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China FTA
China will remove barriers to Australian farm produce exports, while Australia will remove tariffs on most goods and institute a higher threshold for scrutiny of private Chinese investment,in a new trade agreement signed as a “declaration of intent” yesterday.
Chinese president Xi Jinping told federal parliament yesterday that although some may be suspicious of “the big guy in the crowd”, the nation is committed to peace.
Tony Abbott has lauded a part of the speech he interpreted as a commitment to a fully democratic China, but experts suggest he misunderstood Xi’s comments and was praising an aside no different from the presidents previous remarks on the topic.
Australian news and politics
• Refugees on Nauru have been threatened by locals, told to stop stealing jobs and to leave the island or face “bad things happening”.
• PUP senator Jacqui Lambie has begun voting down Coalition bills, saying she will continue to vote against the government until defence force personnel get a fair pay rise.
• NSW and Victoria are regressing on renewable energy investment, a new report says; South Australia is now the most favourable state with 36% of its energy already coming from clean sources.
• The habitats of 140 threatened Australian species are not being protected, the WWF has found, including the hairy-nosed wombat and the green sawfish.
• CSIRO has retrenched 75 staff in the agency’s flagship “impact science” division, with manufacturing research hardest hit.
• Amid a rising epidemic of Indigenous suicide, grassroots organisations are calling for prevention strategies to focus on reconnecting people with their country and culture.
Around the world
• Russian president Vladimir Putin has suggested that the west is provoking Russia into a new Cold War, after tit-for-tat expulsions of German and Polish diplomats and the deportation of a Latvian accused of spying.
• The propaganda video released on Sunday by Islamic State boasts of an influx of foreign recruits; a human rights activist suggests young Australians travelling to join the group have naively bought into a fictional fantasy fuelled by social media.
• More than 35m people around the world are affected by modern slavery, according to a new report.
• Bird flu has been confirmed on a duck farm in the UK, and scientists are investigating whether the outbreak is linked to a highly contagious strain in chickens in the Netherlands.
• A Sierra Leone surgeon brought to the US for treatment has died from Ebola, as the US nurse quarantined after returning to the country criticises politicians for exploiting public fears for personal gain.
More from around the web
• Among the most read on the Guardian this morning: the internet activist group Anonymous has taken over the Ku Klux Klan’s Twitter account.
• Labor has extended its lead over the Coalition in the latest Newspoll, with support for the party jumping to a nine-month high, the Australian reports.
• Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced ABC annual funding cuts of 5% over five years, and defended them on Q&A yesterday evening, the ABC reports.
• Investors in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp have revolted against the governing structure which allows the Murdoch family to control 40% of the company’s votes despite owning 12% of the stock, the SMH reports.
• Several groups of financial professionals have targeted the ballot for tables at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in Melbourne, scamming the system to get more than 100 bookings under false names, Good Food via the Age reports.
One last thing
Clive Gifford’s book Eye Benders: The Science of Seeing and Believing has just won the Royal Society Young People’s book prize. Here he selects some of his favourite optical illusions from the book.
Have an excellent day – and if you spot something I’ve missed, let me know in the comments here or on Twitter @newsmary.
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