Key takeaways: The US has officially declared that Russia committed crimes against humanity during its war in Ukraine. The US has imposed sanctions on Russia…
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US Northern Command has concluded its recovery operations for a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month, as well as two other objects shot down in US airspace. Despite systematic searches using a variety of capabilities, the searches were ultimately fruitless and the country may never know what the objects were, how they were propelled, and where they came from.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the US Capitol. According to court filings, Trump attempted to call into Fox News after the attack, but the network refused to put him on air. Fox News host Lou Dobbs opened his show with musings on the election results, asking how Biden had received 15 million more votes than Obama, and saying they did not expect to get an answer to it that night. The House select committee is still investigating the attack, and it remains unclear if they will ever get an answer to the question.
US military forces conducted a successful raid in northeast Syria on Thursday night, resulting in the death of a senior ISIS leader and the injury of four US service members and a working dog. Three of the service members are in a stable condition, while the fourth has returned to duty. The US and its allies have been successful in driving ISIS out of most of the territory it once held.
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the US is increasingly confident that the three objects that were downed in recent weeks were Chinese surveillance balloons, and that the US was able to protect sensitive sites against collection. The intelligence community is still assessing what the additional objects shot down were, but they are believed to be much smaller than the initial Chinese balloon. Biden also spoke from an auditorium across an alley from the West Wing in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
President Joe Biden addressed the recent shooting down of three unidentified objects in North American airspace, stating that the US has no indication that the objects are related to China’s spy balloon program and are likely from private entities. He warned that the US will take down any object that presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, and that his remarks were his first formal comments on the incident. Diplomatic tension between the US and China has arisen due to the shooting down, with China insisting that the balloon was not intended for spying.
US intelligence officials are assessing whether the suspected Chinese spy balloon, which crossed into US airspace, was diverted off course by strong winds or deliberately maneuvered by the Chinese government. The National People’s Congress’s Foreign Affairs Committee has accused American lawmakers of trampling on the sovereignty of other nations in response to the US's condemnation of the balloon's intrusion. The balloon's unexpected route, which went north and reentered the US through northern Idaho, is being investigated.
A new report released by the Conflict Observatory has revealed the extent of Russia's efforts to relocate, re-educate, and sometimes militarily train or forcibly adopt out Ukrainian children. The report documents around 6,000 Ukrainian children being taken from their homes and states that these actions constitute war crimes and could provide evidence of genocide. It calls for an immediate investigation into the camps and for the children to be returned to their families, and for the international community to take action to ensure the children are protected and the perpetrators held accountable.