Queen Elizabeth has led tributes to veterans of World War Two, recalling the "never give up, never despair" message of Victory in Europe Day 75 years ago, as coronavirus dampened VE Day commemorations.

Just off a quiet bush track near one of Queensland's most popular look outs, little notes and letters are left in a portal to childhood magic..

South Australia's Mayura Station spends $92,000 securing elite Wagyu genetics for breeding stock.

A decision more than two decades ago to stop births at the hospital on Christmas Island has had significant financial and social effects on locals in the years since.

Drought sees Pilbara stations sell off their entire herds, but this manager says it's not the end.

A group of scientists is pushing for Exmouth Gulf, next to Ningaloo Reef in remote Western Australia, to be protected from industry saying its biodiversity is of global significance.

Polluting heavy metals may be leaking into an outback river system in WA's Pilbara and the problem has been made worse by the massive deluge that accompanied Tropical Cyclone Veronica in March.

A cattle station in outback Western Australia proves popular with stargazers and now hopes to become internationally recognised for its starry nights.

Many Western governments continue to struggle with free speech. It’s not that they’re necessarily against it, it’s just that they don’t know how to effectively regulate out the offensive stuff.

A tale of two media environments: in the US, journalistic freedom is increasingly under threat from demonising rhetoric and the violent personal targeting of reporters; while in Ethiopia, the country’s new leader has opened the gate to press freedom. What can we learn from both experiences?

Police officers in many  western countries now dress like paramilitaries. Special police units are being trained and organised along military lines and issued with military-grade weapons. Is this creeping “militarisation” justified and what are the future implications for the effectiveness of policing in democratic societies?

Desertification and land degradation affect the lives of around three billion people, according to UN estimates. Two ambitious projects aim at halting desertification and returning soil to productivity: the Great Green Wall project in northern Africa; and the Green Great Wall initiative in China.

Street artists are busy commandeering as many city surfaces as their paints will allow, authorities are trying to neutralise the threat, while advertising agencies are keen to clone the potency of hand painted art.

Fifteen-year-old Connor Meldrum, who was badly injured in a cliff accident, will undergo surgery to have fitted to his skull a custom-printed polyethylene material that mimics the properties of living bone.

Queenslander launches campaign to get grey nomads and truckies on the same page, and bring down the road toll.

Police arrest three people who allegedly led them on a pursuit in two stolen cars through several Adelaide suburbs, after road spikes failed to stop the high-speed chase.

NSW makes a massive seven changes for the must-win Origin II in Perth on Sunday, led by the return of James Maloney to the halves while injury forces two changes for Queensland.

Gold Coast junior Riley Parsons shares his love of cricket, by refurbishing old gear to give to kids who need it.

This kangaroo species normally lives high in the treetops but is now being found in odd places, unable to see and confused, and one ecologist is trying to find out the cause.

MORNING BRIEFING: Many regional Tasmanian areas are in a population decline, and Hobart scores high on drug waste water testing.

The number of older women experiencing homelessness has surged in recent years, with divorce, pay disparity and a lack of superannuation culminating in a "perfect storm" of gender disadvantage.

The family of a Gold Coast man who died after being hit by a car on Sunday night say they're "absolutely devastated" that a fight between two friends led to him losing his life.

A tiny number of performers worldwide stuff their adult frames into cannons, to be shot across an arena at 60 kilometres per hour. Queenslander Warren Brophy is one of them.

The Northern Territory Chief Minister says plans for a water theme park in Darwin are not dead in the water yet, despite his Government formally rejecting all expressions of interest in the project submitted so far.

The rise of home renovation shows has helped glamorise DIY but take the cameras and personalities away and the situation is quite different especially when it comes to tackling heritage buildings.

Mascot Towers building management tells residents who were evacuated on Friday night after cracks were found in the Sydney apartment building to seek help from the Salvation Army if they are facing financial hardship.

A proposed $2 billion Indigenous-led coal-fired power station in Collinsville in North Queensland developed by Brisbane-based Indigenous company Shine Energy and headed by traditional Biri man Ashley Dodd is set to revive one of the country's oldest coal towns.

A Queensland primary school teacher has shocked his students and jumped into a wrestling ring to live out a lifelong dream.

A South Australian farming community has been given a much needed psychological sweetener after a heavy downpour fell in a matter of hours the first good rain in three years.

Book-loving Tasmanians are bucking the trend and turning to libraries in their thousands, less than a year after the state became the first in Australia to abolish fines and processing fees for overdue books.

It's the system they have in London and Chicago, it's being trialled in New York, and soon it will allow people in Cairns, Mackay and Townsville to pay for trains and buses with their credit cards and mobile phones.

A chemical used to control pests in agricultural crops and termites in buildings has been blamed for the death of up to 10 million bees in southern New South Wales.