ITALIAN UFO NEWSFLASH
ISSUE NO. 376 - 28 NOVEMBER 2002
by the Italian Center for UFO Studies
(Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici, CISU)
Contents:
- Conference In Florence
- SEPRA Does Not Close Down
- European UFO Journal Wins An Award
CONFERENCE IN FLORENCE
On Saturday, 23 November, the 17th National Conference of Ufology took
place, as announced and organized by the Italian Center for UFO Studies.
At the conference, which was closed to the public, there participated some
thirty-odd scholars hailing from throughout Italy, who discussed on ten or so
subjects related to various ongoing study projects, catalogs,
investigations and
activities: from Italian cases of USOs (underwater UFOs), to encounters of the
third kind; from this past summer’s Italian mission in the Norwegian valley of
Hessdalen, to Project Sassalbo (which organizes the surveillance of a similar,
suspected scene of recurring luminous phenomena); from progress made on
the national caselog database, to evidence of activity at the local branches,
not to mention the histographic analysis of the Italian Wave of 1952, and of
catalogs devoted to socio-ufological aspects in music and advertising.
The conference program and report syntheses may be reviewed at the CISU
Website:
http://www.arpnet.it/ufo/17conveg.htm
SEPRA DOES NOT CLOSE DOWN
Nobody knew about it, but SEPRA, the official French ufological body, had
been at risk of being shut down.
Founded in 1977 as part of CNES (French National Center for Space Studies),
the group for the study of unidentified aerospace phenomena was then
reconfigured, in 1988, as a service for analyzing phenomena of atmospheric
re-entry, then subsequently returned to broadening its reach to “rare
aerospace
phenomena” in 2000 following a failed attempt, in 1993, to assume a
European status, at the initiative of the then-European parliamentary
representative,
the physicist Tullio Regge.
In the wake of internal pressure on CNES to suppress SEPRA, the general
director
of the body last year entrusted responsibility for its evaluation to an
external consultant
who, at one time, had been a collaborator of GEPAN: François Louange, He
gathered
the opinions of thirty-odd scientific personalities (inside and outside of
CNES) at high
military, political and journalistic levels.
The conclusion, presented to CNES at the beginning of this year and then
copied to the
various other interested entities (e.g., CNRS, Academy of Sciences, the
gendarmerie,
civil aviation), was exactly the opposite of that which had motivated it:
practically all
those questioned agreed on the fact that it is necessary that SEPRA’s
activities continue
and this may also have only been the result of public need but, more
important yet, there
exist phenomena which are still misunderstood and of interest to science.
Louange even
suggested an increase in the financial resources allocated to SEPRA, so as
to allow the
carrying out of investigations: something which is presently impossible.
[Le Figaro, 20 November; Liberation, 21 November; Europe 1, 27 November;
Ovni-Sciences, 20-27 November; in collaboration with Roberto Labanti]
EUROPEAN UFO JOURNAL WINS AN AWARD
The "European Journal of UFO and Abduction Studies" has received the
“Cuadernos de
Ufologia Award” for 2002.
The prize is awarded by the Fundacion Anomalía, a Spanish law foundation
having the
scope of gathering funds for financing or awarding projects and UFO works
of a scientific
nature.
The magazine, founded in 1999 and published in Great Britain by the UFO group
established within Totton College - within its official course of studies
on UFOs -
aims at furnishing of a common European forum to students. On the editorial
committee
are some of the most noted ufologists of the “Old Continent,” some of whom
are fellows
from the Italian Center for UFO Studies.
[Press Release by the Fundación Anomalía; collaboration by Renzo Cabassi]
Collaborators on this edition were: Renzo Cabassi and Roberto Labanti.
- - -
This is the English translation of UFOTEL, a free
phone/Internet information service on UFOs edited
weekly by Edoardo Russo for the Italian Center for
UFO Studies (Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici),
available in Italian by calling +39-011-545294,
or by e-mail subscription, or on CISU website
at
http://www.arpnet.it/ufo/ultime.htm
UFOTEL is a supplement to "UFO - Rivista di
informazione ufologica", published by the Italian
Center for UFO Studies, registered at Tribunale
di Torino, No. 3670, on 19 June 1986.
Director: Giovanni Settimo.
Publisher: Cooperativa UPIAR, Corso Vittorio
Emanuele 108, 10121 Turin, Italy
Translated from Italian to English by:
Gary J. Presto, Freelance IT-EN Translator/Proofreader
1123 Revere Beach Pky., # 12
Revere, MA 02151 USA
Tel.: ++ 1.781.485.1683, Fax: ++ 1.781.485.1684
ICQ: 110502923, E-mail: gpresto@attbi.com
Webpage:
http://www.proz.com/translator/723
- - -
(c) 2002 by: CISU,
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 108, 10121 Torino, Italia
This newsletter (as a whole or in part) may be freely
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and retrieved, at the only condition that Centro Italiano
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You may get it directly via e-mail by subscribing
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The CISU is a no-profit association whose aims are:
- to promote the scientific study of UFO phenomena in Italy;
- to help circulate information about UFO phenomena and studies;
- to coordinate national activities of data collecting and studying.
You may reach Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici:
- by mail: CISU, Corso Vittorio Emanuele 108, 10121 Torino, Italia
- by phone: +39 (011) 30.78.63 (24 hours UFO Hotline)
- by fax: +39 (011) 54.50.33
- by Internet e-mail: cisu@ufo.it
- at the World Wide Web URL:
http://www.cisu.org