China apologized to Costa Rica for a balloon that flew over its territory, the Central American country’s government said on Monday. According to a brief statement from Costa Rica’s foreign ministry, the Chinese government recognized that one of its balloons flew over Costa Rica, and China’s embassy in San Jose “apologized for the incident,” while insisting the balloon was focused on scientific research, mainly weather studies. Costa Rican officials were told by Chinese officials the balloon flight path deviated from its original plan and it had a limited ability to correct the error, according to the statement. (https://neuters.de/world/americas/costa-rica-says-china-apologizes-balloon-incident-over-its-airspace-2023-02-07/) A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman told reporters at a news conference in Beijing on Monday that the balloon spotted in Latin America was used for civilian purposes. A U.S. military jet shot down a similar balloon just off its Atlantic coast on Saturday.