Chinese spy balloon spotted over US airspace
Washington (PTI): An alleged Chinese spy balloon said to be the size of "three buses" was spotted over the United States' airspace, the Pentagon said.
The development comes days ahead of the Beijing visit of Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is flying over the continental United States right now," Pentagon Spokesman Brigadier Gen Pat Ryder told reporters here on Thursday.
"NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) continues to track and monitor it closely," he said, adding the balloon was spotted over Montana on Thursday and is "said to be the size of three buses".
"Once the balloon was detected, the US government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information," Ryder said.
He said the balloon is travelling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.
US President Joe Biden has been briefed about the incident, a senior defence official said, adding the Pentagon is exploring various options.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley and US Northern Command Gen Glen VanHerck have recommended not to "take kinetic action" because of the potential risk to the safety and security of people on the ground from the possible debris field, officials said.
"Currently, we assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective. But we are taking steps nevertheless to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information," said a defence official.
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Services on Supreme Court's YouTube channel resumes
New Delhi (PTI): The services on the Supreme Court's YouTube channel, which was hacked on Friday, has resumed.
"This is to inform all concerned that the YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India is live and up. The services on YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India has been resumed," said a notice uploaded on the apex court's website on Friday.
The top court's YouTube channel was hacked on Friday and showed videos promoting a cryptocurrency developed by US-based company Ripple Labs.
A blank video with the title "Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple Responds To The SEC's $2 Billion Fine! XRP PRICE PREDICTION" was live on the hacked channel.
Later in the day, a notice posted on the apex court's website informed that the court's YouTube channel was taken down.
"This is to inform all concerned that the YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India has been taken down. The services on YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India will be resumed shortly," said the notice posted on the top court's website earlier on Friday.
Later, another notice was uploaded on the website, saying the YouTube channel was live and the services have resumed.
The Supreme Court has been using YouTube to stream live hearings of cases listed before the Constitution benches and matters involving public interest.
In a unanimous decision taken by the full court meeting headed by the then CJI UU Lalit, the top court decided to live-stream proceedings of all Constitution bench hearings following a path-breaking verdict on the matter in 2018.
