First Thing: US military retrieves ‘significant’ debris from China spy balloon

US navy personnel secure debris from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon recovered in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. Photograph: Reuters

Good morning.

The US military has recovered “significant debris” from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down this month, the Pentagon has said, after the White House claimed China had been operating a high-altitude balloon program spying on the US and its allies for many years.