Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators 

Australian Dollar: $0.7700 USD (down $0.0060 USD)

Iron Ore Feb Spot Price (SGX): $166.91 USD (down $1.59 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $52.04 USD (down $0.20 USD)

Gold Price: $1,845.58 (down $3.57 USD)

Dow Jones: 31,016.37 at 3.08 pm NY time (down 81.60 points on Friday's close)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Democrats are pushing ahead with impeachment. Here's what Trump stands to lose

The New Daily - Page Online : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Christiane Barro - PortMac.News Summary

The Democratic Party has formally commenced proceedings to impeach President Donald Trump. He has been accused of incitement of insurrection in the article of impeachment, which is expected to be debated by the House of Representatives in coming days.

The Senate previously dismissed an attempt to impeach Trump in early 2020, but a successful impeachment could bar him from running for president in 2024.

However, Trump may be entitled to receive benefits such as annual pension, free travel and personal protection if he is not removed from office by 20 January, when Joe Biden will be inaugurated.

Trump's de-platforming could reshape the internet

The Age - Page Online : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Stephen Bartholomeusz - PortMac.News Summary

The move by social media platforms to ban President Donald Trump could have major implications for the internet, as well as free speech in the US.

Twitter has imposed a permanent ban on Trump, while Facebook has announced an indefinite ban. Meanwhile, technology giants such as Apple and Google have removed Parler from their app stores, amid reports that Trump and his supporters planned to move to the smaller social media site.

The action against Trump may also result in growing pressure to repeal or amend Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act, which absolves digital platforms from liability for the content posted by their users.

Qld ready to impose short lockdowns

The Australian Financial Review - Page 4 : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Tom Burton - PortMac.News Summary

The Queensland government's three-day lockdown of Greater Brisbane ended at 6pm on 11 January, after the state recorded a third consecutive day with no new cases of community transmission of COVID-19.

However, four new cases in hotel quarantine have been confirmed; the partner of a quarantine hotel cleaner who contracted the highly-contagious UK variant has also been diagnosed with this strain of COVID-19.

The government will maintain some coronavirus restrictions across Brisbane until at least 22 January, while Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has not ruled out further snap lockdowns if they are deemed necessary.

You need a permit to go home, Victorians told

The Australian - Page 4 : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Rachel Baxendale - PortMac.News Summary

Victoria's Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien has criticised the state government's new travel permit system for people who are returning from interstate, describing it as an 'overreach'.

He contends that the system will require Victorians to apply for permission from the government to enter the state even if they have been in a region that has never had a COVID-19 case.

Failure to comply with the permit system will attract a fine of nearly $5,000. The government has also launched a 'traffic light' advisory system for people intending to travel interstate.

Victoria has recorded five consecutive days with no new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases.

China allows WHO to begin virus probe

The Australian - Page 4 : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Chun Han Wong - PortMac.News Summary

The Chinese government has given permission for a 10-person team of experts from the World Health Organization to enter the country to commence an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

China's National Health Commission has advised that the WHO experts will travel to the coronavirus 'Ground zero' city of Wuhan after going into quarantine for two weeks.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently criticised China over delays in granting approval for the experts to enter the country.

Lack of plans for fruit pickers risks worker exploitation, industry warns

The Age - Page Online : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Mike Foley - PortMac.News Summary

The agricultural industry has called for urgent action to address a chronic shortage of seasonal workers, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is estimated that Victorian farmers need about 26,000 workers to pick their summer crops, but local workers have been reluctant to take up such work and there are restrictions on bringing foreign workers into Australia to pick crops.

The industry is concerned that the labour shortage may lead to a rise in the exploitation of workers.

Bourse falls on tech, gold losses

The Australian - Page 19 : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Rebecca Le May - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket lost ground on 11 January, with the S&P/ASX 200 index shedding 0.9% to close at 6,697.2 points.

Rio Tinto was down 1.3% at $122.40, Perseus Mining shed 8.08% to finish at $1.19 and the Commonwealth Bank was 0.55% lower at $85.16. However, Santos added 3.15% to end the session at $7.20 and Mesoblast rose 14.29% to $2.56.

Data risk alert in NZ reserve bank file hack

The Australian - Page 14 : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Cliona O'Dowd, David Swan - PortMac.News Summary

Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Adrian Orr says the central bank is treating a data breach as a top priority, and the National Cyber Security Centre has been informed of the incident.

Orr says the hackers had targeted Accellion rather than the RBNZ's own computer systems; Accellion provides a third-party file-sharing service which the central bank uses to share and store sensitive information.

Spotless is among the Australian companies that were targeted by hackers in 2020, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned in June of a rise in cyber attacks in both the public and private sectors.

Forrest-backed fintech could strike more government deals

The Australian Financial Review - Page 17 : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Lucas Baird - PortMac.News Summary

Australian digital payments platform Azupay is set to permanently appoint John Murphy as CEO. He has been acting CEO since September and joined Azupay's board in mid-2020.

Azupay uses the New Payments Platform to generate unique QR codes that are linked to specific transactions. Murphy says the company is holding talks with federal and state government agencies regarding a similar deal to the one it struck with the New South Wales government in June.

Tattarang, the private investment vehicle of mining magnate Andrew Forrest, acquired a 50 per cent stake in Azupay in July.

Printing body blasts Ovato over restructure, redundancies

The Australian - Page 13 & 19 : 12 January 2021 - Original article by David Ross - PortMac.News Summary

Listed printing and marketing services firm Ovato has attracted further scrutiny over its restructuring plan.

Taxpayers will bear most of the cost of 330 redundancies at Ovato, via the federal government's Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme; this follows the company's decision to transfer these workers to corporate entitles that have insufficient funds to pay creditors.

Members of the print industry have described Ovato's restructuring plan as an 'asset strip', while Print & Visual Communication Association president Walter Kuhn says the government should have stepped in and insisted that Ovato must pay all redundancy costs.

South32 set to dump coal mine project

The Australian - Page 16 : 12 January 2021 - Original article by Nick Evans - PortMac.News Summary

Diversified miner South32 is believed to be seeking a buyer for its 50% stake in the Eagle Downs coking coal project in Queensland after deciding not to proceed with the partially-built mine.

South32 acquired its stake in the project from Vale in 2018, several years after Eagle Downs was mothballed amid a fall in coal prices. South32 recently received a feasibility study on the project. Chinese steelmaker Baowu owns the other half of the Eagle Downs project.