AUG 05, 2020 AYODHYA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi who arrived in Ayodhya earlier on Wednesday, took part in the 'bhoomi pujan' at Ram Janambhoomi site. All in attendance sat around the havan fire maintaining social distancing norms while wearing masks, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The priests chanted vedic mantras and hymns as per the rituals of the 'yagya'. Besides, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Governor Anandiben Patel and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat among several others were present at the site for the ceremony. Earlier today, PM Modi planted a 'parijat' sapling in the temple premises, considered a divine plant, ahead of the foundation stone-laying of Ram Temple. PM Modi arrived at Ram Janmabhoomi site after offering prayers at the Hanuman Garhi Temple in Ayodhya. The Prime Minister is also scheduled to unveil a plaque to mark the occasion and also release a commemorative postage stamp on 'Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir'. Copyright © Jammu Links News, Source: Jammu Links News
PM Modi performs 'bhoomi pujan' for Ram Temple at Ayodhya
Hong Kong opposition primary kicks off amid security law crackdown
- Hong Kong's opposition party on Saturday kicked off primary elections aimed at choosing democracy candidates for the city's upcoming parliamentary election.
- The vote took place less than two weeks after China instituted a new security law that many fear will erode democracy in the semi-autonomous territory.
- "The primary election is our first time to let Beijing know Hong Kongers never bow down to China," said pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong on Saturday before voting began. "We urge the world to put Hong Kong under the global spotlight."
- The elections, organized by the Group Power for Democracy, seek to secure a majority of more than 35 seats — more than half of the total number — for pro-democracy candidates in Hong Kong's Legislative Council election in September. This would give democracy candidates greater power to veto pro-establishment legislation.
- Police raid polling office: Last November, three million people voted in Hong Kong's District Council elections, handing a landslide victory to the pro-democracy camp, who won 17 of the 18 District Councils.
- Support stemmed from opposition to a proposed extradition law that would have allowed people arrested in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China for trial, a bill that has since been withdrawn.
- The bill sparked months of violent anti-government protests, which have waned since security forcea arrested over 300 people on July 1, the day after the new national security law went into effect.
- The district-wide elections, which run through Sunday, were also thrown into question on Friday when Hong Kong police raided the office of a co-organizer responsible for election polling.
- Voting could violate Beijing's law Many regard the opposition's primary as a litmus test of greater resistance to the security law. Instituted by China last month, the law targets secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
- Hong Kongers face uncertainty over what constitutes a violation.
- In a government broadcast on Thursday, Secretary for Mainland Constitutional Affairs Erick Tsang said organizers and participants in the primary elections could be in violation of the new law.
- He said that polls might be manipulated to interfere with elections in September.. Source: https://timesofoman.com
FBI head says China biggest threat to U.S. economic and national security
FBI Director Christopher Wray speaking at the Hudson Institute, wash dc think tank, on U.S. China relations. Photo: fbi.gov
Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, Director Christopher Wray says the Chinese Government and the Chinese Communist Party poses an economic and national security threat to the United States.
Speaking via videoconference at an event hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the Hudson Institute, July 7, 2020, Wray said, “The greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and intellectual property, and to our economic vitality, is the counterintelligence and economic espionage threat from China. It’s a threat to our economic security—and by extension, to our national security.”
Over the last several months with an uptick over the last week, a series of pronouncements on China’s ostensible threat have been emanating from not just President Trump, who has railed against Beijing during his various campaign events, but also the top official at the State Department, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Now the premier intelligence agency, has joined in.
Calling Americans the “victims of what amounts to Chinese theft on a scale so massive that it represents one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history,” the FBI director .
“If you are an American adult, it is more likely than not that China has stolen your personal data,” Wray said.
He cited the 2017 hacking of Equifax, which resulted in personal information of some 150 million Americans is now is Chinese hands, and that the health, livelihoods and security of the American people were at stake.
The FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case about every 10 hours, Wray said.
Of the nearly 5,000 active FBI counterintelligence cases currently underway across the country, almost half are related to China.
“… when I speak of the threat from China, I mean the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party,” the FBI director clarified.
China, he said, is “in a generational fight to surpass our country in economic and technological leadership,” and Beijing was bent on becoming “the world’s only superpower by any means necessary.”
Through all means of economic and technological espionage, Wray said, China had stolen billions of dollars worth of innovation and ideas, and made them their own with little respect for intellectual property, citing several cases by name, with the goal also of becoming the becoming a world leader in artificial intelligence.
“China is using social media platforms—the same ones Americans use to stay connected or find jobs—to identify people with access to our government’s sensitive information and then target those people to try to steal it,” Wray said, adding that the Chinese threat is also invading American academia.
In addition, Wray said, “China is engaged in a highly sophisticated malign foreign influence campaign, and its methods include bribery, blackmail, and covert deals,” whereby Chinese diplomats also use both open, naked economic pressure and seemingly independent middlemen to push China’s preferences on American officials.
Since 2014, Wray contended, President Xi Jinping has spearheaded a program known as “Fox Hunt” that targets political rivals of the existing regime living outside China, including many in the United States, even threatening their lives if they did not return to their home country.
Wray went on to say that the Chinese business environment and culture was radically different from that of the United States and this should give pause to American companies considering partnerships with Chinese corporations like Huawei, which has been charged in the United States with racketeering conspiracy and has, as alleged in the indictment, stolen intellectual property from U.S. companies, obstructed justice, and lied to the U.S. government and its commercial
“The Chinese government is engaged in a broad, diverse campaign of theft and malign influence, and it can execute that campaign with authoritarian efficiency. They’re calculating. They’re persistent. They’re patient. And they’re not subject to the righteous constraints of an open, democratic society or the rule of law,” Wray said. Source: https://www.newsindiatimes.com
