The Taliban that took control of Afghanistan this week are "drastically" different from 20 years ago. They have gone from "knowing nothing" to having the power to takeover swathes of the country at speed that exceeded everyone's expectati...

The Prime Minister concedes the Australian government will not be able to help all Afghans who worked with and supported Australian troops, in the wake of the Taliban's return to power.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the number of COVID cases in NSW are likely to “rise substantially” as the state records 452 new infections and another death.

Premier Daniel Andrews says Victoria must urgently boost its testing rate, amid growing fears about a series of mystery cases found around St Kilda. The state has recorded 24 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, 14 of whom were in quarantine...

It's been another big day of COVID-19 news for multiple states across the country. Get up to speed on what's happening here.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces all of New Zealand will go into lockdown for three days after a positive COVID case was identified in Auckland, with the city to be in lockdown for seven days. 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces a snap three-day lockdown after a single case of COVID-19, warning: "We've seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours." 

Carlton great Eddie Betts, who will retire at the end of this season, says Indigenous AFL players encounter too much racism and do not feel safe.

Beijing says it welcomes statements made by the Afghan Taliban looking to "grow sound relations" with China.

Social media, the tool of democratised free speech, is highlighting the pitiful exit of the world's most powerful democracy from Afghanistan and the plight of the people it left behind, writes Greg Jennett.

Big miner BHP and oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum will merge their oil and gas businesses to form one of the world's biggest energy companies.

Prince Andrew's image and royal career are in tatters over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal but with fresh legal action underway in the United States, is he now in trouble with the law?

Vaccination rates in some parts of Sydney are beginning to catch up to the rest of the city's, even before hundreds of thousands of Pfizer doses from Poland make their way to essential workers.

Kamilaroi elder Kim Sullivan says the fear in the Walgett community, in western NSW, is palpable as COVID-19 spreads.

England, South Africa and West Indies will be Australia's big-name opponents at the men's T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman.

A major report finds no change is needed to the register of foreign ownership of Australian water.

Satellite images taken of the area surrounding Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, show a scene of chaos as thousands try to make a final, frantic dash for freedom.

Ban Ki-moon warns Australia faces international punishment for lagging behind on climate action, as a NSW Liberal MP tells his federal colleagues to act or "get out of the way".

Two Catholic organisations have admitted liability in the Supreme Court related to the actions of a now-deceased paedophile priest.

The first round of the Australian Olympic team are out of quarantine in Howard Springs and ready to head home to celebrate with their families — but there are a few roadblocks in the way.

Infectious disease experts say Australia's COVID experience will become a "pandemic of the unvaccinated" as the Delta strain's high infection rate — even among vaccinated people — turns achieving herd immunity into an "impossibility...

The ACT records 17 new cases of COVID-19 as Canberrans are warned the next few days will be "critical" in whether the lockdown is successful.

The next few August nights in Darwin were supposed to be fully of sweaty people dancing in and around the city. A three-day lockdown has now has a party-ready town in hibernation.

Tropical Depression Grace is forecast to hit the same areas of Haiti badly damaged in the latest earthquake, with authorities warning of the risk of flash floods and landslides.

Scientists find a marsupial known as a "suicidal reproducer" in a national park south of Gladstone, after fears the creature had been wiped out by bushfires.