Two grandparents and another sailor die after a catamaran capsizes off the coast of Newcastle in rough conditions, with the father and daughter surviving by clutching onto the overturned yacht.

A man who had half his face shot off in a 2017 home invasion has fought back tears after a second man pleaded guilty in relation to his violent home invasion.

The former NRL player has pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual assault.

A high school in the Hunter region is offering counselling for students and staff who saw a student fatally struck by a bus while riding his bike to school.

A north Queensland mother is worried for the health of her children after PFAS was found in fish and water samples taken near their Mackay property.

A controversial plan to reopen a 'mothballed' coal mine in the New South Wales Upper Hunter Valley is approved, but a five-year extension on the mine's life is denied.

Senior members of the Nomads bikie gang are sentenced over their participation in a criminal group, during a period of what the prosecutor described as "extreme" and "unpredictable" violence across the Hunter region.

The Roosters make light work of the Dragons with a commanding 34-12 triumph, as the Sharks and Tigers enjoy their dominant victories in the race for the NRL finals.

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.

The United Wambo coal mine in the NSW Hunter Valley gets the go-ahead, but on the condition that its coal can only be exported to countries that have ratified the Paris climate agreement.

Danielle Easey's relatives share tributes on social media after her body was found wrapped in plastic and dumped in a creek in the NSW Hunter Region, as police search for clues about when and why she was killed.

One family has been dairying for 100 years and another is getting back in the game. What is it that keeps them so keen in a struggling industry?

The search for four men and a woman missing feared dead after a helicopter vanished from radar north of Newcastle will continue after earlier bad weather halted the operation.

A NSW firefighter who hatched a plan to start bushfires "so he could fight them" will serve more time in jail than the man who lit them his younger brother.

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 family of volunteer firefighter from New Zealand who was killed in a hit-and-run in the NSW Hunter Valley has issued an emotional plea for someone to come forward.

It was a piece of rope in the middle of the ocean that ultimately led to their boat filling with water and sinking. But the three men, who all have 40 years of boating experience, say it hasn't stopped them from wanting to get back on the water.

Six months after Murrurundi's water ran out, the community is struggling to survive on extreme, level-six water restrictions, in a grim prediction of the future for other country towns facing their own impending water crisis.

Up to 100,000 litres of water is being used each weekday by a regional New South Wales council to keep drivers safe on its gravel roads all 954 kilometres of them.

The NSW Government admits "safety risks" exist at a light rail intersection in Newcastle where a cyclist died earlier this year, while also raising questions about tram projects in Sydney's CBD and Parramatta.

Wildlife carers say they no longer have to euthanase kangaroos at a New South Wales hospital, after access was cut to thousands of tourists who were flocking to feed them.

Oliver Scales-Copeland, who is accused of stabbing two police officers at a service station north of Sydney yesterday, represents himself in court and becomes emotional when his bail application is refused.

The victim of a violent home invasion in Newcastle has described his ongoing suffering and lifelong trauma after half his face was shot off in December 2017.

The NSW Parole Authority is set to grant parole to convicted paedophile and disgraced former government minister Milton Orkopoulos.

An inquest has heard that a New South Wales teen spent a week in agony after being diagnosed with gastroenteritis, rather than the ruptured appendix that led to his death.

For residents in the Upper Hunter, keeping an eye on air quality alerts from the Office of Environment and Heritage is a daily ritual.

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 dairying heritage in northern NSW, dating back to 1863, is coming to an end as farmer Bert Bradford hangs up the cups.

Greg Inglis's rugby league retirement brings down the curtain on a remarkable NRL and State of Origin career that will see him remembered as a legend of the game, writes Zane Bojack.

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.

Snakes have been known to wrap their jaws around crocodiles, kangaroos and goats so why would one give up on a bird?

When Bennett Powell was a child, doctors thought he might never walk but now he's running, cycling and swimming as part of his third Ironman Australia race.

The company proposing a coal mine for NSW's Manning Valley, refused by an environment court on the grounds of its contribution to climate change, will not appeal the decision.

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.

He established some of Australia's best-known national parks and fought for World Heritage listings across the globe. But for the late Peter Hitchcock, conservation was no walk in the park.

More than 20 Pixie O'Harris artworks are being restored for an exhibition after the final paintings, which had been missing since the 1950s, mysteriously turn up without note or explanation.

A koala joey, only months old, is defying the odds after being rescued when her mother was hit by a car in Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast. Pixie is now in home care and being carried in a makeshift pouch 24 hours a day.

Following the recent Hendra virus outbreak, an equine vet is encouraging horse owners to vaccinate their animals against the deadly bat-borne disease.

Chief the bison was killed with a high-powered rifle on a rural NSW property and it is believed the culprits can sell the animal's hide for thousands of dollars.

Investors are calling for entrepreneurial skills to be taught in schools to help prepare children for the future 'gig-based' economy.

Pixie weighed less than 200 grams when she was rescued after her mother was hit by a car. Carers thought she was too tiny to survive, but they were wrong.