US President Joe Biden ordered the object be brought down, with a defence official saying it was a spy balloon that China intended to use on sensitive military sites.
But Chinese officials insisted it was a meteorological and scientific research device that had been blown off course.
‘Obvious overreaction’
In a statement on Sunday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said: “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.”
Mr Biden’s order was an “obvious overreaction” that “seriously violated international conventions”, it added.
The balloon was shot down by an F-22 fighter aircraft, about six nautical miles off the coast of South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach, with ships deployed in the water to mount the recovery operation.
It had flown over the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Alaska, and through Canadabefore entering the US.
But Mr Biden said he was advised to wait until it was over water because of the risks of falling debris.
“They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” he said on Saturday.
Ahead of the operation, flights were halted at three airports including Myrtle Beach International Airport due to a “national security effort”, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Image: Some people took a seat on Myrtle Beach to watch the operation
Operation compared to ‘Top Gun’
The operation to down the balloon caught the attention of people on the ground.
Some, including local Peter Flynn, pictured above, gathered on Myrtle Beach to watch the aircraft being fired upon, while others were caught more off guard.
“I did not anticipate waking up to be in a Top Gun movie today,” said Ashlyn Preaux, who saw fighter jets circling the balloon from her home in Forestbrook, South Carolina, before it went down.
It had been flying between 60,000ft and 65,000ft.
What happens next?
US officials want to recover debris from the downed balloon, which is spread out over seven miles.
The US Coast Guard, Navy, and FBI are all involved in the recovery effort, with divers and unmanned submarines expected to comb the sea floor over the next few days.
Sky’s US correspondent Mark Stone said: “The aim will be to harvest a potential goldmine of information”, with investigators likely hoping to reconstruct the balloon’s payload and learn from it.
CHINA MAY FEEL PRESSURE TO RESPOND AS US RELATIONS HEAD FOR COLD WAR-STYLE STAND-OFF
Be in no doubt that the shooting down of the spy balloon is an escalation.
It’s an escalation the Americans no doubt felt they had no option but to take, but one that will be hard for both sides to row back from.
If the Chinese response initially had been relatively apologetic, speaking of “regret” that what it described as a weather balloon had “accidentally” ended up in US airspace, their tone now is significantly angrier.
It is part of the Chinese play book to simply deny. Even if the Americans say they can prove from the gathered debris that the balloon was spying, expect accusations that the claims are being made to “smear” China.
The problem is that just as the US will have felt pressure to shoot, the Chinese may feel pressure to take some form of retaliatory action, especially if it sticks to the line that this was a civilian craft.
There has already been a large diplomatic cost for seemingly very little intelligence gain, many experts have weighed in saying such a balloon is unlikely to have learned more than what could be gathered from satellites.
Perhaps the intention was to provoke or test the limits, but whatever it was, tit-for-tat actions become hard to avoid in a relationship slowly sliding towards a Cold War-style stand-off.
Recent overtures on both sides that they should work to prevent the relationship deteriorating further feel a long way off this morning
The row between the two superpowers over the balloon’s objective comes at a sensitive time for their relationship, which has been on rocky ground for years.
It prompted US secretary of state Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a trip to Beijing, which would likely have taken huge amounts of diplomatic effort on both sides to organise.
Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.
Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.
And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.
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6:39
Trump’s tariffs: Ed Conway analysis
He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.
Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.
Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.
Image: Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters
And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.
But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.
We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.
To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.
Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.
The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.
She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.
Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.
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2:49
Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles
He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.
“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
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Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”
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Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
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Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.
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Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.
Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.
“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”
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The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.
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Elon Musk has called reports that he will leave his government role in the coming months “fake news”.
A senior White House official previously told NBC News, Sky’s US partner network, that Donald Trump had discussed the Tesla and X boss transitioning back to the private sector at a cabinet meeting last month.
Image: The Tesla boss has headed DOGE since 20 January. File pic: Reuters
After reports emerged of the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “garbage” and added: “Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
Mr Musk added in response on X: “Yeah, fake news.”
NBC News reported that the official said Mr Musk would leave at the end of his 130 days as a special government employee.
That would be 30 May, but it is unclear if the billionaire businessman will indeed leave on that date.
Previously, the White House said that as a temporary organisation, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would be terminated on 4 July next year – the 250th anniversary of the US.
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It comes days after Mr Musk said some members of his DOGE team were getting death threats on a daily basis.
Mr Muskhad drawn criticism over his efforts to downsize the US federal government.
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0:36
‘Elon Musk has got to go’
In just weeks, entire agencies were dismantled, and tens of thousands of workers from the 2.3 million federal workforce have been fired or have agreed to leave their jobs.
A number of lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts over cuts recommended by DOGE.