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☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ Flying Objects’ Origins Remain Uncertain as Debris Recovery Continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Gordon Lubold | Natalie Andrews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The U.S. hasn’t seen any evidence that the three objects shot down since Friday over the U.S. and Canada were part of China’s spy balloon program, though searchers have yet to recover debris from them, a senior White House official said. The search for the remnants of the objects is hampered by the remoteness of the search area and frigid conditions there, said John Kirby , the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, Tuesday.

☆ Unidentified Flying Object Debris Search Hasn’t Found Spy-Balloon Evidence
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Gordon Lubold | Natalie Andrews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The U.S. hasn’t seen any evidence that the three objects shot down since Friday over the U.S. and Canada were part of China’s spy balloon program, though searchers have yet to recover debris from any of them, a senior White House official said. The search for the remnants of the objects is hampered by the remoteness of the search area and frigid conditions there, said John Kirby , the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, Tuesday.

☆ Zelenskiy urges speedy help from allies as Russia pounds Ukraine's east
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Much of Russia's artillery fire was focused on Bakhmut, a bombed-out city in Donetsk province and a principal target for President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskiy said Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it could with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies could gather strength. Speed saves people's lives, speed brings back security, and I thank all our partners who realize that speed is important." Russian forces had made incremental progress in their assault on Bahkmut, White House spokesperson John Kirby said. Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said Russian forces would not be able to capture the town anytime soon.

☆ 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.

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.

WASHINGTON—Biden administration officials on Monday defended their decisions to shoot down three unidentified flying objects over the U.S. and Canada, even as they acknowledged they knew little about what they were destroying. The three unidentified objects were flying at altitudes of 20,000 to 40,000 feet—much lower than the suspected Chinese spy balloon taken out Feb. 4—and posed a hazard to civilian air traffic, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

☆ Ohio Crews Conduct Controlled Release of Chemicals from Derailed Train
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden Orders Second ‘Object’ Shot Down Over Alaska John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters on Friday that President Biden ordered the military to down another object flying over U.S. airspace. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News

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.

☆ White House mocks Putin's mismanagement of the war in Ukraine, saying he changes generals like 'socks'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The White House mocked Putin's handling of the Ukraine war on Monday. NSC spokesperson John Kirby said Putin changes generals like "I change socks." "It's kind of like a reality TV show," Colin H. Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, said to reporters last month while speaking on the shuffle among Russian generals in Ukraine. Russia has begun a new spring offensive in eastern Ukraine, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said, but Kyiv's forces have been bracing for this fight. NATO countries have provided Ukraine with billions in military aid, including vital weapons, since the war began.

"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.

☆ New Russian offensive underway in Ukraine, says NATO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Ukrainian defenders, who have already held out for months, were braced for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials said on Monday. The Russian assault on Bakhmut has been spearheaded by mercenaries of the Wagner group, who have made small but steady gains. The Ukrainian military reported Russian shelling all along the frontline and said 16 settlements had been bombarded near Bakhmut. The Ukrainian governors of Luhansk and Donetsk have recently said that a predicted Russian offensive had begun. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, in what it calls a "special military operation" to "denazify" the country and protect Russian speakers.

"There is no, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "We have not yet been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said at a news briefing. At Friday's White House briefing, Kirby said: "There is no U.S. surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace. I'm not aware of any other craft that we're flying over into Chinese airspace." "This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control," Adrienne Watson, another White House national security spokesperson, said in a statement.

Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House February 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. "We have not yet been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are," John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said at a White House briefing. Each of the three crafts was the size of a small car and was floating on prevailing winds. It was cylindrical and had been floating at around 40,000 feet in altitude, Kirby said, posing a threat to civilian aircraft. That craft was similar in size, shape and flight altitude to the one that was shot down Friday, Kirby said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday there is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity after a series of shoot-downs of unidentified objects over North American airspace. "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. "I don't think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these crafts, period," White House spokesman John Kirby said during a White House briefing with reporters on Monday. The government's effort to investigate anomalous, unidentified objects - whether they are in space, the skies or even underwater - has led to hundreds of documented reports that are being investigated, senior military leaders have said.

☆ White House: No U.S. surveillance craft in China's airspace
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, answers questions during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - There are no U.S. surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday, repeating denials of China's claim that U.S. high-altitude balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times since the beginning of 2022. Asked at a White House press briefing to clarify whether the United States was operating aircraft in Chinese-claimed airspace as opposed to over China's internationally recognized territory, Kirby declined to specify further. "There is no U.S. surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace," he said. Those operations anger Beijing, which accuses the United States of damaging regional stability and stirring up controversy over maritime disputes.

☆ 3 suspicious objects have been downed across North America this week. Officials have no idea where 2 of the UAP came from and the pilots who shot them down can't agree on what they even look like.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

US fighter aircraft shot down an object threatening airspace over Alaska yesterday. On Saturday, another unknown object, described as "cylindrical," was shot down over Canada. Here is what we know about the object shot down on Friday. The object shot down on Saturday was spotted in the Northern Canadian territory of Yukon. It is unclear if the object shot down off the Alaskan coast was of similar size or shape.

☆ As new high-altitude objects are shot down over North America, lawmakers say they need more information
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A jet flies by a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floats off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023. On Feb. 4, the U.S. military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had been transiting across the country for several days. The White House announced a second object had been shot down on Friday that was flying over Alaska at about 40,000 feet. Gen. Pat Ryder said Canadian authorities are conducting recovery operations to help both countries learn more about the nature of the object downed in Canada. He said he suspects that since the objects were downed in remote areas, there is not a lot of information to share yet.

☆ A new high-altitude flying object shot down over Northern Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to media in the House of Commons foyer on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada February 1, 2023. "Earlier today, President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Trudeau on the unidentified, unmanned object in North American air space," according to a statement from the White House. According to U.S. Northern Command, recovery operations continued Saturday on sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska. In a statement, the Northern Command said there were no new details on what the object was. Additional debris was pulled out Friday, and operations will continue as weather permits, Northern Command said.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. military downed a “high-altitude object” spotted in the sky over Alaska, the White House said Friday, the second time in less than a week that an Air Force jet fired on a craft that had intruded into U.S. airspace. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a “reasonable threat to the safety of civilians,” John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters at the White House.

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