Could Darwin be a tourist hotspot for visitors from outer space?

Could Darwin be the UFO hotspot of the world? Well a Radio presenter certainly thinks so and has laid down the challenge that Darwin could beat previous UFO hotspots such as Roswell and Wycliffe Well.

Northern Territory radio presenter Pete Davies is calling for a UFO convention to be held in Darwin following a series of UFO sightings in the night skies. He told the Northern Territory news: “We’ve got the Convention Centre here in Darwin, why not use it for a conference for UFO spotters,”

Davies is even suggesting that Darwin could become a UFO tourist attraction, with spotters from all over the world descending on the Australian city hoping to catch a glimpse of a flying saucer.

The latest sighting was in Humpty Doo in Darwin where UFO spotter Erik Black of Brisbane saw an “ominous hamburger shaped light”. Mr Black had been searching for first hand evidence of UFOs for 30 years and the sighting in Darwin was his first encounter. “Humpty Doo is the place where I saw my first UFO after so many years of searching – of course I’ll come back, it’s all happening here.”

Top UFO researcher Alan Ferguson agreed with Pete Davies’ suggestion that Darwin could be the UFO capital of the world, saying: “I’ve been telling people for years the Territory is the place to be … But they need to look up.”

Mr Ferguson is currently filming an SBS documentary about UFO sightings in the hotspot area of Wycliffe Well, north of Alice Springs.

Perhaps the Australian Tourism Board need to take note: There’s nothing like seeing a flying saucer in the skies above Darwin.

Ken Wyatt is the new MP for Hasluck.

Australian politics is still dominating the media but hopefully a result should be known this week as Julia Gillard rejects a second vote for the Australian public.

Meanwhile a headline that has missed some of the world’s media is the fact that Australia’s House of Representatives has appointed its first Aboriginal member. Ken Wyatt took the seat for Hasluck in Western Australia for the Liberal Party.

Mr Wyatt received a majority win over the Labor Party and claims that his race has nothing to do with him winning his seat: “In 50 years’ time historians and people will be analysing why Hasluck chose an indigenous candidate, and what they’ll discover is that they didn’t choose an indigenous candidate because I was indigenous.” Mr Wyatt told reporters. “They chose a person who they believed would represent the interests of everybody within Hasluck.”

However his victory was marred by hate mail sent to him which he says he was disappointed by, but declare that Australia had to move forward.

In the past two other indigenous Australians have also served in Parliament, but Mr Wyatt is the first to be elected to the House of Representatives.

Fosters is an Australian symbol.

Fosters is almost as Australian as you can get, along with other stereotypical Aussie symbols such as the cork brimmed hat. But is Australia about to lose one of its symbols?

The Canadian-American beer maker Molson Coors has indicated its interest in a possible takeover bid for Fosters along with London-based SABMiller.

Fosters have struggled with an excess wine production in Australia that has led to a $464 million dollar loss. It seems that the company may be looking for a way out and a takeover provides the ideal escape route.

Bosses at Fosters have also taken the steps to demerger the disastrous wine division from the more successful beer division. It is the success of Fosters beers that are interesting potential buyers.

However even the beer sales are struggling to win back the popularity of once strong brands such as VB and their new labels like Pure Blonde haven’t done as well as predicted. Reasons for a fall in beer sales have been put down to a high Australian dollar, high interest rates and falling beer consumption.

Rival brewers always have an eye on each other and so the takeover bids from Molson and Miller come as no surprise, but how will Australians feel about their national beer being sold abroad? Could Fosters soon be giving up its Australian status? No deal is on the table yet but a high amount of interest is being shown in the brewery giant. You never know, Fosters may soon be brewed in Britain and exported to Australia! Strewth!

With the election in Australia just days away Julia Gillard has said a future change in Monarch would be an appropriate time to move to a republic. Gillard added that Australia has a “deep affection” for the 84 year old Queen wishing the Queen a happy long life.

Tony Abbott, Gillard’s main opponent sees no need to become a republic  ” our existing constitutional arrangements have worked well in the past and I see no reason whatsoever why they can’t continue to work well in the future”

Give us a kiss then!

From roo poo collector to randy roos now as a rather amorous kangaroo has taken to following women in the Northern Territory and making advances.

About a month ago it was reported that a rather large kangaroo with an even larger appendage was stalking women joggers in regions of the Northern Territory. Well since that story broke, more women have come forward to tell of unwanted advances made by the randy male.

Two women have told the Courier Mail of how the large male has chased them near Tennant Creek, of them has been chased in that spot twice by the same kangaroo. Both were terrified, thinking that the kangaroo would attack them. “With is male pride on full alert, he started circling me. There was no doubt about what he wanted, the randy old thing” said one victim, Natasha Civitarese.

Both women managed to flee from the beast but hunters are now stalking the roo themselves, before he gets into any more mischief.

Kangaroos don’t normally seek out the company of humans and can get aggressive when threatened, taking up the ‘boxing’ stance, but reports of attacks on humans are extremely rare, even rarer are reports of amorous advances on women. Obviously the poor roo has had no luck with his own species so he thought he’d try his luck with a different one. This is one kangaroo that needs tying down, sport.

Kevin Rudd was welcomed back by Julia Gillard.

In a last ditch attempt to win back the voters ahead of the Australian general elections in two weeks time, Julia Gillard has been forced to welcome back the man she ousted – Kevin Rudd.

Just as Tony Blair was wheeled in to support an ailing Gordon Brown in the UK elections last May, Mr Rudd has been drafted in to warn voters off voting for Tony Abbott and to lend his support to his one-time colleague and partner.

It has been rumoured that Julia Gillard went back on a deal to support Mr Rudd after she saw his popularity plummet and realised she could make more of a success if she stepped out alone. The Australian media have reported that Mr Rudd was furious with the way he was treated.

But as they met yesterday they were all smiles as they sat side-by-side facing the country’s media.

Julia Gillard’s popularity in the polls has plummeted since it was leaked that she voiced doubts over paid parental leave and a pension rise. Some rumours put the blame of the leak squarely on Mr Rudd’s shoulders. Whoever was to blame, the leak couldn’t have come at a worse time and Ms Gillard has struggled to win the voters trust since.

Mr Rudd delivered however, launching a scathing attack on Mr Abbott: “I cannot for one sit idly by and watch Mr Abbott try to slide in to office,”

However Mr Abbott, just a few hours later, launched his own counter attack, with former Prime Minister John Howard by his side. “We have a great opportunity to turf out a thoroughly incompetent government.” Said Mr Howard.

With the campaigning reaching critical points and both parties determined to outfox the other, this could be the most interesting general election in Australia yet.

Do you recognise this croc? If you do then you are not alone for quite a few people claim to own this snap of the giant crocodile taken somewhere in Australia.

The photograph first appeared in the Northern Territory News of a dead croc thought to be from Manangoora, an outpost around 56km east of Borroloola. The22 foot monster croc came with a claim from Jeida Francis that his aunt took the photo of the croc.

It had apparently been harassing the cattle of the local community and so it was shot. The photograph, he says, was posted onto his cousin’s Facebook page (that’s her in the picture) two years ago and he claims it must have been ‘stolen’ from there.

However another claimant has come forward who says the photo belongs to them! Chas Cole from Katherine said that a friend of hers who happened to be a structural engineer took the picture of the dead after it had become entangled in some cables and drowned.

Yet in another bizarre twist the photograph appeared in the Cairns Post two years ago in 2008. The croc was said to have been illegally shot in the Albert River and a police investigation was hampered by the fact that the crocodile was headless, although as you can see from the photo the crocodile appears to be intact.

So the riddle of the crocodile is unsolved. If you can shed any more light on the mystery do let us know!

Jaws it ain't! The rescue moment was captured by photographer Ruth Fahey.

When a surfer comes face to face with a shark it usually doesn’t end well, a fact that has made the shark the loathsome enemy of surfers, but one lucky shark owes its life to some plucky surfers who pulled out all the stops to help it!

A three metre long great white shark was spotted washed up on a mid-north coast beach in New South Wales by surfer Andrew Eckersley.

Most surfers would be forgiven for refusing to get involved, but Mr Eckersley went to the shark’s aid and helped by other kind-hearted surfers, they started the battle to get it back into the ocean.

“It was pretty scary at first … it was pretty big. I wouldn’t have been able to put my fingers together if I was giving it a cuddle.” Said Mr Eckersley talking to the Daily Telegraph. Not that he was offering to cuddle the great beast!

One surfer started pouring water over the animal’s back whilst Mr Eckersley started digging away the sand from the ocean side so that the animal could be rolled back into the ocean. Then using logs they found on the beach they started levering the shark gently towards the water, taking care to keep their arms out of the way of the shark’s huge teeth. “There was the thoughts that while we were getting the logs under it that I might pinch it or something and it would lunge at me,” admitted Mr Eckersley.

When the logs failed the pair resorted to pulling the shark gently and carefully using sheer manpower. Once they managed to get the shark into deeper water it began to move around, helping in its own rescue.

The dramatic rescue was captured by photographer Ruth Fahey who thought at first that it was a dolphin washed up on the beach but soon realised it was a great white and captured this wonderful moment.

Eventually the waters were deep enough for the shark to swim off and the surfers retired, happy that they had made a friend of a previous enemy. Unfortunately the story didn’t have a happy ending as the shark was discovered washed up on the very same beach the next day.

In a macabre twist it was revealed to have had its jaw hacked out by a gruesome souvenir hunter. An undignified end to a magnificent beast.

However the fact that the shark beached itself twice within 24 hours suggests that it was already sick and possibly dying, so tragically there was only one way the story could have ended. But it does show that the kindness of humans can overcome even the most bitter of barriers and enemies in need can be just as vulnerable as the most timid of beasts.

The iPhone has a successful launch in Australia.

The iPhone 4 was launched in Australia this week and to everyone’s surprise and relief, the launch had none of the problems experience in the UK and US.

It was more than a month ago since the new iPhone 4 made its big debut in the US and UK, but not everything went according to plan. Users found that holding the left corner of the metal strip – a natural thing to do when holding the phone to your ear to talk – the phone would lose its signal in weak reception areas.

This was such a problem that users began to name it the “death grip”, much to the embarrassment of Apple who had to hurriedly develop a case that would eliminate the problem and hand them out to iPhone users.

Now every iPhone comes with a free case to stop the “death grip” effect from happening, but users in Australia found no such problems, with one reporter from The Advertiser testing the phone out without the special case and finding he could only reduce the signal bars by one or two at the most. He tested it with a number of SIM cards around various locations and still the antenna problem did not surface.

Not that any such problems would have put off the Australians queuing to get their hands on the new iPhone. In Sydney they queued in the wind and rain to snap one up and the mood seemed almost disappointed when users tested their iPhones to see if they could make the signal disappear – and failed.

However, singer Kelly Rowland’s surprise appearance at the Optus Store in Sydney for the launch of the iPhone 4 soon lifted the mood and the atmosphere became one of celebration.

If Apple were concerned that Australian buyers would be put off by Steve Job’s “we’re not perfect” moment a few weeks earlier they needn’t have worried. Thousands of Aussies have already bought the iPhone, making it a hit in Australia at least!

Gillard was said to have voiced opposition over paid parental leave.

Labour looked almost certain to win theAustralian election with Julia Gillard at the helm, however has she done a Gordon Brown that will see victory handed to the opposition?

Just a few weeks ago the Australian polls all told of the popularity of Australia’s first female Prime Minister. What a difference a day and an embarrassing leak makes!

The Prime Minister has admitted that she raised doubts over paid parental leave. Paid parental leave was approved during Rudd’s reign and proved to be highly popular with the people. The legislation will come into effect in January 2011 and will entitle both parents up to 18 weeks paid leave at minimum wage rates. Parents may also have up to 52 weeks shared unpaid leave.

However the Prime Minister was said to have questioned the costs of such a policy along with pension rise proposals. She has now been forced into an explanation of her opposition after the cabinet leak was made public.

She angrily defended her actions then, telling reporters in Adelaide: “I understand that some might say that if you don’t sign on the bottom line … as soon as a proposal is put in front of your nose, you somehow you lack passion or enthusiasm for it. Frankly, I believe that analysis is completely ridiculous and absurd.”

She also defended her stance on paid parental leave saying; “when these proposals were raised … the question in the forefront of my mind was are they affordable?” However she maintained that once she looked into the proposals in more detail she became supportive of them. She also angrily dismissed Liberal accusations that she was against pension rises because the elderly did not vote Labour, saying that she had devoted her whole life to support equal opportunities.

On the question of the leak, it is certain that someone is out to undermine the Prime Ministers election campaign, but Ms Gillard has said that she will not assume is it a cabinet leak and will therefore not be asking for an investigation.

So just what has the leak done to her popularity? Well today’s Australian media is full of the leaked story and with the pension rises and parental leave being some of the most popular Rudd legislation, it remains to be seen what the people will make of the leak, whether they accept Ms Gillard’s rather shaky defence or not.

Perhaps the former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be able to offer a few comforting words. His own election campaign in the UK plummeted when his microphone picked up comments he made about a Labour voter, calling her a bigot for questioning East European immigrants in the UK.

But in Mr Brown’s case the gaffe was truly shocking as it could not be hidden behind spin. The public may be more forgiving in Ms Gillard’s case as the leak was made public by underhand tactics. The next polls should make interesting reading.