Smile to enter: China embraces facial recognition technology

Russia will try to "denigrate" Joe Biden, China wants "unpredictable" Trump out of office and Iran will use social media to spread disinformation, according the latest election threat assessment by US intelligence.

This week we begin by looking at South Korea's strategy against Covid-19. It has been widely praised as effective against the virus but is it corrosive to personal freedoms? Next we see how monks are racing to save a Buddhist temple from rising waters in Thailand. The result of failed economic planning at the cost of the local environment. Finally, we head to India where the pandemic has exacerbated the problem of aggressive monkeys in New Delhi. We will look at how innovative solutions such as facial recognition are being used to deal with the problem.

The intelligence agencies issued a joint statement saying the hacking was for the purpose of "intelligence gathering," rather than an attempt to disrupt operations. President Trump had previously placed blame on China.

Tackling insecurity: Offering intelligence reports is a major duty of police - CSO

The World Health Organization mission in Wuhan ended without finding the source of the coronavirus, prompting criticism from Washington. But experts have found new lines of inquiry, including some proposed by China.

Russia's leading food retailer group is launching a facial recognition payment system in more than fifty Moscow supermarkets, with plans to extend the technology to its entire network.

China accused the US of playing politics, while Canada showed its support of a new probe. Facebook also announced a new policy surrounding posts that suggest a lab leak was to blame.

Both right-wing and left-wing extremism flourished during the pandemic year, Germany's domestic intelligence agency said in its latest report. But the security forces have themselves come under new scrutiny.

With the help of a virtual instrument, composer Alexandros Markeas is developing an encounter with artificial intelligence, which plays notes in response to his own.

We tend to talk about artificial intelligence as if it were a thing of the future, but AI is already all around us — as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated.

A "super computer" to operate on at risk patients more safely - at the Hautepierre University Hospital in Strasbourg, artificial intelligence (AI) now assists health workers during operations to better prevent and manage the risks associated with low blood pressure.

Germany's reputation as an industrial powerhouse could be on the line if the country fails to integrate artificial intelligence technology. Succeeding will require addressing several smaller issues first.