Papua New Guinea has banned Australians from travelling to the politically sensitive autonomous region of Bougainville, officials said Monday, after Canberra announced plans to open a diplomatic mission there.

Australia revealed proposals for a new mission in resource-rich Bougainville last week, ahead of an independence referendum expected to be held within the next five years.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday denied the United States had plans to base B-1 bombers in the country, saying an American official had "misspoken" on the issue.

Assistant Defense Secretary for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear spoke this week of the deployment of the aircraft at a hearing on safeguarding US interests in the East and South China Seas.

Two Australian drug traffickers and a Filipino woman were on Saturday given official notification by Indonesia that they will be executed, but with no given date, reports and a lawyer said.

They include Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, ringleaders of the "Bali Nine" heroin trafficking gang, and mother-of-two Mary Jane Veloso.

Australia's prime minister urged European leaders on Tuesday to adopt tougher border control measures in the wake of the feared drowning of as many as 900 asylum seekers whose boat capsized off the coast of Libya.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose government implemented a strict policy of turning back asylum seekers' boats in a bid to discourage them from trying to reach Australia, called the latest Mediterranean crisis a "terrible, terrible tragedy" and suggested Europe follow Australia's lead to ensure it's not repeated.

Australia is returning almost 50 Vietnamese asylum-seekers using a warship currently off the Asian nation's coast after intercepting them at sea, a report said Friday, as Canberra enforces a tough immigration policy.

The asylum-seekers were found by customs and navy vessels north of Australia earlier this month before being transferred to amphibious landing ship HMAS Choules, The West Australian newspaper said.

Australia said Tuesday 330 troops were heading to Iraq for two years to train local soldiers fighting jihadists including the Islamic State group, joining an aerial and special forces contingent in the region.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the troops would be deployed from Wednesday and operate from the massive Taji base complex north of Baghdad alongside 100 soldiers from New Zealand.

An Iranian asylum-seeker is recovering after a 40-day hunger strike, Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Tuesday, but insisted the near-fatal protest would not influence the government's immigration policy.

Saeed Hassanloo, 25, is the second Iranian asylum-seeker to take on an extended hunger strike in recent months after a 33-year-old ended a similar protest in January -- both over Canberra's treatment of their claims for resettlement in Australia.

The death toll from Vanuatu's devastating cyclone was revised down to 11 on Monday, according to the United Nations which also said contributions to the South Pacific nation's recovery have topped US$10 million. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had on the weekend put the number of fatalities at 16, but its latest update noted that the Vanuatu government had advised the number was 11.

An Indonesian minister has warned a "human tsunami" of asylum-seekers could be unleashed on Australia in retaliation if Canberra keeps pressing for clemency for two Australian drug smugglers on death row, as ties between the neighbors fray.

Several foreigners are due to be executed for drug-related crimes with Australia among countries pleading with Indonesian President Joko Widodo to show mercy to their citizens.

Australia stayed silent on alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka in exchange for cooperation in cracking down on people-smuggling, Colombo's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Monday.

Wickremesinghe said former president Mahinda Rajapakse had agreed to help stop boats carrying asylum-seekers leaving for Australia if Canberra kept quiet about alleged abuses committed by the previous regime.