The only thing certain about the global economy is uncertainty. Thanks to political unrest, terrorist attacks, and the repercussions of Brexit, caution is the dominant mindset of investors in every market, according to the latest quarterly global report on venture capital trends published jointly by KPMG International and CB Insights. This is the fourth consecutive quarter where investors pulled back despite a total 27.4 billion invested across 1,886 deals--seven of which were in the 1 billion unicorn range. After a high at this time last year, the total number of deals declined an additional 6% from the first quarter of 2016. Although the percentage may appear incremental, startup and earlystage company growth are important to the global economy.

First responders will test the use of drones to help sick or injured people this fall in an initiative that could see the remote-controlled devices added to emergency kits nationwide. The trials in Kyushu will involve medics flying medicines, defibrillators and other medical supplies to places where airborne delivery will be faster than on land. "Drones add more options for rescuers to reach patients," said project leader Yusuke Enjoji, an official in the Saga Prefectural Government. Enjoji is CEO of the group behind the project, the Emergency Medical and Disaster Coping Automated Drones Support System Utilization Promotion Council, or Edac. Trials will involve flights at a Kyushu University campus in Fukuoka and locations in Saga.

In 2011, Bentley's new CEO decided to get into the luxury SUV market. Wolfgang Durheimer, the incoming boss, had migrated across parent company Volkswagen Group from the Porsche division. He saw what the popular Cayenne crossover had done for Porsche's bottom line. Durheimer gave the Bentley engineers a simple mandate: Make the most powerful, most luxurious and most exclusive SUV on the planet. With the 2017 Bentley Bentayga, the company's first crossover, he appears to have succeeded.

Businesses face an ever increasing challenge to protect their assets from cyber criminals. The sophistication and frequency of attacks continue to elevate as these criminals take advantage of rapidly advancing technologies. Even using the latest machine driven security systems, it is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to differentiate between a genuine employee or website visitor and a criminal seeking to breach or bring down their network and systems. Cyber security professionals are facing the prospect that they have reached a glass ceiling in terms of what humans can achieve. Does the future of cyber security defence now depend of robots?

The release of President Barack Obama's 2013 drone warfare playbook and the July 1 signing of an executive order on minimising civilian casualties has security analysts looking back at previous strikes and wondering what impact the executive order might have on future ones. Obama's 2013 policy guidance, released on July 31, after the American Civil Liberties Union sued for its release, had set "near certainty" that a "terrorist target is present" and that "non-combatants will not be injured or killed" as criteria for a strike. Q: So you don't know where you targeted him? I mean, how could you fire something out of the sky and blow something up and kill people and not know what country it's in? TONER: [laughing] I understand what - your question, Brad.

WHEN it comes to following the money, the authorities have their work cut out. Every year, criminals are thought to launder more than 1.5 trillion worldwide. Which is why Australia's financial intelligence agency is turning to AI for help. In Australia, the scale of the problem could amount to some US 4.5 billion annually. There, the task of cracking down on illegally obtained funds falls to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

Pasadena, CA - Firefighters have only their wits and five senses to rely on inside a burning building. But research developed in part by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, may change that, introducing artificial intelligence (AI) that could collect data on temperatures, gases and other danger signals and guide a team of first responders safely through the flames. AUDREY, the Assistant for Understanding Data through Reasoning, Extraction, and sYnthesis, has received the Undersecretary's Award for Collaboration from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in recognition of its joint development by JPL and DHS. It's part of the Next Generation First Responder (NGFR) program, a DHS initiative to innovate new ways to keep firefighters, police, paramedics and other first responders safe in the field through increased awareness of their surroundings and communication abilities. But the big picture is even more exciting: AUDREY can track an entire team of firefighters, sending relevant signals to individuals while helping to make recommendations for how they could work together.

"Seven hundred years after glasses were invented there are still 2.5 billion people in the world with poor vision and no access to vision correction," says Hong Kong philanthropist James Chen. Chairman of his family's Nigeria-based manufacturing company, Wahum Group, Chen is funding a contest called the Clearly Vision Prize that will award a total of 250,000 to projects that improve eyesight, especially in poor countries. Thirty-six semifinalists were announced this week (the five winners will be awarded September 15). Among the contenders: 3D printed eyeglass frames, drones that deliver medical supplies, and several smartphone-based technologies. Some of the smartphones help nonexperts test vision, and one uses artificial intelligence to "see" for blind people. The Clearly Vision semifinalists represent just a sampling of the smartphone projects fighting vision loss, a growing field that is bringing critical care to remote regions far from hospitals and doctors offices.

SIRTE, Libya Suicide bombings against Libyan forces battling to oust Islamic State from their former North African stronghold of Sirte killed at least 12 fighters and wounded about 60 there on Thursday, a hospital spokesman said.

The smart appliance manufacturer built this 199 camera around facial recognition and a personalized notification system that seeks not only to reassure you of your loved ones' safety, but to improve its ability to distinguish between real security incidents and false alarms. The Netatmo Welcome's 1080p live video is crystal clear, but it the camera has a tough time recognizing faces it should know. Just navigate to "cloud storage" in the Neatmo Welcome app settings and select the camera you want to link (if you have multiple Welcome cameras, you can only link one). From there you can adjust various settings for the videos you record to Dropbox, including the resolution (up to 1080p, though higher resolution can slow upload time) and triggers for recording videos of motion and unknown faces.