Australian combat troops have completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday, marking the end of the nation's longest war which left 40 of its soldiers dead.

Abbott announced that more than 1,000 troops would pull out from the restive southern province of Uruzgan before the end of the year during a surprise visit to their base at Tarin Kot in October.

A dozen filthy, neglected children, some with deformities or disabilities due to generations of inbreeding, have been found on a rural Australian settlement in an incest case that has shocked the nation.

The 12 children, aged between five and 15, were removed by social workers who responded in July 2012 to complaints that they were failing to attend school and when they did show, were thin, dirty and suffering a lack of even basic hygiene.

Three asylum seekers including a toddler died when their Australia-bound boat sank in rough seas off Indonesia's Java island but 29 others were rescued, police said Tuesday.

Hundreds of asylum seekers have died trying to make the sea voyage to Australia in recent years, and Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the sinking highlighted the dangers of people-smuggling.

Scores of Saudi students were transferred from Lebanon to study in the U.S. and other countries after the deteriorating security situation in the country, the Saudi al-Yaum daily reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said that around 45 students, who were studying in Lebanese universities, have traveled to the U.S., the UK and Australia to continue their education there.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop defied a stern rebuke from Beijing on Saturday to repeat concerns that China's recently announced air defense zone has increased regional tensions.

"Australia is concerned about peace and stability in our region, and we don't want to see any escalation of tensions, we want to see a de-escalation," she told reporters in Beijing when asked about Australia's stance on China's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

Around 100 protesters in East Timor threw rocks at the Australian embassy Thursday and police responded with tear gas as a spying row between the nations intensified.

East Timor has expressed outrage over reports that Australia secretly bugged ministerial deliberations in Dili in 2004 to gain leverage in negotiations on an oil and gas revenue-sharing deal.

U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden may have stolen up to 20,000 secret Australian intelligence files, a report said Thursday, with the attorney general calling the leaks the most damaging in history.

Documents already released have proved a major headache for Canberra, sparking its worst diplomatic crisis in years with neighbor Indonesia amid warnings that more revelations appear likely.

Australia's largest ever consumer class action in which bank customers are fighting for the return of more than Aus$240 million (U.S.$220 million) in fees began in Melbourne on Monday.

Law firm Maurice Blackburn is representing some 43,500 ANZ Bank customers who believe a wide range of charges they paid were excessive, in the first of several trials planned as part of the case.

Australia's spy agency offered to share information about its own citizens with foreign intelligence partners, according to leaked documents published Monday, sparking calls for an inquiry.

The latest revelations by U.S. intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden, reported by The Guardian Australia, show that the Defense Signals Directorate (DSD) discussed the option of sharing "medical, legal or religious information".

A Russian court on Thursday ordered to release on bail the last of 30 Greenpeace crew members who had been held in detention since their September protest against Arctic oil drilling.

"Excellent news! Colin Russell from Australia is granted bail," the global environmental protection group tweeted in a message that was confirmed by Russian news agency reports from the Saint Peterburg court.