ACT

New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) India and Australia on Saturday signed an economic cooperation and trade agreement under which Canberra would provide duty free access in its market for over 95 per cent of Indian goods such as textiles, leather, jewellery and sports products.

Canberra, Apr 1 (AP) Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that Australia will send armoured Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically asked for them while appealing to Australian lawmakers for more help in Ukraine's war against Russia.

Zelenskyy addressed the Australian Parliament on Thursday and asked for the Australian-made, four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Morrison told reporters the vehicles will be flown over on Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport planes.

Sydney, Mar 7 (AP) Australia's prime minister has described Russia and China's closer relationship as opportunistic rather than strategic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday labelled the alliance an Arc of Autocracy and said Russia and China would prefer a new world order to the one that has been in place since World War II.

Morrison has criticised Beijing's failure to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's expansion of trade in Russian wheat while other countries are imposing sanctions.

17 Feb 2022; MEMO: The government of Australia will list the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

"The views of Hamas and the violent extremist groups listed today are deeply disturbing, and there is no place in Australia for their hateful ideologies," said Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews.

"It is vital that our laws target not only terrorist acts and terrorists, but also the organisations that plan, finance and carry out these acts," Andrews added.

Sydney, Jan 8 (AP) Australia's former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, as case numbers hit new highs across the country and health officials warned that the real number of cases is likely much higher than testing shows.

Turnbull, who was prime minister from 2015 to 2018, confirmed on Twitter he was isolating at home after a positive test.

SYDNEY, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Australia recorded another record surge in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday as an outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant disrupted reopening of the economy, while state leaders argued over domestic border controls.

The country reported 11,264 new cases of the coronavirus in the previous day, according to a Reuters calculation of state figures, once again surpassing its peak of a day earlier, as it grapples with a planned reopening while the new variant rages.

New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan will visit India next week to explore sealing of an early harvest trade pact to be followed by a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) in line with the overall policy approach by the two sides to ramp up economic ties.

It will be the first ministerial visit from Australia after it joined a new security alliance with the UK and the US that triggered sharp reactions from France and raised apprehensions about its possible impact on the Quad.

Canberra, Sep 18 (AP-PTI) Australia said Saturday it was noting with regret France's recall of its ambassador over the surprise cancellation of a submarine contract in favour of a US deal.

France recalled its ambassadors to Australia and the United States on Friday in an unprecedented show of anger over a deal among the United States, Australia and Britain to provide Australia with a fleet of at least eight nuclear-power submarines.

Canberra, Aug 18 (AP-PTI) Australia had evacuated the first 26 people, including Australian and Afghan citizens, from Kabul since the Taliban overran the Afghan capital, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.

An Air Force C-130 Hercules transport aircraft landed at an Australian military base in the United Arab Emirates with the 26 who included a foreign official working for an international agency, Morrison said. The remainder were Australians and Afghans.

Canberra, Jul 25 (AP-PTI) Australia has garnered enough international support to defer an attempt by the United Nations' cultural organisation to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef's World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change.