The return of the White House’s free COVID-19 test kits also brings back something else: the “Made-in-China” label. The program, the fifth of its kind, allows each U.S. household to order up to four free tests online starting from Sept. 25, with shipments delivered through the United States Postal Service without charge. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it has awarded $600 million to 12 “domestic COVID-19 test manufacturers” to produce 200 million tests to replenish government stockpiles in addition to meeting the demands from orders on COVIDTests.gov. But while the department described the spending as part of “critical investments in U.S. manufacturing” meant to “improve preparedness for COVID-19 and other pandemic threats of the future” and “strengthen the nation’s capacity to manufacture tests,” more than half of the funding has flowed to companies with connections back in China....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/millions-of-made-in-china-covid-test-kits-are-making-their-way-to-american-homes-5502680
MANILA, Philippines—Three Filipino fishermen died in the disputed South China Sea after their boat was accidentally hit by a passing commercial vessel, the Philippine Coast Guard said Wednesday. The fishermen’s boat, F/B Dearyn, was moored in a fishing area in the high seas off the northwestern Philippines when it was hit before dawn on Monday by the passing vessel and capsized, killing its skipper and two crew members. Three other fishermen aboard the Dearyn survived, the Coast Guard said. Eight other men were fishing separately on board smaller boats at the time of the accident, officials said. Due to adverse weather conditions and the darkness, “the crew on board the mother boat failed to detect an unidentified vessel approaching, resulting in a collision that caused the mother boat to capsize,” the Coast Guard said.... 
Two senators from the Republican and Democrat parties announced they’re seeking answers from Chinese-owned video-sharing platform TikTok after it hired several high-level executives from its Chinese company ByteDance. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in a letter (pdf) on Tuesday that the hirings “further [call] into question the independence of TikTok’s operations and the security of its U.S. users’ information.” The Wall Street Journal recently reported that many high-level executives have moved from ByteDance to TikTok since the start of the year, moving from China to the United States, the senators noted in their letter....
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Oct. 3 sanctions against 28 individuals and entities involved in a network that sends foreign fentanyl over the nation’s borders. The Justice Department (DOJ) also unsealed eight indictments against China-based chemical manufacturing companies and employees involved in fentanyl production. Sanctions The 14 entities and 14 individuals are responsible for manufacturing and distributing fentanyl, methamphetamine, and ingredients used to make MDMA, as well as trafficking potent drugs often mixed with fentanyl and other drugs. The majority of those sanctioned are in China. Two entities and one individual were based in Canada....