The United Nations is set to host talks on the use of autonomous weapons, but those hoping for a ban on the machines dubbed “killer robots” will be disappointed, the ambassador leading the discussions said Friday. More than 100 artificial intelligence entrepreneurs led by Tesla’s Elon Musk in August urged the U.N. to enforce a global ban on fully automated weapons, echoing calls from activists who have warned the machines will put civilians at enormous risk. A U.N. disarmament grouping known as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) will …

With his career imploding over allegations of sexual misconduct, comedian Louis C.K. confessed Friday to masturbating in front of women and expressed remorse for wielding his influence “irresponsibly.” The comedian said in a statement that the harassment claims by five women detailed in a New York Times report published Thursday “are true.” “I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them,” he said. “There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for,” he wrote. “And I have to reconcile it with who I …

From Britain’s Queen Elizabeth to Formula One racing champion Lewis Hamilton — the leak of more than 14 million documents from firms involved in offshore finance, known as the Paradise Papers, has engulfed some of the world’s most famous names. The latest revelations show U2 frontman Bono used a company based in low-tax Malta to invest in a shopping mall in Lithuania. The Irish band, well known for its campaigning against poverty, has faced past criticism for its tax arrangements. There’s no suggestion that Bono acted illegally.   But campaigners …

President Donald Trump’s two-day stop in China saw the signing of $250 billion in deals between the world’s two biggest economies and the two countries aligning themselves closer in resolute opposition to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. But analysts say little new ground was broken on trade or North Korea, an issue that will continue to top President Trump’s agenda as he travels to Vietnam and attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. And the true test of the feel-good foundation forged during the meetings, analysts said, is likely to come in …

Donald Trump warned that the stock market was a “big, fat, ugly bubble” just weeks before he was elected. A year later, Wall Street remains on a milestone-shattering run that the president has been eager to tout and tweet about. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, the broadest measure of the stock market, has notched 61 record highs and climbed about 21.3 percent in the year since Trump was elected. That exceeds the S&P 500’s gain in the first-term election anniversaries of all but two presidents since World War II: …

Pacific islanders may be among the first people in the world forced to migrate as a clear result of climate change, but thorny legal obstacles stand in the way of that happening successfully, researchers warned Thursday. Addressing those now, and putting in place a regional plan to deal with migration before it picks up speed, will be key to avoiding a future emergency, they said. “I believe in preparedness rather than humanitarian crisis,” said Cosmin Corendea, a senior legal expert at the United Nations University’s Institute for Environment and Human …

The galaxy far, far away is expanding further on screen with a new trilogy of Star Wars films outside of the ongoing Skywalker saga, Walt Disney Co. said Thursday, to be overseen by Rian Johnson, the director of the franchise’s upcoming film The Last Jedi. Johnson, 43, will write and direct the first of a new Star Wars trilogy that will bring new characters and worlds not yet explored on screen, Disney said. “He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one …

Award-winning actor John Hillerman, best known as Jonathan Higgins, the sidekick to TV’s Magnum P.I., died Thursday in Houston. Hillerman was 84, and no cause of death was given. Hillerman was a stage and screen veteran when he took on the role that made him one of television’s most familiar faces and voices. Magnum P.I. starred Tom Selleck as a detective based in Hawaii. Hillerman played the caretaker of the resort out of which Magnum operated. It ran from 1980 until 1988 and earned Hillerman an Emmy as best supporting …