Australia should brace for a Chinese counter strike after the Federal Government scrapped Victoria's controversial infrastructure agreement with Beijing, an expert has warned.

Lowy Institute lead economist Roland Rajah said that China is likely to retaliate on the trade and diplomatic fronts, but its courses of action were limited.

"It has a range of options including trade and diplomatic ones. China has already targeted quite an extensive range of Australian industrial and agricultural products so much so that is running out of possible hits."

READ MORE: China wants to break dependency on Australia for iron ore

Two deals linked to China's Belt and Road Initiative were among four Victorian government agreements deemed to be "inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy or to our foreign relations" Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced last night.

Chinese officials said the decision by Australia would have serious repercussions.

"This is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China," a spokesperson said in a statement.

"It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations."

But Mr Rajah said the prized Australian exports of iron ore and liquified gas (LNG) should be safe from Chinese retaliation.

"Targeting iron ore would be mutually assured destruction for both parties … the commodity is worth so much to both the Australian and Chinese economies.

"And LNG exports are tied up in long-term agreements that are hard to undo."

READ MORE: Australia's $160m hay exports to China under threat as permits lapse

Over the past year, China has already slapped trade sanctions on a range of Australian exports, with billions of dollars wiped off. They came after Australia called for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and the Federal Government introduced foreign interference legislation.

Recent data showed Industries targeted by Beijing – including beef, seafood, timber, barley, coal, and wine – totalled about $29 billion in 2019. The total value of these exports to China in the three months to January 2021 was about $5.5 billion a year – a huge decline.

But Mr Rajah said the policy had largely failed in damaging the Australian economy and changing government policies. Most affected Australian exporters had been able to find alternative markets.

"It's not really an effective policy. They have been careful in their 'hit list' to limit the effects on its own economy. Both sides have the capacity to adjust."

READ MORE: China warns Australia against sanctions over alleged human rights abuses

Mr Rajah said the Belt and Road Initiative has strong symbolic value for China, although many western analysts believe it is more of a "geopolitical ploy".

He said the Victorian Government had got "caught out" by the rapid decline in Canberra-Beijing relations.

But Ms Payne told Ben Fordham on 2GB today the decision to scrap the China-Victoria agreement was not aimed at China and the government was committed to engaging with the rising superpower.

"I want to be clear, it's not aimed at any one country," she said. "We are absolutely committed to our continuing engagement with China."

Victoria's involvement with the Belt and Road Initiative has come under increasing scrutiny given Australia's tensions with China in recent months.

Premier Daniel Andrews has defended his state's agreement with China to support the $1.5 trillion plan from 2018.The veto scheme giving the Foreign Minister the power to audit deals with foreign nations was introduced in December.

More than 1000 arrangements between states, territories, local governments and Australian public universities have already been submitted to the minister for consideration.

Healthcare and other essential services across India are close to collapse as a second coronavirus wave that started in mid-March tears through the country with devastating speed.

Graveyards are running out of space, hospitals are turning away patients, and desperate families are pleading for help on social media for beds and medicine.

India reported 295,041 cases of coronavirus and 2023 deaths on Wednesday, its highest rise in cases and highest death increase recorded in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health.

READ MORE: Patient left gasping for air for 10 hours as Indian hospitals buckle

"The volume is humongous," said Jalil Parkar, a senior pulmonary consultant at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, which had to convert its lobby into an additional Covid ward. "It's just like a tsunami."

"Things are out of control," said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in New Delhi.

"There's no oxygen. A hospital bed is hard to find. It's impossible to get a test. You have to wait over a week. And pretty much every system that could break down in the health care system has broken down," he said.

To prove his point, at least 22 Covid-19 patients who were on ventilator support died Wednesday waiting for oxygen supplies that were lost in an accident, a senior official from the Nashik district in the Indian state of Maharashtra said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Tuesday, acknowledging the country's "very big battle" against Covid-19.

He appealled to states to "use a lockdown as their last option," even as the capital New Delhi entered its first full day of a week-long lockdown.

On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned that failing to halt movement in the city could lead to "tragedy."

"We don't want to take Delhi to a place where patients are lying in hospital corridors and people are dying on roads," Kejriwal said.

On Tuesday, he warned that some Delhi hospitals were "left with just a few hours of oxygen," as authorities scrambled to convert sports complexes, banquet halls, hotels and schools into much-needed treatment centers, with the goal to add 6000 additional beds within days.

"Our healthcare system has reached its limit. It is now in a state of distress. It has not collapsed yet but it is in distress," Kejriwal said. "Every healthcare system has its limits. No system can accommodate unlimited patients."

With shortages being reported across the country, local and state leaders appealed to the federal government for more oxygen and medicine.

Modi appeared to answer those calls on Tuesday, announcing plans for the delivery of 100,000 cylinders of oxygen nationwide, new oxygen production plants, and hospitals dedicated to Covid patients.

But experts fear it's too little, too late, as positive patients compete for limited resources and mass gatherings threaten to spread the virus even further.

Indonesia's navy is searching for a submarine that went missing north of Bali with 53 people on board, the military says.

Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto on Wednesday said the KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise when it missed a scheduled reporting call

READ MORE: 'Sour Grapes' wine fraud conman deported to Indonesia

The submarine was believed to have disappeared in waters about 95 kilometres north of Bali, he said.

Tjahjanto said the navy had deployed ships to search the area and asked for help from Singapore and Australia, which have submarine rescue vessels.

Local media reports said the navy believed the ship sank into a trough at a depth of 700 metres. There was no immediate information about why it went missing.

The German-built submarine, which has been in service since the early 1980s, was rehearsing for a missile-firing exercise that was to take place on Thursday. Tjahjanto and other military leaders were to attend.

Indonesia currently has a fleet of five submarines and plans to operate at least eight by 2024.

The country has faced growing challenges to its maritime claims in recent years, including numerous incidents involving Chinese vessels near the Natuna Islands.

The fatal shooting of a knife-wielding Black teenage girl by police in Columbus, Ohio, came within minutes of the verdict in George Floyd's killing — causing outrage by some in the community over the continued police use of lethal force.

Officials with the Columbus Division of Police released footage of the shooting Tuesday night just hours after it happened, a departure from protocol as the force faces immense scrutiny from the public following a series of recent high-profile police killings that have led to clashes.

The 10-second clip begins with the officer getting out of his car at a house where police had been dispatched after someone called 911 saying they were being physically threatened, Interim Police Chief Michael Woods said at the news conference. The officer takes a few steps toward a group of people in the driveway when the girl starts swinging a knife wildly at another girl or woman, who falls backward. The officer shouts several times to get down.

READ MORE: The 12 jurors who found Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd

The girl with the knife then charges at another girl or woman who is pinned against a car.

From a few feet away, with people on either side of him, the officer fires four shots, and the teen slumps to the ground. A black-handled blade similar to a kitchen knife or steak knife lies on the sidewalk next to her.

A man immediately yells at the officer, "You didn't have to shoot her! She's just a kid, man!"

The officer responds, "She had a knife. She just went at her."

The race of the officer wasn't clear and he was taken off patrolling the streets for the time being.

READ MORE: Probe of Minneapolis police George Floyd trial

The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. It remains unclear if anyone else was injured. Police did not identify the girl or her age Tuesday. One family member said she was 15, while another said she was 16.

Woods said state law allows police to use deadly force to protect themselves or others, and investigators will determine whether this shooting was such an instance. Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation is now reviewing the killing following an agreement with the city last summer for all police shootings to be handled by the independent investigators under Attorney General Dave Yost's office.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther mourned the loss of the young victim but defended the officer's use of deadly force.

READ MORE: Biden to Floyd family after verdict: 'We're all so relieved'

"We know based on this footage the officer took action to protect another young girl in our community," he told reporters.

The shooting happened about 25 minutes before a judge read the verdict convicting former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter in the killing of Floyd. It also took place less than 8km from where the funeral for Andre Hill, who was killed by another Columbus police officer in December, was held earlier this year. The officer in Hill's case, Adam Coy, a 19-year veteran of the force, is now facing trial for murder, with the next hearing scheduled for April 28.

Less than three weeks before Hill was killed, a Franklin County Sheriff's deputy fatally shot 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. in Columbus. The case remains under federal investigation.

READ MORE: Family can 'breathe again' as Derek Chauvin found guilty

Last week, Columbus police shot and killed a man who was in a hospital emergency room with a gun on him. Officials are continuing an investigation into that shooting.

Kimberly Shepherd, 50, who has lived in the neighbourhood where Tuesday's shooting took place for 17 years, said she knew the teenage victim.

"The neighbourhood has definitely went through its changes, but nothing like this," Shepherd said of the shooting. "This is the worst thing that has ever happened out here and unfortunately it is at the hands of police."

Shepherd and her neighbour Jayme Jones, 51, had celebrated the guilty verdict of Chauvin. But things changed quickly, she said.

IN PICTURES: Derek Chauvin found guilty in the death of George Floyd

"We were happy about the verdict. But you couldn't even enjoy that," Shepherd said. "Because as you're getting one phone call that he was guilty, I'm getting the next phone call that this is happening in my neighbourhood."

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