Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina has resigned following a political crisis over Russia-bound Ukrainian drones straying into Latvian territory. She had fired her Defence Minister Andris Spruds last week after two drones crashed down in eastern Latvia, criticising his response and appointing a replacement. In protest, Spruds's Progressives party pulled their support for Silina's governing coalition, causing it to collapse months before a planned general election in October. Seeing a strong candidate for the post of defence minister... political windbags have chosen a crisis, Silina said on Thursday. I am resigning but I am not giving up.

Located at an altitude of 5,364 metres (17,600 feet), the base camp is where Everest climbers acclimatise to the thin air before heading towards the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) summit in Nepal, home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks. It is a task the Chinese-made DJI FlyCart 30 drones have already been performing since 2024. For its test, the US team hired Seven Summit Treks, an expedition agency, and local drone pilots were called to the base camp. But as Gor and his team reached the base camp, the US plan hit a snag. Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs refused to issue a drone flight permit to the US officials.

One person has been killed and dozens wounded after Russia launched a massive wave of strikes against Ukraine overnight, officials have said. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said it was an especially difficult night for Kyiv, where rescuers are searching through the rubble of a residential building after a combined missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital. The overnight barrage followed a major attack on Wednesday - one of the largest Russia has mounted since the start of its full-scale invasion in 2022, with 892 drones launched in 24 hours. It marks the third day in a row Ukraine has reported deaths, as Moscow ramps up its assault after a three-day ceasefire expired on Monday. In the capital, a search and rescue operation began early Thursday to look for people under the rubble of a nine-storey apartment block which had been hit overnight.

The US Department of Homeland Security, in collaboration with the Defense Research and Development Canada, is looking to send autonomous drones and vehicles along the US-Canada border this fall, testing which products can stream surveillance video and sensor data between the two countries using commercial 5G networks. A new DHS call for participants frames the experiment, known as ACE-CASPER, as a multiday exercise "simulating a national emergency response scenario," with drones and ground vehicles relaying live feeds to a bi-national command-and-control center as they cross the border. Vehicle autonomy, the document notes, is secondary to its primary aim: demonstrating "resilient, persistent 5G communications." DHS and DRDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Scheduled for November, the tests would be the first joint US-Canada cross-border technology experiment along their shared border in nearly a decade.

What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' 'One of the longest' Russian attacks kills at least six people in Ukraine At least six people have been killed and dozens injured in "one of the longest, massive Russian attacks against Ukraine", according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite renewed claims from the Russian and United States presidents that the war may be nearing an end. Zelenskyy said the barrage began on Wednesday morning and lasted for hours, striking Kyiv, the western city of Lviv near the Polish border and the Black Sea port of Odesa, among other areas. In the southern region of Kherson, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said a woman was killed when a Russian drone struck a bus in the town of Bilozerka. Another drone attack in the western region of Rivne killed three people and injured four, according to Governor Oleksandr Koval. In the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, authorities said a 60-year-old man was killed when Russian forces attacked a community near the city of Zolochiv with first-person view drones.

Drones disrupted firefighting flights over Utah wildfires and probed military bases, highlighting urgent need for unified national drone defense and clearer airspace rules.

Nine people have been killed and at least 28 injured in the latest Russian drone attacks across Ukraine, local officials have said. They said the worst-hit was the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where eight people were killed and 11 injured throughout Tuesday. One casualty was reported in the eastern Donetsk region. Overall, 14 regions were attacked. On Wednesday morning, President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 100 Russian drones were currently over Ukraine, warning of more waves of attacks throughout the day.

Why is Israel still in southern Lebanon? A war to shape Lebanon's future Three Israeli drone strikes on cars on a major highway linking Beirut to southern Lebanon have killed at least eight people, including two children, Lebanon's Ministry of Health reported. A photograph of the bombed cars shared by Lebanon's National News Agency following the attacks on Wednesday in the Jiyeh area, some 20km (12 miles) south of the Lebanese capital, showed the vehicles severely damaged, their exteriors charred and torn apart. "It is a conflict that is taking a high toll on the civilians who live in these areas," she said. Lebanon and Israel are expected to hold a new round of direct negotiations in Washington on Thursday, brokered by the United States.

Amazon is rolling out its ultra-fast delivery service, Amazon Now, in dozens of cities in the US, promising deliveries of groceries and household essentials in 30 minutes or less. Amazon says the service is also now widely available in Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth, and will rapidly expand into Austin, Houston, Minneapolis, Orlando, Phoenix, Denver, Oklahoma City and more throughout the rest of 2026. If Amazon Now is available in your area you'll see a 30-Minute Delivery option in the Amazon app or on the homepage when you're in a browser. Amazon Now offers will also be highlighted when you're browsing products. You can search by category, and as well as groceries and basic household items such as eggs, diary and laundry detergent, you can also order select electronics on the service, which Amazon says operates 24 hours a day in most places.

What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' Russia and Ukraine have resumed air attacks after a United States-brokered three-day truce expired, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying more than 200 drones were used to attack Ukraine overnight. Russian aerial attacks across Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region on Tuesday morning killed at least one person and injured four others, according to regional administration chief Oleksandr Ganzha. Russia also carried out attacks on the regions of Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy and Chernihiv, according to authorities. More than 200 long-range drones were used in the wave of attacks, Zelenskyy said. "Russia itself chose to end the partial silence that had lasted for several days," he said in a post on X. Russia's military, meanwhile, said its defences downed 27 Ukrainian drones over the regions of Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov.