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Russia rains drones and missiles on Ukraine as Poland scrambles aircraft

The Japan Times

Residents leave their apartment building, which was damaged by a Russian drone strike, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Sunday. LVIV, Ukraine - NATO member Poland said it scrambled aircraft early on Sunday to ensure its air safety after Russia launched airstrikes on Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials reporting missiles and drones raining down on the Lviv region near the Polish border. Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness, Poland's operational command said in a post on X. Eastern-flank NATO members are on high alert after Poland shot down suspected Russian drones in its airspace in September and drone sightings and air incursions, including in Copenhagen and Munich, have led to chaos in European aviation. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.


Poland scrambles jets as Russia strikes western Ukraine

BBC News

Russia pounded Ukraine with missile and drone attacks overnight on Saturday and into Sunday morning, focusing on the major western city of Lviv. Ukraine's neighbour Poland scrambled fighter jets in order to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the Polish military confirmed. Allied Nato aircraft were also deployed. Lviv's regional head Maksym Kozytskyi said two people were killed in strikes in the region, and two more injured. Elsewhere, Russia again targeted Ukraine's power plants - and one was struck in an overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia, where the mayor said one person died and more than 73,000 people were without electricity.


Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,319

Al Jazeera

Can Ukraine restore its pre-war borders? Why are Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine a'red line' for Russia? Is Russia testing NATO with aerial incursions in Europe? One person was killed and about 30 others injured after two Russian drones struck trains at a station in Ukraine's northern Sumy region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of "terrorism", while Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow deliberately targeted civilians during the attack.


At least 30 injured in Russian strike on railway station, Zelensky says

BBC News

At least 30 people have been injured following a Russian drone strike on a railway station in north-east Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky has said. In a post on X, he said that preliminary reports indicated train staff and passengers were at the site of the strike in the city of Shostka, in the Sumy region. Emergency services are on the scene and have begun helping people, he said, adding that information regarding the injured was still being established. He also posted a video showing a damaged train carriage on fire. The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians.


'Delivery robots will happen': Skype co-founder on his fast-growing venture Starship

The Guardian

'Delivery robots will happen': Skype co-founder on his fast-growing venture Starship C ity dwellers around the world have long been used to rapid delivery of takeaway food and, increasingly, groceries. But what they are not entirely used to - yet - is the sight of a robot pulling up to their front door. The co-founder of Skype, Ahti Heinla, believes his new venture is about to change that. Heinla is the chief executive of Starship Technologies, a startup that, he claimed, is able to operate deliveries run by trundling robots at a small profit - and cheaper than a human delivery driver, even in small towns and villages where delivery has not previously been viable. "We've solved everything that there is to solve," Heinla said over lunch at a London hotel.


Munich airport resumes flights after suspected drones force second closure in 24 hours

BBC News

Flights have resumed at Germany's Munich airport after unconfirmed drone sightings forced it to suspend operations for the second time in 24 hours. In a statement on Friday evening, the airport said that flights were stopped at 21:30 local time (20:30 GMT), with around 6,500 passengers affected. At least 17 flights were also grounded in Munich on Thursday evening due to multiple drone sightings in nearby airspace. It was the latest in a series of incidents involving drones that have disrupted aviation in Europe in recent weeks. On Saturday morning, Munich airport said flights had been gradually ramped up, but warned that delays were expected throughout the day.


Your Delivery Robot Is Here

WIRED

On this episode of, we introduce you to DoorDash's new delivery robot and discuss what the growing robot population means for humans. Coco delivery robots navigate the streets of Santa Monica, CA. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Earlier this week, DoorDash unveiled its own new autonomous robot called Dot. The company says it's part of its goal to have a "hybrid" model for deliveries. It's the latest sign of a renewed interest in the industry of delivery robots after years of challenges. WIRED's Aarian Marshall joins us to discuss why this matters for all of us, whether we're ordering in or not. Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com . You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link . Hey, Louise, how are you doing? Yeah, Lauren is on a really exciting trip to Arizona that I'm sure we'll hear more about soon. So, as her editor, I am happy to fill in when she's off on an adventure.


Munich airport halts flights after drone sightings; passengers stranded

Al Jazeera

Germany's Munich airport has resumed operations after drone sightings led to the cancellation of 17 flights, the diversion of 15 others and the stranding of some 3,000 passengers. Flights had restarted by early Friday, with flight tracking websites showing planes departing the airport at about 5:50am (03:50 GMT). At least 19 Lufthansa flights were affected, either cancelled or re-routed, because of the airport suspension, the spokesperson added. Earlier, the airport said that drone sightings were first reported by German air traffic control at 10:18pm local time [20:18 GMT] on Thursday, leading initially to a restriction on flights, which was then upgraded to a full suspension. Germany's DPA news agency said police reported that several people had seen a drone near the airport, with later sightings of a drone over the airport grounds.


Munich airport closes after drones spotted nearby

BBC News

Germany's Munich airport has reopened after several drone sightings forced it to close and cancel more than a dozen flights on Thursday night. At least 17 flights were grounded in Munich, affecting nearly 3,000 passengers, while the airport said it diverted a further 15 flights to nearby cities. On Friday, a spokesperson for German flag carrier Lufthansa said flight operations have since resumed according to schedule. There was no immediate confirmation of where the drones had come from. Several airports across Europe have closed down in recent weeks because of unidentified drones.


NeoARCADE: Robust Calibration for Distance Estimation to Support Assistive Drones for the Visually Impaired

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Autonomous navigation by drones using onboard sensors, combined with deep learning and computer vision algorithms, is impacting a number of domains. We examine the use of drones to autonomously follow and assist Visually Impaired People (VIPs) in navigating urban environments. Estimating the absolute distance between the drone and the VIP, and to nearby objects, is essential to design obstacle avoidance algorithms. Here, we present NeoARCADE (Neo), which uses depth maps over monocular video feeds, common in consumer drones, to estimate absolute distances to the VIP and obstacles. Neo proposes robust calibration technique based on depth score normalization and coefficient estimations to translate relative distances from depth map to absolute ones. It further develops a dynamic recalibration method that can adapt to changing scenarios. We also develop two baseline models, Regression and Geometric, and compare Neo with SOTA depth map approaches and the baselines. We provide detailed evaluations to validate their robustness and generalizability for distance estimation to VIPs and other obstacles in diverse and dynamic conditions, using datasets collected in a campus environment. Neo predicts distances to VIP with an error <30cm, and to different obstacles like cars and bicycles within a maximum error of 60cm, which are better than the baselines. Neo also clearly out-performs SOTA depth map methods, reporting errors up to 5.3-14.6x lower.