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LIDL has issued an urgent recall over fears a popular breakfast item contains pieces of metal.

The supermarket giant has pulled Harvest Basket Hash Browns from its shelves and urged customers to return the product immediately.

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Shoppers were advised to avoid the 750g frozen goods following concerns they are unsafe to eat and pose a serious choking hazard.

Warning notices will be issued in stores across the country to return the item with a batch number 5144L and best before date 24 May 2027.

The Food Standards Agency confirmed yesterday that any customer returning the breakfast favourite will be issued with a full refund.

Anyone who has purchased the product has been advised to call 0203 966 5566 or email customer.care@lidl.co.uk.

In a statement, the budget retailer said: “Lidl GB is recalling the product due to the potential presence of foreign bodies (metal) which may present a choking hazard.

“If you have bought the above product we advise you not to eat it.

“Customers are asked to return this product to the nearest store where a full refund will be issued.”

THE Middle East stands on the brink of all-out war after Israel unleashed a massive wave of missile strikes on Iran – with Tehran then responding with a wave of drones.

Israeli forces targeted Tehran’s nuclear facilities and killed top military & scientific figures in a lightning offensive dubbed Operation Rising Lion.

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Israel appears to have defied urges for restraint – including from US President Donald Trump – and said they were responding to the imminent danger that Tehran would obtain a nuclear weapon.

Iran have vowed vengeance – already begun to blame the US – and have launched at least one hundred drones towards Israel, which is expected to hit in the next few hours.

The strikes came just days before Iran was due to meet with the US for another round of nuclear talks to try and strike a deal.

In a ferocious show of force, around 200 Israeli fighter jets roared across Iranian skies early Friday.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said they used 330 munitions on 100 targets, including uranium enrichment plants and key command centres.

Major strikes have taken place on Iran’s military bases, the homes of top officials and nuclear sites such as the uranium enrichment base at Natanz .

And the heads of Iran’s armed forces – Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami and Iranian chief of state Mohammad Bagheri – have both been killed.

At least two nuclear scientists – Fereydoon Abbasi and Mohammad – have also been killed, says Iranian state TV.

The Israeli military called the blitz a “pre-emptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence” and confirmed it had struck nuclear and missile sites across the country.

The IDF said in a statement: “Dozens of IAF jets completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.” 

Iran has vowed “severe punishment”, calling the strikes a “cowardly” act of aggression as fears mount of a devastating counterstrike.

In a fiery statement, Tehran said the assault “shows why Iran insists on enrichment, nuclear technology, and missile power,” framing the attack as proof of its need for deterrence.

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A “special state of emergency” is now in effect in Israel.

Air raid sirens blared across the country in the early hours, with residents jolted awake by alerts warning of an imminent missile and drone attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the assault vital to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel‘s very survival”, vowing the campaign would last “as many days as it takes to remove the threat.”

He accused Tehran of advancing toward a nuclear weapon, claiming Iran had enriched enough uranium for “nine atom bombs.”

“In recent months, Iran has taken steps that it has never taken before – steps to weaponize this enriched uranium,” Netanyahu said.

“This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival.”

Explosions rocked military sites northeast of Tehran, including the Mahalati complex.

Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Salami, top nuclear scientist Fereydoun Abbasi, theoretical physicist Dr Mohammed Mehdi Tehranchi, and Major General Gholam Ali Rashid were among those killed.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Israel of targeting residential areas, saying: “In the enemy’s attacks, a number of commanders and scientists were martyred.

“Their successors and colleagues will immediately continue their duties.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the Natanz nuclear facility was struck and said it was in contact with Iranian officials regarding radiation concerns.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted Washington was not involved, though he said “necessary steps” were being taken to protect American personnel in the region.

“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel,” Rubio warned.

He backed Israel’s right to self-defence, saying it “believes the strikes are necessary.”

Stay up to date with the latest on Israel vs Iran with The Sun’s live blog

Visitors at Europe’s largest tech fair joined in with kicking a robotic dog – but it was designed for far worse.

The cute quadruped has been programmed to respond to bomb threats, such as if a suspicious package is left in a public place.

On display at Viva Tech in Paris, the dog gave its paw to shake hands with onlookers, before getting booted in the side.

It wasn’t a display of pointless animal cruelty (we hope) but was intended to show how well it keeps its balance.

Visiting the expo yesterday, Metro was surprised to see nobody managed to knock it off its feet, even when it got up onto two legs to ‘sit up and beg’.

The cost of the dog ranges from £1,600 right up to £120,000 depending on functionality.

Ana Correia, a product designer for smart locker company Lokk, told Metro: ‘The dog is under development in case of – I hate to say this word, but we need to talk about it – a terror attack. Imagine there is a bomb threat: You wouldn’t send a human; you would send the dog.

‘In case the bomb actually explodes, it’s the dog it blows up, not a human.’

The basic hardware of the dog was designed by Unitree Robotics, one of the world’s major firms in the field.

But its public service abilities are being developed by Lokk, who say robodogs like this could be deployed in city centres if suspected bombs are left in public lockers.

Already working with schools, hospitals, and major sportswear chain Decathlon, the company say that they have done more than 30 million openings throughout Portugal.

How it works is, when there is a suspected threat, the robot dog’s handlers put it near a locker.

It will then walk forward, open the locker, and check the suspicious object inside.

The dog is able to jump and leap forward, walk on two legs as well as four, has a camera which transmits information back to its handler, as well as a heat sensor which can detect dangerous material even if the door is closed.

This then provides valuable information for risk assessment, without putting a human in harm’s way.

Powered by artificial intelligence, the dog would go to the lockers after their operator activated an emergency, and could see how many doors had been open, for how long, and which ones.

Ana said it can open and close them too, and even ‘detect what is inside the lockers’, though wouldn’t reveal how as she said it was confidential.

Min Zhang, director of Europe for Unitree, said: ‘We develop robots because they can do dangerous work, boring work or dirty work in a complicated environment.’

But he said that what buyers do with them is ultimately decided by them, as ‘we supply the hardware’ and then they programme it.

‘If I want to use the robot dog to bring me a coffee, he can do it,’ he said.

A lot of people are ‘very happy to see the robot dog walking around for entertainment’, he said.

He added he did not know if the robot dog could ever survive a bomb blast, however, as this had not been tested.

Lokk co-founder Pedro de Jesus Moreira: ‘If there is any threat, the dog will be able to approach the system for us or the police to check the lockers in a safety area. He has a scanner and optical vision. In the future we are planning more features – this is just the beginning.’

In February this year, the UK government announced it was also developing robot dogs to join the bomb squad.

These ones would go a step further than simply taking the hit, and would actually defuse the bombs.

They said: ‘Robot dogs that can defuse explosives are set to revolutionise bomb disposal operations and significantly reduce the risk to military personnel.’

A new live trial led by MoD scientists found that advanced robots like these could both detect bombs using sensors, and defuse them.

The government said they plan to increase the number of tasks robots are trusted to do remotely, which would reduce the need to put humans in harm’s way.

Meanwhile, you might also find robot dogs delivering your parcels, with a trial from Evri set to take place this summer once the regulatory issues have been ironed out.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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