![Parly had been scheduled to stage a bilateral meeting this week in London with UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and address an event held by the Franco-British Council [File: Charles Platiau/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2020-08-26T111112Z_385727326_RC2NLI99BJLH_RTRMADP_3_FRANCE-POLITICS.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Florence Parly pulls out of meeting with UK counterpart as Paris continues to vent fury over new security pact.
Australia
![North Korea leader Kim Jong Un (centre) attends a paramilitary parade held to mark the 73rd founding anniversary of the republic at Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang in this undated image supplied by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on September 9, 2021.[File: KCNA via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-09T030823Z_792995625_RC22MP9OQR6V_RTRMADP_3_NORTHKOREA-PARADE.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pyongyang warns ‘dangerous’ agreement could trigger ‘chain reaction of arms races’.
![French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, and then Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, third left, stand on the deck of HMAS Waller, a submarine operated by the Royal Australian Navy, in 2018 [File: Ludovic Marin Ludovic/AFP via Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/gettyimages-953626192-594x594-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Australia’s move to ditch a submarine deal has spiralled into an unprecedented diplomatic row between Western allies.
![French President Emmanuel Macron (second left) and then Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (centre) standing on the deck of HMAS Waller, an Australian submarine. France is furious after Australia announced a plan to buy nuclear-powered subs using US and British technology, ending an earlier deal with France [File: Brendan Esposito/Pool via AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_9MX4YR.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Foreign minister says unprecedented recalling of envoys ‘very symbolic’ act after scrapping of submarines contract.
![Victoria police clash with protesters during an anti-COVID lockdown demonstration in Melbourne, Australia [James Ross/AAP via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-18T055159Z_462807783_RC25SP9Y1HR0_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-AUSTRALIA-PROTEST.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Several police officers wounded in clashes with protesters at anti-lockdown rallies in Sydney and Melbourne.
![Australia's Prime Minister Morrison said that the country's defence spending will rise as the new alliance with the US and UK also requires greater investment in cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and undersea capabilities [File: Loren Elliott/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2020-09-07T090210Z_983971029_RC2LTI9FHWVW_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-AUSTRALIA-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Beijing says Asia-Pacific region must ‘resist external forces’ but Australia points to China’s own nuclear capabilities.
![French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called Australia's cancellation of a multibillion-dollar deal 'unacceptable behaviour' [File: Jens Schlueter/Pool via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-10T113455Z_556726695_RC2ZMP9I4YBJ_RTRMADP_3_GERMANY-POLITICS.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
France recalls ambassadors to US and Australia for consultations – an unprecedented move taken over a submarine deal.
The US, Australia and UK have announced a major defence agreement in the Asia Pacific.
![New Zealand's COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said that reopening quarantine-free travel with Australia at this point could put at risk the gains of the country in the last week [File: Loren Elliott/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2020-10-16T015304Z_1545308504_RC2DJJ963BQT_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-AUSTRALIA-NEWZEALAND-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
PM Ardern says the country has nearly eliminated Delta variant but travel limits to Australia extended until November.
![Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton, who is visiting the US, said on Thursday that Australia will also be 'significantly enhancing' cooperation with the US on the development of missiles and explosive ordnance [File: Peter Parks/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_Hkg10155359.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
About 2,200 US Marines expected in Darwin in the 2021 rotation as Canberra also eyes improved air, maritime capability.
![Australian Minister of Defence Peter Dutton, left, Foreign Minister Marise Payne, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the State Department in Washington, September 16 [Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-16T145807Z_1050083320_RC22RP99SL1K_RTRMADP_3_USA-AUSTRALIA-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says US ‘strongly’ welcomes European role in the Indo-Pacific.
![French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian slammed Washington's dealings with Australia and the UK as a 'stab in the back' for Paris [File: Susana Vera/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-16T073446Z_1250723278_RC2VQP9GGXTH_RTRMADP_3_USA-SECURITY-BIDEN-FRANCE.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
French FM says US-UK-Australia defence deal was a ‘stab in the back’, as he draws parallels between Biden and Trump.
!['We all recognise the imperative of ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific over the long term,' President Joe Biden says in announcing new partnership [File: Handout via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2014-10-20T120000Z_1774717975_TM3EAAK0WCJ01_RTRMADP_3_USA-ARMS-NUCLEAR-e1631783469916.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Australia will get nuclear-powered submarines as part of the deal, dubbed AUKUS, seen as an attempt to counter China.
![Activists - seen here at a 'Free The Refugees' rally at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre in June 2020 - have been concerned for months over the risk of COVID-19 in detention centres [File: David Crosling/EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/h_56148313.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Concerns raised for health, safety of those held in overcrowded Melbourne facility after a guard contracted the virus.