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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.

In recent years, we have seen an influx of romantic comedies with Asian-American lead characters that have only made the concept more enjoyable and relatable, with titles like Crazy Rich Asians, ...

China’s surveillance balloons have flown over more than 40 countries and are directed by the Chinese military, the State Department said. The F.B.I. is studying debris.

Minister says payment will ‘draw a line’ under 2017 case related to claims of fraudulent textile imports
The UK government has paid £2.3bn to the EU as part of a long-standing dispute over textiles and footwear imported into the UK from China.
The final payment of £1.1bn, made this week, brings the case to a close.

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.

Chinese sensor maker Hesai Group's shares closed 10.8% percent higher on their first day of trade in New York after it raised $190 million in an upsized initial public offering (IPO), the largest U.S.

Also, new U.S. information about China’s spy balloon and North Korea’s newest missile.

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said no one in the briefing clarified whether American companies helped build the Chinese surveillance balloon, but the question was raised in the ...

Lawmakers in Texas, Florida, Arkansas and in Congress have proposed laws banning citizens of China from buying land, homes and other buildings in the United States.

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 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.