A Canberra man was told by a trio of kidnappers that his genitals would be cut off and that he would "die" for an alleged debt of $450 that he used to send to his family in Africa, a court has heard.

Haider Ali, 37, is returned to Australia to face court after he fled the country while on trial for sexual offences two years ago.

A Canberra man appears before court facing child exploitation charges, after Tinder reported his alleged conversations searching for a young Thai girl to a United States cyber safety watchdog.

Harry Souttar scored a brace in his first match for Australia while Jamie McLaren got a hat-trick in a match the Socceroos dominated from start to finish.

The Home Affairs Minister called the environmental activists "anti-establishment".

Australia beats Nepal 5-0 in Canberra thanks to a Jamie Maclaren hat-trick and two goals from debutant Harry Souttar.

Robert Glen Sirl was caught having sex with a 15-year-old girl in foster care when police visited to talk to him about a separate rape. He has now been found guilty of both crimes. WARNING: This story contains graphic content.

A 27-year-old Canberra man is jailed for what is described in court as a "chilling" and "callous" attack on a Pekingese/Maltese cross that lasted 20 minutes.

Health Minister Greg Hunt says he has "serious concerns" and demands to see the "evidence" the ACT considered before deciding to legalise cannabis in Canberra from next year.

Bradley Lester Grey, 54, pleads not guilty in the ACT Supreme Court to charges of allegedly telling prospective sex workers they would need to perform acts with him to prove they were right for the role.

The ACT's top law officer says federal police should not waste their time chasing Canberrans who use small amounts of cannabis as he urges Christian Porter not to interfere with new laws.

Peter Forster-Jones is sentenced to jail over the 2016 murder of Eden Waugh at his home in Canberra's north, in what the judge called a "callous" act.

The Sydney and Melbourne buildings have served as the gateway to Canberra for decades. But time and neglect have taken their toll on the icons, which now form a crumbling entrance to the capital's lake and parliamentary precinct.

If losing the grand final wasn't a sharp enough sting, the ACT Government's latest infrastructure plan sees funding and development for a new sport stadium take a back seat.

This startled eastern grey kangaroo was a bit miffed when two police officers on a jetski tried to haul it back on to the shore of Lake Burley Griffin.

Recommendations will be put to the Federal Government before Christmas over whether or not to release a herpes virus to control carp numbers, a potential move described as "reckless" by some commercial fishers.

One year out from the ACT election, Liberal Leader Alistair Coe is confident he will win government. The only Liberal to have achieved that, Kate Carnell, says it's a tough ask.

A female driver dies in hospital after a collision between her car and a fire truck in an inner suburb of Canberra.

It will take a test case a Canberra smoker who police decide to arrest and charge to determine what the law actually is.

Last year, Nigel Shedden got married to wife Belinda and together they moved into their dream home. Today, the couple are living with Mr Shedden's mother, and the home they spent 18 months building has been sold.

Australia is set to become only the second country in the world to have a dedicated national women's baseball competition.

The sexual assault, and her future brother-in-law's warning that she not tell anyone, left her with an eating disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.

Can you use simple maths to figure out your best online dating profile match? Or choose the shortest line in the supermarket? According to mathematician Lily Serna, yes you can.

The Opposition Leader acknowledges the mountain his party must climb if it hopes to end 19 years of Labor government.

A week ahead of the first hearings of the Disability Royal Commission in Townsville, a new survey of families of children with disability finds nearly no progress has been made on improving access to inclusive education.

The ACT Government is hitting back at warnings from the United Nations that legalising cannabis will breach international law, telling the body to instead focus on the United States and Canada.

Australian scientists have weighed Greenland's ice cap melt using satellite technology and their findings are not good.

Revenue from parking fine patrol vans jumped from $1.6 million to more than $4 million in the last financial year, showing technology is increasingly becoming a vital tool in a crackdown on rogue parking choices across the capital.

Up to one in three Australian women have experienced birth trauma and one in 10 women emerge from childbirth with post-traumatic stress disorder, prompting calls for a major shake-up of the maternity system.

If you've been avoiding your local library because you are yet to return that dog-eared book by your bedside, the ACT Government has good news for you.

More than a dozen live venues and nightclubs across Canberra shut down in the 2018 financial year, but the Government hopes a new plan to make a racket will turn that trend around.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics won't ask you about your sexual orientation in the 2021 census. But that won't stop it from trying to figure it out anyway.

Irma Palasics was killed during a brutal home invasion in 1999, but her killers were never identified. Twenty years later, her family believe new forensic procedures could find the people responsible.

When Sue Owen's hair fell out, she honed her skills in tying head scarves and "funking up" turbans. She now makes sure other patients "look fabulous".

The owner of Mitchell Mistresses, Bradley Lester Grey used job interviews with "young and naive" sex workers to sexually assault them. Today he was found guilty of 20 sexual offences against seven employees.

Disability royal commission chair Ronald Sackville said commentators were discouraging people from telling their stories to the commission, but critics say the real discouragement is the absence of appropriate supports.

The call comes as a probe into complaints handling and treatment of small business proposed better access to review schemes and beefed up compensation for taxpayers wrongly targeted by the ATO.

A man is arrested in Canberra's south, after a woman was shot in the head this morning as she sat in her parked car in a "random" and "untargeted" attack.

When Farishta Arzoo moved to Australia she had to overcome significant obstacles learning English, starting a TAFE course and setting up a new life. Now she's gearing up to face her greatest physical challenge yet running a marathon.

Comcare covered 973 massages for a former Sydney Symphony Orchestra violinist before deciding to cut support. But their decision to cease funding has been overturned, with the Administration Appeals Tribunal ruling that massage is a "reasonable" medical treatment.

A 27-year-old man arrested over a dramatic shooting in Canberra yesterday, has faced the ACT Magistrates Court on nine charges, including shooting at a woman and trying to steal her car.

Lea Powell had to leave teaching after years working as a casual became too hard to manage but she was just one of more than 600 workers in the ACT's health and education systems who have been constant casual for more than five years.

A hipster's heaven in regional Queensland is putting the sword to counterculture capitals such as Sydney and Melbourne by embracing its man buns, skinny jeans and coffee shops.

Stagnant domestic production and a slump in global raw sugar prices require serious action to combat future declines in the $2 billion sugar industry, a report finds.

Florists say deceptive advertising is tricking customers into thinking they're buying local flowers when they're not. One businesswoman says the practice has cost her as much as $80,000.

A Cairns apprentice's charges are upgraded to unlawful striking causing death after a man he allegedly hit during a fight outside a bar on the weekend dies in hospital.

A remote Cape York community is in the fight of its life to save a unique rainforest that was devastated by a cyclone.

New research finds each feral cat in Australia will kill 740 animals a year. Together with their domesticated cousins, cats are killing about three million animals a day.

A leg wound that became infected after a fall eventually claimed the life of Bertha Aalberts, but her Melbourne nursing home had no record of the injury's severity, a Cairns hearing of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is told.