EXECUTIVES at share-battered Suncorp had some bonuses crimped this year but still pocketed millions of dollars in cash and shares.

A YOUNG adult humpback whale which become entangled in shark control netting on the Gold Coast this morning has been released by animal rescuers.

THOUSNADS of fans have descended on the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the first AFL grand final between two Victorian teams in eight years.

A WOMAN whose eyes clamp shut for three days at a time - then open up for the next three - has baffled specialists.

A WOMAN whose eyes clamp shut for three days at a time - then open up for the next three - has baffled specialists.

FORENSIC experts are combing the scene of a shooting near Geelong that has left one man critically ill in hospital.

A TEENAGER had a leg severed after falling between two rail carriages before the train pulled out of a suburban Melbourne station.

VICTORIA'S environment watchdog reportedly launched a probe into a suburban council's failure to stop dangerous gases leaking from its Cranbourne landfill well before local residents were forced to evacuate their homes earlier this month.

PRINCIPALS are warning parents the names they give babies could sentence them to teasing and confusion for life.

ELEVEN people aboard a small plane had a scare this morning when it was forced to land without its landing gear fully down.

A RADICAL push has been staged within the RSPCA to endorse vegan diets as the best way to prevent cruelty to farmed animals.

US politicians are still grappling to hammer out an $840bn Wall Street bailout and reassure jittery markets.

ANZ and Merrill Lynch are trying to stop two Opes Prime clients from amending their legal cases against them, arguing the changes are embarrassing and liable to be struck out of the NSW Supreme Court.

LANDMARK legal action against the former board members of James Hardie will begin in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday.

US shares tumbled at the opening today as an apparent stalemate in talks on a massive financial rescue plan and the biggest bank failure in US history set off fresh jitters on Wall Street.

LESS than three days after Nomura Holdings threw a lifeline to Lehman Brothers Asia-Pacific, it yesterday cut loose the Australian operations.

KEVIN Rudd has urged the world's top economies to extend the tough regulatory regime covering commercial banks to finance houses, insurance companies and hedge funds in a bid to avoid another global financial meltdown.

JAPANESE oil and gas giant Inpex has chosen Darwin over a site in Western Australia to build its $12 billion gas plant.

VICTORIAN welfare authorities have backed a child killer's bid to keep her newborn son.

AN OBESE flasher wearing a balaclava is being hunted by police after exposing himself to a woman in Adelaide's Hyde Park yesterday.