Members of the lab began building deep learning models in 2012 and have developed generative speech models for more than eight years, according to Unite.AI.

Dessa was trained from scratch on sounds alone, without any text or pretrained models, learning to converse purely by listening, according to Unite.AI.

Block stated that Dessa learned language from hundreds of times fewer words than large language models and trained on a single NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 system.

Block's AI research lab announced Dessa on October 23, 2026, a full-duplex speech-to-speech model trained on human conversation, according to Unite.AI.

The engineering team described Dessa as a genuine speech-to-speech architecture that derived its entire language comprehension directly from auditory interactions. Demonstrated audio samples featured informal discussions regarding cinema directors, natural responses expressing emotional warmth, and comparative tests against OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 voice pipeline.

## Technical Architecture and On-Device Execution

The developers reported that Dessa can execute entirely locally on consumer hardware, functioning on an Apple MacBook Pro equipped with an M4 Max chip. Researchers explained that traditional voice assistants flatten verbal nuances into text tokens, whereas Dessa attempts to replicate how young children acquire speech purely through hearing. The engineering group argued that contemporary speech systems remain blind to human emotional states and vocal distress, positioning Dessa as a step toward addressing safety gaps in vocal interfaces.

## Research Access and Corporate Strategy

Block Chief Executive Jack Dorsey stated that intelligence tools are transforming organizational efficiency by enabling smaller, highly leveraged engineering teams to achieve superior product outcomes.

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Daytona's published consumption pricing charges $0.0504 per hour for vCPU and $0.0162 per GiB-hour for memory, according to Agent 37.

Established in 2023 by co-founders Ivan Burazin, Goran Draganic, and Vedran Jukic, Daytona engineers secure cloud sandbox environments designed specifically for long-running artificial intelligence software agents. The funding milestone establishes Daytona as Croatia's third technology unicorn alongside earlier enterprise leaders Infobip and Rimac.

## Cloud Infrastructure for Autonomous Coding Agents

Three-year-old Daytona specializes in architectural compute environments tailored for autonomous agents, which possess operational workloads distinct from traditional ephemeral development sandboxes. Autonomous coding agents have emerged as the dominant programming paradigm across modern developer editors, terminals, and software engineering pipelines. The startup's platform provides isolated virtual runtime instances where AI tools can independently execute shell commands, compile complex codebases, and test software without compromising host environments.

Daytona operates as the only provider with Linux, Windows, macOS, and GPU sandboxes on one platform.

## Market Expansion and Enterprise Developer Adoption

Founder Ivan Burazin explained that Daytona provides each autonomous agent with dedicated virtual compute access across isolated operating system environments. The capital infusion reflects surging institutional investor interest in specialized developer infrastructure supporting next-generation autonomous software engineering assistants.

Since January, Daytona's revenue grew approximately 25× with average month-over-month net revenue retention of approximately 135%.

Daytona's Series B brought total funding to $91M, with strategic investments from Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Next, and Okta Ventures.

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In July 2021, Google added an explicit pledge to its privacy policy stating that it does not show personalized ads based on content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos, according to PPC Land.

Under the updated framework, Google added an exception allowing data from previously firewalled services to be used if individuals connect them to Google products that support personalized promotions. The change aligns with Google's rollout of Personal Intelligence, an opt-in ecosystem capability introduced in early 2026 that links personal documents and media to Gemini and AI Mode search.

Disconnecting a connected app does not necessarily erase information already collected by Google, and data stored in Search Services History may remain after disconnection, according to Android Authority.

## Integration with AI Search and Ad Targeting Boundaries

While the standalone Gemini consumer application currently displays no commercial messaging, users may encounter sponsored advertising links within AI Mode search results. Google affirmed in an official statement that connecting apps remains completely opt-in and insisted that ad delivery will not be formulated directly from private inboxes or photo libraries. Company representatives clarified to Ars Technica that automated systems are not conducting wholesale inbox scans to assemble external advertising dossiers for third-party commercial partners. External advertisers will not receive direct access to Drive documents, email text, or personally identifiable account credentials such as individual user names.

## Account Privacy Controls and Service Disconnection

Google additionally maintained that sensitive demographic attributes, including racial identity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or medical status, remain strictly prohibited from tailoring commercial ads. Subscribers seeking to prevent personal communications from informing ad placements can disable Personal Intelligence within Gemini settings or revoke connected content permissions inside Google Account privacy controls.

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Spintronics AI Semiconductors proposed investing ₹1,800 crore in two phases, according to Business Standard.

The Madhya Pradesh Semiconductor Policy provides a power tariff subsidy of ₹2 per unit for the first 10 years of operation, according to Business Standard.

The two-day inaugural gathering at the Brilliant Convention Centre drew more than 1,000 delegates including international representatives from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Sweden. State authorities issued letters of intent for industrial land allotment to five corporations planning 9,625 crore rupees in capital outlays and 4,450 direct jobs.

## Major Infrastructure and Manufacturing Allocations

CyTac RE will invest 6,415 crore rupees to establish a 50 megawatt hyperscale data centre at Ganga Malanpur in Gwalior. Una Ecosystems will build a 1.5 gigawatt-hour lithium-cell production facility at EMC-2 in Bhopal involving 2,000 crore rupees. Auriga IT Solutions plans a Global Capability Centre at Singhassa IT Park in Indore with a 500 crore rupee outlay generating 3,500 jobs. Kaynes Electronics received land at Barwai IT Park in Bhopal for a 310 crore rupee electronics assembly plant supporting 950 workers.

## Research Facilities and Advanced Corridors

A separate Centre of Excellence for Photonics and Quantum Technologies will advance quantum computing, secure communication protocols, and deep-tech materials research. The administration will prioritize semiconductor fabrication, advanced packaging, and electronics design clusters along key economic corridors.

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Bulldozing operations targeted the al-Qawasmi Tile and Ceramic Company, leveling some seven dunums of land, and tore down an auto parts shop and commercial structures, according to Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA).

Official news agency WAFA reported that Israeli forces launched bulldozing and demolition operations targeting Palestinian-owned structures in the Farsh al-Hawa area of western Hebron.

Both Palestinian shooters, who were armed with an assault rifle and handgun, were killed on site during an exchange of fire with security personnel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene and declared that armed forces would destroy and reconfigure the local neighbourhood from which the attackers originated.

## Enforced Cordons and Retaliatory Demolition Directives

Netanyahu placed full security cordons over Hebron and adjacent Halhul, restricting movement for approximately 200,000 residents across the southern West Bank urban centre. Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that military tactics tested in northern West Bank refugee centres would be deployed across targeted Hebron districts.

Defence Minister Israel Katz stated that the Jenin refugee camp model arrives in Hebron, directing the evacuation of clan neighbourhoods and dismantling of infrastructure.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed in a statement instructing security forces to impose a cordon around Hebron and prepare for a full closure of the entire West Bank, according to The National.

Netanyahu stated that Israeli forces would implement in Hebron the offensive model employed in earlier operations that leveled refugee camps in the northern West Bank.

Netanyahu announced that authorities are imposing a closure on the cities of Hebron and Halhul while planning an extensive military operation in the West Bank, according to The National.

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The four, aviation technicians serving with the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), have been missing since Sunday, when gangs attacked their armoured vehicle in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets, Port-au-Prince, and they fled as it burned. It was the first major attack since the international force began operating in Haiti, The Associated Press reported.

Security officials said the vehicle was ambushed as the men were returning to their base from a market, Reuters reported. Bukele said they were kidnapped while returning from buying food at a supermarket, according to Anadolu Agency.

## Bukele's Warning

Bukele wrote on X that "today's attack is nothing compared to what is coming if they do not release the four hostages alive", according to AP, and told the gangs not to treat his words as empty threats. He told the gang leaders that if the men were returned "alive, unharmed", then "everything will go back to the way it was before the kidnapping".

Bukele, known for his crackdown on gangs at home, also warned: "We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too." He gave no details of the operation and did not name the group holding the men.

He said the four were technicians, not combatants. "Our mission consists only of pilots and technical personnel, whose primary job is to carry out medical evacuations and save lives, not to wage war," he said.

## Haiti Calls Release a Priority

Haiti's government said on Wednesday evening that the release of the abducted soldiers was an "absolute priority" and that all necessary resources were being mobilised. It said a meeting at the prime minister's office had reviewed the operations under way and the steps needed to strengthen them, together with the gang suppression force. It was not immediately clear whether Haitian authorities had confirmation that the four men were alive, and the GSF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The force is still fighting gangs in the community where Sunday's attack took place and has told residents to stay indoors.

## A Force Below Its Planned Size

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Gangs including Chèn Méchan, Kraze Barye and 400 Mawozo hold the area; Kraze Barye is led by Vitel'Homme Innocent and 400 Mawozo by Lanmo Sanjou, both of whom face UN and US sanctions. Gangs are estimated to control 70 percent of the capital. The attack came as Haiti readies for its first general election in over a decade.

El Salvador is one of several countries, including Chad, Jamaica and Guatemala, contributing to the force, which has more than 2,000 troops in Haiti. The UN approved up to 5,550 security personnel for the mission in 2025; a year into its mandate it had reached just over a third of its planned size, Reuters reported. In early October, El Salvador passed a law extending its forces' role for a year and allowing the mission to deploy personnel "according to the mission's needs", beyond medical evacuations. The UN Security Council has extended the force's mandate through March 2027.

In recent years, gang violence has forced nearly 1.5 million Haitians from their homes. More than 5,700 people were killed or injured between January and mid-September, and more than 230 were kidnapped, according to the UN.

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The flaws, dubbed PHP2Shell, let an attacker remotely run commands on a server using outdated PHP code without a password or a legitimate account. The nonprofit PHP Foundation, which supports the volunteer-maintained language, said they were among the most severe flaws it had encountered and urged website administrators to update their code immediately. PHP's developers released patches the same day, the BBC reported.

## Rare Warning From the NSA

The US National Security Agency issued a rare public warning, advising organisations to take websites offline if they could not update them immediately. "These risks are serious enough to require immediate patching across United States Government departments and agencies," the agency said, according to the BBC. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre gave similar advice, and agencies in the EU, Singapore and Australia issued alerts.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged people to check whether their public websites ran on PHP. "If it is difficult to apply the fix patch promptly, temporarily suspending websites and similar measures can be considered an effective way to reduce risk," she wrote on X.

## Sites Taken Offline

In Germany, the federal digital ministry said it had pulled some sites as a precaution, while France's Interior Ministry switched off the websites of local administrative offices. Authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and the Czech Republic said they had shut websites to apply the patch, Al Jazeera reported.

Wikimedia, the organisation behind Wikipedia, took down a number of its systems as a precaution, the BBC reported. Edinburgh council, the BBC itself and several Scottish councils and health boards also took websites offline.

## Found With the Help of AI

The first flaw was reported on August 11 by researchers at Calif who were working with OpenAI; Alphabet-owned security firm Wiz reported the second on August 24. Wiz said the findings "rank among the most severe vulnerabilities discovered in PHP, and arguably in software history". The firm said the underlying flaws had existed for decades, but proving they could be exploited required a chain of steps "at the edge of what human researchers could practically achieve".

Disclosure had been planned for October 22, but CVE details and a proof-of-concept exploit leaked early, and the PHP Foundation brought the release forward by a day, according to The Hacker News. Amazon's threat intelligence team said it detected an attempt to exploit PHP2Shell against its MadPot honeypot service on October 17, The Hacker News reported.

## Comparisons With Heartbleed and Log4Shell

Some analysts have warned the incident could prove comparable in its implications to the 2014 Heartbleed bug, BusinessKorea reported. Dark Reading compared PHP2Shell with the Log4Shell flaw in Log4j 2 nearly five years ago, which also required the security industry to work together to patch a major flaw in a popular open-source project.

## What Website Owners and Users Can Do

Website owners are being urged to move to the latest version of PHP. More attempts to exploit the flaws are likely in the coming weeks now that technical details are public, Salil Kanhere, a cyber-security researcher at UNSW Sydney, told the BBC. He said users should watch for security advice from affected services, such as requests to change passwords, and be wary of phishing messages that exploit the publicity around the incident.

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"All 21 of our Indian crew members, along with the rest of the crew are completely safe," Sonowal wrote on X about the vessel, the M/T Al Dasma. He said the government was monitoring the situation and was in close contact with the ship's management company over the security and welfare of the crew.

## Fire on Board

The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) placed the incident about 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, Oman, on the southern side of the strait. The impact set off a fire on the tanker that was later put out, Times Kuwait reported, according to The Times of India. The vessel stayed stationary after the incident.

The origin of the projectile remained unknown, and there was no official word on damage to the ship or its cargo, The Indian Express reported.

## A Month of Attacks

The Al Dasma is the latest commercial vessel to be hit in the Gulf region. Ships in the Strait of Hormuz have been struck almost daily this month, with more than 20 attacked in October alone, Swarajya reported. Before the current conflict in the region, about 25 per cent of the world's seaborne oil exports passed through the narrow waterway.

Several recent incidents have involved Indian crews. On October 16, the crude oil tanker MT ST 3, carrying 15 Indian seafarers, was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz; Sonowal said all Indian nationals on board were safe. On October 14, a drone hit the chemical tanker YARA J, which had nine Indian seafarers on board, at Sulina Anchorage off Romania.

On October 11, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) condemned attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, citing the tanker MT PETRO DOLPHIN. That ship, with 11 Indian seafarers, was reportedly hit by a drone at Sohar Anchorage; nine crew were rescued and two remained missing. In another incident, an unidentified projectile set the Marshall Islands-flagged MT VALTHERA on fire; all 11 Indian seafarers aboard were reported safe.

## India's Position

New Delhi has described attacks on commercial shipping and merchant mariners as "legally and morally indefensible" and has stressed the need to protect seafarers and uphold freedom of navigation. The MEA has urged that strikes on merchant ships, their crews and civilian infrastructure stop at once, and has called for the "safe and unimpeded flow of maritime commerce through international waterways".

## What is confirmed and what remains unknown

As of the minister's October 22 account, all 21 Indian nationals aboard *Al Dasma* and the other crew members were safe. That statement is stronger evidence of the crew's immediate condition than unverified posts naming the attacker. UKMTO placed the reported impact about 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, Oman; regional reports said the fire was extinguished. The identity of the weapon, whoever fired it, cargo loss and any subsequent commercial salvage costs remained unconfirmed in the reviewed reporting.

The October 16 *MT ST 3* incident involved 15 Indian crew members and should not be combined with the October 21 tally. Merchant mariners and their families need incident-specific confirmation because headlines about multiple tankers can make one vessel's injuries or missing-person reports appear to apply to another. Shipping disruptions may affect energy freight and insurance even when a particular crew suffers no casualties.

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The Crime Branch issued the notices after the two were freed on Wednesday, October 21, asking them to appear at its Rajouri Garden office at noon on Thursday. The Hindu reported that a Mr. Shinde has also been summoned. The cases, over alleged trespass and disobedience of a government order, were moved from local police stations to the Crime Branch.

## Released on Bonds

A Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) declined a police request to keep the two in judicial custody for three more days, DW reported. The court then took their personal and surety bonds and placed on record their written promises to keep the peace.

SEM Ritu Raj directed Das and Ranka to furnish bonds of Rs 50,000 each until the inquiry ends, to appear on every hearing date and to abide by the conditions of their bonds, The Times of India reported. In their undertakings, the two promised not to disturb public tranquillity and not to call for protests at Jantar Mantar "till such a time that it is denotified in accordance with law". They said any future protests would stay within the constitutional framework.

In seeking the extension, police had cited a possible breach of peace and law and order. They also pointed to what they described as differences between the leaders' statements in court and their later remarks to the media.

The matter will be heard again on October 23 at 3 pm, and the court has directed both leaders and their sureties to be present. The investigating officer must file a report verifying the sureties at that hearing, according to The New Indian Express and LiveLaw.

## The Jantar Mantar Protest

The two were detained over an October 13 protest at Jantar Mantar, which Delhi Police had denotified as a protest site earlier in October. Police allege that they entered the area through private premises and broke conditions on maintaining peace. They were booked for trespass after entering the site and raising the Indian flag, DW reported.

The party's recent protests have called on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign, alleging irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that led to voters' names being deleted.

## Two proceedings, two different legal questions

The October 22 *Indian Express* report distinguishes the preventive proceedings that kept Das and Ranka in custody from the Crime Branch's investigation of alleged trespass. Police sources named CJP colleague Ajinkya Shinde as another person summoned to Rajouri Garden. The alleged trespass complaint was attributed to the Janata Dal (United), whose office adjoins the Jantar Mantar protest site. A summons is a request to attend questioning; it is not evidence that a court has found any of the three guilty.

The undertaking not to call further protests at Jantar Mantar was part of the conditions on which the two leaders were released after judicial custody. It should not be presented as a permanent ban on political expression everywhere in Delhi. A later judicial order or an official notice about the site's status could change the practical position. The investigation and the leaders' protest allegations about electoral-roll revision should be judged on their own evidence.

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Raghoo Puri, a First Secretary in India's UN mission, made the objection on Wednesday, October 21, at a session of the General Assembly's Third Committee. He was responding to Ben Saul, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, during an interactive dialogue.

## 'Read in Isolation'

Saul's July report said that in 2003 the Security Council had listed the leader of "the India-based D-Company" for association with Al-Qaeda. "Read in isolation, this line paints a very different picture from the actual reality," Puri said.

Puri said India has sought Ibrahim and his group over terror attacks since 1993, and that this appears in the UN's own narrative summary explaining why he was listed under the 1267 sanctions regime. "Not mentioning this fact is regrettable, and such incompetence on part of special mandate holders does this organisation tremendous harm," he said.

"Let me correct it for the record," Puri said. He said Ibrahim "fled India much before the 2003 listing", and that he was outside India when he was listed over his links to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

He added that, according to the UN listing, Ibrahim lives in the same country where bin Laden was found and killed, a clear reference to Pakistan. US Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in a raid in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in 2011.

## What the UN Record Says

The sanctions committee's narrative summary states that Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar was listed on 3 November 2003 for association with Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden and the Taliban. The summary adds that India wants him over the 12 March 1993 Bombay Exchange bombings, in which more than 250 people died and more than a thousand were hurt.

## Call for Accountability

Puri said India had raised in other forums its "serious concern at the unacceptable situation" of the special rapporteur issuing reports with factual inaccuracies without being held accountable for them. Such reports, he said, leave member states facing a fait accompli at a time when the UN's legitimacy is already being questioned. Special rapporteurs are not paid directly by the UN, NDTV noted.

He also pointed to "clear bias" in parts of the report and urged that "the highest standards of probity and impartiality be maintained". "It seems to have become fashionable for sponsors of terror to use human rights and the framework of counter-terrorism to justify their misdeeds," he said.

## Reply to Pakistan

Puri dismissed a statement by Pakistan's delegation as "pure propaganda made for very narrow political gains". "Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an inalienable part of India and have been so and will always remain," he said, adding that he would not dignify the Pakistani delegate's remarks with further comment.

## What was contested at the United Nations

India’s October 21 objection was delivered by First Secretary Raghoo Puri in the General Assembly’s Third Committee in response to a report by Special Rapporteur Ben Saul. The dispute concerned the phrase “India-based D-Company”, not whether United Nations sanctions materials had previously referred to Dawood Ibrahim. India argued that the geographical description obscured the fugitive's status and longstanding Indian criminal allegations. A special rapporteur's wording is part of an expert reporting process; it should not be reported as a fresh finding by the Security Council or a criminal court. Similarly, India's rejection is an official diplomatic position, not an adjudicated resolution of every disputed factual question.

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