US jet shoots down new mystery over Canada

Washington Afp

A US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Canada on Saturday, the second such incident in North American skies since the dramatic downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon a week ago.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a joint US-Canadian military operation led to the takedown of the object, the latest in a series of mysterious air intrusions.

“Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object,” Trudeau tweeted Saturday.

Shortly after the 3:41 pm (2041 GMT) downing of the object, aviation authorities shut down part of the airspace over the northwest US state of Montana after detecting what they called a “radar anomaly,” the US Northern Command said.

In a sign of jitters over possible intrusions, Northern Command said US fighter jets took to the skies but “did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits.” Skies were then reopened to commercial air traffic.

The object shot down in the Yukon was “small, cylindrical” in shape, said Canada’s defense minister, Anita Anand.

“The object was flying at an altitude of approximately 40,000 feet, had unlawfully entered Canadian airspace, and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” Anand told reporters.

Trudeau said Canadian forces in the Yukon “will now recover and analyse the wreckage of the object.”

He said he spoke with US President Joe Biden over the latest incursion, while Anand also said she spoke with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The new incursions into Alaska and the Yukon came after the United States said Wednesday that suspected Chinese spy balloons like the one it shot down on February 4 were part of a “fleet” that has spanned five continents. NATO also voiced concern.

Anand, however, said “it would not be prudent for me to speculate on the origins of the object at this time.”

US and Canadian planes flew together to take on the object Saturday, the US Department of Defense and Anand said.

“President Biden authorised US fighter aircraft assigned to NORAD to work with Canada to take down a high-altitude airborne object over northern Canada today,” Pentagon Spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement, referring to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

An F-22 fighter jet fired an AIM 9X missile that brought it down, he said.

The White House said Biden and Trudeau spoke Saturday, and “commended NORAD’s and US Northern Command’s strong and effective partnership and agreed to continue their close coordination to detect, track, and defend our airspace.”

The object taken out over the Yukon, which borders Alaska, came after fighter jets downed another object Friday off the US state’s north coast near the village of Deadhorse.

Search and recovery operations for the remains of that object continued Saturday but were hindered by Arctic “wind chill, snow, and limited daylight,” Northern Command said in a statement.

“Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice,” it said, adding that the Pentagon could offer “no further details… about the object, including its capabilities, purpose, or origin.”

Ukraine has said that Russia had launched a major new wave of aerial attacks, as President Joe Biden announced he would mark one year since the invasion by visiting Kyiv’s neighbour Poland. Strikes were reported from the eastern region of Kharkiv to the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk, a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Brussels to lobby EU leaders for long-range weapons and fighter jets. Zelensky said on Friday Russian missiles had crossed over ex-Soviet Moldova and Nato member Romania while heading to Ukraine, though Bucharest denied the claim. With the bloody conflict approaching its oneyear anniversary on Feb 24, the White House said Biden would travel to Nato ally Poland on February 20-22. Biden to visit neighbouring Poland to mark one year since Kyiv’s invasion Biden will make a speech to mark “Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, addressing how the United States has rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and democracy”, the White House said. The Kremlin on Friday also announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would deliver his annual state of the nation speech on Feb 21. Russia last targeted Ukraine with a mass strike in late January, days after Western allies agreed to deliver heavy tanks to Kyiv. Zelensky called the new Russian attacks “a challenge to Nato”, adding that “this is terror that can and must be stopped”. Romania’s defence ministry said it detected an “aerial target launched from the Black Sea from a Russian Federation ship” but “at no point did it intersect with Romania’s airspace”. The Moldovan defence ministry confirmed that Russian missiles had crossed its airspace, adding that it would summon Russia’s ambassador. Kyiv residents on Friday rushed to shelters as Russia battered the pro-Western country with missiles and drones. The Ukrainian air force said Russians targeted cities and critical infrastructure, adding that Iranian-made explosive drones were launched from the Sea of Azov and Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea. Russia also carried out a “massive” attack with “up to 35 anti-aircraft guided missiles” targeting the eastern region of Kharkiv and the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, the air force said.

Judge rescues himself from hearing Jamia violence case

NEW DELHI AGENCIES

A Delhi judge, who recently discharged student activists Sharjeel Imam and Asif Iqbal Tanha along with nine others in the 2019 Jamia Nagar violence case, has rescued himself from hearing a similar matter citing “personal reasons”. Additional Sessions Judge Arul Varma was hearing a case regarding the violence in Jamia Nagar in December 2019 which was registered against several accused, including Asif Iqbal Tanha. “Due to personal reasons, he recuses from hearing the matter. Accordingly, let the present matter be put up before the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Southeast district, Saket court, for February 13 at 12pm with a request to transfer the matter,” the judge said in an order passed on Friday. Last Saturday, while discharging the 11 accused in the other case, the judge had said legal proceedings were initiated in a “perfunctory and cavalier fashion” and “allowing them to undergo the rigmarole.