More than 5.4m passengers travelled through airport in January, double the 2.6m from 2022
Heathrow airport had its busiest start to the year since before the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns in 2020 as travel restrictions continued to ease, according to data published on Monday.
More than 5.4 million passengers travelled through the UK’s and Europe’s busiest airport in January, double the 2.6 million from 2022, Heathrow said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
Continue reading...Military general says he will not rule out any explanation as fourth object is downed over North America this month
The US military has shot down a third flying object over North American airspace in three days, as the air force general overseeing the airspace said he would not rule out any explanation for the objects yet.
The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, was shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday.
Continue reading...‘Chinese were caught lying',’ says Senate majority leader as US and Canadian military scramble to recover pieces
US and Canadian military are continuing to search by sea and land amid hostile weather conditions in a scramble to recover portions of three flying objects shot down over North American airspace in the past week.
The Democratic majority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that he had been briefed by the White House and that officials were now convinced that all three of the flying objects brought down by air-to-air missiles this week were balloons. He put the finger of blame firmly on China.
Continue reading...Erkin Tuniyaz is head of the Xinjiang region, where human rights abuses are alleged to be taking place
The former Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has joined calls for a governor from a region of China where the UN has said crimes against humanity may be taking place to be arrested during a potential visit this week.
The Tory backbencher said that the governor of Xinjiang, Erkin Tuniyaz, should be arrested if he arrives in the UK. The House of Commons heard this week that he was due to visit the UK next week and may meet Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials.
Continue reading...Government’s new commitment to remove devices made by Hikvision and Dahua from buildings sweeps 2021 advice aside
An Australian intelligence agency declared a year ago it was up to government departments whether to use equipment from Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua, despite a new bipartisan push to remove such devices.
The advice from the Australian Signals Directorate was published in late 2021, at a time when the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was defence minister.
Continue reading...Ley denies opposition is a ‘no-alition’
Karvelas:
The prime minister use the word ‘no-alition’ to describe your political strategy this week – the reconstruction fund and your opposition to that, which was revealed this week. Is this opposition going to take the Tony Abbott approach, and just oppose everything?
Not at all. We just want the government to deliver on their promises. And we’re not giving them blank checks on the national reconstruction fund, either, because it’s $15bn. They haven’t explained how it will benefit our manufacturing sector with the imperatives right now that the industry sector needs.
The IMF has warned against these off-budget vehicles as $45bn of them in the government’s plan. And it’s not a plan for the economy as it is now. It’s not a plan for rising costs of living, for rising inflation. It’s not a plan that even makes the government’s own promises. So we’re just saying just deliver on your promises, prime minister.
Julian Leeser asked a perfectly sensible question in question time yesterday, which was about which part of the Calma-Langton report would you adopt? … It was a basic question about detail. The prime minister just didn’t even answer one single part of it.
But you could be part of the process. The prime minister is saying be part of the process.
We are part of the process … but if the prime minister can’t answer a simple question that wasn’t the least bit political, it was asked in a very flat, factual manner in parliament. And if he answered that in a political way, what that tells me [is] he’s politicising the debate. But I agree, I don’t want to see this politicised.
We don’t really have any guardrails around a final outcome with detail that lands exactly where we want it to, which is in the health and welfare of Indigenous Australians. … the prime minister has tied that to the concept of the voice but he can’t explain it. So until he provides the details, I believe it’s actually the Labor party that is putting reconciliation at risk.
Continue reading...The communist party’s propaganda machine pulled out all the stops to ensure the public opinion was in accordance with party narrative
Amid the diplomatic spat over the high-altitude balloon that flew across North America before being shot down by the US air force, China is taking the opportunity to drum up nationalistic fervour among its citizens – and the tactic appears to be working well.
The balloon incident has burst the facade of a three-month, uneasy peace between China and the US since the summit between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in November.
Continue reading...State department source says balloon was carrying equipment capable of intercepting communications
The Chinese balloon that flew over North America for more than a week before being shot down over the Atlantic was carrying equipment capable of intercepting and geolocating communications, the US government has claimed.
A senior state department official said on Thursday that equipment was identified by a U-2 spy plane sent up to scrutinise the balloon.
Continue reading...Posts amplify content about sexual assault and misconduct allegations in Parliament House to undermine trust in political system, researchers say
A coordinated foreign influence campaign linked to the Chinese government is using social media to undermine confidence in Australia’s democratic system, according to researchers at a Canberra-based defence thinktank.
The researchers believe the network is operating from within China and is either spreading disinformation about Australian politics or amplifying concerns about political scandals. They reference rape allegations made by the former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins and against the former attorney general Christian Porter, which he strongly denies.
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Continue reading...Rally is latest showing of public discontent since demonstrations against Covid curbs
Thousands of older people have staged a rally in the rain in central China to protest against significant cuts to their medical benefits, in the latest outburst of public discontent since nationwide protests against Covid curbs gripped the country late last year.
Video clips on social media show a large crowd of elderly protesters in raincoats and holding umbrellas gathering outside the Wuhan city government by the Yangtze River on Wednesday, while police officers form a line to stop them from approaching the gates. The location of the rally has been verified.
Continue reading...More than 900 products made by Hikvision and Dahua discovered at 250 federal premises
The federal government has committed to removing Chinese-made security cameras at government buildings across Australia, admitting there is a potential security problem that needs to be addressed.
An audit of surveillance equipment, conducted by the shadow cybersecurity minister, James Paterson, has confirmed that more than 900 products built by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua are installed at government locations.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Erkin Tuniyaz ‘played central role’ in persecution of Uyghurs, says inter-parliamentary alliance on China
The Foreign Office has shocked cross-party opponents of the Chinese treatment of Uyghur groups by revealing that it has asked the Xinjiang governor for talks.
MPs belonging to the inter-parliamentary alliance on China (Ipac) called it “incomprehensible” that “anybody within government would think it appropriate to meet with someone who has played a central role in the persecution of Uyghurs – crimes our own parliament has declared to be genocide”.
Continue reading...Republican extremist appears to reference Chinese surveillance dirigible by parading halls of Congress with white balloon
Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to tee up a State of the Union stunt on Tuesday, patrolling the halls of Congress with a large white balloon in reference to Republican criticism of Joe Biden over his handling of a flight over US territory by a Chinese surveillance dirigible.
“Just an innocent white balloon everybody,” the Georgia extremist said, hours before Biden’s address to Congress, attempting to keep aloft the balloon saga which ended when it was shot down off the Carolinas on Saturday.
Continue reading...Beijing lodges formal complaint with US embassy as Washington throws criticism back at China
The diplomatic row has escalated over the Chinese high-altitude balloon that flew across the US before being shot down, as the first wreckage was salvaged off the Atlantic coast.
Beijing on Monday accused the US of “overreaction” and the “indiscriminate use of military force” in shooting down a Chinese balloon, warning of damage to bilateral relations.
Continue reading...Don Farrell will fly to Beijing in the ‘near future’ amid a thawing of diplomatic relations with Australia’s largest trading partner
The Australian trade minister, Don Farrell, will fly to Beijing “in the near future” after attending the first meeting between an Australian trade minister and a Chinese commerce minister in three years.
Farrell, who was in Canberra for the resumption of parliament, met virtually with his counterpart, Wang Wentao, for about 90 minutes on Monday.
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Continue reading...Protests as former politicians, activists, campaigners and community workers appear in court accused of ‘conspiracy to commit subversion’
Hong Kong’s largest national security trial began on Monday, involving 47 of the city’s most high-profile democracy advocates, in a hearing that has been labelled a trial of the territory’s pro-democracy movement itself.
The group of former politicians, activists, campaigners, and community workers are accused of “conspiracy to commit subversion” over the holding of unofficial pre-election primaries in July 2020.
Continue reading...Recovery of the wreckage could give the United States insight into China’s spying capabilities, officials say
The US military said it is searching for remnants of the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon it shot down, in a dramatic spy saga that has further strained American-Chinese relations.
The US navy is working to recover the balloon and its payload and the coast guard is providing security for the operation, general Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American aerospace defence command and US northern command said on Sunday.
Continue reading...Pete Buttigieg says president ‘considered safety of American people’ but Marco Rubio criticizes eight-day wait
The US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, rejected Republican criticism of Joe Biden over the eight-day wait to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon which flew over military sites.
“The president gave instructions to have it shot down in a way that was safe,” Buttigieg told CNN’s State of the Union, of the operation off the Carolina coast on Saturday.
Associated Press contributed to this report
Continue reading...Lowy Institute ranks Australia sixth overall in the Asia Power Index, behind US, China, Japan, India and Russia
Australia has enjoyed a big increase in its diplomatic influence in Asia over the past year, according to the latest ratings of power across the region.
The Lowy Institute’s Asia Power Index, published on Monday, also shows Australia’s standing has emerged unscathed from pandemic-era disruptions, unlike the region’s big players the US and China and many other countries.
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Continue reading...Was Beijing trying to sabotage talks with the US, monitor the speed of its military response, or just test Joe Biden’s mettle?
Now the Chinese balloon has been brought down in a puff of smoke and debris by a US air-launched missile, after perplexing Washington with its three-day odyssey over the continental United States, the question is: what was it all for?
Once the balloon was spotted, Beijing claimed it was a weather observation airship that had been blown off course, drawing a snort of derision from the Pentagon, which said the balloon was able to manoeuvre and had made some deliberate turns, bringing it at one point over Montana, home of some of the US arsenal of silo-based nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
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