The Sydney Morning Herald

Tony Abbott: "I'm keen to serve."

Two Australians are among five people who have been kidnapped in a fatal ambush on their vehicle in south-eastern Nigeria, police say.

Bill Shorten MP will claim a swag of seats for Labor but fall short of winning in the 2016 election, according to Labor officials and strategists across the country.

Six things to know before you get going today by Latika M Bourke.

"Just because someone goes to Syria doesn't mean they are going to fight," Mr Alqudsi's defence lawyer said.

Take the quiz and find out.

Three levels of senior police command had three different ideas of what would trigger a storming of the Lindt cafe siege stronghold.

Comment: We need a tax on sugary drinks to get serious about the fight against obesity.

Former NSW governor Peter Sinclair told a public hearing the experience of his initiation made him determined that no other naval recruit should endure the same humiliation.

"Betting tens of billions of taxpayers dollars at this time on copper access technologies, as the Coalition has done, is a huge miscalculation," according to the NBN's first chief executive.

Comment: Crime in Brazil is not an anomaly. It is an industry - the proliferation of security services, bulletproof cars and tourist police are just indications of its economic importance.

It's the vibe.

Queensland clinched yet another series win, beating New South Wales 26-16 at Suncorp Stadium.

The Maroons have taken out the 2016 State of Origin series, winning tonight's game 26-16.

Lightning Ridge, a sunbaked opal-mining town on the edge of Australia's outback, has never had a professional undertaker. So more than 20 years ago, a group of locals decided to do the job themselves, becoming amateur undertakers. Since then, they have buried 450 of their friends and neighbours.

A senior vet was expelled from her government role after she exposed the pain and suffering of the live cattle export trade, including animals coated in faeces and dying of heat exhaustion.

Researchers and doctors clashed at today's Obesity Australia summit over whether obesity should be classified as a disease.

One man was brave enough to stand up and acknowledge the forgotten victims of hate speech: Treasurer Scott Morrison, who is sick of endless pain being inflicted on the… um, conservative religious groups opposing marriage equality?

Your news of the day, reduced to a snarky rant by Andrew P Street.

A Target turnaround would hurt international chains like H&M, Zara and Uniqlo, Wesfarmers boss Guy Russo has warned.

A WA politician has directed a professional graffiti artist to paint a mural depicting him with a mullet and a handlebar moustache on one of his campaign posters which was defaced by vandals.