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(AEDT)

3:21pm

A DRUG runner who admitted to police that he had been masturbating while driving at 150 km/h has been sentenced to two months jail.

2:55pm

ISRAEL and Hamas have studied an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that won immediate backing from the United States and Europe, hours after Israeli shells killed 42 Palestinians at a UN school.

2:41pm

A MEMORIAL service has been held in Western Australia for Brian Guest, the presumed victim of a shark attack 11 days ago.

2:37pm

A MAN will spend the next six months behind bars for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl.

2:28pm

NATIONAL Australia Bank (NAB) has raised $US2.5 billion ($3.51 billion) from US investors in the biggest Australian government guaranteed bond deal.

2:17pm

TWO people have died in separate drownings in NSW as a heatwave continues to bring scorching temperatures to much of the state.

2:03pm

What's worse than dreaming about going to work naked? Losing your pants on a ski lift and having the photos carried on news websites.

1:45pm

MORE than 1800 jobs at Alcoa's two Victorian smelters are safe, despite the announcement of massive global job cuts, Premier John Brumby says.

1:37pm

A MAN has been charged with attempted murder after he threw petrol over his girlfriend and tried to set her on fire with a lighter.

1:30pm

SUPERMARKET giant Woolworths will cut its Everyday Money Credit Card interest rate by 100 basis points.

1:03pm

A THREE-year-old girl has died after being mauled by a dog.

12:54pm

A PHOTOGRAPHER has captured the last stand of a gunman wanted by US police after a series of bank raids.

12:50pm

THE dollar was higher at noon, as improved risk sentiment and stronger than expected local retail sales lifted the high-yielding currency.

12:44pm

PAPUA New Guinea police have branded as "barbaric" the murder of a young woman burnt alive after being blindfolded and gagged with her arms and legs lashed to a pole.

12:24pm

THE sharemarket was stronger at noon after US stocks advanced and the local resources sector was lifted by higher commodity prices.

12:24pm

A SURPRISING rise in retail sales during November could slow the pace of Reserve Bank's cuts to interest rates, an economist says.

12:08pm

THE sales of new homes fell in November as the economic downturn and tighter access of credit took hold, a survey shows.

12:02pm

POLICE have seized $2.3 million in assets from a suspected drug trafficker following leads from a random traffic stop.

11:18am

ALCOHOL and speed have been ruled out as possible causes of a crash involving five children and other pedestrians in the Victorian coastal resort of Lorne.

11:02am

RON Asheton, a guitarist and founding member of Iggy Pop's influential rock band The Stooges, was found dead at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan overnight, police said.

10:58am

SOME 200,000 US households will no longer get cheap heating oil from Venezuela after the state-owned CITGO subsidiary announced it was dropping the program due to falling oil prices.

10:51am

JOHN Travolta held his son's body and whispered "I'm sorry Jett" after attempts to save his life failed, a British tabloid has reported.

10:32am

THE share market opened in positive territory following gains on Wall Street, with a strong performance by the resources sector.

10:06am

NEW South Wales Premier Nathan Rees secretly married his childhood sweetheart of 18 years in a New York registry office this morning.

9:44am

AL-QAEDA number two Ayman al-Zawahiri called on Muslims to attack Israeli and Western targets in response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip in a message released online.

9:38am

MOST Australian households are meeting loan repayments despite the economic downturn, a new survey reveals.

9:36am

ISRAEL will open a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said early today.

9:24am

BUSINESS believes the Federal Government should be considering more measures to stimulate the economy.

9:10am

JAPANESE whalers have accused anti-whaling activists of trying to disrupt their search for a crew member missing and presumed dead after falling overboard in freezing Antarctic waters.

9:09am

ISRAELI tank shells have killed at least 40 Palestinians at a school where civilians had taken shelter.

9:07am

US STOCKS rose modestly overnight, lifted by gains overseas, and as investors hoped that emergency Government measures will pull the global economy out of recession.

8:46am

A NINE-year-old boy has drowned in a swimming pool at his home.

8:38am

AUSTRALIANS are being warned to ignore a scam email claiming to be from the tax office and offering refunds.

8:37am

US ALUMINUM giant Alcoa said it would slash 13,500 jobs or 13 per cent or its global workforce and reduce output to cope with the global economic downturn.

8:19am

A MAN has smashed his way into an adult shop and had sex with blow-up dolls before abandoning the sex toys in a nearby lane.

8:14am

PENDING sales of existing US homes dropped to a seven-year low in November, data showed overnight, as rising job losses and a deepening economic recession kept potential house buyers on the sidelines.

8:09am

GERMAN luxury sportscar maker Porsche has taken over Volkswagen, the biggest European car manufacturer, after purchasing more than 50 per cent of VW shares, Porsche said.

7:49am

TWO children have been injured in a wall collapse in Brisbane's south.

7:24am

THE dollar has opened at a three-month high as firmer commodities prices and improved sentiment on Wall Street boosted the high-yielding currency.

6:54am

GERMAN billionaire Adolf Merckle, who was in talks with banks to save his troubled industrial empire, has been killed after being hit by a train, German media reports said.

6:44am

ACTOR Patrick Swayze has told of his fear as he battles pancreatic cancer.

5:52am

PEOPLE are more likely to steal from shops and beat up their partners in the worsening economy, one of London's top policemen said today.

4:37am

PLUNGING temperatures sent shivers across Europe today, leading to the deaths of several people and a record number of calls to power companies in Britain because of heating problems.

4:24am

US officials refused to allow the man chosen by Illinois's scandal-tainted governor to replace president-elect Barack Obama to be sworn in at the start of a new senate session.

3:47am

ACTOR Patricia Arquette has filed for divorce from her husband Thomas Jane, court records show.

3:16am

BRITISH retail institution Woolworths closed the doors on a century of trading as the latest victim of the financial crisis shut down the last of its stores today.

2:50am

OLDER Americans are spending less on entertainment and restaurant meals as the recession forces them to focus on paying for essentials such as food, gas and medicine.

2:41am

THE 11-day-old Israeli offensive on Hamas in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 635 Palestinians, Gaza medics said.

2:08am

GERMAN billionaire Adolf Merckle, who was in talks with banks to save his troubled industrial empire, has been killed after being hit by a train.

1:47am

AN Israeli strike killed at least 20 people who had taken refuge inside a UN school in the Gaza Strip, in the third such attack in a day, medics said.

1:12am

ACTOR John Travolta and his wife Kelly preston are back in Florida with the remains of their 16-year-old son.

12:33am

THE Australian government has released the name of the latest Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan.

(AEDT)

11:58pm

A CHINESE naval convoy has arrived in the Gulf of Aden on a landmark mission to protect the country's shipping from Somali pirates and has escorted its first four vessels.

11:28pm

EIGHT people including four children remain in hospital after a car veered off the Great Ocean Road in the commercial heart of the resort town of Lorne.

10:54pm

ISRAELI tanks and helicopter gunships went blazing into towns across the Gaza Strip attacking Hamas targets and searching for its leaders as the war death toll passed 580.

10:25pm

JAPAN'S video game market shrank for the first time in four years in 2008 in the absence of new console launches.

9:46pm

ONE man has been charged over a massive brawl involving about 100 people Sydney's south-west that left seven in hospital with gunshot and stab wounds.

8:50pm

AT least 1732 people have died in Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic and the number of cases diagnosed has risen to 34,306, the World Health Organisation says.

8:28pm

SEVEN pedestrians, including four children, were injured when a car veered off the Great Ocean Road in the commercial heart of the resort town of Lorne.

8:05pm

RUSSIA had drastically cut gas supplies to Europe, the Ukraine Government says.

Faces of the Gaza conflict

AS Israeli troops battle Hamas fighters the conflict takes its toll on civilians and armed forces.
Gaza strip violence

ISRAELI warplanes and helicopters have pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of people in one of the bloodiest days for the Palestinians in 60 years of conflict with the Jewish state.
New Year's worldwide

A KANGAROO with a six-pack, a happy bunny in Moscow and millions more welcomed 2009 around the world.
Laura Zuniga

BEAUTY queen Laura Zuniga has been detained by police along with suspected drug traffickers.
Shirtless world leaders

BARACK Obama is just the latest world leader to be photographed without his shirt on.
Hip, hip hippo

Monifa, one of Taronga Zoo's cutest arrivals, has made her public debut and melted the hearts of even hardened cynics.

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