Sydney news

An Adelaide Hills man dies and four other people taken to hospital following a crash during a motorbike race at Mount Gambier in South Australia.

Our Spot on the Map this week is Bracknell in Tasmania. Fifth generation local, Dennis Chilcott, speaks to Tim Brunero.

Doctors try to save the arms of a spearfisherman who was mauled by a shark while trying to fight it off in waters off Yeppoon in central Queensland.

Defending champion Perth Scorchers are shaping again as the Big Bash League team to beat following a thumping nine-wicket win over the Sydney Sixers at the WACA.

The Sydney Thunder are on top of the ladder after scoring victories over Brisbane and Hobart on Saturday.

Melbourne City and Sydney FC draw 2-2 in an entertaining encounter at AAMI Park.

A teenage boy is airlifted to hospital after a 92-year-old driver mistakes the accelerator for the brake, mounts a kerb and hits him and two others on Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula.

The third Test against the West Indies at the SCG is the perfect scenario to bring Steve O'Keefe into the Australian team, writes Adam Collins.

An argument between "two young girls" sparked an outbreak of violence at an NT community, with up to 60 people armed with machetes, large knives, axes, rocks and sharpened sticks confronting police on New Year's Day.

If festival-goers knew dealers often ingested their drug stashes before vomiting them back up and selling them they would be sickened, a Sydney hospital emergency department director says.

A win in the Brisbane International will help Roger Federer stop worrying about that first title for the year and "just focus on playing".

Celebrating the New Year turned into an expensive night out for some users of the ride-sharing app Uber, with price surges in peak demand periods seeing some customers paying more than eight times the usual fare.

St Kilda Lifesaving Club captain Simon Lewis will travel to Greece tomorrow to help rescue asylum seekers off the island of Lesbos as they try to reach European shores.

Flying long distances solo in a bi-plane is daunting enough in modern times; to have done it in the 1930s is bordering on superhuman.

Recent rainfall in South Australia's far north starts filling Kati-Thanda Lake Eyre turning dry and dusty plains green with vegetation.

One year ago a massive fire tore through the Adelaide Hills, destroying 27 homes and leaving a trail of destruction.

Steve Smith confirms Australia will go with two spinners for the third Test against the West Indies, with Stephen O'Keefe replacing Peter Siddle at the SCG.

A teenager who fell from a cliff on the New South Wales south coast is transported to the Canberra Hospital by helicopter.

A Brisbane bicycle rider records a blood alcohol reading more than six times the legal limit.

Two young boys who drowned at Adelaide's Glenelg Beach were playing on the breakwater before they slipped on the rocks and fell in, an SA Surf Life Saving official says.

An aerial patrol organisation on the New South Wales south coast is calling for more shark protection, saying the State Government's multi-million dollar strategy focuses too much on the north coast and Sydney beaches.

Grandstand's Jim Maxwell says the West Indies will struggle for 20 wickets at the SCG, while Mitch Marsh's form has opened the way for two Australian spinners.

Victorian fire crews are using this weekend's milder conditions to fight bushfires still burning along the state's surf coast with authorities warning the 2,300-hectare blaze in Victoria's Otway Ranges is not yet under control.

A 17-year-old learner caught travelling at 164kph in a 100kph zone is another example of road users who display a poor attitude towards road safety, Tasmania Police say.

One of two men who absconded from the Bennett Brook Disability Justice Centre in Caversham, in Perth's east, is recaptured.

A search is underway at Mount Isa in north-west Queensland for a man who dived into floodwaters on Friday night.

An exclusion zone around a derailed train in Queensland's north west is expected to be reduced, allowing the Flinders Highway to reopen.

A patient in Brisbane's Wesley Hospital tests positive for legionella pneumophila, with further tests revealing the presence of the deadly bacteria in an ice machine.

Caleb Ewan and Gracie Elvin are the leaders going into race two of the Bay Classic cycling series.

Tasmanian runners and cyclists dominate the Burnie leg of the summer sports carnival series.

A bushfire started by a burnt-out car that threatened properties in Guilderton north of Perth is downgraded to advice level.

Sampson Flat bushfire survivors say the road to recovery is long and emotional, with one man waiting to see what this season holds in store.

A 44-year-old man is in hospital recovering from serious injuries after crashing a homemade billycart near Williamstown.