Sydney New Year's Eve the city's biggest ever

JAMES ROBERTSON Tuesday night was Sydney's biggest New Year's Eve ever and drew a much larger crowd than anticipated, according to preliminary estimates.

Cyclists at risk as fatalities double in 2013

Last year saw the lowest number of people die on NSW's roads for almost 90 years. But cyclist fatalities have doubled since 2012.

Guillaume's dining mecca sails into sunset

ESTHER HAN The Opera House restaurant ends an era with culinary fireworks.

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Stabbed cabbie a six-night a week veteran

MEGAN LEVY A 71-year-old taxi driver who was stabbed 10 times in the neck and shoulder during a frenzied attack in Surry Hills is well-respected within the industry, with plenty of experience.

Men arrested after Leichhardt shooting

RACHEL OLDING Two men have been arrested and a Leichhardt block on Parramatta Road closed off after a dramatic siege in the inner west.

Community asks to extend bushfire relief

RACHEL BROWNE Blue Mountains communities ravaged by the bushfires will be left without a leader of its recovery effort after the state government withdraws support at the end of this month.

Oyster farming: a pearl of a trade

TOM MCILROY Kevin McAsh proudly says he has the best office in the world.

A long night to make the big one happen

JAMES ROBERTSON About a dozen pyrotechnicians worked on the Harbour Bridge through Monday night, making painstaking preparations to turn $700,000 into smoke.

Operator defends use of aerial shark patrols

LEESHA MCKENNY Harry Mitchell can list more than a dozen reasons why he disagrees with a state government report that branded his line of work costly and inefficient when it comes to protecting beachgoers from sharks.

Sydney Harbour sea creatures go potty

Alexia Attwood Resembling cut-in-half flower buckets, a series of marine pots are being fastened to sea walls in Sydney's waterways in an attempt to attract starfish and crabs back to the battered urban environment.

City's violent epicentre

RACHEL OLDING George Street is becoming Sydney's epicentre of drunken violence with alcohol-related assaults bucking a statewide downward trend.

Thousands lose out on last-minute benefits

RACHEL BROWNE Thousands of injured workers set to lose their medical benefits on Wednesday were given only four days to take advantage of a government lifeline, announced just before Christmas.

Aerial shark patrols are inefficient says report

LEESHA MCKENNY Aerial shark patrols of the NSW coastline are ''inefficient and expensive'', a government report says.

The day opera house became a surfing mecca

TIM ELLIOTT For reasons that are entirely understandable, people tend to associate the Sydney Opera House with opera. For me, the Sydney Opera House will always be associated with surfing.

Economy

Exports down but recovery on the way

MATT WADE NSW Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Stoner says the state's industries are well placed to lead a national economic recovery next year despite a drop in the value of NSW's exports last financial year.

Contamination spurs call to halt coal mining

PETER HANNAM Iron concentrations in a rivulet that feeds the Woronora Reservoir have doubled since the expansion of the Metropolitan Colliery, to levels which exceed Australian Drinking Water Guidelines by 30 per cent.

'Butcher of Bega' released from jail

LUCY CARROLL Graeme Reeves has been released from Long Bay prison on parole after he successfully appealed an 18-month increase to his sentence for mutilating a woman's genitals.

Parents react to pool accident

Anne Tarasov Glen Borg was seconds away from living every parent’s worst nightmare on Boxing Day.

Government pressed on alcohol laws

GARETH HUTCHENS After witnessing the high price of alcohol-related violence, eminent medical specialists from St Vincent's Hospital have issued an ultimatum to governments to rein in rampant alcohol abuse.

Cash-strapped customers bearing gifts

Amanda Hoh, Alexia Attwood In a world of shoppers transfixed by computer screens, pawnshops still see demand for their services, particularly from customers looking to offload unwanted Christmas gifts.

Elka Whalan sends safety warning

Tim Barlass Two-time Olympic swimmer and television presenter Elka Whalan and husband, Thomas, an Olympic water polo player, know more about being in the water than most.

Mother relives her son's drowning

Tim Barlass The mother of five-year-old Ayman Ksebe has returned to the water's edge at Dolls Point on Botany Bay where her child was swept away last Sunday.

Bushfires cost Blue Mountains tourism $71m

Kim Arlington, Charmaine Wong The Blue Mountains economy is expected to take a $71 million hit from the October bushfires, even though its tourist attractions were untouched by fire.

Beware, there's something in the Sydney air

NICKY PHILLIPS On a summer's day in Sydney, the air in the inner city can be cleaner than taking a breath in suburban Richmond, Campbelltown or parts of the lower Blue Mountains. I

Greater NYE security after break and enter

JULIE POWER Some people will do anything for a box seat view of Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks - even breaking into inner city public housing.

Push for average speed cameras in NSW

Tim Barlass Road cameras measuring average speeds have been credited for a dramatic reduction in speeding by heavy vehicles, leading to calls by safety experts for the ''point-to-point'' cameras to be turned on NSW cars.

Violence needs better campaign, says McEwen

EMMA PARTRIDGE The father of Bondi bashing victim Michael McEwen says a radical approach to alcohol-fuelled violence, including using perpetrators to speak out against its harm, must be taken.

Need a taxi? Hailing is faster than calling

KIRSTY NEEDHAM Phoning for a taxi takes longer than hailing one on the street - callers are twice as likely to wait more than 40 minutes for one to arrive.

Push for more female apprentices

KIRSTY NEEDHAM No separate toilet for females, and the risk that a woman might quit if she got married and had babies were among the reasons cited by business owners for not hiring a female apprentice.

Thousands lost in workers comp law changes

Michaela Whitbourn Adrian was 37 when an explosion at work caused him to lose his hearing. Now the 73-year-old retiree is set to lose the medical payments he relies on to pay for his hearing aids.

'The house started shaking'

RACHEL OLDING Was it a car? A bus? An earthquake?

Sydney New Year's Eve gets a third act

Sydneysiders can look forward to an extra fireworks spectacular as part of this year's New Year's Eve celebrations, organisers have revealed - but blink and you'll miss it.

Man charged over fatal crash on M1

Police have charged a man with negligent driving after a crash that killed two men on the M1 on Thursday morning.

Comforts of home lure revellers

Charmaine Wong, Esther Han More than 1.6 million people will converge on Sydney harbour to marvel at one of the world's most spectacular New Year's Eve firework displays. But this year, Karen Lee will stay at home.

Walls at police homicide squad say volumes

EMMA PARTRIDGE The hallway is festooned with faded, yellow newspaper clippings. ''Killer within'', ''Guilty'' and ''Murder hunt'' are some of the headlines on the wall.

My magical moments at Sydney Opera House

Lucy Cormack Dressed in my very best OshKosh B'gosh dress, as a bright eyed four-year-old I marched proudly up the mountainous Opera House steps.

Council told to fix beach safety after death

More than 4000 people have signed a petition calling on Rockdale City Council to warn the public about the dangers of swimming at an unpatrolled beach where a five-year-old boy drowned last week.

Boxing Day splurge estimated at $1.9 billion

Ben Butler, Amy McNeilage To shopping fanatics, it's the equivalent of a grand final. But rather than soaking up the atmosphere at the main game, they are increasingly staying on their lounges to bag Boxing Day bargains.

Urban renewal hits roadblock

LEESHA MCKENNY The O'Farrell government's much-trumpeted plan to provide 30,000 homes near some of Sydney's main transport developments has been dealt a blow.

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Firefighters smashed way into burning home

An off-duty firefighter says he used a tomahawk and a sledgehammer to help save two children from a burning Brisbane home on Christmas Day.

Police find body of missing boy

RACHEL OLDING Police have found the body of a four-year-old boy who went missing on Thursday morning from a house on the NSW mid-north coast.

Synthetic drugs linked to man's death

Dan Proudman A Lake Macquarie man is believed to be the latest victim of synthetic drugs, found dead a day after telling friends he felt hot and itchy after taking a substance.

Two dead in M1 crash on NSW Central Coast

RACHEL OLDING Two men have been killed and three others injured in a horror crash on the Pacific Motorway north of Sydney, police say.