and a peace mission to south sudan the pope makes an unprecedented visit, alongside the leaders of the church of england and church of scotland. hello, and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. the giant chinese balloon that had been floating over the united states has been shot down by an american fighterjet off the coast of south carolina. the balloon, which the us says was being used to spy on military sites, appeared to plummet straight into the sea. china continues to insist it was a stray civilian weather observation airship. a short time ago, this is what president biden said. i ordered the pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible, they decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground. they decided that the best time to do that was as it got overwater within a 12 mile limit. they successfully took it down, and i want to complement our aviators who did it, and we ll have more to report on a little later. our north america correspondent david wi
connection to slavery. hello and welcome to bbc news. the giant chinese balloon that had been floating over the united states has been shot down by an american fighterjet off the coast of south carolina. the balloon, which the us says was being used to spy on military sites, appeared to plummet straight into the sea. china continues to insist it was a stray civilian weather observation airship. our correspondent david willis has more from washington. officials here are saying that this chinese balloon was brought down about six miles off the coast of south carolina by a single missile fired by a us fighterjet. now, president biden had apparently given permission for such a strike on wednesday, that is a day before the actual presence of this balloon was made public. military officials decided to hold back for fear that it could spray debris down onto the mainland and hurt people on the ground below. then, today, as it was crossing the coast of south carolina, they closed loca
visit, alongside the leaders of the church of england and church of scotland. we ll tell you about the bbcjournalist trying to make amends for her own family s connection to slavery. the giant chinese balloon that had been floating over the united states has been shot down by an american fighterjet off the coast of south carolina. the balloon, which the us says was being used to spy on military sites appeared to plummet straight into the sea. china continues to insist it was a stray civilian weather observation airship. tim allman reports. for days now, all eyes have been on this solitary object, floating serenely through us airspace. was that a harmless weather balloon? or a spy in the sky, sent by the chinese? whatever it was, the american government has decided enough is enough. look at that trial of white paper on the left of the screen. that is a us f 22 fighterjet, streaking towards fighter jet, streaking towards the fighterjet, streaking towards the balloon. then, a se
we ll tell you about the bbcjournalist trying to make amends for her own family s connection to slavery. the giant chinese balloon that had been floating over the united states has been shot down by an american fighterjet off the coast of south carolina. the balloon, which the us says was being used to spy on military sites appeared to plummet straight into the sea. china continues to insist it was a stray civilian weather observation airship. its foreign ministry has now released a statement saying that china strongly disapproves of and protests against the us attack on a civilian unmanned airship. it also said the us use of force is a clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice . tim allman reports. for days now, all eyes have been on this solitary object, floating serenely through us airspace. was it a harmless weather balloon or a spy in the sky, sent by the chinese? whatever it was, the american government had decided enough was enough. look at
visit, alongside the leaders of the church of england and church of scotland. hello to you in the uk, and around the world. in the last few hours, a united states fighterjet has shot down a chinese surveillance balloon which had been spotted over sensitive us military sites, on the orders of president biden. three airports on the east coast were closed in preparation for the operation. beijing has tried to calm the diplomatic row about the balloon, insisting it was gathering weather data and wasn t being used for spying. a short time ago, this is what president biden said. i ordered the pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible, they decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground. they decided that the best time to do that was as it got overwater within a 12 mile limit. they successfully took it down, and i want to complement our aviators who did it, and we ll have more to report on a little later. our north america correspondent david willis has been giving us the