PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd's ability to speak Chinese is opening up trade opportunities for Australian businesses, a survey shows.

HIGH inflation had the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) agonising over whether to raise interest rates this month, board minutes reveal.

SHOPPERS may be unhappy with its grocery prices, but retail giant Woolworths is not about to say sorry - it's proud of its profits.

It has been a while since I've blogged here, though I've still been busy over at Larvatus Prodeo . My SO and I are fine. We recently went and saw Opera Australia's production of Carmen , which was decent but

LAWYERS for accused killer Tony Mokbel have been granted a delay of proceedings to argue their client was illegally extradited to Australia.

ENVIRONMENT officers have seized hundreds of illegal weeds after they were found on sale at retailer Big W.

ACCUSED double murderer Tony Mokbel trafficked drugs in Europe while on the run, a court heard today.

A THREE-year-old girl found wandering a street in the middle of the night was probably trying to find her older brothers who had left for camp, her dad says.

A CLOSE friend of Mercedes Corby says she is not the partying type and does not approve of drugs.

TASMANIA'S public servants have started industrial action after the State Government knocked back their demands for a 19.5 per cent pay rise.

A BILLBOARD advertising alcohol at the entrance of a primary school is corrupting children's minds, a concerned resident says.

FORMER high profile Hobart lawyer John Avery has pleaded not guilty to 134 charges of stealing and dishonesty.

The second round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship was an eventful one last Sunday at Mantova, Italy, with German Stephanie Laier taking a clean sweep on the day....

THE ancient remains of an Aboriginal man have been found buried in sand dunes at a beach in Western Australia's south-west.

A PERTH builder has been fined $35,000 for failing to provide a safe environment at a construction site where a worker was killed almost six years ago.

POLICE and customs have seized 45kg of powdered ecstasy which investigators say would have made more than 150,000 tablets.

A YACHT carrying the body of a round-the-world sailor who died after being struck by the boom will arrive in the central Queensland port of Gladstone early today.

THE commodity boom may be turning into a bubble that could burst around the end of the year, according to a special report from Lehman Brothers in New York.

In recognising the hard work and determination that became the trademark throughout Ricky Carmichael’s record-breaking career, the AMA and NPG have created a new award in his honor for the 2008 AMA...