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President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal and then told Axios he expects new talks with Tehran to take place this week. The back-to-back moves signal that negotiations between Washington and Iran are continuing despite the setback, with officials watching whether diplomacy can ease tensions in the region.

North Korea is testing new swarm attack tactics that combine drones and missiles, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The development suggests Pyongyang is working on coordinated multi-weapon strikes designed to overwhelm missile defenses, adding to concerns about its expanding arsenal of drones and ballistic missiles.

Virginia Democrats have asked the US Supreme Court to override a state court decision that rejected their congressional redistricting plan. The dispute centres on who has final authority over the state's electoral maps, with Democrats arguing the state ruling should be reviewed by the nation's highest court. The case adds to ongoing national battles over redistricting ahead of future elections.

India's boxing campaign at the 2026 Asian Games is drawing attention, with guides laying out the full schedule, scores, results and medal winners for the Indian squad. The Asian Games, to be hosted in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, are a key stop on the road toward Olympic qualification, and fans are tracking how Indian boxers fare across weight categories as bouts progress and medals are decided.

Reports are circulating that a new mobile network provider could be about to enter the German market, with the name 'Simsalasim' appearing in connection with the venture. Details remain scarce, and telecom outlet Teltarif has raised the question of whether a new operator is really on the way. German consumers are watching for confirmation, as the market is dominated by a few large carriers and a new entrant could mean cheaper tariffs.

The UK government is considering a levy on broadband subscriptions as a way to fund the BBC, potentially replacing or supplementing the traditional television licence fee. The proposal would mean every household with an internet connection contributes to the broadcaster's financing, reflecting a shift toward digital viewing habits. The idea is likely to spark debate over whether non-BBC viewers should be required to pay for it.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the Trump administration is eliminating a $1.8 billion fund described as the 'Anti-Weaponization Fund'. The fund had been tied to Justice Department efforts to prevent the politicization of federal law enforcement. The cancellation signals a broader restructuring of Justice Department priorities under the administration, and the move is drawing attention to how the department will handle weaponization concerns going forward.

Security researcher Matthew Green examines whether sandboxing techniques are enough to contain rogue AI agents on his Cryptography Engineering blog. The piece questions whether current isolation methods, long used to contain malicious code, still hold up when the software being contained can reason, plan and act autonomously. The argument has drawn attention from developers and security engineers weighing how much trust to place in agent systems.

A University of Chicago Booth School of Business economist argues that taxing artificial intelligence, rather than letting it replace workers tax-free, could slow job displacement and protect employment. The idea revives debates over robot taxes, with supporters saying it would give workers time to adjust and critics warning it could slow innovation and productivity growth.

An unboxing and first look at the Huawei Pura X View has drawn massive engagement, with the technology-focused review passing one million likes. The clip showcases the device's design and features firsthand, and the framing 'Is this REAL?' suggests surprise at its unusual form factor. Viewers are debating the phone's distinctive look and whether it represents a genuine direction for foldable and dual-screen devices.

Tech reviewers have unboxed Xiaomi's upcoming 18 Fold smartphone, giving a first hands-on look at its design and hinge. The clip's headline suggests the foldable, however impressive, is not seen as an immediate threat to Apple's iPhone lineup. Xiaomi has not detailed full specifications or launch timing in the footage, leaving viewers speculating about pricing and availability.

Former Premier League defender James Collins, 43, is set to make his boxing debut with Misfits Boxing, stepping in to replace Tom Skinner in a fight against Big Stacks. The ex-West Ham and Aston Villa centre-back's crossover move into influencer-style boxing is drawing attention from football and fight fans alike.

NPR's Up First news roundup is highlighting three developing stories: rising Black unemployment in the United States, a proposal to tax California's billionaires, and a set of new cases before the US Supreme Court. The items together point to renewed attention on the economy, wealth inequality, and the courts as major storylines in American politics this week.

A widely tagged message promoting international music on FM radio for dancing, dinner and relaxation is circulating, accompanied by a long list of country names from Pakistan and Palestine to Panama and Papua New Guinea. The post carries no further news content, and no specific artist, station or event is identified.

An email sent by a Lexington brewery owner is prompting questions about whether Kentucky's campaign finance laws were followed, according to reporting from Kentucky outlets including the Kentucky Lantern and Hoptown Chronicle. The reports have drawn attention to how state rules apply to communications between business owners and political campaigns, but details of the email's contents and any potential violation have not been made fully clear.

The University of North Alabama men's golf team is traveling to Lexington to compete in the Cullan Brown Collegiate tournament. The event, named in memory of the late collegiate golfer Cullan Brown, brings together college teams for a competitive round of fall-season golf. The school's athletics department announced the trip ahead of the tournament.

Early coverage is circulating of the iPhone 18 Pro in a burgundy color option, based on an unboxing-style look at the device. The color appears to be a new finish for Apple's next flagship phone. Few verified details are available beyond the color claim, and Apple has not confirmed anything, so specifics about the handset remain limited.

A new paper on arXiv proposes a way to fix the credit assignment problem in GRPO, a reinforcement learning method used for training language models, without evaluating every step of a response. GRPO currently assigns the same reward to all tokens in a completion, making it hard to identify which parts of an output earned the reward. The proposed approach aims to improve this at lower computational cost.

The fibermaxxing trend, which encourages people to load up on as much dietary fiber as possible, is facing pushback from nutrition experts who point out that quantity alone doesn't equal quality. According to Fortune, simply maximizing fiber intake overlooks the type of fiber consumed and whether it actually fits an individual's digestive needs. Commenters are debating whether the viral trend promotes genuinely healthy habits or encourages excessive consumption without nuance.

AT&T and Apple have reportedly taken steps to address an issue affecting the iPhone 18 Pro Max, according to MacRumors. The report offers no further detail on what the problem is or how the two companies are resolving it, but it suggests coordination between the carrier and Apple on a fix for affected users.