WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The U.S. government is concealing information about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), also known as UFOs, believe an overwhelming majority of voters across various demographics, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll. The survey, carried out on June 17-18, revealed that seventy percent of registered voters are convinced that the public is being denied existing information on the mystifying phenomena of UFOs. Confirmation of deep-rooted suspicions among the public that the government is holding back information on UAPs comes as a much-anticipated interim report was released Friday by a Pentagon task force on unidentified flying objects (UFOs). It confirmed that out of the over 140 reports made since 2004, only one was identified with high confidence as “a large, deflating balloon”, with the others remaining a mystery beyond the U.S. government’s explanation. Titled “Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena”, the nine-page report published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) suggested several possible explanations for the sightings, ranging from airborne clutter and natural atmospheric phenomena to top secret government programs and systems launched by foreign adversaries.

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WURZBURG (Xinhua) – At least three people died and several were injured -- some in serious condition -- in a knife attack in Germany’s southern city of Wurzburg, according to local police. The incident took place on Barbarossaplatz square in the city center. The square and its surrounding areas were sealed off. The suspect stabbed several people with a 40-centimeter-long knife and police used firearms and arrested him, local media Bayerischen Rundfunk reported. Bavarian State Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann said the attack killed three, seriously injured five people. He added that the police have found records that the suspect was treated in psychiatric institution and will later define whether the incident is a terror act or a move out of psychological reasons. So far there is no evidence showing the victims have any personal relations with the suspect, Herrmann said.

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ANTANANARIVO (AP) – The UN World Food Program says southern Madagascar is in the throes of back-to-back droughts that are pushing 400,000 people toward starvation, and have already caused deaths from severe hunger. Lola Castro, WFP’s regional director in southern Africa, told a news conference Friday that she witnessed “a very dramatic and desperate situation” during her recent visit with WFP chief David Beasley to the Indian Ocean island nation of 26 million people. Hundreds of adults and children were “wasted,” and hundreds of kids were skin and bones and receiving nutritional support, she said. Meanwhile, the United States estimates that up to 900,000 people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region now face famine conditions amid a deadly conflict, even as the prime minister says there is “no hunger” there. The hunger crisis in Tigray is the world’s worst in a decade, and the new famine findings are “terrifying,” the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Samantha Power, said Friday, adding that millions more people are at risk. The new estimate more than doubles the warning issued earlier this month by the United Nations and aid groups that more than 350,000 people face famine conditions in Tigray.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) – The bullet-ridden bodies of 18 people were discovered after what appeared to have been a shootout between members of rival drug cartels in northern Mexico, authorities say. The bodies were found in a remote, rural area of the north-central state of Zacatecas, state security department spokeswoman Rocío Aguilar said. There was evidence the deaths in the township of Valparaiso resulted from a confrontation between gunmen from the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, she said. Zacatecas, once dominated by the old Zetas cartel, is being fought over by a dizzying number of cartels. Those jockeying for turf in Zacatecas include the Sinaloa, Jalisco, Gulf and Northeast cartels as well as remnants of the Zetas who call themselves “Talibans.” The gunbattle came two days after the bodies of two abducted police officers were found hanging from an overpass in the Zacatecas state capital and seven people were discovered shot to death in a neighboring city.

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SYDNEY (Dispatches) – Sydney and some surrounding areas entered a hard two-week COVID-19 lockdown on Saturday as authorities struggle to control a fast-spreading outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant that has grown to 80 cases. More than a million people in downtown Sydney and eastern suburbs of Australia’s biggest city were already under lockdown due to the outbreak, but health authorities said they needed to expand the curbs after more infections were recorded, with exposure sites increasing beyond the initial areas of concern. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has announced a pause on the trans-Tasman travel bubble, as coronavirus cases rise in multiple states. As of 10.30pm NZST (8.30pm AEST) Australians will no longer be able to take advantage of quarantine free travel regardless of which state or territory they’re living in. “There are now multiple cases and outbreaks in Australia in differing stages of containment and the health risk for New Zealand in response to these cases is increasing,” a statement said.