A Philippine Navy band plays music to welcome the Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZS Te Kaha upon arrival at the South Harbor, for a four-day goodwill visit in metro Manila in April 2017. New Zealand intends to spend about 1.6 billion New Zealand dollars ($936 million) on drones, ship maintenance and naval upgrades to bolster the island nation's maritime security at a time of increasing concern about supply routes. Defense Minister Chris Penk said Saturday that the government will invest in two types of drones: one for the southwest Pacific to provide long-duration intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; the other is a polar-capable vehicle that can operate from naval vessels in the Southern Ocean. "New Zealand's prosperity and security depend on the sea," Penk said in a statement. "Recent events have served as a reminder of how quickly disruptions to international shipping routes can affect economies and supply chains across the globe. The oceans are not a barrier to danger, but a vital national interest that must be actively secured."

The Red Arrows will fly with fewer aircraft for most of their displays as the RAF seeks to preserve the famous aerobatics team's ageing fleet. Pilots will fly in a nine-aircraft formation for King Charles III's birthday flypast in June and one month later to help the US mark its 250th anniversary of independence but they will fly with seven aircraft for other events from this year. The current fleet of Hawk T1s - which have been flown by the Red Arrows since 1980 - is due to be retired in 2030, with spare parts less readily available. An RAF spokesperson said scaling back would support the sustainable management of the fleet and prepare the team for a transition to a future aircraft type. The Red Arrows are used to display the force's military capabilities and help with recruitment.

'Hear them before I see them': How drones strike fear in Colombia Increasingly, armed groups in Colombia are turning to cheap, widely available drones to fight from a distance. What is the toll on civilians? Military surveillance drones fly in formation past an air traffic control tower in Colombia [Courtesy of Colombia's Batallon de Aeronaves No Tripuladas] Military surveillance drones fly in formation past an air traffic control tower in Colombia [Courtesy of Colombia's Batallon de Aeronaves No Tripuladas] She instinctively reaches for her young son. The noise always emerges from a small mountain behind her home, part of a tree-quilted landscape stitched with winding rivers along Colombia's border with Venezuela. I always hear them before I see them, if I see them at all, she says.

Trump postpones executive order on AI, citing need to keep'lead' over China The move comes shortly after Trump became the first US president to visit China in nearly a decade.

This week, with air raid warnings wailing in the distance, Kyiv held a funeral for two sisters. They had already lost their father who had been fighting on the front line. Their grieving mother is now the family's sole survivor. This is the human cost of the largest sustained Russian aerial assault so far - with 1,500 drones and 56 missiles fired at Ukraine within 48 hours. But the loss of life could have been even higher.

Ukrainian mid-range strikes deal double blow to Russia's war effort KYIV/LONDON - From burning oil refineries to a stalling ground offensive, Russia is suffering problems in its war against Ukraine that partly stem from a growing Ukrainian military strength: the use of medium-range drone attacks. By targeting Russian air defenses and logistics dozens of kilometers behind front lines, Ukraine is disrupting Russia's battlefield advances and opening the way for long-range strikes on Russian oil and military facilities, said two Ukrainian commanders, two drone specialists and three military analysts. Ukrainian officials say more resources have in recent months been poured into "middle strikes," typically ranging between 30 kilometers and 180 km behind front lines. 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.

U.S. seeking transfer of intellectual property rights in drone deal, Kyiv says Through a combination of new technology and tactics, Kyiv's forces have been able to strike deep into Russian territory, to slow and in some cases even reverse battlefield gains by Moscow's bigger army and inflict significant damage on oil facilities that help finance the Kremlin's war machine. Kyiv has said that the U.S. is seeking the transfer of technology and access to intellectual property rights from Ukraine as part of a drone deal that is awaiting approval at the highest political level, a person familiar with the matter has said. The U.S. Department of Defense has asked to test a range of Ukrainian defense products, including drones and electronic warfare systems, as Washington is considering their potential purchase for military use, the official said. The agreement has not been finalized, the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private. Growing interest from the U.S. shows how the world's largest military is looking to tap into the drone expertise Ukraine has acquired over four years fighting against the Russian invasion.

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 19 people in southern Lebanon, the country's health ministry has said. Ten of them, including three children and three women, were killed in a single attack that hit a house in the town of Deir Qanoun, the ministry said. Lebanon was drawn into the war on 2 March, when the Iran-backed armed Shia Islamist group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader. The latest deaths less than a week after the US said that Lebanon and Israel had agreed to extend a ceasefire by 45 days, with the two sides set to resume talks at the beginning of June. Despite the extension, both Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire, especially in southern Lebanon.

What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' More than 15,800 people killed in Russia's all-out war on Ukraine: UN The United Nations has said 15,850 people, including 791 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion of the neighbouring country in February 2022. The "actual figures are likely significantly higher", Kayoko Gotoh, Europe and Central Asia director of the UN's Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump has attempted to mediate and announced the most recent three-day ceasefire earlier this month, but fighting has resumed. Tuesday's Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least six people. A 15-year-old boy was among three people killed in a Russian ballistic missile attack on the city of Pryluky in north-central Ukraine's Chernihiv region on Tuesday morning, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

Estonia has said a Nato fighter jet shot down a drone, which it suspects was a Ukrainian projectile knocked off course by Russian electronic jamming, over its territory. Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said a Romanian F-16 fired a missile and drone debris fell in a marshy area in central Estonia on Tuesday. Ukraine reacted by accusing Russia of deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones launched at legitimate military targets in Russia, apologising to Estonia and all of our Baltic friends for such unintended incidents. Russia has not commented on the latest in a series of recent drone incursions over Nato members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Last week, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned following a political crisis over Russia-bound Ukrainian drones straying into Latvian territory.