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Russian drone crashes into apartment building in Romania
A Russian drone hit an apartment building in Romania, the country's defence ministry said early on Friday, causing a fire and injuring two people. The drone crashed in the eastern city of Galati as Russia carried out attacks in Ukraine near the border, the ministry said in a statement. The Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations said the drone's entire explosive payload detonated, causing a fire on the 10th floor of the residential building. Russian drones have strayed across the border of the Nato member country a number of times during the four-year war with Ukraine, but this was the first time citizens from Romania had been hurt. Russia has yet to comment on the incident. This incident represents a serious and irresponsible escalation on the part of the Russian Federation, Romania's foreign ministry said, adding Bucharest had informed the Nato secretary general and requested measures to accelerate the transfer of anti-drone capabilities to Romania.
AI facial recognition to check age of asylum seekers from next year
An AI facial recognition tool that aims to detect adult migrants posing as children will be deployed at the UK's borders next year. A software company has been awarded a contract to develop and test the technology, which will estimate a person's age by analysing photographs of them taken at the border. The Home Office says the technology will make it easier to identify adult migrants attempting to game the system, after initial testing indicated promising performance and accuracy. But Human Rights Watch urged the government to scrap the scheme, describing it as unproven technology that will undermine the protections vulnerable children are entitled to. Unaccompanied child migrants are processed through the care system rather than the asylum system, which can make it easier to stay in the country.
Learning from Ukraine, Hezbollah is now using fibre-optic drones to hit Israel
Fibre-optic drones have become Hezbollah's primary weapon against Israeli soldiers and civilians, along both sides of the Lebanese border, and are now seen as the biggest threat there, as fighting continues six weeks into a supposed ceasefire. One Israeli soldier was killed and two others injured in a drone attack near the Israeli border community of Shomera on Wednesday. Of the 11 Israeli soldiers and one civilian defence contractor killed since the ceasefire came into force, eight have been killed by fibre-optic drones. Most of the attacks have targeted Israeli forces, which are currently occupying a large area of southern Lebanon, but Hezbollah is also increasingly attacking Israeli communities across the border, according to the Alma Research Center, an Israeli think tank which monitors the conflict. It has recorded more than 100 drone attacks against communities inside Israel since the ceasefire began in April.
Israel strikes Tyre after ordering evacuation of south Lebanon city
The Israeli military has said it is carrying out air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Tyre in southern Lebanon, after ordering the evacuation of the entire city. The military told residents that it was compelled to act forcefully in Tyre because the Iran-backed armed group was violating a US-brokered ceasefire that began five weeks ago. Earlier on Wednesday, Lebanese media reported a wave of Israeli strikes across the south and the eastern Bekaa Valley, with four people killed in the towns of Choukine and Nabatieh. Hezbollah, which has itself accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire, said it was battling Israeli troops north of the Litani river, about 30km (19 miles) from the border. It came a day after Israel's prime minister announced an expansion of its ground operation following Hezbollah drone attacks on troops occupying part of southern Lebanon and on civilians in northern Israel.
DHS Plans Experiment Running 'Reconnaissance' Drones Along the US-Canada Border
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.
Ukrainian drone hits upmarket Moscow high-rise ahead of Victory Day celebrations
A Ukrainian drone hit an upmarket residential high-rise in Moscow in the early hours of Monday, resulting in no casualties but causing visible damage to the façade of the building. It was the third night in a row that the Russian capital came under attack from drones, days before Russia holds a scaled-back 9 May parade to mark the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. An unverified video circulating on social media showed firemen entering a heavily damaged flat covered in dust and rubble and with blown-out windows, while another showed drone debris strewn across the street below. Two other drones were intercepted, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Vnukovo and Domodedovo international airports suspended operations overnight.
RAF jets scrambled after Russian drones detected near Nato airspace
At least seven people were killed in Russian strikes across Ukraine overnight, including five in the central city of Dnipro, where officials said an apartment building was hit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the latest attack lasted practically all night, while rescue workers were still searching for survivors under rubble in Dnipro on Saturday morning. British jets were scrambled from Romania during the heavy attack when Russian drones were detected near the border, though the UK Ministry of Defence rejected a report it had shot some down. Meanwhile, Ukraine carried out some of its longest-distance drone strikes deep inside Russian territory. In Yekaterinburg, almost 1,000 miles (1,600km) from Ukraine's border, the governor said six people were injured when a building was struck - while in nearby Chelyabinsk, a local leader said drones targeting an industrial facility were shot down.
Drone attack from Sudan kills 17 people in Chad as war spills over border
A drone attack launched from Sudan has killed 17 people in Chad, according to the Chadian government, which has pledged to retaliate against any further strikes as the civil war in the neighbouring nation rages on. A spokesman for the Chadian government announced the death toll on Thursday from the attack on the border town of Tine, which had been targeted despite "various firm warnings addressed to the different belligerents in the Sudan conflict and the closure of the border". Local government sources said it was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, according to Reuters. Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby called a meeting of the defence and security council on Wednesday night, ordering the army to "retaliate starting from tonight to any attack coming from Sudan", according to a presidency statement. Early on Thursday, the government said Chad had strengthened its security presence at the border and could potentially carry out operations on Sudanese territory.
First drone passengers may be combat casualties and criminals
Drones aren't yet licensed to carry passengers, but some may already be airlifting wounded personnel off the battlefield and could be employed for smuggling people Still from a promotional video for Skysurfer, a US company that sells "ultralight aircraft" for personal, recreational use The first passenger-carrying drones may already be in use. These aren't sophisticated urban air taxis, but crudely modified cargo drones transporting combat casualties and criminals. Heavy-lift drones are essentially scaled-up versions of the familiar quadcopters. Hair-raising videos of hobbyists carried by home-made drones show that the basic technology is simple enough. But meeting aircraft safety requirements for passenger transport takes years, and drone-makers, including Volocopter, EHang and Eve Air Mobility, are all aiming to get vehicles certified this year or next.
Why was El Paso airspace shut down? Drones, security fears and confusion
Why was El Paso airspace shut down? A new United States military laser-based anti-drone system led authorities to halt air traffic in and out of El Paso, Texas, after aviation officials raised serious concerns about risks to commercial aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) initially announced a 10-day airspace closure on Wednesday but removed the restriction less than eight hours later, a decision reports said stemmed from miscommunication between the Pentagon and aviation regulators. The FAA and the military had planned to discuss the issue at a February 20 meeting, but the army moved ahead without final FAA approval, prompting the agency to halt flights in El Paso, sources said. What happened when El Paso's airspace was shut down?