Tag: china

GOP-led Farm Bill Amendments Target Animal Tests in US, China, and Russia

New bipartisan amendments led by Republican lawmakers for the 2026 Farm Bill target USDA funding for animal tests in the U.S. and in adversarial nations, first uncovered by watchdog White Coat Waste.

The House Rules Committee is reviewing amendments now, and the full Farm Bill is expected to be voted on by the House during the week of April 27.

Two proposals submitted by Rep. Paul Gosar and cosponsored by Reps. Nancy Mace, Scott Perry, and Dina Titus would cut USDA funding for painful testing on dogs and cats, and prohibit the USDA from funding any animal tests “being conducted in, or performed in collaboration with” China, Russia, or other “countries of concern.”

The amendments result from White Coat Waste investigations in recent years that uncovered USDA funding for these kinds of animal tests and drew criticism and action from lawmakers and Trump Administration officials.

In 2024, White Coat Waste exposed USDA and National Institutes of Health funding for experiments at Cornell University that infected kittens with COVID and then killed them.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Senator Rand Paul featured the project in his Festivus waste report in 2024, citing White Coat’s work.

The USDA funding for Cornell’s COVID cat lab is set to run until May 31, 2026.

The group also uncovered USDA funding for deadly kitten testing at Auburn University.

The proposed Farm Bill amendment to defund foreign adversaries’ animal labs also follows a White Coat Waste investigation exposing how the Biden USDA funded a $1 million bird flu gain-of-function collaboration with Chinese researchers affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its CCP-controlled parent organization.

The grant drew scrutiny from Senator Joni Ernst and Rep. Ben Cline, and, as Gateway Pundit previously reported, last year, Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins cut funding for this dangerous animal research project and ended it early.

Keep reading

UK Biobank health data listed for sale in China, government confirms

Medical information of 500,000 participantsof one of the UK’s landmark scientific programmes, UK Biobank, were offered for sale online in China, the government has confirmed.

Technology minister Ian Murray said information of all members of the database was found listed for sale on the website Alibaba.

Murray told MPs the charity which runs UK Biobank had told the government about the breach on Monday. He said the information did not include names, addresses, contact details or telephone numbers.

However he said it could include gender, age, month and year of birth, socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits, and measures from biological samples.

The Biobank is a collection of health data offered by volunteers which has been used to help improvements in detection and treatment of dementia, some cancers and Parkinson’s.

It has collected intimate details – including whole body scans, DNA sequences and their medical records – from hundreds of thousands of volunteers for over two decades. The project has led to more than 18,000 scientific publications.

Participants were aged from 40 to 69 when they were recruited between 2006 and 2010.

UK Biobank said it was investigating the incident and thanked the UK and Chinese governments, as well as Alibaba, for support and cooperation.

“We understand that the existence of these listings, even temporarily, will be concerning to you,” Chief Executive Professor Sir Rory Collins said in a message to participants.

“We want to reassure you that all the data are de-identified; they do not contain any personally identifying information (such as names, addresses, dates of birth, and NHS numbers).”

Sir Rory told volunteers in his letter the data involved in the incident had been made available to researchers at three institutions.

He added the data was “swiftly” removed by Alibaba, following support from the UK and Chinese government, but the data’s appearance to a “clear breach of the contract signed by these academic institutions”.

“They, along with the individuals involved, have had their access suspended,” Sir Rory added.

Murray told MPs the government has been told no purchases were made from the three listings on the website.

Alibaba has been contacted for comment.

Keep reading

Chinese Scientists Have Been Dying Mysterious Deaths Too

The star of China’s booming artificial intelligence defense sector had been working on Taiwan invasion scenarios—until he died in an unexplained car crash in the early hours of the morning in Beijing, aged just 38.

Many questions remain over the July 1, 2023 death of Feng Yanghe, a professor at the National University of Defense Technology, who had won national competitions with his pioneering “War Skull” platform.

Such as, why did an obituary in the state-run science news website, Sciencenet.cn, say he was “sacrificed”? Why was the brilliant scientist from Gansu province buried in a special cemetery in Beijing for the Communist Party elite, state heroes, and revolutionary martyrs?

Yet as in the U.S., Feng’s death was just one of many unexpected deaths of top-flight scientists working in ultra-sensitive fields such as military AI, hypersonic weapons, and space defense, according to reports in Chinese and overseas Chinese media.

The phenomenon mirrors the wave of disappearances or deaths among American scientists that is now being investigated by Washington. In the U.S, there have been 11 cases, in China at least nine.

It’s prompted a disturbing question among some military analysts: Is there a silent “scientist war” going on?

Keep reading

Cells of Chinese nationals illegally in US use gift card fraud to fund CCP: ICE director

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons revealed on Thursday that transnational gangs within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have been defrauding the United States via a massive gift card scheme aimed at enriching the Chinese military. The matter was revealed following a Homeland Security Investigation (HSI).

Testifying before Congress, Lyons explained that the US is funding its own adversaries through gift card fraud committed by Chinese illegal aliens who unlawfully entered the United States under the Biden administration. He told lawmakers that the CCP has deployed its transnational criminal organizations to “wreak havoc” on the US.

“HSI actually broke the largest gift card fraud case ever, and it was from transnational gangs within the CCP that were sending that money back to military units in China. And that all came from gift card fraud here in the United States,” the ICE director said.

Lyons contended that “it was military-aged Chinese males who entered under the last administration…that were able to [send the gift cards] back to the People’s Republic of China.”

HSI’s operation “Project Red Hook” revealed how Chinese organized crime groups exploit gift cards to launder money. According to HSI, “organized criminal elements in China acquire gift cards through multiple fraudulent means. For example, gift cards are obtained by hacking US companies and targeting US citizens through romance and elder fraud schemes. The criminal elements then send the gift card data to multiple cells of Chinese nationals operating in the United States through a Chinese-based messaging platform.”

Keep reading

U.S., U.K. Lawmakers Finally Scrutinize China’s Use Of ‘Cultural Associations’ As Communist Fronts 

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department has long conducted intelligence-gathering and influence operations abroad by embedding itself in seemingly benign overseas organizations. These groups often operate in plain sight — shaping public opinion, supporting pro-Beijing policies, and sometimes interfering in election processes — while enjoying the legal protections and tax benefits afforded to nonprofit organizations in open societies.

For too long, Western governments largely ignored these activities. That may finally be changing. In recent days, bipartisan lawmakers in the United States and United Kingdom have taken concrete steps to demand greater accountability from organizations suspected of advancing Beijing’s agenda.

Hometown Associations and Marxist Groups in America

On April 8, 2026, House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano. They urged a thorough review of U.S. tax-exempt organizations linked to the CCP’s United Front that may be violating rules against political campaign intervention.

The letter builds on a February 2026 Ways and Means hearing that exposed how foreign actors exploit America’s nonprofit sector to sow division and distort political discourse. A key figure highlighted was Neville Roy Singham, an American tech entrepreneur now based in Shanghai and married to Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans. Fox Digital investigations show Singham has funneled more than $278 million into Marxist and far-left groups in the U.S., including The People’s Forum, to incite anti-American protests and create chaos in American cities, all while promoting pro-China propaganda.

The letter also spotlights the troubling transformation of Chinese “hometown associations.” Originally created to help immigrants from the same provinces or towns adapt to life in America, many have been co-opted by the United Front. A 2025 New York Times investigation identified more than 50 such groups in New York City alone that actively promote Beijing’s agenda — meeting regularly with Chinese consular officials, fundraising for and openly endorsing pro-Beijing candidates, and even mobilizing to unseat a New York state senator who attended a banquet with Taiwan’s president.

Many of these hometown groups operate as 501(c)(3) nonprofits, which are legally barred from significant political activity. Some leaders of hometown groups have gone even further, collaborating with Beijing’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

In 2023, the FBI arrested two officials from the America Changle Association in New York City for allegedly operating an illegal Chinese “police station” out of their offices to harass dissidents. Separately, former New York gubernatorial aide Linda Sun was arrested and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent; evidence presented in her case showed close coordination with leaders of major hometown associations in New York City, including the United Chinese Associations of the Eastern United States, which declared itself a foreign agent of China.

Highlighting these examples, Moolenaar and Smith urge both U.S. Treasury and the IRS to conduct “a thorough review of how tax-exempt organizations in the United States, which are influenced by foreign adversaries like the People’s Republic of China, are violating our laws and engaging in prohibited political campaign interventions that undermine our democracy and the integrity of the tax-exempt status for other organizations that are engaging in legitimate charitable purposes.”

Keep reading

Largest Gift Card Fraud in History: Illegal Chinese Males Biden Imported Bankrolling CCP Troops

A senior Homeland Security Investigations official outlined details of a large-scale fraud case involving gift cards and international criminal activity, while lawmakers raised concerns about the impact on victims and national security.

During an exchange with Rep. Ashley Hinson, Todd Lyons described how HSI identified and dismantled what he said was the largest gift card fraud operation uncovered by the agency, involving networks operating across international borders.

“What we’ve found is that it’s key for HSI to have the ability to work International,” Lyons said. “And that is with our partnership, again, as I spoke earlier about in the Indo Pacific region, that is key right now.”

Lyons said the investigation revealed connections to transnational criminal organizations tied to the Chinese Communist Party, which he described as a significant threat.

Keep reading

Report: China Supplying Iran with Anti-Aircraft Weapons to Aid in Fight Against US

A new report revealed that American officials believe China is helping Iran in the war with the United States and Israel.

According to The New York Times, U.S. intelligence agencies believe China sent shoulder-fired missiles to Iran. The weapons can be used to down low-flying planes.

The report said the intelligence has some uncertainty, and it is also not clear if Chinese missiles were used in Iran’s recent attacks on U.S. or Israeli targets.

The report said American officials believe China, which heavily controls its private sector, is allowing chemicals, fuel, and parts for weapons to be sent to Iran.

The report noted that sending missiles to America’s foe “would be a significant escalation and an indication that at least some of China’s leaders are working actively to bring about an American military defeat in a war that has engulfed the Middle East.”

A CNN report indicated that China is planning to send the missiles to Iran, and will route them through a third-party nation to cover up the shipment’s origin.

Keep reading

How Russia and China became the winners of Trump’s Iran war… with NATO, Europe and US losing out

After 40 days and 40 nights of fighting in the Middle East, both sides claimed victory as they entered into a fragile two-week ceasefire, the durability of which is still highly uncertain.

‘Total and complete victory,’ Trump insisted in a telephone interview with AFP after the ceasefire was announced on Tuesday. ‘100 per cent. No question about it.’

‘Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. A capital V military victory by any measure,’ defence secretary Pete Hegseth chimed in, adding: ‘Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it.’

But as the dust begins to settle, it is not entirely clear that the United States or Israel have accomplished their military objectives in Iran, or emerged better off since before the war.

The Islamic Republic, while severely militarily weakened, still retains a large quantity of undamaged missiles, and the regime has been destabilised but is still intact.

And despite Trump’s repeated demands for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or a ‘whole civilisation will die’, the vital waterway through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas is transported is still shutdown.

The two sides are also arguing about the terms of the accepted 10-point peace deal, with the White House insisting it bars Iran from having enriched uranium – a key tenet the regime denies. 

So amid this shaky pause in hostilities, which countries have emerged truly victorious, and who are the losers?  

Keep reading

Apple Removes Bitchat from China App Store at Cyberspace Administration Order

Apple deleted Bitchat from the China App Store, acting on a direct order from the Cyberspace Administration of China. Jack Dorsey, who created the app, posted a screenshot of Apple’s removal notice to X with a short caption: “bitchat pulled from the china app store.”

The notice Apple sent to Dorsey is almost a copy-paste of the one it sent to Damus three years earlier. The language is identical. The accusation is identical. The CAC determined that Bitchat violates Articles 3 of the Provisions on the Security Assessment of Internet-based Information Services with Attribute of Public Opinions or Capable of Social Mobilization.

That regulation, enacted in 2018, requires any online service capable of influencing public opinion or organizing collective action to undergo a government security assessment before going live. If a service hasn’t submitted to that assessment, the CAC can order it pulled.

It targets the capacity for “public opinions” and “social mobilization.” The Chinese government has decided that the ability to communicate outside state-approved channels is itself a security threat, and Apple consistently treats that determination as sufficient grounds for deletion.

Bitchat is a peer-to-peer messaging app that operates over Bluetooth mesh networks. It requires no internet connection, no phone number, no email address, and no user account.

Messages are end-to-end encrypted and stored only on the devices involved. There are no central servers to subpoena, no user databases to hand over, and no content moderation pipeline for the CAC to plug into.

Dorsey built the initial version over a single weekend in July 2025, coding it with Goose, Block’s open-source AI assistant. He published a white paper on GitHub and opened a TestFlight beta that hit its 10,000-user cap within hours.

That design is precisely the problem from Beijing’s perspective. China’s internet censorship apparatus depends on having a chokepoint.

Keep reading

Governor Silent as Chinese Cannabis Cartels Swallow Rural Maine — Some With Her Brother’s Help

On April 1, 2025, Somerset County sheriff’s deputies executed a warrant at a South Road property in Harmony and arrested Wenfeng Chen, 51, of Malden, Massachusetts. Inside, they found 1,405 marijuana plants, approximately 100 pounds of processed cannabis, a 9mm pistol, ammunition, and $1,600 in drug proceeds. Chen and his co-defendant, Xinwen Zhang, 71, of Boston, now face Class B felony charges — unlawful cultivation and drug trafficking — the kind of charges that can put you in prison for ten years, or get you deported.

It was the second time law enforcement had hit the same Harmony property. Deputies raided it in May 2024 and seized more than 1,200 plants, but no one was home.

Law enforcement would have to wait another eleven months to find Wenfeng Chen on the premises.

But one year before Chen was arrested with illicit drugs, cash, and a firearm, the Maine Wire photographed a 2017 Mercedes-Benz sedan bearing Massachusetts plates registered in Chen’s name at his Charles St. address in Malden, Mass.

The vehicle was parked at the site of a separate illicit cannabis grow, 51 Cider Hill Road in Corinna, where the local code enforcement officer had repeatedly denied requests from the owners to upgrade the electrical capacity because large-scale cannabis cultivation is illegal in that town.

Chen happened to share an address with Xiling Ou, 44, the man who owned the Corinna property until he gave it away, allegedly to his mother, Xiaoyu Lu of Guangdong Province, China.

The attorney who made that gift happen was Paul H. Mills — better known as the brother of Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), the woman currently vying for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination and a chance to square off against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.

Keep reading