STUDENTS have stayed home from school because their parents were worried they would be targeted by pedophile Dennis Ferguson.

QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has defended the announcement of a possible 40 per cent increase in the state's coal exports on the eve of the Federal Government's release of a green paper on emissions trading.

A PERSON has tested positive for the deadly Hendra virus following an outbreak among horses in Brisbane.

THE family of special forces soldier Signaller Sean McCarthy, killed in Afghanistan last week, has greeted his body home to Australia.

A MAJOR telecommunications fault has shut down mobile and landline phone calls and internet connections in Queensland and some parts of New South Wales.