Chinese EV maker XPeng has unveiled Iron, a humanoid robot designed to look and feel human. It features synthetic muscles, a humanoid spine, and bionic skin embedded with touch sensors to make interaction more natural. Iron runs on three powerful AI chips that make it think fast, and it uses a solid-state battery that’s safer and stores more energy than regular ones. XPeng plans mass production by 2026, aiming for roles in retail and hospitality before expanding to broader markets.
Pras Michel, a founding member of the Fugees, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for illegally funneling foreign money into Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. Prosecutors say Michel received over $120 million from Malaysian financier Jho Low and used straw donors to channel funds, violating U.S. election laws. “Straw donors” are people who make political donations using their own names and accounts but with money provided by someone else, usually to hide the true source of the funds. It’s illegal because it disguises who is really financing a campaign.
Convicted on 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent, Michel also tried to obstruct a Justice Department probe into Low. He plans to appeal.
An Indian Air Force fighter jet crashed during an aerial display at the Dubai Air Show, killing its pilot. The accident happened at Al Maktoum International Airport, sending a fireball and thick black smoke into the sky as crowds watched in shock. Emergency teams responded quickly, and a court of inquiry has been launched to determine the cause. Tejas is India’s indigenous light combat aircraft, built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, and this is its second known crash after a 2024 incident in Rajasthan.
Apple’s AI strategy is facing serious setbacks. Its flagship project, Apple Intelligence, launched with big promises in 2024, has been plagued by delays, fragmented rollouts, and underwhelming features. Indeed, it mostly offers basic text rewriting, emoji generation, and simple image edits, while competitors launched advanced AI assistants that handle complex tasks. Genmoji is Apple’s AI-powered feature that lets you create custom emojis from text prompts. For example, you can type “a smiling dog with sunglasses,” and it generates a unique emoji-style image.
Key upgrades to Siri – like contextual understanding and multi-app actions – are now pushed to 2026 or later, after Apple admitted the tech wasn’t ready. Critics call the early demos “vaporware,” and even Apple execs described the situation as “ugly” and “embarrassing.” Meanwhile, rivals like Google and Samsung have surged ahead, leaving Apple struggling to prove it can still innovate beyond gimmicks like Genmoji.
