The most recent 250 top stories.
Posted
| UpdatedA prominent Brisbane barrister has again criticised Queensland's anti-bikie laws.
Topics: laws, judges-and-legal-profession, public-sector, southport-4215
Posted
| UpdatedA man's been charged with a bashing at Sydney's Bondi in December that left his alleged victim in a coma for nearly a week.
Topics: assault, police, bondi-2026, kariong-2250
Posted
Facebook has freed members from the bonds of being either male or female, letting people opt for custom genders such as transsexual or "intersex" on the social network.
Topics: sexuality, social-media, information-and-communication, internet-culture, united-states
Posted
| UpdatedThe rival Koreas have wrapped up high-level talks aimed at securing a planned reunion for divided families, despite Pyongyang's objection to South Korea-US military drills.
Topics: world-politics, korea-republic-of, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of, asia
Posted
An extra $1.8m has been given to help with the Blue Mountains bushfire recovery effort.
Topics: bushfire, states-and-territories, local-government, katoomba-2780, winmalee-2777
Posted
Nepal will cut climbing fees for Mount Everest to lure more mountaineers to the world's highest peak, already overcrowded during the peak climbing season.
Posted
| UpdatedPolice have expressed serious fears that a Gold Coast man missing for almost a fortnight might have been murdered.
Topics: missing-person, tallai-4213, southport-4215
Posted
| UpdatedPrime Minister Tony Abbott is heading to the bush this weekend for a first-hand look at the worsening drought across New South Wales and Queensland .
Mr Abbott will be accompanied by Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, who is finalising a Cabinet submission for more assistance for the hardest hit rural communities.
Treasurer Joe Hockey has already signalled to other struggling industry sectors that the "age of entitlement is over", which may suggest that farmers might not necessarily be in for a sympathetic hearing.
Topics: weather, disasters-and-accidents, drought, rural, livestock, beef-cattle, cattle-feedlots, australia, qld, nsw
Posted
| UpdatedTwo Japanese men have been sentenced in Perth for trying to smuggle 30 native lizards out of the country.
Akio Nakamura and Yuki Okabe were stopped by customs staff at the Perth International Airport in September last year after the lizards were found inside checked luggage.
Both Nakamura and Okabe pleaded guilty to attempting to export the lizards to Japan and subjecting them to cruelty.
Topics: quarantine, courts-and-trials, reptiles, perth-airport-6105, perth-6000
Posted
| UpdatedGai Waterhouse has won her appeals in the long-running More Joyous affair but the saga is not over.
Topics: horse-racing, sport, sydney-2000, nsw, australia
Posted
| UpdatedQueensland's deputy state coroner will investigate whether security intelligence failures led to the deaths of three Brisbane-based soldiers in Afghanistan.
Topics: courts-and-trials, army, unrest-conflict-and-war, death, brisbane-4000
Posted
| UpdatedUS Secretary of State John Kerry has met Chinese President Xi Jinping, amid increasingly tense territorial rows between Beijing and Washington's security allies Tokyo and Manila.
Topics: world-politics, china, united-states, asia
Posted
| UpdatedThe chairwoman of a federal parliamentary inquiry into alcohol abuse has defended its focus on Aboriginals.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, alcohol, federal-parliament, australia, nt
Posted
| UpdatedAssistant Health Minister Fiona Nash's chief of staff has resigned after what he calls a "political attack" mounted by the Opposition.
Senator Nash (pictured) told the Senate during the week her chief of staff, Alastair Furnival, had no links to Australian Public Affairs (APA), a lobby group that has represented key food companies.
But she later admitted he still held shares in the lobbying company, which he was once chairman of.
The Opposition argued it was a conflict of interest and questioned whether it affected the minister's decision to remove a government healthy food ratings website.
Announcing his resignation today, Mr Furnival said he had resigned "with a clear conscience but with recognition that this political attack is a distraction from the important health issues being effectively addressed by this Government".
Topics: federal-government, federal-parliament, australia
Posted
| UpdatedBangkok is a city under siege by a dwindling minority, ahead of a fresh round of elections.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, thailand, asia
Posted
| UpdatedA shortage of ambulance volunteers has residents of some small SA towns worried how to cope in an emergency.
Topics: volunteers, community-and-society, community-organisations, healthcare-facilities, swan-reach-5354, sa, mount-gambier-5290, renmark-5341, adelaide-5000, australia
Posted
| UpdatedYesterday, the Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey channelled the plight of small business owners to justify the Government's decision not to provide financial assistance to SPC Ardmona.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, small-business, federal-government, industrial-relations, australia, surry-hills-2010, nsw
Posted
After wreaking havoc in the south, a huge snow storm is blanketing the densely populated north-eastern United States, paralysing the nation's capital.
Topics: weather, snowfall, storm-event, united-states
Posted
| UpdatedTop Australian Para-snowboarder Matthew Robinson remains in a critical condition after crashing in an IPC World Cup race in Spain.
Topics: winter-sports, sport, paralympics, spain
Posted
A coroner has found two morbidly obese people might not have died had their surgery been done at a better-equipped facility.
Topics: medical-procedures, healthcare-facilities, obesity, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, adelaide-5000, sa, australia
Posted
| UpdatedVictorian authorities have confirmed 45 houses have been destroyed in the 432 grassfires that burned across the state since last weekend.
Topics: bushfire, melbourne-3000, morwell-3840
Posted
Authorities in Britain rush to restore power to tens of thousands of homes ahead of more gales and heavy rain expected to hit on Friday.
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, storm-disaster, weather, storm-event, united-kingdom, england, wales
Posted
| UpdatedSydney police have warned a rally to mark the tenth anniversary of a Redfern teenager's controversial death could be the last, saying protesters broke their word and caused traffic chaos.
Seventeen-year-old Thomas "TJ" Hickey was killed when he lost control of his bicycle and became impaled on a fence next to Redfern Park, sparking a nine-hour riot in the inner-city suburb.
His family and others believe TJ was being chased by a police car when he became impaled, though that claim was disputed by a coroner following an inquest.
Redfern Commander Luke Freudenstein says the behaviour of marchers has forced a rethink of the future of rally.
"We had 200 people there. We make an arrest, there's going to be disruption, there's going to be a bit of a brawl. And that's OK, but there's further disruption to the traffic."
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, police, death, redfern-2016
Posted
| UpdatedA farmer is selling all his sheep, hoping his bushfire-hit land will get a rare chance to bounce back.
Topics: environmental-management, environmental-impact, environment, bushfire, sanderston-5237, adelaide-5000, sa, port-pirie-5540, renmark-5341, australia
Posted
| UpdatedAs Prime Minister Tony Abbott prepared to announce the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, the Opposition questioned the effectiveness and expense of an earlier inquiry set up by Mr Abbott when he was employment minister.
Opposition workplace relations spokesman Brendan O'Connor claimed the 2001 Building and Construction Industry Royal Commission cost $66 million, which he says equates to $100 million in today's dollars.
Topics: royal-commissions, law-crime-and-justice, federal-government, alp, government-and-politics, political-parties, australia