Donald Trump signed a memorandum allowing vetted private companies to conduct cyber operations against foreign criminal organizations behind ransomware and phishing.

An Israeli drone strike in southwestern Syria has injured several people, the country's foreign ministry says, in the latest of near-daily Israeli incursions and attacks in the area. Syria's official Alikhbariya channel reported on Saturday that a man was wounded when an Israeli drone hit his truck near the town of Beit Jinn in the western Damascus countryside. The activity "posed an immediate threat to our forces", the military added. Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement that Saturday's strike resulted in several civilian injuries. It said it "condemns in the strongest terms" the targeting of a "civilian vehicle" by an Israeli drone.

Watch: Moment robot attempts to beat Usain Bolt's 100m record To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Moment robot attempts to beat Usain Bolt's 100m record Close A humanoid robot has outperformed humans by breaking Usain Bolt's world record for the 100m sprint, according to its manufacturer. Chinese smartphone maker Honor said Lightning - a thin black and red robot - ran the distance in 9.32 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt set the world record for humans in 2009, running 100m in 9.58 seconds. Other events at the robot games, which started on Saturday, include boxing and football, but also household tasks like folding laundry.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG . World's first solar-powered ambulance brings healthcare off-grid The scammer at your doctor's office may already know who you are Shared VPN vs dedicated IP: Which one is right for you? Is cyberbullying hiding in your child's group chat?

Usain Bolt's 100m record broken at World Humanoid Robot Games A humanoid robot developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor ran 100 metres (328ft) in 9.32 seconds, China's state broadcaster has reported, beating the human world record held by Jamaican sprinting great Usain Bolt. The robot, dubbed Lightning, reached a peak speed of 14.5 metres (47.6ft) per second during a preparatory test event for the second World Humanoid Robot Games, which opened in Beijing on Saturday. China has been promoting humanoid robots as a strategic emerging industry, with policymakers and companies betting that advances in AI and hardware will accelerate their deployment in manufacturing, logistics and consumer applications. Lightning also won the 21km (13-mile) Beijing half marathon in April in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, faster than the elite men's human world-record pace. The robot stood 169cm (5.5ft) tall and had 95cm (3.1ft) legs at the half marathon.

Follow this section to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. Follow this tag to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW?

China's new moon mission could unlock secret of lunar ice: Why that matters China is set to launch its Chang'e-7 unmanned, robotic space mission, possibly as early as Monday morning, to look for ice water in the permanently shadowed craters of the moon's south pole. This marks China's seventh and most ambitious moon mission so far. Here is what we know about it. What do we know about Chang'e-7? The Chang'e 7 launch window runs from Monday, August 24 to Monday, August 31, according to launch observers.

Would even an AI disaster on the scale of Hiroshima be enough to make humankind protect itself? It's clear here in Silicon Valley that AI is advancing faster than humans' ability to control it. H ere in Silicon Valley, the experts think that within the next couple of years we'll see an extraordinary takeoff for artificial intelligence. "Welcome to the foothills of the singularity," as a Stanford University friend greeted me. More prosaically, the imminent breakthrough is described as "recursive self-improvement" - the point at which AI itself trains each successive model of AI, resulting in an exponential development to something which, in many significant respects, is more intelligent than us humans.

How drones and asymmetric warfare are upending the battlefield and what the U.S. military can do to adapt. The Washington Roundtable's Susan B. Glasser interviews General David Petraeus about where the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine might be headed and what they can tell us about the future of warfare. They discuss the fleets of inexpensive drones that have upended traditional combat, how the impending arrival of A.I.-powered automated systems might "revolutionize" the battlefield, and what institutional overhauls Petraeus believes are urgently needed at the Pentagon in order to respond. "We need to do a lot to catch up," Petraeus says. " After Six Months of War, Trump Is Still Losing to Iran," by Ishaan Tharoor " Is the Smithsonian Really Trying to Destroy America? " Donald Trump Is Still Trying to Make It Harder to Vote," by Amy Davidson Sorkin " Can Head Start Be Deregulated Out of Existence?

The economist Lord Jim O'Neill, who has been advising the prime minister, has said he will not be taking a job in Andy Burnham's government. Lord O'Neill, a crossbench peer, was once a treasury minister under the Conservatives. As first reported by, external the Financial Times, he said he did not want the constraints involved in taking on a formal role. The former chief economist at Goldman Sachs had been tipped to become Burnham's chief economic adviser. He said he was enjoying what he was currently doing too much and did not want to have to give up control of his business interests to comply with official rules.