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Chinese state media is saying that the U.S. Congress’ multiple day deliberations over choosing a House speaker is evidence of democracy in “decline” and “deterioration.” ...

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‘Challenging night’ for WA fire crews in south-west
Earlier today, Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services incident controller Peter Thomas said it had been a “challenging night” for fire crews in the south-west, as bushfires threaten the region.
So our volunteers from the Donnybrook area across the south-west [who have] come to deal with this incident.
We’ve had some strong winds that have been coming consistently from the east, but been fairly strong and making it challenging for our crews.
When we allow sportspeople from Russia to participate in the Australian Open, we do exactly what Putin wants.
It doesn’t matter what flag Russian Federation players compete under. It has Ukrainian blood on it.

Governing body of women’s tennis says it wants to meet Peng in person before it resumes tournaments in China
The return of WTA tournaments to China in 2023 will hinge on a resolution to the Peng Shuai issue, with the governing body of the women’s game telling Reuters on Wednesday it had still not personally met with the Chinese former doubles world No 1 since she .
In 2021, Peng accused Zhang Gaoli, the former Chinese vice-premier, of sexual assault in a post on social media that was soon removed from the country’s internet. She later said the post was .

Queensland Resources Council says industry would welcome restrictions easing but new long-term customers since found elsewhere in Asia
Australia would benefit from a lifting of China’s ban on its coal but any gains would likely be modest as miners have largely redirected supplies elsewhere, analysts said.
Shares of ASX-listed coalminers shot up on Wednesday after reports on coal imports from Australia from April. The ban was imposed in mid-2020 amid deteriorating bilateral relations that have since begun to improve.

Mark Butler signals measure could be lifted if China provides ‘real-time uploading’ of genomic sequencing of cases
Australia’s health minister says he wants pre-flight Covid testing for travellers from China to be “temporary”, suggesting the requirement could be lifted if Beijing shares more information about its outbreak.
Mark Butler suggested on Thursday – the first day of the new testing regime – that the measure was put in place as part of an international push for China to provide real-time data on the genomic sequencing of Covid cases.

Analysis of Chinese data finds no new variants of concern emerging, but world health body says it still does not have ‘complete data’
The World Health Organization has criticised China’s “very narrow” definition of Covid-19 deaths, warning that official statistics are not showing the true impact of the outbreak.
There is growing concern about the steep rise in Covid infections since Beijing last month abruptly lifted years of hardline restrictions, .

She's a Jersey girl. And she's South Asian. Meet the American Girl 2023 Girl of the Year doll, Kavi Sharma. Kavi has made history as the first South Asian girl to join the annual lineup.

In a diplomatically fraught move, the bloc advised its 27 members to put restrictions in place as Chinese tourists prepare to return to global destinations.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s testing requirement for passengers “on flights originating from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including the Special Administrative Regions ...