Mr Biden first approved the plan to bring down the balloon on Wednesday, but decided to wait until the object was over water so as not to put people on the ground at risk.The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) briefly paused all civilian flights at three airports around the South Carolina coast and advised mariners to leave the area.Relations between China and the US have been strained by the incident, with the Pentagon calling it an "unacceptable violation" of its sovereignty.

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