Australia's third-largest city was headed into another lockdown Friday and nationwide restrictions on international arrivals were being tightened, after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel contracted the highly infectious UK strain of Covid-19.

Under mounting pressure to speed up coronavirus vaccinations, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday said he would not take "unnecessary risks" and emulate Britain's emergency drug approval.

An out-of-control bushfire threatened lives and homes in Australia's west coast city of Perth Monday, with locals told to shelter in place from toxic fumes.

Sydney has seen a two-day dip in coronavirus cases after Australian authorities imposed a snap lockdown and residents flocked to testing centres in record numbers, but officials have cautioned the outbreak is still "evolving".

Australia has exited its first recession in almost 30 years, after official figures on Wednesday showed the economy grew 3.3 percent in July-September compared with the coronavirus-hit previous quarter.

An Australian-British academic released after two years imprisoned in Iran on spying charges returned to Australia on Friday, local media reported.

An Australian-British lecturer jailed for spying by Iran has been released after two "traumatic" years, part of a swap for three Iranian prisoners reportedly linked to a botched Bangkok bomb plot.

Climate change is already buffeting Australia with extreme bushfires, droughts and cyclones, and the fossil-fuel reliant country should brace for worse to come, according to the country's top science and weather agencies.

Australians living under lockdown in the southeast of the country are eyeing a return of freedoms this weekend as coronavirus numbers reached a four-month low Friday.

Google has removed images from its Street View that allowed users to virtually walk on Australia's Uluru, a sacred Aboriginal site closed to tourists since last year, the company said Friday.