What is the US critical minerals stockpile? Has the Trump administration overplayed its spin? United States aviation authorities have announced that the airspace over El Paso, Texas, has been reopened after initially closing the airspace due to an alleged drone incursion from a Mexican cartel. Wednesday's announcement walked back an earlier statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), abruptly pausing air traffic over the southern border city for 10 days. By late morning, though, the FAA announced that flights would resume in and out of the area as normal, prompting questions about the legitimacy of the drone claims. "The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted.

The U.S. military shot down what was later identified as a party balloon near El Paso, Texas, after drone concerns triggered a temporary FAA airspace restriction.

Sports pushes the science of keeping time forward. A broadcast drone hovers as Britain's Makayla Gerken Schofield competes in the freestyle skiing women's moguls. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Athletes competing in this year's Winter Olympic Games in Milan will do so surrounded by a complex web of AI-enabled cameras, stopwatches, sensors, and fast-flying drones capable of tracking performance down to fractions of a second. The high-tech timekeeping system, the culmination of nearly a century of constant iteration, is fundamentally reshaping how viewers at home experience the Games.

Are drones, AI making it harder to fight armed groups in the Sahel? The brazen attack on the international airport and nearby military airbase in Niamey, Niger's capital, came overnight between January 28 and 29. Balls of orange fire flew across the sky as the Nigerien army attempted to respond while residents ducked for cover and whispered prayers, as shown in videos on social media. ISIL (ISIS) in Sahel Province, or ISSP - a Niger-based outfit earlier known as the ISIL affiliate in the Greater Sahara or ISGS - has since claimed responsibility and says it killed several soldiers, although the Nigerien army disputes this. Many of its fighters had breached military drone hangars using RPGs and mortars, and managed to damage several aircraft and one civilian aeroplane, according to videos from the group.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Five people, including three young children, have been killed in the latest overnight Russian attacks on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, as United States-led efforts to end the nearly war continue to progress at a slow, bogged-down pace. The Ukrainian leader said on Wednesday that a Russian drone had struck a private family home in the town of Bohodukhiv in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region late on Tuesday, killing four and seriously injuring their pregnant mother, the sole survivor.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' How does the cutoff of Starlink terminals affect Russia's moves in Ukraine? A heavy Russian Geran drone struck a fast-moving train in northern Ukraine on January 27, killing five, wounding two and starting a fire that disfigured the railway carriage.

Charles Ojiambo Mutoka, 72, with portraits of his son Oscar, who he learned was killed in August, during a press conference where relatives of conscripts demanded urgent government action to repatriate their kin, in Nairobi on Jan. 27 | AFP-JIJI Nairobi - The scars on Victor's forearm remind him constantly of the day a Ukrainian drone attacked him after he was forcibly conscripted, like hundreds of young Kenyans, into the Russian military. It was a war that had nothing to do with him and which he was exceptionally lucky to survive. Four Kenyans -- Victor, Mark, Erik and Moses -- recounted the web of deception that took them to the killing fields of Ukraine. Their names have been changed for fear of reprisals. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Russian overnight drone attacks on Ukraine, including in the eastern Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions, killed at least four people. A mother and her 10-year-old son were killed in the attacks, which also knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, Ukrainian officials said.

Deadly drone attacks on civilians continue in Sudan's Kordofan, UN says Fatal drone strikes on civilians persist in Sudan's Kordofan, as the central region has emerged as the latest front line in Sudan's nearly three-year conflict, the United Nations has said. Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk painted a grim picture of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has plunged the country into widespread bloodshed and humanitarian catastrophe. Turk also highlighted harrowing survivor testimonies from el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which fell to RSF forces in October following an 18-month siege. He described accounts of atrocity crimes committed by the paramilitary after it overran the city, including mass killings and other grave violations targeting civilians. "Responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies squarely with the [RSF] and their allies and supporters," he said As Sudan's devastating civil war expands beyond the western Darfur region into the central Kordofan areas, Turk cautioned that the shift in fighting is likely to bring even more severe violations against civilians, expressing deep concern over the potential for additional grave abuses, specifically highlighting the increasing use of "advanced drone weaponry systems" by both warring parties.

If you were watching the downhill skiing or luge at Milan-Cortina 2026 over the weekend, you will have noticed the dramatic new camera angles being provided at these Games. Drones have been used in Olympic coverage since 2014, but they have been much more prevalent at these Winter Games. Carrying cameras, the drones have been flown close behind athletes as they ski or slide, capturing dramatic footage which has never been seen at a Games before. But they have proved divisive for audiences, with social media split between admiring the footage or being put off by the noise. The whirring of the drone blades is audible in the live coverage.