'We will go wherever they hide': Rooting out IS in Somalia A figure appears in the picture, moving through a valley. He has been to fetch water for his friends, says the drone operator. He is running and carrying something on his back, adds another soldier. The man on the screen is near a cave, which the army believes is a hideout for 50 to 60 IS fighters. The Puntland Defence Forces have about 500 soldiers stationed at this base in the north-east of Somalia. Ten years ago the barren and inhospitable landscape was home to only a few nomadic communities, but that changed when IS established a foothold here, shifting its focus to Africa as its fighters were driven out of their strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

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.

Ukraine has responded to a war it didn't start by creating an industry it doesn't want, but could the nation's drone expertise help it rebuild? To learn more, gained exclusive access to the research labs, factories and military training schools behind Ukraine's drones Killhouse Academy, run by the 3rd Assault Brigade, is Ukraine's leading drone-pilot school. The grinding, attritional war between Russia and Ukraine is now entirely dominated by drones. Russia pummels Ukraine with long-range kamikaze aircraft and Ukraine knocks them out of the sky with specialised interceptors. The front line has transitioned from an artillery battle to a first-person-view drone fight, while ground-based robots are increasingly used to deliver ammunition and supplies, launch attacks and evacuate the wounded. As a result, in the four years since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has created from nothing an entire industry and ecosystem capable of designing, manufacturing and operating a variety of ingenious drones.

Evidence is mounting that Elon Musk's decision to deny Russian forces access to his Starlink satellite-based internet service has blunted Moscow's advance, caused confusion among Russian soldiers and handed an advantage to Ukraine's defenders. And what can Ukraine's military achieve in the meantime? The Russians lost their ability to control the field, a Ukrainian drone operator who goes by the callsign Giovanni told us. I think they lost 50% of their capacity for offence, he said. That's what the numbers show.

Science Archaeology How a hobbyist's hunch uncovered hidden Roman military camps The finds are forcing historians to reconsider the extent of the Roman military's advance in Germany. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. An amateur archaeologist armed only with satellite imagery and a hunch helped uncover evidence that's reshaping how historians understand the Roman Empire's advance into present-day Germany in the third century CE. In 2020, hobbyist Michael Barkowski was combing through aerial imagery available online, when he spotted an unusual formation near the town of Aken, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in northwestern Germany. Barkowski suspected that the large rectangular outlines and apparent ditches he was seeing could be signs of marching camps that were commonly deployed by Roman legions .

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' A Russian drone attack killed two women and a man in Vilniansk in Ukraine's front-line Zaporizhia region, the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, said on the Telegram messaging app. The attack also destroyed houses after fires broke out, Fedorov said.

The US military has launched a mission to transfer up to 7,000 Islamic State (IS) group fighters from prisons in north-eastern Syria to Iraq, as Syrian government forces take control of areas long controlled by Kurdish-led forces. US Central Command said it had already moved 150 IS fighters from Hassakeh province to a secure location in Iraq. The move aimed to prevent a breakout that would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security, it added. On Tuesday night, Syria's government announced a new ceasefire with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), after the militia alliance withdrew from al-Hol camp, which holds thousands of relatives of IS fighters. Separately on Wednesday, Syria's defence ministry said seven soldiers were killed in a drone attack by Kurdish forces in the Kurdish-dominated province of Hasakah.

War of 1812 veteran Shadrack Byfield's second book describes a grittier life story--and a hook for a hand. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. A long-lost second memoir penned by a famed 19th-century British soldier named Shadlock Byfield resurfaced in a rather unexpected place--Cleveland, Ohio. As explained in a study recently published in the, Byfield's second book depicts a very different war veteran than the one described in his first autobiography written 11 years earlier. Although he may not be a household name, many early American history buffs are well acquainted with Shadrack Byfield .

Romance and parenthood feel remote in Ukraine: 'I haven't had a date since before the war' Sitting in a wine bar in Kyiv on a Saturday night, Daria, 34, opens a dating app, scrolls, then puts her phone away. After spending more than a decade in committed relationships she's been single for a long time. I haven't had a proper date since before the war, she says. Four years of war have forced Ukrainians to rethink nearly every aspect of daily life. Increasingly that includes decisions about relationships and parenthood - and these choices are, in turn, shaping the future of a country in which both marriage and birth rates are falling.

At least three civilians and a Syrian soldier have been killed after clashes erupted between the Syrian army and the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo, according to the state news agency SANA. Earlier, Syria's defence ministry said three soldiers were injured after SDF fired drones at a military checkpoint near Deir Hafer, east of northern province. Heavy machine gunfire and fighting have been reported in the areas of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah. The ministry says it will respond to the "aggression in an appropriate manner".