US 'Planning to Shoot Down' Chinese Balloon Over Atlantic as Biden Promises to 'Take Care of it'

According to the insider, the US wants to capture the balloon to study it, and it is working on a plan to shoot it down so that it lands in the territorial waters in order to avoid an international incident. The source added that the action would require a substantial localized airspace shutdown.

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❗️The Federal Aviation Administration shut down three airports (Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Wilmington) and closed airspace in parts of North Carolina and South Carolina due to "national security initiatives." The move comes as the Chinese balloon was reportedly spotted over parts of Carolina

📹 Aftermath of Ukrainian shelling of residential building in the center of Donetsk

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Thousands took to the streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh to protest burnings of Quran in Europe

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A glass igloo café in the middle of snow-covered mountains opens in Gulmag, Kashmir

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💬 Russia's ex-President Dmitry Medvedev vows retaliation as Ukraine threatens to strike Crimea

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🇹🇷🇸🇪 Terrorist organizations are blocking Sweden's path to NATO membership, with Stockholm deliberately stepping on these "mines," although the country could resolve this issue at will, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

The minister also stated that Ankara had called off the third round of trilateral talks between Turkey, Sweden and Finland on NATO membership in response to anti-Turkish provocations in Sweden.

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🔥A freight train has been on fire for the past 24 past hours, sending up heavy smoke, after the cars were derailed. The accident has resulted in an evacuation order and declaring a state of emergency in a town in Ohio, near the state line with Pennsylvania in the US.

The police said the train consisted of more than 100 cars, 20 of which were said to be carrying hazardous materials - cargo that could pose any kind of danger “including flammables, combustibles, or environmental risks”.

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Report to Congress Warned About Potential Aerial Surveillance Last Month, Reports Say

Suspected instances of rival powers using advanced aerial technology to spy on the United States were outlined in a classified report to Congress prior to the Chinese balloon incident, US media reports citing officials.

The report on unidentified aerial phenomena submitted last month discussed the use of unknown cutting-edge technology for alleged surveillance. Two American officials familiar with the research told the newspaper on Saturday that the surveillance was likely conducted by China, but the report does not attribute the incidents to any country.

The incidents covered in the report involved balloons and quadcopter drones, while Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan were among the sites mentioned as the potential surveillance targets, according to one US official.

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Scientists Discover New Form of Ice, Say It May Help Understand Secrets of Water

A team of scientists has discovered the existence of a new form of ice. This ice looks like a fine powder but is more like liquid water in its properties and structure. Such ice can't form naturally on Earth, but it might do so in space and on the cold moons. The study of this new form will help advance the understanding of all water's properties.

Researchers at University College London and Cambridge University have cooled ordinary ice in a ball mill to liquid helium temperature and ground the ice into a powder, causing the near-complete destruction of the crystal structure. The output was ice with an amorphous structure, like water, and most surprisingly, the density was about the same as water - about 1 g/cm3.

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Japan to Authorize Deployment of US Missiles if Washington Initiates Talks, Reports Say

The Japanese government is ready to consider the deployment of US medium-range missiles on its territory if Washington initiates official negotiations on this matter, Japanese press reported, citing an informed source.

The United States so far has raised this issue only on the sidelines of formal meetings over the past three to four years, and this question was never officially discussed between the countries’ leadership, the newspaper reported on Saturday.

Washington indicated that the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) and Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are currently under development, are potential candidates for deployment, the report said.

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🇷🇺🇮🇳Russia is successfully cooperating in the Arctic with India, Russian Ambassador says

🗯 "Russia is successfully cooperating in the Arctic with India on the Vostok Oil project, with China on LNG projects and in the development of transportation along the Northern Sea Route," Russian Ambassador to Denmark Vladimir Barbin said.

📈 The diplomat stressed that among the non-Arctic states there is a growing interest in cooperation with Russia.

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20 years since the US lie about Iraqi WMDs: Speech that defined Washington's invasion

Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech, and the famous image of him holding up the vial, has since become a universal symbol representing false pretexts serving as justification for war. He later called his UN speech a "great intelligence failure" and a "blot" on his record, but the consequences of it scarred the Middle East forever.

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Kofi Annan Never Accepted US Claims About WMDs in Iraq: Ex-Adviser

"I do not believe Kofi Annan ever agreed with the position of the United States on its handling of the Iraqi crisis and in particular on its assertion that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction," one of his former advisers told Sputnik.

The then-UN Secretary General, the source added, never supported the pretexts and misinformation provided to justify the invasion and destruction of Iraq.

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UK PM Sunak Risks Trade War With Brussels by Abolition of 2,400 EU Laws, Reports Say

At the same time EU leaders are reportedly preparing their own “unilateral rebalancing measures” in secret meetings in Brussels. Sources suggest that these measures could include the option of imposing tariffs on UK goods entering the EU single market, according to media reports.

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