and during those interviews, they were asked about cheng lei. here's bill birtles again.you wanted evidence about her case. so they did ask me about that, they also asked me about hong kong national security law and, when i report on that, what sort of channels do i go to to get my information? there was also a bit of back—and—forth about the general australia—china relationship. you just got the general sense from the whole process that this was all part of a bigger political game — and myself and mike smith, the otherjournalist, we were simply small pawns in a much bigger dispute. now we should definitely see this story in the context of worsening relations between australia and china. and there are a number of reasons behind this. australia has raised concerns over china's treatment of uighur muslims and over its treatment of pro—democracy activists in hong kong. australia has also banned the chinese company huawei from involvement in building australia's 5g network, and it's stopped australian state governments from doing business deals with beijing independently. and

cheng lei describes herself as an anchor and host with the company. stralia's foforeign minister maurice payne said in a statatement thahat cheng had be detained in mid august. she said an ofofficial from m h government had spoken to cheng by video link last week and that cameras providing assistance for her and her family. the reason for her detention is unclear. the move is expected to put strain on the relationship between the two countries. beijing reacting sharply for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus earlier this year. tensions are also running high over developments in hong kong. >>> a survey of japanese immigrants and their descendants has found that younger generations tend to have a strong awareness of their ethnic heritage. the nippon foundation started looking into this last year. they received about 3,800 responses from nikkei as these people are known in japanese, in the u.s., brazil and elsewhere. among respondents aged 18 to 35, three-quarters said they had a strong sense of japanese heritage. 19% called it aver

it's also of great concern for cheng lei and her family and of course, those concerns are widespread in australia. also a reminder of the rapid deterioration of relations between canberra and beijing. mackenzie in beijing. this comes over the last couple days after we saw the last two remaining australian journalists working for australian news outlets in china, being taken out of china under diplomatic assistance. let's get you the first word news with karina mitchell in new york. karina: the bank of thailand governor says the government is the only sector that can help stimulate the economy right now. speaking exclusively with bloomberg's haslinda amin, the central bank chief said public that restrictions should be eased to allow the government to spend more. thailand's benchmark interest rate has been cut three times and is at a record low. >> the problem now is not so much of the liquidity. -- illiquidity. we have to focus on insolvency problems that occur. europe, a steady rise in new coronavirus cases as people return from holidays and the weather cools down. france reported 60

it's understood cheng lei, who works for the chinese state broadcaster cgtn, was arrested two weeks agocountries have become strained, after australia led calls for an official investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in china. lebanon's prime minister—designate, mustapha adib, has called for a government to be formed in record time. his nomination comes almost a month after a massive chemical explosion devastated much of beirut, plunging the country deeper into a political and financial crisis. lebanon was already on the verge of bankruptcy. his appointment came hours before french president emmanuel macron arrived for his second visit within a month, to press for reforms and action to tackle corruption and waste. following his nomination, mradib immediately paid a symbolic visit to parts of beirut worst affected by that huge explosion at the port. here's a little of what he had to say about the challenges he faces. translation: the opportunity before our country is limited, and the task i have accepted is based on the fact that all political forces are aware of the n

if somebody like cheng lei can be arrested, working for state media, then of course anybody can be arrestedturning our focus to trade, the administration from australia, the foreign relations bill has come under some criticism, lauded by others. could this be overkill given the potential oversight? there is the context of australia's measures to resist the chinese economy and australia. it is a program that began three years ago. while the federal government can put in place measures to increase police and intelligence services, we have a big problem in the state and local government and institutions like universities. accept beijing is interfering on campuses. the federal government says it is an issue of national sovereignty. china has a strong influence on victoria's state government. we need to be able to intervene and make sure and the agreements we have with china are in the national interests. they don't want them to influence australian politics. sophie: what could be the next shoe to drop in this tit-for-tat situation between china and australia? clive: tit-for-tat, is that what it

departments recently took compulsory measures in accordance with the law against australian national cheng leind interests are all receiving full legal protection. the treatment of chung lay prompted australia's government to warn bill birtles and mike smith to leave. they then took refuge in the australian embassy for four days while diplomatic negotiations secured their freedom. but they weren't allowed to leave china without submitting to police interviews first. and during those interviews they were asked about chung lay. here's bill birtles again. it did know her particularly well. it didn't really seem like i would be the most logical person to interrogate if you wanted evidence about her case. so they did ask me about that, they also asked me about hong kong national security law and, when i report on that, what sort of channels do i go to to get my information? there was also a bit of back—and—forth about the general australia—china relationship. you just got the general sense from the whole process that this was all part of a bigger political game — and myself and mike smith, the othe

what we know is that australia found out on august 14 that cheng lei had been detained.th her on august 27, according to australia's foreign minister. but so far, there no indication charged orshe's been under what kind of condition she's being held. australia is obviously trying to work out a way of providing further diplomatic assistance to her and the government says they are supporting her family as well. so as you say, is the latest in a line of escalating tensions between the two nations, which peaked a little while ago when prime minister scott morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, which was discovered in wuhan. australia has banned huawei from participating in its 5g network legislationlagged that would blunt any investment in china's belt and road initiative. there's a lot of assertive comments coming out from both sides on this and it remains to of thishow the arrest australian citizen will play out in this broader dispute. turning to india, we have had a couple months of quiet on its border with china. what happened to

you mention cheng lei, as you say, she is a respected business journalist, australian citizen, basedbout what might happen to you? i was less concerned for a couple of reasons. the first is that if you have six or seven state security people at your door at midnight that is probably when you are most likely to be detained and i wasn't. the other thing is, too, unfortunately for cheng lei, she does work for chinese government media, whereas it would be more of a diplomatic escalation if you actually detained a foreign media journalist. so i thought it was unlikely that this unprecedented step will take place and it didn't, i wasn't detained, but even the act of putting an exit ban on a foreign journalist, demanding that a foreign journalist submit to an interview with ministry of state security officials, that too is unprecedented. let's get more on a local lockdown in the county of caerphilly in south wales. it will take effect this evening, after 98 new coronavirus cases were reported there in the last week. let's talk to the wales health and social care minister, vaughan gething. h