Russian and Belarusian flags have been banned from the Melbourne Park precinct during the Australian Open after a complaint from the Ukraine ambassador to the country.

Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, posted a picture showing a Russian flag hanging from a bush beside the court where his compatriot Kateryna Baindl was playing her first-round match on Monday.

“I strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during the game of the Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Baindl at the Australian Open today,” he wrote on Twitter.

“I call on Tennis Australia to immediately enforce its ‘neutral flag’ policy.”

Tennis Australia responded on Tuesday by banning the flags of the two countries.

“Flags from Russia and Belarus are banned onsite at the Australian Open,” Tennis Australia said in a statement.

“Our initial policy was that fans could bring them in but could not use them to cause disruption. Yesterday we had an incident where a flag was placed courtside.

“The ban is effective immediately. We will continue to work with the players and our fans to ensure the best possible environment to enjoy the tennis.”

Belarus is being used as a key staging ground for Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Moscow terms a “special operation”.

Russian and Belarusian players were banned from Wimbledon last year but are able to compete as individual athletes without national affiliation at the Australian Open.

Their flags are not displayed beside their names in TV broadcasts, as is the case for other players, and their nation is not indicated on draw sheets.

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka said she understood how the display of the flags of the two countries might upset Ukrainian players.

“I really thought that sport is nothing to do with politics but if everyone feels better this way, then it’s okay,” the fifth seed told reporters after her first-round win on Tuesday.

“If Tennis Australia made this decision to make them feel better, okay. They did it, what can I do? I can do nothing.”

Ukraine’s number two Marta Kostyuk told Reuters on Monday that she would not shake hands with tour rivals from Russia and Belarus who she feels have not done enough to speak out against the invasion.

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Searchers used drones and rappelled down a 200 metres (656 feet) deep gorge in west Nepal on Tuesday to search for two passengers still unaccounted for after the country’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years, which killed at least 70 people.

Difficult terrain and inclement weather was hampering rescue efforts near the tourist city of Pokhara, where the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 turboprop carrying 72 people crashed in clear weather on Sunday just before landing.

“There is thick fog here now. We are sending search and rescue personnel using ropes into the gorge where parts of the plane fell and was in flames,” Ajay K.C., a police official in Pokhara who is part of the rescue efforts, told Reuters.

Searchers found two more bodies on Monday before the search was called off because of fading light.

“There were small children among the passengers. Some might have been burnt and died, and may not be found out. We will continue to look for them,” K.C. said.

Television channels showed footage of some weeping relatives waiting for the bodies of their loved ones outside a hospital where autopsies are being conducted in Pokhara.

On Monday, searchers found the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the flight, both in good condition, a discovery that is likely to help investigators determine what caused the crash.

Under international aviation rules, the crash investigation agencies of the countries where the plane and engines were designed and built are automatically part of the inquiry.

ATR is based in France and the plane’s engines were manufactured in Canada by Pratt & Whitney Canada (RTX.N).

French and Canadian air accident investigators have said they plan to participate in the probe.

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China’s population fell last year for the first time in six decades, a historic turn that is expected to mark the start of a long period of decline in its citizen numbers with profound implications for its economy and the world.

The drop, the worst since 1961, the last year of China’s Great Famine, also lends weight to predictions that India will become the world’s most populous nation this year.

China’s population declined by roughly 850,000 to 1.41175 billion at the end of 2022, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said.

Long-term, U.N. experts see China’s population shrinking by 109 million by 2050, more than triple the decline of their previous forecast in 2019.

That’s caused domestic demographers to lament that China will get old before it gets rich, slowing the economy as revenues drop and government debt increases due to soaring health and welfare costs.

“China’s demographic and economic outlook is much bleaker than expected. China will have to adjust its social, economic, defense and foreign policies,” said demographer Yi Fuxian.

He added that the country’s shrinking labour force and downturn in manufacturing heft would further exacerbate high prices and high inflation in the United States and Europe.

China’s birth rate last year was just 6.77 births per 1,000 people, down from a rate of 7.52 births in 2021 and marking the lowest birth rate on record.

The death rate, the highest since 1974 during the Cultural Revolution, was 7.37 deaths per 1,000 people, which compares with rate of 7.18 deaths in 2021.

Much of the demographic downturn is the result of China’s one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015 as well as sky-high education costs that have put many Chinese off having more than one child or even having any at all.

The data was the top trending topic on Chinese social media after the figures were released on Tuesday. One hashtag,”#Is it really important to have offspring?” had hundreds of millions of hits.

“The fundamental reason why women do not want to have children lies not in themselves, but in the failure of society and men to take up the responsibility of raising children. For women who give birth this leads to a serious decline in their quality of life and spiritual life,” posted one netizen with the username Joyful Ned.

China’s stringent zero-COVID policies that were in place for three years have caused further damage to the country’s demographic outlook, population experts have said.

Local governments have since 2021 rolled out measures to encourage people to have more babies, including tax deductions, longer maternity leave and housing subsidies. President Xi Jinping also said in October the government would enact further supportive policies.

Measures so far, however, have done little to arrest the long-term trend.

Online searches for baby strollers on China’s Baidu search engine dropped 17% in 2022 and are down 41% since 2018, while searches for baby bottles are down more than a third since 2018. In contrast, searches for elderly care homes surged eight-fold last year.

The reverse is playing out in India, where Google Trends shows a 15% year-on-year increase in searches for baby bottles in 2022, while searches for cribs rose almost five-fold.

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Kevin McCarthy (right) says he won’t push George Santos (left) out of office.

Alex Brandon/AP Photo; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

• Kevin McCarthy told MSNBC he’s always “had a few questions” about George Santos’ CV.
• A Santos staffer has been accused of impersonating McCarthy’s chief of staff in 2020 and 2022.
• McCarthy told MSNBC he has spoken to Santos about the impersonation scandal.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he’s always had “questions” about beleaguered GOP Rep. George Santos’ resume. 

Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, McCarthy said: “I never knew all about his resume or not, but I always had a few questions about it.”

MSNBC also asked McCarthy about a CNBC report published in January about Sam Miele, a Santos staffer. Miele impersonated McCarthy’s chief of staff Dan Meyer during fundraising phone calls while Santos was running for office in 2020 and 2022, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter. 

“You know, I didn’t know about that. It happened — and I know they corrected it, but I was not notified about that till a later date,” he said. McCarthy added that he had spoken to Santos about the impersonation scandal.

—Acyn (@Acyn) January 16, 2023

 

 

McCarthy, who has not taken a strong stance against Santos, said on January 11 that he will not force Santos out and will let the “voters decide” what to do with the New York congressman. The voters won’t get to vote again on Santos’ seat until November 2024.

The scandal-ridden Santos has admitted that he has lied about his education, heritage, and work experience, including made-up stints at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Questions about the congressman’s real name have also been raised after he was seen introducing himself as “Anthony Devolder” in a video clip from 2019.

Prosecutors in Long Island said on December 28 that they have opened an investigation into Santos. Long Island Republicans and the New York State GOP in January also called on Santos to resign, but Santos has refused to do so.

Representatives for Santos and McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

Xi Jinping, the leader of China, oversaw a restrictive program of COVID lockdowns that he has relaxed after a wave of protests.

REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

• Economic data released Tuesday in China show its growth slowed amid the government’s zero-COVID policy. 
• The National Bureau of Statistics of China said the economy expanded by 3% from a year prior. 
• That growth for 2022 is below expectations of 5.5% GDP growth that Chinese officials had set.

The National Bureau of Statistics of China said the country’s economy expanded by 3% in 2022, below Chinese officials’ expectations of a 5.5% increase. The data showed the impact from the government’s zero-COVID policy.

Gross domestic product data released early Tuesday in China showed growth was below the 8.1% increase in GDP that the country reported for 2021. 

During the pandemic, China’s leader Xi Jinping has overseen a highly restrictive program of lockdowns aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19. He relaxed this policy after a wave of protests last year.

Economists are now figuring out how the rapid reopening of China’s economy, the second-largest in the world after the United States, squares with a global economic slowdown.

“Beijing appears to be opting for a ‘big bang’ style exit from zero-COVID — one where the infection peak is passed as soon as possible — versus the staged process we had earlier envisaged,” investment strategists at the Swiss bank UBS wrote in a note to clients earlier this month.  

Strategists led by Mark Haefele, the chief investment officer of UBS Global Wealth Management, said pent-up savings and a return to social activities in China this year should lead to improved economic growth. Haefele said he expects GDP to recover to around 5% this year. 

GDP in China rose 2.9% in the fourth quarter from a year prior, according to a press release. 

China’s economy is expected to have slowed sharply in the fourth quarter due to stringent COVID curbs, dragging down 2022 growth to one of its worst in nearly half a century and raising pressure on policymakers to unveil more stimulus this year.

Data on Tuesday is forecast to show gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.8% in October-December from a year earlier, halving from the third-quarter’s 3.9% pace, according to a Reuters poll. Such an outcome would still exceed the second quarter’s 0.4% rate of expansion.

On a quarterly basis, GDP is projected to contract 0.8% in the fourth quarter, compared with growth of 3.9% in July-September.

“The Chinese economy appears to have ended the year on a weak tone,” economists at JPMorgan said in a research note.

“As suggested by the weak December NBS PMI report, domestic activity likely slowed further by year-end as rapid relaxation of control measures led to a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases.”

Beijing last month abruptly lifted its strict anti-virus measures that had severely restrained economic activity in 2022, but the relaxation has also led to a sharp rise in COVID cases that economists say might hamper near term growth.

Factory output is forecast to inch up 0.2% in December from a year earlier, slowing from a 2.2% rise in November, while retail sales, a key gauge of consumption, is seen shrinking 8.6% last month, extending November’s 5.9% drop.

For 2022, GDP likely expanded 2.8%, badly missing the official target of “around” 5.5% and braking sharply from 8.4% growth in 2021. Excluding the 2.2% expansion after the initial COVID hit in 2020, it would be the worst showing since 1976 – the final year of the decade-long Cultural Revolution that wrecked the economy.

Growth is likely to rebound to 4.9% in 2023, as Chinese leaders move to tackle some key drags on growth – the “zero-COVID” policy and a severe property sector downturn, according to the poll. Most economists expect growth to pick up from the second quarter.

The government is due to release the GDP data, along with December activity indicators, on Tuesday at 0200 GMT.

Beijing’s abrupt lifting of COVID curbs last month has prompted analysts’ upgrades of its economic outlook and a jump in Chinese financial markets, but businesses have struggled with surging infections, suggesting a bumpy recovery in the near term.

Economists at Morgan Stanley expect an earlier and stronger growth recovery from the first quarter, lifting 2023 GDP growth to 5.7%.

“We believe the market is still under-appreciating the far-reaching ramifications of reopening and the possibility that a decent cyclical recovery can occur despite lingering structural headwinds,” they said in a note.

Chinese leaders have pledged to prioritise consumption expansion to support domestic demand this year, at a time when local exporters struggle in the wake of global recession risks.

At an agenda-setting meeting in December, top leaders pledged to focus on stabilising the economy in 2023 and step up policy support to ensure key targets are hit.

China is likely to aim for economic growth of at least 5% in 2023 to keep a lid on unemployment, policy sources said.

The central bank is expected to steadily ease policy this year, pumping out more liquidity and lowering funding costs for businesses, while local governments are likely to issue more debt to fund infrastructure projects.

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The parade of atmospheric rivers that pounded California for three weeks finally faded on Monday, enabling the state to begin lengthy repairs to roads and levees as the White House announced President Joe Biden planned to survey the damage.

The nine consecutive rainstorms that inundated California in succession since Dec. 26 killed at least 20 people while tens of thousands remained under evacuation orders as of Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom said in an executive order that reinforced the state’s response to storm damage.

“The last of the heavier rain in California is slowly fading. After midnight it shouldn’t be heavy anymore,” said meteorologist David Roth of the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.

Biden will travel to areas of the central coast on Thursday to meet first responders, visit affected towns, and “assess what additional federal support is needed,” the White House said.

The president had already issued an emergency declaration on Jan. 8 to free up federal aid and then on Saturday authorized disaster assistance for Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties.

The White House has yet to reveal the areas Biden will visit.

Among the more dramatic images of storm damage were those of Highway 1, the scenic coastal highway near Big Sur, which was closed at several points due to mudslides and falling boulders strewn across the road.

While damaging, the storms also helped mitigate a historic drought, as much of the state has already received half or more its average annual rainfall.

But with more than two months to go in the rainy season, officials are urging Californians to continue conserving water. The U.S. Drought Monitor still shows almost the entire state under moderate or severe drought conditions. Reservoir levels were still below average for this time of year, officials said.

Moreover, the atmospheric rivers largely failed to reach the Colorado River basin, a critical source of southern California’s water.

“If you rely on the Colorado River basin as a part of your water supply, then there will be continuing drought problems due to the extreme drought in that part of the world,” Michael Anderson, California’s state climatologist, told reporters.

The Colorado’s two major reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, were at 28.5% and 22.6% of capacity, respectively, and still below levels from this time a year ago according to Water-Data.com.

The ninth consecutive atmospheric river fizzled out on Monday, its remnants soaking the southernmost part of the state, Arizona and northern Mexico, Roth said.

The storms are akin to rivers in the sky that carry moisture from the Earth’s tropics to higher latitudes, dumping massive amounts of rain.

Another storm was coming that could bring moderate rain on Tuesday and Wednesday. The U.S. National Weather Service said it lacked the volume to be classified as an atmospheric river, while the state Department of Water Resources said it may briefly qualify as one.

California can otherwise expect dry conditions for the remainder of January, state officials said.