MELBOURNE'S residential property market has recorded one of its strongest years, the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) said.

POLICE have seized millions of pseudoephedrine tablets valued at about $3 million from a house in Melbourne's north.

AUSTRALIA'S largest retailer, Woolworths, says it will oppose the appeal by the New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) against the NZ High Court's decision to allow the grocer to bid for The Warehouse Group.

FINDINGS into the deaths of nine people in the South Australian bushfires that struck Eyre Peninsula almost three years ago will be handed down today.

Australia doubles assistance level Help pledged to Palestinian Authority

DNA testing could prove that "quiet loner" Billy Meade, who was buried in a small Queensland cemetery 69 years ago, was actually Kelly Gang bushranger Steve Hart.

THE inner northern suburb of Thornbury is Melbourne's top spot for home break-ins, according to insurer AAMI.

The Snook mentioned the other night that the grocery store had some lovely carrots (which he was serving to me for dinner), which reminded me that I've had a hankering for come carrot cake lately. I made the mistake of

A MAN has been shot in the leg by police when the car he was travelling in allegedly tried to run down an officer in the Gold Coast hinterland.

MOST Australian families with children older than eight have three TVs, three mobile phones, a gaming console and internet access, a study has found.

THE size of China's economy is overestimated by some 40 per cent, but it remains the world's second largest using a ranking based on purchasing power, the World Bank said overnight.

US stocks tumbled today on worries the housing slump was dragging on the economy at the same time inflation was posing a growing menace.

SEVEN years after being arrested "in a blaze of publicity", former tax office whiz-kid Nick Petroulias has been found guilty of bribery and corruption.

THE Rudd Government will stick with its election promise to legislate 10 national employment standards as part of plans to abolish the Coalition's Work Choices laws.

SHOPPING centre giant Centro is at the mercy of its bankers and has at most just eight weeks to come up with a plan to save the company.

THE dollar opened sharply lower today, slipping below the 85 US cents mark in overnight trade as a stronger US dollar, slumping base metals prices and a spike in risk aversion all conspired to weigh on the unit.

THE consortium vying to build Australia's first open access broadband network has won the competition watchdog's approval for the early pricing regime on its $3.6 billion proposal.

OIL prices will remain at high levels into next year owing to tight supplies and despite fears that a weak US economy may dent crude demand, leading energy consultants said in London overnight.

SHOPPING centre giant Centro is at the mercy of its bankers and has at most just eight weeks to come up with a plan to save the company.

Newly elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should make human rights a priority for the new government's policies at home and abroad, Human Rights Watch said in a letter today.