Can anyone verify that this story is true? I wonder about the "spin" on this article, that it's believed to be "space aliens", rather than a laser beam, the kind used not long ago by the U.S. military on a ship out at sea, a beam sent to an embassy somewhere in Africa (if I remember correctly) awhile back because it was believed Ben Laden was hiding out there.

Here's the story: http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/stories/1467.html SPACE ALIENS DESTROYED

RADIO TELESCOPE

. . . because they didn't want us

eavesdropping on them, say scientists!

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- In a devastating

setback to the international search for extraterrestrial

life, a giant radio telescope being used to probe the

stars has been destroyed -- and some scientists fear

that aliens may be responsible for the mysterious

mishap!

At 2:13 a.m. on

March 18, what

witnesses

described as a

"pulsating blue

beam" streaked

out of the sky and

slammed into the

250-foot

Rand-Wilson

telescope near

Johannesburg,

lighting up the

facility and a

quarter-mile area

surrounding it.

At daybreak,

stunned

researchers

found that the multimillion-dollar telescope had been

reduced to a tangle of scorched and twisted metal.

"It looked as if it had taken a direct hit from a category five

hurricane, but the weather that night was completely

tranquil," chief astronomer Dr. Nigel Van Hecht said in a

phone interview.

"We are entirely at a loss as to what could have caused

this. The damage is certainly not consistent with any known

natural phenomenon, such as lightning.

"We have concluded that it is the result of sabotage and

because of the uncanny nature of the weapon, we are

strongly leaning toward the theory that the attackers were

non-terrestrial."

The South Africa-based telescope, one of the world's

largest, was a key element in the international scientific

endeavor known as the Search for Extraterrestrial

Intelligence, or SETI.

Scientists use radio telescopes -- essentially giant

antennas -- to "listen" for radio waves coming from outer

space.

While some radio waves are natural, the theory is that

waves within certain frequencies or manifesting unusual

patterns could only be broadcasts from an alien civilization.

The program has been widely hailed as a more prudent and

cost-effective means of alien- hunting than manned space

exploration. And the powerful Rand-Wilson telescope, able

to listen in on about 6,000 stars within 400 light-years of our

solar system, was considered a uniquely vital tool.

But Dr. Van Hecht and his colleagues now fear the

approach may have backfired.

"It's conceivable that the aliens don't like us eavesdropping

on them -- and that this was their crystal-clear way of telling

us to cut it out," the astronomer said. "Certainly, they may

have secrets they don't want us listening in on."

Although researchers around the world will continue to use

other radio telescopes to scan the cosmos for signs of

intelligence, the Rand-Wilson telescope is history.

"The damage is irreparable," Dr. Van Hecht said. "This is a

real tragedy for science."