Two teenagers have been charged over an alleged assault on the New South Wales south coast that has left a fellow school student in a coma.

The Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal has rejected a bid by disgraced former drug squad detective David Miechel to overturn his conviction for drug trafficking.

Australian Defence Force chief Angus Houston has sought an assurance from his Indian counterparts that Australia's athletes will be safe at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

An armed gang stormed a municipal building and shot dead a mayor in north-eastern Mexico, in the sixth killing of a mayor this year, a political official said Wednesday.

A court has heard a singer accused of bashing Blacktown MP Paul Gibson will use television interviews as part of his defence to show inconsistencies in the MP's story.

Public sector nurses in South Australia have ended industrial action and mediation will begin.

The Australian National University (ANU) is one of a number of Australian universities that have fallen dramatically in the latest world rankings of tertiary institutions.

Plans by Virgin Blue to undergo a joint venture with Delta Air Lines have been dented by the US Department of Transportation.

A Victorian judge has rejected a request for the rape trial of former Saints star Andrew Lovett to be delayed until after next year's AFL season.

A surge in full-time jobs has cut the unemployment rate from 5.3 to 5.1 per cent.

The first dictionary translating anatomical and medical terms from English to an ancient Aboriginal language has been published.

Two men will face court today charged over the fatal shooting of a policeman during a drug raid in Sydney's south-west last night.

Penny Wong has hit back at claims Australia needs a new Climate Change Minister with a more consultative approach.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has maintained its opposition to National Australia Bank's proposed takeover of AXA Asia Pacific.

Port Adelaide has confirmed the appointment of former AFL premiership player Matthew Primus to the club's head coaching position on a full-time basis for the next three seasons.

More than a thousand people affected by the floods in Pakistan have been treated at an Australian health centre set up in the country last week.

A blind man who claimed discrimination because he could not cast a secret ballot has lost his court case.

A man has been jailed for at least 18 months for setting fire to his struggling business at Mount Barker in the Adelaide hills.

Holden says it will employ 50 more workers when a second production shift resumes in mid-November at its Elizabeth plant in Adelaide's northern suburbs.

The Industrial Magistrates Court in Townsville has heard that a small amount of cannabis was detected in the blood system of a teenage gymnast who died last year.