Third Chinese researcher accused of smuggling crop-destroying fungus into the US
Strelmark President Hilary Fordwich has weighed in on a Chinese national being charged in an agroterrorism plot.
A Chinese researcher has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle biological materials from Wuhan into the US and lying to federal agents about it.
'I think this is absolutely ghastly,' Ms Fordwich told Sky News Digital Presenter Gabriella Power.
'There were also two other 'scientists' that have tried to smuggle fungi in their shoe soles.
'This is not the first incident.'
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The Age
27 minutes ago
- The Age
The US and China thrashed out their trade fight for 20 hours. Here's what they agreed to
Singapore: US officials said Chinese restrictions on the export of critical rare earth minerals and magnets had been resolved under a preliminary deal to resurrect a fragile trade truce struck in Geneva last month. Emerging from two days of intense discussions in London, US and Chinese negotiators said they had reached a new framework committing to the original trade deal struck on May 12, which almost unravelled in a dispute over China's export curbs on rare earths and US controls on technology sales. The new agreement still needs to be signed off by both US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both sides offered few concrete details about what had been brokered over almost 20 hours of discussions. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the framework would put 'meat on the bones' of the original deal, and that the dispute over rare earths would be resolved as a 'fundamental' part of the new agreement. Loading 'We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,' Lutnick said after the talks wrapped up on Tuesday evening in London. 'The idea is we're going to go back and speak to President Trump and make sure he approves it.' China's Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang also said a trade framework had been reached that would be taken back to US and Chinese leaders for approval.
Sydney Morning Herald
28 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The US and China thrashed out their trade fight for 20 hours. Here's what they agreed to
Singapore: US officials said Chinese restrictions on the export of critical rare earth minerals and magnets had been resolved under a preliminary deal to resurrect a fragile trade truce struck in Geneva last month. Emerging from two days of intense discussions in London, US and Chinese negotiators said they had reached a new framework committing to the original trade deal struck on May 12, which almost unravelled in a dispute over China's export curbs on rare earths and US controls on technology sales. The new agreement still needs to be signed off by both US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both sides offered few concrete details about what had been brokered over almost 20 hours of discussions. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the framework would put 'meat on the bones' of the original deal, and that the dispute over rare earths would be resolved as a 'fundamental' part of the new agreement. Loading 'We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,' Lutnick said after the talks wrapped up on Tuesday evening in London. 'The idea is we're going to go back and speak to President Trump and make sure he approves it.' China's Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang also said a trade framework had been reached that would be taken back to US and Chinese leaders for approval.
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Chinese aircraft carriers enter Pacific Ocean for first time, challenging US dominance near Japan
The Chinese Navy has sent its two aircraft carriers into the Pacific for the first time, demonstrating to the world its ability as a naval power to threaten America's dominance of the world's biggest ocean. Two carrier battle groups led by the Liaoning and the Shandong operated near the Japanese island of Iwo Jima over the weekend, the Japanese Government reported. It is the first time either of the carriers have sailed that far west, military experts said. The People's Liberation Army Navy posted photos of the ships and aircraft on the X social media site, declaring they were engaged in routine training aimed at 'continuously enhancing the PLA Navy's capabilities of fulfilling the missions'. Operating the world's biggest navy by number of ships, China has embarked on an ambitious plan to build aircraft carriers to extend its military power far beyond its borders. A third carrier currently being tested would be almost as technologically advanced as its American counterparts, according a military analyst at the Lowy think tank in Sydney, Sam Roggeveen. 'It's a signal of what China's increasingly capable of,' he said. 'Traditionally the apex of naval in the modern age has been aircraft carriers and they are are showing they are on a path to having capabilities that are equal and maybe superior to that of the US.' Satellite photograph shows a fourth carrier may be under construction in the port of Dalian on the Yellow Sea. In response, Japan is building its first aircraft carriers since World War II. Never before has a Chinese carrier sailed beyond what is known as the First Island Chain, an informal maritime boundary that runs from southern Japan, east of Taiwan to the South China Sea. Each of the two carriers in operation probably carry 30 to 36 Shenyang J-15 jet fighters, Mr Roggeveen said, which are similar to the F/A-18F Super Hornets operated by the Royal Australian Air Force. 'Chinese naval vessels' activities in those waters are fully consistent with international law and international practices,' a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference in Beijing. 'Our national defence policy is defensive in nature.' The Shandong fleet sailed north of the island of Okinotorishima and flew jets and helicopters inside Japan's exclusive economic zone around the island, according to the Japanese government. With the aircraft carrier is a 'super-destroyer', two frigates and a supply ship. The Defence Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
