Anthony Albanese

Julian Assange, co-founder of WikiLeaks, will plead guilty to espionage in the US, enabling his return to Australia and ending his imprisonment in Britain. Under the agreement, Assange, 52, will plead guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents. He is to be sentenced to 62 months in prison, which he has already served in a British prison.

China's relationship with Australia is "on the right track", Premier Li Qiang said in Canberra on Monday as the two trading partners moved on from a bitter economic dispute.

The highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Australia since 2017, Li held high-level talks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following a welcome ceremony at Parliament House.

Australia unveiled plans Thursday to keep burning natural gas beyond 2050, saying its reliance on the fossil fuel would not derail a pledge to reach net zero emissions in the next 30 years.

Resources minister Madeleine King said gas "will remain an important source of energy" in Australia, outraging environmental groups who branded the Future Gas Strategy a "climate disaster".

A food aid organisation said an Israeli strike killed several of its workers in the besieged Gaza Strip on Monday, with the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory reporting that four of them were foreigners.

"Today, World Central Kitchen lost several of its sisters and brothers in an Israeli army strike in Gaza," said the NGO's founder, chef Jose Andres.

Australia has told China of its "outrage" over a suspended death sentence handed to Chinese-Australian dissident writer Yang Jun, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday.

Yang was sentenced to death on Monday with a two-year suspended execution and had all of his property confiscated, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Microsoft announced yesterday a 5 billion Australian dollar ($3.2 billion) investment in Australia focused on cloud computing and artificial intelligence, saying it would boost the country's economy and cyber defences.

Australia will hold a historic Indigenous rights referendum on October 14, the prime minister said Wednesday, setting up a defining moment for the nation's relationship with Aboriginal minorities.

"On that day, every Australian will have a once-in-a-generation chance to bring our country together," Anthony Albanese said as he announced the date for the compulsory and binding vote.

A bus carrying wedding guests overturned and killed 10 people in an "unimaginable" night-time crash in a popular wine region near Sydney, police said Monday -- Australia's deadliest road accident in 16 years.

The U.N.'s cultural agency UNESCO welcomed on June 6 commitments from Australia to protect the Great Barrier Reef, with the government pledging 4.4 billion Australian dollars ($2.9 billion) to safeguard the natural wonder.

Australia is briefing neighboring Asian countries on its plan to build nuclear submarines ahead of an announcement about it in the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as local media reported the program could generate 20,000 jobs.