It posed a threat to civil aviation while floating at 40,000 feet.
WASHINGTON – The White House claimed on Friday that a United State fighter jet shot down an unidentified object drifting high over Alaska, just six days after the downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon triggered a new diplomatic split with Beijing.
According to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, the purpose or origin of the new item is unknown. Still, it was removed because it posed a threat to civil aviation while floating at 40,000 feet.
“The president ordered the military to down the object,” Kirby said.
Questioned about the incident by reporters at the White House, Biden said the shoot-down “was a success.”
The object, according to Kirby, was far smaller than a massive Chinese balloon that crossed the United States last week and was shot down by a US fighter jet off the Atlantic coast on Saturday.
Roughly the size of a small car
It was “roughly the size of a small car,” he said.
“We do not know who owns it, whether state-owned or corporate-owned,” he said. “We don’t understand the full purpose.”
According to Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the device was brought down by an F-22 Raptor using an AIM-9X missile – the same aircraft and munition used to target the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon.
The incident occurred amid renewed concern among US officials about China’s continued operation to launch surveillance balloons around the world to collect intelligence.
According to US officials, such balloons have flown over 40 countries, including at least four times over US territory.
Last week’s Chinese balloon generated particular anxiety since it sailed over places where the US stockpiles nuclear weapons in underground silos and bases strategic bombers.
The event prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abandon a long-planned trip to Beijing aimed at boosting communications between the two antagonistic nations.
The new item was discovered late Thursday and shot down Friday afternoon, according to Kirby.
It crashed in northern Alaska near the Canadian border and landed over a frozen body of water, making recovery possible, according to Kirby.
Chinese-made security cameras are removed from premises to guarantee they are “fully secure.
Similar initiatives is taken in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Beijing has accused Australia of misusing national strength.
SYDNEY: Australia‘s military department will remove Chinese-made security cameras from its premises to guarantee they are “fully secure,” the government announced on Thursday.
It follows similar initiatives in the United States and the United Kingdom, which have taken steps to prevent government agencies from installing Chinese-made cameras at critical sites.
Both countries are concerned that Chinese enterprises would be obliged to disclose information gathered by the cameras with Beijing’s security services.
Beijing has accused Australia of “misusing national strength to discriminate against and oppress Chinese enterprises,” and has urged Canberra to ensure “fair” treatment for its companies operating in the country.
According to official numbers provided by opposition member James Paterson, at least 913 Chinese-made cameras have been deployed throughout more than 250 Australian government buildings.
This contains offices and facilities belonging to the defence, foreign affairs, and finance departments, as well as the attorney-office. general’s
According to Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, staff will track down and remove all Chinese-made security cameras from department buildings.
“It’s a big item that has been brought to our notice, and we’re going to address it,” he said on national television.
“We must go through this exercise to ensure that our facilities are absolutely protected.”
The government-funded national War Memorial — a large 14-hectare (35 acres) facility in Canberra — also stated it would remove a small number of Chinese-made cameras, out of a “abundance of caution”.
Other government agencies either declined to respond or referred to Marles’ remarks.
Paterson, a vociferous critic of China‘s government, previously stated that Australian government facilities were “riddled” with “spyware” and that every Chinese-made camera should be taken out immediately.
‘Unacceptable risk’
The cameras were made by companies Hikvision and Dahua, which have been blacklisted in the United States for allegedly assisting the Chinese government carry out a “campaign of repression”.
Hikvision and Dahua have been linked in the “high-technology surveillance” of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, according to the US Department of Commerce.
The US prohibited the import of monitoring technology built by the two businesses in November last year, claiming it presented “an intolerable risk to national security”.
In the United Kingdom, a group of 67 MPs and Lords demanded that Hikvision and Dahua be banned in July of last year, following accusations that their equipment had been used to track Uyghurs.
In June 2021, a Hikvision CCTV camera filmed former health secretary Matt Hancock kissing an aide in breach of Covid standards, prompting his resignation.
Hikvision said it was “categorically false” to paint the company as “a threat to national security”.
“No respected technical institution or assessment has come to this conclusion,” the company told in a statement.
“Our products are compliant with all applicable Australian laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements.”
“We hope Australia will provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for the normal operations of Chinese enterprises,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
“We oppose any wrong action of stretching the concept of national security and misusing national might to discriminate against and suppress Chinese enterprises.”
Crude oil stocks in the United States reached their highest level
Crude futures in the United States declined 3 cents to $78.44 per barrel.
Oil prices remained generally stable on Thursday, as the potential of rising fuel demand in China as it reopens post-COVID limitations was countered by concerns that U.S. oil stocks reaching their highest level in months could signify declining demand in the world’s largest economy.
Brent crude prices rose 1 cent to $85.10 per barrel by 0446 GMT, while WTI crude futures in the United States declined 3 cents to $78.44 per barrel. This week, both benchmarks have risen more than 6%.
“U.S. crude oil … inventories have continued to exceed expectations, which to some extent erodes the bullish sentiments brought from China’s demand recovery hopes,” said analysts from Haitong Futures.
Crude oil stocks in the United States reached their highest level since June 2021 last week, thanks to increased production, according to the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. Last week, gasoline and distillate stocks in the United States increased as demand remained weak.
According to Federal Reserve officials
More interest rate hikes are on the way, according to Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday, as the US central bank pushes forward with its efforts to lower inflation, while none were ready to indicate that January’s hot jobs report could force them back to a more aggressive monetary policy posture.
However, the anticipation of higher Chinese demand boosted oil prices as the world’s second-largest oil consumer halted a three-year rigorous zero-COVID policy requiring city-wide lockdowns and widespread testing in December.
“Travel has increased sharply in China following the Lunar New Year holidays. We expect Chinese oil consumption to increase by around 1.0 million barrels a day this year, with strong growth emerging as early as late in Q1,” said Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari, analysts from ANZ bank in a note on Thursday.
“Overall, this should push global demand up by 2.1 million barrels a day in 2023.”
Meanwhile, BP Azerbaijan declared force majeure on Azeri crude shipments from the Turkish port of Ceyhan on Feb.7 after a massive earthquake struck Turkey and Syria early on Monday.
North Korea cited the country’s “largest nuclear assault capacity.”
The missiles were paraded across Pyongyang.
The Hwasong-17 missile, according to analysts, was displayed in record numbers.
North Korea showed almost a dozen modernized intercontinental ballistic missiles during a nighttime military parade on Wednesday, citing the country’s “largest nuclear assault capacity,” according to state-run media.
The missiles were paraded across Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Plaza as Kim Jong Un, his wife, and a young girl thought to be his daughter watched.
The ceremony, which commemorated the North Korean army’s founding anniversary, came less than two months after North Korean leader Kim called for an “exponential buildup” in his country’s nuclear weapons in response to what he alleges are threats from South Korea and the United States.
North Korea tested more missiles last year than at any other time in its history, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the ICBM mainland.
The Hwasong-17 missile, according to analysts, was displayed in record numbers on Wednesday night.
“It looks like 10-12 Hwasong-17 ICBMs made an appearance. This is cumulatively more ICBM launchers than we’ve ever seen before at a North Korean parade,” Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said on social media.
17 mobile ballistic missile launchers
Prior to the parade, commercial satellite pictures from Maxar Technologies showed at least 17 mobile ballistic missile launchers lined up in readiness for the display.
The display also included tactical missiles and long-range cruise missiles, according to North Korean state media.
The Kim administration utilizes military parades to bolster domestic support for its military initiatives while also signaling to the US, South Korea, and others that it is ready to respond to any attack.
The march on Wednesday night followed a sumptuous banquet the night before, at which Kim put a girl thought to be his daughter Ju Ae in the spotlight, the latest indication that the youngster is being groomed as his ultimate successor.
Pictures published by state media showed the girl strolling with Kim and her mother as they entered the banquet site, while military officers stood nearby.
The girl was seated in the center of the main table, between Kim and her mother.
The presence of the girl at such a significant ceremony sends obvious signals in a country where the Kim family and the military are all-powerful, according to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“By ostentatiously including his wife and daughter, Kim wants observers at home and abroad to see his family dynasty and the North Korean military as irrevocably linked,” he said.
Damage roads and other infrastructure in southern Turkey have slowed the delivery of supplies to northern Syria.
The northeast of Syria is largely controlled by US-backed Kurdish-led militias.
Syrian Arab Red Crescent head called for the European Union to lift its sanctions on Syria.
BEIRUT, — Even before Monday’s deadly earthquake, delivering relief to all sections of war-torn Syria had formidable political and logistical obstacles.
These obstacles have only grown in the aftermath of the calamity that has killed hundreds in Turkey and Syria and destroyed thousands of structures.
Damage to roads and other infrastructure in southern Turkey has slowed the delivery of supplies to northern Syria, which has already been decimated by 12 years of conflict.
The “conflict and the way the humanitarian response is split between rebel areas and Damascus” complicate aid distribution, according to Aron Lund, a Syria researcher at the New York-based think tank Century International.
While the government in Damascus controls the bulk of Syria, the majority of the north is controlled by several — and sometimes opposing — organizations. The northwest is divided between territory de facto controlled by Turkey and territory controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an al-Qaida-linked rebel force. The northeast of Syria is largely controlled by US-backed Kurdish-led militias.
Because of the difficulty of passing via Damascus, foreign aid has been delivered to northwestern Idlib province via Turkey for many years. However, the area of southern Turkey that has traditionally been used as a staging area has been severely damaged by the earthquake.
Aid delivery into northwestern Syria was “temporarily interrupted” Tuesday, according to a United Nations spokesperson, due to infrastructure damage and challenges with road access.
Damage to the Hatay airport and the road to the aid crossing, Bab al-Hawa, were particularly slowing shipments, according to Emma Beals, a nonresident fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Enormous needs in Turkey itself
“There is also the fact that there are enormous needs in Turkey itself,” she said.
One cause for hold-ups is that the U.N. mandate for delivering aid to the territory only allows it to enter through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, Beals said. Also, international search teams may be reluctant to enter earthquake-affected areas controlled by HTS, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S.
The group’s “presence limits the kinds of aid many donors are prepared to supply to the area,” she said.
The Damascus regime and its Russian allies have seized the opportunity to revive their demand for northern aid to be funneled through Damascus. Countries opposed to Assad do not trust Syrian authorities to provide help to opposition areas and are concerned that it may be redirected to benefit people and institutions associated with the government.
According to Natasha Hall, a senior scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, transporting aid via Damascus to the north is not feasible in practice, especially during a moment of crisis.
“It is extremely logistically and administratively difficult to get the approvals (from Damascus),” she said. Coordination of aid is also hampered “because the government of Syria doesn’t recognize the non-governmental organizations working in northwest Syria.”
At a press conference Tuesday in Damascus, Syrian Arab Red Crescent head Khaled Hboubati said his group is “ready to deliver relief aid to all regions of Syria, including areas not under government control.” He called for the European Union to lift its sanctions on Syria in light of the massive destruction caused by the earthquake.
Aid convoys and rescuers from several countries, notably key ally Russia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, and Algeria, have landed in airports in government-held Syria.
Difficult humanitarian situation
Still, the sanctions exacerbate the “difficult humanitarian situation,” Hboubati said.
“There is no fuel even to send (aid and rescue) convoys, and this is because of the blockade and sanctions,” he said.
Rescue teams search through the wreckage of collapsed buildings in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Rescuers raced Tuesday to find survivors in the rubble of thousands of buildings brought down by a powerful earthquake and multiple aftershocks that struck eastern Turkey and neighboring Syria. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
So far, the U.S. and its allies have resisted attempts at creating a political opening by way of the disaster response. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday that it would be “ironic, if not even counterproductive, for us to reach out to a government that has brutalized its people over the course of a dozen years now.”
Price said the U.S. would continue to provide aid through “humanitarian partners on the ground.”
Similarly, a spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said the “sanctions regime was put in place in response to human rights violations and other abuses by the regime and their cronies.”
According to a US State Department official, humanitarian assistance in government-held areas is provided by partner organisations rather than the government.
“Our partners in regime-controlled areas directly deliver assistance to beneficiaries without control or direction from the Assad regime,” they told sources. “This is to ensure that our assistance is not diverted by malign actors or the Assad regime and reaches the intended beneficiaries.”
One of the main groups supported by the United States and Britain is a civil defense organization in opposition-held areas known as the White Helmets; USAID Administrator Samantha Power spoke with the group’s head Tuesday and “discussed how USAID can provide the most urgently needed assistance in response to the earthquake,” her office said in a statement.
European Commission
According to European Commission spokeswoman Balazs Ujvari, the European Union has supplied relief in all areas of Syria through UN and NGO partners and is attempting to expand funds for humanitarian assistance. According to him, the Syrian government has not yet formally requested that Europe deploy rescue and medical personnel.
In theory, sanctions should not impede assistance operations in government territories because both the US and the EU have exemptions for humanitarian relief.
However, the reality on the ground can vary. Banks, for example, may restrict transactions to pay suppliers or local workers for humanitarian organizations, despite the exclusions, according to Lund.
In addition, US sanctions, and to a lesser extent EU sanctions, seek to hinder the restoration of damaged infrastructure and property in government-held areas in the absence of a political solution, which could impede post-earthquake rehabilitation, according to Lund.
Meanwhile, local emergency workers in both sections of Syria report that only limited relief is reaching them.
“There are promises that aid will get to us but nothing has gotten here yet,” said the White Helmets’ head Raed Saleh.
The US intelligence officials say the balloon was employed for espionage by the Chinese military.
The US briefed 40 friendly countries on the alleged espionage.
Chinese officials have already denied employing surveillance balloons.
According to US intelligence officials, the balloon shot down on Saturday was employed for espionage by the Chinese military.
According to unnamed officials, such balloons were deployed to collect intelligence on strategically important countries.
Among them were Japan, India, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Chinese officials have already denied employing surveillance balloons.
According to the Washington Post, the US intelligence agency believes that some of the balloons were launched from Hainan, a southern Chinese island with a naval military facility.
Quoting an unnamed senior Biden administration official, sources confirmed that the US intelligence community believed the balloon was part, in its words, of an “aerial surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army out of Hainan”.
A senior Biden administration official confirmed to sources that America briefed 40 friendly countries on the alleged espionage on Monday.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman also announced in the meeting that one balloon had circumnavigated the globe in 2019, passing over Hawaii and Florida.
According to a Biden administration official, the Gang of Eight, a group of US Congressional leaders in charge of supervising national intelligence affairs, would be briefed on the development on Wednesday, and Congress will be updated on Thursday.
Leonard Taylor man murdered his girlfriend and her three children in 2004.
He is slated to be executed by lethal injection at the Potosi State Penitentiary in the United States Midwest.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson denied his clemency plea.
WASHINGTON – The Missouri state government plans to execute a man sentenced to death for the 2004 murder of his girlfriend and her three children, which he denies.
Leonard Taylor, 58, is slated to be executed by lethal injection at the Potosi State Penitentiary in the United States Midwest.
In 2008, he was condemned to death for the murders of Angela Rowe and her three children, ages 10, six, and five.
On December 3, 2004, they were discovered dead in their home, each with a bullet in the head. They had been dead for several days, according to the forensic doctors.
Taylor has always claimed that they were still alive on November 26, when he flew to California from his home in Jennings, Missouri.
Prosecutors said he confessed to his brother about the murders and made his pistol disappear in front of a witness during the trial, and jurors found him guilty.
He has made countless failed attempts to cleanse his identity since then.
Denied his clemency plea
Also on Monday, Missouri Governor Mike Parson denied his clemency plea.
“Taylor committed these atrocities, according to the evidence, and a jury found him guilty. Taylor’s convictions have been regularly upheld by courts “In a statement, the Republican governor said.
According to the Innocence Project, which works for justice and defends Taylor, the brother’s evidence was obtained under pressure and he later recanted.
His lawyers recently submitted the testimony of his daughter, who says that her father was in California with her at the time of the killings, but they were unable to reopen the case.
They filed a last appeal with the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday, which is anticipated to rule soon.
If he does not stay the execution, Taylor will be the fifth death row inmate executed since January 1 in the United States.
Navy’s elite explosives squad recovered the debris on Sunday.
The navy said the debris was dispersed across seven miles.
The item will now be analyzed to see whether or not it was surveillance equipment.
The US Navy released images of a possible Chinese spy balloon blown out of the sky on Saturday.
The US Fleet Forces Command shared many photographs on Facebook of the balloon’s debris being loaded into a boat.
According to the article, the sailors who recovered the debris on Sunday were members of the Navy’s elite explosives squad.
The item will now be analyzed to see whether or not it was surveillance equipment.
According to US officials, the balloon is around 200 feet (60 meters) tall, with the payload part equal in size to regional airliners and carrying hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds.
China has constantly stated that the “airship is for civilian use and entered the US due to force majeure – it was completely an accident”.
According to US authorities, the Pentagon attempted to organize a phone contact between Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart after the balloon was shot down, but China refused.
“Lines between our militaries are particularly important in moments like this,” defense press secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the PRC has declined our request.”
The discovery of the balloon set off a diplomatic crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately calling off a weekend trip to China – the first such high-level US-China meeting there in years – over the “irresponsible act”.
A day after being shot down by a fighter jet, the balloon was recovered off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The navy said the debris was dispersed across seven miles (11 kilometers) of the Atlantic Ocean, and two naval ships, including one equipped with a big crane for retrieval, were dispatched to the region. However, the photographs show that the mounds of balloon material may be dragged aboard by hand.
As part of the hunt, the US Navy has also deployed unmanned underwater vehicles.
According to experts, the balloon’s wreckage might give the US with important insight into Chinese aerial surveillance equipment and procedures, allowing them to better understand what the balloon was capable of and how it relayed data.
Efforts to recover the balloon’s equipment, on the other hand, have been hindered by the necessity to protect US troops from potentially hazardous objects such as explosives or battery components.
On Thursday, US defense officials declared that they were tracking the unusual object and would shoot it down once it was safely over the sea.
Footage shown on US television networks showed the balloon crashing into the sea after a tiny explosion.
The Pentagon announced on Friday that a second Chinese surveillance balloon had been sighted over Latin America, with reports of sightings across Costa Rica and Venezuela.
Colombia’s Air Force reports that an identifiable object, thought to be a balloon, was discovered above 55,000 feet in the country’s airspace on 3 February.
It claims it followed the object until it departed the airspace and that it posed no threat to national security.
The company’s flagship Arab Light grade was raised to $2 a barrel over the regional benchmark.
A 20-cent increase over the previous month’s pricing.
This will be the first increase in the grade since September.
Saudi Arabia suddenly boosted oil prices for its primary Asian market, as well as for clients in the United States and Europe.
The decisions came despite a 7% drop in crude prices this year, as rising interest rates in the United States and Europe offset expectations about a comeback in Chinese demand following the end of coronavirus lockdowns.
Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company, raised the majority of the pricing for petroleum that will be exported to Asia in March. The company’s flagship Arab Light grade was raised to $2 a barrel over the regional benchmark, a 20-cent increase over the previous month’s pricing.
It’s the first increase for the grade since September, and it contradicts a Bloomberg poll of dealers and refiners, which projected a 20-cent drop.
The kingdom boosted all European prices by $2 per barrel, and most US prices by 30 cents.
Many OPEC members have recently expressed optimism about China, which is likely to be the single most important factor influencing oil price movements this year.
Haitham Al Ghais, the group’s secretary-general, expressed optimism about China. And the director of Kuwait’s national energy company claimed to Bloomberg that consumption in the world’s biggest crude importer was already on the rise and that it “is not a dead-cat bounce”.
According to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Brent will rise back above $100 per barrel in the third quarter as China completely reopens its economy, citing low stockpiles and spare capacity among producers. Morgan Stanley has made a similar prediction.
Saudi Caution
Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, stated on Saturday that the country will proceed with caution in increasing oil production.
“I will believe it when I see it and then take action,” Prince Abdulaziz said, referring to higher oil demand globally.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of oil. It exports over 60% of its crude supplies to Asia under long-term contracts, with pricing evaluated monthly. The top four buyers are China, Japan, South Korea, and India. Other Arabian Gulf producers, including as Iraq and Kuwait, tend to carefully follow its activities.
The United States issued a statement in response to the deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
The quake killed more than 100 people in seven Turkish regions.
440 individuals were hurt so far.
The White House of the United States issued a statement in response to the deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck southeast Turkey and Syria early Monday. According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency, the quake killed more than 100 people in seven Turkish regions. According to the agency, 440 individuals were hurt.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Monday’s earthquake in government-held areas of Syria has risen to 99, according to Syrian official media citing the Health Ministry. Furthermore, 334 persons were injured in Syria. Previously, 20 individuals were reported slain in Syria’s rebel-held territory. This brings the total number of fatalities in Turkey and Syria to 195.
White House issues statement
The White House said that it was “profoundly concerned by the reports of today’s destructive earthquake in Turkiye and Syria”. “We stand ready to provide any and all needed assistance,” said the statement. “President Biden has directed USAID and other federal government partners to assess US response options to help those most affected. We will continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with the Government of Turkiye,” added the statement.
The tremor was felt as far away as Cairo, Egypt, and was centered north of Gaziantep, around 90 kilometers (60 miles) from the Syrian border. The earthquake occurred during a blizzard that is predicted to last through Thursday in the Middle East. Turkey is situated on significant seismic lines and is frequently jolted by earthquakes. In 1999, strong earthquakes struck northwest Turkey, killing 18,000 people.
Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, claimed on Sunday that the Chinese military may have purposely released the balloon to disrupt Mr. Blinken’s trip to China. His visit would have been the first high-level meeting between the United States and China in years.
Adm Mullen rejected China’s suggestion it might have blown off course, saying it was maneuverable because “it has propellers on it”.
“This was not an accident. This was deliberate. It was intelligence,” he added.
Politicians from the Republican Party. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has been accused of dereliction of duty for allowing the balloon to travel freely around the country.
Brazen effort
Marco Rubio, the vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, told it was a “brazen effort” by China to embarrass the president ahead of his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Brenda Bethune, the mayor of Myrtle Beach which is near where the object was shot down, said: “I do have concerns about how the federal government can allow a foreign adversary to fly uninterrupted from Montana to our doorstep.”
She expressed optimism that the administration would explain what happened and how it will be avoided in the future.
Martin Willis stated that he was near Myrtle Beach when he witnessed the fighter jet fire down the suspected spy balloon.
He told he couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. “It was really exciting. It felt very historic,” he said.
Police have asked residents not to touch or move any debris they come across. “Tampering could interfere with [the] investigation,” according to the Horry County Police Department.
The object’s fragments landed in 47ft (14m) of water, which is shallower than officials predicted, and are spread out over seven miles (11km).
Explaining the decision to shoot the balloon down, a US defense official said in a statement, that “while we took all necessary steps to protect against the PRC [China] surveillance balloon’s collection of sensitive information, the surveillance balloon’s overflight of US territory was of intelligence value to us”.
Strong dissatisfaction from the Chinese government
China’s foreign ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US’s use of force to attack civilian unmanned aircraft”.
In a written statement, the Chinese government said it would “resolutely safeguard” the rights and interests of the company operating the balloon and that it reserved the right to “make further responses if necessary”.
Mr. Biden approved the plan to bring down the balloon on Wednesday but decided to wait until it was over water to avoid endangering people on the ground.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted all civilian flights at three airports along the South Carolina coast and recommended mariners avoid the area.
The event has strained relations between China and the United States, with the Pentagon calling it an “unacceptable infringement” of US sovereignty.
According to US military officials, a second Chinese surveillance balloon was detected above Latin America on Friday. On the same day, Colombia’s Air Force reported that an identifiable object, believed to be a balloon, was discovered above 55,000 feet in the country’s airspace on 3 February.
It claims it followed the object until it departed the airspace and that it posed no threat to national security.
China has not publicly commented on the second balloon.
US record for the lowest wind-chill temperature in the country.
The state of New Hampshire reached negative 78 degrees Celsius.
Frostbite on exposed flesh might occur within five minutes.
Meteorologists reported Saturday that an Arctic blast that caused “frostquakes” in areas of the United States caused the country to record its lowest-ever wind-chill temperature.
The wind chill factor at Mount Washington in the northeastern state of New Hampshire reached negative 78 degrees Celsius (minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
The service’s Gray, Maine, office tweeted that it had set a new US record for the lowest wind-chill temperature in the country.
It broke Alaska’s previous record of – 76 degrees Celsius.
According to the Weather Channel, the previous low at Mount Washington was – 74 degrees Celsius in 2004.
Mount Washington, at about 6,300 feet (1,920 meters), is the tallest summit in the northeastern United States and is noted for experiencing some of the world’s worst weather.
The historic low was set by temperatures of -43 degrees Celsius and wind gusts of more than 110 miles per hour (177 kilometres per hour).
The NWS office in Caribou, Maine, reported a wind chill of – 51 degrees Celsius in the little village of Frenchville, just south of the Canadian border.
Frostquakes
The office said they had received reports of “frostquakes,” also called “cryoseisms,” in the region.
“Just like earthquakes, (they) generate tremors, thundering sensations. These are caused by sudden cracks in frozen soil or underground water when it´s very cold,” the NWS office wrote on Twitter.
Ahead of the blast, it had warned of an “epic, generational Arctic outbreak.”
The NWS said the chills would be “something northern and eastern Maine has not seen since similar outbreaks in 1982 and 1988.”
“Most stations are forecast to see their lowest wind chills in decades or, in some cases, the lowest ever recorded,” the service added.
It warned that in such conditions, frostbite on exposed flesh might occur within five minutes.
“The perils of being caught unprepared in the weather without suitable winter survival gear cannot be overstated,” the military wrote.
Temperatures in the US Northeast and coastal Mid-Atlantic were 10 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit below average, according to the NWS.
Several million people were under extreme weather warnings across parts of New England, Quebec, and eastern Canada.
At Montreal International Airport, the wind chill factor was – 41 degrees Celsius.
The Hydro Quebec energy provider stated late Friday that the polar blast had resulted in record-high electricity consumption and asked customers to turn down their heating by a degree or two.
A “code blue” policy was in place in New York City, which meant that no homeless shelter may turn anyone away.
According to the NWS, the temperature in New York’s Central Park dropped to minus 16 degrees Celsius.
Wind chill temperatures in Boston dipped below minus 34 degrees Celsius, forcing public schools to close on Friday as a precaution.
Warmer air is expected to arrive in the region late Sunday.
China expresses strong dissatisfaction and protests against the use of force.
The surveillance balloon was being brought down by a missile fired from an F-22 jet.
China: Beijing on Sunday condemned the Pentagon’s decision to fire down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon observed floating over North America, accusing the United States of “clearly overreacting and seriously violating international practice”.
“China expresses strong dissatisfaction and protests against the use of force by the United States to attack the unmanned civilian airship,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that it would “reserve the right to make further necessary responses”.
The plane flew over North America for many days, heightening tensions between Washington and Beijing, before being brought down by a missile fired from an F-22 jet on Saturday, according to Pentagon officials.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the operation a “deliberate and lawful action” that came in response to China’s “unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.
American officials first said on Thursday that they were tracking a large Chinese “surveillance balloon” in US skies.
After some hesitation, Beijing accepted ownership of the “airship,” but claimed it was a meteorological balloon that had been disoriented.
The Chinese foreign ministry on Sunday said it had “clearly demanded that the United States properly manage the problem in a calm, professional, and restrained manner”.
The US “insisted on deploying force, manifestly overreacting and significantly breaking international practice,” according to Beijing.
“China will resolutely safeguard the lawful rights and interests of relevant firms and retain the right to take any additional necessary actions,” the ministry stated in its statement.
The Boeing 767 freight airliner was several miles from the airport.
The Southwest flight was able to depart safely.
US: According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a FedEx cargo plane attempting to land at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Saturday morning had to reverse course when another plane was permitted to depart from the same runway.
“The FedEx pilot aborted the landing and commenced a climb out,” the FAA stated in a statement.
According to the FAA, the Boeing 767 freight airliner was several miles from the airport when it was authorized to land. But, just as it was about to land, an air traffic controller cleared the way for a Southwest Airlines plane to take off.
The National Transportation Safety Board described it as a “potential runway incursion and overflight involving airplanes from Southwest Airlines and FedEx” in a tweet on Saturday.
Departed Safely
According to the FAA, the Southwest flight was able to depart safely.
The FAA and NTSB have both stated that they are looking into the event.
“FedEx Express Flight 1432 from Memphis, Tenn. to Austin, Texas successfully landed after encountering an occurrence just before landing at Austin Bergstrom International Airport this morning,” stated Shannon Davis, a FedEx representative.”
Davis and Southwest Airlines both sent more inquiries to the FAA and NTSB.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Austin-Bergstrom International said it was “informed of the Federal Aviation Administration’s inquiry into the discontinued landing of a flight. As needed, we will assist our FAA partners with their inquiry.”
A similar near-miss occurred last month at John F. Kennedy International Airport when an American Airlines plane crossed a runway while a Delta Airlines Boeing 737 plane was prepared to take off. According to the FAA, the Delta plane came to a stop around 1,000 feet (0.3 kilometers) from where the American Airlines plane had crossed from an adjacent taxiway.
Austin-Bergstrom Airport is located 5 miles (8 kilometers) southeast of downtown Austin.
Cold temperatures and high winds battered the northeastern United States.
The wind feels on the skin – minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit (-78° Celsius) overnight.
The air temperature at the summit hit minus 47 degrees Fahrenheit.
On Saturday, a hazardous combination of record-breaking cold temperatures and high winds battered the northeastern United States, triggering life-threatening circumstances and the death of an infant in Massachusetts.
Mount Washington in New Hampshire recorded a wind chill – a measure of how the combined effect of air and wind feels on the skin – of minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit (-78° Celsius) overnight, which appeared to be the lowest ever recorded in the United States. According to the Mount Washington Observatory, the air temperature at the summit hit minus 47 degrees Fahrenheit (-44 degrees Celsius), with winds gusting at 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour).
The Hampden district attorney said in a statement that severe winds blew a tree into a car in Southwick, Massachusetts, smashing it and killing an infant passenger. The driver was seriously injured and was taken to the hospital.
The low temperature in Boston, where officials shuttered the public school system on Friday due to the coming freeze, reached minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 degrees Celsius), smashing the day’s record established more than a century ago, according to the NWS. The temperature in Providence, Rhode Island, plummeted to minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 degrees Celsius), significantly below the previous all-time low of minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit (-19 degrees Celsius) established in 1918.
The arctic blast from eastern Canada delivered record lows to Albany, New York, Augusta, Maine, Rochester, New York, and Worcester, Massachusetts, among other cities, according to the NWS.
Frostquakes
The NWS office in Caribou, Maine, reported “frostquakes,” which feel like earthquakes but are produced by soil cracking unexpectedly in the cold, as well as trees splitting apart, most likely owing to sap freezing inside the trunks.
Several communities took emergency measures to assist citizens, such as creating warming centers and performing outreach to ensure homeless persons were kept warm in the bitter cold.
According to Barbara Trevisan, a spokeswoman for Pine Street Inn, the largest provider of homeless services in New England, the number of vans canvassing the city’s streets in Boston increased on Friday and Saturday.
“They started going out early this week to warn people that the weather was going to be very extreme,” she said. “The goal last night was just to keep people alive and safe.”
Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts directed that South Station, the city’s principal rail terminus, remain open overnight to serve as an emergency shelter. Trevisan estimates that 50 to 60 homeless persons stayed in the station overnight.
Because of the heat, many ski areas have reduced their operations. Jay Peak, a ski mountain in northern Vermont near the Canadian border, shut down completely on Friday and Saturday, citing safety concerns for employees and skiers.
The cold weather was predicted to pass quickly, with temperatures set to rise dramatically on Sunday. According to the NWS, the high temperature in Boston on Sunday will be around 47 degrees F (8.3 degrees C).
The US believes that the week-long delay may actually work in its favor.
The order came when the balloon was just off the coast of South Carolina.
A single F-22 fighter went up to 58,000 feet and fired an Aim-9X Sidewinder missile.
Washington: US President Joe Biden said he intended to shoot down an alleged Chinese “spy” balloon as soon as he found out about it, but the week-long delay may actually work in his favor.
“I told them to shoot it down,” he told reporters on Saturday, referring to his top generals. “They said to me, ‘Let’s wait till the safest place to do it.’
The order came when the balloon was just off the coast of South Carolina and no longer a risk to anyone below. A single F-22 fighter went up to 58,000 feet and fired an Aim-9X Sidewinder missile, the white contrails of which could be seen against the stark blue sky by people on the ground. The balloon popped, and the equipment it was carrying fell to the ground.
I told them to shoot it down. They said to me, ‘Let’s wait till the safest place to do it. -Joe Biden
Over the course of the week, the balloon had the most impact on the first visit to China by a Secretary of State in five years. Top diplomat Antony Blinken canceled his trip due to “unacceptable and irresponsible” surveillance, according to China’s top foreign policy official.
BIDEN CONGRATULATES US MILITARY
Biden praised the military for successfully bringing the balloon down. He went on to say that the Pentagon had urged that the shot be done over water and that he had approved the ‘balloon”s downing on Wednesday.
The US has already utilized the Chinese spy balloon to strengthen military and intelligence connections with its closest allies, and it has informed partners about the situation. The Pentagon complimented Canadian peers for following the balloon above North American airspace, while South Korea’s foreign minister requested an explanation from China during a session with Blinken on Friday.
Despite the fact that millions of people were aware of the Chinese balloon floating high above the US, Biden did not notify Beijing before the US aircraft brought it down, according to persons familiar with the event.
China reacts
China was outraged by the decision to fire down the balloon, claiming that the US had violated international rules by attacking what it claimed was a meteorological balloon that had blown off course.
While US officials had advised their Chinese counterparts that downing the balloon was an option, the unwillingness to communicate with China before to the missile strike revealed a new level of animosity between the two countries.
Biden’s decision to wait several days before shooting down the balloon drew a barrage of criticism from Republicans who said his administration was weak on China and should have gotten rid of it immediately, or at the very least before it drifted over Montana, which is home to a large portion of the US’s Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The US military and intelligence agencies will now have access to a sophisticated piece of equipment used by their main geopolitical rival. A Pentagon official told reporters on Saturday that the operation to remove the debris with intelligence value is now underway, and that the US believes the balloon had a wide range of intelligence-gathering capabilities.
Nelson and a group raised concerns about tens of millions of dollars in shipments to Russia.
Russia is actively looking to leverage the historic economic ties it has with Turkey.
Istanbul: The US has recently cautioned Turkey about the transfer to Russia of chemicals, microchips, and other materials that could be used in Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, and it has threatened to sanction Turkish companies or banks that violate sanctions.
Brian Nelson, the top sanctions officer at the US Treasury Department, visited the Turkish government and commercial sector leaders on Thursday and Friday to urge greater cooperation in stopping the supply of such commodities.
In a speech to bankers, Nelson said a marked year-long rise in exports to Russia leaves Turkish entities “particularly vulnerable to reputational and sanctions risks”, or lost access to G7 markets.
They should “take extra precaution to avoid transactions related to potential dual-use technology transfers that could be used by the Russian military-industrial complex,” he said in a copy of the speech issued by the Treasury.
According to a senior US source who requested anonymity, Nelson and a group raised concerns about tens of millions of dollars in shipments to Russia during meetings in Ankara and Istanbul.
“There is no surprise…that Russia is actively looking to leverage the historic economic ties it has in Turkey,” the official said. “The question is what is the Turkish response going to be.”
Ankara, a NATO member, opposes the broad sanctions against Russia on principle but believes they will not be avoided in Turkey, pressing the West to produce evidence.
Oklahoma federal judge said federal statute preventing marijuana users from possessing firearms is illegal.
The US Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, announced a new test for assessing firearms laws.
A federal statute preventing marijuana users from possessing firearms is illegal, according to an Oklahoma federal judge, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that greatly enlarged gun rights.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump in Oklahoma City, dropped an indictment against a man charged in August with breaking that restriction, claiming it violated his right to possess guns under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Wyrick said that while the government can protect the public from dangerous people possessing guns, it could not argue Jared Harrison’s “mere status as a user of marijuana justifies stripping him of his fundamental right to possess a firearm.”
He said using marijuana was “not in and of itself a violent, forceful, or threatening act,” and noted that Oklahoma is one of a number of states where the drug, still illegal under federal law, can be legally bought for medical uses.
“The mere use of marijuana carries none of the characteristics that the Nation’s history and tradition of firearms regulation support,” Wyrick wrote.
Marijuana, the most common drug
Laura Deskin, a public defender representing Harrison, said the ruling was a “step in the right direction for a large number of Americans who deserve the right to bear arms and protect their homes just like any other American.” She called marijuana the most commonly used drug illegal at the federal level.
The US Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment, but it is expected to file an appeal.
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority concluded in June that the Second Amendment protects a person’s right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense, the decision marked the latest instance of a court ruling a gun ban unlawful.
That ruling, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, announced a new test for assessing firearms laws, saying restrictions must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans referenced that ruling on Thursday in declaring illegal a federal law prohibiting those under domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms.
President Joe Biden praised fighter pilots for bringing the balloon down.
Officials in the United States were originally hesitant to shoot down the device.
WASHINGTON – A US fighter aircraft shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, the Pentagon said, in response to Beijing’s “unacceptable violation” of US sovereignty.
President Joe Biden praised fighter pilots for bringing the balloon down in US airspace and above US territorial waters after it had been flying above the country for days.
“They successfully took it down. And I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” Biden told reporters in Maryland.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the operation a “deliberate and lawful action” that came in response to China´s “unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he said.
The action occurred Saturday afternoon, following the temporary closure of three southeastern airports as part of a “national security endeavor,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The balloon looked to be descending vertically to the water in footage carried on US television networks.
Officials in the United States were originally hesitant to shoot down the device, afraid that it may injure people and damage property on the ground.
When asked about the incident earlier in the day on Saturday, Biden pledged to “take care” of it.
As soon as possible
Biden told reporters Saturday he had initially ordered the military on Wednesday to shoot down the craft “as soon as possible.”
“They decided — without doing damage to anyone on the ground… that the best time to do that was as it got over water,” Biden said.
The controversy erupted Thursday when American officials said they were tracking a large Chinese “surveillance balloon” in US skies.
As a result, Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a rare trip to Beijing intended to defuse increasing US-China tensions on Friday.
After some reluctance, Beijing recognized possession of the “airship,” but claimed it was a weather balloon that had been blown off course, and expressed regret for the incident.
“The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” China´s foreign ministry said in a statement Friday.
“The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure,” it said, using the legal term for an act outside of human control.
The balloon had sailed over portions of the northwestern United States, notably Montana, which are home to key airbases and strategic nuclear weapons in underground silos, heightening fears.
A sheriff in York County, South Carolina, cautioned residents not to try to shoot down the plane.
“Yes, there are reports that the Chinese balloon is flying over our area at the moment,” said a post on the Twitter account of Sheriff Kevin Tolson.
“It´s flying at 60,000+ feet. Don´t try to shoot it!! Your rifle rounds WILL NOT reach it. Be responsible. What goes up will come down, including your bullets.”
The balloon was apparently flying at a height considerably above that of commercial airliners, while several private pilots complained on social media that it was too close.
The Pentagon announced Friday that another suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was detected over Latin America, but did not specify where it was seen.
US President Joe Biden’s bid for a second term now.
If re-elected and remains healthy, he will be 86 years old.
His bid is considered a foregone conclusion among grassroots Democrats.
Philadelphia: It was previously considered an outside bet, but US President Joe Biden‘s bid for a second term is now considered a foregone conclusion among grassroots Democrats planning the path for the next election at their winter gathering.
The elderly leader, who was scheduled to make the keynote message at the Democratic National Committee’s convention on Friday, has become something of a celebrity among activists anxious to hear him speak at a posh hotel in ancient Philadelphia.
“All of you have to be his… evangelist in the next two years,” Ken Martin, the leader of the Minnesota Democratic Party, told a panel discussion ahead of Biden’s speech, expected later in the afternoon.
“There has been no president that has done more in the past two years,” he added, pointing to the once-in-a-generation package Biden signed into law to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure, and his efforts to boost unionized labor.
He fired up campaigners who had traveled from all four corners of the country to plan the 2024 campaign, telling the gathering, “We’ve got to get out there… sell that to the American people.”
Age-old question
Republicans may have the elephant as their official emblem, but anytime Democrats debate Biden in 2024, there is a gigantic pachyderm in the room.
The 46th President was born near the end of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency rather than the beginning of his own.
He is already the oldest president in US history, and if re-elected and remains healthy, he will be 86 when the time comes to hand over the keys to the Oval Office.
Many of his detractors believe that is simply too old, especially given that the former senator and vice president promised in 2020 to make his presidency a “bridge” to a younger generation.
“I hear that from time to time but I don’t hear it as much as you might think,” says Martin, downplaying what could be an easy talking point for Biden’s Republican opponent in the race for the White House.
Many Democrats, like Martin, are putting aside worries about Biden’s old age in order to rally behind him ahead of what is likely to be an upcoming announcement that he would run for re-election for another four years.
Even members of the party’s progressive wing, who were initially skeptical of the president’s social and environmental program, have come over.
“I wouldn’t discriminate against somebody because they’re a certain age if they’re advancing an agenda that works,” Pennsylvania state representative Malcolm Kenyatta, nearly 50 years the president’s junior.
Republican Party’s last breaths
Opposition to Biden’s probable candidature came mostly from outside the tent in Philadelphia, the hallowed cradle of US democracy.
In the chilly wind on Friday, a vehicle with the crude but pointed motto “Don’t run, Joe” conducted circuits around the convention hall.
“He’s an extremely poor candidate heading into 2024,” said Sam Rosenthal, the dissident whose group is not associated with the Democratic Party.
According to Rosenthal, the simmering issue surrounding Biden’s retention of confidential materials, as well as his insufficiently progressive ideas, make the incumbent a “non-viable” choice for the Democratic candidature.
A truck parked outside the Democrats’ winter conference in Philadelphia revealed that not all Democrats support Joe Biden’s re-election.
A truck parked outside the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia showed that not all Democrats support Joe Biden for a second term.
These concerns were mirrored by Democrats abroad, but they went unheard in the “City of Brotherly Love.”
Biden, who faced approximately 15 opponents in the party’s 2020 primary, is set to run unchallenged if he decides to prolong his term.
The identity of his likely Republican opponent will remain a mystery for the next year or so, with Donald Trump far from assured to remain his party’s frontrunner.
“I believe that we are seeing some of the last breaths of the Republican Party,” said Jaime Harrison, the Democratic Party chairman, brimming with confidence.
“Take your medicine, take your vitamins, and just get ready.”
The NWS of the United States cautioned about the weather severity.
Wind chills in portions of Maine might reach minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Maine has not seen outbreaks since 1982 and 1988.
The northeastern United States and Canada braced for an “epic” Arctic blow that might result in certain locations seeing their worst wind chill readings ever.
The National Weather Service (NWS) of the United States cautioned that wind chills in portions of Maine might reach minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51 degrees Celsius).
“This is an epic, generational arctic outbreak,” the NWS office in Caribou, near Maine´s border with Canada, wrote in an advisory.
The chills are “something northern and eastern Maine has not seen since similar outbreaks in 1982 and 1988,” according to the report.
“Most stations are forecast to have their lowest wind chills in decades, or in some cases, ever recorded,” the organization added.
It warned that in such conditions, frostbite on exposed flesh might occur within five minutes.
“The dangers of being caught unprepared without shelter from the elements and without proper winter survival gear cannot be stressed enough,” the service wrote.
Eastern Canada
The most severe weather is expected Friday night into Saturday morning, with severe weather warnings in effect over Quebec and much of eastern Canada.
The wind chill factor in Montreal was – 41°C early Friday afternoon.
Because of the strong, cold winds, the temperature was expected to dip as low as minus 50°C in northern Quebec.
Due to strong cold winds flowing over the unfrozen water, white Arctic sea smoke ascended over areas of the St. Lawrence River.
The Hydro-Quebec power company said it was ready for a record-breaking amount of electricity use from Friday to Saturday and urged customers to cut back.
Overnight Thursday and Friday in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, a snow squall – snowfall combined with 60-70 kilometer per hour gusts — reduced visibility to near nil.
The few inhabitants who ventured out on the streets downtown bundled themselves in wool blankets atop their parkas.
Wind chill advisories were also in effect for parts of New England.
The wind chill is forecast to be minus 34°C in Boston and nearby areas, where public schools were closed Friday.
According to the NWS, New York City will have a low of minus 23°C.
Warmer air is due to move into the region early Sunday.
US President Joe Biden wants to strengthen connections with India.
The Biden administration is in talks with Indian officials over a possible White House visit by PM Modi.
According to the sources, no dates have been set.
Washington: The Biden administration is in talks with Indian officials over a possible White House visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this year, according to a U.S. official aware of the discussions and another person briefed on the matter.
US President Joe Biden wants to strengthen connections with the world’s largest democracy as part of his quest to win what he sees as a struggle between free and autocratic civilizations, particularly China.
The Indian Embassy in Washington and the White House both declined to comment.
According to the sources, no dates have been set. Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met with his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington this week to discuss a prospective White House visit.
During the visit, the US and India announced cooperation to strengthen ties in the areas of military equipment, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence.
New Delhi has irritated Washington by taking part in military drills with Russia and expanding purchases of the country’s crude oil, which is a major source of funding for the Ukrainian war. Washington has pressed New Delhi to do more to penalise Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, India recommended increasing military spending for the coming year by 13% to $72.6 billion in order to deploy additional fighter jets and roads along its contentious border with China. India and China share a contentious 2,100-mile (3,400-kilometer) border since the 1950s.
The US president is likely to travel to New Delhi in September for the G20 summit hosted by India.
Wang reminded Blinken that both parties needed to communicate in a timely manner.
Wang claimed that China has always strictly abided by international law and respected sovereignty.
China: The Chinese foreign ministry stated on Saturday that the flight of a Chinese “airship” over the United States was a result of force majeure, accusing US politicians and media of exploiting the situation to malign China.
The US, claiming the device was a suspected spy balloon that had committed a “clear violation” of US sovereignty, postponed Secretary of State Antony Blicken’s visit to China, which was scheduled to begin on Friday.
“China has always strictly abided by international law and respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said Beijing and Washington had not announced any visit by Blinken and that “the U.S. announcements are their own matter and we respect that”.
In a separate statement, the ministry said Wang Yi, director of China’s Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, met with Blinken on the phone on Friday evening and discussed how to deal with unintentional occurrences in a calm and professional manner.
According to the ministry, Wang reminded Blinken that both parties needed to communicate in a timely manner to avoid any miscalculations.
Chinese surveillance balloon threatens to derail efforts by both countries to steady an increasingly fragile relationship.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his trip to Beijing.
This incident has soured the atmosphere and hardened positions.
Washington: The political controversy over a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon drifting above the United States not only derailed the senior US diplomat’s scheduled visit to Beijing, but it also threatens to derail efforts by both countries to steady an increasingly fragile relationship.
The reaction in the United States to what appears to be an ill-timed eavesdropping expedition will have long-term ramifications for efforts to normalize relations, which are already at record lows. Some politicians in the United States are urging that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, hold China accountable for what authorities describe as an egregious infringement of US sovereignty.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who postponed a trip scheduled to begin on Friday, said he would be willing to visit Beijing “when conditions allow,” but policy analysts said the administration would be hard-pressed to immediately restart the trip unless China made major gestures of goodwill.
Under then-President Barack Obama, Daniel Russel, the senior US diplomat for Asia, said China’s “laughable excuse” that the aircraft was a stray weather balloon didn’t help.
Meeting between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping
“This incident has soured the atmosphere and hardened positions and there’s no guarantee the two sides can successfully resurrect the ‘Bali’ momentum,” Russel said, referring to the November meeting between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Indonesia where they agreed to increase communications.
Ties between the superpowers have deteriorated in recent years, reaching their lowest point in decades last August, when then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, leading Beijing to undertake military drills near the Chinese-claimed island.
Since then, the Biden administration has stated that it intends to provide a “floor” for the relationship and prevent competitiveness from escalating into war.
Republicans, who control the House, are already working on methods to probe potential threats from the US’s major geopolitical competitor, and they have been quick to put pressure on Biden over the balloon, questioning how it was permitted into US airspace.
On Friday, Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul wanted to know why the administration had not shot down the balloon, accusing the president of permitting it to pose a “clear and continuous national security threat to the U.S. heartland.”
China has frequently complained about US ships and aircraft spying on its developing military, despite the fact that such operations have recently been conducted from widely recognized international waters and airspace.
China’s reaction to the balloon was likewise gloomy. The government expressed sadness that an “airship” designed for civilian meteorological and other scientific reasons had deviated from its intended path. However, some Chinese internal critics were critical of the US response.
“If Blinken cancels his trip to Beijing because of the balloon, I’d see it as him using that as an excuse to do what he had already planned to do – not visit China,” said Zhu Feng, executive dean of Nanjing University’s School of International Relations, speaking before the State Department announced the trip’s cancellation.
If Blinken had gone forward with the visit, it would have exposed the administration to more vehement criticism that its approach to China is weak, as well as terrible optics in Congress, where there is bipartisan support for a tough stance on Beijing, according to some observers.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
Expectations for Blinken’s trip were low, but he planned to highlight by name the cases of American people unlawfully detained in China and to press Beijing to help in slowing the flow of fentanyl, both areas where any progress would have established a momentum that could carry into future negotiations.
Former White House National Security Council deputy senior director for Asia Ivan Kanapathy predicted a string of China hearings in Congress, making it difficult for Blinken to justify a trip to Beijing unless he can secure the release of jailed Americans or return with another substantial reward.
China, too, wants a stable U.S. relationship so it can focus on its economy, battered by the now abandoned zero-COVID policy.
Blinken’s trip, which would have been the first by a secretary of state to China since 2018, was considered an effort to create strategies for dealing with future crises. With new House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy expected to visit Taiwan this year, the next crisis could be just around the corner.
“Overall, I do think the Biden administration would like to reschedule, as there are many issues on the table and a real chance for a thaw. But the balloon incident probably means the thaw is postponed indefinitely,” said RAND Corporation Indo-Pacific analyst Derek Grossman.
However, Ryan Hass, a Brookings Institution China researcher, said on Twitter that China’s balloon operation had at least provided the US and China a chance to hammer out rules of engagement in space and at high altitudes, where the two militaries will come into increasingly close contact.
“We should not squander this opportunity to materially reduce risk and also prevent future violations of U.S. airspace by PRC spy balloons,” Hass said.
Chinese spy balloon is now flying eastward at about 60,000 feet (18,300 meters) over the central United States.
China’s claim that the balloon was only a civilian airship.
The Pentagon anticipates the balloon to remain in US airspace for a few more days.
Washington: The US military said on Friday that a Chinese spy balloon has changed course and is now flying eastward at about 60,000 feet (18,300 meters) over the central United States, demonstrating maneuverability, in the latest twist in a spying saga that has forced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to China.
The disclosure concerning the agility of the surveillance balloon directly contradicts China’s claim that the balloon was only a civilian airship that had wandered into US territory after being blown off course.
“We know this is a Chinese (surveillance) balloon and that it has the ability to maneuver,” Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told a news briefing at the Pentagon, declining to say precisely how it was powered or who in China was controlling its flight path.
According to American officials, US President Joe Biden decided against firing down the balloon as it soared over Montana on Wednesday due to military worries about the anticipated distribution of debris.
The Pentagon anticipates the balloon to remain in US airspace for a few more days, according to Ryder, who declined to speculate on what alternatives the US military might develop during that time, as speculation circulated about whether Biden could still order the balloon to be destroyed or captured.
Ryder claimed the US military would not disclose where the balloon was over the central United States, citing a desire to avoid an “hour-by-hour” cycle of updates. People in any individual U.S. state, he continued, could stare up into the sky if they chose to.
“The public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is,” Ryder said.
Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas stated the spy balloon was over his state’s northeastern region and that his team was in contact with law enforcement personnel.
“I condemn any attempts the Chinese make to spy on Americans. President Biden must protect the sovereignty of the U.S.,” Marshall posted on Twitter.
Ryder went on to say that the balloon presented no danger to persons on the ground.
He commented as political ramifications from the Chinese balloon’s presence over the United States grew.
The cancellation of Blinken’s trip, which was coordinated in November by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, is a setback for those on both sides who saw it as a long-overdue opportunity to repair an increasingly strained relationship. The last time a US secretary of state visited was in 2017.
When speaking about the economy on Friday morning, Biden avoided queries about the balloon.
Chinese spy satellites have identical sensors to what US officials suspect is on the spy balloon, raising doubts about why Beijing would undertake such a bold gesture on the day of a significant diplomatic event.
Officials say the Chinese spy balloon has picked a flight path that will take it over a number of important facilities. Military bases, such as those in Montana, which house intercontinental ballistic missile silos, could be one such location.
The airport near Billings, Montana, issued a ground stop on Wednesday as the military mobilized assets, including F-22 fighter jets, in case Biden ordered the balloon to be shot down.
South Korea launched a joint air drill with the US.
South Korea and the US agreed to strengthen security cooperation.
North Korea would implement the “concept of ‘nuke for nuke.’
SEOUL: South Korea said Thursday it had launched joint air drills with the United States using strategic bombers and stealth fighters, leading Pyongyang to warn that such activities may “spark an all-out showdown”.
The drills, the first of the year by the security allies, come a day after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart agreed to strengthen security cooperation in order to resist an increasingly hostile nuclear-armed North Korea.
The drills on Wednesday demonstrated “the United States’ willingness and capability to deliver robust and credible extended deterrence against North Korea‘s nuclear and missile threats,” according to the South Korean defense ministry.
According to the ministry, they included American B-1B long-range heavy bombers and stealth aircraft – US Air Force F-22s and South Korean F-35s — flying over the Yellow Sea.
The exercises, said to a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman, might “spark an all-out shutdown.”
Seoul and Washington’s moves to ratchet up joint drills breached “an extreme red line”.
After a year in which North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and conducted missile tests almost every month in violation of UN sanctions, South Korea is trying to persuade its increasingly apprehensive population of America’s solid defense commitment.
In view of Pyongyang’s “continuing provocations,” including a recent drone incursion into the South, Austin, and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup agreed last week to “increase and enhance the level and scale” of joint military exercises.
‘Nuke for nuke’
Strengthening US-South Korean military drills and sending strategic weapons to the region amounted to “talking about using nuclear weapons against the DPRK,” according to a North Korean statement on KCNA, the country’s official name.
North Korea, it said, would implement the “concept of ‘nuke for nuke and all-out confrontation for all-out confrontation!”
“As long as it pursues its hostile policy and confrontational stance, the DPRK is not interested in any engagement or conversation with the US,” it continued.
Joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea enrage Pyongyang, which sees them as practise for an invasion and has frequently replied with threats and drills of its own.
“By emphasizing that the United States is entirely responsible for the deterioration of the situation on the Korean peninsula, (North Korea) is accumulating legitimacy for the development of its missile and nuclear weapons programs,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
He went on to say that a huge North Korean military parade, as well as the planned launch of a spy satellite, could exacerbate tensions with Seoul and Washington.
According to the 38 North website, commercial satellite data suggests that “massive parade preparations” are underway in Pyongyang ahead of one of the most important official holidays.
The parade could take place on February 16, the “Day of the Shining Star,” the birthday of Kim Jong Il, the son of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and the father and predecessor of current leader Kim Jong Un, according to the statement.
The United States and India are taking steps to improve their defense partnership.
The US and Indian forces will work to improve maritime security.
Washington and New Delhi also agreed to expand their space collaboration.
The latest indication of collaboration between the two nations US and India in the face of a more aggressive China was the announcement by officials on Tuesday that the United States and India are taking steps to improve their defense partnership.
The proposals, which include increased cooperation on military-related businesses and operational coordination in the Indo-Pacific, were developed during two days of talks between the government and industry representatives from the two countries in Washington.
According to a White House information sheet, collaboration on developing jet engines and military weapons technologies is crucial among them. In particular, it stated that the US government will try to hasten the evaluation of a request made by US company General Electric to produce jet engines in India for use in indigenous Indian aircraft.
According to the information sheet, the US and Indian forces will work to improve maritime security as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.
US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval that “building alliances and partnerships are a top priority” for the Pentagon, in what she said was “the region’s increasingly contested strategic environment,” according to a Defense Department statement.
Hicks said building the partnerships was a major objective of the US’ 2022 National Defense Strategy, which calls China a “growing multi-domain threat.”
While the United States has witnessed China‘s military buildup in places near Taiwan and major US ally Japan, India’s forces have battled with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control, the ill-defined frontier between the two countries high in the Himalayas.
Technological collaboration
The United States and India, together with Japan and Australia, are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the Quad, an informal security forum founded in the early 2000s. It has become more active in recent years as part of efforts to oppose China’s Indo-Pacific reach and territorial claims.
US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the US-India collaboration on Critical and Emerging Technology on the margins of a Quad conference in Tokyo last May. (iCET).
The sessions this week were the first under the initiative, and they brought together dozens of government officials, CEOs from the private sector, and leading academics from both nations.
Aside from defense technologies, Washington and New Delhi plan to “increase international collaboration in a variety of sectors — including artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and enhanced wireless,” according to a White House information sheet.
The commitment to grow the semiconductor sector in India, which has the educated and qualified people needed to become a major participant in making those crucial components, was a major industrial component of the conference.
Furthermore, the two countries agreed to collaborate on the development of next-generation telecoms in India, including 5G and 6G sophisticated cell phone technology.
Washington and New Delhi also agreed to expand their space collaboration, including aiding India’s astronaut development, commercial space sector, and role in planetary defense.
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have lost their appeal.
The brothers will stay in Bucharest Police’s custody until February 27.
Romanian police searched five homes and detained the brothers and two more suspects.
Andrew Tate, the controversial former kickboxer turned social media influencer, and his brother Tristan have lost their appeal and will remain in detention in Romania on allegations of human trafficking and rape
The brothers will stay in Bucharest Police’s custody until February 27, according to Antena 3. The judgment of the court is final.
On December 30, Romanian police searched five homes and detained the brothers and two more suspects.
They assert that the suspects created an organized criminal gang for the purpose of people trafficking that extended from Romania to Britain and the United States.
The authorities assert that two of the accused transported victims to Romania while deceiving them “into believing that they wanted to enter into a marriage/cohabitation relationship” before sexually abusing them through physical force and compulsion.
Authorities claim that one of the suspects sexually assaulted a victim twice in March 2022. The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Romania claims that at least six victims were “sexually exploited by the organized criminal group” (DIICOT).
On January 25, after being taken in for interrogation and having their electronic equipment seized for examination, the brothers argued that they were innocent.
“There’s no evidence in my file because I’ve done nothing wrong. Everybody knows I’m innocent, ” Andrew Tate said. As he was led into DIICOT headquarters, he added: “There is no justice in Romania.”
Ioan Gliga, one of the Tate brothers’ lawyers, told reporters at the time: “We are convinced that the evidence is in favor of our clients, categorically not against them.”
