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Waste carrier licences to be tightened as part of illegal dumping crackdown

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The proposed changes come after a cow named Beau Vine got approved for a waste removal licence.



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Ukraine war briefing: The drones that bombarded Moscow region | Ukraine

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  • The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has reeled off a list of Ukrainian aerial weaponry used to destroy targets in the Moscow region over the weekend, including the RS-1 “Bars” jet-powered UAV, the Firepoint FP-1 winged drone, and a drone previously unknown to observers and analysts, dubbed the Bars-SM Gladiator.

  • Ukraine’s SBU security service highlighted a strike on the Angstrom plant in Zelenograd, Moscow region, Russia, which “specialises in the production of hi-tech products and microcircuits for high-precision weapons … A fire was recorded on the territory of the facility. The enterprise is an important component of the Russian military-industrial complex and is involved in the production of microelectronics, radio electronics, optical systems, and robotics for the enemy’s military needs.”

  • The SBU continued: “Also in the Moscow region, the Solnechnogorskaya pumping station was hit, which is a critical part of the ring oil pipeline around Moscow and is used for pumping, storing and shipping large volumes of gasoline and diesel fuel, in particular for the Russian army. A fire was reported on the premises.”

  • The strikes “reduce the enemy’s ability to continue its war”, said the SBU. Russian authorities said at least four people were killed and a dozen more wounded, and reported several hits as being from “drone debris” – as they frequently do to imply that drones were shot down by Russian defences instead of striking their intended targets. Early on Monday, the Russian defence ministry sought to emphasise the role of its air defences, claiming 3,124 Ukrainian drones were shot down over the past week.

  • Agence France-Presse said its journalists were granted access to an undisclosed location where Ukraine launched its long-range drones in what turned out to be one of the largest pummellings of Russia during the conflict. They described how battalion members prepared plane-like drones before they took off towards Russia, leaving trails of sparks and flames from their rocket boosters behind.

  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy said taking the war to Moscow was “entirely justified”. In his nightly address, Ukraine’s president said that on Sunday, Ukrainian troops’ combat operations on the battlefield outnumbered Russian ones – “a very significant result”. “Much has been accomplished this year, and a shift in the balance of activity on the frontlines is noticeable.”

  • Within Ukraine, the SBU said, a Russian command post in the Bunge area of ​​Donetsk region and enemy UAV control points were hit in the Dvorichnaya area of ​​Kharkiv region, Zavitne in Kherson region, and Udachne in Donetsk region. “In addition, Ukrainian soldiers struck enemy manpower concentrations in the areas of Myrne, Donetsk region, Krasnohirsk, Zaporizhzhia region, Volfinsky, Kursk region of the Russian Federation, as well as two concentrations of occupiers in the Novoekonomichesky district of the Donetsk region.”

  • Ukraine’s southern Odesa region came under a drone attack on Sunday night and residential buildings were hit, Odesa’s regional governor said in a social media post. Information about casualties and damage were being clarified, Oleh Kiper posted. In the Zaporizhzhia region, a car was hit in a Russian attack, injuring a woman and a man. In Kherson region, the regional prosecutor’s office said a drone dropped explosives on a home, killing a man, while eight civilians were injured in attacks on regional cities and towns.

  • A suspected Ukrainian military drone was found crashed in Lithuania on Sunday, the Lithuanian government’s crisis management centre said. The drone was not detected when it entered Lithuania, and was not armed with explosives, said the chief of the centre, Vilmantas Vitkauskas. The drone was found crashed at the village of Samane, the centre said, 40km from the Latvian border and 55km from Belarus. Kyiv was yet to comment.

  • Separately, the Latvian army said a drone alert was issued on Sunday morning along its border with Russia, and Nato military fighters were summoned to the area. One drone entered Latvia for a short time during the alert, the army said.

  • Since March, several stray Ukrainian drones have entered the airspace of Nato members Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia which border Russia and its ally Belarus. Kyiv has insisted the drones were aimed at military targets in Russia but sent off course by Russian countermeasures. The Latvian prime minister, Evika Silina, fired her defence minister after one incident, leading to the fall of her government.

  • The commander of Ukraine’s drone forces has defended Ukraine’s long-range attacks into Russia. In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Robert Brovdi, known as “Madyar”, said: “The sources of funding for Putin’s war expenses … have become legitimate and priority military targets in any area, in any part of the territory of the occupying country, whether we are talking about the south, the Urals, or Siberia.” The interview was given before Ukraine on the weekend launched its wave of more than 600 drones into Russia.



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    Crime increasingly a ‘serious barrier’ to UK growth, say business leaders | Crime

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    UK business leaders have warned that crime is becoming an increasingly “serious barrier” to growing Britain’s economy amid a rise in shoplifting, fraud and cyber-attacks against companies.

    The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which represents tens of thousands of businesses across the country, called on the government to provide “a step change in the support businesses can count on” as it said two-fifths of companies had experienced some form of crime in the past year.

    Warning that decisive action was required, it said a fifth of companies in a survey of 1,411 firms had faced fraud or scams. As many as 21% said they had experienced cyber-attacks.

    Ellis Shelton, a policy manager at the BCC, said tackling crime would help remove “structural barriers to growth”.

    He said: “Crime against business is now a serious barrier to growth and investment across the UK.

    “Our research shows many firms are dealing with rising levels of theft, fraud and cyber-attacks. Bosses are being forced to divert crucial time and money to tackling this anchor on growth.

    “Crime is becoming more sophisticated and there needs to be a step change in the support businesses can count on.”

    The organisation said the government should create a cyber-attack reporting system for companies; establish regional business crime hubs that would bring together police and business crime reduction partnerships; and expand cyber and fraud resilience support for small and medium-sized businesses. It also called for more incentives for companies to invest in security.

    There were a string of high-profile cyber-attacks against businesses in the UK last year, including Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, Jaguar Land Rover and Booking.com.

    It has been estimated that the hack of JLR alone cost the UK economy £1.9bn, potentially making it the most costly cyber-attack in British history.

    M&S said it took a £324m hit to profits after being forced to close its website to orders for more than six weeks after a damaging hack.

    At the other end of the scale, tradespeople have warned of a rise in tool thefts, which can hit their ability to do business.

    Retail businesses have also complained of rising thefts. Police-recorded shoplifting rose 20% year on year to reach 516,971 offences in the year to December 2024. By March 2025, the annual total exceeded 530,000.

    A further BCC survey carried out last autumn found that larger companies are more vulnerable to crime, increasing from 32% among microbusinesses to 58% among firms employing more than 250 people. The manufacturing sector said it was the hardest hit, with 50% of companies reporting business crime.



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