National News
Making babies
![Good Weekend. Pottsville. IVF. Rachel Moloney with husband Stuart and son Nate. Picture by Paul Harris. 20.7.13 IVF story](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/17/4836819/T_babies-20131017094700697757-90x60.jpg)
Julia Medew & Mark Baker While infertile couples pay dearly for the hope of having a child, others are reaping big dollars.
"Go and kill yourself …"
![GOOD WEEKEND. NEWS. BRISBANE. THOMPSON. Copy picture Leanne Thompson aged 12. Leanne was found hung in 2006 at age 15.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/17/4836815/T_leanne-20131017095207254910-90x60.jpg)
At just 15, was Leanne Thompson driven to her death by a drug-addled man who preys upon the young and vulnerable?
Behind the veil
![STOKES;SYD;950519;PIX PHIL CARRICK;AFR;NEWS;H MEREDITH KERRY STOKES,MAJOR SHAREHOLDER OF CHANNEL SEVEN.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/17/4836821/T_cover-20131017093327996824-90x60.jpg)
MALCOLM KNOX Kerry Stokes has gone from rags to riches. But as Malcolm Knox reports, truth and closure are elusive in the story of the media mogul who is a master of reinvention.
Riding shotgun
![Starter thumb](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4842071/starter_T-20131018105912446720-90x60.jpg)
John Elder How JFK died has attracted plenty of theories, but author Colin McLaren says his book gives the true account.
Their shout: cricketers toast brewery's deal
![cricket](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4842914/mb_thumb_cricket_20131018200117549122-90x60.jpg)
Amy Corderoy, Chris Barrett Alcohol remains a fraught issue for those who run cricket.
Defence all at sea on new submarines
![HMAS Collins at Cockburn Sound off the coast of Western Australia.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4842899/jvsubs32-20131018212046950062-90x60.jpg)
David Wroe Submarines are the stealthy killers in maritime warfare. They are the queens on the chessboard, the strategic game-changers. Any country has to think long and hard about messing with another country that has an advanced submarine fleet. You can't be sure there isn't one sitting quietly off your own coast or waiting in hiding to sink your ships.
Shorten calmed the madding crowd once, can he do it again?
![Tony Wright dinkus.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/09/17/4755720/Tony%20Wright%20dinkus-90x60.jpg)
TONY WRIGHT It was just another night in a pub in the tough little town of Beaconsfield when things turned ugly. It was to become a peculiar test for a union chief named Bill Shorten. Few know anything of the matter. It had to be settled quietly before things got out of hand.
Father sought in travel ban dispute
![The Age Amaal Yasmin Finn with daughter Zareen Mazen Baioumy. TO go with the Egyptian Custody story. 18th October 2013](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4842660/th-finn-90x60.jpg)
RANIA SPOONER Egyptian national evades Australian authorities for weeks in international custody dispute.
'Cave' men lead scientific way with revolutionary 3D imaging
![mcj 16th Oct. 2013
Professor C. Paul Bonnington [left] and Computational Imaging Scientist Dr. David Barnes peruse 3D images of the human brain at
Monash University's Cave2, the world's most advanced 2D/3D
Virtual reality lab.
The Age/News, Picture Michael Clayton-Jones, Clayton, Story Bridie Smith mcj 16th Oct. 2013
Professor C. Paul Bonnington Director Monash University e-Research Centre [left] and Computational Imaging Scientist Dr. David Barnes peruse 3D images of the human brain at
Monash University's Cave2, the world's most advanced 2D/3D
Virtual reality lab.
The Age/News, Picture Michael Clayton-Jones, Clayton, Story Bridie Smith](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4842662/th-bonnington-90x60.jpg)
Bridie Smith To the untrained eye, the web of coloured wires rising and falling en masse across the wall of 3D screens looks like someone has let lose with a can of silly string, photographed the resulting mess and then zoomed in on a colourful cluster.
Screen time link to insomnia in young children
![Frustrated boy using laptop computer child with computer](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/19/4843065/th-pc-90x60.jpg)
Kate Hagan Time spent in front of screens affecting sleep of children as young as two, research shows.
Dog-lover's bid to rescue home ends in tragedy
![NEWS. CopyPic. Central Coast Bushfires 18 October 2013. Photo of Walter Linder, who died of a suspected heart attack, when fighting fires last night at Carter's Rd Lake Munmor, with his dog, Rex.
Photo: Rachel Olding](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4842667/th-linder-90x60.jpg)
RACHEL OLDING Walter Linder, 63, died while defending his home during horrific fires in Lake Munmorah.
Families' unimaginable grief seared into the landscape
![NCH NEWS
A huge fire at Catherine Hill Bay.
17th October 2013 Newcastle
NCH NEWS PIC JONATHAN CARROLL](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/19/4843064/th-bay-90x60.jpg)
RICK FENELEY There is no measuring the relativities of grief that has struck one street in the Blue Mountains town of Winmalee, where 16 houses were razed, but the heartbreak of the Love family is immense.
Infernos being 'politicised'
![Aftermath of the Winmalee bushfire. Prime Minister Tony Abbott is briefed by NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons (far right), Supt. David Jones of the NSW RFS (Incident Controller) and local MP Louise Markus at Winmalee RFS Station.
18th October 2013
Photo: Wolter Peeters
The Sydney Morning Herald](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4842665/th-abbott-90x60.jpg)
DAVID WROE Environment Minister condemns attempts to link bushfires with the need for action on climate.
NSW toll mounts in worst fires in decade
![A huge fire at Catherine Hill Bay.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4842977/th-A-20huge-20fire-20at-20Catherine-20Hill-20Bay-20131018224323954621-90x60.jpg)
Shane Green and Staff Reporters The toll from the NSW bushfire emergency is growing, with at least one person dead and hundreds of houses destroyed, as the fire threat continues.
Scientists warn bushfire season getting longer
![firefighters in Elemore Vale](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4839762/th-fire-90x60.jpg)
Craig Butt, Lara O'Toole A bushfire season that starts in spring and stretches well into autumn could be new norm.
IVF costs soar as infertility business booms
![IVF file pic](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4841828/kjIVFthumb_20131018161759835248-90x60.jpg)
Julia Medew and Mark Baker 12:01am The cost of some IVF services has soared as private equity funds have moved in on many Australian clinics looking to profit from the booming business of infertility.
Abbott flags Arlington-style National war cemetery for ACT
![Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4841706/TO-th320-arlington-20131018155516953885-90x60.jpg)
ROSS PEAKE 10:29pm Prime Minister Tony Abbott has given a huge boost to the proposal to create an Arlington-style national war cemetery in Canberra
Residents still failing to heed bushfire advice
![Margaret River bushfire](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2011/11/29/2805263/bushfire-thumb-90x60.jpg)
MICHAEL HOPKIN 3:38pm Many people in fire-prone areas are still not facing up to the need to decide on a bushfire strategy in advance, a survey has shown.
More planes fly too close under military control, Transport Safety Bureau warns
![More planes come too close to each other in airspace controlled by the military in Australia.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4840754/cn18-thumb-plane-20131018114603274203-90x60.jpg)
Matt O'Sullivan 1:17pm Air safety investigators have raised concerns about the "relatively high" number of aircraft that have flown too close to one another in the country's military-controlled airspace.
Billionaire's 'forgotten' family speaks out
![Kerry Stokes of Seven West Media appeared before a Senate Committee examining media regulation at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 18 March 2013. Photo: Andrew Meares](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4840705/cb_th_stokes_20131018111934962631-90x60.jpg)
MALCOLM KNOX 12:50am Kerry Stokes' achievements have evoked many strong feelings in the business world and the public, but none are as poignant as those of his only grandchild, who does not recall ever having met him.
Data
Mobile roaming charges set to fall
![-](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/17/4839107/th-sa-mobileroaming2-20131017183856674273-90x60.jpg)
Mobile phone bills are set to fall on both sides of the Tasman after the Australian and New Zealand governments indicated they would honour a deal to crack down on exorbitant roaming charges.
Afghan police say dead man was insurgent target of raid
![Australian Special Forces.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/16/4835726/am-th-honest-20131016215903218291-90x60.jpg)
RORY CALLINAN A man found dead underneath the corpse of his son after an Australian Special Forces operation was an insurgent who used the boy as a human shield, an Afghan police spokesman has alleged.
Dean was a hero in the end, but he's not coming home
![Dean and Wendy Higgins. Dean died in an avalanche on Mt Everist. 17 October 2013 .](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/17/4839105/th-deanwasahero-90x60.jpg)
PHILIP WEN Unseasonal and heavy snow destroys a Tibetan holiday.
Herald leads charge for Walkleys
![-](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/17/4839202/th-sa-herald-20131017211458279198-90x60.jpg)
Fairfax Media journalists dominated nominations on Thursday night for the Walkley awards, which recognises the best in Australian journalism.
Linfox workers stood down
![Ken Price](http://web.archive.org./web/20131018170157im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2013/10/18/4839555/ZAH_linfox_TN-20131018004438532408-90x60.jpg)
CLAY LUCAS Linfox has stood down two warehouse workers who complained publicly about alleged bullying.