Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators:

Australian Dollar: $0.7230 USD (up $0.0050 USD)

Iron Ore Feb Spot Price (SGX): $131.95 USD (up $4.45 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $86.65 USD (up $0.92 USD)

Gold Price: $1,842.61 USD (up $27.70 USD)

Copper Price (CME): $4.4570 (up $0.0585 USD)

Bitcoin: $41,909.84 (up 0.73% in last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 35,207.50 at 3.29 pm NY time (down 160.97 points on yesterday's close)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Winter Olympics: Athletes warned over speaking out on human rights issues

Athletes at next month's Beijing Winter Olympics face punishment for behaviour that is against the spirit of the Games or Chinese rules, an official has said.

It comes after Human Rights Watch held a briefing to warn of the dangers of athletes speaking out at the Games.

Athletes were told to "stay silent" about human rights issues as they will "not be protected" in an "Orwellian surveillance state".

The Games start on 4 February, followed by the Winter Paralympics from 4 March.

China has been accused of committing genocide against Uighurs and other mainly Muslim peoples, an allegation China has repeatedly rejected.

"Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I'm sure will be protected and anything and any behaviour or speeches that are against the Olympic spirit, especially against Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment," said Yang Shu, deputy director general of Beijing 2022's International Relations Department.

Yang suggested that a possible punishment could be the cancellation of athletes' accreditation.

When asked for a response, the International Olympic Committee referred to rule 50.2 of its guidelines, which protect the neutrality of sport and of the Games.

"The Games are governed by the IOC Rules, they will be applied at Beijing 2022 like at any other edition of the Games before," it said.

The IOC relaxed a ban on protests before the Tokyo Games last summer, allowing athletes to "express their views" during news conferences - but political demonstrations are still banned on the medal podiums.

Nordic skier Noah Hoffman says he feels "fear" for athletes over "the lack of the ability to speak freely".

"My advice for athletes who are there and my hope for athletes who are going there is to stay silent," said Hoffmanm, speaking at the Human Rights Watch seminar.

Tragic ending : Man charged with Charlise Mutten murder

A man has been charged with the murder of nine-year-old Charlise Mutten, whose body was found in a barrel yesterday five days after she was last seen in the Blue Mountains.

Police believe 31-year-old Justin Stein acted alone in the alleged murder and detectives relied on GPS data and CCTV to find the barrel in bush near the Colo River last night.

The child's body is yet to be formally identified but police say the remains found in the barrel are consistent with Charlise Mutten.

(See full story on PortMac.News today)

Scrap daily testing: PM tells states

The Australian - Page 6 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Jess Malcolm - PortMac.News Summary

Australia's eastern states require workers in critical industries to undertake daily COVID-19 tests for periods ranging from 5-7 days.

However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison contends that a daily testing regime is not necessary for all critical workers; he will urge the states and territories to relax their testing requirements to ensure that rapid antigen tests are available to sectors that need them the most.

Morrison also says the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee is considering whether to reduce the COVID-19 isolation period from seven days to five.

Booster window reduced by a month

The Australian - Page 7 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Angelica Snowden, Rachel Baxendale - PortMac.News Summary

An additional 3.5 million people in New South Wales and 1.2 million in Victoria will immediately be eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot after both states reduced the minimum period between a second and third dose to just three months.

South Australia and the ACT have also reduced the waiting period for a booster from four months to three.

Charlotte Hespe from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says that reducing the interval between doses will help relieve the pressure on hospitals; however, she cautions that people can still die from COVID-19 even if they have had a booster shot.

Blood test surveys crucial to estimate Covid spread in Australia, experts say

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Melissa Davey - PortMac.News Summary

Epidemiologists believe that seroprevalence surveys should be undertake to determine the extent of COVID-19 in Australia, given the current strain on the nation's testing regime.

Professor John Kaldor from the Kirby Institute was part of a team that carried out blood test surveys in 2020 and 2021, and they hope to gain approval to undertake further tests in 2022.

Professor Fiona Russell from the University of Melbourne agrees that seroprevalence surveys must be undertaken, despite the challenges involved in obtaining a representative sample.

70-year-old drug may be the answer to treating virus

The Australian Financial Review - Page 5 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Jill Margo - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian National University's Professor Frank van Haren leads a research team that has undertaken landmark research on the use of blood thinning drug heparin as a treatment for COVID-19.

The team has found that inhaling heparin can help to limit the lung damage caused by the coronavirus.

Professor van Haren says that breathing and oxygen levels improved in 70% of the study's participants after they inhaled a course of heparin. He notes that heparin is widely available in most hospitals.

Christensen quits plum role after vaccine slap down

Brisbane Times - Page Online : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Cameron Atfield, Dana Daniel - PortMac.News Summary

National Party backbencher George Christensen advised on Wednesday that he will step down as the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade & Investment Growth.

Christensen has attracted criticism after recently stating that parents should not have their children vaccinated against COVID-19.

Christensen stated that he had chosen to resign and was influenced by any third party.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison had earlier indicated that he would discuss Christensen's role on the committee with deputy PM and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce.

Morrison has stressed that parents should seek out "Credible sources" of information on vaccines. Christensen will not contest the upcoming election.

Palmer plots Senate comeback

The Australian - Page 4 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Lydia Lynch - PortMac.News Summary

Former MP Clive Palmer says his United Australia Party is "Very confident" of winning Senate seats at the upcoming federal election.

Palmer himself will head the UAP's Queensland ticket, and says he was prompted to seek a return to parliament by the "State of the nation". UAP spent a record $83m on its political campaign in the 2019 election, and Palmer has vowed to top this in 2022.

Political scientist Paul Williams has forecast that the Liberal-Nationals and Labor will each win two of the six Senate seats in Queensland, while One Nation and the Greens will each win one seat.

Why China is in deeper trouble than we think

The Australian - Page 20 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Robert Gottliebsen - PortMac.News Summary

The US 10-year bond rate recently rose to a two-year high of 1.87%, compared with about one per cent a year ago.

The rise in US bonds will be a concern for China, which needs a strong US economy in order to ensure that demand for Chinese exports remains strong.

China is being hard hit by the Omicron variant of COVID-19, while Evergrande is not the only property developer that is experiencing financial problems.

The Chinese government is now pursuing stimulus measures, which will benefit Australia via increased demand for commodities such as iron ore and coal.

Sustainable super outperforms traditional funds in hot sharemarket

The New Daily - Page Online : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Rod Myer - PortMac.News Summary

Data from Rainmaker shows that Aware Super was the top performing default superannuation fund over the last three years, with an annual return of 12.9%.

Several other default funds also returned more than 12% annually over three years.

Rainmaker's data also shows that the top performing sustainable super funds have delivered better returns than traditional funds, with UniSuper's global environmental fund posting a return of 25.4% for the year to November and 27.9% over three years.

ASIC boss warns of crypto risk

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 2 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by John Kehoe - PortMac.News Summary

It is estimated that more than two million Australians have investments in cryptocurrency assets.

Australian Securities & Investments Commission chairman Joseph Longo says he is concerned about the number of people in Australia who have exposure to such assets, and notes the growing number of scams linked to crypto assets.

Longo adds that people should seek financial advice before allocating too much money to risker assets. He has also indicated that ASIC will seek to reduce the regulatory burden on financial advisers in order to make their services more affordable.

Hydrogen companies line up to float

The Australian Financial Review - Page 19 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Colin Packham - PortMac.News Summary

Martin Tengler of Bloomberg New Energy Finance says 2022 is set to be "The year of the hydrogen company IPO".

Four international companies in the sector have already flagged plans for sharemarket floats, and Tengler says more are likely to follow.

BNEF also forecasts strong growth in sales of hydrogen electrolysers in 2022, driven by demand in China and the US. Australian-listed Fortescue Metals Group is ramping up investment in hydrogen via its green energy subsidiary, while Woodside Petroleum aims to build a hydrogen plant in the US.

AdBlue crisis averted; drivers are new worry

The Australian Financial Review - Page 15 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Simon Evans - PortMac.News Summary

DGL Group CEO Simon Henry says a looming shortage of AdBlue has been adverted due to increased production of the diesel fuel additive.

DGL and Incitec Pivot are among the nation's major suppliers of AdBlue, and both have increased their production.

Henry says demand for AdBlue has also fallen due to the impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

He adds that a shortage of drivers has emerged as a new challenge for the trucking industry, with many being forced to isolate with COVID-19 or being a close contact.

'COVID levies' set to drive up overall costs

The Australian Financial Review - Page 9 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Jenny Wiggins - PortMac.News Summary

Some logistics companies are imposing a levy on each shipping container they handle in order to offset the rising cost of labour due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They include Qube Holdings, ACFS Port Logistics and Victoria International Container Terminal.

Road Freight NSW CEO Simon O'Hara has warned that these levies will ultimately have to be passed on to consumers.

A spokesman for the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission says the competition watchdog is monitoring the situation.

Former NY Post editor sues News Corp

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Ben Butler - PortMac.News Summary

Media giant News Corporation and the 'New York Post' are facing a damages claim from the newspaper's former digital editor-in-chief, Michelle Gotthelf.

Amongst other things, she claims that she had been subjected to sexual harassment by the newspaper's former editor-in-chief Col Allan, and that the current editor-in-chief Keith Poole had discriminated against her due to her gender.

Gotthelf is seeking damages from News Corp, Allan and Poole. Allan is also a former editor-in-chief of 'The Daily Telegraph' in Sydney.

BHP vote today; investors plan for a unified listing

The Australian Financial Review - Page 27 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Alex Gluyas - PortMac.News Summary

BHP's plan to abolish its dual-listed structure will have to be backed by at least 75% of shareholders in each of its Australian and London-listed entities when the proposal is put to a vote on 20 January.

BHP's weighting in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index will rise from 6.2% to about 10% if shareholders vote in favour of unification.

The materials sector's weighting in the ASX 200 will also increase by around 3-4%.

Omicron clouds pace of decline in home building

The Australian Financial Review - Page 30 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Michael Bleby - PortMac.News Summary

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that new housing starts fell by 16.5% in the September quarter, which was affected by COVID-19 lockdowns in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.

Shane Oliver of AMP Capital Investors says residential construction is likely to have rebounded in the December quarter as work resumed; however, he warns that the sector is likely to be hit again in the first quarter of 2022 due to the Omicron variant.

Tech stocks drag benchmark to 1% loss

The Australian Financial Review - Page 26 : 20 January 2022 - Original article by Vesna Poljak - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket retreated on 19 January, with the S&P/ASX 200 shedding 76.3 points to close at 7,332.5.

Fortescue Metals Group was down 1.5% at $20.44, Novonix fell 9.7% to $9.22 and Megaport slumped 16.2% to end the session at $15.32.

Meanwhile, Harvey Norman rose 3% to $5.20 and BKI Investment Company was up 0.9% at $1.69.