Backdown on internet filter plan

Michelle Grattan Government finally backs down on controversial plan to introduce mandatory internet filter.

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Powering the home: how appliances stack up

PETER HANNAM Consumer group Choice looks at average annual running tab for the latest models of 11 popular appliances.

Call to ban gambling in workplace

JASON DOWLING GAMBLING at work, using the work computer or telephone, should be banned for occupational health and safety reasons, just as smoking has been banned, according to a workplace relations specialist.

Unreported deaths linked to paedophile brotherhood

Rory Callinan A GROUP of religious brothers led by an ''alpha paedophile'' are suspected of the unreported bashing deaths of two boys and the sexual abuse of more than 40 wards of the state and others at homes for the mentally impaired over three decades in Victoria, an inquiry into child abuse is expected to be told on Friday.

Taipan bite kills energy company bush clearer

BRIDIE JABOUR AN ERGON ENERGY employee has died after being bitten by a deadly snake while working in central Queensland.

Rudd denies link to Ming dynasty

PHILLIP COOREY KEVIN RUDD and Robert Menzies are the only prime ministers to have been removed by their own parties after winning their first election.

Abbott's axe being blunted by Gillard's late fightback on tax

LENORE TAYLOR Ever so slowly, Julia Gillard is making up ground in the great fight over electricity prices - the defining battle of this Parliament.

Another 500 jobs to go as Qantas looks to close maintenance base

MATT O'SULLIVAN QANTAS will axe another 500 engineering jobs in Sydney and Victoria as the airline begins to enact plans to reduce its bases for heavy aircraft maintenance in Australia from two to one.

Reform package pushes gas as new energy leader

LENORE TAYLOR AUSTRALIA could become the world's biggest gas exporter but its domestic use of fossil fuels will decline as the carbon tax drives a gradual switch to renewables such as wind and solar, the government's energy white paper says.

Kyoto recommitment comes with caveats and timeline

Tom Arup AUSTRALIA will sign up to a second round of the Kyoto Protocol, joining the European Union as one of only a handful of major greenhouse gas emitters to recommit to the world's only climate treaty.

Plane crashed after getting lost in cloud

A VINTAGE plane still had fuel in its tanks after crashing in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland last month, killing six people, a preliminary report into the tragedy has found.

Unemployment rate defies expectations

Thomas Hunter THE Australian economy added more than 10,000 new jobs in October, helping keep the jobless rate steady and lengthening the odds of another interest rate cut before Christmas.

Catch 82: we're all living longer … but can we afford to?

PETER MARTIN A DECADE ago an Australian man who had just turned 50 could expect to live another 29.9 years. Today the official figure is 32 years. Even the past year has made an enormous difference. A year ago a man turning 50 could officially expect an extra 31.7 rather than 32 years.

Conroy backs away from internet filter

PHILLIP COOREY THE federal government has abandoned its long-standing commitment to introduce a national internet filter and will instead ban websites related only to child abuse.

Pictures of the week - November 8, 2012

1:31am A selection of photos from Fairfax photographers from the week leading up to November 8, 2012.

Three dead in Darwin taxi, truck crash

8:10pm Three people, including two school principals, have died after a Darwin taxi driver made a U-turn across double lines in front of a fully laden cement truck.

Aussie trio wounded in Afghanistan

8:10pm Three Australian soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan after their armoured truck hit a roadside bomb.

Aussie trio wounded in Afghanistan

Canberra 7:56pm Three Australian soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan after their armoured truck hit a roadside bomb.

Former top police officer's alleged drug accomplice extradited from Thailand

LISA DAVIES 1:12pm A man who allegedly corrupted former top crime fighter Mark Standen, plotting with him to import enough precursor drugs to make $120 million of the drug ice, has finally been extradited to Australia to face trial.