Build Microsoft has announced the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, a second wave of updates to its "Windows as a service" operating system. The first Creators Update was released in April 2017. Why is this new release also called “Creators Update”? The reason, Microsoft told the press, is that this release is a continuation of the same concepts, rather than something radically different. There are several themes, of which the biggest is an improved cross-device experience based on what the company calls the Microsoft Graph. This term was first used in the context of Office 365, where it describes a set of APIs that let developers query data on business activities. The Graph itself is a database of people, devices, activities and the connections between them. Microsoft is now extending this concept to consumers as well as businesses. Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Windows and devices boss, says: “The Microsoft Graph is an intelligent fabric that helps connect dots between people, conversations, projects, and content within the Microsoft cloud – ensuring experiences flow seamlessly between Windows, iOS, and Android devices.” Specific features that build on this include: Pick Up Where You Left Off: A new Cortana feature that lets you continue working on a document, website or app, even when you switch devices, such as closing you PC and going out with your smartphone or tablet. Cross-device clipboard: Copy a file, link, text or image on a PC or device, and paste it on another device. Timeline: a history of your tasks, such as applications you were working in, with the ability to return to something you were working on earlier. In order to work cross-device, these features require sign-in, either to a Microsoft account (for consumers) or Azure Active Directory (for Office 365 users). It is also obvious that the data to make this work is stored in Microsoft’s cloud. At Build, Microsoft is encouraging developers to write applications that take advantage of this, using the SDK called Project Rome. Project Rome is not new, but is being integrated more deeply into the operating system. That said, developer VP Kevin Gallo says that “Apps will write the data. There's nothing we're doing that going to be secretly put into [the Microsoft Graph]. Even access to some of the features will be under the user's control. They can always opt out.”

A massive AMD internal roadmap detailing their upcoming enterprise CPU products has just leaked out by Videocardz. The roadmap reveals all of AMD’s CPUs that will be based on current and future revisions of the Zen core architecture. AMD Enterprise CPU Roadmap 2015-2019 Leaked – Features 14nm Naples With 32 Cores and 7nm Starship with 48 Cores There are a total of 9 CPU products that the roadmap mentions. It’s dated back to Q1 2016 so a lot of changes may have been made but the details are quite juicy. From 2015 to 2016, AMD has launched 3 CPU products codenamed A1100 ARM which utilized ARM Cortex-A57 cores, Merlin Falcon which used Excavator cores and then another Excavator based product, the Brown Falcon CPU. Moving on, AMD plans to launch a range of 14nm products in 2017 and 2018 based on their next-generation Zen core architecture.

The nature of the launch is still being determined, but analysts have said the test could suggest a longer range than previously tested devices. The Japanese defence minister said it flew for about 30 minutes before falling in the Sea of Japan and could be a new type of missile. Tomomi Inada said it covered a distance of about 700km (435 miles), reaching an altitude of more than 2,000km (1,245 miles) - higher than that reached by an intermediate-range missile North Korea fired in February. Experts quoted by Reuters say the altitude meant the missile was launched at a high trajectory, limiting the lateral distance it travelled. They say if it had been fired at a standard trajectory, it would have had a range of at least 4,000km. North Korea's missile programme Have North Korea's missile tests paid off? Kim Jong-un: North Korea's supreme commander The US Pacific Command said in a statement the type was being assessed but that its flight was not consistent with that of an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM], which would have the range to reach the US mainland (more than 6,000km). North Korea is believed to be developing two types of ICBM, but neither has so far been flight tested.

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If we’re chatting casually as friends, the Volkswagen T-Roc is Volkswagen's Golf SUV, or perhaps its Qashqai - but the brand won’t thank you for either description, because it wants this new model to have its own, more playful identity. The T-Roc is late to the family SUV party, of course, and that only makes VW's desire to seek a point of difference greater. Just how late it lands is emphasised by the fact it is based on the T-Roc concept car that was revealed as long ago as 2014, albeit presented in the lesser-seen (Range Rover Evoque Convertible aside) format of a convertible SUV. Crucially, however, many of the more detailed designs of that concept can be seen even on this prototype, and so too can some of its slightly zany spirit: the T-Roc is here to usher in a new era of more 'emotional' Volkswagens that tug at the heart strings slightly harder than today’s defiantly rational line-up. There’s even talk of two-tone paint schemes. Zany is also one word to explain how the car found its name: T is to link it to its bigger brothers, the Tiguan and Touareg, and Roc is a modification of the word rock, which, and I quote VW: “on the one hand refers to the off-road character of the vehicle and on the other reflects the powerful and avant-garde image of a crossover design”. Before we all wrinkle our faces in consternation, though, it’s worth a moment pondering the origins of Qashqai, Seat Ateca, Vauxhall Mokka X et al. The T-Roc sits on VW’s now-famous MQB platform, and owes more than a little nod of acknowledgement to the Audi Q2, with which it essentially shares the same underpinnings. That means the same 2.59m wheelbase, which is slightly down on the Golf despite the T-Roc's larger exterior dimensions. Such is the flipside of a more expressive exterior design, but it still leaves enough room front and rear inside to fulfil its family credentials. Inside, there are hints in our prototype that VW is also trying to break beyond its reputation for solid, logical materials and layouts. On this car, there’s a disguise in place, but insiders suggest body-coloured mouldings across the dash could be used, for instance, adding a sense of colour and fun alongside the traditional qualities for which VW is famed. If they are carried off credibly, it can surely add an extra, appealing dimension to the interior ambience. The 148bhp 1.5-litre petrol engine we sampled is straight from the VW engine pool, and is expected to be joined by familiar 1.0-litre and 2.0-litre petrol and diesel options, with four-wheel drive available as an option on bigger-engined models. Mid-spec this engine may be, but it’s plenty powerful enough to haul the T-Roc along at a decent space, and it works well with the slick-shifting seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox. On the mainly dusty, rutted roads of our test drive, it was difficult to form pin-sharp impressions of the ride or handling, but it felt likely that VW has erred towards a moderately sportier set-up than might traditionally be associated with an SUV in a bid to underline its shift towards more ‘emotional’ cars. Nor need that be a bad thing: the Ateca proves that the Volkswagen Group knows how to sit just the right side of this line. Conclusions are notoriously hard to draw from a prototype drive, but on the evidence presented there’s few doubts that the T-Roc will deserve a place on small SUV buyers’ shortlists. It's a highly credible entry into the market, albeit thanks to the more traditional VW qualities of solidity, sure-footedness and value than the new characterful direction it has tried to embark on. In time, VW might be able to make its 'emotional' side more prominent, but with the T-Roc standing alone in the line-up for now, it feels a little forced - especially when the test car is both partially disguised and so predictably decent to drive and be in.

Syria's President Bashar-al Assad says reports of a chemical attack by his forces were "100% fabrication". In an exclusive video interview with Agence France-Presse, he said "there was no order to make any attack". More than 80 people were killed in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April, and hundreds suffered symptoms consistent with a nerve agent. Witnesses said they saw warplanes attack the town but Russia says a rebel depot of chemical munitions was hit. Shocking footage showed victims - many of them children - convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Sufferers were taken to hospitals across the border in Turkey. Syria 'chemical attack': What we know Mr Assad told the AFP news agency that the Syrian government gave up its arsenal of chemical weapons in 2013, adding "even if we have them, we wouldn't use them". However, since 2013, there have been continued allegations that chemicals such as chlorine and ammonia have been used against civilians in the ongoing civil war. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using them, blaming rebel groups in some instances. Mr Assad accused the West of making up events in Khan Sheikhoun so it had an excuse to carry out missile strikes on the government's Shayrat airbase, which took place a few days after the alleged attack. "It's stage one, the play [they staged] that we saw on social network and TVs, then propaganda and then stage two, the military attack," he said, questioning the authenticity of the video footage. He also said Khan Sheikhoun, in Syria's north-western Idlib province, had no strategic value and was not currently a battle front. "This story is not convincing by any means," he told the AFP. Case against Assad's version: By Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence correspondent President Assad's defence - his flat denial that his country has used chemical weapons and that last week's incident was a fabrication concocted by al-Qaeda and Washington - does not square with the "case for the prosecution". Indeed it sits uneasily with the Russian version of events which says that a rebel warehouse was hit by a bomb from a Syrian warplane thus releasing the chemical agent. President Assad's denials must contend with the fact that samples from some of the victims were analysed in Turkey and the results indicated a Sarin-like agent was used. Then there is the detailed narrative, provided by the Americans who tracked the aircraft they say launched the attack, from its base, to the target location, and then home again. There are too the many videos that were released immediately after the attack showing the victims. Their timing and location have been verified by independent researchers. Western allies have said there is compelling evidence that the Syrian government was behind what happened in Khan Sheikhoun. UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday it was "highly likely" the Assad regime was behind the attack, saying British scientists had analysed material from the site and it was "very clear" Sarin or a Sarin-like substance was used. Turkey, which treated many of the wounded, has concluded the same thing. The US, UK and France reacted angrily on Wednesday after Russia, Syria's key ally, vetoed a draft resolution at the UN Security Council - the eighth time it has done so over the Syrian conflict. Mr Assad told the AFP that he would only allow what he called an "impartial" investigation to ensure it would not be used for "politicised purposes". But he did not give further details. The BBC's Sebastian Usher notes the Syrian leader looks greyer and more drawn than in recent interviews. The US strikes on Shayrat airbase and a reversal of what had been a growing diplomatic acceptance that Mr Assad's removal was no longer a priority may have taken its toll, our correspondent adds. The US had, until its Shayrat attack, limited its involvement in Syria to removing the so-called Islamic State (IS) from its stronghold in the city of Raqqa. The Pentagon admitted on Thursday that it accidentally killed 18 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, its ally in the fight against IS, in an airstrike on Monday, just south of the town of Tabqa, some 40km (25 miles) from Raqqa. More than 300,000 people have lost their lives and millions of people have been displaced since a peaceful uprising against Mr Assad six years ago turned into a full-scale civil war.

Africans trying to reach Europe are being sold by their captors in "slave markets" in Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says. Victims told IOM that after being detained by people smugglers or militia groups, they were taken to town squares or car parks to be sold. Migrants with skills like painting or tiling would fetch higher prices, the head of the IOM in Libya told the BBC. Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 Nato-backed ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. More on this and other African stories Hundreds of young sub-Saharan African men have been caught up in the so-called slave markets, according to the IOM report. Migrants 'forced to starve' A Senegalese migrant, who was not named to protect his identity, said that he had been sold at one such market in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, before being taken to a makeshift prison where more than 100 migrants were being held hostage. He said that migrants held at the facility were told to call their families, who would be asked for money to pay for their release, and some were beaten while on the phone to allow relatives to hear them being tortured. He described "dreadful" conditions where migrants were forced to survive on limited food supplies, with those unable to pay either killed or left to starve, the report adds. Another witness, who was able to raise the funds needed for his release after nine months, was later taken to hospital with severe malnutrition, weighing just 5.5 stone (35 kg). Women, too, were bought by private Libyan clients and brought to homes where they were forced to be sex slaves, the witness said. The IOM's chief of mission for Libya, Othman Belbeisi, told the BBC that those sold into slavery found themselves priced according to their abilities. "Apparently they don't have money and their families cannot pay the ransom, so they are being sold to get at least a minimum benefit from that," he said. "The price is definitely different depending on your qualifications, for example if you can do painting or tiles or some specialised work then the price gets higher." An IOM staff member in Niger said they confirmed the reports of auctions in Libya with several other migrants who had escaped. "They all confirmed the risks of been sold as slaves in squares or garages in Sabha, either by their drivers or by locals who recruit the migrants for daily jobs in town, often in construction. "Later, instead of paying them, [they] sell their victims to new buyers." Some migrants, mainly Nigerians, Ghanaians and Gambians are forced to work "as guards in the ransom houses or in the 'market' itself", the IOM employee added. The organisation has called the emergence of these markets "a disturbing new trend in the already dire situation for migrants in Libya". In February, the UN children's agency Unicef released a report documenting - in sometimes horrific detail - stories of slavery, violence and sexual abuse experienced by large numbers of vulnerable children travelling from Libya to Italy. The report, A Deadly Journey for Children, said that almost 26,000 children - most of them unaccompanied - crossed the Mediterranean in 2016, many of them suffering abuse at the hands of smugglers and traffickers. Tens of thousands of migrants arrived in Italy last year by sea, crossing from North Africa. But before they reach the jumping-off point in Libya, many migrants will have undertaken a perilous journey of up to six days across the Sahara in extreme temperatures.