China has continued to impose trade sanctions and tariffs on Chinese-Australian trade, following Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s push to investigate the origins of COVID-19.

The sanctions and tariffs have had a prominent impact on Australia’s agricultural industries, with barley, beef, wine and cotton trade being affected, in addition to timber and coal.

The Australian Government has encouraged exporters to expand trade to other markets, and is preparing to lodge a complaint against China to the World Trade Organisation. 
 

The World Health Organisation has arranged for a team of 10 international scientists to travel to Wuhan, China to investigate the origins of COVID-19, following months of negotiations with Beijing.

The aim of the investigation is not to place blame on any nation, researchers say, but to understand how to reduce the risk of future pandemics.

Although COVID-19 was initially assumed to have originated in a Wuhan wet market, it is possible that while the virus may not have originated there this was the location where it was first amplified and began to spread. 
 

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has described herself as ‘happy’ to announce that Paris authorities are being fined 90,000 euros after breaching a gender parity rule.

The employment rule was established to promote gender equality in the workplace, with no more than 60% of public service management positions to go to one sex, with Ms Hildago’s recent recruitment seeing 69% of the jobs go to women.

A new at-home coronavirus test, developed by Brisbane company Ellume, has been approved for emergency use in the United States.

The Ellume COVID-19 Home Test is designed to detect traces of the virus from a nasal swab sample from an individual as young as two years old.

Ellume Chief Executive Dr Sean Parsons said they were still working on commercial distribution for Australia, but have received considerable interest from universities eager to have students return to campus, and sporting events wanting to test spectators.

A new regeneration program has been launched to help the Great Barrier Reef recover from recent mass bleaching.

The Reef Recovery program will involve the construction of a rapid-growing coral nursery off the coast of Queensland’s Fitzroy Island to be managed by a team of experts throughout 2021 with the aim of producing mature coral to be placed back on the reef.

The Reef Restoration Foundation has partnered with shipping container company ANL on the Reef Recovery program, with potential plans to establish similar projects around the world.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a new warning for severe thunderstorms, with large areas of NSW to be hit by heavy rain as SES are called to rescue people from rising floodwaters.

The predicted reprieve from rain and flooding across NSW is unlikely to eventuate yet, with only the state's far west expected to be spared from afternoon thunderstorms.

The warning zone includes most of the state - from Mungindi near the Queensland border to Tumbarumba near the Victorian border.
 

NSW health officials have confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 on Sydney's Northern Beaches and have issued a warning for residents to be wary of even mild symptoms.

The infected persons are a woman in her 60s and a man in his 70s who are close contacts of each other with the source of the infections currently being investigated.

Alerts have been issued for a number of venues in both Palm Beach and Avalon Beach that were visited by the pair between December 13th-14th.

Hungary has amended the definition of family in its constitution to permit an effective ban on adoption by same-sex couples, with rights groups denouncing the changes. 

The new constitution now defines family as “based on marriage and the parent-child relation. The mother is a woman, the father a man.” It also rules that parents raise children in a conservative spirit.

Hungary has never legalised gay marriage but still recognises civil unions. Adoption by same-sex couples was possible before the recent amendment if one partner applied as a single person.