Tasmanians are leading the country in buying new cars.

A SOUTHWEST Queensland community will today farewell two children who drowned last week.

AN eight-year-old boy was sent home by two Sydney hospitals before dying of meningitis, with his family told to give him lemonade and painkillers.

PARIS (AFP) - Nicolas Sarkozy was elected on a pledge to radically shake up France, but after a whirlwind first few months in power the president's reform plans risk tripping up on the economy in 2008.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street heads into the Christmas week on a merry note with fears abating about a widening financial crisis and a potential recession in the world's biggest economy.

The NRMA says it is stunned that Australia's oil companies have again raised petrol prices in the lead up to Christmas.

The Tasmanian Treasurer says Aurora's successful bid to provide high-speed internet services is a boon for the state.

BERLIN (AFP) - A top European official warned consumers against buying & quot;cheap and tacky & quot; toys this Christmas, and promised new measures next month to make playthings safer, in an interview appearing Sunday.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore is set to spend two billion dollars (1.

despite Tokyo suspending the hunt for humpbacks in the Southern Ocean this season.

DOGS are likely to patrol the Perth's new inter-city railway amid fears the link will be a corridor for criminals.

THE BRUMBY Government has moved swiftly to prevent controversial caged combat from coming to Victoria.

CHURCH leaders fear a Cronulla-style riot is brewing over the proposed Islamic school as text messages inciting violence begin to circulate in Sydney.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Saturday started to allow motorists an extra 20 litres (5.

Great Southern Railway has chartered buses to transport hundreds of Indian Pacific passengers between Sydney and Broken Hill after the train line was flooded by storms.

AN 18-year-old man has been charged with murder over the stabbing death of a 17-year-old boy in Hobart.

The Foreign Affairs Minister says the Federal Government will continue to exert bilateral pressure on Japan in an effort to stop whaling altogether.

POLICE in two states have arrested seven people and seized drugs worth $2 million.

Qantas passengers could face disruption to services over the holiday period because of a strike by engineers.

The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has offered central American and Caribbean countries the option to pay for oil with services or local products, such as bananas and sugar.