Stars and Stripes Daily Headlines

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February 5, 2023 | View in browser

 

Searchers come up empty after 3-day search for scuba diver off Guam The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended a multiday search for a scuba diver who disappeared Thursday morning off Guam’s western coast. Read more >

F-22 makes first air-to-air strike in takedown of Chinese balloon “Shooting down China’s balloon was indeed the F-22’s first air-to-air kill,” Rebecca Grant, an Air Force systems specialist and president of IRIS Independent Research, said by email. “Americans watched an unfriendly aircraft get shot down over our skies.” Read more >

Ukraine defense minister expects help from Western warplanes Ukraine has won support from Baltic nations and Poland in its quest to obtain Western fighter jets, but several Western leaders have expressed concern that providing warplanes could provoke the Kremlin. Read more >   3 Hampton Roads-based ships involved in recovering wreckage of suspected Chinese spy balloon The USS Oscar Austin and USS Philippine Sea from Norfolk, and the USS Carter Hall from Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach are involved in the search. Read more >   California museum celebrates Tuskegee Airmen Dozens of patrons packed the Vacaville Museum on Saturday to learn more about the feats of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, the first primarily Black military aviation crew. Read more >

Balloon bickering over Biden's actions, China's intentions Republican lawmakers accused China of deliberately surveilling sensitive U.S. military sites with a suspected spy balloon and said the Biden administration had given Beijing an intelligence opening by not downing the balloon during its high-altitude drift through American airspace. Read more >   Few Americans are excited about a Biden-Trump rematch, Post-ABC poll finds Most Americans overall say they would feel dissatisfied or angry if either wins the general election. Read more >   China blames US politics for ‘overreaction’ to suspected spy balloon Beijing is downplaying the incident and fallout, as videos of a U.S. fighter jet’s missile puncturing the balloon are shared widely on Chinese social media. Read more >   US officials offer Congress briefing on Trump, Biden documents Officials have declined to answer most questions in public or private about what they found, citing the ongoing criminal investigations and a separate "risk assessment" of the possible damage to intelligence sources. Read more >   Arrest made in stolen yacht rescue, 'Goonies' fish incident Combined, Oregon police called it a series of "really odd" events along the Pacific Northwest coast spanning 48 hours that concluded Friday night with the arrest of a Canadian man. Read more >   China’s power in Asia diminished by ‘COVID-zero,’ study shows The Sydney-based Lowy Institute’s Asia Power Index for 2023 shows that China registered the greatest decline out of the 26 nations and territories in the report, while strong economic links and defense ties solidified the U.S. as the leading power in the Asia-Pacific. Read more >

 

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