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☆ Fact Check-Star Wars promotional video shared online as footage of a downed UFO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A Star Wars promotional video created in 2014 by the German media company Sky Deutschland is being shared online with the false claim that it shows a downed UFO in Alaska in February 2023. Later in the clip, individuals dressed as stormtroopers, soldiers in the U.S. film franchise Star Wars, can be seen as the car heads towards the remains of the aircraft. A reverse image search of the video led to an article by CNET about this video published in 2014 (here). The YouTube title similarly links the clip to the Star Wars franchise. The clip shows a Star Wars-themed promotional video created in 2014.

☆ Biden plans speech on balloon, unidentified objects - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Steve Holland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden plans on Thursday to make his most extensive remarks yet about a high-altitude Chinese balloon and three other objects that were shot down by U.S. fighter jets, two sources familiar with the discussions said on Wednesday. Biden has been under pressure from lawmakers to speak more extensively about the spate of flyovers by unidentified objects, which have baffled many Americans. The United States has said the Chinese balloon was used for surveillance purposes, while Beijing called it a weather balloon. He said the United States still had no firm grasp on the origin of the three objects. Biden has asked national security adviser Jake Sullivan to preside over a task force of related agencies to come up with guidelines on how to address unidentified objects in future.

☆ Pressure mounts on Biden to publicly address aerial object shoot downs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Al Drago | ReutersWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is coming under mounting pressure from both Democratic and Republicans senators to publicly explain why he ordered three floating objects to be shot down last weekend by American fighter jets. The orders to shoot down the three "unidentified aerial phenomena" over three days came just one week after a massive Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down Feb. 4, after floating across the United States for eight days. The first of the objects shot down this weekend was the size of a small car and floating at 40,000 feet when it was shot down over the Arctic Ocean on Friday. The second one was similar in size and altitude, but it was shot down over the Canadian Yukon on Saturday. The third floating object was slightly smaller and floating at just 20,000 feet when it was taken out over Lake Huron on Sunday.

☆ What's up there? Possible explanations for mystery objects downed by U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Military officials say that until they are able to recover the debris, they are unlikely to know for sure what the objects were. Scientists use balloons to study wind patterns, air quality, and other aspects of Earth's atmosphere. STILL UNEXPLAINEDThe object downed over Canada on Saturday was described by Canada's defense minister as resembling a balloon. Senator Marco Rubio, leaving a classified briefing on the objects on Tuesday, told reporters that they are no different than the hundreds of benign objects cited in past intelligence reports. "We've never shot down anything in over 65 years of NORAD, and in one week they shot down three things," he said.

☆ The 3 Flying Objects the US Shot Down May Have Been Commercial or Research Craft, White House Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The White House said that three objects shot down over the weekend might have posed no threat. A leading explanation is that they were used for commercial or research purposes, a spokesperson said. US authorities have also found no evidence linking the objects to Chinese spying, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at a White House briefing. Kirby added that even though the US hadn't determined that the objects were used for spying, authorities couldn't rule that possibility out. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

☆ Biden plans speech on balloon, unidentified objects -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Steve Holland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the speech was expected to be on Thursday. Biden has been under pressure from lawmakers to speak more extensively about the spate of flyovers by unidentified objects, which have baffled many Americans. The United States has said the Chinese balloon was used for surveillance purposes, while Beijing called it a weather balloon. He said the United States still had no firm grasp on the origin of the three objects. Biden has asked national security adviser Jake Sullivan to preside over a task force of related agencies to come up with a set of guidelines on how to address unidentified objects going forward.

☆ Unidentified Flying Object Debris Search Is Hampered by Weather, Location
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Ken Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The U.S. hasn’t yet been able to locate debris from the three unidentified objects shot down over North America last weekend and has been hampered by remote, frigid conditions, the White House said Tuesday. John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, said there were intensive recovery operations under way to try to recover debris from the takedowns that occurred over Alaska on Friday, Canada’s Yukon territory on Saturday and Lake Huron on Sunday.

☆ China says U.S. balloons flew into its airspace
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Yew Lun Tian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Feb 14 (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday that more than ten high-altitude balloons released by the United States since May 2022 flew into its airspace and that of other countries. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the high-altitude balloons "flew around the world and illegally entered the airspaces of China and other relevant countries at least ten times". Wang did not provide details on the other countries involved, declined to specify which parts of Chinese airspace the incursions happened or provide photos as evidence. Earlier on Monday, he said the U.S. balloons entered Chinese airspace more than ten times since January 2022. "The United States should conduct a thorough investigation and give China an explanation," Wang said on Tuesday.

☆ US missile landed harmlessly in Lake Huron after missing 'object': U.S. general
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BRUSSELS, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The first of two missiles fired from an F-16 fighter jet at an unidentified object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed the object, but landed harmlessly in the water, the top U.S. general, Mark Milley, said on Tuesday. "We certainly tracked it all the way down," Milley told reporters at a news conference in Brussels. Reuters reported on Monday that the first of the two missiles had missed the object, one of three unidentified objects shot down by U.S. fighter jets over U.S. and Canadian airspace between Friday and Sunday. Recovery efforts are underway to identify them, and Milley cautioned that those will take some time. Reporting by Andrew Gray and Sabine Siebold in Brussels, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in WashingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a spy vessel, spent a week flying over the United States and Canada before President Joe Biden ordered it shot on Feb. 4. China says the balloon shot down on Feb. 4 was a civilian weather-monitoring aircraft. It has accused Washington of sending its own balloons into Chinese airspace, an allegation Beijing reiterated on Tuesday. 'COMMERCIAL OR BENIGN PURPOSE'The U.S. military said on Monday it had recovered critical electronics from the suspected Chinese spy balloon as well as large sections of the vessel itself. But it has not yet recovered debris from the most recent three objects shot down, with tough weather conditions making recovery operations difficult.

☆ The newest Sidewinders have become 'the weapons of choice' against unidentified objects over the US, top general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

To shoot them down, the jets have used the newest version of the Sidewinder missile, the AIM-9X. The high-tech AIM-9X is the best suited to take down the low-tech objects, a top US general says. But the US Air Force F-22 and F-16 fighters that destroyed a Chinese spy balloon and three other unidentified objects didn't use their 20 mm cannon. Instead, they used heat-seeking AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. US airmen move an AIM-9X missile to an F-22 at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida in September 2021.

☆ Mystery aerial objects may have benign purpose-White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FBI/Handout via ReutersWASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. intelligence community is considering the possibility that three mysterious unidentified objects shot down by U.S. fighter jets were tied to a commercial or otherwise benign purpose, the White House said on Tuesday. John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters that the United States still had no firm grasp on the origin of the three objects. He said there was no indication that the trio of objects were tied to China's spy balloon program. A U.S. fighter jet on Feb. 4 shot down a high-altitude Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina after it transited the United States. Kirby confirmed that the fighter jet that shot down the object over Lake Huron missed with an initial missile and it landed in the lake.

☆ An F-16 fighter jet missed on its first try to shoot down a mysterious object over Lake Huron, top US general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An F-16 fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to take down a flying object over Lake Huron on Sunday. "On the fourth one, over Lake Huron, the first shot missed, the second shot hit," Milley said in response to a reporter's question, confirming earlier reports. "And in this case, the missile landed harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron. Sunday's operation marked the fourth instance in about a week in which a US Air Force fighter jet shot down a flying object over North American airspace. The general leading North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command offered an explanation on Sunday for why there has been a seemingly sudden increase in flying objects appearing over North American airspace.

☆ What’s Going On Up There, Mr. President?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. fighter jets shot down another flying object on Sunday, this time over Lake Huron. That’s the third in three days, and the fourth in eight, yet the Biden Administration seems about as eager to talk about this as it does the withdrawal from Afghanistan. As we write this on Sunday, the chief Administration spokesman seems to be Sen. Chuck Schumer , who is about the last guy you’d send out to reassure anyone. The Senate Majority Leader told ABC News on Sunday that the objects shot down on Friday and Saturday were likely also balloons.

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that the four aerial objects shot down in recent days, including one over Yukon territory on Saturday, are connected in some way, without elaborating. U.S. military fighter jets on Sunday downed an octagonal object over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said. Trudeau said search and recovery efforts were underway for the aerial object shot down over Yukon, adding that winter weather was posing challenges. Trudeau also said he would discuss the issue of aerial objects with U.S. President Joe Biden when they meet in March. The presence of those aerial objects in North American airspace was a "very serious situation," Trudeau said.

☆ Explainer: What we know about the objects shot down by the U.S. military
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here is what we know - and do not know - about the objects:WHAT ARE THE OBJECTS? It has been identified by U.S. officials as a balloon that China was using to spy on the United States. F-22s also shot down the objects over Alaska on Friday and Canada on Saturday. IS THE UNITED STATES SENDING BALLOONS OVER CHINA? Washington said another Chinese balloon had been spotted over Latin America.

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force general overseeing North American airspace said on Sunday after a series of shoot-downs of unidentified objects that he would not rule out aliens or any other explanation yet, deferring to U.S. intelligence experts. It was the third unidentified flying object to be knocked out of the sky by U.S. warplanes since Friday, following the Feb. 4 downing of a suspected Chinese weather balloon that put North American air defenses on high alert. "We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason, said VanHerck, who is head of the joint U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Air Force Northern Command. However, the government's effort to investigate anomalous, unidentified objects — whether they are in space, the skies or even underwater — has led to hundreds of reports that are being investigated, senior military leaders have said. But so far, the Pentagon has not found evidence to indicate Earthly visits from intelligent alien life, those officials have said.

"I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is no, again no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. On Sunday, a U.S. Air Force general said he would not rule out aliens or any other explanation yet, deferring to U.S. intelligence experts. John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, answers questions during the daily press briefing with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinMultiple White House officials ruled out the possibility that the objects came from extraterrestrials on Monday. "I don't think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these crafts, period," White House spokesperson John Kirby said during a White House briefing with reporters on Monday.

China widened its dispute with the United States on Monday, claiming that U.S. high-altitude balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times since the beginning of 2022. Washington called that a surveillance balloon, while China has insisted it was a weather-monitoring craft blown badly off course. A White House spokeswoman denied it, and accused China of violating the sovereignty of the United States and more than 40 other countries across five continents with surveillance balloons linked to its military. "It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the United States was a weather balloon and to this day has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace and the airspace of others." Reuters GraphicsThe three objects were flying at altitudes that could have posed a risk to air traffic, officials have said.

☆ US general refuses to rule out aliens after third suspicious flying object is shot down by the military over its airspace
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The US has shot down three objects flying over North America in as many days. A top US general said he wasn't ruling out an extra-terrestrial origin for the objects. It comes after the US shot down a spy balloon it alleged was sent by China. The remarks come after the US military shot down three objects flying in North American airspace over the last 3 days. An object flying at high altitude had been shot down on Biden's orders over northern Alaska Friday, while another was downed over Yukon in north-western Canada Saturday.

☆ Elon Musk joked that the UAPs shot down over North America are alien 'friends of mine' as questions remain over their origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk joked on Sunday about the latest UAP to be shot down over North America. Three more unidentified objects have been shot down since the Chinese spy balloon on February 4. "Just some of my [alien] friends of mine stopping by," he added, including emojis of an alien and a flying saucer. Musk's quip came an hour before an American F-16 fighter jet shot down an object over Lake Huron, Michigan. Like the two other downed objects, officials decided it was a risk to civilian aircraft due to the altitude at which it was flying, the statement said.

The suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States earlier this month led politicians to criticize the .S. The Pentagon said there had been four previous Chinese spy balloon flights over the United States in recent years. On Friday, a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object about the size of a small car near Deadhorse, Alaska. VanHerck said the military considered shooting guns at the objects, but this was deemed too difficult given the small targets. Whether this is the start of regular shootdowns of unidentified objects over American skies is still unclear.

☆ Top U.S., China diplomats weigh first meeting since balloon drama- Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering a meeting with China's top diplomat Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference, in what would be the diplomats' first face-to-face talks since the U.S. shot down flying objects over the country, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. In recent days, the U.S. military has shot down four flying objects over North America, most recently on Sunday, when an octagonal object was downed over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said. read moreReporting by Juby Babu in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Here's why mysterious flying objects are suddenly popping up all over the place, according to the military command that's been shooting them down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Jake Epstein | Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Four suspicious flying objects have been shot down over North American skies in recent days. NORAD changed its radar filters to help spot smaller, slower objects after a Chinese spy balloon drifted over the US. The command has changed the way it looks for them and is now finding more of these objects. Since the US Air Force shot down the Chinese balloon in early February, fighter jets have downed three additional airborne objects. US officials said this object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a threat to civilian aircraft.

☆ NATO Secretary General: incidents with balloons over U.S. form part of pattern
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Recent incidents regarding balloons shot down by the United States, which suspects they are surveillance balloons from China, form part of a pattern which highlights the need for NATO to be vigilant, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. "What we saw over the United States is part of a pattern where China and also Russia are increasing surveillance activities on NATO allies," Stoltenberg told reporters on Monday. It was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a U.S. missile in a little more than a week. China's foreign ministry said it had no information on the latest three flying objects shot down by the United States. Reporting by Bart Meijer, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Andrew Gray, Sabine Siebold and Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Sudip Kar-GuptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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