WASHINGTON The United States has accused China of operating a global surveillance programme covering more than 40 countries in five continents.
Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said on Wednesday that Chinas surveillance balloons have been spotted over Central America, South America, South-east Asia, East Asia and Europe in the past several years.
State Department spokesman Ned Price was tight-lipped on Thursday about Chinas targets.
He also declined to comment on how the US knew there were Chinese incursions over those territories, adding that he did not want to compromise intelligence sources and methods.
But The Washington Post, quoting US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported that Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines had been targeted.
So far, governments have not confirmed the presence of such surveillance balloons, although some are re-examining past instances of unidentified aerial objects over their lands. North-east Asia
Tokyo said on Thursday that it was coordinating with Washington to analyse unidentified aerial objects that had been spotted over Japan in June 2020 and September 2021.
Chief government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said that the government had also spotted similar balloons whose affiliations were unknown, including in January 2022 over the sea west of Kyushu.
Taiwans Ministry of National Defence dismissed claims on Friday that a spy balloon had been seen over the Presidential Palace in Taipei in September 2021.
The unidentified balloon had been 40km away from the Taiwan coast over the ocean, it said in a statement. South-east Asia
The Philippine military said last Sunday that it could not confirm claims from a defence analyst that an unidentified flying object, which had been spotted flying over the northern province of Pangasinan, might have been a Chinese spy balloon.
Vietnam has not detected the presence of any Chinese balloons in its airspace, its Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. More On This Topic Global fallout over Chinas spy balloon programme widens Freak accident or calculated move? What Chinas spy balloon over the US may be about Latin America
Costa Rica said on Monday that China had apologised for a balloon that recently passed over its territory.
Chinese officials said that the balloon was focused on weather studies, but had deviated from its original flight path and had limited ability to correct its course, the Costa Rican government said in a statement.
A day earlier on Sunday, Colombias air force said that what appeared to be a balloon had been detected in the northern part of its airspace on the morning of Feb 3, although it did not specify the objects origin.
Beijing said on Monday that its balloon had floated over Latin America and the Caribbean, adding that it had been used for flight tests. Additional reporting by Mara Cepeda, Walter Sim and Yip Wai Yee More On This Topic What was the Chinese spy balloon trying to collect? US-China relations: A long history of balloons, bombs and drones
DUBLIN — Rocco Becht passed for two touchdowns and ran for another score, helping No. 22 Iowa State beat No. 17 Kansas State24-21 in the Aer Lingus Classic on Saturday.
Becht was 14-for-28 for 183 yards. He found Dominic Overby for a 23-yard TD in the first quarter and passed to Brett Eskildsen for a 24-yard score in the third quarter.
With 2:26 to go, Iowa State went for it on fourth-and-3 at the Kansas State 16-yard line. Becht found Carson Hansen for 15 yards and iced the game.
“He called a great play, he gave me two plays and let me decide and I knew we were going to have a chance to get it,” Becht said “We’ve worked on it in practice and it’s been working for us and we’re confident with it and I have trust in my guys.”
The Cyclones (1-0, 1-0 Big 12) opened a 24-14 lead in the fourth quarter after a turnover on downs by Kansas State at its own 30-yard line. Becht finished the short drive with a 7-yard touchdown run with 6:38 left.
Avery Johnson passed for 273 yards and two touchdowns for Kansas State (0-1, 0-1). He also had a 10-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
“I mean that’s the thing, regardless of the outcome we have 11 games to play,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said. “We have our back against the wall, but now we’ve got to reset and regroup and get ready to play.”
Johnson threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Jerand Bradley with 6:23 remaining, but the Wildcats never got the ball back.
Both teams struggled to deal with wet conditions in the first half. Kansas State had two turnovers and a turnover on downs, and Iowa State committed two turnovers in the first 30 minutes.
“We just made some great adjustments,” Campbell said. “We saw some things different in the first game and the opportunity to make some adjustments and to have the ability to do that, to have the staff that’s been together for so long that we have the confidence to make those adjustments.”
The Cyclones grabbed a 14-7 lead when Becht found Eskildsen in the corner of the end zone with 1:07 left in the third quarter.
Johnson responded with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Jayce Brown, tying it at 14 with 14:09 remaining in the game.
Hansen led Iowa State with 71 yards rushing on 16 carries. Joe Jackson had 51 yards on 12 carries for Kansas State.
“I thought that the (offensive line) did a really great job in the second half,” Campbell said. “Our tight ends and o-line did a great job of execution and man Carson is a really great player so we’re really proud of him.”
Iowa State has beat Kansas State in five of the past six seasons.
“I think those are great wins, any time you can beat quality opponents that’s awesome,” Campbell said. “We got a long way to go, it’s only game one and there’s a lot of football left and we’re going to have to see if we’re tough enough as a program and team to go home and get ready for a good South Dakota team next week.”
Kansas State running back Dylan Edwards was injured in the first quarter on a punt that he muffed. He didn’t return to the game.
The Mets said Montas had a right elbow UCL injury. The move was made retroactive to Friday.
Montas is 3-2 with a 6.28 ERA in nine games, including seven starts.
Right-hander Huascar Brazobán was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. Brazobán is 5-2 with a 3.83 ERA in 44 games, including three starts, with the Mets this season. His three starts came as an opener.
PITTSBURGH — Bubba Chandler wanted to drink in a moment a lifetime in the making.
The combination of adrenaline, the remnants of his traditional pregame Red Bull coursing through his system and the buzz inside PNC Park as the 22-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander made his major league debut in the top of the sixth Friday night against Colorado wouldn’t let him.
“I blacked out in the first inning,” Chandler said. “But I just kind of heard the place go crazy.”
With any luck, not for the last time.
Flashing (and sometimes fighting) the electric stuff that made him the top pitching prospect in baseball, Chandler made history while offering a hint of what might come during Pittsburgh’s 9-0 victory over the Rockies.
Anchored by a fastball that reached triple digits with ease and helped by some solid defense behind him, Chandler became the first pitcher to throw four scoreless innings and record a save in his debut since saves became an officially recognized statistic in 1969.
“Kind of everything I dreamed of,” Chandler said after allowing two hits and striking out three while needing 40 pitches to record 12 outs.
Even if running out of the bullpen in late August for a team likely on its way to a last-place finish isn’t exactly what Chandler envisioned his first moment in the big leagues might look like.
If he’s being honest, Chandler thought he would be up sooner, particularly after a spectacular first two months at Triple-A Indianapolis in which he was at times unhittable.
“I was mad, yeah,” Chandler said.
That anger, however, morphed into something else entirely by the time Chandler delivered his first big league pitch, a 99 mph fastball that Colorado’s Orlando Arcia fouled off over the backstop: gratitude.
“You can complain all you want, everything,” Chandler said. “In the end, I’m here in the big leagues. There’s not a lot of 22-year-old kids that get to do this.”
No, there’s not. And even fewer who can do it the way Chandler does it, by attacking the strike zone with what teammate Braxton Ashcraft — who set the table for Chandler by throwing five innings of one-hit ball — called “one of the best arms I’ve ever seen.”
Chandler wasn’t perfect. But he was close.
Arcia took Chandler’s third pitch in the majors and slammed it off the left-field wall for a double. It was the lone major mistake Chandler made.
He fanned Ryan Ritter on a 100 mph fastball that painted the outside corner, induced Tyler Freeman to ground out to second and then struck out Mickey Moniak swinging on another triple-digit fastball.
Chandler needed just seven pitches to retire the Rockies in order in the seventh, helped by a sliding catch by center fielder Jack Suwinski.
Colorado’s Braxton Fulford led off the eighth by getting hit by a pitch but Chandler induced Yanquiel Fernandez to hit into a double play and exacted a bit of revenge by getting Arcia to flail at a 1-2 changeup that dipped down and out of the zone, the only time during his appearance that Chandler made it a point to admire his work.
“I was like, ‘Dang, that felt good coming out of the hand, that was a great pitch,'” Chandler said with a laugh.
Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly sent Chandler back out for the ninth. He worked around a single by Ritter by getting three straight fly outs to end it. Chandler started walking toward the dugout when Suwinski tracked down Warming Bernabel‘s liner to give the Pirates their third victory in four games.
It was only then that Chandler — who had started in 83 of his 89 minor league appearances — remembered that the game was over. It was time to stay on the field for the handshake line that only comes after you close out a win.
In between the hugs, a figurative weight lifted off the slender shoulders that sit atop his 6-foot-3 frame.
“There’s a lot of times during the offseason or during the season it’s like, ‘This sucks. Where’s the light at the end of the tunnel type of thing?'” he said. “I found it.”
The Pirates plan to use Chandler in a relief role for now as a way of creating what Kelly called an “on ramp” to the majors, a strategy the club used earlier this season after calling up Ashcraft.
Chandler will have an opportunity to start at some point, though the club is keeping a careful eye on his workload. His historic night pushed his season total to 104 innings, not that far away from the 119⅔ innings he pitched a year ago.
The reality is that whatever happens over the next five weeks will help set the table for 2026, when Pittsburgh’s rotation could include Chandler, Ashcraft, reigning NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller, among others.
The future could be exciting if the Pirates can find a way to fix the worst offense in the majors. All that matters to Chandler is that the future is finally here.
“The past 22 years, it’s just been ‘I want to be on a major league field,’ and whether it was hitting or pitching, just wanted to be in the game and show what God gave me,” he said. “And I believe I did that.”
