Is the war entering a new phase? Russia and Ukraine have traded drone attacks on each other's infrastructure, causing injuries on both sides. Moscow said on Thursday that it struck a postal logistics hub, a power substation and a cargo ship, while Ukrainian drones set off fires in an industrial zone in the Russian city of Ryazan, about 200km (125 miles) southeast of the capital. It said it also struck a 330-kilovolt substation in the Dnipropetrovsk region and a dry cargo ship carrying military equipment in the Black Sea, 52km (32 miles) southwest of the port of Odesa. Ukrainian officials did not immediately confirm the strikes on the postal terminal or the vessel.

Pedestrians walk across a street next to an electronic sign board showing the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong on Thursday. What started out as a year of hope for China's stock market has turned into one of disillusion for its 250 million retail investors. Kicking off 2026, millions across the country plowed money into the market, betting that China's drive for self-sufficiency in artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics would produce a new generation of winners. Optimism turned feverish as China joined a global tech rally. Initial public offerings were subscribed thousands of times over as national champions came into the market, while spectacular debuts and runaway rallies minted fortunes overnight. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

China blocks SoftBank's $5.4 billion ABB robot unit takeover SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has listed a plan to buy ABB's robotics unit as a key part of his ambition to play a larger role in the artificial intelligence buildout. China has blocked the sale of ABB's robotics unit to SoftBank Group, dealing a blow to the Japanese investment firm's plans to expand into physical AI. A Chinese government agency blocked the $5.4 billion deal, ABB said in an emailed statement. The takeover was widely expected to bolster SoftBank's revenue and profit while it awaits a boost from OpenAI's public debut. SoftBank's shares were down around 7% in Tokyo on Thursday. A company spokesperson declined to comment.

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Is the war entering a new phase? Ukrainian strikes kill three in Russia's Belgorod region Share Ukrainian strikes kill three in Russia's Belgorod region on social media Ukrainian drone strikes have killed three people in Russia's Belgorod region, while attacks cut power to multiple cities in Ukraine and parts of Russian-occupied Crimea, officials reported. Local Russian authorities in Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, announced the three deaths on Wednesday. In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia's overnight attacks damaged power generation facilities and substations in nine regions leaving emergency outages in many cities. Ukraine has repeatedly said Moscow is targeting its energy grid as temperatures drop before winter.

PCWorld reports that Google's Chrome 157 update addresses 213 security vulnerabilities, including seven critical flaws and 77 high-risk issues, with external researchers rewarded $31,000 for discoveries. Common bugs involved use-after-free errors and V8 engine data leaks, making this update essential for user protection. Chrome users should update immediately via the Help or Settings menu to stay secure against these significant risks. Google just released Chrome 157.0.8103.38/39

PCWorld reports that Microsoft's November Windows 11 update is expected to bring several useful improvements, including Adaptive Hibernate for better laptop battery management and faster Edge browser launches via Accelerated App Launch. The update also appears to revamp privacy controls, offering clearer camera, microphone, and location permissions for users. Preview updates are currently available for early testing, with the full rollout focused on performance, accessibility, and usability enhancements. Microsoft is working on and testing several Windows 11 changes that will be introduced as part of the November Patch Tuesday update. One of the new features is Accelerated App Launch, a performance feature that's designed to make the Edge browser launch faster.

AIhub coffee corner: Are humanoids the future of embodied AI? This month we ask whether humanoids are the future of robotics. How has the technology evolved recently, and what can we expect in the years to come? Joining the conversation this time are: Joydeep Biswas (University of Texas at Austin), Sanmay Das (Virginia Tech), Rina Dechter (University of California, Irvine), Ioannis Erripis (AIhub), Sabine Hauert (University of Bristol), Ella Scallan (AIhub), and Marija Slavkovik (University of Bergen). There have been huge advancements in humanoid robots over the past couple of years. Today's topic is particularly timely, as RoboCup 2026 recently took place. I thought it would be interesting to start with an overview of recent developments at RoboCup. This all started snowballing a couple of years ago, and we suddenly started to see this huge inflection on the capabilities. New humanoid robots were showing up at RoboCup that didn't fall down as much. Suddenly we were able to deploy robots without humans following them around. I want to highlight that this is not just one key technical innovation, it required the confluence of a wide number of things: much better hardware, significant advances in algorithms, and advances in how we train and learn. Once upon a time, humanoid robots required classical control. However, most modern humanoid robots are using learned controllers for walking.

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