World Vignettes — US debunks UFO claims

WASHINGTON: The US air force has offered what it hopes is the final word on claims by UFO buffs that alien bodies were recovered at a crash...

WASHINGTON: The US air force has offered what it hopes is the final word on claims by UFO buffs that alien bodies were recovered at a crash site in new Mexico in 1947: The “bodies” were not aliens but dummies used in parachute tests.

The explanation on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the incident on Wednesday is offered in enormous detail in a 231-page report the air force released. It is meant to close the book on longstanding rumours that the air force recovered a flying saucer and extra-terrestrial bodies near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, and then covered it up.

The title of the report tells it all: The Roswell report, case closed.”

Lottery fiasco

SINGAPORE: When Wong Kok Yew found a winning lottery ticket he thought he would be richer by 500 Singapore dollars (US $350) but instead ended up paying a 500 Singapore dollar fine on the charge of dishonestly keeping it, because the ticket had been reported lost. Yew, a 36-year-old Singaporean, said he found the ticket lying on the floor of a public food court on January 1.

He picked it up and checked a newspaper, finding the ticket was a winner. But when Yew went to a lottery administration office to claim the prize, a ticket operator who thought the “winner” looked nervous checked the ticket number and found it had been reported lost by the original buyer.

Yew pleaded guilty on Tuesday to keeping the ticket dishonestly.

Picasso row

MADRID: A commission of Spain’s parliament has made a controversial recommendation — against expert advice — to switch the venue of the famed Pablo Picasso Guernica’ painting.

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It said the government could authorise a temporary transfer of Guernica and the limestone bust of Lady of Elche from Madrid to other cities despite warnings that travel could irreparably damage them. The northern city of Bilbao wants to borrow Guernica, a 1937 canvas depicting the horrors of war, for the inauguration of the Guggenheim Bilbao art museum in the autumn.

The city of Elche in southern Spain wants to borrow the Lady of Elche, considered one of the greatest masterpieces of ancient Iberian art, for the 100th anniversary of its discovery in August. Experts at the Reina Sofia museum of modern art, which houses Guernica, and at the national museum of archaeology, housing the Lady of Elche, have spoken against moving the masterpieces.

Freak crash

FRANKFURT: A passenger airliner carrying members of the Georgian government has been rammed and severely damaged by a truck at Germany’s Frankfurt airport. The truck’s driver was apparently drunk when he smashed into the airliner’s wing yesterday, police said.

The passengers were disembarking on the other side of the fuselage, but none were hurt. The driver was lightly injured, but promptly went missing, police said. He was later arrested and failed an alcohol test, but claimed he did not drink until after the accident.