It's raining UFOs Down Under

Melbourne, April 29 (ANI): The reports of UFO sightings in Australia have gone up with at least seven separate incidents having been reported in the past week.

The sighting of some "unexplained phenomena" has been happening almost every night since the first was reported last week, and most have taken place in Darwin's rural area.

A woman, who wants to be identified as only Shirel, reported the first sighting on April 21, saying that she saw the strange lights from her Humpty Doo home hovering over Howard Springs.

"The lights were really low in the sky, really bright, with flashing dots," the Daily Telegraph quoted her as saying.

"Three of them formed a semi-circle and they hovered over the area for at least half an hour," she revealed.

There were three separate sightings on April 23 including British backpacker Kylie Myers who said she had "never believed in anything like UFOs" before her strange encounter.

Myers, 27, said she stopped her car on the side of the road to grab her camera from the glove box, but the light disappeared.

"It was pretty spooky," she stated.

There were more sightings at Coolalinga on April 24, Acacia Hills on April 25 and again in Howard Springs on April 27.

But astronomer Geoff Carr told the Northern Territory News he was "far from believing any of this UFO stuff".

"Unless aliens have found a way to travel faster than light speed, it's a doubtful thing to believe they came to visit us," he said.

Carr added he believed 99.9 per cent of all the UFO sightings could be explained as simple weather phenomena. (ANI)

Rights groups to challenge Arizona immigration law

Enlarge Photo People hold hands and pray as they protest against Senate Bill 1070 outside the Arizona...

Civil rights groups prepared on Thursday to announce the first legal challenge to Arizona's new immigration law, which has put the issue back on the front burner of U.S. politics.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican American Legal Defence and Educational Fund and the National Immigration Law Center, which argue the law is unconstitutional, were expected to outline their legal strategy at the Arizona state capitol in Phoenix.

Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, signed the measure into law Friday, making it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally. It also requires state and local police to determine a person's immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" they are undocumented.

In a statement, MALDEF called the law "unconstitutional" and said it "encourages racial profiling, endangers public safety and betrays American values."

Republican backers say the law is needed to curb crime in the desert state, which is home to some 460,000 illegal immigrants and is a key corridor for drug and migrant smugglers from Mexico. This year, the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector has made about 650 arrests a day.

While the measure has sparked an outcry among Latinos, civil rights activists and organized labour, some public opinion polls show broad support for the measure.

BROAD SUPPORT DESPITE FUROR

A Rasmussen Reports poll on Wednesday found that nearly two-thirds -- 64 percent -- of Arizona voters favoured the statute. A telephone survey this week showed that 60 percent of voters nationwide backed such a law.

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama's administration said it was considering its own court challenge. The administration has said the law could inflame the immigration debate and divert resources from pursuing those in the country illegally who have committed more serious crimes.

Critics say the law violates the federal government's authority to control immigration.

The furor has revived the immigration debate ahead of November's mid-term congressional elections. And it has ratcheted up pressure on Obama to keep his campaign promise to Hispanics, a key Democratic constituency, to seek passage of comprehensive immigration reform early in his presidency.

Obama said on Wednesday there may not be an "appetite" in Congress to tackle the divisive issue in an election year.

Passing a bill offering a path to citizenship for many of the 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States would boost support for Democrats among Hispanics, the country's largest minority, but would run the risk of energizing Republican opposition to Democratic lawmakers in swing states and congressional districts.

The uproar could boost turnout at rallies across the country this weekend. It has spurred calls for economic boycotts of Arizona and its Major League Baseball team.

(Additional reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Steve Gorman and Stacey Joyce)

Prabhakaran's jaffna house demolished

Colombo, April 29 -- Slain Tamil Tiger chief Vellupillai Prabhakran's ancestral house in the Jaffna peninsula has been demolished, a Tamil politician said on Thursday. M K Sivajilingam from the Tamil National Liberation Alliance told HT over phone from Jaffna that Prabhakaran's house, located in Valvettithurai, about 30 km from Jaffna town, was "gradually" demolished in the last few weeks.

Prabhakaran was killed on May 18. "The house was slowly demolished by security forces in the last few weeks as it was becoming a tourist attraction.

I saw it on April 21 and again today. It is a pile of rubble," Sivajilingam said.

He said the government wanted to remove everything related to Prabhakaran. "I had written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and told him that the house was being destroyed.

Singh to stand trial for helping killer driver flee Australia

Sydney, Apr 30 (ANI): Sukhcharanjit Singh, who has been charged for allegedly helping a killer driver flee Australia on a false passport, has been ordered to stand trial by a court.

"Twenty-one-year-old Singh pleaded not guilty to improperly providing driver Puneet Puneet with his passport and perverting the course of justice," reported The Herald Sun.

Puneet fled to India, while he was out on bail for culpable driving over the death of nineteen-year-old Queenslander Dean Hofstee.

It is reported that Puneet was drunk and travelling at 148km/h in a 60km/h zone, when he hit Hofstee outside a Southbank Hotel in October 2008.

Singh accepted that he gave Puneet his passport, but claimed the act was done so that Puneet could get him a credit card. (ANI)

Another Indian student attacked in Australia

Sydney, Apr 30(ANI): In yet another attack on Indian students in Australia, a 24-year-old youth was beaten up by three unidentified assailants in Westmead, New South Wales, police said.

Merrylands Police said the man was walking along Amos Street at 7.30p.m. on Wednesday when three men came from behind him and repeatedly hit him in the face.

"The blows forced the man to the ground where he was set upon by three attackers who began kicking him," The Daily Telegraph quoted a police statement, as saying.

"When a passenger from a passing taxi stopped to assist the victim, one of the assailants stole the assaulted man's wallet, containing a small amount of money, and the attackers fled on foot towards the Parramatta Golf Club," it added.

Police attended the scene along with paramedics. The student suffered a bleeding nose and cut to his mouth and was treated at the scene.

The attack follows a string of similar attacks against Indians in the country in the last 12 months. (ANI)

'Dr. Death' Patel threatened to quit when patient transfer was arranged

Brisbane, Apr.30 (ANI): Brisbane's Supreme Court has been told that controversial Indian origin surgeon Dr. Jayant Patel went purple with rage when a dangerously ill patient was transferred from the Bundaberg Hospital to Brisbane.

The court was told that he told a junior doctor that he would leave the hospital if the transfer of the patient took place, forcing medical staff to reconsider.

This information came out as the crown (prosecution) presented leading evidence about an operation on James Grave, even though Patel is not facing any charge involving his surgery.

Prosecutor Ross Martin told the court it was important the jury heard evidence about Mr Grave, who had oesophageal cancer, because the case was a "warning" to Patel to not perform the complex oesophagectomy operation, reports The Courier Mail.

The court was told that Grave was diagnosed with oesophagectomy on early June 6, 2003, but deteriorated and was eventually transferred to Brisbane.

Dr Carl Kennedy said he was in his second year as a doctor at the Bundaberg Hospital when Grave was a patient in the intensive care unit.

He said, as a junior, rather than having input into the treatment of patients, he would follow instructions from senior medical staff.

Dr Kennedy explained that Patel had recorded several times that Grave was improving and, by June 12, after six days in the ICU, Patel made a note that Grave was doing very well after surgery to repair his operation wound.

Dr Kennedy said that, after 11 days in the intensive care unit, Grave was not doing very well. He had had two further operations on a seeping wound and twice had tubes inserted to drain off excess fluid.

"I thought as a junior house officer, (Mr) Grave was getting sicker and needed much more support. He needed to go to Brisbane where there were much more facilities and where they were able to deal with such patients," he said.

Dr Kennedy said he understood the Bundaberg ICU was only for short-term patients and Grave had been there for much longer.

"It wasn't a case where it was staff could no longer do for this gentleman. It looked as though he would need long-term ventilation and support of his heart. It was a more complicated case than Bundaberg would normally handle," he added.

Dr Kennedy said there was always a risk such patients might not receive the degree of care they could at larger centres.

He said he took administrative steps to have Grave moved and he found a bed for him at the (then) Royal Brisbane Hospital..

However, Patel found out and confronted Dr Kennedy.

"He was quite upset that the patient was going and said to me: 'If that patient leaves, then I leave the hospital," Dr Kenendy said.

After discussions between senior staff it was decided to keep Grave at Bundaberg for a further 24 hours.

Patel, 60, has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Phillips, 46, Mervyn Morris, 75, and Geradus Wihelmus Gosewinus Kemps, 77, and causing grievous bodily harm to Ian Rodney Vowles, 62, on various dates between March 2003 and April 2005.

Grave eventually recovered in the ICU at the Brisbane's Mater Hospital before being returned to the Bundaberg Hospital where he was eventually discharged. He died in January 2004.

Former Oz lawmaker Hanson won't sell home to Muslims

Brisbane, Apr. 30 (ANI): Former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has taken her million dollar Queensland home off the market, following a backlash against her decision not to sell to Muslims.

e house is located in Coleyville, southwest of Brisbane. Hanson has been planning to move to the UK.
Her decision comes amid widespread outrage, prompted by remarks from the former politician that she's not prepared to sell to Muslims or foreign investors because the buyer has to be compatible with the Australian way of life.
Her LJ Hooker real estate agent, Keith Edwards, said he'd received an onslaught of emails and calls following the controversial comments.
"Pauline withdrew the property from the market, and I no longer represent her and LJ Hooker no longer represent her," Mr. Edwards said. (ANI)

Female sailor aboard HMAS Success faces sex grope charge

Melbourne, April 30 (ANI): The HMAS Success has landed itself in yet another alcohol-fuelled sex scandal after a female sailor allegedly groped her male colleagues in public after she became drunk.

It is understood that the female sailor went ashore during a port visit in Singapore this month and that she went on a binge.
One of the men made an official complaint and the Australian Defence Force Investigation Service has launched an investigation.
Defence Force chief Angus Houston said on April 30 the ADF Investigative Service was looking into the incident.
"We take any instances of inappropriate behaviour seriously," News.com.au quoted him as saying in a statement.
The Success is already at the centre of a Commission of Inquiry by Roger Gyles, QC, over allegations of bullying, inappropriate relationships, public sex and drug abuse.
That inquiry has been delayed and Defence Chief Angus Houston has told a parliamentary committee that another 35 witnesses have been identified during hearings.
The inquiry is examining whether a culture of bullying existed in the ship's engineering department.
Evidence has been heard that some sailors were regularly drunk when the ship was in port and engaged in public sex acts. (ANI)

Oz Prime Minister to lose smokers' votes over hike in cigarette prices

Sydney, May 1 (ANI): Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's intentions might be noble, but he is facing the ire of the Australian working class following a whopping 25 percent increase in excise tax on tobacco.

Rudd, who has dedicatedly waged war against tobacco, is fast losing popularity for his vigourous anti-tobacco campaign.
Many vented their anger with almost 70 per cent of smokers responding to a Daily Telegraph online poll, confirming the tax would cost Rudd their vote.
However, Rudd's concern is not without reason. The numbers speak for themselves.
According to The Daily Telegraph, a 2005 survey found smoking was significantly higher among people who worked in manual labour or factories, where almost 40 per cent of labourers smoked, leading to a higher mortality rate amongst them.
Labor strategists are aware of the negative impact such a move will have on the Labor voters but feel that others who identify with the moral certitude of this policy will nullify the effects.

Thousands protest against mining in New Zealand

Wellington, May 1 (DPA) An estimated 50,000 people marched through central Auckland Saturday in a mass protest against the government's proposal to open up some national parks for mining minerals.

Conservationists claim the move would ruin the '100-per-cent Pure' slogan New Zealand uses to promote its scenery and foodstuffs in advertisements to tourists and consumers around the world.

Prime Minister John Key said earlier this month that large undeveloped mineral resources underground should be tapped to lift the country's struggling economy out of recession.

Proposals to mine prime conservation land include the 285-square-km Great Barrier Island, off Auckland, and the scenic Coromandel Peninsula.

Although Key said the plan involved only 0.2 per cent of the highest priority conservation land, environmental organisations said it was just the start of a mining attack on New Zealand's countryside that attracts nearly 2.5 million foreign tourists a year.

The proposal has already attracted 14,000 letters of protest.

'Our land will always be more important to our identity than some extra dollars in the pockets of mining companies,' local actor and parade leader Robyn Malcolm said.

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee said the government knew it was a contentious issue but claimed the country was divided 50-50 on the proposal, which he said was needed to drive a flagging economy.

U.S. mulls Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone: Report

Washington, May 1(ANI): The U.S. administration is reportedly negotiating a proposal with Egypt to make the Middle East a region free of nuclear weapons.

According to the Wall Street Journal, through the negotiations, the U.S. also seeks to prevent Iran from derailing a month long U.N. conference on nuclear nonproliferation that begins Monday.

Senior Obama administration officials said the White House is willing to significantly advance a Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone, and would support a conference on the subject at a future date.

"We've made a proposal to them [Egypt] that goes beyond what the U.S. has been willing to do before," the newspaper quoted a senior U.S. official involved in the nuclear diplomacy, as saying.

US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher, however said that the U.S. does not believe the aim could be achieved without major advances in Arab-Israeli peace talks.We are concerned that the conditions are not right unless all members of the region participate, which would be unlikely unless there is a comprehensive peace plan which is accepted," Tauscher said.

She said the U.S. has also discussed the zone with the Arab League and other members of the Non-aligned Movement.

According to several U.S. officials, it is an important step in assuring countries that Washington will address weapons proliferation across the region. (ANI)