Sydney news

Barnaby Joyce has congratulated Santa Claus for his continued biosecurity efforts and says Johnny Depp should follow the man in red's lead.

In 2012 Paul Gaylord was bitten by his pet cat. He had know idea that the small puncture would soon see him in intensive care fighting off a microscopic killer from the past.

Communities in Western Australia's northern Goldfields could become the next trial sites for the Federal Government's welfare debit card.

Drought has defined Queensland throughout 2015. Here, landholders share their advice for dealing with tough times.

The parents of a man who pleaded guilty to defrauding the Menindee Central School of more than $20,000 say they've repaid the education department.

The monsoon arrives with a bang across the Northern Territory, with the weather monitoring station at Darwin's airport struck by lightning and put out of action.

The Great Lakes Mayor said she is elated her council is to stand alone,

The first cyclone of the season could form in the Gulf of Carpentaria in far north Queensland by Wednesday, the weather bureau says.

Member for Murray and Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, has confirmed New South Wales politicians did have a role to play in Fit for the Future.

Firefighters hope milder conditions today will help them in their battle to extinguish a bushfire at Mt Clear near the ACT's southern border with NSW.

Catholic congregations more than double at Christmas, and for Father John Daly Christmas duties begin weeks before the day.

In September Mark Colvin travelled to the home of Australian poet Les Murray in Bunyah, regional New South Wales. Bunyah is the subject of Les Murray's recent volume, called On Bunyah. Les Murray speaks about the place where he grew up and has always returned to.

Nearly 300 cannabis plants are seized from two addresses in Berri, in South Australia's Riverland north-east of Adelaide, by police.

The Australian Government is assessing the biosecurity risk of accepting fresh and frozen beef imports from the US, Japan and the Netherlands.

Firefighters across Victoria use cooler conditions to consolidate containment lines around a number of blazes that erupted across the state over the weekend, destroying 13 homes.

The number of assaults against ambulance officers have risen due to paramedics deciding to report attacks which had become "commonplace" in South Australia, a union says.

Investigations continue into Thunderbolt's Way accident

The chance of a tropical cyclone forming in the Gulf of Carpentaria before Christmas has risen from low to high, the Bureau of Meteorology is warning.

Firefighters across Victoria use cooler conditions to consolidate containment lines around a number of blazes that erupted across the state over the weekend, destroying at least 12 homes.

A Queensland snake catcher is taking his dangerous profession worldwide after nabbing a role in a new British reality show.

The Tasmanian Government will contribute $2 million of taxpayer dollars to get a proposed waste management facility off the ground.

A man is left with life-threatening injuries and police arrest 12 men after a wild brawl involving about 100 people at a railway station in Melbourne's outer south-east.

Frustration at NSW Government's decision on council mergers.

Former prime ministers and South Australian premiers, as well as elders from the APY Lands, are among those expected to attend the state funeral of former state premier John Bannon later today.

A fire at Williamtown has burnt more than 350 hectares of bushland near Newcastle Airport.

A teenager with a broken arm and suspected pelvic injuries is hauled to safety after falling 15 metres down Ginninderra Falls, to the north of Canberra.

The Bathurst Regional Council is being urged to consider how a proposal to sell the city's treated effluent to a mine could impact on irrigators.

The remote Queensland town of Karumba is an hour from the nearest hospital and lacks a regular GP, so US marine-turned-paramedic Scott Jones caters to all the community's medical needs.

The parents of missing boy, William Tyrrell, write a poem to their son as another Christmas approaches since his disappearance from a home on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

The Dungog District Chamber of Commerce says it will take 'buckets of money' to make a merger between Gloucester and Dungog councils a success.

A man has been charged after a siege at Carrington yesterday.

Hunter Water officials have hinted at the possibility of an expanded water sharing arrangement with the Central Coast, in the wake of the Williamtown contamination scandal.

There are claims the Upper Hunter has been ignored in the latest round of the Hunter Infrastructure and Investment Fund's shortlisted projects.

Conditions are easing in some of the fire-affected areas in Victoria's north east with rain falling and temperatures dropping, giving fire crews a chance to slow the spread of the blaze.

Odion Ighalo was on the mark twice as a buoyant Watford won 3-0 at home to Liverpool on Sunday to continue their solid Premier League run.

Iraqi military planes dropped leaflets on Ramadi on Sunday, asking residents to leave within 72 hours in what may signal a renewed offensive on the Islamic State-controlled city.

An Air France flight has made an emergency landing in Kenya after a device that was first thought to be a bomb was found in the toilet.

It is the modern parent's dilemma: to give in to the allure of the iPad, or endure the screams of a bored child. 

The youngest of six people convicted of the 2012 gang rape of a woman, in a case that shocked India, was freed on Sunday, a lawyer said, after a court refused to extend his three-year sentence.

British Prime Minister David Cameron's efforts to keep the UK in the European Union have exposed deep divisions in his own party.

A Melbourne man who was bashed and left for dead in a violent home invasion has extensive facial injuries.

Switching on the multibillion-dollar desalination plant is part of future water use planning as Victoria continues to be gripped by drought and extreme temperatures.

Three men who allegedly assaulted and tortured a man and a woman in Bundaberg have been arrested and charged.

The South East Queensland Stars have given point guard Lauren Mansfield the perfect 26th birthday present with a 20 point run away victory over the reigning WNBL champions the Townsville Fire on Friday Night.

Usman Khawaja needed 70 adrenaline-charged deliveries against the Stars to let the Test selectors know he's fighting fit and ready.

Usman Khawaja's century was the inspiration Sydney Thunder needed to score a dramatic one-run win over the Melbourne Stars at the MCG on Sunday night.

Lionel Messi broke the deadlock and Luis Suarez scored twice in the second half to give Barcelona a typically emphatic 3-0 win over River Plate.

Multimillionaire car dealer Tony Azzi is being investigated over allegations that he used a high-powered rifle and semi-automatic pistols to kill wombats and other native fauna.

Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola will leave the club at the end of this season, the club has announced. 

Environmental groups say the Baird government is "playing Russian roulette" in Sydney's water catchment by approving coalmining without a full understanding of its impacts, taking a "damage first, fix later" approach.