Sydney news

Follow our live coverage of day two of the first Test in Wellington as Australia and New Zealand battle for the Trans-Tasman Trophy.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's advice to put 90 per cent of your investments in equities isn't enough, argues one contrarian.

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go. But it's still possible to hook up!

An emergency meeting over the impact of funding cuts at Australia's largest Islamic school will be held early next week.

Three hundred beads represent the medical incidents Charlie has endured in his three-month-life, including open heart surgery.

The couple caring for the children of suspected murdered victim Samantha Kelly are giving them reminders of their mother.

Even as much of the rest of the world has bounced back from the global financial crisis, however fitfully, the Continent's fiscal core remains soft.

Young Iraqi men, disappointed with their life and prospects in the chilly Nordic country, cancel asylum applications to return home voluntarily.

The fire in Fisher caused significant damage to the unit, including the roof collapsing.

Malcolm Turnbull has lost his third minister in as many months, but an imminent reshuffle, and a possible breakthrough on Senate voting reform may yet clear the way for an early double-dissolution election.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's efforts to "close the gap" have begun with some highly symbolic words.

Bashar al-Assad pours cold water on the international community's hard-fought efforts to win a ceasefire in Syria, saying he intended to carry on fighting until he had returned the entire country to his control.

Thousands attend the launch of the largest celebration of the arts in the southern hemisphere, with the kick off of the Fringe Festival in Adelaide.

Washington's faith in a political solution seems misplaced as the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrians hang in the balance.

A man has been killed and four others have been injured during a brawl in Sydney's west overnight.

Thousands of industry participants gathered in London for their annual get-together, only to find a world awash in crude and hardly a life jacket in sight.

Hobart man Kenneth David Drake is remanded in custody after pleading guilty to stealing $925,000 from his elderly client over six years.

At a period piece of a ground, in by modern standards baroque conditions, a classic Test match promised.

Battlelines have been drawn at the City of Cockburn over the controversial naming process for its new $109 million aquatic and recreation facility - part of which will become the new training home of the Fremantle Dockers.

A Perth gardener is devastated after a neighbour's complaints campaign ended in the bulldozing of her elaborate, expensive and eco-friendly garden – for a second time.

A road rage argument in Sydney's west has ended with a man hospitalised for serious stab injuries and his alleged teen attacker arrested by police.

Oil surged the most seven years as equities rebounded and the United Arab Emirates oil minister reiterated OPEC's willingness to engage with other producers.

Queensland Ballet artistic director Li Cunxin has extended a warm message to welcome in the Chinese New Year in Brisbane.

A man who barricaded himself in an off-limits area of a Bourke Street department store used a knife to ward off police and other emergency services.

Canberra's Marist College considers changing the name of its Othmar House, after the child abuse royal commission made adverse findings against the brother for whom it was named.

The rural Victorian city of Benalla becomes the unlikely location for some of the world's best street art, and it all started in the 1990s notebook of a 16-year-old boy.

Bank of America is the latest on Wall Street to lower expectations for the US stock market in 2016.

Police have charged three people over the disappearance of Bendigo mother-of-four Samantha Kelly.

The Hockeyroos have beaten Great Britain 4-3 in the first of a six-match series in Bunbury with Kathryn Slattery scoring twice.

Two teenage girls have died in a shooting at a school in the US city of Phoenix.

A Japanese ruling party lawmaker who drew attention for seeking to take paternity leave said Friday he would resign over an extramarital affair.

The drowning death of a 13-year-old girl near Wonthaggi on Thursday will be investigated, after it emerged that it took 24 minutes for an ambulance to be deployed.

It is "extraordinarily premature" to even talk about using negative interest rates, said New York Fed chief William Dudley.

This week, financial markets were buffeted once again by events that not so long ago would have been improbable, if not unthinkable.

Another woman, allegedly abused by a now dead Hunter Valley priest, has become the second abuse survivor to seek damages from the estate of a late bishop and the Catholic church.

A Newcastle marine conservationist and underwater photographer says she is not giving up in her fight to see shark nets and drum lines phased out.

A Hunter Valley vet says it is crazy farmers spend thousands of dollars on pedigree bulls, but do not bother to vaccinate them against a common illness that causes infertility.

A Hunter Valley child sexual abuse victim is urging anyone who suspects a crime has been committed to contact police.

Newcastle Knights prop Mickey Paea says he is looking forward to brushing off the cobwebs in the club's trial match tonight.

Barnaby Joyce's capacity for populist revolt made him famous and effective. But the new Nationals leader will have to control his bluster if he is to be taken seriously in Canberra and the rest of the country.

The Indy will disappear from British news stands as it becomes one of the first national newspapers in the world to buckle under pressure from the internet.

Deutsche Bank plans to buy back about $US5.4 billion of bonds in euros and dollars as it seeks to allay investor concerns about its finances.

The no-ball blunder that spared Adam Voges and cost New Zealand a valuable wicket has highlighted the vexing problem cricket faces with the front-foot rule, in the latest umpiring controversy on Australia's tour of New Zealand.

US stocks halted a five-day slide that dragged global equities into a bear market, as oil rebounded from a 12-year low. Bank shares surged.

The famous short film festival is back on Sunday after its shock cancellation in December.

Richard Graham kept Japanese import Ayumu Goromaru on ice for most of the night as the Brumbies completed a strong trial victory on their visit to Brisbane.

Bill Pulver says a far more stable financial situation as a result of a new television rights deal means the ARU will focus its investment on sevens, women's rugby and community rugby despite the professional game generating 90 per cent of its revenue.

Beefed-up troops, war "headquarters" and a readiness to respond to Russia has experts on both sides fearing an accident, leading to a war nobody intended.

The US, Russia and other powers have reached agreement on a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria's civil war that allows for immediate humanitarian access to besieged areas, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced.

A drought exacerbated by El Nino has pushed already poor communities in Papua New Guinea's Highlands to the edge of starvation.