World Models Will Soon Be Inescapable. Here's What You Need to Know Moving AI from text to 3D space, world models simulate real-world physics to teach robots and autonomous cars how to navigate reality. On the prowl, you're swiping on a smartphone to catch that elusive Snorlax and grow your collection in . You, alongside hundreds of millions of other players, are enjoying a mixed-reality game built around lovable characters. What you don't realize is that these scans of your environment will one day help robots navigate obstacles and interact with objects.

Drone strike kills at least 21 and injures 40 in Sudan's Nyala Share Drone strike kills at least 21 and injures 40 in Sudan's Nyala on social media At least 21 people have been killed and 40 others were wounded in a drone strike in Nyala, Darfur, the AFP news agency reported, citing a medical source and witnesses. A Nyala resident said that the attack took place at around 8pm (18:00 GMT) on Monday at a market in the north of the city - which serves as the de facto capital of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Another Nyala resident told AFP that the market was frequented by armed men, particularly RSF fighters. The Sudanese military, which has been at war with the RSF since April 2023, regularly strikes Nyala, where the RSF has declared an administration rivalling the military-backed, internationally recognised government in Khartoum.

A drone strike near a market in Abyei has killed at least 150 people. Fighting between Sudan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has intensified in recent days, as Khartoum accuses the RSF of hiding in the disputed region near South Sudan. Trump: Ilhan Omar could be deported, slams Somalia as a's--house' Netanyahu says he discussed'eliminating' Iran's regime with Trump

Is the war entering a new phase? A Russian drone strike on a park in Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region has killed six people, including three children. The attack comes amid growing concerns over Ukraine's air defences and Donald Trump's moves to import Russian diesel. Trump: 'Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon' Could your halal pension be funding Israel's military? Residents hoisted from rooftops amid Spain's deadly flooding

Renewed fighting in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region has raised fears of a wider regional conflict. In Adigrat, a city close to the Eritrean border, residents recall recent drone strikes by Ethiopian forces against Eritrean troops. Why the US is holding secret talks with Myanmar's military ruler Why is Trump now encouraging mail-in voting?

Sudan's army says it struck RSF command centres in South Darfur, but the RSF and its allies say a crowded livestock market was hit. The UN says drone strikes are now the leading cause of civilian deaths in Sudan, as Al Jazeera's Almigdad Alruhaid reports from Khartoum. Why is Trump now encouraging mail-in voting? Paris residents tell Al Jazeera they're dismayed by protest damage'No Kings' protests spread across the US ahead of midterm elections

Is the war entering a new phase? Ukrainian drones struck the Saratov region. The regional governor reported one person was killed and several homes were damaged. Vatican confirms Pope Leo's surgery was successful Food shortages in Yemen's Taiz as Houthi siege hits supplies

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Waymos are safer than human drivers. Why are people heckling them, egging them, and smashing in their windshields? The wheel turns: when one of Waymo's autonomous vehicles is in motion, its steering wheel moves, too--twitching out the car's maneuvers from the usual position, facing the front-left seat. Generally, on American roads, this is known as the driver's seat. In a Waymo, such a designation is arbitrary. The Waymo Driver, as the company calls its autonomous-driving system--a force guided by sensors, cameras, custom maps, and machine learning--is all around. No one is allowed to sit in that front-left seat. Before I'd ridden in a Waymo, I had wondered about the wheel. What was it doing up there? One answer, a boring one, is as follows: it is fulfilling a legal mandate. Existing safety standards assume that cars have steering wheels, and, because Waymo's vehicles are regulated as cars, so do they. Besides, the company has spent much of its decade-long existence retrofitting normal cars with self-driving technology; the wheel is largely a vestigial inheritance. "We were very curious about whether people would react positively or negatively to the fact that the wheel turned," Megan Neese, Waymo's "Head of Insights," told me recently. We were sitting in her employer's San Francisco offices. Neese has been at the company since 2019, when it began offering fully driverless rides to the public; she was tasked with gauging passenger reactions. It was not hard to see how a wheel steering on its own might look spooky--the suggestion of a ghost in the machine. Yet, to Neese's surprise, riders reported that it reassured them. It seemed to convey that the car's actions were "recognizable; they're relatable; they're continuing to happen." The Driver doesn't need them.)

Waymo and two Japanese firms, Go and Nihon Kotsu, will jointly launch driverless taxi services in Tokyo in 2027. Metropolitan Police Department plans to set up next spring a section dedicated to the investigation and prevention of accidents involving autonomous driving, the force has said. High-level knowledge and skills are necessary to investigate the causes of such accidents and the Tokyo police hope to accumulate expertise and share it with police departments in other prefectures amid the spread of autonomous driving trials held across the country. The new section, to be created within the police department's traffic bureau, will be in charge of handling applications for Level 4 services -- under which a system handles all driving operations under specified conditions -- as well as investigating accidents and advocating accident prevention. Taxi-hailing app operator Go, U.S. self-driving technology firm Waymo and taxi operator Nihon Kotsu announced in September that they will jointly launch driverless taxi services in Tokyo in 2027, marking Japan's first such commercial service.