What the Pentagon’s UFO Files Actually Revealed

 

The Pentagon’s publicly released UFO material—now generally described as records on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP—did not produce evidence of alien spacecraft, recovered extraterrestrial bodies or a secret reverse-engineering programme. Instead, the files revealed a mixture of unresolved sightings, misidentified objects, sensor anomalies and decades of speculation amplified by secrecy.

Freedom Ship: The Mile-Long Floating City That May Never Sail

 

The Freedom Ship is one of the most ambitious maritime concepts ever proposed: a mile-long, 25-story floating city designed to travel continuously around the world. It was promoted not as a cruise ship, but as a permanent ocean-based community where people could live, work, study, shop, receive medical care, and visit new countries without ever moving house.

Can the FBI, ASIO or CIA hack your cellphone or smart TV?

Yes, but the honest answer is not the movie version.

The FBI is a US domestic law-enforcement and intelligence agency. It can surveil U.S. citizens and residents, but generally under criminal law, counterintelligence law, court orders, warrants, subpoenas, national-security authorities, or internal guidelines. The CIA, by contrast, is legally restricted from domestic spying. Executive Order 12333 says intelligence procedures must not authorise “the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to engage in electronic surveillance within the United States” except for limited purposes such as training, testing or counter-surveillance.

Who is ex-CIA John Kiriakou and why is he suddenly an internet sensation?

John Kiriakou is a former CIA officer turned whistleblower, author and media commentator. He served at the CIA from 1990 to 2004, including in counterterrorism roles, and became publicly known in 2007 after confirming that the CIA had used waterboarding during post-9/11 interrogations. He was later prosecuted for disclosing classified information, including the identity of a CIA officer, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2013. He was released in 2015.

When Trump Becomes Rump: The $640 Watch Blunder That Stopped Time

 

In a twist so perfectly absurd it could have been scripted by late-night television, a Rhode Island Trump supporter reportedly splashed out US$640 on a limited-edition Trump-branded watch for his wife — only to discover the most important letter had gone AWOL.

Macca’s stages global menu “heist” for Australian diners

McDonald’s Australia is raiding its own international menus, bringing cult favourites from Japan, Canada, the UK and the US to local restaurants for a limited time.

McDonald’s Australia is giving local diners a taste of the world without the airport queues, jet lag or awkward currency conversion.

The last stand of Captain Thunderbolt

The morning of 25 May 1870 broke cold and grey over the New England tablelands of New South Wales. Frederick Ward, the man the colonies knew as Captain Thunderbolt, had seen too many such dawns to fear them. For nearly seven years, he had outrun every trooper sent after him, slipping through the ranges like smoke, robbing coaches and stations with a courtesy that made him almost a folk legend. Almost.