Former Director of Public Prosecutions, Stephen Pallaras QC, is launching his own political party, named Real Change SA, and has revealed his priorities as a candidate at the upcoming state election, The Advertiser reports.

Mr Pallaras, who served as the state’s top prosecutor from 2005 until 2012, will run as an independent candidate in the Legislative Council after he was told by the Labor Party the preselection process had already been finalised.

Drawing on his legal background, Mr Pallaras will run on a platform of improving domestic violence services, care and housing of the elderly and the state of the health system, as well as areas of law reform.

“I had to actually decide do I want to do it badly enough or just talk about it and I decided I did want to do it badly enough,” Mr Pallaras told the newspaper.

“I think South Australia has a lot to offer, it’s a great state, but there are many things that need fixing.

“There are things that we can do and what bugs me most is that nobody’s actually doing anything about them.”

Mr Pallaras said that, in order to register the party with the SA Electoral Commission, he needed 200 people to sign up as members by the end of the week, which marks six months until the election.

He said on Wednesday he had collected about half of the required signatures.

Source: The Advertiser.

A $1 million reward is on offer to help solve the suspicious disappearance of a Melbourne man believed to have been murdered more than 18 years ago, Nine News reports.

Nick Falos, then aged 55, was last seen on March 14, 2003 at about 8.30am as he drove his red Porsche along Albion Street in Brunswick.

His Porsche coupe with registration JD 944 was found burnt out in the Yarra State Forest at the intersection of Mt Beenak Road and Torbetts Road, near Gladysdale, three days later.

Mr Falos, who also went by the name Nikolaos Falieros, was reported missing on April 1 by a concerned neighbour who hadn’t seen him for several weeks.

Police searched bushland near Gladysdale in May that year but found no trace of Mr Falos.

Police are investigating a number of lines of inquiry including a phone call made from a payphone to Mr Falos on the morning of Saturday, March 15, 2003.

Detective Acting Inspector Tony Combridge of the Missing Persons Squad said police believe Mr Falos was murdered.

“It may be 18 years since Nick disappeared, however, I would like to strongly reinforce to the community that this is very much an active investigation,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

“While Nick is no longer believed to be alive, we are still hopeful of finding out what happened to him.

“It is also our belief that a number of people were potentially involved in Nick’s murder.”

In 2018, a 77-year-old Endeavour Hills man and an 84-year-old Devon Meadows man were arrested in relation to his disappearance. Both were later released without charge, 7 News reports.

Detective Acting Inspector Combridge said police believe there are multiple people out there who could assist with the investigation. Police are keen to speak to anyone who recalls seeing Mr Falos or his red Porsche in the Yarra Junction area on March 15 or 16 in 2003.

“There is the possibility that the person or persons responsible for his death may have spoken to someone about Nick and today’s reward announcement may lead to them finally coming forward with information,” Mr Combridge said.

“People’s circumstances can change over the years and someone who may not have wanted to provide information to police previously may now feel ready to do so.”

Investigators have released photos of Mr Falos and a vehicle similar to his Porsche in the hope that someone will remember seeing him or the car.

A reward of up to $1 million will be paid at the discretion of the Chief Commissioner of Police for information leading to the apprehension and subsequent conviction of the person or persons responsible for Mr Falos’ death.

Anyone with information about the disappearance of Nick Falos is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Katie Vandorou is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania who uses a rather uncommon technique to detect planets outside of our solar system, or ‘exoplanets’. 

“They’re quite mysterious because they’re difficult to detect, they don’t emit their own light,” Vandorou tells ABC News. 

“Some of these planets are all the way at the center of our galaxy … which is about 25,000 light-years away.” 

Vandorou is using the gravitational microlensing technique to look at three exoplanet systems in particular. 

“One of the planetary systems that I’ve confirmed is called MOA 2013 BLG-220L and it’s a super-Jupiter, so it’s three times the size of Jupiter, and orbits a star similar to our sun,” she said. 

She compiles her research into an exoplanet archive, an open-source website assessed by scientists all over the world. 

Vandorou has been accepted to work at NASA later in the year where she will continue her gravitational microlensing research work. 

“I’ll be doing more follow-up observations on these systems and there will also be room to work on some other things and collaborate with some new people,” she says.

“It’s definitely a very good opportunity and opens lots of doors and the US has a lot of research around exoplanets so it means I get a lot of exposure to a lot of other scientists, which will be cool.”

Source: ABC News