The NSW Police Force claimed an 85 per cent clear-up rate for the 16,702 crimes reported for the year. The chief commissioner, Walter Childs, said that 6598 persons had been arrested. Property stolen during the year totalled £132,421 and the amount recovered totalled £141,976, the difference being property stolen in..read more

THE refugee camp on the Thai border, right across the Mekong River from Laos, was hot, dusty and crowded. A big, awkward Australian in a wide-brimmed hat plunged between the bamboo huts, trying without success to avoid stepping into stinking open drains. He was on a mission, and he stomped..read more

An adventurer has chosen to re-create the perilous voyage William Bligh was forced to make, writes Keeli Cambourne.

WITH the latest "is it art or porn?" debate sparking a philosophical disconnect between PM Kev and Age art critic Robert Nelson, Diary can reveal that the larger-than-life art dealer Denis Savill (below) almost got caught in the crossfire at the weekend.

The giant rotting piles of garbage that litter the streets of southern Italian towns such as Casal di Principe are an apt symbol of the putrefying hold that organised crime has over every aspect of life in this blighted part of the world.