A MAN has been charged with murder over the stabbing of a teenager at a party in northern Victoria.

BRITISH celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has sent a message of support to staff at his Melbourne foundation headquarters after it was gutted by fire.

HIGH-heeled zip-up leather boots are being sold for Melbourne children as young as two.

MOVE over Kylie and Jason - Mia, Jett and Christian have arrived.

THE Victorian councillor at the centre of a "dirty dancing" scandal says he is more Fred Astaire than Patrick Swayze.

TOYOTA is reportedly planning to produce thousands of hybrid cars in Australia to meet demand.

CRUDE oil prices went on a record-setting surge overnight as fears of a new Middle East conflict were fanned by comments from a top Israeli official about Iran.

FURTHER evidence of a slowdown in discretionary spending has emerged with retailer Clive Peeters warning of a big fall in annual profit

THE Rudd Government has urged the nation's car industry to adapt to climate change, after Holden moved to cut up to 531 jobs by ceasing production of four-cylinder engines by the end of next year.

NRMA says the same speculators who "had a ball" in the sub-prime market could now push fuel to $2/l.

SUPERMARKET giant Woolworths has issued a voluntary recall of all lamb products sold across the country in the past 10 days.

THE head of the Australian Securities Exchange, Robert Elstone, has warned investors to expect much more pain on world share markets as the fallout from the US sub-prime crisis hits the real economy.

ALMOST a million Australians turned up to work drunk or under the influence of drugs last year, a survey says.

A TAXI driver has crashed his cab while being assaulted by a passenger on the Gold Coast.

A TEENAGER has been arrested over a drive-by shooting outside an Adelaide nightclub early today.

A 17-YEAR-old youth was stabbed to death at a party overnight.

A WOMAN has died in hospital after being critically injured by an apparently suicidal motorist who drove into the path of her car after stabbing his ex-girlfriend.

PERTH ratepayers could pay thousands of dollars to immortalise the sculpture of a nude nine-year-old girl - so it can be displayed on a busy Perth street.