And the Vatican showed off the urns into which the cardinals will place their ballots, the same silver and bronze flying-saucer-like urns used in the 2005 conclave that elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger pope.

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For its part, the Navy has a prototype for an unmanned strike plane, the X-47B, which looks like a gigantic matte-gray flying saucer, with a 62-foot wingspan.

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Across the bay from Rio, it perches on a cliff-top - an upturned flying saucer, its curves reflected in a pool which encircles its central pillar.

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Work is due to begin on the first three landmarks - the 25m Halo, dubbed "the flying saucer" in Rossendale, Colourfields for Blackburn and the Atom for Pendle.

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In March, for example, a Taiwan-based group called "God Saves the Earth Flying Saucer Foundation" emerged in suburban Texas, declaring that the almighty would provide spaceships to rescue followers from a nuclear holocaust.

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Known as "break-in" records and generally considered to reside in the novelty genre, the Flying Saucer records were "built around a narrative with an actor who played a reporter, or TV person, who asked questions or delivered jokes, the punchlines of which were hooks of popular songs, " Stein says.

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