President Donald Trump has hosted Qatar's prime minister for a private dinner and met with Bahrain's crown prince at the White House as part of a United States effort to address regional issues, including securing a Gaza ceasefire, and promote diplomatic ties with the Gulf region. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister and a member of the country's ruling family, had a private dinner with Trump on Wednesday evening. Before this meal, Trump met with Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa in the Oval Office. With little progress to share on the region's most pressing conflicts, including Israel's war on Gaza, Trump was more focused on Wednesday on promoting diplomatic ties as a vehicle for economic growth. Trump has lavished attention on the Gulf, a wealthy region where members of his family have extensive business relationships.

Fox News anchor Bret Baier examines the U.S. power supply on'Special Report.' The global race to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) has begun. President Donald Trump got it right from the start when he issued an executive order in January to strengthen America's AI – the next great technological forefront. From Day One as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, it was clear that EPA would have a major hand in permitting reform to cut down barriers that have acted as a roadblock so we can bolster the growth of AI and make America the AI capital of the world. In fact, it's an endeavor so important, it is a core pillar of my Powering the Great American Comeback initiative.

A Russian air raid on a shopping centre and market in Dobropillia, eastern Ukraine, killed at least two people, wounded 22 others and caused widespread damage on Wednesday, the regional governor, Vadym Filashkin, said. Filashkin said the building was struck by a 500kg (1,100-pound) bomb at 5:20pm (14:20 GMT). Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, on Wednesday night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes targeted the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the central city of Kryvyi Rih, Vinnytsia in the west, and Odesa in the south. A Ukrainian drone killed one person and injured six others in the Russian city of Belgorod, and injured one person in a village northeast of the city, the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft shared internally that it had saved 500 million in call center costs, thanks to AI -- shortly after the company laid 9,000 people off, the third round in a series of layoffs totaling 15,000. What does this mean for the tech industry -- and job security for humans -- at large? Also: 60% of managers use AI to make decisions now, including whom to promote and fire - does yours? According to Bloomberg, Microsoft's chief commercial officer Judson Althoff shared in a presentation that AI tools were improving productivity across several teams, including sales, customer service, and engineering, noting AI had created over a third of the code for Microsoft's new products. Althoff noted AI had reduced customer service costs by over 500 million while upping employee and customer satisfaction.

At least fifteen people have been injured in the latest wave of Russian drone strikes, which this time hit four Ukranian cities. Video shows firefighters battling flames from a large blaze. This comes amid the 50-day deadline from the US for Russia to secure a peace deal.

For the past few weeks, the AI-powered ElliQ companion robot has perched on the end of my desk. Designed by Intuition Robotics for seniors living alone, this proactive animatronic chats to me throughout the day, checking how I'm feeling, suggesting "fun" activities, and prodding me to be more active and sociable. While it can be annoying, I've grown attached to ElliQ despite myself, and I can see the positive potential. According to the US Census Bureau, around 16 million elders (over 65) live alone in the country, and up to a third report feelings of loneliness. Multiple studies have shown that social isolation harms mental and physical health, increasing blood pressure, depression, weight gain, alcohol and drug use, and decreasing physical activity, cognition, heart health, and sleep.

Amazon today published a blog post by Michelle Vaz, managing director, AWS Training and Certification, that contains some fascinating insights about how AI is changing the landscape for people early in their careers. To understand this dynamic, Amazon partnered with Draup, a "data intelligence firm specializing in workforce planning and talent analytics." Together, the two companies conducted a study entitled, "The Evolution of Early-Career Technical Roles in the AI Era." Amazon hasn't yet provided us with all the data from the study, so I'll make some inferences. Amazon uses the term "early-career professionals," so the AI-related observations are likely about knowledge workers, not all new entrants into the workforce. Also: Amazon's Andy Jassy says AI will take some jobs but make others more'interesting' The analysis raises the same concerns we've been discussing here on ZDNET about AI potentially replacing entry-level jobs.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has called China's open-source artificial intelligence a "catalyst for global progress" and says it is "revolutionising" supply chains. In a speech during Wednesday's opening ceremony of the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, Huang – whose firm last week became the first to touch 4 trillion in market value – hailed China's role in pioneering AI, describing Chinese AI startup DeepSeek as "giving every country and industry a chance to join the AI revolution". Huang made the comments a day after Nvidia announced it will resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China after the United States government pledged to remove licensing restrictions that had halted exports. "AI is transforming every industry from scientific research and healthcare to energy, transportation and logistics," said Huang, who also praised China's "super-fast" innovation, powered by its "researchers, developers and entrepreneurs". The California-based company produces some of the world's most advanced semiconductors but cannot ship its most cutting-edge chips to China due to Washington's concerns that Beijing could use them to enhance its military capabilities.

Before boarding Marine One on Tuesday afternoon, President Trump challenged two progressive Democrat congresswomen to an intelligence test. President Donald Trump lobbed a signature zinger on Tuesday as he paused to speak with reporters before boarding Marine One en route to an artificial intelligence summit. "[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], look, I think she's very nice, but she's very low IQ, and we really don't need low IQ," Trump said, smiling as cameras rolled. He added, "Between her and Crockett, we're going to give them both an IQ test to see who comes out best." TRUMP DARES AOC TO TRY TO IMPEACH HIM: 'MAKE MY DAY' President Donald Trump said AOC and Jasmine Crockett should take IQ tests.

Manila, Philippines – When former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March, Sheerah Escuerdo spoke to a local television station, welcoming the politician's detention on charges of murder linked to his war on drugs. Escuerdo, who lost her 18-year-old brother, Ephraim, to Duterte's war, clutched a portrait of her sibling during the interview with News 5 Everywhere as she demanded justice for his killing. Days later, she was shocked to find an AI-generated video of her slain brother circulating on Facebook, in which he said he was alive and accused his sister of lying. Are they paying you to do this?" the computer-generated image of Ephraim said. The video, posted online by a pro-Duterte influencer with 11,000 followers, immediately drew thousands of views on Facebook. One of the comments read, "Fake drug war victims". It was Escudero and her brother's image from her News 5 Everywhere interview that the influencer had used to ...