The global outbreak alert for coronavirus has been raised to its highest level amid increasing fears of a pandemic and new cases confirmed in six countries. Mexico announced its first two cases of the deadly respiratory illness as coronavirus took hold in the highly populated Latin American region and officials confirmed a growing number of discharged patients testing positive again …

Refugees in Turkey are headed towards European frontiers after the borders had been thrown open, a response to the escalating war in Syria where 33 Turkish soldiers were killed by Russian-backed Syrian government troops. Moscow and Ankara traded blame over Thursday’s strike in northwest Syria, the deadliest attack on Turkish forces in nearly 30 years. The UN Security Council called an …

Motorists in NSW could face hefty fines if they’re caught by hidden cameras using mobile phones when driving from Sunday. A three-month grace period for mobile phone detection cameras was slated to end this weekend – with drivers set to lose five demerit points and a $344 fine, or a $457 fine if caught in a school zone. However, Transport for New …

Sometimes, things just keep coming back to haunt you. That’s particularly the case in politics when even the most innocent remark continues to be thrown back in a pollie’s face. As brutally honest as it was, former prime minister Paul Keating’s quip “the recession Australia had to have” is still bandied about almost three decades down the track. Then there …

Neo-Nazis are emerging as one of Australia’s most challenging security threats, according to the country’s top intelligence chief. ASIO director general Mike Burgess says “small cells” of right-wing extremists are regularly gathering to salute Nazi flags, inspect weapons and to disperse their “hateful ideology”. In a rare public address from inside ASIO’s heavily fortified Canberra headquarters, Mr Burgess said foreign …

A father who murdered his estranged wife and three young children breached a domestic violence order weeks before he committed quadruple murder-suicide. Rowan Baxter was due to face court again on April 8 after a magistrate ruled he was free to walk free in the community during his initial hearing for breaching the order on January 29. On Wednesday morning, Baxter …

The deaths of a Brisbane mother and her three children have prompted an outpouring of anger, sadness and disbelief among family members, politicians, domestic violence advocates and the Australian community. Hannah Clarke, 31, also known as Hannah Baxter, and her children Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and Trey, 3, died after the family car was set alight on a street in …

Police have confirmed two people have died after a train derailed north of Melbourne. A Transport for NSW spokesperson confirmed the train had come off the rails near the town of Wallan, 45 kilometres north of the Victorian capital. The train was the Sydney to Melbourne XPT service with around 160 passengers on board. There are five passenger cars derailed, …

Here’s what you need to know this morning. Water restrictions to be relaxed Level two water restrictions across Sydney are to be relaxed after recent downpours boosted dam levels. The downgrade from level two to level one is expected to come into force on March 1. Warragamba Dam is currently at 80 per cent capacity, up from 44 per cent …

An elderly Chinese tourist hospitalised in France has died of the novel coronavirus, becoming the first fatality in Europe, French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn says. France has recorded 12 cases of the virus, out of a global total of 69,092 according to Centres for Disease Control data collated by Johns Hopkins University. The vast majority of those suffering from the virus are …