US says unidentified objects shot down in last week could have been 'benign'

THE THREE STILL-unidentified aerial objects shot down by the US in the past week likely had merely a "benign purpose", the White House has said, drawing a distinction between them and the massive Chinese balloon that earlier traversed the US with a suspected goal of surveillance. "The intelligence community is considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose," said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. Officials also disclosed that a missile fired at one of the three objects, over Lake Huron on Sunday, missed its intended target and landed…