South Africa, Australia and New Zealand will host the biggest radio telescope ever built. The nations belonging to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) organisation took the decision at a meeting today. The 1.5 billion euro SKA's huge fields of antennas will sweep the sky for answers to the major outstanding questions in astronomy. 

They will probe the early Universe, test Einstein's theory of gravity and even search for alien intelligent life. The project aims to produce a radio telescope with a collecting area of one million square metres - equivalent to about 200 football pitches.

New Zealand authorities say the government is proposing to scrap foreign ownership limits on New Zealand airlines. In a statement to launch a discussion document on New Zealand's international air transport policy, Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee today said the policy review proposed continuing to seek inter-government agreements with liberalized investment criteria, provided certain conditions were met.

The review proposed removing limits on foreign ownership of New Zealand airlines, which were currently set at 25 percent ownership by any one foreign airline, or 35 percent by foreign airlines in total.