U.N. denies appointing Earth's 'first contact' for aliens

Washington, Sep 28 (ANI): The United Nations has dismissed reports that it is set to appoint an obscure Malaysian astrophysicist to act as Earth's first contact for any aliens that may come visiting.

London's Sunday Times earlier reported that Mazlan Othman, the head of the U.N.'s little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa), is set to describe her potential new role as chief alien ambassador next week at a scientific conference at the Royal Society's Kavli conference center in Buckinghamshire, England.

"Nonsense," responded the U.N.

"The mandate of the Office for Outer Space Affairs is defined by the United Nations General Assembly and there are no plans to change the current mandate," Fox News quoted Jamshid Gaziyev, a spokesman for the agency, as saying.

The Times article claimed that Othman would tell delegates that the recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars has made the detection of extraterrestrial life more likely than ever before and henceforth, the U.N. must be ready to coordinate humanity's response to any "first contact."

"Instead, she will use the conference to discuss the problems posed by space debris mitigation, near-Earth objects (asteroids) and the coordination mechanism for the use of space technology in the United Nations system," Gaziyev concluded. (ANI)