The U.S. military has carried out 32 airstrikes this year against the Somalia-based al-Shabab and a small but growing presence of fighters linked to the Islamic State group. The Trump administration early this year approved expanded military operations against extremists in the Horn of Africa nation, as the Trump administration puts counterterrorism at the top of its foreign policy agenda for Africa.

Investment in unmanned aerial systems is soaring, but challenges remain. Here's what stakeholders need to know about the evolving landscape. Most people think of a drone, also known as an unmanned aerial system (UAS), as a sophisticated military technology or a hobbyist's tool for capturing images of foliage, sporting events, and cityscapes. But businesses across industries realize that drones have multiple commercial applications, some of which go beyond basic surveillance, photography, or videos, and they are already using them to transform daily work in some industries. Insurance companies are using drones to inspect damaged assets, for instance, and farmers are sending them to monitor crops and collect soil data.

Police in the Netherlands may have been a tad too hasty in testing a squadron of drone-catching eagles. NOS has learned that Dutch law enforcement officials are retiring the birds (they're going to new homes) and winding down the program. Not surprisingly, the decision is a response to both actual demand as well as the performance of the birds themselves. To start, there just isn't much need for the eagles -- they were support to thwart terrorists and potential accidents, but there thankfully hasn't been much of a problem. And, like you might guess, even birds trained from youth to intercept drones won't always do what they're told.

The pictures paint Los Angeles as a hellscape, a land of glowing red fire-fronts racing across hills, whipped along by screaming winds. Plumes of dense gray smoke fill the skies. As of Friday afternoon, Southern California was battling blazes in Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Diego counties, which had destroyed more than 500 structures, and forced over 200,000 people to flee. The most harrowing images are of the firefighters marching into this madness, clad in their heavy yellow protective gear, lugging hoses, doing their best to protect people and property from the unpredictable flames. When fires grow this large, resources are stretched thin.

That'll be the robot with my pizza. Such a scenario probably seems a bit far-fetched but, in the US and UK, delivery firms like JustEat and DoorDash are already experimenting using small robots to deliver groceries and meals. Currently these systems need human chaperones to monitor the robot's progress, jumping in if it gets into trouble. But now Kiwi, a company based at the University of California, Berkeley, is using machine learning to teach its delivery robots how to cross the road safely, without any human intervention. It could be an important step in making these robots more autonomous, something that is vital if they are ever going to be delivering our dinners at scale.

The New Jersey bill would make operating a drone under the influence of alcohol a disorderly persons offense, which carries a sentence of up to six months in prison, a $1,000 fine or both. It also would make using a drone to hunt wildlife and endanger people or property a similar offense.

Companies that are testing delivery robots hit a stumbling block in San Francisco this week. The city's Board of Supervisors voted to require permits for any autonomous delivery devices, restricting them to specific (and less-crowded) areas of the city. Additionally, these robots aren't allowed to make actual deliveries -- they are only allowed to be used for testing purposes. This restriction doesn't apply to delivery drones; the San Francisco Board of Supervisors only has jurisdiction over the sidewalks. Complaints were first brought by a group called Walk San Francisco, which campaigns for the safety of pedestrians.

"With only five awards guaranteed, we can't reveal our recipe for the secret sauce," said Chris Walach, senior director at the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems. The institute acts as a clearinghouse for unmanned aerial system-related business opportunities and works with Anderson's office.

The Chinese military, Thursday, strongly condemned and opposed the trespassing of an Indian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) into Chinese airspace. India, on the same day, claimed that the UAV "lost control" and entered into Chinese territory through the Sikkim (a state in India) border. According to a report by the Hindustan Times, an Indian news website, India replied to the incident, Thursday, claiming that the UAV was on a "regular training mission," lost control and crossed the border area from Sikkim. A statement by the Indian Defense Ministry said: "An Indian UAV which was on a regular training mission inside the Indian territory lost contact with the ground control due to some technical problem and crossed over the LAC [Line of Actual Control] in the Sikkim Sector. As per standard protocol, the Indian border security personnel immediately alerted their Chinese counterparts to locate the UAV."

BEIJING (Reuters) - China expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with India on Thursday after the recent crash of an Indian drone in what the Chinese military said was Chinese territory, an incident that could cause further friction along the two countries' disputed border.