February 3, Friday, 2023 （1:30 p.m.） Newsline

1. US television network ABC has aired images of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been observed flying over the continental United States. They show what appears to be black equipment underneath the white balloon.
2.Japan’s two biggest airlines logged improved results for the April-to-December period last year as demand for travel rebounded. Japan Airlines says group sales for the 9 months roughly doubled from a year earlier in yen terms, to over 1 trillion yen, or over 7.8 billion dollars. Japan Airlines’ main competitor, ANA Holdings, saw group sales for the April-to-December period rise about 70 percent. The figure was just over 1.25 trillion yen, or over 9.7 billion dollars.
3. The value of Japan’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products last year reached a record high owing to the weak yen and recovering demand in the global restaurant industry. The value of exports has increased for 10 consecutive years. The figure in 2022 was about 3.1 times that in 2012.