Australian journalist Peter Greste will keep fighting to free his colleagues still jailed in Egypt, his family said Monday, after he was released following more than 400 days in prison on charges of backing the Muslim Brotherhood.

Greste, an award-winning correspondent for Al-Jazeera English television, flew to Cyprus with brother Michael after his release from Cairo's Tora prison on Sunday, Egyptian officials told AFP.

Australia's foreign minister said Monday there is a danger of Islamic State jihadists expanding operations to Afghanistan, even though there is little evidence of a presence there now. 

Julie Bishop, hosting Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Defense Secretary Michael Fallon for annual security talks, said she was made aware of "some evidence of a connection" between IS and extreme elements of the Taliban on a recent visit to Afghanistan.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday he had not contemplated stepping down, as pressure mounted on his leadership following a controversial decision to make Britain's Prince Philip a knight.

Abbott faced ridicule after naming the nonagenarian consort of Queen Elizabeth II a knight of the order of Australia last month, incensing members of his ruling coalition who were already dealing with falling poll numbers, policy backflips and an unpopular budget.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday his government had "lessons to learn" from a state election rout in Queensland, amid growing leadership questions after his unpopular move to knight Britain's Prince Philip.

Rumours of challenges to Abbott's position as prime minister have emerged over the past week after the knighthood decision. But the demise of the Liberal-National coalition (LNP) in Queensland elections held Saturday has piled further pressure on him.

Internationally acclaimed Australian author, Colleen McCullough, whose novel "The Thorn Birds" sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, died on Thursday aged 77.

The best-selling writer passed away in hospital on Norfolk Island, which lies in the remote waters off Australia's eastern coast, her publisher said in a statement.

Australia's detention of 157 asylum-seekers at sea for weeks in June was legal, the nation's High Court found Wednesday in a win for the government's hardline immigration stance.

In a tight 4-3 decision, the court ruled the government was entitled to hold the group of Tamils from Sri Lanka on a customs ship with a view to return them to India -- where they had set out from.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Wednesday he stood by his controversial decision to award Britain's Prince Philip a knighthood and was taking the firestorm of criticism "on the chin".

Several ministers have walked away from Abbott's appointment of the nonagenarian Duke of Edinburgh to the ranks of the Order of Australia, MPs on all sides have mocked the move and the media condemned it severely.

As Australian troops join U.S.-led efforts to combat the Islamic State group, one of the country's political figures has reportedly taken matters into his own hands and gone to the Middle East to fight them himself.

Matthew Gardiner, a former trade unionist and ex-president of the Northern Territory branch of the opposition Labor Party, left Australia to join a Kurdish militia fighting IS, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Sunday.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott marked his country's national day Monday by honoring Britain's Prince Philip with a knighthood, sparking criticism from the opposition of being in a "time warp".

Abbott said Queen Elizabeth II had accepted his recommendation that her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, be awarded the nation's highest honor as a Knight of the Order of Australia.

Increasing numbers of young women are altering the profile of Australians joining the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria, Attorney-General George Brandis said Saturday, enticed by the "false glamour" of the organisation.

"At an earlier time, perhaps even six months ago, we were concerned almost entirely about young men," Brandis said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).