What is Iran's Pickaxe Mountain? The United States military says it has launched another wave of strikes on Iran, while Tehran says it retaliated with missile and drone attacks against US military assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan. US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said it concluded an evening wave of strikes against Iran at 9pm ET on Wednesday (01:00 GMT on Thursday), targeting "Iranian command centres, air defence sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities" in an effort to reduce Iran's ability to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian air defences were activated over the capital, Tehran, as state media reported attacks across much of the country. Explosions were reported in Bandar Abbas and on nearby Qeshm island in the south, as well as in the southeastern coastal towns of Sirik, Chabahar and Konarak. Iranian media also reported attacks further inland in Rask, Khondab, Khorramabad and Semnan.

Uncrewed systems are the future for armed forces and the Netherlands is leading the way'to keep people out of danger zones' O n each side of the target ship, a black vessel keeps a watchful distance. Defender 1 and Defender 2 are the eyes and ears of the navy - but they have nobody onboard, and their paths are controlled by a computer system. This is the future of the Royal Netherlands Navy, according to Capt Sjoerd Feenstra, head of the expertise centre for unmanned systems. He is leading a five-week mission, off the coast of Den Helder in the north of the country, to test the limits of systems that operate without the human touch. "For the last year and a half we've been working to change our organisation," he says. "In about 10 years there will be crewed platforms surrounded by a ring of uncrewed systems operating as autonomously as possible."

A new poll shows Xavier Becerra with a hefty lead in the California governor's race. Voters also expressed strong opposition to AI data centers and nuanced views on environmental policies and affordability.

The Cabinet has adopted revised guidelines for artificial intelligence-related policies to bolster cybersecurity measures. The government has revised its guidelines for artificial intelligence-related policies, calling for constantly strengthening measures against cyberattacks in light of serious risks posed by cutting-edge AI models. The original AI policy guidelines were compiled only last December. The revision comes amid rapid technological innovation, including the launch of U.S. startup Anthropic's Claude Mythos. The revised guidelines, adopted at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, note the growing threat of cyberattacks against the backdrop of advancing AI capabilities, and call for collaborating with foreign government agencies and AI development companies to significantly strengthen the capabilities of Japan's AI Safety Institute. The guidelines also highlight the need to avoid excessive reliance on specific countries or companies for AI, and express the government's intention to develop domestic AI that addresses challenges facing Japan.

Is the war entering a new phase? Ukrainian officials say the capital city of Kyiv has endured a major Russian assault as ballistic missiles rained down on multiple districts, setting off explosions. Writing on Telegram early on Thursday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that emergency services were battling blazes across the capital after a warehouse in the Sviatoshynskyi district and a non-residential building in the Darnytskyi district were hit. He added that falling missile debris had also struck a non-residential development area in Darnytsia, triggering additional fires. Ukraine's Air Force Command later confirmed that the immediate threat was lifted after approximately one hour.

In an industrial park on the outskirts of Beijing, a humanoid arm picks up a bag of Lay's potato chips and places it neatly along a row of snacks on a shelf. Nearby, a worker films himself grabbing cushions off a sofa and folding sheets on a bed, recording videos that will be used to develop brains for robots. China is deploying more humanoids than ever before, sending thousands to logistics hubs, battery factories and other industrial locations at a faster pace than the U.S. Buoyed by support from the government and a flood of investment, startups are getting their most advanced machines out into the world in a bid to gather torrents of data that can fuel the development of smarter, more humanlike machines. President Xi Jinping is looking to the robotics industry for help beating the U.S. in a global technology race. China's manufacturing prowess and robust supply chain management position it well to reap the benefits of humanoids before its geopolitical rival. Xi is due to address the country's flagship AI conference this week for the first time, where the latest humanoids will be on display.

The Trump administration has not disclosed its cost estimates for the Iran war. President Donald Trump restarted the Iran conflict with days of missile strikes, and US intelligence officials now estimate the total military cost of the war for the Pentagon could exceed $100 billion, according to two people directly familiar with the matter. The officials were tracking the total cost of Operation Epic Fury to be in the $50 to $100 billion range at the end of May, dovetailing with confidential congressional estimates putting the costs to date at around $80 billion. The Trump administration has not disclosed its cost estimates for the Iran war. In June the White House made a request for $88 billion to cover some of the costs of the war, but even that is an undercounting, the people say.

Since WIRED reported on Meta's NameTag face recognition system, company executives have made confusing and conflicting remarks about its very existence. Does a software feature exist if its code has been deployed to the devices of millions of people but they can't use it yet? Not if you work at Meta . The company's executives have spent the last few weeks making this semantic argument about NameTag, the in-development face-recognition system that Meta built for its smart glasses . The inevitable result is confusion, but that's easy enough to clear up.

Is the war entering a new phase? Footage shows firefighters extinguishing a massive fire after Russia launched a flurry of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa early Wednesday morning. The strikes killed at least six people and wounded 20 others across the country, officials said. Pezeshkian vows Iran will defend'every inch' of its territory The history of the US and Iraq's complicated relationship

President Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin is "ready to make a deal" to end the Ukraine war, even as Russia warns Western troops enforcing any ceasefire would become military targets.