Melbourne shines, while a young maestro excels

AFTER three days of gloomy grand prix greyness Melbourne sprang to life as the sun broke through a dappled Albert Park.

Be a part of the new wave

Learn to ride the ripple effect to maximise your property profits.

Of street rods and Schubert

CASTLEMAINE, that historic gold rush town in central Victoria, has been getting good press over the past decade. Tree changers, economic refugees from Melbourne's overpriced housing market, and fast-train city commuters have joined the many artists who moved here as far back as the 1970s. The steady influx has helped swell the town's population from about 6600 in 2006 to between 7000 and 8000 residents.

Student worries for family

AS LIBYAN dictator Muammar Gaddafi's troops battle rebels for control of the city of Misrata in Libya's west, Melbourne student Ragaa Ilshawish has been trying without luck to learn if members of her family who live there are safe.

It's not me, it's you: Ecclestone ponders end of the affair

FORMULA one supremo Bernie Ecclestone says the race will stay in Melbourne beyond 2015 only if the city wants it.

No Australian casualties, but 900 remain out of contact

ALMOST 900 Australians known to be in Japan remained unaccounted for last night although no Australian casualties had yet been reported as a result of the catastrophe.

Behind a better man

A COUPLE of weeks ago, I asked Archie Roach to show me Fitzroy and Carlton as he knew them in the years when he was homeless. Down City Streets, a big song on Archie's first album about that experience, was written by his wife, Ruby Hunter. They were together for those years on the streets of Melbourne, and for another 30 years thereafter. Ruby died in February last year. "It cut him in two," says Shane Howard, Archie's touring partner since Ruby's death.

FREQUENT FLYER DIANA CARLILE

This walker has written a card series about her favourite trails.

When it rains it stores

HARVESTING STORMWATER IS ESSENTIAL IN A SUSTAINABLE CITY.

The secret world of Melbourne��s sex trade

CHINESE organised crime syndicates are running multimillion-dollar prostitution rackets across Melbourne by bribing officials and exploiting abysmal regulation. The syndicates are linked to human trafficking and arrange for dozens of Asian women to travel from interstate and overseas ��� often on student visas ��� to work in brothels.

Nice quirk if you can get it

Strange performance works are celebrated as part of the Imperial Panda Festival. By Clara Iaccarino.

Inner-city snobs cock a snook at Borders woes

The bookstore chain has performed a crucial service in the suburbs.