Новости за 12.07.2015

As the competition for students becomes fierce, schools are advertising on childcare noticeboards and even handing out showbags.

How great must it be to co-front a really good band with your best friend? Melbourne six-piece Alpine's Phoebe Baker and Lou James are having the time of their lives and they're not afraid to show it.

China has been constructing a new offshore platform near the median line between its shoreline and that of Japan in the East China Sea, according to the Japanese government.

AFL premiership player Campbell Brown had to be pulled out of the English Channel, an extreme turn in weather conditions causing his mission to swim the 32-kilometre distance between Dover and Calais to be abandoned.

Launceston is treated to a clash between the reigning premiers and ladder-leaders.

A cyclist has been taken to hospital after a hit and run in Kalamunda on Sunday.

New data shows 120 people died by after taking Nembutal – dubbed the "peaceful pill" – between July 2000 and December 2012.

The Vatican's first child sex abuse trial adjourned after six minutes when the defendant failed to turn up, with ill health cited.

Crossbench Senators who negotiated the renewable energy target did not know the Abbott Government would stop all new investment in wind power through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation but understood the mix would change in favour of large-scale solar.

Coke or Pepsi? Melbourne or Vienna? Which we say we prefer has a lot to do with how the question is asked.

Aboriginal women on welfare are  "cash cows" by producing children for the cash, a former Labor MP has said.

Hospitals, wholesale markets and some of the city's administrative offices will move outside the city centre, creating a giant urban corridor.

GWS Giants key AFL forward Jonathon Patton is prepared to bide his time for a recall to the senior side after successfully negotiating his first game following a second knee reconstruction.

Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian's Phuketwan site has led reporting on the plight of Rohingyas in Myanmar.

Free sparkling water is the latest trend emerging in the cafes of Melbourne.

Free wi-fi on public transport is a step closer with a trial likely to be held later this year.

An oversupply of insurance capacity is helping drive the cost of professional indemnity cover for small companies to record lows, but this might change soon as insurers merge and raise rates to improve profits.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has challenged Tony Abbott to take the fight against unions from the royal commission to parliament.

Former Broncos coach Anthony Griffin will be back as a head coach in 2016 and still harbours an ambition to return to the NRL.

The rate of lung cancer diagnoses is expected to decline in Australia, with experts claiming that generations-long anti-smoking campaigns are starting to take effect.

Often favoured by Queensland's political parties while in Opposition, but rejected while in government, it appears that both the LNP and Labor are ready to have a discussion about fixed four-year political terms.

While China''s stock market has rebounded modestly in recent days, many business owners in China remain nervous, as they start to notice a perceptible economic chill.

Police are trawling through bushland in northern Sydney following the discovery of a woman's body near a popular walking track.

Hugh Jackman says one of his great childhood regrets was not taking dancing lessons because an influential person in his life called him a "sissy".

Damaging winds and blizzard conditions are forecast for the ACT and region, while snow is likely down to 600 metres on Sunday morning.