UK says UFOs caused by natural forces, not aliens

LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - Hopes -- or fears -- that the Earth has been visited by alien life forms have been dismissed in an official report by British defense specialists.

The Ministry of Defense confirmed on Sunday a secret study completed in December 2000 had found no evidence that ''flying saucers'' or unidentified flying objects were anything other than natural phenomena.

The 400-page report, released under freedom of information laws to an academic from the northern city of Sheffield, concluded that meteors and unusual atmospheric conditions could explain UFO sightings such as bright lights in the sky.

''No evidence exists to suggest that the phenomena seen are hostile or under any type of control, other than that of natural physical forces,'' the report said, according to extracts quoted by the BBC.

''Evidence suggests that meteors and their well-known effects, and possibly some other less-known effects, are responsible for some unidentified aerial phenomena.

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