Hunted by the US Army, Santa Claus begins delivering presents in Quebec

Santa's tour began on Sunday under the close watch of the US military, which has been tracking the movements of the man in red every December 24 for decades, Australia, Japan, Taiwan…

• Read more: On Santa Claus' trail: Real-time gift delivery thanks to NORAD

• Read more: “Santa, we're ready!”: Santa is authorized to fly over Canada

Taking off from his North Pole base, his sled flew over Jakarta at 3:38pm GMT, the US and Canadian Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said.

Faster than the U.S. Air Force F-15, NORAD assures, “it slows down so we can pick it up.”

At 10:54 p.m. local time, Santa Claus, his sleigh and his reindeer began delivering presents in Quebec.

This is Follow up – made possible by sensors on Rudolph's red nose, according to NORAD, one of nine reindeer pulling a sled – a company in the US.

It all started with a typo in 1955, in an ad for the Sears department store chain calling for Santa Claus in a local Colorado newspaper.

Considered a direct line to the famous bearded man, the number was actually — in the middle of the Cold War — on a NORAD red phone.

At first distraught when he found himself in line with a boy who really asked for “Santa Claus,” Col. Harry Shoup, the officer on duty that day, got caught up in the game.

He instructed his men to broadcast information about Santa's whereabouts and called a local radio station to report that he had seen a strange object in the sky.

68 years later, Norad is still upholding the tradition.

This year, US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden have been closely monitoring the movements of the man in red.

“This evening, the President and First Lady participated in follow-up calls with children and families across the country from the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa Claus,” the White House said in a statement.

After crossing the Asia-Pacific region, Santa's sleigh flew over Israel, the southern Gaza Strip, Africa and the US research base Palmer Station in Antarctica.

According to NORAD, it traveled across South America before reaching the United States, dropping about 100,000 bounties per second, or a total of 4.9 billion bounties at 1:30 a.m. GMT Monday.