National News

Housing debt more than doubles

MORE than 89 per cent of our personal debt is now for home loans as real estate prices have soared with the debt per adult more than doubling.

How global drug cartel began and ended

POLICE’S nine-year investigation into a drug cartel flooding Australia with ecstasy was successful due to ‘plain old detective work’. Over 20 jailed.

How AFP brought down ecstasy kingpin

‘YOU got to be clever,’ international ecstasy drug syndicate king-pin James Kinch boasted to his associates. Now he’s behind bars, his story is beginning to be told.

Detention shutdown to save $2.9bn

CLOSING down offshore immigration detention centres and moving asylum seekers to the mainland for processing would save the federal government coffers $2.9 billion.

Shot dad was caught in love feud

THE father of an innocent man, who was killed in the crossfire of a love feud, was the first one to find his son.

New South Wales

Daily Telegraph

Attacked Two cops injured in more soccer violence

DRUNK and abusive soccer fans travelling by train from Sydney to the Central Coast kept police busy issuing alcohol and offensive language infringement notices.

Hope A song of joy for saving little Molor

LITTLE Molor Batkhuyag loves the sound of music but there is only one song staff at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick want to sing to him.

Racing out? Sydney GP ‘super’: Bernie flags switch

FORMULA One boss Bernie Ecclestone has indicated his interest in moving the Australian Grand Prix to Sydney and said New South Wales could steal the event like Victoria did from South Australia.

Queensland

Courier Mail

POOL PICTURES. The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with coffee in hand in Gladstone where he met with local Mayor Gail Sellers.

Regional vote The mayors who lost their seats

QUEENSLAND will get close to 30 new mayors in the wake of yesterday’s council elections, but, with a few exceptions, incumbents have largely seen off challengers.

Mayor returned ‘Ready to go back to work’

UPDATE: Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has fronted the media this morning, making a pledge as to how he will govern in the wake of yesterday’s landslide victory.

Race over Harding concedes defeat to Quirk

LABOR’S Rod Harding has conceded defeat to incumbent Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, but said the race was an “amazing ride”.

Western Australia

PerthNow

Rowdy crowd Police dog Bucky helps shut down party

POLICE were able to shut down an out-of-control party in Geraldton thanks to help from a four-legged friend.

Anniversary Twenty years of WA’s highest fashion awards

AHEAD of the 20th anniversary of the WA Fashion Awards, STM meets the honoured style stars of past and present, finds how the industry has changed, and looks to the future.

Surf’s up Surf’s healing powers wash over autistic kids

IT’S not every day a child conquers their fear of water. And it’s even more remarkable when 200 autistic children hit the surf at the same time.

Tasmania

Mercury

World Heritage Area UN call for logging, mining ban

THE State Government has been forced to reverse its support for the logging of special species timber within the World Heritage Area by a United Nations report.

Show time Dogs and boots fly at Bream Creek

FROM tiny animals to giant vegetables, the Bream Creek Show had something for everyone (and their dog).

Employment We’ll deliver on jobs, says Gutwein

TREASURER Peter Gutwein says he is still confident his Government will deliver 8000 jobs in its first term, despite 800 jobs being lost in Tasmania last month.

Northern Territory

NT News

Generic photograph of a burglar thief breaking into a house through an unlocked window. burglary theft larceny. PIRATE: 28/02/2001.

New stats Break-ins up across Northern Territory

PROPERTY offences in Palmerston rose by 30 per cent in January, echoing the community sentiment of increased crime in the region

Tinsel Town LA study tour cost $36K

OUTGOING MLA and former CLP Minister Matt Conlan charged taxpayers $36,000 to take his wife Elara to Los Angeles to explore one of the NT’s “most important international visitor markets”