Sydney news

The second week of the AFL finals has arrived and from now every match is sudden death - Grandstand previews the weekend's two massive matches.

The Balranald Shire Mayor is seeking intervention from local MP, Adrian Piccoli, to save the town's court, dubbing its closure cost shifting.

Broome police return to the scene of a sex assault on a teenage girl near Cable Beach as they attempt to track down the man wanted over the attack.

Two local Grand Finals, live on ABC Riverina, Sunday September 20th.

A man is shot dead by police during a siege at a house in the Elwomple area near Tailem Bend, south-east of Adelaide.

Residents affected by a toxic leak of chemicals once used in firefighting foams at the Williamtown RAAF base criticise officials for not telling them years ago.

A mining company in Orange says no jobs are at risk from an attempt to put it into voluntary administration.

Peabody Energy has been warned of threats to biodiversity, stemming from a Hunter mine expansion.

Wollongong Coal officially sacks workers, ongoing fears of workforce casualisation: CFMEU

Two of the western region's mayors have been re-electedfor another year at the helm of their councils.

Pensioners in Bathurst are being assured they will not be financially burdened by a green bin program being rolled out next year.

Police say they have been inundated with calls from all over Australia about a young girl whose remains were found dumped on the side of a highway in South Australia's Murray-Mallee.

Installing security cameras and education campaigns are just some measures being looked at by a community group to curb illegal dumping in Orange's Kinross State Forest.

A high profile scientist, who spearheaded a campaign on the importance of medical research, has admitted fabricating study results published in two international scientific journals. Dr Anna Ahimastos has now resigned from Melbourne's Baker IDI heart and diabetes institute, where she worked.

The NSW Attorney General has refused to be drawn on why Newcastle's new courthouse precinct won't open until next year.

With breast cancer diagnosis rates increasing, as well as better survival rates and an aging population, the McGrath Foundation says experts are scrambling to find ways to cope with growing demands around patient care.

A high-profile scientist who spearheaded a campaign on medical research admits to fabricating research published in two international journals.

Canberra families will now be able to rely on 15 hours of free preschool a week, following an announcement from the ACT Government.

Education officials have rejected claims a Wollombi public school relieving principal encouraged parents to enrol their children elsewhere, ahead of a decision being made on its closure.

Australian researchers are working with the US Army to develop technology that uses the sense of touch to help helicopter pilots better respond to low visibility conditions and possible threats.

The father of the house, Philip Ruddock, says he's always taken the view that one should support the leader in any vote of confidence. But he says it's a secret vote and should stay that way. Mr Ruddock says politics has changed fundamentally in the 42 years he's been in the house.

Land Council's rail rage

The Al Shebli family fled Syria when their son was horrifically injured by shelling. They spent months languishing in a refugee camp but now make a new start in Wollongong, south of Sydney.

Betty Beazley, the mother of former Labor leader Kim Beazley and a former athletics world champion, dies at the age of 94.

A rare Kimberley snake thought to have been the same species as one found in the Northern Territory is identified as a separate unique species.

Essendon denies it has offered AFL premiership coach John Worsfold a five-year deal.

Malcolm Turnbull's ascension to Prime Minister has seen a shift of attention to the ALP as well and one former Labor Senator says the party had hoped to coast to victory with an anti-Abbott campaign and also hits out against their China free trade agreement criticism.

Internal WA Government tensions over the proposed sale of the TAB flare again, with numerous MPs crossing the floor and Parliament descending into scenes described by Premier Colin Barnett as "an embarrassment".

Priscilla Queen of the Desert hit film screens in 1994 and a Broken Hill Boy is following in its footsteps, returning to his hometown of Broken Hill for the first time as Amelia Airhead.

The Goldfields Football League Grand Final will return to Boulder's Digger Daws Oval for the first time in two decades this Saturday.

Mood in the Liberal party after the leadership spill is of putting other views aside and being competitive at the next election, according to Trade Minister Andrew Robb.

A big crowd gathers at Docklands Stadium to see Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm promote their upcoming UFC bout.

Last weekend's festival in Broken Hill celebrating the 21st anniversary of the filming of The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert was particularly poignant for Broken Hill boy Anthony Carthew.

An artist has been enlisted to give people an "embodied encounter with Antarctica" in his role as the Australian Antarctic Division's Arts Fellow.

ACT Education Minister Joy Burch reveals a cage used to contain a boy with autism at a Canberra primary school has not been destroyed, but has been instead been placed in storage.

Malcolm Turnbull's ascension to Prime Minister has seen a shift of attention to the ALP as well and one former Labor Senator says the party had hoped to coast to victory with an anti-Abbott campaign and also hits out against their China free trade agreement criticism.

Adelaide's streets are blanketed in white as hail rains down across the city and Hills, while heavy rain causes flash flooding in some areas.

Police are called in to escort Bendigo councillors from their monthly meeting after anti-mosque protesters began chanting and hurling abuse at them from the public gallery.

In a scene straight out of the children's movie Madagascar, Asali the giraffe starts her trek across the Nullarbor to life in an open plain zoo.

Convicted murderer Peter Kamm, who was on the run after removing a tracking device, has been recaptured "without incident" in Alice Springs.

A senior paediatrician takes the extraordinary step of speaking out about the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane, outlining a litany of problems, which she says are compromising patient care.

The former wife of John Gannon Lonergan, one of four people of interest in the Lucille Butterworth inquest, believes he killed the woman who has been missing for 46 years.

WA's highest court almost doubles the jail term of an interstate drug trafficker who was dealing cannabis with an estimated street value of $2.9 million.

Residents in South Melbourne's public housing flats are petitioning the Victorian Government to control a cockroach infestation they claim is affecting the entire building.

The Afghan man who set himself on fire at WA's Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre is a convicted child sex offender who committed the offences after arriving to Australia as a refugee.

Musicians from across the State are being encouraged to enter for the next WA Country Music Awards.

Police are looking for a missing 29-year-old Melbourne man whose car has been found abandoned at a reserve near his home in the city's north.

Conservation groups have accused the Queensland Government of sending mixed messages, and stalling on land clearing reform.

An opening date for Adelaide's long-awaited Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) remains a mystery with the South Australian Government admitting there will be a delay.

Farmers in western Victoria are calculating the cost of living in a weather radar black spot, citing huge financial losses from business decisions made around false data.