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The US has shot down another unidentified object that it says flew near sensitive military sites and could have been used for spying.

It was downed over Lake Huron in Michigan at 2.42pm local time on Sunday on President Joe Biden‘s orders.

A US F-16 jet fired a missile at about 20,000ft amid concerns that its altitude and flightpath could endanger civilian planes.

Spy balloons and US tensions with China – join our live Q&A

It is the fourth incident in just over a week – and the third in as many days – after objects were shot down in Alaska and Canada on Friday and Saturday,

A senior US official, speaking anonymously, described the latest object as having “an octagonal structure with strings hanging off but no discernible payload”.

The four flying objects

On Friday 4 February, the US military downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it said had traversed sensitive military sites across North America.

On Friday 10 Friday, a second “car-sized” object was shot down over sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska.

On Saturday 11 February, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered a US warplane to shoot down a third unidentified object that was flying high over the northern Canadian territory of Yukon.

On Sunday 12 February, a fourth unidentified object was shot down with a missile by US fighter jets over Lake Huron on the US-Canada border.

Authorities restricted airspace over the lake, near the Canadian border, before both US and Canadian jets were sent to intercept it.

Jets were also scrambled on Saturday after radar detected an object over Montana, but it could not be located and it was thought it could be an error.

However, the signal was picked up again by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on Sunday, the Pentagon said.

“Based on its flight path and data we can reasonably connect this object to the radar signal picked up over Montana, which flew in proximity to sensitive DOD [Department of Defense] sites,” said a statement.

“We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities.”

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Where have flying objects been shot down?

Teams are trying to recover the object from the lake.

US Air Force general Glen VanHerck admitted he did not know what the last three objects shot down were or how they stay aloft.

However, he told reporters they were not the same as the Chinese “spy” balloon downed near South Carolina a week ago.

“We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” he said – also refusing to rule out any explanation when asked if they could be extra-terrestrial.

A National Security Council spokesperson earlier on Sunday said the unidentified objects shot down over Alaska and Canada were “much smaller” than the Chinese balloon.

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Trudeau confirms UFO shot down

‘Object was cylindrical’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said teams were searching for the object shot down over his country.

A US F-22 stealth jet brought it down on Saturday over the sparsely populated Yukon territory in the northwest.

“Recovery teams are on the ground, looking to find and analyse the object,” Mr Trudeau told reporters.

“There’s still much to know about it. That’s why the analysis of this object is going to be very important.”

Canada’s defence minister Anita Anand described it as cylindrical but smaller than the Chinese balloon.

Read more:
Analysis: US on heightened state of alert – and it hasn’t ruled out extra-terrestrials
US shoots down ‘spy balloon’ amid China threats
What are spy balloons?

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4 February: Moment ‘spy balloon’ shot down

Image:
The US Navy collected the wreckage of the Chinese balloon from the sea

It was flying at 40,000ft and posed a risk to civilian planes when it was brought down about 100 miles from the border at 3.41pm EST (8.41pm GMT), said Ms Anand.

The Pentagon said NORAD had spotted the object over the coast of Alaska late on Friday.

Jets were scrambled from the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and joined by Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft after the object crossed the border.

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The Pentagon said the US F-22 shot down the object using an AIM 9X missile “following close coordination” between the countries.

Mr Trudeau said the military would recover the wreckage and that he had spoken to President Biden and thanked NORAD for “keeping the watch over North America”.

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said the UK will conduct a security review following the latest development.

Analysis: China meets insinuations with accusations

Neither America nor Canada has officially confirmed where the shot down “unidentified objects” are from, but the insinuation that China is responsible feels pretty clear.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader no less, has said he thinks that’s “likely”

The Chinese are well aware of the accusations and thus there were a lot of questions today, not least how they would respond?

The answer was with defiance but no clear denial.

At a routine press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the spokesperson Wang Wen Bin was asked multiple times whether he would confirm or deny that the crafts were Chinese.

He would not be drawn either way, his answer instead was an accusation.

An accusation that it is, in fact, America that’s the world’s most aggressive surveillance power, that it’s America that has questions to answer about illegal spying and, most notably, an accusation that America has sent more than 10 such spy balloons over Chinese territory since January 2022.

Such a claim is hard to assess as there was no further detail about when and where these alleged incursions happened and how China responded at the time, but the accusation alone is a clear sign that China feels hard done by over this issue.

Another sign of pressure, perhaps, are reports that China is preparing to shoot down an unidentified object over its airspace.

Such an action would no doubt raise eyebrows given the resolute condemnation of the American response as “trigger-happy” and “an obvious overreaction”.

Some form of face-saving retaliation is not out of the question but, for now at least, it’s a topic that China doesn’t want to engage with.

Multiple attempts to ask were met with a “referral to previous statements”, in other words, “no comment”.

He said: “The UK and her allies will review what these airspace intrusions mean for our security. This development is another sign of how the global threat picture is changing for the worse.”

Earlier this week, Beijing admitted that the balloon shot down off South Carolina had come from China but insisted it was a “civilian airship”.

It said it had strayed into US airspace and was for meteorological and other scientific research.

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Elon Musk says he’s created his own political party – the ‘America Party’

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Elon Musk says he's created his own political party - the 'America Party'

Elon Musk says he has created a new political party – the America Party –
after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll.

It follows his public falling out with Republican President Donald Trump.

On Friday, the billionaire had asked his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created.

On Saturday evening he wrote on the same platform: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.

“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

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Trump threatens to ‘put DOGE’ on Musk

The world’s richest man made the announcement just one day after President Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk had fiercely opposed.

More on Elon Musk

Musk had previously said we would form and fund a new political party to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.

From bromance to bust-up

The Tesla boss backed Trump’s election campaign with more than a quarter of a billion dollars, later rewarded with a high profile role running the newly created department of government efficiency (DOGE).

But observers of the two men, both with huge wealth and reputations, wondered how long the bromance would last.

Elon Musk receives a golden key from U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Donald Trump gave Musk a warm send-off in the Oval Office in May. Pic: Reuters

In May Musk left the role, still on good terms with Trump but criticising key parts of his legislative agenda.

After that, the attacks ramped up, with Musk slamming the sweeping tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination” and Trump hitting back in a barbed tit-for-tat.

Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billion-dollar federal subsidies that flow to Musk’s companies, and said he would even consider deporting him.

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Is this the most powerful Trump’s been?

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Is this the most powerful Trump's been?

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has passed and he’s due to sign it into law on Independence Day. Mark Stone and David Blevins discuss how the bill will supercharge his presidency, despite its critics.

They also chat Gaza and Ukraine, as Donald Trump meets with freed Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and talks to Vladimir Putin.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

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At least 13 people confirmed dead and more than 20 missing from girls camp in Texas flooding

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At least 13 people confirmed dead and more than 20 missing from girls camp in Texas flooding

13 people have been killed in the US state of Texas after heavy rain caused flash flooding, according to local media reports.

Officials have also said more than 20 are missing from a girls’ camp in Texas.

As much as 10 inches (25 centimetres) of heavy rain fell in just a few hours overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River.

Judge Rob Kelly, the chief elected official in the county, confirmed fatalities from the flooding and dozens of water rescues so far.

A flood watch issued on Thursday afternoon estimated isolated amounts up to seven inches (17 centimetres) of rising water.

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