► To check out the front pages of Fairfax publications for today, click here

7.58am: It's among the most ambitious conservation projects undertaken in NSW over the past two decades and its benefits will last for generations to come. What is it? Where is it? Read on

7.56am: And while international seem to be more horrifying by the day, much online chatter in Australia revolves around this ...

7.45am: The number of serious incidents in Illawarra schools has jumped almost 500 per cent in the past eight years, as drug use, assault, weapons and sexually explicit images continue to populate the region's classrooms. Read more

7.43am: There on minute ... gone the next. Brazen thieves have stolen more than a kilometre of wire fencing from a property in regional Victoria. Read more

7.40am: A Southern or New Zealand fur seal, from distant southern islands, has  based himself  since late July, at Main Beach, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island. Check out more pics

7.35am: A NSW shop assistant who was the victim of an attempted bag snatch on Thursday says people shouldn’t have to live in fear of children in theCBD. The woman was shaken by the incident but said she was determined not to let it stop her going about her normal daily activities. Read more

7.32am: More than 200 dogs are being put through their paces at the annual agility competition in Tamworth, NSW. Read more

7.28am: To most people spring time means flowers in full bloom, welcome sunshine and perhaps a bit of hay fever. But to the Department of Environment and Primary Industries and the Country Fire Authority, spring means preparation. Read more

7.20am: The company auditing Forestry Tasmania for Forest Stewardship Council certification has called for public comment on the company’s forest management, sparking the Wilderness Society’s accusing the government of risking the application with its ‘‘dog’s breakfast’’ forest policy. Read more

7.12am: Traffic conditions at the Gerringong upgrade of the Princes Highway will be changed this long weekend to help improve holiday traffic flow. Will it help over the long weekend?

7.10am: Criminal lawyer Scott Belcher has declared ice the worst drug scourge he has seen in about 20 years in law. The 46-year-old said many courts across western Victoria were struggling with imposing effective sentences for offences caused by methamphetamine use. Read more

7.08am: Fallen Wollongong coal mogul Arun Jagatramka is being sued for millions of dollars by the company he used to run, over the purchase and construction of the mansion he used to live in on Cliff Road. Read on

7.05am: On your bike, it's time to get a pedal on ahead of Sunday's Wollundry Cycle Challenge and Craft Beer and Cider Festival. Sound good? Check out more

7am: We're aiming to be this cool today - here's hoping

► Do you fully understand Australia's role in the newest theatre of war? David Wroe poses five key questions. Read on

► Furious attempts to hose down an ugly row over race and security in the federal Parliament has failed to deliver a resolution in the stand-off between Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Speaker Bronwyn Bishop.

► Tabcorp chief executive David Attenborough says investment in innovative digital products, including a new fingerprint verification system for smartphone betting, puts the company in a strong position for the all-important spring racing period. Read on

► CFMEU NSW secretary Brian Parker called a union official a dog and spoke of wanting to bash him after the official raised concerns about the union's dealings with underworld figure George Alex, according to an explosive day of royal commission evidence that saw admissions of perjury and secret recordings of threats and abuse. Read more

► The Abbott government has committed Australian military forces to a dangerous and potentially open-ended war against Islamic State militants in Iraq with RAAF airstrikes authorised immediately and special forces set to enter in an advisory capacity soon after. Read more

► Billed as the most powerful healer since Jesus, Joao de Deus certainly employs some unorthodox techniques on his sick and dying patients. Tim Elliott journeys to Brazil to meet the illiterate former farmer. Read more

► In the heart of Hong Kong's congested concrete jungle of Mong Kok, famous the world over for its neon-bathed streets and manic shopping, an abandoned public bus sits stranded in the middle of the main intersection. Read more

► Twenty adolescent boys and girls cram in one room of a house in West Java, singing and gesturing in delightfully accented English a song made famous by a giant purple dinosaur. This is the English class at the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre and the mainly ethnic Hazara children attending could not be happier to be here. Read on

When South Sydney run out onto ANZ Stadium on Sunday night, James Curran will stop, smile and think of his granddad. 

Frank Curran played 71 games for the Rabbitohs between 1931 and 1937, won premierships in his first two seasons and represented Australia 10 times on two Kangaroo tours of Great Britain and two of France.

Maitland Blacks prop James said South Sydney was in his blood. Thanks to his grandfather. Read more