Regional NSW is under stay-at-home orders from today until 12:01am on Sunday, 22 August as Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the government needed to act quickly to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian describes the state's COVID outbreak as "literally a war", with Greater Sydney facing restrictions on exercise and fines for breaches increasing.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the new measures are designed to "minimise movement and protect our communities from the evolving COVID situation in Sydney". Follow live.

From Monday, a raft of new lockdown rules will come into effect in NSW and police will have the power to issue some of the highest fines ever seen in the state. Here's what you need to know.

Victoria records 21 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, as contact tracers race to find the source of mystery cases driving the outbreak.

The Taliban is advancing across Afghanistan and only a few key cities remain under government control. The city of Mazar-i-Sharif is the last battle in the north. 

A baby and a young child are among seven new cases of COVID-19 detected in Queensland overnight.

The Bledisloe Cup stays in New Zealand, with the All Blacks producing a brilliant second half at Eden Park, putting a record 57 points on the board against Australia.

Canberra records one more locally acquired case of COVID-19, as genomic testing confirms the initial case which sparked the territory's lockdown has links to cases the Greater Sydney outbreak.

Gladys Berejiklian's promise to ease some restrictions once vaccination hits 50 per cent has revealed the cracks in the national approach, writes Andrew Probyn. 

A US judge rejects the bid by the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein to dismiss her sex-trafficking indictment, which she had claimed was justified by the recent overturning of Bill Cosby's conviction.

A First Nations woman with disability who has been locked away for more than two decades wants to be moved from indefinite detention into the community so she can have a dog and go to the beach.

I knew it was a good get to secure an interview with Michael Jordan, arguably the world's greatest sportsperson, but it wasn't until we saw the reaction on Twitter and YouTube that we really understood the scale of our scoop, writes Austra...

Indigenous communities in western NSW say there are "a lot of anxious people" who fear their population’s low vaccination rates and chronic health conditions will mean COVID-19 fatalities are inevitable.

Despite the chaos and uncertainty of snap lockdowns, some businesses are thriving. So what are they, and why are they immune to the pandemic?

Geelong take on St Kilda and the Power face the Blues in Saturday football action after Hawthorn stuns the Western Bulldogs in the first of five games for the day. Follow our live AFL ScoreCentre for all the scores, stats and results. ...

The Cowboys host the Wests Tigers in Townsville and the Sea Eagles and Eels play on the Sunshine Coast after South Sydney takes care of the Titans. Follow our ScoreCentre for all the live scores and stats. 

The chair of the AFL Commission backs chief executive Gillon McLachlan following calls for his resignation in the wake of recent instances of racism within the game.

The UK's most famous street artist confirms via an Instagram post that he is the artist behind a number of works that have appeared recently in English seaside towns.

The company says it will hunt only for pictures that have been flagged by clearing houses in multiple countries following criticism over its planned system for detecting images of child sex abuse on users' phones.

A royal fan buys a slice of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall's wedding cake at auction, more than 40 years after the couple tied the knot.

Italian sprint sensation Lamont Jacobs says he was happy to see Great Britain's CJ Ujah in hot water after British media aired speculation about Jacobs's double gold medals in Tokyo.

From families to feuding royals, festival goers to fruit lovers, the Big Pineapple attracts them all. So how did an agricultural produce showcase become an Australian icon?

Masks were mandated to protect the community from the spread of COVID-19 but as the single-use PPE makes its way into gutters and waterways, people are being reminded to protect the environment as well.

Tributes flow for Nanci Griffith, a folk singer-songwriter from Texas, who has died at the age of 68.