Ukraine is in talks with EU member states Poland and Slovakia about moving customs checks on lorries carrying grain exports from the border to inside those countries, to halt Russian drone attacks on the trucks, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Kyiv had set up joint border control points with Moldova and wanted to “scale up” the initiative with other neighbours, including Poland, the FT reported.

Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told the FT the move was driven by a “new security environment where Russia is deliberately trying to strike our borders” and that Kyiv wanted to finalise an agreement with Poland as soon as possible.

Haiti’s government said Thursday that rescuing four Salvadoran soldiers kidnapped by armed gangs last Sunday on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince is its absolute priority.

The office of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé said in a statement that the government is fully mobilized and intends to assert state authority with the greatest firmness against armed groups. It called the soldiers’ release an absolute priority and said all necessary resources are being mobilized to achieve that goal.

RELATED: Salvadoran President Bukele Issues Stern Warning to Haitian Gangs

The prime minister met with competent authorities to assess the situation comprehensively and to determine, in close collaboration with the Salvadoran Gang Suppression Force (GSF), measures to reinforce ongoing operations against the armed gangs that attacked the vehicle carrying the Salvadorans.

Haitian security forces and the GSF have conducted an intense search since Sunday for the four Salvadoran aviation technicians, with whom contact was lost after the ambush in the Santo area of the Croix-des-Bouquets commune, within the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

In its first official statement on the attack, the Prime Minister’s Office said that given the seriousness of the act, the State reaffirms its authority and determination, and that security forces are continuing operations firmly to secure the soldiers’ release and protect human life.

The GSF reported Tuesday that several members of the gangs controlling most of Port-au-Prince were killed and others wounded in clashes with forces searching for the Salvadoran military personnel. The GSF also reported that four of its own personnel were wounded during the operation and received medical care.

On October 9, fighters from two jihadist groups clashed near Gonadaouri, in Burkina Faso’s Oudalan province, not far from the Malian border. One side belonged to Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), al-Qaeda’s Sahel affiliate. The other belonged to the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), known until 2022 as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. The two […]

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Ukrainian military sources say they are yet to see any change in satellite internet speeds

Ukrainian military sources say they are yet to see any change in satellite internet speeds

Ukrainian military sources say they are yet to see any change in satellite internet speeds

La realidad es que Guillermo del Toro siempre se ha caracterizado por un estilo muy particular. Después de todo, su fascinación por los monstruos es un elemento clave fundamental de cara a definir su tipo de cine. El director de origen mexicano llegó a Hollywood después del reconocimiento internacional de Cronos, que fue su debut en la industria cinematográfica.

Sin embargo, Mimic terminó siendo una de las etapas más complejas de su carrera. El filme planteó un relato de terror sobre insectos mutantes que amenazan Nueva York. La escala de la propuesta fue lo que le permitió trabajar con un presupuesto mayor. La principal consecuencia fue que pudo hacer un mejor despliegue de su imaginación visual. Sin embargo, también le enfrentó a las exigencias de Miramax y a los hermanos Harvey y Bob Weinstein, los responsables del estudio.

Un rodaje que enfrentó a Guillermo del Toro con Hollywood

En este sentido, Guillermo del Toro recordó que perdió varias peleas relacionadas con el reparto. Aunque reconocía que la película conservaba visualmente buena parte de su visión, el desarrollo se tradujo en un profundo desgaste. El director llegó a comparar aquella etapa con otro episodio traumático de su vida: el secuestro de su padre en México. Esa singular comparación daba una idea de hasta qué punto se había deteriorado su relación vinculada al modelo de producción estadounidense.

Aun así, la experiencia de Mimic sí le sirvió de algo. El filme le enseñó a coordinar los movimientos de cámara con los actores y a desarrollar una puesta en escena que, en esencia, era más elaborada. Pero el aprendizaje técnico no compensaba el daño personal. Después de esa vivencia tan nefasta, necesitaba recuperar la confianza en su capacidad para relatar historias sin renunciar a su propia mirada.

La oportunidad llegó desde España con la oportuna aparición de Pedro Almodóvar. Él era un confeso admirador de su trabajo, por lo que se ofreció a producir El espinazo del diablo. El proyecto llevaba bastante tiempo intentando salir adelante, pero nunca se encontraba financiación suficiente para sacarlo adelante como realmente quería. El respaldo de Pedro Almodóvar fue el detonante que ayudó a cambiar las cosas. Él mismo lo confesaba rotundamente: "Básicamente, me resucitó. Me permitió creer que se podían volver a hacer películas".

Estrenada en 2001, El espinazo del diablo recuperó su gusto por el cine personal y consolidó algunos de los temas que recorrerían su filmografía: la infancia, la memoria, la violencia política y los fantasmas que deja muchas veces el curso de la historia. Con el tiempo, él mismo asumió labores de producción para proteger a otros cineastas de las presiones de los estudios. No quería limitarse a devolver un favor: quería ofrecer a otros la confianza que Pedro Almodóvar le había brindado a él.

• Russia looks to be moving toward 3D printed cruise missiles for its next era of air attacks on Ukraine.
• The threat could be so major, turbojet Shaheds would seem like a small problem, one drone guru said.
• GUR recently posted details of the Filin, a cheap Russian missile reported to fly as fast as 500 mph.

Russia's next big bet in the air war will likely move past jet-powered Shaheds to a deep arsenal of new cruise missiles, two of Ukraine's most prominent drone experts warned on Thursday.

Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov and Serhii Sternenko wrote separately on their Telegram channels about the Filin, an 11-foot Russian winged cruise missile that Ukraine's military intelligence service recently unveiled.

These cheap weapons possess superior capabilities that would easily overshadow the threat posed by the Shahed, according to the pair, both former drone advisors to Ukraine's defense ministry.

"The mass use of this type of aerial attack weapon is what awaits us very soon," wrote Sternenko, who runs a major foundation that crowdfunds for Ukraine's military, in a Telegram post.

"Then we will remember the jet Shaheds only as a small problem compared to this," he added.

Beskrestnov, a drone analyst, said he had "long predicted that our adversary is betting on cheap cruise missiles for the future, not on jet Shaheds."

He wrote on his Telegram channel that the Filin can fly faster, maneuver better, and carry a heavier payload than Russia's current turbojet drones,

"They do not need drone ports, many of them can be launched from helicopters and UAVs. And most importantly, they can be produced from Russian components," Beskrestnov added.

A strike at nearly 500 mph for cheap

On Wednesday, Ukraine's military intelligence agency, GUR, released extensive details on the Filin, which it said Russia had begun deploying at the end of summer 2026.

The Filin, it said, is the "continuation of the trend of the Russian military-industrial complex to develop inexpensive air attack weapons with jet propulsion and ground launch."

The ground-launched missile can carry a 100kg warhead, and Russia has said that it can fly at speeds of almost 500 mph at a range of 745 miles. By comparison, the Kremlin's most advanced jet-powered drone deployed so far, the Geran-5, is known to fly at a maximum speed of 370 mph.

The Filin can also fly at "ultra-low altitudes" and as high as 3.7 miles, GUR said.

Similar to Russia's Shahed drones, the Filin features a carbon and fiberglass fuselage, with some of its parts produced via 3D printing, the intelligence service added.

And as with turbojet Shaheds, GUR also said that the Filin is filled with foreign electronics in its flight controller, inertial navigation system, equipment control unit, and counter-jamming hardware.

The agency listed 35 components from the US, including transistors and converters; 22 from China; and 13 more from Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the Netherlands.

Notably, GUR said the Filin's engine is Russian-made, compared to the Chinese engines used on many of Moscow's turbojet drones. The same engine has been found on other recently unveiled Russian missiles, such as the air-launched Kover and Monochrome.

Much of Russia's ability to reduce the cost of its new cruise missiles is owed to its use of commercial engines and components. Another high-profile Russian missile that also uses civilian tech is the Banderol, which emerged in the spring of 2025 and has been straining Ukraine's air defense networks in the last few months.

The Banderol flies more slowly and has a shorter range than the Filin, but it still reaches a max speed of 435 mph, making it much harder for Ukraine to intercept with drones. Its estimated price is $150,000 per unit — about a sixteenth the cost of a traditional Kh-101 cruise missile — so it's easier to mass-produce.

The frequent use of weapons like the Banderol over the summer has led to fears that Russia will lean into its tactic, often nicknamed "missile spam," to keep pushing Ukrainian air defenses.

"What is the Air Force command doing now to build up countermeasures in advance?" Sternenko wrote on Wednesday about the missile threat.