AUSTRALIAN households are about to be swept up in the global credit crunch, with the major banks raising interest rates across the board in an effort to protect their profit margins.

QANTAS boss Geoff Dixon is in St Vincent's Private Hospital after major surgery - understood to be a heart bypass.

A MAN in his mid-50s died near the deadlocked back door of his unit in Melbourne's north early today.

A MAN has been charged with murder after a woman died from a stab wound to the chest in north Queensland.

POLICE have praised Queensland New Year's Eve revellers as wild weather kept crowd numbers down.

AMBULANCE crews across Melbourne treated more than 850 people as stifling heat took its toll on New Year's Eve revellers.

A MAN in his mid-50s died near the deadlocked back door of his unit in Melbourne's north early today.

POLICE and SES volunteers have resumed their search for a woman missing for two days in the NSW northern tablelands.

AN unidentified person has died in a unit fire in Melbourne's north early today.

THE white-hot infrastructure investment boom is showing no signs of slowing, with business borrowing growing at its fastest pace in 20 years.

AFTER missing out on Qantas, David Coe's controversial Allco Finance Group has made the first move to reinvent itself by unveiling a $200 million foundation investor to launch one of four planned specialist funds valued at up to $2 billion.

THE Australian stock market shut out 2007 in negative territory after a short and flat day of trading ahead of New Year celebrations.

MORE protection for victims of sexual assault and tougher sentencing powers for the courts are among a raft of new laws that come into force from today.

REGIONAL Australia has experienced a renaissance in the past five years that has not just been confined to booming mining towns.

THE Rudd Government has adopted a policy of absolute secrecy over its spying activities against Japanese whalers operating in the Southern Ocean.

AUSTRALIAN households are about to be swept up in the global credit crunch, with the major banks raising interest rates across the board in an effort to protect their profit margins.

THE twin brother of an Adelaide man killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks wants David Hicks to explain his reasons for being a "terrorist in training".

A WORKER was crushed to death at a steel recycling plant in Brisbane today.

A BREWERY executive was on the verge of tears when he had to smash two bottles of Australia's best known wine, worth $3000, at the airport.