US shoots down fourth airborne object
Washington (PTI): The United States on Sunday shot down another unidentified airborne object in its airspace, a day after it brought down a similar "cylindrical" object over Canada.
An F-16 fighter jet, at the direction of President Joe Biden, fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down the airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in US airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Pat Ryder said.
After the shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday, this is the third such shooting down of an unidentified airborne object in a week. The previous two were shot down by US fighter jets in Alaska on Friday and one over Canadian airspace on Saturday.
Unlike the first balloon, which the US says is from China, the origin of the rest of the three has not been disclosed yet by US and Canadian authorities.
Biden ordered the shooting down of the airborne object on Sunday at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation.
The location chosen for this shootdown afforded the opportunity to avoid impact on people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery, the Pentagon official said.
"There are no indications of any civilians hurt or otherwise affected," he noted.
North American Aerospace Defense Command maintained a visual and radar track on the object after detecting it Sunday morning.
"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 sites. 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. Our team will now work to recover the object in an effort to learn more," Ryder said.
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Lok Sabha adjourned till 12 noon over Adani, Sambhal issues
New Delhi (PTI): Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 12 noon on Thursday amid protests by Opposition members over the Adani issue, violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal and other issues.
As soon as the House met for the day, Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was elected from Kerala's Wayanad in the recent bypoll, and Ravindra Vasantrao Chavan, who was elected from Maharashtra's Nanded, took oath as Lok Sabha MPs.
Immediately after the oath taking of the two new members, many Opposition members, including from the Congress, were on their feet as they sought to raise issues related to the allegations against the Adani Group and other issues.
Some members from the Congress and Samajwadi Party were in the Well while other Opposition members stood in the aisle and shouted slogans.
Speaker Om Birla asked the Opposition members to allow the Question Hour and said they can take up their issues later.
"I have been giving you enough opportunities to raise your issues and will continue to do so in future. But your way of systematic blockade of the proceedings is not acceptable. The issue which you want to raise has nothing to do with the country," he told the protesting members.
Birla said people have chosen the MPs as their representatives to raise the genuine issue of the people but they were resorting to disrupt the proceedings of the House which is not good.
He said there were difference of opinions in the Constituent Assembly too but those were raised in dignified manners.
Amid the din, one question was taken up.
As the protests continued, the Speaker adjourned the House will 12 noon.
The Opposition members wanted to discuss the Adani controversy and the recent violence in Sambhal.
The Adani Group said on Wednesday that Gautam Adani, and his nephew Sagar have not been charged with any violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the indictment that authorities filed in the New York court in an alleged bribery case.
