Anthony Albanese accepts an invitation from China's president to visit later this year; NATO says it has no evidence that Russia deliberately detonated drones over Romania; And in AFL, Collingwood has beaten Melbourne in a thrilling opening to the AFL finals.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Anthony Albanese accepts an invitation from China's president to visit later this year;
- NATO says it has no evidence that Russia deliberately detonated drones over Romania;
- And in AFL, Collingwood has beaten Melbourne in a thrilling opening to the AFL finals.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be the first Australian leader to visit China in seven years after accepting an invitation from President Xi Jinping.
Mr Albanese agreed to the first visit since Malcolm Turnbull's in 2016 during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the ASEAN conference in Indonesia.
The bilateral talks come after an ease in long-running diplomatic tensions following trade tariff negotiations last year.
Mr Albanese says human rights, including the detention of Australian journalist Cheng Lei, and territorial disputes are still part of discussions.
"We don't go into every detail of meetings that are held here. I've said I've raised human rights issues, I also raised issues that are the subject of discussion in the region including Taiwan, including the South China Sea."
The visit is expected to occur later this year, with a date yet to be agreed.
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This comes as Foreign Minister Penny Wong has appealed for Australians detained in China to be released to their families.
In an interview with SBS News at the ASEAN conference in Jakarta, Ms Wong also called for China to follow a 2016 tribunal decision in relation to its controversial claims to the South China Sea.
Australian citizens currently detained in China, after accusations of "supplying state secrets overseas", include Australian journalist Cheng Lei and writer Yang Hengjun, while three other Australians await capital punishment in the country.
Ms Wong called for the end of Ms Chung and Dr Yang's detention, but stopped short of saying a prime ministerial visit would be subject to their release.
"I don't think it's a smart thing in international relations to establish hard preconditions publicly what I would say is this. In relation to Ms. Cheng Lei and Dr Yang, we remain concerned about their ongoing detention. We have put our view very clearly on behalf of the Australian people that we would like to see Ms. Cheng Lei and Dr. Yang reunited with their families."
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NATO has said it has no indication that drone debris found on Romanian territory was caused by a deliberate Russian attack on Romania.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg responded to claims made by Ukraine that drones had been detonated in Romania on Monday during an overnight air strike on a Ukrainian port across the Danube river.
Romania, which is a member of the NATO, initially denied the Ukrainian allegations but later changed course, with its defence ministry saying that parts of what could be a Russian drone had fallen on Romanian soil.
Mr Stoltenberg says that while it awaits the full outcome of an investigation into the debris, NATO has increased its presence on the borders of its Eastern European partners in response to increasing Russian military activity.
"What we have seen, of course, is a lot of fighting and also air attacks close to NATO borders, and we also had other incidents in Poland and elsewhere, and therefore we have increased our vigilance, we are closely monitoring what's going on close to our borders and we have also increased our presence in the eastern part of the alliance."
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US actor Danny Masterson has been sentenced to serve 30 years to life in prison for raping two women.
The 47-year-old starred on 'That 70's Show', a TV comedy series that was on-air at the time of his crimes.
Prosecutors argued Masterson had relied on his status as a prominent Scientologist to avoid accountability.
The actor was convicted after three women testified he had sexually assaulted them at his Hollywood home from 2001 to 2003 during the height of his television fame.
The jury heard testimony that he had given them drugs before he assaulted them.
He was found guilty of rape against two of his three accusers, while the charges brought by the third accuser were declared a mistrial, with prosecutors saying they do not plan to retry the case.
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In AFL,
Minor premiers Collingwood has hung on for a thrilling seven-point win over Melbourne in a dramatic opening to the AFL finals series at the MCG.
After dipping late in the home-and-away season, the Magpies recaptured their best from early in the year to beat the Demons 60 to 53 in front of over 90,000 fans in the qualifying final.
Collingwood led by 25 points at three-quarter-time but had to survive a late Melbourne comeback as the Demons dominated the final quarter, without being able to get in front.
