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US closes airspace over Lake Michigan  

American authorities closed the airspace over Lake Michigan in the northern United States on Sunday evening. 

Other information was scarce - but the authority referred to the national defence. Corresponding decisions have previously been taken in connection with the shooting down of unknown flying objects.  

The announcement was made at 19:00 Swedish time, and pilots in civil traffic are prohibited from flying over the area.  

Image from American air effort, February 8. Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan Seelbach / AP  

Items across North America  

Puzzled expert: Balloon probably serves military purpose  

It is unlikely that the balloon claimed by the US to be a Chinese "spy balloon" that was shot down last weekend would have ended up there accidentally. That's what Gunnar Hult, professor of defense systems, says to Dagens Nyheter. 

Hult says it hovered over US nuclear bases and was "obviously directed there". That it is happening at the same time as the relationship between China and the US is strained is puzzling, both militarily and politically, he says. 

 - And I didn't know about this type of balloon for military purposes, it's a relatively new phenomenon that has arrived. 

China has claimed the balloon was a civilian craft collecting weather data. Later, two more objects, one over the United States and one over Canada, have been detected. What type of object it was is not clear, but Hult believes the purpose is military.

 

Chuck Schumer. Jose Luis Magana / AP 

Objects shot down are believed to have been balloons - under investigation  

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave the go-ahead for the shootings. But North American authorities have yet to comment on what was actually shot down over Canada and Alaska in recent days.  

Now the majority leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, is speaking out about what the authorities think it might be about: 

- The intelligence agencies believe that it is about balloons. But the last two were significantly smaller than the first, Schumer told ABC News. 

He then refers to the Chinese balloon that was shot down last Saturday off the coast of North Carolina by an American fighter jet.  

Since the discovery, the US has accused China of deliberately sending spy balloons to North America. China, for its part, has responded to the accusation by claiming that it is about missing weather balloons.

Woman in Fort Myers, Florida, in October. Rebecca Blackwell/AP 

Climate threatGlobal challenges  

The extreme weather forced 3.4 million in the US to evacuate  

Natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods forced 3.4 million Americans from their homes in 2022, according to estimates from the Census Bureau, which is responsible for censuses. NBC reports.  

The figures worry the authority, which emphasizes that extreme weather events will become increasingly common in the wake of climate change. 40 percent of Americans forced to leave their homes were able to return within a week, but for 12 percent it took more than six months.  

Residents of the state of Florida, where Hurricane Ian advanced with force in the fall, were particularly affected. 20th of August.

Shopping center in St. Petersburg with advertising for the Russian army. Dmitri Lovetsky / AP 

The Russian invasion. The outside world's response 

Many companies remain in Russia despite promises to leave  

Many international companies have stayed in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, despite having promised to leave the country, writes Bloomberg. 

One reason is that it can be expensive and complicated to wind down the business in practice. Danone announced it would exit Russia in October, but has yet to find a buyer. Tobacco giant Philip Morris planned for an exit late last year, but is still struggling to get Russian approval.  

A less flattering reason for companies to stay is that the Russian market is too important for the companies' profits.  

American Mondelez describes its cakes and chocolates as staples that Russians cannot live without. - [In] many countries, biscuits are a breakfast item. So we feel that we offer products to the everyday consumer in Russia, says CEO Dirk Van de Put.