WARNING: This story deals with pregnancy and baby loss. An Auckland woman grieving the loss of her fourth baby says she wants people to know his name. Danielle Muaror lost her son Jupiter earlier this month, after he was born…

Australia Post is urging all Australians to send their Christmas gifts and cards by mid-December at the latest as record volumes of parcels threaten to create delays.

The postal service said 2021 has already seen parcel volume records broken, with this year's Christmas expected to be the biggest on record for the nation's couriers and postal workers.

With many state borders still closed and online shopping showing no sign of slowing down, Australia Post is anticipating parcel traffic to be extremely high. The organisation has hired more than 4000 Christmas casuals to cope with demand.

LIVE UPDATES: First COVID-19 booster shot programs start in Australia today

To ensure Christmas gifts and cards arrive on time, Australia Post has set the following deadlines:

• All parcels sent via regular post must be sent by Monday, December 13
• All parcels sent via express post must be sent by Monday, December 20
• All Christmas cards should be sent by Thursday, December 16

Customers in Perth, Darwin and regional areas are advised to send their gifts and cards even earlier than the recommended deadlines to avoid disappointment.

Those sending Christmas cards overseas are being urged to do so as early as possible as some destinations have cut-offs for receiving mail in time for December 25.

READ MORE: Sydney's median house price nears $1.5 million as prices skyrocket during COVID-19

Australia Post's Executive General Manager of Business and Government, Gary Starr, said the service has been preparing for a bumper Christmas for weeks.

"We're seeing record parcel volumes with more than 5.9 million households shopping online a month — that's more than half of all Australian households, and it's showing no signs of slowing as we head into the online sales season and Christmas," Mr Starr said.

"That is why we've planned ahead with extra air freight capacity, weekend deliveries and recruitment of thousands of new team members to ramp up our delivery services, parcel sorting and customer care, and we'll be delivering right up until Christmas Eve.

"We encourage people to make a note of these important delivery dates, because although we'll deliver items sent after these dates as quickly as we can, they may not arrive until after Christmas."

Fully vaccinated Australians will finally be free to leave the country from Monday when one of the strictest COVID-19 travel bans in the world ends after 18 months.

Aussies have been restricted from leaving and coming in for 586 days, since March 24, 2020.

Travellers will be allowed visit any country from November 1 but there are many rules in place depending on where you are going.

READ MORE: Qantas to bring forward restart of some international flights

Some nations have mandatory quarantine periods, others require negative COVID-19 tests — which could add up to hundreds of dollars for a family — and of course having both jabs is a must.

NSW, Victoria and the ACT are removing quarantine for all, although getting into other states remains difficult, so their residents will largely remain stuck in Australia.

The end of the ban also means some Aussies who have been trying to get home for months — 46,800 are currently registered with authorities as trying to return — can finally fly into Sydney and Melbourne without the need to do mandatory hotel quarantine.

The first quarantine-free flight into Sydney will be QF12, which lands from Los Angeles at 6am on Monday, in a special milestone for the nation's pandemic response.

https://twitter.com/Smartraveller/status/1453473161580666883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

What are the rules on travel?

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the end of the travel ban — in place since March 2020 — a few weeks ago, and made it official on Wednesday.

It means fully vaccinated Aussies and permanent residents from any part of the country are free to leave from November 1.

Previously, everybody needed an exemption if they wanted to leave, which could be hard to get and was only issued for compassionate reasons and later for travel over three months.

Returning was hard due to the flight caps imposed to limit numbers in hotel quarantine. For many states, and for unvaccinated Aussies, restrictions remain.

READ MORE: Travel ban officially ends on November 1

"From 1 November 2021, Australian citizens and permanent residents aged 12 and over who have received two doses of an approved or recognised vaccine will be able to leave Australia without needing an outwards travel exemption," the official rules say.

"Children under 12 and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons will also be able to travel overseas without an exemption."

Each destination country has different rules in place for testing and quarantine, while each state and territory in Australia has different rules on returning.

For now, travel will only be easy from NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

READ MORE: Aussie actress who had stroke after COVID-19 jab still fiercely supports vaccination, says husband

Leaving Australia

Do I need a COVID-19 test before flying out of Australia?

It depends on the country you are travelling to.

Special COVID-19 PCR tests for travel — costing around $150 each — are needed for many places.

These must be done at private clinics, rather than the free testing sites, so you can get a certificate with your details, rather than a text message.

READ MORE: NSW makes shock move to scrap hotel quarantine

There is no official government list, Home Affairs told 9News, but there is an official page with guidance.

Some airlines do have guides.

For example, Qantas lists an example of the tests accepted for New Zealand flights here, and Emirates has a list of labs doing tests for entry to Dubai.

Some of the private labs which test around Australia include Healius, Sonic Travel Testing and Safework.

If you've had COVID recently, you'll need a medical certificate from a doctor.

What about getting tested on arrival?

Some nations need more tests on arrival.

In the UK, for example, you don't need one before flying but you need a $40 rapid flow test two days after arriving, arranged through the UK government.

Bali in Indonesia, which is not yet open to Aussies but could be by the end of the year, demands a negative test before flying, even if vaccinated, according to the official website.

READ MORE: How to get your international travel vaccine passport

Fiji, which reopens to tourists on December 1, also wants a negative test before departing for your holiday, and is restricting tourists to an approved mainland resort hotel for the first three days.

After doing a rapid test, tourists can then leave to travel around the country.

New Zealand also requires a negative test before flying in, as does Thailand.

Check the official government website of the place you are heading for the latest details, or ask your travel agent.

Do I need an exemption to leave Australia?

Not from November 1 if you are a citizen or permanent resident and you are fully vaccinated.

You'll need to provide evidence of your vaccination status when you check in at the airport.

If you're not fully vaccinated, you still need to apply for an exemption to leave Australia, unless you want to go to New Zealand.

People living in Australia on temporary visas, who have always been allowed to leave without permission, will still require permission to return so cannot yet travel freely.

What are Australia's approved vaccines?

TGA approved vaccines are Pfizer (Comirnaty), AstraZeneca, (Vaxzevria), Janssen-Cilag (COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen), Moderna (Spikevax), Coronavac (Sinovac) and Covishield (AstraZeneca/Serum Institute of India).

Australia says children over 12 need to be vaccinated.

If you were vaccinated overseas you can check how to get your jabs recognised here.

Where can I travel?

You can go anywhere. Unlike some nations, Australia is not classifying countries.

Do I need an international travel vaccine passport?

Yes, it's the best way to prove your vaccination status. You can find out how to get one here.

Do I have to quarantine outside of Australia?

It depends where you're travelling.

For example, Fiji is keeping tourists in their mainland resort hotel — although they can leave their room — but after doing a rapid test after three days they can then leave for other destinations such as the tropical islands.

You can find the details here.

Bali, which is not yet allowing Aussies but soon might, is sending tourists to a quarantine hotel for five days.

READ MORE: How to get your COVID-19 Vaccine Certificate

The UK has no quarantine for vaccinated arrivals.

The USA, which has never banned Aussies from travelling there unlike most other nations, has announced new travel rules.

There won't be quarantine, but people will need to prove vaccination as the nation reopens to the world on November 8.

Singapore will allow quarantine-free travel for vaccinated Aussies from November 8.

From Monday, November 1, Thailand is allowing vaccinated travellers from Australia, but there are many rules.

Tourists must show proof of insurance that covers treatment for COVID-19 up to the cost of US$50,000, a 'Thailand pass', and a negative PCR test taken within three days of departure and another on arrival.

Other places with no quarantine include Italy, Greece, Germany, South Africa and Canada, but travellers should check government sites for the latest requirements.

Returning to Australia

Do I need a COVID-19 test before travelling back to Australia?

Yes. You won't be allowed on the plane home without a negative test from a lab which does PCR tests for travel.

It has to be done fewer than three days before your flight.

And you'll have to pay for it, from around $150 in the UK to over $200 in Fiji.

The Australian government says the test result can be digital, such as in an email, or on paper.

It must state your full name, date of birth or passport number, plus the result, testing method and date and time it was collected. It must also be in English or be a certified, translated copy.

Of course, travel insurance is a must, in case you do test positive, or become sick with COVID-19 or anything else.

You will also need to get a COVID-19 test when you arrive back in Australia.

READ MORE: Aussies could travel to Bali by Christmas, Qantas CEO says

Do I need to quarantine after arriving in Australia?

Not if you're vaccinated with a TGA-approved vaccine and landing in NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

You are considered fully vaccinated if you have had the second jab a week before travel.

NSW was the first to confirm the scrapping of all quarantine for vaccinated travellers in a landmark announcement a few weeks ago.

Victoria soon followed, and the ACT said it would replicate the rules in NSW.

Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have recently revealed their reopening plans but currently either have quarantine requirements, or a hard border closure until vaccination rates increase.

This means travel into those states and territories will remain hard for months to come.

Visit SmartTraveller for the latest government guidance on travel.

READ MORE: NSW tourism ad offers the pandemic weary a chance to 'feel new'

Do I need to be vaccinated?

To return to Australia without quarantine for those states which allow it, you must be vaccinated.

Proof of vaccination must be shown in English via a "national or state/provincial-level authority or an accredited vaccination provider", Home Affairs says.

The easiest thing for Aussies to do is set up an international vaccine passport before leaving.

READ MORE: No way home for stranded Aussies with unrecognised vaccines

Passengers also need to fill out a declaration.

Quarantine rules for returning travellers remain up to individual states, with only NSW, Victoria and the ACT not requiring any quarantine for vaccinated people from Monday.

READ MORE: What international travel will look like once borders open

Who can visit Australia?

Currently, only citizens and permanent residents and their immediate family — which now includes parents — can come into Australia. Tourists, students and others are still barred.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has flagged easing restrictions on other visitors soon.

"Before the end of the year, we anticipate welcoming fully vaccinated skilled workers and international students," she said this week.

Co-founders of graphic design business Canva Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht are officially the richest Australians aged under 40, after topping the Financial Review's 2021 Young Rich List for the first time.

Perkins and Obrecht, aged 34 and 35 respectively, have an estimated net worth of $16.5 billion as more than 60 million people users join on to their user-friendly graphic design business.

The couple, who are also married, have seen an explosion in their wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic – last year their estimated net worth was almost 80 per cent lower at $3.43 billion.

LIVE UPDATES: Big spike in Victoria's COVID-19 death toll

Each year the Financial Review Young List compiles the estimated net worth of Australians aged under 40, with this year seeing a dramatic rise in cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and wellness influencers.

To qualify, every person on the list must not have inherited their wealth.

In third place was Afterpay mastermind and 31-year-old Nick Molnar, who boasts a net worth of $2.78 billion. He was followed by Virtual Gaming World's Laurence Escalante (age 40, $2.68 billion) and Sam Prince of Zambrero Mexican restaurant fame (age 38, $1.1 billion).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, cryptocurrency became a major sector of note in this year's list, with seven Young Rich Listers making their fortune in digital gold to a collective tune of more than $2.5 billion.

READ MORE: Sydney's median house price nears $1.5 million as prices skyrocket during COVID-19

One of these is list debutant and 40-year-old Kain Warwick, whose asset managing company Synthetix (which deals with cryptocurrency) has skyrocketed him into seventh place with a net worth of $879 million.

Rounding out the list is 33-year-old Tah-nee Beard and 37-year-old Simon Beard, whose millennial fashion juggernaut Culture Kings has grown their net worth to $626 million.

Rich List co-editor Julie-anne Sprague said it was encouraging to note a record 15 women were named on this year's list, up from 12 the year prior.

"There is a record number of women on this year's Young Rich List, with many of them carving our fortunes from a boom in health and wellness spending and our growing desire to look and feel good," said Rich List co-editor Julie-anne Sprague.

"We are seeing an increasing number of businesses being developed by women who are harnessing their strong social media following to create enviable launchpads for their business interests."

READ MORE: Residents caught in David and Goliath fight over Bunnings plan

Rich List co-editor Michael Bailey noted that the departure of Atlassian founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes due to age did not dent the cumulative amount of wealth amassed by Australia's youth.

"This year's list is the first since 2007 that doesn't include the significant wealth held by Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar who are both too old to qualify for the Young Rich List. Given their absence, it was surprising the overall wealth came in at a record $41.3 billion," said Rich List co-editor Michael Bailey.

"It shows the depth of Australia's technology sector and the significant wealth being created by a growing number of young entrepreneurs."

The Financial Review Young Rich List 2021 Top 10

Rank:	Name:	Age:	Worth:	Business:
1 & 2	Melanie Perkins & Cliff Obrecht	34 & 35	$16.5 billion	Canva
3	Nicholas Molnar	31	$2.78 billion	Afterpay
4	Laurence Escalante	40	$2.68 billion	Virtual Gaming Worlds
5	Sam Prince	38	$1.1 billion	Zambrero Mexican
6	Fung Lam	40	$1.02 billion	Online retail
7	Kain Warwick	40	$879 million	Synthetix
8	Owen Kerr	37	$728 million	Pepperstone Financial
9	Cyan Ta'eed	40	$664 million	Envato
10 & 11	Tah-nee & Simon Beard	33 & 37	$626 million	Culture Kings

The Financial Review Young Rich List is available on www.afr.com from Friday, October 29. The Young Rich List also appears in a special edition of AFR Magazine, featuring profiles and analysis of the trends that are making the Young Rich even richer, which is inside this Friday's Financial Review newspaper.

An extremely small number of Australians have been deemed as having a valid medical reason to not get vaccinated for COVID-19, the latest Federal Health Department figures reveal.

The news comes as general practitioners say anti-vaxxers are continuing to put them under undue pressure to grant medical exemptions which go against health guidelines.

As of October 17, 156 permanent contraindications were reported by doctors to the Australian Immunisation Register for a COVID-19 vaccine, health data provided to 9news.com.au shows.

LIVE UPDATES: Spike in Victoria's COVID-19 cases and deaths

However, the real number of people granted a permanent exemption is likely to be – at the most – a third of that figure.

Contraindications are reported individually for all three registered vaccines in Australia.

To receive a permanent exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine, a person must have a contraindication for all three of the AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Currently, the only accepted reason for granting a permanent medical exemption is if a person has had a previous anaphylactic reaction to chemical compounds contained in the vaccines, such as polyethylene glycol or polysorbate.

However, the number of people this applied to was extremely small, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners NSW and ACT Chair, Charlotte Hespe, said.

"It's an incredibly rare thing to be allergic to the vaccines and that's really the only medical exemption that's been given," she said.

"Generally, if you're allergic to the AstraZeneca, then you can have the Pfizer.

"Not wanting to get the vaccine is not a reason for a medical exemption."

READ MORE: Sydney's median house price nears $1.5 million

Data from the Australian Immunisation Register shows 1071 temporary contraindications were also recorded for a COVID-19 vaccine, as of October 17.

Australians can be given a temporary exemption if they are undergoing major surgery or are in hospital for a serious illness.

People who have contracted COVID-19 are also exempt from getting a vaccine for six months.

Associate Professor Hespe said one of the most common reasons patients had asked her for an exemption was because of anxiety or other mental health issues.

"What we're aware of is that there are actually a lot of people who have been seeking medical exemptions and these are the anti-vaxxers and they have been putting a lot of unfair pressure onto the GP population," she said.

"So we're trying to strongly advocate for an understanding that a medical exemption is a medical exemption and it is not for people who have made a conscious choice not to get vaccinated."

Vaccination for COVID-19 is not compulsory in Australia, however, it has been mandated for the aged care sector and by certain government agencies, such as NSW Police.

Some businesses, such as Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Qantas, SPC and BHP have also announced mandatory vaccinations for staff.

In NSW, unvaccinated people have been shut out of non-essential retail stores and are not able to have a drink at the pub, visit the gym or get their haircut.

The rules will no longer apply from December 1.

The picture looks far bleaker for the unvaccinated in Victoria.

Although anyone who hasn't had the jab has been given a short "grace period" for the next few weeks, whereby they can enter retail stores, Premier Daniel Andrews has said the unvaccinated will be barred from accessing most services until 2023.

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au.

Southern Italy is bracing for two more days of devastating rain and flash flooding, as a 'medicane' storm that has deluged streets and killed two people continues to barrel through the region.

Sicily's President Nello Musumeci confirmed the deaths and said a third person was missing late on Tuesday, while the mayor of the city Catania urged residents to stay home if possible.

"We have been through two very difficult days. We have lived through dramatic hours," mayor Salvo Pogliese said in a video posted to his Facebook page.

He said the weather was "definitely better" on Wednesday, but warned the forecast for Thursday and Friday remained "particularly worrying."

LIVE UPDATES: Victoria records 25 COVID-19 deaths

Red warnings have been issued for Wednesday and Thursday on the island of Sicily and the region containing the city of Catania, which has already been pummelled by adverse weather throughout the week.

The storm comes as global leaders prepare to gather in Rome, Italy's capital, for a G20 summit.

Climate concerns are high on the agenda at the event, which will be immediately followed by a critical COP26 meeting in Scotland.

The medicane – a hurricane-like storm system that formed over the Mediterranean Sea – has dumped one year's worth of rain on the Linguaglossa region in the space of two days, according to climatological data in the nearby city of Catania.

READ MORE: Sydney's median house price nears $1.5 million as prices skyrocket

The storm is forecast to linger around the area until the weekend, with more rain expected.

Schools and non-essential shops and offices are ordered to stay closed until Friday in Catania.

Over 600 rescue operations have been carried out in Catania in the past day, the interior ministry said on Wednesday in a press release.

"The event is not over. Now there is a moment of attenuation, but our weather models tell us it will be back. Complicated hours await us in this area. We expect a significant worsening from Thursday to Friday," the head of civil protection Fabrizio Curcio said at a press conference in Catania.

Regional governor Nello Mosumeci described the situation as "very critical" and described the scenes seen across Catania and its province as "atrocious."

"Roads have been turned into streams" and "countryside into lakes, entire isolated districts and hundreds of flooded houses, incalculable damage to buildings and crops," he said on Tuesday on his official Facebook page.

"Eastern Sicily is experiencing a phenomenon that we fear, unfortunately, will be less and less sporadic, with tragic scenarios destined to repeat itself."

READ MORE: Residents caught in David and Goliath fight over Bunnings plan

Medicanes occur around twice a year, usually between September and December.

This system is not expected to threaten the G20 talks in Rome, but adds further urgency to the ongoing effort of several countries to commit the world to tougher climate change targets.

Science shows that human-made climate change is making extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall, more frequent and intense. The climate crisis is also contributing to swings between drought and floods in many places, including parts of the United States, like California, as well as the Middle East and Africa.

READ MORE: Adelaide mum presumed murdered in Malaysia

As the Earth's atmosphere gets warmer, it can hold more moisture, which is why the world is experiencing heavier bursts of rain that it historically has. But the climate crisis is also creating longer dry spells, or drought, which leaves land and soil so dry that it can't absorb the rain as effectively as usual. This combination makes flooding more likely, and often more destructive.

The Financial Review Young Rich List 2021 has revealed the nation's top 10 richest people aged under 40.

The beaches of northern Sydney lit up "like a galaxy" over the weekend due to a rare bioluminescence bloom.

Photographer Jamen Percy was on the scene as the waters of Palm Beach and Freshwater turned electric blue.

Mr Percy told 9news.com.au he's still pinching himself at the "rare event".

READ MORE: The real reason why great white sharks might bite humans

"Stumbling across bioluminescence is surreal experience of wonder and fascination," he said.

"Is this actually happening here? Did that wave just glow blue? Wow, my hands are glowing!

"These are the thoughts going through your head. It's impossible not to feel like a child again playing with nature."

READ MORE: Endangered whale population sinks close to 20-year low

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVgS-N9hbSE/

Mr Percy said there are reports of more bioluminescence at Freshwater.

"Apparently some people saw a little more at Freshwater beach last night so it's still around," he wrote on Instagram today.

"I'm getting more details."

Bioluminescent blooms occur due to tiny, floating organisms called phytoplankton.

They are so small that thousands of them can fit in a single drop of water.

Last year the shores of Jervis Bay on the NSW South Coast also lit up with a bioluminescent bloom.

There have long been theories that when great white sharks bite humans, it is a case of mistaken identity.

Now, new research simulating the way that a shark would view the world has shown that this may really be the case.

Researchers from Sydney's Macquarie University found that swimming or paddle boarding humans bear a strong likeness to seals and sea lions in the eyes of juvenile white sharks.

READ MORE: Why the great white shark population is booming in California

Great white sharks, along with bull sharks and tiger sharks, account for the most bites on humans, researchers said in a press release Wednesday.

They are the world's largest predatory fish, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and are known to rip chunks out of their prey, which are swallowed whole.

Incidents of sharks biting humans are rare, but have risen "substantially" over the past 20 years, researchers from Macquarie University found in 2019.

But in spite of their fearsome reputation, great white sharks are a vulnerable species and their numbers are decreasing, according to WWF.

READ MORE: Shark warning after whale carcass washes up near popular NSW beach

Researchers studied and compared underwater videos of seals, sea lions and humans swimming in various ways, along with rectangular floats and humans paddling on different sized surfboards, using stationary and traveling cameras to capture the footage.

"We attached a GoPro to an underwater scooter, and set it to travel at a typical cruising speed for predatory sharks," lead author Laura Ryan, a post-doctoral researcher in animal sensory systems at Macquarie University's Neurobiology Lab, said in a statement.

Using a catalogue of shark neuroscience data, researchers then applied filters to the video footage and created modelling programs that would simulate the way in which a young white shark would see the movements and shapes of different objects.

Researchers confirmed that humans who swim and paddle surfboards bear a strong resemblance to seals and sea lions in the eyes of young white sharks, supporting the mistaken identity theory behind some bites.

Most sharks are colour blind, meaning that colours on surfboards and wetsuits make little difference when it comes to a shark's view of humans in the water, researchers said."

Understanding why shark bites occur can help us find ways to prevent them, while keeping both humans and sharks safer," Ryan added.

The research was published Wednesday in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

If China were to seize one of Taiwan's outlying islands, the US would have few good options to respond without risking a major escalation and a war between the superpowers, according to the conclusions from a recent war game conducted by foreign policy and defence experts.

The scenario, outlined in a report from the Centre for a New American Security, began with China using military force to take control of Dongsha, a tiny atoll in the South China Sea between Taiwan and Hong Kong, where approximately 500 Taiwanese troops are stationed.

This type of limited aggression could be a precursor to the seizure of other islands near Taiwan or an outright invasion of the democratically governed island as Beijing seeks to test and prod Washington's resolve to defend Taiwan.

READ MORE: Fresh lockdowns in China as local COVID-19 infections spread

But once China has established its own military footprint on Dongsha and removed the Taiwanese troops, the US had no credible way to compel China to return the island to the control of Taipei, the report states.

Economic sanctions took too long to produce effects and appeared too weak to influence China's decision-making, while any military action risked an escalation to war, which both the US and Taiwan want to avoid if possible.

Instead, the report stressed the need for a multilateral approach, suggesting the US, Taiwan, Japan and others work to deter China from seizing the island in the first place.

"The United States and Taiwan must begin coordinating today to build a credible deterrent against limited Chinese aggression or coercion toward Taiwan," the authors wrote. In every scenario, cooperation with Japan was critical to establishing an effective deterrent.

READ MORE: China flies record 56 warplanes toward self-ruled Taiwan

Tensions increasing

Beijing has ramped up military pressure on the island in recent weeks and Taiwan's defence minister earlier this month made a dire prediction: by 2025, China will be able to mount a "full-scale" invasion of Taiwan.

The war game focused on an invasion of Dongsha in 2025.

Last week, US President Joe Biden stated that the US was committed to coming to Taiwan's defence if it comes under attack from China – remarks that seemed in opposition to America's stated policy of "strategic ambiguity."

Asked twice during a CNN town hall event whether the US would protect Taiwan if China attacked, Mr Biden said it would.

"Yes, we have a commitment to do that," he said.

A White House official attempted to clarify Mr Biden's comments on Taiwan after the town hall, saying the President was "not announcing any change in our policy and there is no change in our policy" in his remarks about China and Taiwan.

The US provides Taiwan defensive weapons but has remained intentionally ambiguous on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack. Under the "One China" Policy, the US acknowledges China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.

But the issue is a major focus for the administration and China's plans for Taiwan are among the "preeminent issues" for the CIA's new China Mission Centre, a newly-created body focused exclusively on gathering and analysing intelligence on Beijing, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said at an intelligence conference this week.

Intelligence officials have not yet seen anything to suggest that China is preparing a military invasion, according to people familiar with the assessments.