National News | theage.com.au

Detainees in Melbourne

DANIEL FLITTON Overcrowding at Christmas Island has forced the Rudd Government to move 30 Afghan youths to Melbourne to speed up processing of their claims for asylum.

Mentally ill keep rights to leave

JULIA MEDEW Mentally ill inmates at Thomas Embling Hospital will still be allowed to use knives, live together and go out on leave, following a review of two stabbing deaths there.

Artist's touch restores faith of Kinglake flock

LORNA EDWARDS When Walter Magilton saw an Age photograph of the Reverend Stephen Holmes with a white cross beside the ruins of Kinglake's Anglican church after the Black Saturday fires, he was moved to action.

$800 million wind farm in doubt

CLANCY YEATES AGL Energy says its plans to build the $800 million Macarthur wind farm in western Victoria are under 'enormous pressure' because of a collapse in the price of renewable energy certificates.

Limit emissions cut to 5%: Abbott

TOM ARUP Australia should adopt only a 5 per cent 2020 emissions cut after a weak outcome at the Copehagen climate summit, according to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

At the pointy end of a pressing issue

DANIEL FLITTON 'Press hard', reads the note scrawled in Texta on the doorbell. 'Press hard. (Very hard)'.

Home-birth boost for expectant mothers

JULIA MEDEW Victorian women will be able to give birth at home - with hospital back-up for the first time - under a pilot project starting at three hospitals next year.

Postal workers set to strike for half a day

KATE LAHEY Postal workers in Victoria plan to strike for half a day today while they attend a mass meeting, defying a call from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for 'calm heads' to prevail.

Hungry Jack's breaks code with kids meal promo

ARI SHARP Less than four months after they were introduced, new advertising guidelines for fast food restaurants have had their first breach.

Air travel

Carry-on luggage rules to change on Christmas Day

ARI SHARP New rules allowing people to take knitting needles, crochet hooks, nail clippers and tennis racquets on to aircraft will now come into force from Christmas Day.

Seven deaths push toll towards 15-year high

PETER GREGORY Victoria is facing its worst Christmas road toll in almost 15 years with seven deaths already in five days.

Stamp price rise in new chief's sights

One of the first tasks of Ahmed Fahour, whose appointment as Australia Post chief executive will be announced today, will be to push for an increase in the price of stamps.

A program that grows on you

Monique Beggy is thrilled about Victoria's new home-birth program - after giving birth to her first baby, Isis, at home through a similar scheme.

Teenage ward was allegedly raped

SELMA MILOVANOVIC A teenage girl charged with burning down the welfare unit where she lives was allegedly gang raped and repeatedly sexually exploited while in state care.

Gaol gives up ghosts of children past

CAROLYN WEBB Old Melbourne Gaol is starting its first children's storytelling program, but children were part of the place from its earliest days.

Prisoners restricted from seeing their children

CAROL NADER Hundreds of prisoners with a history of offences against children or sexual offences against multiple victims have been banned from having any contact in prison with children - including their own.

Death raises doubt on capsicum spray

PAUL MILLAR A Noble Park man arrested for a stabbing, and then sprayed with capsicum, had been ranting and raving and behaving irrationally before he died in a divisional van, police say.

Tears as bail given over Betts murder

ADRIAN LOWE A woman charged in connection with the murder of Raechel Betts weeps as she is granted bail.

Police probe four sexual assaults in Geelong

ANDRA JACKSON Police are investigating four sexual assaults on females in Geelong since last Friday.

Rudd shores up pledge on hospital reform

MARK METHERELL AND JULIE ROBOTHAM The Prime Minister side-steps the prospect of a bipartisan approach to reform of public hospital funding but re-asserted his promise of a referendum if he can't win co-operation from the states on health reforms.

Labor MP says Parliament should approve war

JONATHAN PEARLMAN Labor MP Melissa Parke bucks her party's policy and gives impassioned support for a proposal to require Parliament to approve any decision to send Australian soldiers to war.

Fossil find reveals whales as suckers

BRIDIE SMITH A whale fossil found near Torquay more than 70 years ago provides scientists with clues about how the mammals evolved.

Watchdog says stopwork was illegal, in part

BEN SCHNEIDERS A four-day stopwork on the scandal-plagued Mercy Hospital redevelopment in East Melbourne was, in part, an unlawful strike, the building industry watchdog has found.

Australian feared lost in sinking

LORNA EDWARDS An Australian man is among more than 40 people presumed drowned after a ship used for live animal exports sank off Lebanon.

'Humble' birthday for twins takes the cakes

Trishna and Krishna have celebrated their third birthday with a cake each and a roll around in the backyard.

Disabled ignored by taxi drivers

CLAY LUCAS Disabled passengers are regularly waiting more than an hour for a taxi because drivers of Melbourne's 266 wheelchair-accessible cabs opt for easier and more lucrative airport work.

Three will plead guilty to funding Tamil Tigers

KATE HAGAN Three members of Australia's Sri Lankan community will plead guilty to providing money to the Tamil Tigers.

Fireproof eucalypt among new-found species

PAOLA TOTARO, LONDON A new species of fire-resistant eucalyptus - and a minuscule fungus that coats rotting wood like a lick of paint - have been discovered.

Airline 'erred' on aid dog

ANDREW HEASLEY Tiger Airways has admitted it blundered, again, after it told a disabled woman she couldn't fly on the airline because it does not carry medical-alert dogs.

Myer's window shattered

MEX COOPER Vandals have smashed one of Myer's beloved Christmas windows, causing thousands of dollars of damage.

Council to block new apartments

JASON DOWLING Maribyrnong council is opposing a large apartment block development in Yarraville because it is dangerously close to the Mobil fuel terminal.

Memories shadow festivities for fire survivors

IAN MUNRO Among the homes of Black Saturday's displaced survivors, the trappings of Christmas mark the season, if not quite the sentiment.

'Tis the season to pig out on $7.6bn

JESSICA MAHAR Australians will spend about $7.6 billion on food for Christmas celebrations this year, but truckloads of leftovers and waste will be thrown out.

Making waves for boat hoons

First it was hoon drivers who had their cars confiscated. Now, hoons in boats can be forced off the water.

Save a life with a Christmas donation conversation

JOEL GIBSON Pass the prawns, top me up, and please give my corneas away when I'm gone.

Labor keeps tax review close

TIM COLEBATCH Treasurer Wayne Swan has rejected an Opposition request to pass on a copy of the Henry report on tax reform when it is formally presented to the Government this week.

Suburbs' driving dilemma

CLAY LUCAS Drivers in the outer suburbs travel about 155 kilometres more each week than their inner-city counterparts, according to a report on fuel price rises.

Pay victims $1m, predator ordered

KATE HAGAN One of Victoria's worst sexual predators has been ordered to pay more than $1 million in compensation to five of his victims.

Airlines

Qantas A380s to take the hop to London

ANDREW HEASLEY Qantas announces it will start flying the double-decker Airbus A380 on the kangaroo route next year.

New building rules to improve accessibility

All new homes would be built with features designed to make them more accessible to the elderly and those with disabilities, under proposed building rules for Victoria.

Policeman attacked

Punched in the face and surrounded by an angry crowd, a Sydney police officer tasered his attacker during a Christmas carols event.

Saab impounded

A P-plate driver has lost his mother's luxury European car for 48 hours after being clocked driving at twice the speed limit in Melbourne's north-west.

Storm lashes Pilbara

TREES were torn from the ground and buildings badly damaged as tropical cyclone Laurence roared through parts of the Pilbara coast.

Front-line fighter for women's rights

Sarah Neave, whose tough early life shaped her values and ideas so that for more than 60 years she fought injustice as a social and political activist, died of septicaemia at Cabrini Hospital in Malvern. She was 87.

Keepers await trunk call

KYLIE NORTHOVER One of Melbourne Zoo's A-list residents is giving new weight to the term 'great expectations'.

You wouldn't read about it

CATHERINE DEVENY Israel. Upper Gallilee. A woman identifying herself simply as ''Mary'' claims her nine-year-old son Jesus Christ is the Son of God™. The 28-year-old mother alleges she was a virgin when she gave birth and conceived via ''impregnation of the Holy Spirit". According to Mary and her son's followers, who refer to themselves as ''Christians'', her son performs miracles and ''speaks the word of God'' because he is ''the Saviour of the World''.

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