Author: Darren Smith

NATO is bracing for a new era of warfare in which thousands of artificial intelligence-controlled drones operate as a single deadly unit, with a senior alliance general warning the technology could rival nuclear weapons in destructive power and reshape global military deterrence within five years. Major-General Constantin-Adrian Ciolponea, who represents NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in Europe, told The Times that the defence bloc must urgently adapt to what he described as “swarm-type attacks” on a massive scale. “The next stage of evolution for drones will be swarm-type attacks when you don’t have one or two, ten or twenty —…

A mother told police she had “forgotten her children” while out shopping after her two young sons were found dead in a car parked in their grandmother’s garden during France’s devastating heatwave, with temperatures approaching 40C when the boys suffered fatal cardiac arrests. The brothers, aged two and four, were discovered by firefighters in Vaucluse, in southern France, after emergency services received a call at around 1.20pm on Monday. A police source told French newspaper Le Parisien that the 33-year-old mother said she had forgotten the children while she had been out shopping. Prosecutors had initially suggested the boys may…

South Yorkshire Police has launched an internal investigation after footage emerged showing officers pointing a taser and swinging batons at a group of teenage girls during a street confrontation in Rotherham, with the force itself describing the scenes as “appearing nothing short of shocking.” The video, which was posted to Facebook by a mother who said her daughter was among the girls involved, shows a dramatic altercation on what appears to be a residential street on Saturday evening. Officers in high-visibility jackets can be seen ordering the group to disperse and accusing them of breaching the peace. The situation escalates…

Thunderstorms, lightning and flash flooding caused widespread chaos across Britain overnight and into Monday morning, shutting parts of the London Underground, cancelling trains and setting houses ablaze — just hours before the country braces for what could become its hottest June day on record. London was hit by around 3,000 lightning strikes overnight as severe storms swept across southern England. The London Fire Brigade responded to approximately 400 calls, including two house fires believed to have been triggered by lightning strikes and a series of flooded homes. Large parts of the South West were also battered by the storms, with…

Ukraine has struck a thermal power plant and major fuel infrastructure across Russian-occupied Crimea, knocking out electricity to large parts of the peninsula and triggering a civilian fuel ban as Kyiv’s campaign to turn Crimea into an isolated “island” intensifies. Electricity went out in Feodosia, Kerch, Sevastopol and several other areas of occupied Crimea following a series of overnight drone and missile strikes. The Tavriiska thermal power plant sustained damage in the attack, with a burned-out tank visible on the station’s premises, a charred and deformed façade on a nearby building, and a hole recorded in the wall of the…

A man has appeared in court charged with five counts of attempted murder linked to terrorism, following a series of alleged anti-Muslim attacks across Edinburgh that left two men stabbed outside a mosque and three more injured on one of the city’s main streets. Lewis Hawkes, 36, appeared in private at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and was remanded in custody without entering a plea. He was also charged with assault and robbery, breach of the peace and culpable and reckless conduct. Counter-terror officers are leading the ongoing investigation into the incidents, which took place across multiple locations in the capital on…

Two young men who mounted a cyber attack on Transport for London that cost the organisation £29 million and forced all 28,000 of its staff to reset their passwords in person have pleaded guilty on the first day of their trial at Woolwich Crown Court. Thalha Jubair, 20, from East London, and Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall, West Midlands, were both members of the notorious online criminal collective known as Scattered Spider. They infiltrated TfL’s network between 31 August and 3 September 2024 in an attack that caused widespread disruption to one of the UK’s most critical pieces of public…

A Montreal police officer has been injured after responding to reports of shots fired in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges district on Monday, with an emergency alert issued warning residents that an armed and dangerous suspect remains at large. Montreal police say one of their officers has been injured in the central neighbourhood after responding to reports of shots fired. Public safety officials issued an emergency alert about an armed and dangerous suspect in the Côte-des-Neiges district. The police operation began around 11:30am and remained ongoing at the time of writing. Montreal police are urging residents in Côte-des-Neiges to stay indoors, lock…

Britain faces a genuine chance of breaking its all-time temperature record this week, with a Met Office meteorologist warning that the humidity accompanying the heatwave makes it “much more extreme and more dangerous” than the record-breaking conditions of July 2022. Red and amber warnings for extreme heat have been issued for the next four days, with temperatures forecast to reach as high as 41C in parts of the country. The most likely peak is 39C, but the Met Office puts the possible range between 37C and 41C — and says there is a 20 per cent chance the all-time UK…

Reality TV star Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, who made history as one of Britain’s first gay dads, and his husband Scott Hutchinson have been charged with 18 further offences including rape and paying for the sexual services of a child, as they appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court to face a growing list of serious allegations. Drewitt-Barlow, 57, and Hutchinson, 32, were remanded in custody at today’s hearing without being asked to enter pleas. A further hearing has been scheduled for 7 September, at which they will be asked to do so. A trial has been set for January 2027, with an estimated…