Australia announced a Aus$14.5 billion (US$15.2 billion) funding boost for schools Sunday in one of the country's biggest education reforms in decades. Under the proposal, the extra cash will be made available over six years from 2014 with the government setting a goal for Australian schools to be among the world's top five in reading, numeracy and science by 2025. "A world class school system is a key part of a strong economy for the future," said Prime Minister Julia Gillard, a former education minister.

Australia has taken advantage of China's leadership change to seal a historic deal that lifts 40 years of diplomatic relations with the Asian giant to a new level, the Australian Associated Press reports. Under the agreement signed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and China's new Premier Li Keqiang, three types of annual "strategic dialogue" will be held between prime ministers, foreign ministers, and economic ministers. "This is a great step forward," Gillard said at the start of the inaugural leaders' meeting in the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday. Premier Li said at

Australia's prime minister says the country can't take its trading relationship with China for granted in an increasingly competitive world as she prepared to lead a senior government delegation to Australia's biggest export market. Julia Gillard said she would on Friday lead "the most senior Australian political delegation ever to visit China" only weeks after China's President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang took office.

The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) urged the caretaker prime minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso to play an effective role and take corrective measures wherever needed to improve economy.President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said the business community is badly affected by deteriorating law and order, bad energy supply management, inflation, depreciation of rupee, high cost of production and huge expenses of the government compelling closure of most of development work.He said the caretaker government is surely duty bound to make corrections wherever required and set