An example of the misuse of AI in war was the US bombing of a school in Minab, Iran, in February. An example of the misuse of AI in war was the US bombing of a school in Minab, Iran, in February. Plans to fill a gap in the global governance of autonomous weapons are in jeopardy as a group of nations led by Russia and the US move to use a UN conference this month to block proposals to negotiate a legally binding set of rules. The scale of the opposition will become clear at a diplomatic retreat starting on Friday before the seventh review conference on "certain conventional weapons" in Geneva due to be attended by 128 countries from 16 to 20 November. The review conference is seen as the key moment when the world could decide whether to back a mandate to negotiate a legally binding instrument negotiated within a defined timetable.

More than five million industrial robots are now operating in factories worldwide, according to the International Federation of Robotics' newly released World Robotics 2026 report . Factories installed more than 600,000 industrial robots during 2025, an increase of 11% on the previous year. The global operational stock grew by 9%. China continued to pull away from the rest of the world. Its factories installed 354,000 robots, accounting for 59% of the global total.

Despite pressure mounting for a clear way out of the war, meaningful negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remain stalled. Here’s what each side has said regarding the status of peace talks, and how experts predict Iranian officials could use the Houthis’ disruption in the Red Sea to their benefit.

Is the war entering a new phase? Several civilians have been killed and more than 20 others wounded overnight as Russia and Ukraine continue to attack each other with waves of drones to try to shift momentum in the more than four-year-long war. Russia launched 863 drones at Ukraine over the last 24 hours, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Sunday. Russian forces shot down 389 Ukrainian drones during the night, the country's Ministry of Defence said, including over Tatarstan, other Russian regions, and the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Russia carried out two drone attacks near Ukraine's border with NATO member Poland, Polish and Ukrainian officials said.

Is the war entering a new phase? United States envoys are expected to arrive in Kyiv and Moscow over the weekend, in an apparent bid to revive negotiations aimed at ending Russia's war on Ukraine . Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Thursday that US negotiators were set for meetings in both capitals "in the coming days" and that Ukraine is ready for substantive, high-level negotiations. President Donald Trump's envoys, who have not previously visited Kyiv, were most recently in the Russian capital in January. However, Washington's mediation efforts have all but halted since the US and Israel launched war on Iran in March.

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Is the war entering a new phase? Russia says ready for'new ideas' on Ukraine war that match Putin's goals Moscow is ready to listen to new ideas for ending the war in Ukraine, provided they align with President Vladimir Putin's position, a senior Russian diplomat has said. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview published by News.ru on Friday that Russia is open to proposals that are in line with "realities on the ground". Moscow previously welcomed the United States' demonstrating "an understanding of Russia's position", but Washington has been distracted from mediation efforts amid its war on Iran . "The Russian Federation is ready to listen to any reasonable proposals and ideas that are in line with the goals set by the Russian president and meet the'realities on the ground'," Ryabkov said.

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During negotiations on Wednesday, employees voiced frustrations with what they consider an unwillingness among senior DeepMind executives to engage meaningfully with the prospect of unionization. Negotiations between Google DeepMind and its London-based employees over the possibility of unionization stumbled this week, after initial talks left union representatives feeling they had wasted their time, WIRED has learned. In May, DeepMind employees asked Google to recognize the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives. The company later denied that request, but agreed to participate in negotiations arbitrated by a third-party body. An initial meeting on Wednesday was attended by union officers, DeepMind employees involved in the unionization push, the third-party arbitrator, and DeepMind HR representatives.