Antony Blinken

Beijing imposes sanctions on US companies for selling military equipment to Taiwan following the surveillance balloon incident

The president has directed national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an ‘interagency team’ to review US procedures

The Chinese allegation comes after America shot down a suspected spy balloon that had crossed from Alaska to South Carolina, sparking a new crisis in bilateral relations

The Navy and Marine Corps are holding joint exercises at a time of heightened tensions with Beijing over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon

The economic restrictions followed the Biden administration’s pledge to consider broader efforts to address China’s surveillance activities

When similar devices passed over US territory during the Trump and Biden administrations, they were not immediately identified as Chinese surveillance balloons

Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he lodged a formal complaint over the ‘US attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship by military force’

A Costa Rica newspaper reported that hundreds of people have seen the aircraft in the sky in recent hours

China said Friday that a balloon spotted over American airspace was used for weather research and was blown off course, despite US suspicion it was spying

The discovery has further strained already tense relations between Beijing and Washington

Officials say the main theme of Blinken’s conversations with Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will be ‘de-escalation’

The moves, along with escalating violence, further raised tensions as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in the region

The attack, which occurred as residents were observing the Jewish sabbath, came a day after an Israeli military raid killed nine people in the West Bank

The Israeli raid on a West Bank refugee camp that the Palestinians say killed nine people is likely to dominate his talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah

A 60-year-old woman was killed in the operation, according to Palestinian health officials

The ‘three amigos’ – the leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States – will meet in Mexico for the first time in more than a decade. This will also be the first visit by an American president to Latin America since 2014