POLICE have called for an end to muck-up day pranks after the homemade bombs were discovered on school grounds.

THE Australian dollar has closed at a five-year low, down 4.2 per cent today, as fears the global financial turmoil will spread to emerging markets caused investors to sell high-yielding assets such as the local currency.

PALM Island man Lex Wotton has been found guilty of inciting a riot that resulted in the destruction of the island's police station, the courthouse and an officer's residence.

PARAMEDICS tested children at an inner-Brisbane childcare centre this afternoon after a quantity of drugs was found in a playground area.

EAST Asian leaders agreed on Friday to create an $US80 billion ($122 billion) fund to fight the global economic crisis, as they met in Beijing ahead of a two-day summit with their European colleagues.

Centrelink says investors whose money was frozen by mortgage funds can't expect automatic payments.

The share market was weaker at noon, turning around from positive territory, as the major banks and miners fell.

ONE of Australia's biggest financiers, GE Money, will cease offering third-party mortgages, motor finance and small business finance as the fallout from the global financial crisis intensifies.

THE Rebels motorcycle gang has denied any involvement in the fatal shooting of a rival Bandidos gang member in Geelong.

THE pure dingo is nearing threatened species status in Victoria and has been nominated for environmental protection.

A FORMER music teacher who kept handwritten notes on how to seduce young boys and how to avoid arrest has been jailed.

CHIEF Commissioner Christine Nixon will reimburse Qantas for the cost her flight to LA on the airline's innagural A380 flight.

A 79-year-old man who fell down the stairs of a Qantas plane in Alice Springs has died in an Adelaide hospital.

ANTI-logging activists in Tasmania say one of their long established forest campsite has been firebombed, destroying two cars and an information booth.

WOMEN have been spotted flashing their breasts at the Gold Coast Indy despite a crackdown by Premier Anna Bligh on "lewd behaviour".

THE murder case against US man Gabe Watson for killing his wife while diving on their honeymoon in Queensland is "as weak as well-water", his lawyer says.

THE Nationals may no longer exist in Queensland, but the iconic Bjelke-Petersen name may make a return to the ballot papers next year.

Yamaha’s Ryan Lancaster is aiming to go one better on last year’s performance with a win at the 2008 Australian Quad Motocross Championships in Smithton, Tasmania, this weekend.Racers from ...

New Zealand Honda Dealer Network rider, Wellington based Barry Morris is set to ride one of the Honda Red Riders’ ’09 CR450s at this weekend’s opening round of the 2008 New Zealand Motocross Champi...

Woodstock Honda Thor rider Dean Ferris has been airlifted to hospital from his property in northern New South Wales after suffering a major crash while training.A rising star on the Austral...