US report on documented UFOs leaves sightings unexplained

A turning point for the US government after decades deflecting, debunking and discrediting UFO observations.

A US government report on UFOs found defence and intelligence analysts lack sufficient data to determine the nature of mysterious flying objects observed by military pilots including whether they are advanced earthly technologies, atmospherics or extraterrestrial. The report, prepared by US spy agencies and the military, was submitted to Congress and released to the public on Friday. It said the government cannot explain 143 of 144 observations of what it officially refers to as “unidentified aerial phenomenon,” or UAP, dating back to 2004. US finds no evidence aerial sightings were alien spacecraft: NYT‘Obelisk’ in US desert draws wild theories from UFO spottersMars mission: NASA’s diversity Perseverance pays offWhat is QAnon, the conspiracy theory spreading throughout the US “UAP clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to US national security,” the report stated, adding that the phenomena “probably lack a single explanation”. “In a limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis,” the report said. The report includes some UAP cases that previously came to light in the Pentagon’s release of video from US naval aviators showing enigmatic aircraft off the US East and West Coasts exhibiting speed and manoeuvrability exceeding known aviation technologies and lacking any visible means of propulsion or flight-control surfaces. A senior US official, asked about the possibility of extraterrestrial explanations for the observations, said, “That’s not the purpose of the task force, to evaluate any sort of search for extraterrestrial life … That’s not what we were charged with doing.” “Of the 144 reports we are dealing with here, we have no clear indications that there is any non-terrestrial explanation for them – but we will go wherever the data takes us,” the official added. The report was produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in conjunction with a US Navy-led UAP task force. It established five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, US government or American industry developmental programmes, foreign adversary systems and a catch-all “other” category. All but one of the incidents, an instance attributed to “airborne clutter”, remain unexplained, subject to further analysis, US officials told reporters during an advance briefing to describe the report’s findings.

For the remaining 143 cases, the government has yet to rule in or out whether the sightings might be of extraterrestrial origin, the officials said. “Of data we have, we don’t have any clear indications that any of these unidentified aerial phenomena are part of a foreign [intelligence] collection programme, and we don’t have any clear data that is indicative of a major technological advancement by a potential adversary,” the senior official said. The government in recent years has adopted UAP as its preferred term for what are otherwise known as “unidentified flying objects“, or UFOs, long associated with the notion of alien spacecraft. A second senior official said that 21 of the reports show UAPs “that appear to have some sort of advanced propulsion or advanced technology”, and appear to lack any means of propulsion or acceleration and exhibit speeds beyond what the United States believes foreign adversaries possess. Ordered by Congress The report was ordered by Congress as part of broader intelligence legislation signed by former President Donald Trump in December. “For years, the men and women we trust to defend our country reported encounters with unidentified aircraft that had superior capabilities, and for years their concerns were often ignored and ridiculed,” said Senator Marco Rubio. “This report is an important first step in cataloguing these incidents, but it is just a first step.” The report marks a turning point for the US government after the military spent decades deflecting, debunking and discrediting observations of unidentified flying objects and “flying saucers” back to the 1940s. Two men dance on a road to an entrance to Area 51, a secretive US military base in Nevada believed by UFO enthusiasts to hold evidence of extraterrestrials [File: Jim Urquhart/Reuters]“Anytime there is a safety-of-flight or counterintelligence concern, we take those things very seriously and we will continue to take those things seriously,” the first senior official said. Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, urged a systematic analysis of the potential national security and flight safety risks posed by UAP “without preconceptions” to determine whether they are the result of a foreign adversary, atmospheric or other aerial phenomena, space debris “or something else entirely”. It is not the first official government report on the subject. The US Air Force carried out a previous UFO investigation called Project Blue Book that ended in 1969 and compiled a list of 12,618 sightings, 701 of which involved objects that officially remained “unidentified”. In 1994, the Air Force announced that it had completed a study to locate records relating to the 1947 “Roswell incident” in New Mexico. It said materials recovered near Roswell were consistent with a crashed balloon, the military’s longstanding explanation, and that no records indicated that there had been the recovery of alien bodies or extraterrestrial materials. SOURCE: REUTERS

Climate change decimating Yemen's bee farms

After driving for days on the rough roads of southern Yemen, Radwan Hizam finally reached the idyllic spot where he hoped his bees could feed from flowering Sidr trees to produce their world-renowned honey. But he was too late.

Unseasonal rains meant the Sidr trees had flowered early and their pale yellow petals had fallen away long before Hizam had unloaded his hives – leaving his bees hungry and decimating his annual production of Sidr honey.

Hizam said climate change was to blame.

"It was a huge loss," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, estimating that he had missed out on more than three-quarters of his expected honey output because of the flowering flop.

"Beekeeping is a family business, our main source of income, and a part of Yemen's culture. But it's being threatened by climate change," Hizam, 45, said from his home province of Taiz in southwestern Yemen.

War-torn Yemen has had its troubles compounded in recent years by recurrent droughts, increasing numbers of extremely hot days and more volatile rainfall – all prompted by climate change, according to its Environmental Protection Agency.

The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country experienced a 29 per cent increase in rainfall over the last 30 years and a rise of more than 0.5 degree Celsius in average temperatures, according to a 2015 analysis by the Climate Service Centre Germany.

Bees are seen on a honeycomb at an apiary in Yemen's northern Hajjah province on 10 November 2019.

That is hurting one of the country's most precious commodities: Sidr honey, which is produced by bees feeding off the nectar of the ancient tree, also known as the jujube.

Sidr honey is prized for its health benefits and sells outside Yemen for about $75 per 250 grammes.

Typically, beekeepers from around Yemen transport their hives by truck to Sidr groves for the annual flowering season, which lasts about a month.

But unseasonal rains caused by climate change are throwing off flowering seasons and threatening the livelihoods of Yemen's 100,000 beekeeping households, said a 2020 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report on Yemeni honey production.

Trees either bloom earlier than usual or unexpected downpours knock Sidr flowers off the branches before bees can get to their nectar.

Flash floods

Flash floods are also slashing honey production, said Fuad Ali, the head of the UNDP's Economic Development Unit in the city of Sanaa.

"Farmers and beekeepers used to have a traditional method of warning each other when a flood was coming in, which was to shoot into the air in particular patterns. But now the floods are too sudden for them to have enough time to warn each other," he said.

Flash flooding across seven provinces in 2016 wiped out many beehives, said Abdullah Nasher, the head of Yemen's Beekeeping Association.

Droughts during the winter in northern Yemen hurt beekeepers there, too.

"This disorients the beekeepers; they lose out on the season in its entirety and on their production," Nasher said.

The losses are steep, particularly as transport for nomadic beekeepers has become both risky and expensive due to the conflict that has been raging across Yemen since 2015.

Last year, Mohammad Aqari paid about $300 to hire labourers, a truck driver and a guide to transport his bees from his home province of Hujjah to a high-quality feeding ground in an area affected by the conflict.

"When we got there, the Sidr trees were doing well and the bees began gathering nectar. A few days later, the weather changed suddenly from mild to cold, and the rain started," said Aqari, 40, who leads Hujjah's Beekeeper Collective.

"The bees could no longer find any nectar in the flowers, so to stay alive they had to eat their own honey. When I checked the honeycombs, they were all empty," Aqari said.

Aqari lost out on $1,000 of his expected $6,000 earnings for the season, but others in Hujjah lost five times as much, he added.

Things are getting worse

Climate modelling suggests the situation could get worse.

Heavy rain events are likely to become both more intense and more frequent in Yemen by 2030, according to projections by the Climate Service Centre Germany.

By 2085, Yemen could see its heavy rain events become 33 per cent more intense and as much as 139 per cent more frequent, it said.

But climate adaptation interventions have been difficult, specialists say, partly because rival authorities control different Yemeni governorates – complicating nationwide data collection.

"You need historical climate data, and even if you have data you don't know if it's reliable or not," said the UN Environment Programme's West Asia office, which covers Yemen.

The conflict has also diverted most foreign help towards urgent humanitarian aid.

The Netherlands' foreign office, for instance, said it had to redirect funding from several climate-related projects in Yemen in 2018 to support emergency humanitarian needs.

And while some foreign and domestic development initiatives have tried to support beekeepers, they have focused on distributing hives or marketing the honey – not on making the sector resistant to adverse climate shifts, Nasher said.

As the poorest and most water-insecure country in the Middle East and North Africa, Yemen has been left without the tools to face the volatility to come, analysts said.

"Even though its own (CO2) emissions are low, its farmers and beekeepers are among the most affected and the least prepared for climate change," said the UNDP's Ali.

Aqari said he feared he may not be able to pass his passion onto the next generation as climate threats increase.

"This profession runs through our veins, and I couldn't leave my children in this life without teaching them," he said. "Bees are part of my life."

Ethiopia’s plan to build Red Sea military bases fuels tension with Egypt

Amid the stalled negotiations with Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia is expressing its intention to build military bases in the Red Sea.

Djibouti is the main transit point for seabound goods coming and going from land-locked Ethiopia.

CAIRO — Ethiopia recently made fiery remarks that further fuelled tensions with Egypt over the controversial dam Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile.

On June 2, Dina Mufti, spokesperson for the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said his country is determined to build military bases in the Red Sea. Speaking at a press conference held in Addis Ababa, he added, “Various countries (which he did not name) are showing an interest in controlling the Red Sea region by establishing more military bases than ever before.”

Mufti said his country is planning to build military bases at a time when “worrying” changes are happening in the Horn of Africa.

This comes as Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan have not made any progress in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) talks, the last round of which was held in January.

Although Cairo has not made any official comments on Mufti’s statements, the latter have ignited criticism in the local media.

In this vein, Maj. Gen. Mohamed al-Shahawy, adviser to the army's Command and Staff College, told Al-Monitor, “Ethiopia is a landlocked country, which means that it does not have direct access to the Red Sea. The repeated statements (about the Red Sea) are designed to preoccupy Ethiopia’s public opinion, cover up for the [Ethiopian] economic crisis and divert attention from the Tigray war.”

After Eritrea gained independence in 1911 after three decades of war with Ethiopia, Addis Ababa lost direct access to the Red Sea.

"Talk about setting up Ethiopian military bases in the Red Sea comes in response to the military agreements Egypt signed with a number of Nile Basin countries and the joint military exercises conducted with Sudan recently," Shahawy said.

He believes these military agreements Egypt signed would force Ethiopia to sign a binding and legal agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD.

Egypt signed a number of military agreements with African countries, especially those close to the Nile Basin region and most recently a defence cooperation agreement signed on May 26 with Kenya.

In March, Egypt signed a defence agreement with Sudan; it signed a memorandum of understanding on the exchange of intel with Uganda in April. Also, the Egyptian and Burundian militaries signed in the same month a military cooperation agreement focusing on training and joint exercises.

Hani Raslan, head of the Nile Basin Studies Unit at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “The Ethiopian officials reiterate every now and then their intention to establish military bases (in the region) after they decided to re-establish the Ethiopian navy, which necessitates a seaport and a military naval base.”

In June 2018, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged to rebuild the country’s navy that was dissolved in 1996.

During French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Addis Ababa in March 2019, the two countries signed a defence cooperation agreement to develop the Ethiopian navy and train Ethiopian sailors in France.

Raslan believes “an understanding with a country bordering the Red Sea, including Eritrea, is required in order for Ethiopia to build a military base in the Red Sea.”

In December 2019, Ethiopia’s Capital magazine revealed an agreement to establish an Ethiopian naval base in Djibouti, after previous proposals to build it in Sudan or Eritrea allegedly fell through.

Mohammad Hassan, an expert focusing on military affairs at the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, “The timing of the Ethiopian statements on the military base carries several indications. Ethiopian generals are well aware that Ethiopia is a landlocked country." He added, "Egypt succeeded in politically encircling Ethiopia from all axes by signing security, military and economic cooperation agreements with Sudan, Djibouti, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. As a result, Addis Ababa was isolated from its regional surroundings in the search for a way out of this crisis.”

Shahawy said Egypt insists on its principle that the Nile waters are a red line and that it is a life or death matter regardless of the circumstances.

Source: Al-Monitor