The U.S. Navy is quadrupling its Gecko Robotics contract to $300 million for AI robots that inspect warships for corrosion, aiming to boost fleet readiness amid China's naval expansion.

Is the war entering a new phase? Emergency teams are searching for 7 missing crew after two chemical tankers were attacked in the Black Sea. Fires broke out on the ships after they were hit by suspected Russian drones. Why are migrants risking their lives at sea to reach Yemen?

Is the war entering a new phase? Ship catches fire in Romania's waters amid rising attacks in the Black Sea Share Ship catches fire in Romania's waters amid rising attacks in the Black Sea on social media A ship anchored in Romania's territorial waters has caught fire and the crew has been evacuated, Romanian authorities said. The incident comes amid growing concerns over hybrid attacks in the Black Sea involving Russia. Multiple drones breached Romanian airspace on Wednesday near its border with Ukraine. On Tuesday, two ships were hit in drone attacks off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, with one of them sinking, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.

A Singapore-flagged container ship has sunk after being struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to Singaporean authorities. All 21 crew members of GFS Pride were evacuated and no injuries were reported after the attack on Tuesday, which caused damage and a fire, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said. Another Singapore-flagged container vessel, GFS Giselle, sustained hull damage after being hit by a projectile on Wednesday but was able to reach a safe anchorage with all 22 crew, it added. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a ship hit naval mines and sank while passing through what they called an unauthorised route in the Strait of Hormuz. The Guards released photos that appeared to show a plume of black smoke rising from a container vessel that was still afloat but down by the stern.

Image caption, Five crew members on the Ukrainian-registered merchant ship suffered minor injuries in Tuesday's attacks A merchant ship has sunk after drones hit two vessels off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, Prime Minister Rumen Radev has said. He indicated Russia was suspected of the attacks and that he had called in its ambassador. One of the ships went down 17 nautical miles (31km) east of Krapets and one crew member was saved, he said. The other, Ukrainian-owned vessel was hit by three drones 18 nautical miles from the town of Byala and all 15 crew were rescued, he added. The drone attacks come a week after two other commercial ships were hit by sea and aerial drones in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone.

Is the war entering a new phase? Drone attack sinks ship off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, PM says Share Drone attack sinks ship off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, PM says on social media Two ships have been hit in drone attacks off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, with one of them sinking, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said. The Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, which was sailing under a Maltese flag, was hit by three drones and damaged about 18 nautical miles (33km) off Bulgaria at about 1:30am on Tuesday (22:30 GMT on Monday), Radev said. Five crew members received medical assistance, and no one was seriously injured. He added that one crew member from the ship that sank was also rescued.

Is the war entering a new phase? Syria has called for an "independent and transparent" investigation into the sinking of a cargo ship in the Black Sea, demanding answers over the fate of the ship's 10 crew members, including nine Syrians and an Egyptian, who remain unaccounted for. The Togolese-flagged Alfa Watan, went down in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone early on Tuesday, amid a rising number of drone strikes hitting Black Sea shipping during the Russia-Ukraine war. Mazen Aloush, from the Syria's port authority asked the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Bulgarian authorities to find out why a search and rescue mission was called off, before the missing sailors were found. "Their fate is still unknown" said Aloush, adding that "the reasons that led to the suspension of search and rescue operations" had to be established.

Microsoft has opened up preorders for the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box and shared that the device will start shipping to customers in November. The company announced the desktop PC alongside the Surface Laptop Ultra in June, and like that computer we now know it'll come at a hefty premium: 6,000. The Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is specifically designed for local AI workflows and the developers and engineers who run them, Microsoft says. The PC features an austere, anodized aluminum grille on the top, with a port selection that includes two USB-C, one USB-A, Ethernet, DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.1b on the back. Inside, the Dev Box uses NVIDIA's RTX Spark N1X chip and ships with 128GB of unified memory and 2TB of storage.

Is the war entering a new phase? Bulgarian authorities have ended search operations after confirming no survivors were found following a drone strike that sank a ship off the country's coast. Drones hit two commercial vessels early on Tuesday as attacks on Black Sea shipping increase amid an intensifying Russia-Ukraine war . One caught fire, and the other sank. The search stopped late on Tuesday and would not continue, he added.

A cargo ship sank in the Black Sea off NATO member Bulgaria after a combined aerial and maritime drone attack. Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russia as search and rescue efforts continue.