Nicki Shamel has been named as Head of TuneCore in the US.
The exec’s appointment to the new US-focused role at the Believe-owned distribution company was announced on Thursday (July 24) by Brian Miller, TuneCore’s Chief Revenue Officer, to whom she will report.
She will be based in TuneCore’s headquarters in New York.
According to TuneCore, Shamel’s appointment arrives as the company “sharpens its focus on artist development” and marks a “strategic move to deepen the company’s impact in the US”.
As Head of TuneCore, US, Shamel is responsible for managing the platform’s artist roster, and will “champion the TuneCore suite of products and services to aid independent artists”, including TuneCore Accelerator and TuneCore’s ‘Advanced Trends and Analytics’ dashboard.
TuneCore released its trends and analytics dashboard in February, which it said is “designed to equip artists with deeper insights and performance metrics to accelerate their growth”.
The company reported in February that tracks within its ‘Accelerator’ platform clocked 21 billion streams in 2024, with the number of artists on the program nearing 450,000.
Shamel will also oversee a team of employees focused on artist acquisition, growth and development strategy throughout the United States.
TuneCore said she would play a key role in “aligning TuneCore’s Artist Success and DSP Partnerships teams to better serve the company’s artists.”
Prior to joining TuneCore, Shamel served as Senior Vice President at AWAL, where she built and expanded the Global Commercial Partnerships team and spearheaded the company’s digital strategy across major DSPs, including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and other key global platforms.
According to TuneCore, in this role, she “drove high-impact global partnerships, helped shape AWAL’s positioning in the streaming ecosystem, and elevated the careers of Laufey, Jungle, and Little Simz, among others”.
Shamel joined AWAL following seven years at Sony Music, serving in international marketing and sales roles.
She began her career in digital marketing at Primary Wave Music.
“The US is the most competitive and influential music market in the world, and it demands focused leadership.”
Brian Miller
Commenting on the appointment, Miller said: “At TuneCore, we’re doubling down on our mission to not just support artists — but to actively help them build lasting, successful careers on their own terms.
“The US is the most competitive and influential music market in the world, and it demands focused leadership. As we make artist development a core focus, Nicki brings the expertise needed to connect strategy with impact.
“Her proven track record of empowering artists makes her the right person to lead this next phase and ensure our teams, services and programs are driving real, long-term growth for independent creators.”
“I am honored to join TuneCore at this pivotal moment in its mission to empower and develop independent artists.”
Nicki Shamel
Shamel added: “I am honored to join TuneCore at this pivotal moment in its mission to empower and develop independent artists.
“TuneCore’s commitment to artist development, combined with best-in-class technology and innovative programs like TuneCore Accelerator, is unmatched at propelling the careers of independent artists, and I am grateful to TuneCore’s leadership for trusting me to drive the next phase of the company’s artist development strategy in the US.”
Shamel’s appointment comes five months after Kevin Ferguson was appointed Senior Vice President of Technology at TuneCore.Music Business Worldwide
Nicki Shamel has been named as Head of TuneCore in the US.
The exec’s appointment to the new US-focused role at the Believe-owned distribution company was announced on Thursday (July 24) by Brian Miller, TuneCore’s Chief Revenue Officer, to whom she will report.
She will be based in TuneCore’s headquarters in New York.
According to TuneCore, Shamel’s appointment arrives as the company “sharpens its focus on artist development” and marks a “strategic move to deepen the company’s impact in the US”.
As Head of TuneCore, US, Shamel is responsible for managing the platform’s artist roster, and will “champion the TuneCore suite of products and services to aid independent artists”, including TuneCore Accelerator and TuneCore’s ‘Advanced Trends and Analytics’ dashboard.
TuneCore released its trends and analytics dashboard in February, which it said is “designed to equip artists with deeper insights and performance metrics to accelerate their growth”.
The company reported in February that tracks within its ‘Accelerator’ platform clocked 21 billion streams in 2024, with the number of artists on the program nearing 450,000.
Shamel will also oversee a team of employees focused on artist acquisition, growth and development strategy throughout the United States.
TuneCore said she would play a key role in “aligning TuneCore’s Artist Success and DSP Partnerships teams to better serve the company’s artists.”
Prior to joining TuneCore, Shamel served as Senior Vice President at AWAL, where she built and expanded the Global Commercial Partnerships team and spearheaded the company’s digital strategy across major DSPs, including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and other key global platforms.
According to TuneCore, in this role, she “drove high-impact global partnerships, helped shape AWAL’s positioning in the streaming ecosystem, and elevated the careers of Laufey, Jungle, and Little Simz, among others”.
Shamel joined AWAL following seven years at Sony Music, serving in international marketing and sales roles.
She began her career in digital marketing at Primary Wave Music.
“The US is the most competitive and influential music market in the world, and it demands focused leadership.”
Brian Miller
Commenting on the appointment, Miller said: “At TuneCore, we’re doubling down on our mission to not just support artists — but to actively help them build lasting, successful careers on their own terms.
“The US is the most competitive and influential music market in the world, and it demands focused leadership. As we make artist development a core focus, Nicki brings the expertise needed to connect strategy with impact.
“Her proven track record of empowering artists makes her the right person to lead this next phase and ensure our teams, services and programs are driving real, long-term growth for independent creators.”
“I am honored to join TuneCore at this pivotal moment in its mission to empower and develop independent artists.”
Nicki Shamel
Shamel added: “I am honored to join TuneCore at this pivotal moment in its mission to empower and develop independent artists.
“TuneCore’s commitment to artist development, combined with best-in-class technology and innovative programs like TuneCore Accelerator, is unmatched at propelling the careers of independent artists, and I am grateful to TuneCore’s leadership for trusting me to drive the next phase of the company’s artist development strategy in the US.”
Shamel’s appointment comes five months after Kevin Ferguson was appointed Senior Vice President of Technology at TuneCore.Music Business Worldwide
Five people have been killed in overnight strikes in Russia and Ukraine, as the two sides continue to trade drone attacks.
Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that more than 200 drones and almost 30 missiles were fired by Russia, with most targeting Dnipropetrovsk where three people died.
In Russia, Rostov’s actor governor said two people died in the region after a car caught fire following a Ukrainian drone strike.
The attacks came as both sides gave updates on their military operations – Russia claimed to have taken two villages in Ukraine’s east, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops were “gradually pushing Russian forces out” of the Sumy region.
Zelensky said Russian strikes also targeted Kharkiv and Sumy, and added on X that the strikes “cannot be left without response, and Ukrainian long-range drones ensure one”.
He added that Russian military sites and airports “must see that Russia’s own war is now hitting them back with real consequences” and said Ukraine’s drone attacks were “some of the arguments that will surely bring peace closer”.
Six people were injured in the strikes on Dnipropetrovsk, the region’s head said. A residential block and industrial areas were hit in the city of Dnipro while a shopping centre was hit in the wider district.
Also on Saturday, Russia’s ministry of defence claimed its army had captured two villages, Zelenyi Hai in the Donetsk region and Maliivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
In an update on X, Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces were pushing Russian troops back in Sumy.
He said: “Although this region remains one of the enemy’s priority directions, our forces consistently block Russian attempts to advance deeper into the Sumy region from the border areas.”
There were reports that a village in the region – Kindrativka – had been liberated from Russian control.
Zelensky added there had been “51 intense combat engagements” in the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk in the past day, where he said troops were defending positions.
Both sides continue to trade drone attacks, after a brief third round of ceasefire talks took place in Istanbul earlier in the week.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations met on Wednesday evening but the talks failed to make steps towards ending the conflict. Both sides accused the other of rejecting their ideas.
The first two rounds of ceasefire talks were held in May and June at the request of US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said he wants to see the end of the “horrible, bloody war” that was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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18-year-old Isabella Chavez-Varela completed her medals set and posted a butterfly best time on Friday at the Justin Futures.
Chavez-Varela, a member of the Coronado Swim Team who traveled from California for the meet, won the girls’ 100 fly in 1:02.91 on night 3 of the meet. That is her first time under 1:03 in the race, clearing her previous best of 1:03.25 from last summer.
An Alabama commit who represents Mexico internationally, the drop followed a second-and-a-half improvement in the yards version of the season through the short course season.
She previously finished 2nd in the 200 fly and 3rd in the 400 IM at the meet. The 100 fly was her first best time of the three individual event finals she has raced.
The next race of the night, the boys’ 100 fly, had a nailbiter of a finish, with 18-year-old Jackson Armour from Texas Ford Aquatics touching first in 54.85 and 21-year-old Matthew Bittner from Penn State finishing 2nd in 54.88.
That is a best time for Armour after stalling for two years in long course – his previous best was a 55.17 from 2023 Summer Juniors. His latest swim gives him the opportunity for a return-trip to Juniors this year if he chooses, though he wasn’t in the psych sheets that dropped on Friday.
Ty Thomas, a 16-year-old from River City Aquatics in Missouri, landed on his third podium of the meet with another best time of 55.14. That was a second-and-a-half improvement on his best time from May, most of which came on the front-half of the race. He has dropped a total of 2.2 seconds this summer in long course.
He also finished 3rd in the 100 free (51.40, 51.17 in prelims) and 200 free (1:53.20), which were also best times in a breakout meet for him.
Thomas also finished 4th in the 50 back (26.59) on Friday and later added a 50.36 relay anchor in his third swim of the session. That anchor was the fastest split in the field and helped River City win the 400 free relay in 3:28.18 along with Phineas Theall (53.03), Tripp Hurst (52.26), and Nate Thomas (52.53).
Other Day 3 Winners & Highlights
The boys’ 200 breaststroke final had a pair of big time drops leading the way. Levi Thome, a rising junior at LSU, won in 2:20.54, holding off a furious back-half charge from 16-year-old Brendan Hunt from Texas Ford Aquatics. Thome had a 1.47 second lead over Hunt at the halfway mark, which Hunt clawed back to less than two tenths to finish 2nd in 2:20.73. Both swimmers dropped almost three seconds. Hunt is an uncommitted rising high school junior and finished 2nd in the 400 IM earlier in the meet – he’s more of a 200 breaststroke/400 IM archetype swimmer than a 100/200 breaststroker.
Tessa Broedell, another uncommitted high school junior, won the girls’ 200 breast in 2:37.67. Broedell, a Zone Select Camp participant, peaked for a meet in Florida in June where she swam a best time in every event she raced, prelims and finals, including splits of longer races.
Kelsey Healy from the King Marlin Swim Club in Oklahoma won the girls’ 50 back in 29.89, just ahead of 15-year-olds Addison Petersen (29.97) and Gwyneth Chen (30.19). Petersen also won the 100 back earlier in the meet, and is the 7th seed in Saturday’s 200 back to try and complete the sweep – though it would probably take a big drop to catch the top seeded Hayden Gibson from the Aquahawgs team in Arkansas who is one of the best recruits ever out of that state.
Before finishing 2nd in the 100 fly, Bittner won the 50 back in 25.72. That blocked his Big Ten opponent Luke Barr from Indiana from a third win in three days – Barr placed 2nd in 25.96 after winning the 100 back on Thursday. The top-finishing junior was 17-year-old Breck Boyd from the Avon Swim Club in Colorado in 26.52.
After sitting out finals on Thursday, Arizona undergrad Malia Rausch grabbed a second win of the meet, winning the 400 free in 4:16.77. She previously won the 200 free on Wednesday.
Texas Ford’s Lukas Vetkoetter won the boys’ 400 free in 3:57.70 ahead of Swim Streamline’s Micah Tennison (3:58.37). That was another battle at the top of the table from two teams putting lots of swimmers on podiums this week – they were responsible for all of the top three in the 200 breaststroke as well. That was another big drop and podium finish for the 16-year-old Tennison: his previous best was from Futures last year where he swam 4:01.0. He finished 2nd in the 100 free and won the 200 free earlier in the meet, also both in big time drops.
The host Lakeside Aquatic Club won the girls’ 400 free relay going-away in 3:55.05, one of the most dominant relay swims we’ve seen at this meet. The team of Brooke Johnson, Marin Clem, Sophianne Cortes, and Lucy Backus picked up a win and a Summer Juniors cut; the bookends of Johnson (58.26) and Backus (58.18) led the way.
Team Scores After Day 3
Unsurprisingly, Dallas-area teams with the least travel lead the team scoring, though Pikes Peak Athletics in Colorado is putting up an impressive effort on the girls’ side.
While it’s very important to know if a “date rape” drug has been sneaked into your drink, whipping out a full test kit in a bar may be awkward and time-consuming. That’s why scientists have developed a temporary tattoo that can detect such drugs in just one second.
Due to some of their most prominent effects – such as sedation, lowered inhibition, and amnesia – drugs like GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), ketamine and Rohypnol are sometimes surreptitiously added to people’s drinks in order to facilitate the sexual assault of those individuals.
Unfortunately, because the drugs are odorless, tasteless and colorless, they have long been difficult to detect outside of a lab. And while there are now cards, test strips and other devices that can be used to indicate the presence of such drugs on-location, those gadgets may take several rather awkward minutes to deliver results. This means that some people might not bother using them.
Seeking a quicker and simpler alternative, scientists from Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University developed an inexpensive temporary tattoo.
OK, it’s really just a skin sticker. Whatever the case, it can be applied to the forearm or some other easy-to-reach part of the body before heading out for the evening.
Using the device is as simple as subtly dipping a finger into your drink, using that finger to transfer a drop of the liquid over to the tattoo, then wetting the surface of the tattoo with that drop. In the current version of the technology, if even trace amounts of GHB are present in the liquid, graphics on the tattoo will change color from yellow to red in just one second.
As an added bonus, the tattoo will retain the red coloration for up to 30 days after being peeled off the skin, for possible use in criminal proceedings.
The base material of the sticker is an adhesive-backed thin film of a flexible, stretchable polymer known as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The graphics, which are applied to select areas of the film, are composed of a gel containing a chemical called 2-(3-bromo-4-hydroxystyryl)-3-ethylbenzothiazol-3-ium iodide (BHEI).
It is the BHEI that changes color when exposed to GHB. Future versions of the tattoo could contain additional chemicals aimed at the detection of other drugs.
In lab tests, the current prototype stood up well to twisting, stretching, water exposure, and abrasion. Even after such abuse, it was still able to detect GHB in concentrations as low as 0.01 micrograms per 1 millilter of beverages such as whiskey, vodka, beer, and coffee.
“Our GHB detection tattoo sticker can be used as a crucial tool in preventing DFSAs [drug-facilitated sexual assaults] by offering a proactive solution for GHB detection and empowering potential victims to safeguard themselves,” the scientists say in a paper on their research, which was recently published in the journal ACS Sensors.
new video loaded: Thousands Flee Thailand-Cambodia Border Amid Deadly Conflict
By Monika Cvorak•
More than 100,000 people have fled a disputed border area between Thailand and Cambodia as fighting there entered a second day. The clashes have been the deadliest between the two nations in at least a decade.
Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon – Fatima Kandeel, 43, and her two sons moved into a new rented apartment in the southern suburbs of Beirut in March.
They had been staying with her sister Aida nearby for four months after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon had stopped the worst, but not all, of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, and it felt good to have their own place.
In their barely furnished living room in Laylake, Dahiyeh, with only two armchairs and a shisha pipe between them, the walls make clear where the family stands.
A framed photo of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah hangs beside a martyr’s portrait of Fatima’s 21-year-old nephew, a Hezbollah fighter killed in an Israeli air strike in Jnoub in October.
In the rubble, scraps of home
When the war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah declared its support for Palestine and escalated tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border for about a year until Israel invaded and launched full-scale war.
The suburbs of Dahiyeh have been repeatedly targeted in Israeli strikes as it is widely recognised as a Hezbollah stronghold.
The family’s previous home in Dahiyeh’s Hay el-Selom, a 10-minute walk from Laylake, was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in October.
Yet Fatima was warm and hopeful in early June, her hazel eyes still smiling from below her hijab while recounting the pain of loss, displacement and hardship.
Energetic and confident, she spoke expressively, using her hands as if she were on stage.
Like many Lebanese hosts, she offered drinks and an invitation for lunch while chatting about what it was like to feel under attack in Dahiyeh and whether that changed her relationship with her neighbourhood.
After her family’s home was destroyed and they fled to Aida’s, Fatima said, her sons, 24-year-old Hassan and 20-year-old Hussein, managed to salvage two wardrobes and a bed from the rubble along with other scraps from their lives there.
Proud of that small victory, Fatima flung open the bedroom doors to show off the two wardrobes restored to the point where it would be hard to guess they had been in a bombing. The rescued bed is used by one of her sons after getting new slats and a new lease on life.
“These are the most important pieces of furniture in the house,” she said, gently running her hand over one of the damaged surfaces.
Fatima Kandeel stands in front of a salvaged wardrobe, holding a bag of items her sons salvaged from the rubble of their home in Hay el-Selom, which Israel destroyed. She pulls out a stuffed toy that her son Hassan used to play with [Joao Sousa/Al Jazeera]
“They’re historical [because they survived]. I was so happy we got them back.”
Hassan and Hussein found more in the rubble of their home: a stuffed toy that Hassan used to play with and a few of the books from their mother’s library.
As she spoke, Fatima held the stuffed toy in her hands, smiling and looking at it. Hussein was quietly observing his mother as she shared her thoughts.
“He used to sleep with it beside him every night,” Fatima recalled. “I couldn’t save much from their childhood after my divorce, but I kept this, and now it survived the war too.”
In her bedroom, a small table holds a stack of books about history, religion and culture – a fragment of what she once owned.
Scars, visible and invisible
From the living room balcony, the scars of war are visible. The top floors of a neighbouring building have been destroyed, the lower floors still standing – a daily reminder of what was lost.
Yet Fatima holds Dahiyeh dear and is determined to stay.
“I love the people here,” she said. “Everyone is kind. … Dahiyeh is home.”
Hussein agreed that he feels most at home in Dahiyeh with its strong sense of community and friends and neighbours all around.
During the war, he struggled emotionally, constantly stressed and getting into fights. He has seen two therapists but hasn’t felt much improvement.
Unlike his mother, Hussein is open to the idea of leaving Dahiyeh, but he pointed out practicalities – rents and the overall cost of living outside Dahiyeh are much higher if they could find a place to rent.
And, he said, they could face sectarian discrimination if they relocate.
The family had to leave Dahiyeh briefly during Israel’s war on Lebanon and sought shelter in the nearby coastal Beirut suburb of Jnah. Fatima still carries a painful memory from that time.
A Jnah grocery store owner snidely remarked: “Look at those trashy Shia people,” as he looked at newly arrived families dressed in the slippers and pyjamas they fled in.
The comment left a scar, and she refuses to leave Dahiyeh again.
“If war comes again, what do you teach the next generation?” she asked. “That it’s OK to give up your home? Or that you stand your ground?”
A street in Hay El Selom is decorated with posters of Hezbollah martyrs, including late leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Fatima and her sons lived there until their home was destroyed by Israel [João Sousa/Al Jazeera]
‘If it were just me, I’d stay’
While Fatima has chosen to stay in Dahiyeh, her 55-year-old sister, Iman, wants to leave.
Iman lives with her husband, Ali, a plastering foreman, and their four children: Hassan, 25, a programmer; Fatima, 19, a university student; and 16-year-old twins Mariam and Marwa, both in school.
All the children still share a single bedroom in their modest but light and joyful home.
The living room was full of laughter as Iman sat with Mariam and Hassan, passing around chocolate and juice while cousins chatted in the background.
There was teasing as they shared memories of fear, displacement and resilience.
Dahiyeh has never been entirely safe. Its history has been shaped by the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War and Israeli assaults, including the devastating 2006 war.
It’s a cycle, Iman said – another war, another wave of fear and displacement. During Israel’s most recent war on Lebanon, the family fled multiple times.
They first went to Kayfoun village in the Mount Lebanon governorate in late September, but tensions there were high, and a local man spread rumours of imminent Israeli strikes, trying to scare displaced families away.
They left Kayfoun after a week and fled to Tripoli in the north, where life was quieter and the presence of nearby relatives offered some comfort, but mistrust lingered.
Iman was often judged by her hijab, which marked her as “resistance-aligned” to people who blamed Hezbollah for Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
“We all became introverts,” Hassan recalled. “We stayed home most of the time, but we had relatives nearby and met some good friends. We’d sit together, play cards. It helped.”
In early October, they followed friends to Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, where they were welcomed warmly – more warmly, they said, than in parts of Lebanon.
After the ceasefire, they returned. “There’s no place better than our country,” Iman insisted, but Dahiyeh does not feel safe to her any more despite her deep ties to the neighbourhood, so she is searching for a new home – anywhere that’s safer.
“If it were just me, I’d stay,” she said. “But I have kids. I have to protect them.”
‘They don’t rent to Shia families’
Iman’s son Hassan recalls the first time Israel bombed near their apartment – on April 1 in breach of the November ceasefire.
“I just wanted out,” he said. “I don’t care where we go. Just somewhere that isn’t a target.”
Iman Kandeel in her living room. From left: Her son Hassan, the author, Iman, Iman’s daughter Mariam, Iman’s nephew Hassan and Fatima’s son Hussein, in Hadath, Beirut, a home they are contemplating leaving [Joao Sousa/Al Jazeera]
But finding a new place to rent is far from simple.
They considered moving to Hazmieh. It is close to Dahiyeh but not part of it, making it relatively safer. And it would be closer to Iman’s sister Mariam, who lives there.
But Iman said: “In Hazmieh, most of them don’t rent to Shia families, or they would double the price.”
Despite the mounting fear, the family does not want to leave Lebanon, and Hassan has turned down a job offer abroad. They’re exhausted, they said, but not ready to abandon their country.
Even in the midst of war, Hassan said, his parents did not want to leave Dahiyeh. He had to work on convincing them to go first to Kayfoun, then eventually Iraq.
It was the same after the ceasefire with long discussions about whether to leave, and it was his mother’s fear for her children that made her eventually agree.
But more than a month after they spoke to Al Jazeera in early June, they’re still searching for a place that will take them and that they can afford.
Australia announced it will reduce restrictions on U.S. beef imports in a move U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration claimed as a major victory over “non-scientific trade barriers.”
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said Thursday that relaxing the restrictions designed to keep Australia free of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, would not compromise biosecurity.
“Australia stands for open and free trade — our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this,” Collins said in a statement.
Trump celebrated the announcement with a post on Truth Social that said: “Now, we are going to sell so much to Australia because this is undeniable and irrefutable Proof that U.S. Beef is the Safest and Best in the entire World.”
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins responded to Australia’s announcement by congratulating Trump on a “major trade breakthrough that gives greater access to U.S. beef producers selling to Australia.”
“This is yet another example of the kind of market access the President negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way,” she said in a statement.
Australia has allowed imports of beef grown in the United States since 2019. But Australia has not allowed imports from the U.S. of beef sourced from Canada or Mexico because of the disease risk.
But the U.S. has recently introduced additional movement controls that identify and trace all cattle from Mexico and Canada to their farms of origin.
US cattle import controls satisfy Australian authorities
Australian authorities were “satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the U.S. effectively manage biosecurity risks,” Collins said.
The timing of the new, reduced restrictions has not been finalized.
Trump attacked Australian import restrictions on U.S. beef when he announced in April that tariffs of at least 10% would be placed on Australian imports, with steel and aluminum facing a 50% tariff.
“Australia bans — and they’re wonderful people, and wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,” Trump told reporters then.
“Yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won’t take any of our beef. They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don’t blame them, but we’re doing the same thing right now,” Trump added.
Lawmaker fears appeasing Trump endangers Australian cattle industry
Opposition lawmaker David Littleproud suspected the government was endangering Australia’s cattle industry to appease Trump.
“I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science. I’m suspicious of the speed at which this has been done,” Littleproud told reporters.
“We need to give confidence to the industry, but also to you (the public): this is not just about animal welfare, this is about human welfare, this is about BSE potentially coming into this country and having a human impact, so I think it’s important the government’s very transparent about the science and I don’t think it’s even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science to give confidence to everybody,” he added.
Around 70% of Australian beef is exported. Producers fear that the export market would vanish overnight if diseases, including mad cow or foot-and-mouth disease, infected Australian cattle.
Will Evans, chief executive of Cattle Australia, who represents more than 52,000 grass-fed beef producers across the nation, said he was confident the agriculture department had taken a cautious approach toward U.S. imports.
“The department’s undertaken a technical scientific assessment and we have to put faith in them. They’ve made this assessment themselves. They’ve said: ‘We’ve looked at this, we’ve looked at the best science, this is a decision that we feel comfortable with,’” Evans said.
“When you have a $75 billion (Australian $50 billion) industry relying on them not making this mistake, I’m sure they’ve been very cautious in their decision-making,” he added.
US beef prices rise because of drought and a domestic cattle shortage
Beef prices have been rising in the U.S. due to factors that include drought and shrinking domestic herd numbers.
The average price of a pound of ground beef in the U.S. rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound.
Australian demand for U.S. beef is likely to remain low for reasons including a relatively weak Australian dollar.
Australia’s opposition to any U.S. tariffs will be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secures his first face-to-face meeting with Trump.
Albanese and Trump were to hold a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada last month, but the U.S. president left early.
Albanese expects the pair will meet this year, although no date has been announced.
The two countries have had a bilateral free trade deal for 20 years, and the U.S. has maintained a trade surplus with Australia for decades.
![A busy street in Hay El Selom, decorated by posters of Hezbollah martyrs, including the late leader of the organisation, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, where Fatima and her two sons used to live before their home was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in 2024 [João Sousa/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025_0603_13502900-1-1753003833.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Iman Kandeel and some members of her family gather in their living room in Hadath, Beirut, a home they are contemplating leaving if the war between Israel and Lebanon escalates again [João Sousa/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025_0604_161735002-1-1753006743.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
