A KEY member of a consortium bidding to build the national broadband network (NBN) has reportedly pulled out.

THE nation's reliance on China to carry it through the impending global slowdown has been dealt a blow, with mining giant Rio Tinto saying it no longer expects the engine of Australia's resources boom to bounce back this year.

DISCOUNT retailer The Reject Shop says sales are tracking ahead of budget and, despite the gloomy economic outlook, it is confident of meeting its previously stated profit guidance.

GRANT Hackett's new job reading the weekend sports bulletin for Channel 9 could also mean a dive into fatherhood for the swimming champion.

INTERNATIONAL police finally are contacting key witnesses in the Britt Lapthorne case, almost a month after she vanished.

OSAMA bin Laden was a shy and humble man who "floated across the floor" when he visited an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan in 2001 where a Melbourne Muslim convert trained, a court heard yesterday.

THE search for a kayaker missing off Victoria's south-west coast will enter its fourth day at first light today, with hopes rough seas will ease enough to allow boats to assist.

FEDERAL police acknowledged in an official document prepared just days before Mohamed Haneef was charged with a single count of supporting terrorists that they had "insufficient evidence" to charge him.

A QUEENSLAND rugby league team that suspends players who are charged with domestic violence has scored a national crime-prevention award.

A WOMAN drank 1.5 litres of wine, stabbed her boyfriend in the stomach and then made him call an ambulance himself, a Brisbane court has been told.

A NEW game will aim to help children across northern Australia prepare for the physical and mental devastations of the cyclone season.

TEACHER aides across Queensland will stop work today in a pay and condition dispute with the State Government.

HAIL, damaging winds and flash flooding are forecast for Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast this afternoon as changing conditions moves a storm away from Brisbane.

A GOLD Coast man will appear in a Brisbane court today charged with the torture of a child aged under 16.

FOUR people responsible for a home invasion during which a 12-month-old boy and his mother were peppered with gunshot pellets have been jailed.

A LONG-time friend of former AFL footballer Ben Cousins has appeared in court via a prison videolink to face charges arising from one of Australia's biggest ecstasy busts.

ACCUSED Palm Island rioter Lex Wotton ordered another man to burn down a police officer's house, a court has been told.

RESIDENTS west of Brisbane have been warned of damaging winds and hail as storms sweep through the southeast.

A MAN tortured his girlfriend's sister and threatened to tie her up and throw her into a dam, a Brisbane court has heard.

POLICE are investigating the disappearance of a 19-year-old Melbourne women not seen since being dropped at a railway station by her father nearly a fortnight ago.