Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu charged after allegedly smuggling a fungus to US that can cause serious illness and billions of dollars in crop losses

Two Chinese scientists have been charged with smuggling a toxic fungus into the United States that they planned to research at an American university, the justice department has said.

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of Michigan said in a statement on Tuesday.

The justice department said the pair conspired to smuggle a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the United States that causes “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice.

The fungus is classified in scientific literature as a “potential agroterrorism weapon,” the FBI said, and causes billions of dollars in losses each year.

Potential ‘agroterrorism weapon’ fungus smuggled into US by Chinese scientists, FBI alleges

^{Guardian staff reporter (The Guardian)}

Footage of the crash circulating in the aftermath clearly suggests an issue with the plane’s flaps. Ahmed Busnaina, a university distinguished professor, says the engine might have been the problem.

What could have caused the fatal Air India crash? An airplane engineer weighs in

Engine failure is one possibility, according to Ahmed Busnaina, an airplane engineer who studied the design of jet engines.

^{Tanner Stening (Northeastern Global News)}

Footage of the crash circulating in the aftermath clearly suggests an issue with the plane’s flaps. Ahmed Busnaina, a university distinguished professor, says the engine might have been the problem.

What could have caused the fatal Air India crash? An airplane engineer weighs in

Engine failure is one possibility, according to Ahmed Busnaina, an airplane engineer who studied the design of jet engines.

^{Tanner Stening (Northeastern Global News)}

The Trump administration has submitted a budget proposal to Congress, calling for an increase in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s annual spending on weapons activities from $19 billion allocated this year to $30 billion by fiscal year 2026.

The Trump administration’s request comes amid efforts to cut budgets at other science-focused agencies, including NASA, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science Foundation.

The White House’s budget plan proposes reducing the National Science Foundation’s funding from $8.8 billion in 2025 to $3.9 billion the following year.

In a statement, a Trump administration official said, “The President’s budget strengthens U.S. leadership in research and development by ensuring federal funding goes toward legitimate research rather than wasteful spending.”

To support this stance, the official cited the example of the $100 million “Environmental Justice Fund” at the Environmental Protection Agency.

The justification document sent to Congress states that the security agency aims to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal and “protect the American people.” It claims the weapons budget supports a “safe, secure, and effective” arsenal, provides nuclear propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy, and upgrades nuclear facilities across the research and production complex. It also notes that nuclear weapons funding will go toward six simultaneous warhead modernization programs, including the sea-launched nuclear cruise missile.

But will escalating nuclear weapons truly provide greater security and mutually beneficial cooperation between nations, rather than investing in our social, technological, and scientific development?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/science/nuclear-weapons-budget-nnsa-trump.html

Date of 4 June remains one of China’s strictest taboos, with government using increasingly sophisticated tools to censor its discussion

There is no official death toll but activists believe hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed by China’s People’s Liberation Army in the streets around Tiananmen Square, Beijing’s central plaza, on 4 June 1989.

The date of 4 June remains one of China’s strictest taboos, and the Chinese government employs extensive and increasingly sophisticated resources to censor any discussion or acknowledgment of it inside China. Internet censors scrub even the most obscure references to the date from online spaces, and activists in China are often put under increased surveillance or sent on enforced “holidays” away from Beijing.

New research from human rights workers has found that the sensitive date also sees heightened transnational repression of Chinese government critics overseas by the government and its proxies.

World won’t forget Tiananmen Square, US and Taiwan say on 36th anniversary of massacre

^{Helen Davidson (The Guardian)}