Aviation authorities ground an Australian-made aircraft that Swedish investigators believe may have broken up mid-flight in Sweden, leading to the deaths of nine people.

The Victorian Government has announced it will protect 4,000 hectares of farm land from mining exploration in the state's east in an area near a controversial mining proposal.

For the first time, dairy farmers in the Bega Valley could have the opportunity to supply the fresh milk market as Lactalis and Saputo look to secure new suppliers.

After receiving her master's degree at the age of 90, Lorna Prendergast hopes her story encourages people to recognise that age is no barrier to learning.

It was spruiked as Victoria's own Gold Coast, but people who bought land along Ninety Mile Beach in the 1950s could never build on their blocks.

With more than 8,200 islands sprawled around Australia, there's a good chance you can't name them all so we've listed some of them to inspire your next getaway.

Alan Hall

Wellington Shire Council in Victoria's Gippsland region gives eligible farmers $700 pre-loaded debit cards to provide some financial relief and stimulate the local economy.

Lado Alphonse says he was a "reject in society" before being recruited by the Cora Lynn Cobras. Now, he is among several players bringing new life to the regional Victorian football community.

The mother of a two-year-old boy who died in Melbourne's outer-south-east on Monday speaks of her grief as the man charged with his murder is remanded in custody.

Police, SES, and a number of friends and family are searching for a young woman and man who have not returned from a camping trip to Walhalla last Friday.

Emergency services are continuing to search for a young man and woman who went missing in eastern Victoria almost a week ago.

Gippsland police say they are investigating what led to a young Melbourne couple being found dead in their car near Thompson Dam in west Gippsland.

Police find the bodies of Caleb Forbes and Shannon Lowden in their car, almost a week after they went missing near the Baw Baw National Park in eastern Victoria.

Crucial cattle herd genetics have been lost in a fire that destroyed 100 cryogenic cylinders of cattle semen in south-east Victoria overnight.

The global energy giant ExxonMobil has announced it will sell all of its assets in the Gippsland Basin, off Victoria's south-east coast. The sale includes offshore oil and gas platforms, the Longford gas plants and the Long Island Point plant near Hastings.

An offshore wind farm proposed for regional Victoria will power almost a fifth of the state's electrical needs, but coastal residents says they are concerned about rising costs and fishing exclusion zones.

Parabola diagram

A teenager from Gippsland in Victoria has written an equation that has been published in a national academic journal a major achievement for one so young.

A species of grasshopper that has not been seen in Victoria since the 1960s is rediscovered at Omeo in East Gippsland.

While many dairy farmers in northern Victoria are downsizing and selling up due to drought and the cost of water, in South Gippsland they are investing in their businesses.

Rain has been so heavy in parts of Gippsland that it has caused landslides, severely limiting some residents' mobility. Meanwhile, the other half of the region continues to battle through the drought.

Landslip

The Victorian Government investigates the scale of a ransomware attack by "sophisticated cyber criminals" on some of the state's major regional hospitals that has forced healthcare providers to go offline.

Farmers struggling in the driest parts of Victoria will have access to an extra $31m in relief funds, days after the Federal Government announced an extension in drought support.

Pusparani Kumaravel has shaved her head after waiting six years for a visa. She feels like it's the only way she can have some control of her life.

A planned $17-million hi-tech education precinct in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, a centrepiece of the Hazelwood transition program, is in jeopardy after the project's major partner pulls out.

The Victorian Government has passed legislation to phase out the 10 remaining commercial fishing licences in the Gippsland Lakes over the next two years.

A proposal to build a lead battery smelter in the Latrobe Valley has sparked health concerns among the local community. The nearest house is little more than a kilometre from the site, as is a school.

A report on the workplace culture at a major hospital in Victoria uncovers limited supervision of junior mental health staff, as well as allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.

More than 70 eastern barred bandicoots have travelled some 400 kilometres from Hamilton, on Victoria's mainland, to the safe haven of French Island in Western Port Bay.

In true Australian style a jubilant Jack Miller celebrates the first podium finish from a local rider on Phillip Island in seven years by performing a shoey.

Adrian Basham has been committed to stand trial over the death of his wife and mother of their three children, Samantha Fraser, found dead in her Phillip Island garage.

For more than 140 years, the tale of Martin Weiberg has intrigued historians and Gippslanders. Did the Norwegian really bury stolen treasure near Inverloch?

Culture in rural Victoria often revolves around farming and football, however in the private realms of garage collections and online chatrooms, there's evidence of a healthy geek community.

Many towns are home to unutilised but grand former theatre buildings, once hives of activity that helped people forget their cares with the help of ice-cream in paper cups and green lemonade.

The Victorian Government announces an immediate ban on all old growth logging and the phasing out of native timber logging in a transition plan that will cost $120 million over the next ten years.

Nanofabrica, an Israel-based developer of precision additve manufacturing technologies, has announced the commercial launch of its micro-level resolution AM technology.