200 countries and regions, the report says.

The United States carefully concealed and avoided mentioning its own human rights problems, according to the report.

THE WORLD THROUGH PRISM

The U.S. government spies on its own citizens to a "massive and unrestrained" degree, the report says.

The report calls the U.S. PRISM surveillance program, a vast, long-term mechanism for spying on private citizens both at home and abroad, "a blatant violation of international law" and says it "seriously infringes human rights."

The U.S. intelligence services, by virtue of data provided by Internet and telecom companies -- including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Yahoo -- "recklessly" track citizens' private contacts and social activities.

KILLER ROBOTS AND DEAD CONVENTIONS

The report quantifies drone strikes by the U.S. in countries, including Pakistan and Yemen, which have caused heavy civilian casualties. In Pakistan alone, since 2004, the U.S. has carried out 376 drone strikes killing 926 civilians.

The U.S. has not ratified, or participated in, a series of core UN conventions on human rights, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT

Solitary confinement is prevalent in the U.S., the report says.

In U.S. prisons, inmates in solitary confinement are enclosed in cramped cells with poor ventilation and little or no natural light, isolated from other prisoners; a situation that takes it toll on inmates' physical and mental health.

About 80,000 U.S. prisoners are in solitary confinement. Some have been held in solitary confinement for over 40 years.

RAMPANT GUN VIOLENCE

The rampant U.S. gun culture breeds violence that results in the death of 11,000 Americans every year.

The report cites figures from the FBI that state firearms were used in 69.3 percent of the nation's murders, 41 percent of robberies, and 21.8 percent of aggravated assaults.

In 2013, 137 people were killed in 30 mass murder events (four or more deaths each).

A rampage in the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington D.C. left 12 people dead, according to the report.

UNEMPLOYMENT AND HOMELESSNESS

"The U.S. still faces a grave employment situation with its unemployment rate still high," the report says.

Unemployment for low-income families has topped 21 percent. The homeless population in the U.S. has climbed 16 percent from 2011 to 2013.

There are also many child laborers in the agricultural sector in the U.S. and their physical and mental health is seriously compromised, the report says.

Friday's report was the 15th such annual report published by China in response to U.S. attacks.

Related:

Commentary: U.S. should "sweep its own doorstep" on human rights

BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese idiom says that all will follow one who is personally upright, even though he does not give orders; but if he is not personally upright, they will not follow, even though he gives orders.

Attributed to Confucius (551 BC-479 BC), one of the greatest Chinese philosophers in history, the idiom is an important tenet for the Chinese. Full story

	Full text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2013
•	U.S. biggest violator of non-Americans' human rights: China report
•	China issues report on U.S. human rights
•	Commentary: U.S. not a human rights judge with flawed record • China, Australia hold 15th human rights dialogue • China: Dialogue is the way to resolve human rights differences • China says courts do not help human rights • China elected to UN human rights body

Penang Second Bridge, longest in Southeast Asia opens today

The Second Penang Bridge, the longest bridge in Southeast Asia,  opens tonight, easing traffic in the rapidly industrialising northern state of Penang.

Totalling 24 km in length, it will take motorists around 20 minutes to cross the RM4.5 billion bridge from Batu Kawan on the mainland and Batu Maung on the island.

Penang island already has another bridge linking it to the mainland. The first bridge opened in 1985 but the state’s rising population and popularity with visitors meant that another bridge was needed to cope with traffic.

The new bridge is expected to ease traffic by 25 per cent and will it last for the next 120 years, according to its concessionaire, Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd (JKSB).

One of the big questions posed by Penangites had been: why is the bridge not straight, but curved? Would not a straight bridge costs less?

JKSB construction director Hamizol Ngah was quoted in English daily The Star in November 2012 saying that the curvy design deliberately chosen to reduce traffic accidents.

“This is to prevent drivers from getting drowsy, discourage speeding and improve road concentration,” said Hamizol.

“Such a design requirement was not mooted for the 8.4 km Penang Bridge as it is shorter.”

Penangites might also question why the design is so similar to the first bridge.

Initially, there were plans for two viewing platforms, complete with restaurants, but that was scrapped due to a lack of funds. The platforms would have added another RM600mil to the cost.

The plan for a second bridge was unveiled by Putrajaya in the Ninth Malaysia Plan in August 2006, and the groundbreaking ceremony was held three months later.

The project was announced by Malaysia’s then fifth prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, himself a Penangite, three years after he took over from his predecessor.

Beijing-based China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd (CHEC) won the main contract for the first package, which included the bridge and foundation works.

According to Reuters CHEC is China’s largest international contractor and the second-largest dredging company in the world, with projects mostly in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

The second major package which included structures for the approaches to the bridge was constructed by UEM Builders Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of local conglomerate UEM Group.

UEM’s previous projects included the North-South Expressway, the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link, and RapidKL’s light rail transit (LRT) system.

The project commenced in November 2008 after a nine-month delay due to land acquisition and design issues, in addition to the rising costs of building materials.

CHEC and UEM previously announced that the bridge will be completed by 2011, but it was not until April 2013 that construction of the main span was completed, physically connecting Batu Kawan and Batu Maung.

The bridge had been previously scheduled to open in November last year.

The delay was also partly caused by a collapse of the ramp in the Batu Maung interchange leading to the bridge in June 2013, causing one death.

Around 10,000 revellers are expected to attend the launch by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak tonight.

Motorists will be charged a toll rate between RM7 and RM10 starting from March 2, according to JKSB.