Latest and Most Recent Oceania News from Topix [May ‘11 Series]

[Topix]

IT'S official. The universe is slowly fading away into the distance. An invisible force thought to be pushing the cosmos ever faster apart does exist, Australian astronomers have concluded.

Source: Einstein was right all along: the future is dark

[Topix]

The Second International Earth and Sky Photo Contest celebrates images that combine the beauties of the night sky with a notable location or landmark on Earth.

Source: Photos focus on night-sky wonders and worries

[Topix]

It's a hard life working on the front line of the mining boom to build our nation's prosperity.

Source: The softies' challenge: adapting to success

[Topix]

JOHN HOWARD says he would have done nothing different on the intervention, which was ''absolutely necessary''. The ''lack of responsibility and the failures of the Northern Territory government were appalling'', the former prime minister said.

Source: It was right to step in, Howard insists

[Topix]

Disputed territory Lindsay Murdoch May 21, 2011 Banjo Morton ... ''We are finished with the intervention.'' Photo: Angela Wylie In the first of a series, Lindsay Murdoch reviews the successes - and failures - of the federal intervention, four years on.

Source: Aboriginal land

[Topix]

CAMPBELL Newman will demand more infrastructure cash from the federal government if he becomes Queensland premier, but he has stopped short of saying he would follow Western Australia's lead of lifting mining royalties.

Source: Qld needs more infrastructure cash: Newman

[Topix]

OPPOSITION senators will press for answers on the fate of 91 missing boat people who left Indonesia last November, as part of a wide-ranging attack on the government's handling of asylum seekers.

Source: Labor to be grilled over lost boat people

[Topix]

WOMEN are having unnecessary caesareans and cases of genital mutilation and medical errors have gone unreported owing to a culture of tribal loyalty among obstetricians, a health sociologist says.

Source: Obstetricians accused of tribal arrogance

[Topix]

Down a hole ... fibre optic cables being installed in Kiama for the national broadband network.

Source: NBN Armidale launches with 7 customers

[Topix]

A Wanaka bar has taken to helping deal with Central Otago's rabbit plague by offering half-price beer to patrons who bring in dead rabbits.

Source: New Zealand bar offers half-price beer for dead rabbits