Health authorities say a shopping mall in Sydney's south-west is "a key venue of concern" amid fears customers could have been exposed to COVID-19 there for 11 days.

The former kayaker and his younger brother Dru were found guilty of trying to smuggle up to $200 million worth of cocaine by boat into Australia.

The 26-year-old man was fined almost $10,000 for three breaches of COVID-19 health directions while the woman, a flight attendant, who collected him from northern New South Wales has been fined $4,135.

Three "critically ill" crew members taken off the MV Darya Krishna berthed in Fremantle spark a COVID scare after protocols failed when they were taken to a Perth hospital.

NSW records 172 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases with an outbreak at Liverpool Hospital spreading with two nurses, a student nurse and eight patients testing positive.

Rising Australian star Kaylee McKeown is now an Olympic champion, blitzing home to win the 100m backstroke final with an Olympic record time.

The Australian women's team is battling for survival in the Tokyo Games, and its against the top-ranked team in the world. Follow all the action from day four of the Olympics in our live blog.

The Australian attracts four seconds worth of time penalties to collect her third Olympic medal in the event, with Germany's Ricarda Funk winning the gold in Tokyo.

The tropical storm was forecast to make landfall near Tokyo Tuesday but it is now looking like it will skirt along the east coast tonight before making landfall further north some time on Wednesday. 

Premier Daniel Andrews says Victorians must remain vigilant against the risk posed by Sydney's Delta outbreak, as his government cuts off several regional New South Wales towns from the cross-border bubble.

The five reasons to leave home have been dumped as Victoria eases out of lockdown five, but a number of restrictions will remain in place for at least another two weeks.

Surfing arguably made its Olympic debut five years too late, but there's little doubt that it's "here to stay" after a spectacular debut competition in Tokyo, writes Paul Kennedy.

An Afghan villager tells the defamation trial of war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith he regards Australian soldiers as "infidels" and those who were killed by them as "martyrs".

One of Australia's biggest live exporters has accused a big four bank of hypocrisy for refusing it basic services despite its claim of having strong ties to agribusiness.

A man remains behind bars after a video was played to a Canberra court of him chasing his partner with a chainsaw as she tries to protect herself with a vacuum cleaner. 

A Melbourne man who ejaculated on women at music festivals will not spend a moment behind bars or be registered as a sex offender.

The NT Chief Health Officer makes a "pre-emptive" move in declaring regional NSW a COVID-19 hotspot amid rising cases in the state, while revoking the declarations for Victoria and South Australia from later tonight.

Four men are taken to hospital, one of them with alleged gunshot wounds, after a brawl broke out in Ipswich this evening, emergency services say.

Coon Island and Coon Point in the NSW Hunter region will be renamed Pirrita Island and Miners Point after a divisive community debate about the names and what's considered racist.

Authorities identify the final victim of the condo collapse in Florida, more than a month after the 12-storey building crumbled in the middle of the night. 

The pop star launches a legal bid to remove her father from a controversial guardianship controlling her finances and replace him with an independent accountant.

Reza Baluchi's wanted to raise money for charity by running on water from Florida to New York with the help of a flotation device. It did not go as he expected. 

Some of the biggest US tech companies, including Facebook and Microsoft, are aiming to crack down on far-right militias by expanding their database of extremist material. 

The former waiter, 24, was charged over allegations he had driven his motorcycle into three riot police while carrying a flag with the protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our times".

Just weeks after the Turkish coast was choked with "sea snot," a similar deposit has been found in south-west Victoria — but scientists are not sure if there is cause for local alarm.