While the Chinese news media did not publish the law’s text immediately, the draft version anxious many, including US President Barack Obama, business groups, and human rights advocates. Beijing has attempted to tie these incidents to global terrorism, but foreign experts counter that the violence is a result of cultural oppression, not outside agitation.
Advertisement
Equipment failure pushes back Mars lander mission
The lander will be the first mission to permanently deploy instruments directly onto Martian ground using a robotic arm. NASA and its partners will have to decide whether to pursue the mission after they discover the source of the new leak.
Earlier, China has appointed a top cop as its first new anti-terrorism czar to enhance coordination among all the security agencies specially in the volatile Xinjiang province where the security forces are battling militants of the al-Qaeda-backed East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Public security and national security authorities can send personnel overseas for counter-terrorism missions, with the approval of the State Council and agreements from concerned countries.
Iraqi army declares first major victory over Islamic State in Ramadi
The capture of Ramadi by the Iraqi forces might be the biggest loss of Islamic State militants in 2015. He said roadside bombs were strung together in “networks” that can take hours to defuse.
A previous draft of the law, submitted in February, did not cover personal and property rights or political and ideological purposes.
Afghan forces confident to fight against Taliban in Helmand
The northern city of Kunduz briefly fell to the Taliban in late September – the biggest victory for the group in 14 years of war. Sharif’s visit to Kabul , however it is expected talks will be held on the Afghan peace process with the Taliban group.
Much on the expected lines, 159 legislators of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee unanimously adopted the draft law earlier approved by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).
China’s parliament has passed a controversial anti-terror law requiring foreign technology firms to comply with government requests for information, including encryption keys that turn digital data into unreadable code.
Under the new bill, telecom operators and internet service providers are required to provide technical support and assistance, including decryption, to police and national security authorities in prevention and investigation of terrorist activities. Dissemination information about terrorist activities or making up stories about fake terror incident is now banned.
The lack of a systematic law in this field had hampered China’s fight against terrorism, with measures deemed not forceful enough, analysts say. However, Li Shouwei, a National People’s Congress official said that the law will not affect normal business transactions and that they will not use the law to go into “backdoor” business and violate the intellectual property rights of companies.
In one of most deadly cases, twenty-nine people were killed and scores more injured by knife-wielding assailants at a train station in Yunnan’s capital city, Kunming, on March 1, 2014.
“While the Chinese authorities do have a legitimate duty in safeguarding their citizens from violent attacks, passing this law will have some negative repercussions for human rights”, William Nee, a Hong Kong-based researcher on China for Amnesty International, said in emailed comments.
Advertisement
Chinese police stepped up patrols, though no specific threat has been reported.
