Afghan Australians stuck in Kabul are pleading with the federal government to get them on evacuation flights to safety, saying they fear being killed by the Taliban if they are left behind.

Cabinet's National Security Committee has approved a military evacuation plan to rescue Australians in Afghanistan, as well as Afghans who once served with the ADF.

New COVID rules in Melbourne, NT goes into lockdown, ACT cluster grows. Here's the latest COVID-19 news across Australia

Premier Daniel Andrews says the new restrictions will come into effect at 11:59pm tonight and be in place until September 2.

NSW records its worst day of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 478 cases and seven deaths — numbers Premier Gladys Berejiklian says are "disturbingly high".

Taliban fighters seize control of Afghanistan, taking over key government buildings in Kabul hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

The Taliban have stormed back into power in Afghanistan. Here's who they are, what they want, and why the international community is so concerned.

Malaysia's cabinet led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has tendered its resignation to the King.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says thousands of police and ADF members are patrolling Sydney streets and issued more than 500 infringements of health orders overnight. Follow live.

One of Canberra's 19 new cases is a student at Lyneham High School, another is a worker at an aged care facility in Greenway.

Greater Darwin and Katherine have entered a three-day lockdown after a man in his 30s returned a positive COVID test. Here is what you can and can't do in those regions for the next 72 hours.

Emboldened by success in Afghanistan, the Taliban is now ordering religious leaders to provide them with lists of girls over the age of 15 to enter into "marriages" with Taliban fighters. 

The tip of a screwdriver left inside a jet engine on a Jetstar A320 plane forced flames and an aborted take-off at Brisbane Airport last year, a report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau finds.

The Sharks prop is in a critical but stable condition at the Royal Brisbane Hospital after sustaining the injury in Sunday's NRL match against Newcastle in Redcliffe.

New climate research by the CFA shows the grain-growing areas of north-west Victoria will experience the greatest increase in extreme-risk bushfire days by century's end, with others seeing a tripling of risky days.

Bernard Shackcloth faces court charged with breaching SA's Emergency Management Act when he lied to airport staff about flying into Adelaide from Melbourne on Friday, while three other people accused of entering the state illegally also fac...

There have been long delays at Queensland's border with NSW as police check every vehicle and workers scramble to understand new restrictions.

The teenager, from one of the Sydney areas hardest hit by COVID-19, dies after being hospitalised with pneumococcal meningitis and coronavirus overnight.

As remote communities were plunged into COVID-19 lockdown in Western NSW, Marley Morgan and her family feared her loved ones may be forced to go without the essentials. 

At a rural property, mum-of-four Kirra McLoughlin lay unconscious in her lounge room. Her partner didn't call an ambulance for over 15 hours. For the first time Australian Story reveals those triple-0 calls and why a coroner believes Kirra d...

The Australian continues his rich vein of form by winning the men's 800 metres at a meet in Poland, beating home the Olympic bronze medallist in the process.

End of school exams have been causing stress for generations, but one third of students who graduate will rely on something other than their ATAR score, like an interview or an early entry program to get into university.

Former Wallabies player Toutai Kefu is one of four people taken to hospital after a confrontation with men who broke into a house in Coorparoo on Brisbane's southside early this morning.

An extensive search and rescue operation was carried out over the weekend to try to find the 33-year-old Daniel Muller.

The wild winds, rain and a cold front on the weekend have transformed parts of Tasmania into a winter wonderland.