The day has finally come for all UFO lovers and those who still believe 'the truth is out there'. The CIA has released thousands of declassified documents on flying saucers.

The agency humorously noted that X-Files' Fox Mulder would certainly love to use them to prove the existence of extraterrestrials.

"We've decided to highlight a few documents both skeptics and believers will find interesting. Below you will find five documents we think X-Files character Agent Fox Mulder would love to use to try and persuade others of the existence of extraterrestrial activity," the agency said.

All the documents date from the late 1940s and '50s.

The CIA picked several documents which may be particularly interesting. They include files from East Germany (1952) where the agents were investigating a story of "a huge flying pan" which had a diameter of about 15 meters.

Police in Burundi have arrested a British and a French journalist during a sweep for rebels in flashpoint districts of the capital, officials said on Friday, a move likely to further strain tense relations with western donors.

Moise Nkurunziza, deputy police spokesman, said the police had picked up Phil Moore, a British photojournalist, and Jean Philippe Remy during raids on Thursday in the Jabe and Nyakabiga neighbourhoods of Bujumbura.

"The police arrested five people including a British national who was a journalist," said Nkurunziza, adding that the Frenchman had then come to ask about his British colleague's whereabouts and was also arrested "for interrogation motives". Both men had journalist accreditation in Bujumbura, he said.

The US Department of the Treasury is gravely concerned about corruption in Russia.

The Moscow Times reported that Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Treasury, Adam Szubin, accused President Vladimir Putin of corruption in an interview with the BBC's program "Panorama" on Monday:

Putin is corrupt and the U.S. government has known this for many, many years

That's nice. And very rich considering 75% of Americans in 2015 considered corruption to be "widespread" in the US government, according to Gallup.

And Juan Cole spelled out what most people know who are even vaguely familiar with how K Street and the corporate revolving door work in Washington, giving 10 ways the US is actually the most corrupt country in the world.

The immediate aftermath of the NATO bombing of Libya was a time of high gloating. Just as Iraq War advocates pointed to the capture and killing of Saddam Hussein as proof that their war was a success, Libya war advocates pointed to the capture and brutal killing of Muammar el-Qaddafi as proof of their vindication. War advocates such as Anne-Marie Slaughter and Nicholas Kristof were writing columns celebrating their prescience and mocking war opponents as discredited, and the New York Times published a front-page article declaring: "U.S. Tactics in Libya May be a Model for Other Efforts." It was widely expected that Hillary Clinton, one of the leading advocates for and architects of the bombing campaign, would be regarded as a Foreign Policy Visionary for the grand Libya success: "We came, we saw, he died," Clinton sociopathically boasted about the mob rape and murder of Qaddafi while guffawing on 60 Minutes.

Since then, Libya — so predictably — has all but completely collapsed, spending years now drowning in instability, anarchy, fractured militia rule, sectarian conflict, and violent extremism. The execution of Saddam Hussein was no vindication of that war nor a sign of improved lives for Iraqis, and the same was true for the mob killing of Qaddafi. As I wrote the day after Qaddafi fled Tripoli and Democratic Party loyalists were prancing around in war victory dances: "I'm genuinely astounded at the pervasive willingness to view what has happened in Libya as some sort of grand triumph even though virtually none of the information needed to make that assessment is known yet, including: how many civilians have died, how much more bloodshed will there be, what will be needed to stabilize that country, and, most of all, what type of regime will replace Qaddafi? ... When foreign powers use military force to help remove a tyrannical regime that has ruled for decades, all sorts of chaos, violence, instability, and suffering — along with a slew of unpredictable outcomes — are inevitable."

The UN-sponsored Syrian peace talks, which began on Friday in Geneva, will be boycotted by the main Syrian opposition group which has insisted that Russia stop bombing its positions while negotiations are conducted. To appreciate how ridiculous these demands are, one would have to imagine a similar scenario taking place in the United States. Let's say, for example, that Ammon Bundy, the crackpot leader of the armed militia that seized the federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon, demanded that the FBI and all other federal agents vamoose while the UN convened negotiations between his representatives and the Obama administration for the establishment of a transitional government that would remove Obama from power after 18 months while rewriting the constitution so it better reflected the far-right political and religious convictions of Bundy and his gaggle of ne'er-do-well followers.

Does that seem like a reasonable proposition to you? This is the context in which the current "talks" are being held. Is it any wonder why Moscow doesn't take this charade seriously? It's a joke. In what other country are armed militias allowed to occupy cities, kill civilians, destroy critical infrastructure, create total mayhem and threaten to overthrow the elected government?

None. And yet, the Obama team thinks this is a perfectly acceptable way for citizens and even non citizens (most of the 'rebels' are foreign nationals or jihadis) to act, provided their political objectives coincide with those of Washington. Which they do. From the very beginning, Washington's sole aim has been to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad so the oil fields and pipeline corridors could be secured by the western oil giants and protected by new US military bases sprinkled across the country. This has been the basic game-plan since Day 1, and this is why Obama and Co are so eager to slow the Russian-led offensive by any means possible even if it means engaging in meaningless negotiations that have no other purpose than to implement a ceasefire so these same US-backed terrorists can regroup and fight at some future date when they are better prepared.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sees through this ruse but - all the same - he's dispatched diplomats to Geneva to play along and go-through-the-motions. But will he cave in and agree to a ceasefire so Obama's "rebels" can live to fight another day? Don't bet on it.

Canada has put a hold on sharing top secret spy data with the Five Eyes countries, including the US, after it was discovered that its NSA counterpart had shared info containing the personal details of Canadians, senior government officials said Thursday.

Authorities say they made the decision after learning that the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) agency had not properly hidden the metadata of Canadian citizens before sharing it with its international allies. Metadata includes the numbers and time stamps of phone calls, but excludes content.

"We want to make sure that software updates actually do what they're supposed to do. And that's why we have stopped that portion of metadata sharing. It's very important that...we do protect the privacy of Canadians," Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan told the media.

"CSE will not resume sharing this information with our partners until I am fully satisfied the effective systems and measures are in place."

US and British spy agencies regularly tapped into live video feeds from Israeli drones and fighter jets during military operations in Gaza, on the lookout for a possible IDF strike against Iran, according to new data from Edward Snowden.

A new portion of Edward Snowden's data reportedly obtained by the Intercept sheds light on Israeli drone operations over Gaza strip. The revelations offer rare visual evidence Israel - Washington's close ally - flies large armed drones capable of hitting ground targets and that could also "reach Iran."

Under a top-secret operation codenamed Anarchist, UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in cooperation with the US National Security Agency, frequently targeted Israeli drones from Cyprus. The Anarchist operated from a Royal Air Force compound in the Troodos Mountains, near Mount Olympus, the highest point on the island.

Both NSA and GCHQ regarded the Troodos installation as a "jewel in the crown" due to its unique location that allowed eavesdropping on Israeli drone signals, according to the Intercept.

Greek Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas claims Belgium told his country to "push" migrants "back in the sea".

He was speaking in an interview with BBC Newsnight's Evan Davis, discussing what will happen next to the Schengen Agreement - and what the European Union can do to help resolve the migrant crisis.

Watch the video of the interview below:

At a meeting in Amsterdam this week, European interior and justice ministers sought to outdo each other with suggestions as to how the influx of desperate refugees from the Middle East could be stopped. No measure was too brutal for consideration.

Proposals ranged from the hermetic sealing off of borders to the stationing of Frontex troops, even against the will of national governments, as well as the erection of concentration camps for hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Greece came under sustained attack from several ministers who called for its expulsion from the Schengen zone, which guarantees free movement within the European Union, if Athens did not reduce the number of refugees transiting the country into Europe.

A large proportion of the refugees from the Middle East risk the dangerous and often deadly journey from Turkey to the Greek islands close by before crossing Greece and leaving the EU at the Macedonian border. After travelling through Macedonia and Serbia, they enter the EU again through Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia, with many seeking access to Germany.

Europe is on a dangerous, slippery slope of increasing xenophobia and racism engendered by the influx of refugees. Denmark's new confiscation law is a sign of the brooding, baleful climate.

But the real answer to the problem is dealing with Europe's support for Washington's criminal wars. In other words, citizens of Europe should be addressing the root cause of the problem, not reacting to the symptoms. We should be shaming the villains, not blaming the victims.

We should be demanding legal sanctions and prosecution of government leaders over what are gross violations of international law.

European governments stand accused of war crimes, yet we allow them to get away with mass murder. Then when we incur secondary problems such as the massive displacement of refugees from wars and conflicts - that our governments have fomented - we illogically and cravenly focus on blaming the victims of our governments' criminality.

Part of the public shaming of the villains would involve holding those European members of the US-led NATO military alliance accountable to international law. Individual government and military leaders should be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against peace. The inculpating evidence is out there. The fact that European governments have waged dubious overseas wars - with impunity - is the real shame and root of the problem.