The Treasury department is looking to scrap an audit contract with PwC this year after the accounting giant was found to have used confidential tax plans to reap further profits.

Asian markets were buoyant on Monday, lifted by news of a US deal to boost the government's debt ceiling, although stocks in Hong Kong dipped again

Asia stocks sink to two-month low, with Hong Kong down 2%, Sydney, Shanghai and the BSE Sensex all lower on Thursday. The Nikkei was the key outlier once again, rising nearly 0.4%.

Western intelligence agencies and Microsoft say a state-sponsored group had been assessing telecom, transport and other critical organisations in the US and on Guam in the Pacific

Prime ministers Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi also discussed Ukraine and food supply chains, and signed a migration deal

Australia and the US have reached an agreement to boost the processing of critical resources needed for clean energy, PM Anthony Albanese said on his return from Hiroshima

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a defence pact with Papua New Guinea on Monday. He and Indian PM Narendra Modi also met Pacific Island leaders at a regional forum

One of China's WZ-8 supersonic reconnaissance drones has been spotted by new hangars at Lu'an airbase in China's Anhui province, a US military magazine says

Palau and Micronesia will sign updated security agreements with the US over the next two days, while the Marshall Islands could also agree to do the same shortly, US envoy Joseph Yun said

G7 states want to limit 'risk exposure' to China but would still invest in supply supply chains there, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday; Quad leaders also met in Hiroshima

The US Secretary of State will fly to PNG on Monday to meet Pacific Island leaders in place of Joe Biden, who will return to Washington after the G7. India's Narendra Modi will also go to Moresby

Global temperatures are likely to be 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels at least once over the next five years, the WMO says, and an El Niño weather pattern looks likely to occur late this year