In a shocking incident, a family from Perth, Australia, was served insect killer as juice at a restaurant. The couple Marcus and Michele Lemin had ordered cranberry juice for their daughters at Miky’s Italian Restaurant on June 28, as per a report in the New York Post. The incident is now being investigated by health authorities.

However, Hannah and Olivia, aged 11 and 12, were horrified and spat the drink. Michele Lemin said, “My daughters just went to gulp it down and they both spat the cranberry juice out and said ‘It’s poisoned’. I said don’t be silly, and took the glass, and I went to gulp it down and then spat it out.”

Now, the worried parents claim they were given a pink mixture of lamp oil and citronella torch. Marcus Lemin smelled the liquid and requested to see the bottle it came from. He said the employees first declined, stating it was only “old cranberry juice.”

However, he ultimately got the bottle from the refrigerator. The man said he was given an insecticide with citronella from the beverages refrigerator. The bottle was labelled “plus Bifenthrin” and included a warning, according to the report. “The manager didn’t want to give my husband the bottle, and another waiter stood up and told everyone that everything was okay,” Michelle said.

The family was rushed to the hospital where they suffered several symptoms and were kept under observation for six hours. The mother continued, “My daughters’ … stomachs were burning, their fingers and hands were tingling. They had a headache … it was awful.”

Twelve-year-old Hannah told 9News that it was “really disgusting, and how you would expect insect repellant to taste”. Olivia added, “It felt like somebody had poured fire on your stomach and it felt like you had pins and needles in your arms and legs.”

A complaint has been registered with the Health Department and the local council. The restaurant stated that it was investigating the incident. A staff member told 9News the situation was “very concerning”. “All about this is under investigation, and when I know exactly (what happened), I will let you know,” he said.

An Australian woman who owns a gym faked her own death to claim a nearly $500,000 insurance payout as part of an elaborate scheme where she posed as her partner. According to the New York Post, the woman, identified as 42-year-old Karen Salkilld, was arrested in March after filing the insurance claim in her partner’s name, falsely saying she had died in a car accident. The claim included a series of fabricated documents, including a death certificate, a Coroner’s Court of Western Australia delegate letter and an investigation record into a death. 

The Post reported that the insurance company transferred $477,520 into a bank account that the 42-year-old had set up in her partner’s name. In the following days, the fitness instructor made several payments from the account. However, the scheme began to unravel when Ms Salkilld’s bank flagged and subsequently froze the suspicious account. 

Then, in a desperate bid to access the funds, Ms Salkilld visited Palmyra Police Station with several forms of ID that had been certified by an officer. However, as these copies were altered before being submitted to the bank, they didn’t pass the verification process. 

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Approached by Nine News in a car park in Perth, she was asked: “Why did you fake your own death?” Startled, she then replied: “What the hell? Who are you guys? I’m not talking to you guys.”

The reporter went on: “How did you think you could get away with it? You’re charged with serious fraud offences.” Ms Salkilld then responded, “Is this a joke?”.

Ms Salkilld was arrested in March and pleaded guilty to the two offences in her first appearance in front of a magistrate. She faces up to seven years in jail for offences of gains benefit by fraud and intent to defraud knowingly using any record which is false. She is due to be sentenced in Perth District Court next month.

China’s Premier Li Qiang inspects a hydrogen refuelling truck as Executive Chairman of Fortescue Andrew Forrest (C) looks on at the Fortescue Hazelmere research and development facility in Hazelmere, a suburb of Perth on June 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has ended his Australian tour on June 18 in the west coast city of Perth where he has focused on China’s investment in critical minerals, clean energy and business links.

Perth is the capital of Western Australia State, which provided 39% of the world’s iron ore last year. Iron ore is one of Australia’s most lucrative exports. Analysts say the commodity was spared the type of trade bans that Beijing imposed on other Australian exports as bilateral relations soured three years ago because the steel-making ingredient was crucial to Chinese industrial growth.

Last week, Mr. Li became the first Chinese premier to visit New Zealand then Australia in seven years. He left Perth late on June 18 for Malaysia, where he’ll be China’s first premier to visit since 2015.

While in Perth, China’s second-most powerful leader after President Xi Jinping inspected iron ore miner Fortescue’s clean energy research facility.

Fortescue’s chairman Andrew Forrest said Mr.Li was interested in the company’s plans to produce iron ore without carbon emissions and potentially “green iron.” “I think China chose us because it’s not just the best technology to go green in Australia, it’s the best technology to go green in the world and we’ve got real examples of it in trains, ship engines, trucks,” Forrest told The Associated Press before the visit.

The Perth facility is testing technology on hydrogen, ammonia and batter power for trains, ships, trucks and heavy mining equipment.

Focuses on Critical Minerals

Mr. Li also visited Chinese-controlled Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia’s processing plant south of Perth to underscore China’s interest in investing in critical minerals. The plant produces battery-grade lithium hydroxide for electric vehicles.

Australia shares U.S. concerns over China’s global dominance in critical minerals and control over supply chains in the renewable energy sector.

Citing Australia’s national interests, Treasurer Jim Chalmers recently ordered five Chinese-linked companies to divest their shares in the rare earth mining company Northern Minerals.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote in an opinion piece published in Perth’s main newspaper, The West Australian, on June 18, that his government was acting to ensure foreign investment “continues to serve our national interests.”

“This includes reforming the foreign investment framework so that it’s more efficient, more transparent and more effective at managing risk,” Mr. Albanese wrote.

Mr. Forrest said the national risk from Chinese investment in the critical minerals sector was overstated.

“Australia should be producing all the critical minerals in the world because we’re a great mining country, so by all means let’s go in harder after critical minerals, but let’s not do it with panic because there is no reason for panic,” Mr. Forrest said.

Mr. Qiang and Mr. Albanese flew to Perth in separate planes late on June 17 from the national capital Canberra where the two leaders held an official annual meeting with senior ministers in Parliament House.

Both leaders attended a round table of business leaders in Perth representing resource companies including mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black said business dialogue was essential to the bilateral relations between the two free trading partners.

“While there have been challenging times in the bilateral relationship between the two nations, I think it’s fair to say this is another positive point of progress,” Black told the meeting.

“It shows that whilst the parameters of a bilateral relationship are set by governments, they will always be sustained by the quality of the personal relationships and especially those personal relationships that subsist on a business-to-business level,” Black added.

Chinese premiers and Australian prime ministers met annually from 2013 until 2019, after which Beijing banned minister-to-minister contacts over the previous conservative government’s call for an independent investigation into the causes of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Relations had already been strained by Australian legislation that banned covert foreign interference in Australian politics and the exclusion of Chinese-owned telecommunications giant Huawei from rolling out the national 5G network due to securit

Beijing initiated a reset in relations after Mr.Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party was elected in 2022.

The annual meetings resumed when Mr. Albanese visited Beijing in November last year.

Concerns over press freedom

Mr. Albanese revealed that his office had complained to the Chinese Embassy about the behavior of two officials during a media event with the two leaders after June 17th meeting.

Australia had “concerns” about two Chinese officials who stood in the way of cameras taking images of well-known Australian journalist Cheng Lei sitting with other reporters as the leaders spoke, Mr. Albanese said.

Mrs. Cheng spent more than three years in detention in China for breaking an embargo with a broadcast on a state-run TV network while she was based in Beijing. She was released last year after interventions by the Australian government and now works for Sky News Australia.

“When you look at the footage, it was a pretty clumsy attempt, frankly, by a couple of people to stand in between where the cameras were and where Mrs. Cheng Lei was sitting,” Mr. Albanese said.

“There should be no impediments to Australian journalists going about their job and we’ve made that clear to the Chinese Embassy,” Mr. Albanese added.

Chinese-born Cheng told Sky News on June 17 that the officials “went to great lengths to block me from the cameras and to flank me.” “I’m only guessing that it’s to prevent me from saying something or doing something that they think would be a bad look. But that in itself was a bad look,” Mrs. Cheng said.

The embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Li and Mr. Albanese made statements during the press event but neither took questions from the assembled journalists.