Don’t mind me…just an existential crisis. Move along folks.

Double Disaster Turkey and Syria Hit by Another Earthquake

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According to the White House, US President Joe Biden directed a fighter jet to shoot down an unidentified "high-altitude object" off the coast of Alaska on Friday.

According to spokesman John Kirby, the unmanned object was "the size of a small car" and posed a "reasonable threat" to civilian aviation.

Mr Kirby stated that the purpose and origin of the object were unknown.

It comes just a week after the US military destroyed a Chinese balloon over US territorial waters.

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Mr Kirby stated that the debris field of the object shot down on Friday was "much, much smaller" than the debris field of the balloon shot down last Saturday off the coast of South Carolina.

He stated that the object was flying at 40,000 feet (12,000 meters) over Alaska's northern coast.

It had already flown across Alaska at speeds ranging from 20 to 40mph (64km/h) and was heading towards the North Pole when it was shot down. Commercial airlines can fly as high as 45,000 feet.

Helicopters and transport aircraft have been deployed to collect debris from the frozen waters of the Beaufort Sea.