Party chief Xi Jinping said lifting tens of millions of people out of poverty remains the biggest challenge for the new leadership in its bid to build a moderately prosperous society by 2020, state media reported. Xi made the remarks during a visit to Luotuowan village and Gujiatai village in Baoding, Hebei province yesterday. CCTV showed footage of Xi checking out local groceries and chatting with villagers on their brick-beds, hands on laps and shoes off, in an apparent effort to display his personal touch. In his first trip to destitute rural areas since he took power last month, Xi also blasted widespread corruption, especially the embezzlement and misuse of funds aimed at reducing poverty.
Category: Head Stories
Imagine the US inviting the Queen of England to a formal state visit. Yet, the monarch wouldn’t be allowed to see Washington; she would be received at the fanciest McDonald’s branch in New York City. This is exactly what happened to President Obama, the first American ruler to visit Myanmar. Between November 17 and 20, 2012, he visited Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. In the latter, he was received at Yangon, the old capital, and not at Naypyidaw, the current one. This wasn’t the only oddity of the visit. American media made a fuzz of President Obama using for the first time the official name of the country, Myanmar.
Until now, the US Government preferred the British imperial name, Burma, which is an awful transliteration of Bamar, the main ethnic group in the country.
The United States government and its subject peoples think of the US as “the world’s only superpower.” But how is a country a superpower when its entire government and a majority of the subjects, especially those members of evangelical churches, grovel at the feet of the Israeli Prime Minister? How is a country a superpower when it lacks the power to determine its own foreign policy in the Middle East? Such a country is not a superpower. It is a puppet state. In the past few days we have witnessed, yet again, the “American superpower” groveling at Netanyahu’s feet. When Netanyahu decided to again murder the Palestinian women and children of Gaza, to further destroy what remains of the social infrastructure of the Gaza Ghetto, and to declare Israeli war crimes and Israeli crimes against humanity to be merely the exercise of “self-defense,” the US Senate, the US House of Representatives, the White House, and the US media all promptly declared their support for Netanyahu’s crimes.
In a recent Real News piece, senior editor Paul Jay objected to talk of lesser evilism: “… I think this whole terminology lesser evil, it’s a terrible mistake to use such terminology. The problem is it’s turning this whole thing into some kind of moral debate, and neither Romney nor Obama are evil. They are the products of a social-economic system. They represent different sections of the elite…”1 I still think Real News is the best progressivist video fare available, and Jay is one of the best news anchors, but Jay’s assertion still leaves me astounded. That his assertion is unfounded is fully refuted by Obama holding the US hand over Israel to prevent it from UN censure. Evenhandedness is out the window on this slaughter as well. According to the Obama administration, Hamas is to blame.2
Palestinian fighters have downed an Israeli warplane flying over the Gaza Strip as retaliatory rocket attacks from the enclave continue to sound alarms across Israel. According to Hamas sources, the Israeli F-16 fighter jet was shot down on Friday. Meanwhile, several Israelis were injured after three rockets fired from Gaza hit the Zionist settlement of Gush Etzion in al-Quds (Jerusalem). Palestinian missiles and rockets have also hit the other Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Eshkol, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Be’er Sheva. In Tel Aviv, a rocket hit a commercial district while a second rocket landed 200 meters away from the American Embassy. It is the first time that Tel Aviv has come under attack in decades. Three Israeli soldiers have been injured in a rocket attack in Eshkol. Hospitals across Israel are now in state of emergency.
The latest attacks by Israel against Gaza have been condemned as a violation of international law. However the US and UK have given their unwavering support to the new strikes on Gaza. US President Barack Obama “reiterated US support for Israel’s right to self-defense in light of rocket attacks from Gaza” in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. Meanwhile UK Foreign Secretary William Hague also stepped forward in Israel’s defense, claiming that Hamas “bears principle responsibility” for the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Israel has now reportedly hit over 200 “targets” in Gaza, killing 13 and injuring over 120 people. The unwavering support by the US and the UK is astounding, considering Israel has yet to comply with to any of the resolutions passed (see list) by the United Nations in relation to the Middle East conflict.
Just the day after being anointed the US deputy sheriff in Asia Gillard in her comments about the Israel and Hamas escalation implicitly supported the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader Ahmed Said Khalil al-Jabari. In her comments about the escalation, Gillard condemned repeated attacks by Hamas on Israel, but was silent on the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader. Government assassinations are both against international law and Australian Government policy. However Gillard’s silence over the matter, just like her silence over numerous US drone assassinations in Pakistan over the last few years seems to indicate a change in Australian foreign policy. It is apparent that any breach of international law by either the US or Israel will always have the tacit support of the Australian Government even though some actions may be wrong and against any sense of moral ethics and international law. Now we live in a world were state assassination of people, even their own citizens without trial is acceptable.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, good morning. It’s a great pleasure to meet you, friends from the press. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China came to a successful conclusion yesterday. During the past week, you have extensively covered the Party congress and let the world hear China’s voice. On behalf of the secretariat of the 18th Party Congress, I wish to express our sincere thanks to you for your professionalism, dedication and hard work. Just now, the 18th CPC Central Committee held its first plenary meeting and elected the new central leadership. The plenary meeting elected seven members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau. I was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee by the plenary session. I wish to introduce to you the other six newly elected members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau.
We are now into Hillary Clinton’s 2nd day of “blitzkrieg” in Australia where she is showing her potential presidential charm and vision of dividing up the world just like the “axis” powers tried to do during WWII. Hillary now wants to “outsource” US cooperation with India to Australia so the US can work to clean up the mess in Pakistan created by clandestine missions and murder of innocent people with their drones. Hillary can’t afford Pakistan asking why the US is giving assistance to its rival India, so she innovatively came out with the “outsourcing and encirclement of China” by proxy plan. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her Defense Minister Stephen Smith seemed thrilled to be called upon to play “deputy sheriff ” again, and agreed to increase US marine numbers stationed in Australia from 400 to 2,500 by 2014.
PERTH, Australia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton encouraged Australia on Tuesday to increase its military ties with India, but added that America also supports the peaceful rise of Asian economic powerhouse China. Clinton and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in the west coast city of Perth on Tuesday on the eve of a bilateral security summit with their Australian counterparts. The annual summit is the first since President Barack Obama visited Australia a year ago and riled China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, by announcing that up to 2,500 U.S. Marines would rotate through a joint military training hub in the northern Australian city of Darwin.