A Russian attack killed three people in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhia region on Sunday, Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a major fire at an oil depot in Sochi in southern Russia, the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said on Sunday. The fire was extinguished hours later after 120 firefighters were deployed, officials said. Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, briefly halted flights at Sochi's airport during the fire. Ukraine's military says it used drones to target several sites inside Russia, including refineries, an airfield and an electronics plant.

Drones could soon be forced to have electronic number plates so they can be tracked by police and security teams as they fly through the skies. The plans are part of new regulations being drawn up by the Government that would allow a drone's speed, location, height, take-off point to be tracked - as well as the operator's location. To collect the information, remote ID technology will be installed in the drones, working in a similar way to the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system used on cars, vans and lorries. The move comes amid growing concern that the UK's drone registration scheme is not being enforced properly, as well as fears that drones could be used by terrorists to cause serious harm or economic damage. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, anyone with a drone weighing more than 250g needs to pass a test and get a flyer ID from the authority.

On a congested sidewalk next to a busy mall in Shenzhen, a 20-something woman uses a smartphone app to order a milk tea on Meituan, a major food delivery company. In under ten minutes, the pearl-white drink arrives, not on the back of one of the city's ubiquitous delivery bikes, but descending from the cloudy heavens, in a cardboard box on the back of a drone, into a small roadside kiosk. The only thing the scene is missing is a choir of angels. Over the past two years, Meituan, one of China's largest internet companies, has flown 19,000 meals to 8,000 customers across Shenzhen, a city with close to 20 million people. The pilot program is available to just seven neighborhoods, each with a three-kilometer stretch, and only from a select number of merchants.

Amazon is continuing to'secretly' test the capability of its Air Prime delivery drones at their proving ground in the UK countryside. Engineers in high vis jackets were spotted yesterday flying drones on wires from a giant metal gantry in a field near Cambridge, England. It is unclear why the drones are being flown attached to cables -- but could perhaps help to determine the drone's positions relative to the crane as they land. Cameras and sensors have also been added to the metal frame to carry out tests on the drones and check they can navigate and land correctly. The company first began secretly flying its drones in a field near Cambridge three years ago, in July 2016, after the UK's Civil Aviation Authority lifted the previous strict drone flying restrictions.

Pilots can't spot drones as they approach a runway, warns a shock new study. They fail to catch sight of the flying gadgets 70 per cent of the time - even when they are in their airspace, according to the findings. And they almost never identify the machines if they are hovering motionless above the ground. The disturbing findings uncover a'real and present danger' to safety, warn US aviation experts. Study co author Dr Ryan Wallace, of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the United States, said: 'Dangerous close encounters between aircraft and drones are becoming an increasingly common problem.

Earlier this month the thermal imagery manufacturer FLIR bought the UAV developer Aeryon Labs for $200 million, beating their previous record in publicly disclosed drone investments of $134M. This has been yet another signal that even though the drone industry suffered some hard hits in 2018, the period of consolidation, larger investments and serious R&D advances is ahead. In fact, if one were to look at merely the investment figures for 2018, it wouldn't even be that easy to tell that the drone industry struggled. Records were set, partnerships formed, and accelerators continued to support exceptional start-ups. A total of $702 million was invested into the drone industry in 2018 (up from $625M in 2017), $483 million of which was funnelled into the top 20 drone deals.

The artificial intelligence technology could reclaim 20 per cent of lost capacity caused by low cloud and reduced visibility from the control tower. At Heathrow's air traffic control tower, NATS have developed a digital tower laboratory which combines ultra HD 4K cameras with AI and machine learning technology to help to boost the capacity of the UK's busiest airport. Heathrow's 87-metre tall control tower is the highest in the UK, but its height can also mean it disappears into low cloud, even when the runways below are clear. In those conditions, where the controllers have to rely on radar to know if an arriving aircraft has left the runway, extra time is given between each landing to ensure its safety. The result is a 20 per cent loss of landing capacity, which creates delays for passengers and knock-on disruption for the rest of the operation.

Ultra high-definition 4K cameras, AI and machine learning technology installed at Heathrow airport could cut flight delays during bad weather by up tp 20 per cent. Technology installed at the west London airport's control tower will help air traffic controllers (ATCs) track aircraft when visibility is reduced. AI is learning to interpret the images and track aircraft, flagging when aircraft have safely left the runway and speeding up subsequent arrivals. Officials say the technology will be particularly useful at night, as the highly sensitive cameras will let controllers to see the airfield as if it was dusk rather than complete darkness. Heathrow has the highest airport control tower in the UK at 285 feet (87 metres), but this means it can be surrounded by low cloud even when the runways are clear.

Dronemaker DJI has warned that some of its unmanned aerial vehicles are suddenly falling out of the sky mid-flight. The company says there have been a'small number' of reports surrounding its Matrice 200 series drones, where a power issue is causing them to crash mid-flight. However, the warning has prompted UK police to ground some of their drones. DJI says there have been a'small number' of reports surrounding its Matrice 200 series drones (pictured), where a power issue is causing them to crash mid-flight The United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority issued a safety notice saying that some 200 model drones lost power mid-flight and dropped straight down to the ground. In one case, a drone experienced an'in-flight issue' and landed on the roof of a commercial building.

A £10 million innovation fund has been unveiled to'lay the groundwork' for a future of flying cars and ethical robot lawyers. Business secretary Greg Clark has today (5 October) announced the 15 winning bidders for the government's Regulators' Pioneer Fund. The cash will be given to UK regulators to help drive forward innovation in the public sector and help it seize long-term opportunities like the growth of AI and the future of mobility. A £700,000 grant has been given to the Solicitors Regulation Authority to help the development of AI legal services for small businesses – dubbed'robolawyers'. The SRA's chief executive, Paul Philip, said AI services could widen access to legal services.