This week was a return to my half-marathon preparation in earnest after the shorter recovery workouts last week. On Tuesday and Thursday I ran on the treadmill at the apartment. It was the first time I'd ever used the Nike+

Believe it or not, I actually did know that Chippendale boasts some bondage parlours. We actually got invited to a party at one of them by SOMEBODY. Apparently once you get past the fact that it's a dungeon, it's supposed

THE body of a scuba diver has been pulled from the water on Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula.

TWO men have been remanded into custody following the death of a man outside a licensed premises in Wodonga overnight.

in a desperate bid to save its community - and its tiny school.

THE emotions of an elderly man accused of murdering his wife were laid bare at her moving funeral service in Victoria yesterday.

VICTORIAN paramedics said they may be forced to take industrial action to win a new enterprise bargaining agreement with the State Government.

THERE is a 30 per cent chance that the slowing Australian economy will plunge into a recession, according to leading share brokerage.

THE Australian dollar will match the greenback by Christmas, if not within months, say economists who play down last week's losses.

AN alleged arsonist will face court tomorrow charged over a string of attacks on properties in a country Victoria town over the past five weeks.

HUNDREDS of shoppers were evacuated from a Melbourne shopping centre this morning when a fire broke out in a storeroom.

TWO caregivers are facing trial on manslaughter charges over an intellectually disabled man who died after drinking liniment at a football match.

A MAN has had 59 rape-related charges against him dropped but 21 other charges will proceed in a court hearing beginning today.

ANZ expects its 2008 cash earnings per share to fall between 20 and 25 per cent on the back of a rise in bad debt costs.

AUSTRALAND Property has reported a 79 per cent fall in first half profit after the company wrote down the value of some projects due to the downturn in the residential real estate market.

POLICE are searching for a Victorian gold prospector lost in remote desert scrubland in Western Australia's Goldfields region.

AUSTRALIA'S mining sector will need an extra 86,000 workers over the next 12 years, a new report has found.

A TWO-week truck drivers' strike in Western Australia has been called off before it even began.

WOOLWORTHS says it's confident of keeping grocery shelves stocked despite the start of a truck driver strike today.

STRIKING truck drivers say they don't want to disrupt traffic in major cities today or starve them of fresh produce.