The 28-year-old crashed into a police vehicle parked outside a Sydney police station on Tuesday, causing significant damage, according to a police statement. Around an hour later, police pulled the man over and searched his van.
During the search, police found removal boxes that contained 273 kilograms (600 pounds) of methamphetamine.
Police estimated that the drugs had a street value of over 200 million Australian dollars -- or $140 million in US dollars.
The man has been charged with large commercial drug supply and negligent driving. Police are also conducting a forensic examination of the van.
Last month, Australian authorities made the country's largest onshore methamphetamine seizure when police found 1.6 tons of drugs hidden in a shipment of stereo speakers from Thailand.
Authorities said the record drug bust had an estimated street value of $1.2 billion Australian dollars, which is equivalent to $837 million US dollars. Along with meth, 37 kilograms of heroin was also found stashed in vacuumed-sealed packages inside the speakers.
In January, US authorities confiscated almost a billion dollars' worth of methamphetamine bound for Australia, in the largest-ever seizure of the drug on American soil, Australian police announced after a joint operation. In that seizure, the drugs were found hidden inside electronic equipment.
A suspected drug carrier has been arrested after crashing a van packed with A$200m (£112m; $140m) of methamphetamine into a patrol car parked outside a police station in Sydney, Australia.
The 28-year-old driver hit the police car at speed, crushing its bonnet, on Monday before racing off.
Police caught him an hour later in Eastwood, a suburb in the city's north.
A search of the van uncovered 273kg of meth.
Authorities said no-one was injured in the crash, but the police car had "sustained significant damage".
Crystal meth, which is known locally as ice, has been described as the most common and damaging illegal drug in Australia.
The price of crystal meth in Australia is among the highest in the world, driving the country's organised crime gangs to trade increasingly in the drug.
The man, who has not been named, faced court on Tuesday charged with drug supply and negligent driving offences.
The Australian women’s run of success continued tonight in the final of the 400 free relay, as they won the World title in a new Championship Record of 3:30.21.
The team of Bronte Campbell, Brianna Throssell, Emma McKeon and Cate Campbellcombined to lower their previous mark of 3:31.48 set at the 2015 Championships in Kazan, and fell just 0.16 seconds outside of the world record they set at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Throssell is the only team member that wasn’t on that 2015 relay, as Emily Seebohm led them off. She was also a last-minute replacement to the team this year, at least on the finals relay, after Shayna Jackwithdrew from the competition a week ago. Jack was a member of the world record team last year and had been a lifetime best 53.18 at their Trials in June.
SPLIT COMPARISON – CR
Australia, 2015
Australia, 2019
Seebohm – 53.92
B.Campbell – 52.85
McKeon – 53.57
Throssell – 53.34
B.Campbell – 51.77
McKeon – 52.57
C.Campbell – 52.22
C.Campbell – 51.45
3:31.48
3:30.21
This time also stands up as the #2 performance of all-time trailing their world record from last year. Compared to that swim, Cate Campbell was close to half a second slower on the anchor leg today, while McKeon was over four-tenths faster swimming third:
SPLIT COMPARISON – WR
Australia, 2018 – WR
Australia, 2019 – CR
Jack – 54.03
B.Campbell – 52.85
B.Campbell – 52.03
Throssell – 53.34
McKeon – 52.99
McKeon – 52.57
C.Campbell – 51.00
C.Campbell – 51.45
3:30.05
3:30.21
The Aussie women now hold the Olympic, World Championship, Commonwealth, and Pan Pac titles in this event. They had lost their World crown in 2017, as the American women won in the absence of Cate.
SYDNEY -- New Zealand's Sunfed Meats made its international debut when it began selling its "Chicken Free Chicken" in Australia, following U.S. rival Beyond Meat into one of the world's most carnivorous countries.
Sunfed founder Shama Sukul Lee is confident that the move is just a first step for the Auckland-based imitation meat maker, which eventually plans to expand across Asia.
Global meat consumption grew 58% over 20 years to reach 360 million tons in 2018, according to a forecast by the OECD. That growth, however, has sparked concerns about the safety and sustainability of animal farming -- particularly in China, where a swine fever epidemic has decimated herds.
Such concerns, Lee believes, will give Sunfed an advantage in wooing consumers.
"Meat is the new tobacco, the new fossil fuel of the food world," she told the Nikkei Asian Review. "It is a risky business and for too long, all we've been doing around the world is to scale up and exploit our resources. ... At Sunfed, we don't want to be a new problem. We are a regenerative protein company, using pulses like yellow peas that are environmentally sustainable, enrich the soil and have a minimal water footprint."
Lee, a former software engineer, set up Sunfed with her husband Hayden Lee in 2015, and in 2016 secured seed capital from U.S. and U.K. investors to commercialize their protein product in New Zealand.
Sunfed Meats CEO Shama Sukul Lee says her plant-based protein product represents the "next generation" of food. (Photo courtesy of Sunfed Meats)
Sunfed raised 10 million New Zealand dollars ($6.7 million) last November in a fundraising round led by Sydney-based Blackbird Ventures. This enabled the company to expand to Australia in June, when it began selling Chicken Free Chicken in Coles supermarkets across the country.
The Lees now hold a 58% stake, while Blackbird has 11%. Other backers include Australian angel investor Chris Hadley, New Zealand retailer and "green" investor Sir Stephen Tindall's K1W1 Fund and the New Zealand government's Venture Investment Fund.
Imitation meat is still a tiny fraction of the size of the conventional meat industry, which is worth $1.4 trillion globally. The market for plant-based meat substitutes was worth just $4.2 billion in 2017, according to a recent report by Portland, Oregon-based Allied Market Research, though that figure is expected to grow to $7.5 billion by 2025, with the fastest growth -- about 7% annually -- to come from Asia.
Lee says Sunfed's foray into Australia has been encouraging.
"Consumer reaction has been really good. Demand has surpassed our projections and is mimicking what happened in New Zealand." The company launched Chicken Free Chicken in its home market in July 2017.
A Coles spokesperson said its range of chilled health foods had registered double-digit growth in the past year and that customers were "delighted" to see more meat-alternative products on its shelves.
Still, price may be an issue for some shoppers. Sunfed's 300-gram "chicken" pack sells for A$10, or about A$33 per kilogram. A fresh chicken sells in the same supermarket for A$8 a kilogram.
Lee, however, says she is not concerned about the price differential. "Our chicken product goes further -- it has double the protein, so that in terms of bang for your buck, it does pack quite a punch."
Lee is also optimistic about Sunfed's future expansion in Asia, noting that New Zealand and Australia enjoy a high level of trust in the region for producing safe, clean food. "We have spent the last four years building our technology. We use a clean water process with no chemicals, and we have designed our infrastructure so that we can scale up rapidly," she said.
Scaling up will help address the price issue, Lee added, saying it is only a matter of time before Sunfed's product is cheaper than chicken. "Our plant-based protein product is fundamentally more cost-efficient and is continually getting better. We are inherently more competitive" than animal protein.
Beyond Meat, which sells its made-from-peas Beyond Burger in Coles supermarkets, is also making inroads in Australia's high-value food market.
U.S.-based Beyond Meat brought its pea-based Beyond Burger to Australian supermarkets late last year. (Photo by Geoff Hiscock)
Like Sunfed, the U.S. company is bullish on the outlook for its plant-based burger patties, ground meat and sausages, particularly in Asia. Chief financial officer Mark Nelson told analysts last month that Beyond Meat will aggressively target Asia, a market he said has a "desperate need" for its products.
Australia is one of the most meat-hungry countries in the world -- per capita consumption in 2018 topped 100 kg, according to a recent OECD forecast -- but it also has a growing number of consumers willing to try alternatives.
According to research firm Roy Morgan, 14% of Australians are "metrotechs" -- young, culturally diverse urbanites with a high level of social awareness -- and nearly a fifth of those embrace vegan and vegetarian food. This makes Australia an ideal testing ground for plant-based food makers to fine-tune their products before launching in Asian megamarkets such as China, India and Indonesia.
As consumer demand for plant-based meat alternatives grows, U.S.-based nonprofit Good Food Institute says the next opportunity is in building supply chains and lifting production capacity. The institute's food service analyst Zak Weston said recently, "Over and over again, from producers to investors, what we're hearing is that production capacity is where the real need is."
Scaling up production will be a big challenge. The institute estimates that plant-based meat is just 1% of the U.S. meat market, and about a tenth of a percent of the global market.
Lee is undeterred. She says Sunfed can be financially viable not only in developed countries but also in low-income, high-population parts of the world. "We represent the next generation of food," she said.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) —Ben Simmons‘ new contract extension with the Philadelphia 76ers came with bad news for Australian basketball fans: The Melbourne-born NBA All-star won’t play for the Boomers at the World Cup.
Hours after Simmons and the 76ers agreed to a $170 million, five-year contract extension on Tuesday, Simmons said he preferred to spend time with his new teammates in September instead of travelling to China for the Aug. 31-Sept. 15 World Cup.
“I wanted to let everyone know that after consulting with my representation, I’ve made the difficult decision to forego playing in the World Cup in China,” Simmons said in a statement.
“Ultimately, we decided it was best that I use the time in September to return to Philadelphia to acquaint myself with my new teammates and prepare for the upcoming NBA season.”
Simmons had been selected for Australia’s World Cup squad and had earlier indicated he planned to play the tournament in China.
He now plans to play only for the Boomers in two exhibition games against the United States in Melbourne on Aug. 22 and 24 at a stadium that is expected to be sold out – 50,000 fans – for each game. He also said the Olympics next year in Tokyo remain on his schedule.
“I will still be heading back home to Australia to host my camps as well as train and play with the Boomers in the upcoming exhibition games,” Simmons said. “I’m really excited about the talent we have on the Boomers squad, especially moving closer to 2020 where I will be honored and humbled to represent my country on the world’s biggest sporting stage at the Olympics in Tokyo.”
Simmons was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2016. He made his NBA debut in the 2017-18 season and was the Rookie of the Year. He was an All-Star for the first time last season. He has averaged 16.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.9 assists in his two seasons.
The Australian government has called on China to allow an ethnic Uighur mother and son to leave the country, following a public plea from the child's father.
Rights groups say China is holding about a million Uighurs and other Muslims in detention camps. China says they are "vocational training centres".
Sadam Abudusalamu, an ethnically Uighur Australian, has called for his wife and toddler son - whom he has never met - to be allowed to join him in Sydney.
China has not commented on the request.
Mr Abudusalamu successfully obtained Australian citizenship for his son Lutfy - who is almost two - earlier this year. Lutfy's mother, Nadila Wumaier, is a Chinese national.
The 29-year-old man has spent months campaigning to be reunited with his family, but did not reveal his identity until this week - when he gave an interview on public broadcaster ABC.
Since then, Mr Abudusalamu said his wife had been briefly detained and released by Chinese authorities in the far western region of Xinjiang.
On Wednesday, Australian embassy officials in Beijing formally requested that Ms Wumaier and Lutfy be permitted to come to Australia.
Mr Abudusalamu told the BBC he felt positive about Australia's diplomatic efforts, but "as a father and husband I still need more".
He said that included his hopes for Australian and Chinese ministers to talk directly, and for Australian officials to be given access to his son in the city of Urumqi.
The letter cited reports of "large-scale places of detention, as well as widespread surveillance and restrictions, particularly targeting Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang".
China has consistently rejected such allegations and argues it is trying to combat extremism in the region.
Last week UN ambassadors from 37 countries, including North Korea, Russia and Saudi Arabia, released a counter letter defending China policies in Xinjiang.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said her nation did not have consular access to Ms Wumaier because she was a Chinese citizen.
