MORNING BRIEFING: Firefighters say it could take weeks, potentially months, to contain about five fires burning around Armidale and Tenterfield, while a woman is injured and a firearm stolen during a break and enter in Orana.

The largest local council in New South Wales, whose patch includes the Darling River town that experienced mass fish kills, will spend another four years in administration.

Regional Express threatens to scrap flights or reduce their frequency on its popular route from Sydney to Dubbo due to a dispute over increased airport fees.

The New South Wales Government is funding an aerial survey for water in the state's central west.

At the end of the bitumen road and surrounded by parched grazing land, Ivanhoe, like many outback towns, is fighting for survival.

A Dubbo man is handed a community correction order and community service after pleading guilty to animal cruelty following his appearance in a video of an emu being plucked.

Indigenous dancers from three states gather on the banks of the Darling River to honour a waterway that's underpinned their cultures for millennia.

Regional airline Rex is threatening to cut services on its Sydney-to-Dubbo and has sent a scathing letter to Dubbo households criticising their local council.

After years of funding cuts, many arts organisations will struggle to survive the COVID-19 pandemic without more government support. Playwright David Williamson and arts academic Jo Caust, discuss what needs to happened to ensure the sector survives.

On the anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre, we look at how Australia and America’s colonial gun-toting past converged for many years, and what made Australia taking a completely different path with regard to gun control

France has experienced one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe since mid-March. As the country moves towards ‘deconfinement’, we explore how President Macron has handled the political and economic fall-out from Covid-19 and ask what next for the EU?

Crosswords are a daily devotion, an obsession even, for millions. But where did the crossword start, and how did it become a staple of any newspaper worth its salt?

Cuban doctors and nurses have been working in some of the most challenging emergencies around the globe for many years including the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the aftermath of Chernobyl. Now they are working to treat patients with COVID-19 in 22 countries including Italy.

Why might the court intervene when a devout Jehovah Witness parent refuses a life-saving blood transfer to their child? What about cultural and traditional beliefs that clash with new ‘norms’ of society? More specific descriptions of what make a family of defines gender for example. Has the law has kept up with the changing society it regulates?

Can the world achieve zero emissions by 2050? We need to put our foot on the accelerator if we’re to meet our Paris target. That’s the view of a former UN climate negotiator who was a key figure in the 2015 Paris Climate Talks. She warns that the time for action is now. And can citizens assemblies produce action on climate change?

Are some people born evil? If modern science could identify ‘evil’ people, would we have the responsibility to remove them from society? What is the difference between evil and merely bad? On Big Ideas a panel of experts explores the meaning of evil in a contemporary and historic sense. Evil is often seen as “profound immorality”. Yet at the same our notion of evil varies with culture, century and context.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly entering the realm of art and also advertising. What does that mean for our notion of creativity? And how do persuasive algorithms work?

One of the year's strongest cold fronts is bearing down on Perth and the south-west of the state today, as residents are urged to secure their homes. and prepare for gale-force winds.

Blowflies could hold the key to managing the most damaging pest to Australian agriculture and the country's biodiversity.

WA has now posted six days in a row without a new case of COVID-19 after no new cases were recorded overnight, with 95 per cent of people who contracted the virus in the state now recovered.

A program to house homeless individuals in Perth hotels is abandoned after more than half the 20 people who were given accommodation at the start of the scheme chose to leave early.

The accused triple-murderer tells police "you gotta be joking" during previously unseen footage of his arrest at his Perth home back in 2016 for the Claremont serial killings.

Wildlife parks have a long road back to financial buoyancy after coronavirus restrictions stripped them of their sole source of income; visitors, and some operators are dipping into personal savings just to keep their animals fed.

A fierce cold front brings heavy rain and damaging winds across Perth and Western Australia's south-west, prompting hundreds of calls to emergency services and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

Campers on the north coast of Western Australia have had the "really rare" chance to walk next to a feeding whale shark estimated to be seven to 10 metres long.

A source has told the ABC that a teenager found dead in a remote Pilbara town this morning had recently given birth.

Bradley Edwards elects not to offer a detailed defence to three charges of murdering Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon — crimes that became known as the Claremont serial killings.

Australia's mineral exploration industry has warned up to 600 full-time jobs are at "immediate risk" and potentially thousands more under threat as mining companies respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

Bad weather in Sydney means India goes through to T20 World Cup final without a ball being bowled — and Australia will lose out if the second semi does not go ahead.

South Africa pushes Australia all the way, but the hosts are through to the T20 World Cup final in a rain-affected game at the SCG.

India and England's Twenty20 World Cup semi-final was washed out and Australia's clash with South Africa almost was too, all without a backup plan in place. How was this allowed to happen?

Cameron Bancroft survived a one-year ban for ball tampering, but has since gone from the lofty heights of a Test at Lord's to suburban cricket after being dropped from the WA state team, writes Ben Cameron.

Whether Australia or India wins the final, this T20 World Cup almost promised too much but has delivered even more. If fans #FillTheG on Sunday it will give this tournament the conclusion it deserves, writes Richard Hinds.

From a scattering of fans to stadiums at near-capacity, women's cricket has come a long way in the last decade since Australia won its first women's T20 World Cup.

The T20 final brings to an end a five-year campaign to beat the world-record crowd of 90,815 for a women's sporting event, writes Brittany Carter.

Australia is Women's T20 World Cup champion again after thumping India by 85 runs in front of a whopping 86,174 people at the MCG.

From small crowds and no coverage to filling the biggest stadium in Australia — the speed of the change in women's cricket defies belief, writes Geoff Lemon.

NRL fans will get to see games this weekend before the code heads behind closed doors and the AFL will not allow fans to games for the "foreseeable future".

Organisers of Murwillumbah's annual banana festival say national anti-terror rules have made it too expensive to hold a street parade.

A recent inquiry finds first responders have PTSD at a rate more than double that of the general population. So how are those who care for us caring for themselves?

Police have charged a NSW man with murder after what witnesses described as a furious chase during which shots were fired before one of the cars rolled and burst into flames.

Once the subject of "satanic panic" and seen as the epitome of nerd-dom, roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons finally hits the mainstream and is bigger than ever.

A medieval re-enactment group says a growing number of people are choosing to ditch the chaos of modern life and return to a simpler time.

Four children who took a family member's car from Gracemere near Rockhampton on Saturday night have been found safe in Grafton in northern NSW.

How scientists "read" two-million-year-old teeth and uncovered the hidden breastfeeding patterns of our ancient ancestors.