In a statement to the media, Church of Scientology Australia President, Rev Vicki Dunstan has said that allegations of abuse and criminality made by Senator Nick Xenophon were “to forward his own political aspirations”.

Australian federal Senator Nick Xenophon (IND) has alleged that there is a “worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality” in the Church of Scientology.

Hulk Hogan was supposedly injured by fellow wrestler, Ric Flair, in an all-out brawl at a press conference in Sydney. The Hall of Fame legend was left unable to stand after an incident with a flying table, but reporters later found it was a stunt.

New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland are among the top five least corrupt nations, according to a new survey released by Transparency International. Canada is in the top ten. Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan are the most corrupt.

A decade old dispute has raged at the Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C. over tradition and modernism. In a pivotal election result early Monday, the traditionalist Sikh Youth have won a landslide victory. It is the second largest temple in North America.

A Brisbane researcher has managed to come up with a “price list” of events in people’s lives. Men and women, it seems, have very different values. Some things men see as negatives, women interpret as positives.

A British television channel is to try to help break down prejudice against people with facial disfigurement by having one of its news bulletins presented for one week by a facially disfigured man.

Originally, New Zealand was part of the New South Wales colony. When Australia became a Commonwealth, the Kiwis decided to go it alone. Despite a terrible lack of vowels and hopeless addiction to sporting trophies, they’ve done pretty well.

Sri Lankan refugees bound for Australia are presently being held in Indonesia, waiting for countries in the region to decide what to do with them. Both Australia and the Philippines have proposed alternative solutions.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has apologised after writing a mistake-filled letter to the mother of a young soldier killed last month in Afghanistan.