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Israel's Supreme Court is expected to decide this week whether Arab parties can be barred from running in the upcoming elections. The attempt to exclude them has triggered anger and uncertainty among Arab citizens and their representatives, adding a contentious dimension to an already heated election campaign in Israel.

Ukraine is reported to be sending unmanned ground vehicles fitted with grenade launchers to attack Russian positions, replacing infantry in certain assaults. The deployment reflects Kyiv's growing reliance on robotic systems to conserve manpower and reduce casualties at the front. The development adds to ongoing discussion about how drones and ground robots are reshaping combat tactics in the war.

At the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, Niger thanked Algeria, Sweden highlighted its commitment to women's rights, and China addressed the situations in Gaza and Cuba. The remarks came during the annual general debate, where member states set out their foreign policy priorities. Niger's gratitude to Algeria points to regional diplomacy in the Sahel, while China's statements underscore its positions on the Gaza conflict and Cuba.

Researchers have published a ranking of the risks posed by increasingly capable smart systems, placing potential catastrophes such as nuclear war, bioweapons development, and loss of control over advanced AI among the most severe threats. The work compares how experts weigh these scenarios and is drawing attention to how the field prioritises safety research as systems grow more powerful.

Google has announced Project Suncatcher, an initiative to place machine learning infrastructure in space, moving AI compute beyond Earth-based data centers. The company published details on its research blog, and the announcement is drawing attention in technology circles as a bold step toward scaling AI hardware with solar power and orbital deployment.

Researchers at Graz University of Technology have shown that file notifications in Linux, Android, Windows and macOS can be exploited to spy on users. By monitoring these notifications, an attacker could infer typing behaviour and which websites a person visits. Commenters discussing the findings note that Linux appears to come off as more secure than the other systems in the comparison.

Researchers have concluded that there is no solid evidence linking daylight saving time to effects on mental health, the Guardian reports. The finding pushes back against widespread claims that the clock changes trigger depression, anxiety or other psychiatric problems, and may inform ongoing debates in several countries about whether to abolish seasonal time changes altogether.

Bob Mackie, the American fashion and costume designer famed for dressing stars such as Cher, Carol Burnett and Madonna, has died at the age of 87, according to ABC News. Mackie built a decades-long career known for glamorous sequined gowns and stage costumes, earning multiple Emmy Awards and an Oscar nomination. Tributes and remembrances of his most iconic looks are circulating widely.

The EU is introducing two mandatory labels to make it easier for consumers to understand their rights when products like washing machines break down shortly after purchase. The labels are meant to clearly distinguish statutory warranty rights from voluntary commercial guarantees, so shoppers no longer have to guess what coverage applies when goods fail within weeks of buying them.

Archaeologists in Chile have uncovered 13,000-year-old butchered animal bones, offering new evidence that humans were present in South America far earlier than once believed. The cut marks on the remains suggest early peoples hunted or scavenged there, adding to a growing body of finds that challenge the traditional timeline of when the first Americans arrived and how quickly they spread across the continent.

An Australian artificial intelligence researcher says people in Silicon Valley 'genuinely believe' their warnings about advanced AI, according to an interview reported by Politico. The comments highlight how seriously some technology leaders take the perceived risks of powerful AI systems, a debate that continues to divide researchers, companies and policymakers worldwide.

The legal dispute over the US government's classification of AI company Anthropic as a supply-chain security risk remains unresolved, but a court has sided with the government for now, ruling the designation not unlawful. The Pentagon-related case centres on whether Anthropic can be treated as a supply-chain risk, and the latest decision means the classification stands while proceedings continue.

Researchers have reported detecting a direct radio signal from a planet outside the solar system for the first time. The announcement is being widely shared as a potential milestone in the study of exoplanets, since radio emissions have previously been observed mainly from stars and other cosmic objects rather than from planets themselves. Details about which planet was involved and how the signal was confirmed have not yet been widely reported.

Ukraine's air defence monitoring reported a fresh aerial attack alert overnight, with drones and possible jet targets detected in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Cherkasy regions. One UAV was tracked in the Kyiv region, four in Chernihiv near Senkivka and Semenivka, and two UAVs or jets in Cherkasy near Katyuzhanka and Kamyanka. Such alerts have become routine as Russia continues nightly drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

The Yuelu Conference 2026 opened in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, on September 23–24, bringing together artificial intelligence companies, robotics developers, researchers and investors. The event featured an opening ceremony and ten themed "AI+" forums covering applications of AI across industries, positioning Changsha as a growing hub for China's AI and robotics sectors.

A Brookings Institution researcher argues that the current AI buildout will amount to the largest infrastructure investment bet in United States history, surpassing previous eras of massive spending on railroads, highways, and telecommunications. The claim underscores the enormous scale of capital flowing into data centers, chips, and energy capacity to support artificial intelligence development.

A researcher says OpenAI's automated agents scanned a United Nations statistics website roughly 16,500 times, raising fresh questions about the load and consent issues created by AI web crawlers. The claim highlights growing friction between AI companies collecting web data at scale and the sites whose infrastructure absorbs the traffic.

The European research project Q-VERSE started in September with the goal of building a software stack for quantum computers that supports multiple hardware platforms. The initiative, reported by Linux Magazine, aims to give Europe an independent, platform-agnostic software foundation for quantum computing, an area currently dominated by vendors tied to specific machines.