We'll take a look back at some of the big stories from earlier this week, plus key updates like NASA's tips for viewing a solar eclipse. Getting the weekend started early.DC security robot says everything is fine, throws itself into pool Don't read too much into this, but a security robot face-planted into an indoor fountain inside of a Washington, DC office building. Important information.NASA doesn't want you to go blind during the solar eclipse Please, for the love of god (and your eyesight), do not try to make your own eclipse glasses. Buy a pair, and make sure they're less than three years old with lenses that are in good shape. The much-celebrated full solar eclipse is just one month away for those in the continental United States, and NASA really does not want you to go blind when it finally happens.

US Navy officers are currently testing the world's first drone-killing laser capable of blasting targets with 30kW of power. The $40 million (£30 million) super laser moves at the speed of light and is'more precise than a bullet', according to naval officers. Live-tests of the new super laser have now begun in the Persian Gulf, and officials have predicted that it will be used in combat by 2020. While laser weapons have been a staple in science fiction films for decades, the US military is inching closer to making these a reality. US Navy officers are currently testing the world's first drone-killing laser capable of blasting targets with 30kW of power (pictured) The LaWS, which stands for Laser Weapons System, is currently being tested on board the USS Ponce amphibious transport ship.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has authorized the sale of unarmed surveillance drones to India, the manufacturer said Friday, as the two nations' leaders prepare for their first face-to-face meeting. India initiated its request to buy 22 Guardian MQ-9B unmanned aircraft for maritime surveillance last year. The deal is estimated to be worth about $2 billion. The offer is still subject to congressional approval. The green light from the administration marks a further deepening in defense ties before India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. Modi's two-day visit to Washington, which starts Sunday, takes place amid uncertainty over the relationship because of differences on trade and other issues.

After receiving more than 18,300 applications, NASA has finally announced its new class of astronauts – some of whom could move on to deep-space missions aboard the Orion spacecraft. The space agency introduced 12 men and women today on stage at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, during an event that was attended by Vice President Mike Pence. Vice President Pence wished'Godspeed' to the new class, and revealed the Trump administration will be reopening the National Space Council, with Pence as a chair, in efforts to'ensure that America will never again lose our lead in space exploration and space innovation technology.' The lineup includes: Kayla Barron, Zena Cardon, Raja Chari, Matthew Dominick, Bob Hines, Dr Warren'Woody' Hoburg, Jonny Kim, Robb Kulin, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara, Dr Frank Rubio, Jessica Watkins The chosen few will undergo two years of training, after which they will be assigned to various missions, including research on the International Space Station, launches aboard commercial spacecraft, and even deep-space exploration. After brief introductions from Johnson Center Director Ellen Ochoa and the showing of a video from current astronauts welcoming the newcomers, Flight Operations Director Brian Kelly introduced the new candidates one by one, in alphabetical order. The lineup includes: Kayla Barron, Zena Cardon, Raja Chari, Matthew Dominick, Bob Hines, Dr Warren'Woody' Hoburg, Jonny Kim, Robb Kulin, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara, Dr Frank Rubio, Jessica Watkins.

It all started at Baledogle, the old Soviet airport 70 miles northwest of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, where the U.S. runs a deeply clandestine drone operation with around 30 to 40 American personnel. While shrouded in secrecy, Baledogle has reportedly grown over the years into a key point for training Somali commandos and, early last month, for launching a joint strike against al-Shabab. The radical Islamist group grew out of the splintered factions of Sharia-based courts that filled the vacuum of authority after a U.S.-led coalition withdrew from the country in the early 90s. Today, al-Shabab sees itself as the preeminent terror force in Somalia with global ambitions. "These folks are honing their skills in a local conflict that is part of a global war they are waging against the United States," said Katherine Zimmerman, an expert on Al Qaeda at the American Enterprise Institute. Al-Shabab regularly attacks foreigners, including aid workers and Somalis, as it wages an insurgent fight against the U.S.-leaning government.

On January 22nd, two days after President Trump was inaugurated, he received a memo from his new Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, recommending that the United States launch a military strike in Yemen. In a forty-year career, Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general and a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, had cultivated a reputation for being both deeply thoughtful and extremely aggressive. By law and by custom, the position of Defense Secretary is reserved for civilians, but Mattis was still a marine at heart. He had been out of the military for only three years (the rule is seven), and his appointment required Congress to pass a waiver. For the first time in his professional life, he was going to the Pentagon in a suit and tie. Mattis urged Trump to launch the raid swiftly: the operation, which was aimed at one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in Yemen, required a moonless night, and the window for action was approaching. Under previous Administrations, such attacks entailed ...

Next time you drag a document across your desktop and put it in a folder, spare a thought for acid. Organising your files might not seem like a psychedelic experience now, but in 1968, when Douglas Engelbart first demonstrated a futuristic world of windows, hypertext links and video conferencing to a rapt audience in San Francisco, they must have thought they were tripping. Especially because he was summoning this dark magic onto a big screen using a strange rounded controller on the end of a wire, which he called his "mouse". Like many California tech visionaries of the time, Engelbart was an enthusiastic advocate for the mind-expanding benefits of LSD. As head of the Augmented Human Intellect Research Center at the Stanford Research Institute, he and his team would drop acid under test conditions in the hope of inspiring new breakthroughs. His own technological epiphanies while tripping seem to have been limited: in one session, after staring at a blank wall in fascination for hours, he came up with the "tinkle toy", a potty-training aid in the form of a miniature water wheel that would spin and tinkle when peed on.

On this cheerful Tuesday morning, Angela Merkel is at peace with herself and her country. She is standing in a factory loft in central Berlin and listening to Rami Rihawi, a refugee from Syria, who, in his blue suit and only slightly accented German, looks as though he has just jumped out of a glossy brochure on successful integration. After fleeing his homeland to Germany, Rihawi attended a school for computer experts, the site of Merkel's visit. He then received an internship at steel retailer Klöckner before being offered a fulltime job at the company. "We were extremely happy that Rami accepted our job offer," says Klöckner CEO Gisbert Rühl, who is standing proudly next to Rihawi.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis (R) greets an airman as he boards a U.S. Air Force C-17 for a day trip to a U.S. military base in Djibouti from Doha, Qatar April 23, 2017. DJIBOUTI -- U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday visited Djibouti to bolster ties with the tiny and impoverished African country that is home to an important base for U.S. counterterrorism forces, including drones. Mattis, the first Trump administration official to visit Djibouti, planned to meet with President Ismail Omar Guelleh and greet U.S. and French troops. He was accompanied by Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command. The U.S. operates drone aircraft from Djibouti for surveillance and combat missions against al-Qaida-affiliated extremists in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.

Growth is shifting, disruption is accelerating, and societal tensions are rising. Confronting these dynamics will help you craft a better strategy, and forge a brighter future. "The trend is your friend." It's the oldest adage in investing, and it applies to corporate performance, too. We've found through our work on the empirics of strategy that capturing tailwinds created by industry and geographic trends is a pivotal contributor to business results: a company benefiting from such tailwinds is four to eight times more likely to rise to the top of the economic-profit performance charts than one that is facing headwinds. It's easy, however, to lose sight of long-term trends amid short-term gyrations, and there are moments when the nature and direction of those trends become less clear. Today, for example, technology is delivering astounding advances, and more people are healthy, reading, and entering the global middle class than at any period in human history. At the same time, the post–Cold War narrative of progress fueled by competitive markets, globalization, and innovation has lost some luster. Those contradictions are showing up in politics, and the long-term trends underlying them are reshaping the business environment.