Australia and Uzbekistan have been recommended as hosts for the 2026 and 2029 Women’s Asian Cup respectively. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) made the announcement on Friday after a meeting in Tashkent. The Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA), which has hosted AFC youth events in the past, was the sole bidder for 2029 and is set to be the first Central …

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has invited China’s President Xi Jinping to visit Australia as the two leaders “worked out some problems” in a face-to-face meeting in Beijing. Albanese declared his high-level talks with Xi “very successful” while the Chinese president said they were ushering a new era in relations. The prime minister met with the Chinese president in the Great …

Anthony Albanese won’t admit he trusts Xi Jinping, but says the Chinese President has never let him down as he prepares for a crucial meeting with him in Beijing. The Prime Minister arrived in China on Sunday night Australian time, and has left open the possibility of Australia backing its bid to join a trans-Pacific trade bloc. Albanese has also …

The victim, Juan Jumalon, was broadcasting from his studio at his house in Calamba town in the southern province of Misamis Occidental, when the attack happened on Sunday. The suspect pretended to be someone who wanted to make an announcement on the 57-year-old’s radio show, police said. “Once inside, without apparent reason, (the suspect) drew his firearm and shot the …

US authorities say the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic most likely leaked out of a Chinese research laboratory. In an about-face on previous stances, the US Energy Department said new intelligence prompted it to conclude an accidental leak from a Wuhan lab – not as part of a weapons program – probably led to the global pandemic. The Wall …

China says it seeks dialogue and peace for Ukraine despite US warnings that it might be considering weapons supplies for its ally Russia’s invasion. Air raid sirens blared in the capital Kyiv and other cities overnight and a Russian missile killed one person in the western town of Khmelnitskyi, Mayor Oleksandr Symshyshyn said on the Telegram messaging app on Monday. The …

The total death toll from the earthquakes that struck southwest Turkey and northern Syria on Monday has climbed to above 20,000, a tally that is expected to rise as crews comb the rubble of thousands of toppled buildings. Turkey’s disaster agency raised the country’s confirmed death toll on Thursday night to 17,406, while the number of lives lost in neighbouring Syria stood …

It’s taken more than six years to have this 32-minute meeting, 12 minutes longer than the original schedule indicates. Looking back over the past five decades, face-to-face meetings between China’s and Australia’s top leaders used to be seen as a staple in our diplomatic playbook. In contrast, yesterday’s one-on-one between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G20 …

Former federal defence minister and WA governor, Kim Beazley, has urged Australia to focus on strengthening its relationship with India to compete with the rise of China. Speaking at the Indian Ocean Defence & Security Conference in Perth, Mr Beazley said Australia had a “heavy set of expectations” on its shoulders. “China has turned the Indian Ocean into a strategic system. It’s …

Taiwan has condemned its “evil neighbour” after China fired multiple missiles into its surrounding waters – including up to four that flew directly over the island’s capital Taipei in an unprecedented escalation. China launched its largest live-fire military drills in the seas and skies around Taiwan on Thursday, a day after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi enraged Beijing …