A $2 billion lifeline for car dealers involving the federal government and the country's major banks will save jobs, the automotive industry says.

The receiver for ABC Learning has guaranteed to find places for every child in the company's care, but the parents of 30,000 kids are no closer to knowing if their centres will close.

A Penfolds chardonnay has been named Australia's top export wine.
The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation said on Thursday the 2005 Penfolds

Consumers may need a further gee-up from the Reserve Bank of Australia to get them
spending, despite recent rate cuts.

Treasurer Wayne Swan has rejected comments by the boss of one of the country's
leading retail banks that credit cards are a "sideshow" when it comes to interest
rate reductions.

Lieutenant Michael Fussell, the seventh Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan
since 2002, has been farewelled in a moving ceremony in Sydney.

Oh, to have Kevin Rudd's travel kitty.
In the first seven months of the Rudd government, the prime minister's overseas

Australian troops may be required to leave Iraq when a United Nations mandate for
coalition forces expires at the end of the year, a senior Iraqi MP says.

The Australian economy faces a difficult year ahead, but so far it is still
generating growth when a number of major economies are already in recession, Prime

Victoria has passed historic legislation that will finally allow federal control of
the Murray-Darling Basin.