Tag: Tony Abbott

• Tuesday, November 3rd 2015 - 07:05 UTC

  Australia eliminates knights and dames under the country's honours system

  

  Australia will no longer appoint knights and dames under its honours system, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced, arguing that the titles were “not appropriate” in modern Australia, and that Queen Elizabeth had accepted the cabinet's recommendation to drop them.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 08:24 UTC

  Australia and Brazil angry at Indonesia for execution of drug-traffickers

  

  An Indonesian firing squad executed eight convicted drug-traffickers from several countries on Tuesday, prompting Australia to recall its envoy to Jakarta and bringing an angry reaction from Brazil.

• Monday, March 16th 2015 - 10:25 UTC

  UK caught on the wrong side in a US/Beijing dispute over Chinese development bank

  

  The US has expressed concern over the UK's bid to become a founding member of a Chinese-backed development bank. The UK is the first big Western economy to apply for membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) despite the fact that US has raised questions over the bank's commitment to international standards on governance.

• Tuesday, November 18th 2014 - 06:26 UTC

  China and Australia seal major free trade agreement after a decade of talks

  

  China and Australia have sealed a major free trade agreement, as Chinese President Xi Jinping made a rare address to parliament in Canberra. The deal, the result of a decade of talks, will open up markets worth billions of dollars, Canberra says.