Insights

Australia and the world are experiencing a Micawber moment. The economic prospects aren't reassuring, but there's not a lot we can do except hope something will turn up. Wherever you turn, the outlook is for continuing sub-par growth.

One of Charlie's colleagues used to be fond of saying, "Just between you, me and the gatepost ..." as he passed on yet another secret that he should have been keeping.

A few years back, the corporate regulators did the fund managers a big favour.

Murray Goulburn chief Gary Helou has attacked the Abbott government, claiming it hasn't given the co-operative a "level playing field" in its fight to take over Warrnambool Cheese & Butter.

Rio Tinto chairman Jan du Plessis was upbeat on the prospects of China changing economic gears, relying on consumer spending rather than capital spending, as he warned of "bad and lazy habits" that have emerged in Australia amid stagnation in Europe.

Investors have lost billions under its watch and the business scandals are many, but opinions are divided on the cause of ASIC's problems, write Adele Ferguson, Ben Butler and Ruth Williams.

The ability of American whistleblower Edward Snowden to poach the Western intelligence community's most explosive secrets while working as a government contractor in Hawaii has left security experts around the world gobsmacked.

It was a Saturday morning. Time to take out the pushbike and wheel around the traps. Rabbit carcasses and their skins were pocket money.

Denis Napthine fronted the Liberal Party room, reeling after one of the most tumultuous days in recent Victorian political history. He was about to become Victoria's accidental premier.

In the annals of international diplomacy, there has never been a salvo quite like it. Alone in his study in his private residence outside Jakarta, just after midnight on Tuesday, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, took to Twitter and let Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott - and his 4 million followers - know just how he felt about revelations Australia had bugged his and his wife's phone.

Australia is now Change.org's seventh-largest market with 1.5 million users, two-thirds of whom are women, and two-thirds are over 35. A Queensland student's campaign against the Coalition's NBN policy is the most popular in Australia, with more than 270,000 signatures.

Omotayo Richmond moved from Long Island in New York to Jacksonville in Florida 12 years ago and the move had been a happy one. Except for one thing.

Before Australia's east coast had ever heard of James Price Point, even before the Broome township realised the high stakes, Goolarabooloo senior law man Phil Roe fought a guerilla-like battle against resources giant Woodside. It was Roe, a few mates and, of all things, a camel.

Adele Ferguson, Ben Butler and Ruth Williams investigate, Page 10

The David Jones board was smacked with a strongly supported "first strike" as investors registered their displeasure over controversial share trades by directors, and the untimely resignation of chief executive Paul Zahra.

Shares in the food group Goodman Fielder fell sharply as it warned of a downturn in December-half earnings, which prompted fears of a full-year decline.