Planning minister Anthony Roberts is seeking advice about new powers to refuse coal mining applications.

The local sharemarket ended another big day of reporting season in the red, as a slide in miners led by Rio Tinto offset a number of positive earnings surprises.

Ardent chief executive Deborah Thomas says she is "not going anywhere" and will work to restore the theme park operator to its former glory after the company sank to a $49.4 million loss for the December half following the fatal accident at its Dreamworld theme park in October.

​Western Australia's police commissioner has questioned Premier Colin Barnett's claim that drug use is rife in the state because of high incomes.

Football Federation Australia fined Western Sydney Wanderers $20,000 for an offensive banner raised by their fans, but will not penalise the club by docking competition points.

For how long can NSW and Queensland produce enough players to support Australian rugby's national footprint? Not long, according to Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson.

Big games demand big performances from big players.

Western Force coach Dave Wessels is confident former NRL star Curtis Rona can handle a head to head battle with Wallabies ace Israel Folau in his Super Rugby debut.

Severe flooding is not unusual in Jakarta, but rarely has it been so politicised as this past week.

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They came by the hundreds, in big cities and rural hamlets, to heckle, plead, badger and, in some instances, to protest the protests themselves.

US-backed Iraqi security forces captured Mosul airport on Thursday, state television said, in a major gain in operations to drive Islamic State from the western half of the city.

Pakistan has been struck by a wave of militant attacks in recent weeks which have killed at least 130 people. One attack at a Sufi shrine in southern Sindh province killed 90 people.

The last time Malcolm Turnbull spoke with one of the handful of world leaders Australia might consider among its closest friends, the verbal stoush that ensued ended up becoming a global story.

The male passenger asked a Pakistani man and woman if they had a bomb in their luggage.

There have been another 231 reports of Ross River virus infections in a week as the outbreak that has already caused some Victorians months of pain and fatigue continues to grow.

A former war correspondent arrested in Bali for allegedly possessing hashish has revealed his former employer has agreed to pay for his PTSD treatment when he is released from the notorious Kerobokan jail.

The Canberra Fisherman's Club is calling for more bins along the territory's waterways to prevent dead fish and other material from endangering wildlife and repelling visitors.

Hit TV mini-series House of Hancock will not be broadcast or streamed again after Channel 9 made a grovelling apology for its portrayal of mining magnate Gina Rinehart and her family.

Industry heads cite global factors for surge; see the currency reaching $US2000 by the end of the year.