NSW Health has backflipped on a decision to cancel thousands of elective surgeries, as COVID-19 cases continue to be detected within wards at hospitals in Sydney’s hot spots.

There are fears NSW could soon record thousands of COVID-19 cases a day, Victorian health authorities are focusing on Melbourne’s southern suburbs and Australia has rescued its first batch of people from Afghanistan.

But there may be another twist in the seminal case before it opens in Darwin on Monday.

Son Minh Nguyen’s family offered up a $430,000 deposit to secure his release and a court heard the man’s trial might not take place until the end of 2022. 

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo faces an anxious wait after appearing before a special hearing of the NSW Medical Council.

Forget coworkers or homeschoolers, Andrew Kelly’s office view often includes waterbirds, turtles, platypuses and even dolphins.

Melbourne man Stanley Bruce Early, 75, has been remanded in NSW custody until October, charged with the murder of Raymond Keam in 1987.

Mick Fuller has called upon the NSW Police Force to “go high-level enforcement” and prioritise enforcing health orders outside being first responders.

A man accused of trying to elicit sex from a woman and threatening her, all while he allegedly posed as a health department official, remains in custody after withdrawing an attempt to get bail.

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer said schools should honour students who isolated COVID-19, saying that it is due to their efforts that Queensland suppressed its recent virus cluster

As the business world rolls out incentives to encourage Australians to get vaccinated, life insurers are considering discounts for those who have received the jab.

Rachelle Elise Perry, 25, resigned from the police service last month and her charges went before the court on Thursday.

The scam, falsely registering people as frontline healthcare workers, targeted Sydney’s Chinese community and was circulated on popular app WeChat.

People who work at an industrial precinct in Sunshine West and residents of Port Phillip and Glen Eira are being told to get tested even if they don’t have symptoms.

Today on Please Explain, world editor Michelle Griffin joins Bianca Hall to discuss the rapidly unfolding situation in Afghanistan.

The state’s infrastructure adviser has gone cool on the merits of the East West Link, a controversial road project backed by the opposition that was abandoned by Premier Daniel Andrews.

Larsen forged an artistic reputation of international renown.

Maurie Daly was a respected academic whose work recognised the centrality of people in the analysis of city and place.

Specialist police are combing waterways in Melbourne’s northwest for the remains of a missing South Australian man they fear was murdered inside a Hells Angels clubhouse.

Three years after announcing the $50 billion Suburban Rail Loop, the Andrews government has released a business case for the first sections of the project.

The Delta variant has been a game-changer around the world. But Victoria has learnt the hard lessons of last year’s lockdown. 

Former minerals minister Ian Macdonald and union boss John Maitland are accused of engaging in misconduct over the granting of a mining exploration licence near Singleton.

It’s not unusual to feel lousy after a vaccine. But why do some people get side effects and others don’t? And what are the more serious ones to watch out for?

Infrastructure Victoria’s 30-year blueprint says population growth and working-from-home arrangements are set to drive more people away from Melbourne.

The Premier Gladys Berejiklian, however, said there was “light at the end of the tunnel” with a record number of vaccinations administered within the 24-hour period.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says it might be “too late” to move the border south to Tweed Heads amid escalating COVID case numbers in NSW.

New businesses are ineligible to receive targeted lockdown assistance if they don’t have any revenue history, leaving business owners in the lurch if they have paid set-up costs but not started trading.

Pierre Yang said Perth’s most prestigious research university “has some serious questions to answer” over its move to axe jobs and restructure social sciences, while fightback attempts on the ground fall short.

A 15-year-old Browns Plains boy was charged over a violent break-in at the home of rugby great Toutai Kefu and his family.

Confidential police tracking project highlights the appeal of the New Zealand attacks to budding extremists.

The suspension of breast cancer screening due to the COVID-19 pandemic could put patients at greater risk, as medical experts warn that delaying treatment for up to 12 weeks could result in 500 extra deaths. 

The union for early learning staff has called for childcare centres to be closed to all but the children of essential workers and vulnerable children to help fight the growing spread of COVID-19.

A highly confidential report for the government by consultancy giant PwC reveals that corporatising the state’s transport networks was deemed the best option to plug a multi-billion dollar budget black hole from a shell corporation it had created.

The artistry of goal-kicker Eric Simms enabled South Sydney to reach the Rugby League semi-finals yesterday.

It’s almost four months since Neville Power wrapped up his as captain of the COVID-19 Co-ordination Commission. The flying executive hasn’t sat still for long.

Trivia buffs: test your knowledge with today’s interactive superquiz and target.

Health authorities are urging everyone in the St Kilda area to get tested as they dispatch specialist health teams to try and get a handle on mystery chains of transmission.

At least our hero was wearing a mask.

Household transmission remains a concern in Sydney, experts debate the usefulness of Melbourne’s curfew and Taliban officials have fronted the world’s media for the first time since consolidating power in Afghanistan.

Father Anthony Caruana abused 12 boys at a boarding school in the NSW Southern Highlands in the 1980s. He was convicted of the abuse last month.

Until 70 per cent of Queenslanders are vaccinated, the CHO says just one community case of the Delta strain will spark another lockdown, possibly “for months”.

A remnant of a huge bird with a jagged beak is among Museums Victoria’s eight candidates for a state fossil emblem.

About 14 per cent of NSW’s public intensive care beds are occupied by people with COVID-19 as private hospitals are told to reduce elective surgery intakes to free up resources.

On Wednesday, the first case in a remote Aboriginal community was recorded at a former mission outside Bourke.

It is not possible to do your job properly and care for a toddler at the same time.

Differing approaches to online classes is causing tension within school communities, with an 11-year-old suspended from Google Classroom for asking her peers if they wanted more.

Aboriginal groups are urging the NSW government to open more vaccine clinics in Sydney’s west as Blacktown’s mayor reveals he offered space for one last month.

The NSW government’s stay at home rules leave plenty of room for interpretation.

The 42-year-old man who fell 13 storeys to his death in Ipswich on Wednesday morning has been identified.