UFO disrupts airport in Germany

An unidentified flying object over Bremen prompted cancelled flights and a formal police investigation.




The object turned up over Bremen on Monday night and was picked up on radar three times between 6:30pm and 9:30pm. Concerned officials were forced to cancel and delay several flights over safety fears and local police were called in to investigate.

Witnesses of the object, including officers in a patrol car, described lights similar to those found on a conventional aircraft but reported that it had made a much louder noise. Air traffic control personnel were able to view it from their control tower with binoculars but were unable to determine what it could be.

A police helicopter was later sent out to track down the object but was unable to find anything.

"We still don’t know what it was, but it was there," said a spokesman. 

Gold futures edge lower, eyes on U.S. data

Investing.com - Gold futures edged lower on Friday, ahead of upcoming U.S. economic reports , while recent U.S. data dampened the precious metal's safe haven appeal.

Gold futures fall ahead of U.S. data

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1,237.80 a troy ounce during European afternoon trade, down 0.19%.

The February contract settled 0.15% higher on Thursday to end at USD1,240.2 a troy ounce.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,227.00 a troy ounce, the low from January 10 and resistance at USD1,2454.70, the high from January 14.

Gold prices weakened after the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on Thursday said that its manufacturing index improved to 9.4 this month from December’s reading of 6.4. Analysts had expected the index to rise to a reading of 8.6 in January.

The data came after a report showed that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to a six-week low.

The Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 11 declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 326,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 328,000. Analysts had expected U.S. jobless claims to hold steady at 328,000 last week.

Earlier in the week, the World Bank raised its forecast for global growth for the first time in three years, also adding to pressure on gold prices.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March delivery fell 0.29% to trade at USD20.000 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery slipped 0.26% to trade at USD3.334 a pound.

Dollar holds gains after U.S. industrial production, housing data

Investing.com - The dollar remained mostly higher against the other major currencies on Friday, after U.S. industrial production data came in in line with expectations, while markets eyed a final report on U.S. consumer sentiment later in the session.

Dollar remains higher vs. rivals

The dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.01% to 104.33.

Official data showed that U.S. industrial production rose 0.3% in December, in line with expectations, after a 1% increase in November whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated 1.1% gain.

A separate report showed that U.S. building permits declined 3% to 0.986 million units in December, from 1.017 million units the previous month. Analysts had expected building permits to slip tp 1.015 million units last month.

Data also showed that U.S. housing starts rose dropped 9.8% to 0.999 million units in December, from an upwardly revised 1.107 million units in November, compared to expectations for a decline to 0.990 million units.

The reports came after U.S. economic data on Thursday was viewed as too soft to prompt the Federal Reserve to speed up the pace at which it tapers monthly asset purchases.

The euro was lower against the dollar, with EUR/USD down 0.34% to 1.3573.

The pound was higher against the dollar, with GBP/USD advancing 0.54% to 1.6441.

Official data earlier showed that U.K. retail sales increased by 2.6% in December, far more than the expected 0.4% rise. Retail sales in November were revised down to a 0.1% rise from a previously estimated 0.3% gain.

The dollar was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF gaining 0.42% to 0.9086.

In Switzerland, official data showed that producer price inflation was flat last month, confounding expectations for a 0.1% rise, after a 0.1% fall in November.

The greenback was broadly higher against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars, with AUD/USD sliding 0.36% to 0.8789, NZD/USDtumbling 1% to 0.8272 and USD/CAD adding 0.22% to 1.0955.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.19% to 81.17.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.

Scientists seek time travelers on Twitter

Scientists have been using social media in an effort to look for time travelers from the future.

The research was based on the prediction that if humans ever did discover a way to travel back in time, they would leave subtle clues about future events on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

To test this idea, a team from Michigan Technological University picked search terms relating to recent news topics and searched the Internet to see if anyone had posted references to them before they had taken place.

Unfortunately despite the team's best efforts, the project entitled "Searching the Internet for Evidence of Time Travelers" ultimately came up empty.

"In our limited search we turned up nothing," said study lead author Robert Nemiroff. "I didn’t really think we would. But I’m still not aware of anyone undertaking a search like this. The Internet is essentially a vast database, and I thought that if time travellers were here, their existence would have already come out in some other way, maybe by posting winning lottery numbers before they were selected." 

'Alien algae' found on high altitude balloon

Microscopic algae found on the side of a research balloon is being hailed as evidence of alien life.

British astrobiologist Chandra Wickramasinghe believes that algae scraped from the sterile side of a high-altitude balloon could have only got there if it had come from space, a claim that backs up the theory that the 'seeds of life' are constantly being transferred around the cosmos on meteors, comets and other bodies.

The idea that life on Earth originated elsewhere in the universe, a theory known as panspermia, has been gaining momentum in recent years and could mean that not only are we ourselves extraterrestrial in origin but that the universe is likely to be teeming with life.

"Biological entities of this nature have not previously been reported occurring in the stratosphere," said Wickramasinghe. "If there is no mechanism by which these biological entities could be elevated from Earth to the stratosphere then it must have arrived from above the stratosphere and have been incoming to Earth." 

Alleged Roswell 'alien' images uncovered

Researchers investigating the Roswell UFO crash have been made aware of two tantalizing new images.

According to reports, two slides have started to circulate depicting an alleged alien entity that was recovered from the UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. There is a rather large snag however - only a select few individuals have seen the images and nobody else has been allowed to look at them.

According to investigator Anthony Bragalia the images exist in the form of two Kodachrome slides that show the subject up-close in full color from two different angles. Researchers who have had the privilege of viewing them are said to have found them somewhat convincing with no apparent sign of photographic manipulation or tampering.

The slides were allegedly discovered in the attic of a now deceased couple, the husband had been a petroleum geologist who had conducted oil expeditions in various locations that included the Roswell area of New Mexico in the 1940s.

Unfortunately without being able to see these pictures there is absolutely no way to corroborate any of these claims and the whole thing sounds far too good to be true. The story has sparked a concerted backlash from skeptics who argue that the claims are either a hoax or a publicity stunt.

We'll be keeping an eye open for further details on this story and will be posting an update when, or if, the images are ever released for public viewing. 

Paul Hellyer: 'aliens live among us'

The former Canadian defense minister has detailed his unorthodox beliefs in a recent TV interview.



The 90-year-old has become well known for his controversial views on extraterrestrial life ever since he first revealed his beliefs back in 2005. In this latest interview with Russia Today, Hellyer claims that advanced alien races would be more willing to share their technology with us if it wasn't for our obsession with waging war on one another.

"We have a long history of UFOs and of course there has been a lot more activity in the last few decades since we invented the atomic bomb," he said. "They are very concerned about that and that we might use it again, because the whole cosmos as a unity, and it affects not just us but other people in the cosmos, they are very much afraid that we might be stupid enough to start using atomic weapons again."

Hellyer claims that there are as many as 80 different species of aliens visiting our planet, some of which being visually indistinguishable from humans. "I would say that nearly all are benign and benevolent and they do want to help us, there may be one or two species which do not," he said.

The former defense minister also suggested that extraterrestrial civilizations are a part of a cosmic 'Federation', a bit like in Star Trek, with their own 'Prime Directive' to prevent them from interfering.