A rugby league player is handed a jail term for a "ferocious" on-field assault that left an opponent with major facial injuries, but immediately appeals against the severity of the sentence.

A 26-year-old woman is charged with 11 offences after allegedly stabbing members of the public, as well as her daughter, in Salamander Bay near Port Stephens.

What would you do if you were told you had 16 months to live? That was the harsh reality for Jill Emberson when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. With the survival rate of the disease half that of the breast cancer survival rate, she's using her last moments to make a change.

A man pleads guilty to burning another man alive after dousing him with petrol on a deserted road south of Newcastle last year.

Two men on trial over a 700kg cocaine importation racket used encrypted mobile phones to help arrange for the drugs to be sailed from Tahiti to Australia, a court hears.

Australian Jock Palfreeman is a step closer to returning home after being granted parole by a panel of three judges at the Sofia Appellate Court in Bulgaria.

The National Party wants urgent changes to the NSW Independent Planning Commission, fearing there is little certainty for investors following the rejection of the proposed Bylong Valley coal mine.

If you suffer from trypophobia, or an aversion to the sight of clusters of small holes, you might want to take a deep breath before laying your eyes on a Suriname toad.

Social media went into meltdown after images emerged of a power pole in the middle of a Newcastle street.

Generations of Australia's prime breeding cows are heading to slaughterhouses as a lack of water and feed sees more producers opt to "cash in and get out".

A recent Harvard study found Australia's economy is less complex than Kazakhstan or Uganda, but is the assessment fair? And, if it is, what can be done to diversify the economy away from its mining dependence?

Bush schools which harness outdoor exploration and play are increasing, and teachers say they are improving engagement, reducing anxiety and building resilience.

Have you ever wondered what happens to lost and stolen items when the police can't find the owner?

An estimated eight million tonnes of plastic rubbish enters the world's oceans each year and an Australian invention called a Seabin is doing something about it.

Early figures from Surf Life Saving Australia show that 53 people drowned on Australian beaches over summer.

Australian artworks will feature in a new international art-science exhibition in Venice, which hopes to educate people and raise talk about climate change and deforestation, and possible solutions.

MORNING BRIEFING: Former Newcastle Knights star Jarrod Mullen is charged over his alleged role in a cocaine ring in the Hunter region and Australia's country music industry is in shock after singer and producer Glen Hannah dies.

Residents at a retirement village in New South Wales say life is becoming more like science fiction as an automated vehicle changes the way they stay connected.

Bound by tradition but using honey from stingless bees and Australian botanicals proves to be more than just a silver lining for a NSW distiller.

A pharmaceutical giant owned by the Sackler family in the United States is using flaws in regulation to push its latest product deep into regional Australia.

People in a packed gallery sit up when inconsistencies begin to appear in the testimony of "person of interest" Paul Savage, a neighbour who claimed he joined in the search for the missing three-year-old.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a car hit two women in an "horrific" incident in Nambucca Heads on Saturday night, with the mother of one of the women later charged with manslaughter.

Bullied outcasts hit the textbooks alongside teen mums bouncing babies while in the next classroom youths facing juvie learn about sex in prison.

A private company has unveiled its plans to build a major off-stream dam in the Northern Territory so who is NT Water Pty Ltd?

A review of WA's cattle stations finds at least a dozen are at risk of animal welfare issues in coming months because of a lack of food and water.

Farmers who rely on the Ord River say big-city bureaucrats are getting in the way of progress in the WA region's landmark irrigation scheme.

A "flood" of vulnerable Australians have been walking into Telstra shops looking to buy a cheap flip phone and walking out with contracts worth $250 a month. Now the consumer watchdog is investigating.

The Australian kelpie's origins have long been shrouded in mystery, but new genetics research has found some vital answers to the iconic working dog's ancestry.

At least 80 people were killed in a Japanese attack on Broome in 1942, and now the search is on for the wrecks of the flying boats where they died.

A health facility able to meet the needs of acclaimed Aboriginal playwright Jimmy Chi was not available at the time of his death, a coronial inquest has heard.

In the Northern Territory, where much of the population is sparse and remote, there are still wide gaps in understanding superannuation.

Australian Indigenous actor Ningali Lawford-Wolf dies at the age of 52 in Edinburgh, Scotland, while touring with the stage production of The Secret River.

Damage to a fibre optic cable causes a 20-hour communications blackout across Western Australia's Kimberley region, proving bad for business, but reigniting old-fashioned conversation.

Survivor is a word thrown around fairly lightly, but in the case of German migrant Frauke Bolten-Boshammer, you can't help but feel she's earned the title 10 times over.

The harvest is underway at one of Australia's most remote pearl farms and its new owners are excited by what they see.

In the process of becoming Australia's first-ever published Indigenous graphic-novel author and publishing his epic three-volume magnum opus, Brenton E McKenna was battered physically and emotionally.

Dozens of children with disabilities are being pulled out of West Australian schools by parents who say they are not getting enough support in the classroom.

When Jack Baker pulled down a 116-year-old, 250kg bronze bell from a simple church in a remote, dusty town, he discovered a connection to one of the most famous cathedrals in the world.

Australia is home to some of the best dairy operations in the world, but an analyst has warned that without a drastic increase in production the country could soon become an "import nation".

Two of the world's biggest gold mining companies have merged in a $14 billion deal. What does it mean for the Kalgoorlie Super Pit and other Aussie gold mines?

Australia was built on gold rushes a century ago, but there is a warning it could slip from second to fourth on a list of the world's biggest gold producing nations by 2024.

Asian demand for the humble yabby has boomed in the last decade, but a lack of dam-filling rainfall threatens to pull them from the menu.