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Czech authorities probe suspected arson at a drone technology company

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech authorities said Friday they were investigating a fire at a warehouse of a company that makes drone technology as a suspected arson linked to terrorism.

The fire broke out in an industrial zone in the city of Pardubice, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Prague, causing no injuries, police said.

LPP Holding confirmed a fire in one of its buildings. It said it was cooperating with the investigation and declined further comment.

The company develops and makes products for civilian and military use, such as drone technologies used by Ukraine’s armed forces in the fight against the Russian invasion.

Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar said “the incident may be related to a terrorist attack.”

“At the moment, we don’t have information about a further danger,” he said.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš called the news “very serious.” Top police officer Martin ondrášek said police assumed arson.

The fire was extinguished by firefighters and police said there was no danger to the public. It was not immediately clear what was inside the warehouse that was on fire.

LPP Holding had previously said it was planning to open a center to develop and produce drones and train personnel in cooperation with Israeli Elbit Systems, a military technology company.

Metnar said the Czech side will share details of the investigation with its foreign partners.

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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