SMALL businesses could suffer as the Federal Government considers extending its Do Not Call Register legislation to commercial, fax and emergency service numbers.

SEE the people and events that made the headlines this year.

COUNCILS are using digital technology to ensure pool fences comply with safety standards.

MELBOURNE is leading the market in environmentally conscious designs.

DON’T get swindled by travelling tradies and their shoddy home services this summer, warn the State Government and police.

TWINS are helping to find a cure for cervical cancer.

FIREFIGHTERS fear illegal backyard pyrotechnicians will spark dangerous blazes or cause serious injuries this summer.

HOT days can be dangerous for man’s best friend.

FOR five years, Women for Women in Africa have helped educate children living in Kibera in the Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

TIME is running out for women to get their third and final cervical cancer vaccination shot.

HOMEOWNERS are being urged to take a few simple steps to prevent burglaries while they are on holidays.

POOCHY versions of Margaret and David will be taking paws for thought when Moonlight Cinema returns with its hugely popular Dog Night next year.

WITH family and friends – that’s how most people will spend Christmas Day. And it will be no different at Healesville Sanctuary.

AFTER a fatality in Brighton yesterday, police have appealed to motorists to stop the carnage this festive season.

BUSHFIRE-affected communities can get up to $30,000 for memorial events marking the first anniversary of Black Saturday.

CHRISTMAS donations have fallen 15 per cent this year as Melburnians tighten their belts, a charity says.

MELBURNIANS flocked to pools and shopping centres to beat the heat – and finalise Christmas shopping – today.

THE holiday season is a nightmare for animal lovers at the RSPCA’s shelters, which are inundated with dumped cats and dogs.

FAMILIES of Romsey Primary School will have to live with an Optus mobile phone tower after the Victorian and Civil Administrative Tribunal ruled it could be built.

MACEDON Ranges Council has named Buffalo Stadium in Woodend as its only Neighbourhood Safer Place.