LAS VEGAS: UFO buffs and believers in space aliens are celebrating the CIA’s clearest acknowledgement yet of the existence of Area 51, the top-secret Cold War test site that has been the subject of elaborate conspiracy theories for decades.
For a long time, US government officials hesitated to acknowledge even the existence of Area 51.
CIA history released Thursday not only refers to Area 51 by name and describes some of the activities that took place there, but places the US Air Force base on a map, along the dry Groom Lake bed in the Nevada desert.
It also talks about some cool planes, though none of them are saucer-shaped.
The recently declassified documents set the tinfoil-hat contingent abuzz on the Internet, though there’s no mention in the papers of UFO crashes, black-eyed extraterrestrials or staged moon landings.
“I’m thinking that they’re probably testing the waters now to see how mad people get about the big lie and cover-up,” said Audrey Hewins, a woman from Maine who runs a support group for people like her who believe they have been contacted by extraterrestrials. “We’re hoping the CIA is leading up to disclosure” of the existence of space aliens on Earth.
“It’s not something you can look at us and lie about, because we know that they’re here and have been here for a long time,” she said.
George Washington University’s National Security Archive used a public records request to obtain the CIA history of one of Area 51’s most secret Cold War projects, the U-2 spy plane program.
National Security Archive senior fellow Jeffrey Richelson first reviewed the history in 2002, but all mentions of the country’s most mysterious military base had been redacted. So he requested the history again in 2005, hoping for more information. Sure enough, he received a version a few weeks ago with the mentions of Area 51 restored.
The report is unlikely to stop the conspiracy theories. The 407-page document still contains many redactions, and who’s to say those missing sections don’t involve little green men?
Some UFO buffs and others believe the most earthshattering revelations will come from Area 51 workers, not an official document.
“The government probably will not release what it knows,” UFO researcher Robert Hastings said. “My opinion is that whoever is flying these craft will break the story and will reveal themselves at some point in the future. The CIA is not going to release anything they don’t want to talk about.”
It’s not the first time the government has acknowledged the existence of the super-secret, 8,000-square-mile installation. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush referred to the “location near Groom Lake” in insisting on continued secrecy, and other government references date to the 1960s.
But Richelson as well as those who are convinced “the truth is out there” are taking the document as a sign of loosening secrecy about the government’s activities in the Nevada desert.
The site is known as Area 51 among UFO aficionados because that was the base’s designation on old Nevada test site maps. The CIA history reveals that officials renamed it “Paradise Ranch” to try to lure skilled workers, who can still be seen over Las Vegas flying to and from the site on unmarked planes.
Beginning with the U-2 in the 1950s, the base has been the testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the SR-71 Blackbird, F-117A stealth fighter and B-2 stealth bomber. Some believe the base’s Strangelovian hangars also store alien vehicles, evidence from the “Roswell incident” — the alleged 1947 crash of a UFO in New Mexico — and extraterrestrial corpses.
The CIA history mentions an “unexpected side effect” of the high-flying planes: “a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects.” The U-2 and Oxcart planes, which flew higher than civilians believed possible, accounted for half of UFO sightings during the 1950s and ‘60s, according to the report.
A likely story, said Stanton Friedman, a self-described Ufologist from Canada.
“The notion that the U-2 explains most sightings at that time is utter rot and baloney,” he said. “Can the U-2 sit still in the sky? Make right-angle turns in the middle of the sky? Take off from nothing? The U-2 can’t do any of those things.”
Even for those who do not believe in UFOs, the mystery surrounding the site — situated about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, across miles of desert speckled with Joshua trees and sagebrush — has been a boon.
Even for those who do not believe, the mystery surrounding the site — situated about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas, across miles of empty desert speckled with Joshua trees and sagebrush — has been a boon.
One Nevada bicycle event company produces an “X Rides” event that incorporates mountain and road biking near a certain heavily guarded patch of Nevada desert. Las Vegas’ minor league baseball team is called “the 51s.”
Small-town restaurants along State Route 375, officially designated the Extraterrestrial Highway, sell souvenir T-shirts to tourists making their way to the boundary of Area 51, which consists of a no-trespassing sign, a surveillance camera and an armed guard on a hill.
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CIA acknowledges Area 51 — but not UFOs or aliens
CIA acknowledges Area 51 — but not UFOs or aliens
France arrests three after coffins left at Eiffel Tower
- The incident is being investigated as a possible interference by a foreign power in French affairs
PARIS: Police have arrested three people after five coffins were found near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, draped in French flags with the inscription “French soldiers in Ukraine,” sources close to the case said Sunday.
The incident is being investigated as a possible interference by a foreign power in French affairs, they told AFP.
Around 9:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Saturday, three people left the five life-size coffins on the Quai Branly in Paris near the base of the Eiffel Tower, one of the world's most visited tourist attractions.
The boxes contained gypsum, a source close to the case told AFP.
The driver of a van used to transport the coffins, who was arrested nearby, told police that he had been paid 40 euros ($43) to drive the two others and their cargo, the source said.
The man was believed to have arrived from Bulgaria the evening before.
The two others were apprehended later Saturday across town at the Bercy coach terminal where they were about to board a service to Berlin, the source said.
One of the three people was Bulgarian, another Ukrainian and the third German, the source said. They were still in custody on Sunday.
President Emmanuel Macron said last month the question of sending Western troops to Ukraine would “legitimately” arise if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines and Kyiv made such a request.
The president was doubling down on earlier comments in which he did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, which sent shock waves through much of Europe and unsettled allies including Germany.
The Kremlin slammed the remarks, calling them “dangerous.”
French authorities have suspected foreign — notably Russian — interference in domestic affairs in several other recent incidents, including last month when red hand graffiti was painted onto France's Holocaust Memorial.
The three suspects in that case are believed to have fled abroad.
France suspects that Russia was behind another high-profile incident, the daubing of dozens of Stars of David on buildings in Paris and its suburbs shortly after the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel.
Investigators said some of the mass graffiti, widely condemned as anti-Semitic, may have been carried out at the “express demand” of an individual residing abroad, implying a possible connection to Russia.
Moscow has denied having anything to do with it.
French auction house postpones sale of Maradona’s trophy amid ownership controversy, judicial probe
- A French court ruled the auction could go ahead but the lawyer for Maradona’s heirs has lodged an appeal
The auction of a trophy awarded to the late Diego Maradona that was planned this week has been postponed, French auction house Aguttes said on Sunday amid a judicial investigation looking into the possible resale of stolen goods.
Maradona’s heirs this week failed to stop the auction of the Golden Ball trophy he received for being the best player at the 1986 World Cup by starting an urgent judicial motion. A French court ruled the auction could go ahead but the lawyer for Maradona’s heirs lodged an appeal.
“Maradona has always aroused passions, and this continues despite the recent court ruling on Thursday, which we welcome and which dismissed the heirs’ request for a ban on the sale,” Maximilien Aguttes said in a statement. “Our mission is to organize the auction in the best possible conditions, both for our seller and for the buyers. This litigious climate and these uncertainties do not allow connoisseurs to approach this acquisition calmly, and our role as a trusted third party can no longer be properly fulfilled.”
A new date for the auction has yet to be set.
French judicial officials last month opened an investigation after they received a complaint related to the resale of allegedly stolen goods. The Nanterre prosecutor’s office said the court ruling did not have an impact on the probe, which is still ongoing.
The Golden Ball was missing for decades after it disappeared in uncertain circumstances and only recently resurfaced. Maradona’s heirs say the trophy was stolen and claimed the current owner wasn’t entitled to sell it. Aguttes said the trophy reappeared in 2016 among other lots that were acquired from a private collection at auction in Paris.
The current owner and Aguttes claimed that when he bought the trophy years ago he was not aware it had been stolen.
Maradona received the award in 1986 at a ceremony at the Lido cabaret on the Champs-Élysées. It subsequently disappeared, giving rise to rumors. Some say it was lost during a poker game or sold to pay off debts. Others say Maradona stored it in a safe in a Naples bank that was robbed by local gangsters in 1989 when he played in the Italian league. Maradona’s heirs believe it was stolen from the bank.
Maradona, who died in 2020 at age 60, captained Argentina in its 3-2 win over West Germany in the 1986 final in Mexico City. In a quarterfinal win over England he scored the “Hand of God” goal and the “Goal of the Century.”
Aguttes said it expects the trophy “to fetch millions due to its uniqueness.”
The Hand of God goal came when Maradona punched the ball into England’s net. Four minutes later, he weaved through England’s midfield and defense and past goalkeeper Peter Shilton for what FIFA later declared the greatest goal in World Cup history.
Egypt’s Sudanese refugees using rich cuisine to build new lives
- Across the sprawling megalopolis of Cairo — home to over 20 million people — many Sudanese refugees have opened businesses, bringing a taste of home and hoping to make a name for themselves
CAIRO: Sudanese entrepreneur Julie Samir’s dream of opening a restaurant has finally come true, but it’s a bittersweet achievement after she fled Egypt from her war-torn homeland of Sudan.
Now, Samir has one aim for her menu: winning over the palate of Egyptians with a taste of Sudan’s complex culinary traditions, born from a rich history at the crossroads of the Middle East and Africa.
“I’m targeting the Egyptian consumer, I want them to get to know Sudanese culture,” the 42-year-old told AFP from her sun-lit eatery in eastern Cairo, the scent of simmering aromatics wafting out of the kitchen.
Across the sprawling megalopolis of Cairo — home to over 20 million people — many Sudanese refugees have opened businesses, bringing a taste of home and hoping to make a name for themselves.
Samir and her two children have been in the Egyptian capital for over a year, since making the 2,000-kilometer (around 1,200-mile) journey from their home in Khartoum.
Along with half a million other Sudanese, they fled the war between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to neighboring Egypt — and got to work rebuilding a life.
Today, on the lawns of one of Cairo’s upscale sporting clubs, Samir’s restaurant ‘Kush Children’s Village’ serves up a fusion menu.
“The name was my father’s idea, inspired by the Bible,” she said, explaining the reference to Kush, the ancient kingdom that straddled modern-day Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
“We serve all three cuisines,” she said proudly, but insisted the restaurant is still distinctly Sudanese.
“Everyone who works here is from Sudan, all of us came here fleeing the war,” she said, explaining how the team found each other through solidarity networks on social media.
In the kitchen, 46-year-old chef Fadi Moufid fussed over pots and pans stewing a number of the restaurant’s wide array of dishes.
The former caterer’s signature is agashe — skewered meat, chicken or fish seasoned with a spicy peanut dry rub then barbequed low and slow on glowing embers.
“Egyptians don’t like their food as spicy as we do, so we try to tone it down so they can really appreciate it,” Moufid told AFP over a bowl of zigni, a beef stew marinated in Ethiopian spices and served with injera, a spongy flatbread.
But cracking the Egyptian culinary scene is no easy feat.
“Competition wasn’t as big in Sudan between food businesses, but here it’s huge,” Moufid says, pointing particularly to “large Syrian restaurants” founded by diaspora entrepreneurs who also fled their war-torn homeland in recent years.
Standing out can be difficult, but Moufid and Samir are slowly drawing in Egyptian palates.
“I liked the taste of the spices and how tender the meat is,” one of their Egyptian guests, Khaled Abdelrahman, told AFP.
“It has a different feel to it,” he said.
In the suburb of Sheikh Zayed, west of Cairo, Sudanese confectioner Qussay Biram’s dessert shop, “Jeeb Maak” — Arabic for “Bring Along” — sells deep-fried dough balls called ‘luqaimat’.
They are similar to Egyptian ‘zalabia’, but still shock the Egyptians who step into the sweet-smelling store.
“They’re taken by surprise because we put more salt in the dough than they’re used to,” one of his employees, Ziad Abdelhalim, told AFP.
“It brings out a different taste to the sweetness,” he said while serving customers a steaming cup of traditional cardamom-spiced milk tea — also novel to most Egyptians.
The business model is clearly working, with ‘Jeeb Maak’ now boasting three branches across Cairo.
But Biram says it hardly makes up for what he left behind.
At 29, the entrepreneur believes he will likely never return to Sudan and that the businesses he “closed because of the war” back home are gone forever.
In a little over a year, already impoverished Sudan has been torn apart. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, pushed close to nine million from their homes and brought the country to the brink of famine.
“Even if things calm down, there won’t be many business opportunities,” he said, resolute in his plan to “see this experience in Egypt through.”
Samir, who said her family was stalked by paramilitary fighters when fleeing Sudan, had planned to spend only a month in Egypt.
“But the war’s not ending,” she said, resigned to finding ways to remind herself of the homeland she longs for.
“I want to hire a henna artist in the restaurant, I know Egyptians love that,” she said with a laugh.
Climate activist arrested for attacking Monet painting in Paris
- Action is the latest in a string of protests aimed at drawing attention to global warming by defacing art
PARIS: A climate activist was arrested on Saturday for sticking an adhesive poster on a Monet painting at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris to draw attention to global warming, a police source told AFP.
The action by the woman, a member of “Riposte Alimentaire” (Food Response) — a group of environmental activists and defenders of sustainable food production — is the latest in a string of protests aimed at drawing attention to global warming by defacing art.
In a video posted on X, the woman — introducing herself as a “concerned citizen” --- is seen placing a blood-red poster over the “Coquelicots” (Poppy Field) painting by Claude Monet, a French Impressionist artist.
In the video she said of the poster covering Monet’s art that “this nightmarish image awaits us if no alternative is put in place.”
She added: “At four degrees, we can expect hell,” a reference to forecasts saying that Earth’s temperature could rise by 4 Celsius over pre-industrial levels by 2050.
Monet’s painting, completed in 1873, shows people with umbrellas strolling in a blooming poppy field and is part of a special Musee d’Orsay show called “Paris 1874, Inventing Impressionism” that features 130 works by 31 artists.
A restoration expert examined the painting which suffered no permanent damage, the Musee d’Orsay told AFP, adding that it had been put back on the wall.
“The exhibition is entirely accessible to the public again,” a spokesperson said.
The museum would file a criminal complaint, the spokesperson added.
Some of Monet’s works have sold for tens of millions of dollars, with his painting “Meules” (“Haystacks“) even fetching over $110 million including fees at an auction in 2019.
Riposte Alimentaire has claimed responsibility for several attacks on art in France in a bid to draw attention to the climate crisis and deteriorating food quality.
They included an attack on the world’s most famous portrait, the “Mona Lisa,” in the Louvre in January when two protesters hurled soup at the bullet-proof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s masterwork, saying they had a right to “healthy and sustainable food.”
The attackers were sentenced by a Paris court to carry out volunteer work for a charity organization.
Already in 2022, a man had thrown a custard pie at the Mona Lisa because, he said, artists were not focusing enough on “the planet.”
In February, Riposte Alimentaire protesters again threw soup at a painting, this time in Lyon, southeast France, targeting another Monet painting, “Springtime.”
Last month activists also belonging to the group stuck flyers around “Liberty Leading the People,” a painting by Eugene Delacroix in the Louvre.
In April, two of its members were arrested at the Musee d’Orsay, which is dedicated to 19th-Century art, suspected of preparing an action there.
Riposte Alimentaire calls itself a “French civil resistance movement which aims to spur a radical societal change for the environment and society.”
“We love art,” the movement has said, “but future artists will have nothing to paint on a burning planet.”
Monet appears to be a favorite target for climate activists elsewhere, too, with paintings by the Impressionist having previoiusly come under attack in Potsdam, Germany, and in Stockholm.
Jennifer Lopez cancels summer tour: ‘I am completely heartsick and devastated’
- The tour was scheduled to kick off on June 26 in Orlando, Florida, and conclude in Houston on Aug. 31
NEW YORK: Jennifer Lopez has canceled her 2024 North American tour, representatives for Live Nation confirmed to The Associated Press.
“Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends,” they said in a statement.
The tour was to be her first in five years, in support of her first solo album in a decade, “This Is Me... Now” and its companion film.
The tour was scheduled to kick off on June 26 in Orlando, Florida, and conclude in Houston on Aug. 31. Live Nation shared that attendees who purchased tickets through Ticketmaster will be automatically refunded.
Lopez offered her own statement to fans on her OntheJLo website and newsletter, writing, “I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down. Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary.”
She continued: “I promise I will make it up to you and we will all be together again. I love you all so much. Until next time…”
“This Is Me... Now” was released early this year, 20 years after her hit album, “This Is Me... Then.” Lopez told the AP that the new album was a “miracle” and “a second chance. And I’d love to capture this moment in time the way that album captured that moment in time.”
