Illustrator Matt Furie is bidding to reclaim his amphibian character after it was co-opted online as a popular meme associated with white supremacy and neo-Nazi values by members of the so-called alt-right. The lawsuit, filed with a federal court in California, seeks damages from the Alex Jones-fronted brand over a poster featuring the allegedly unauthorised image of Pepe alongside Jones, Donald Trump and a number of other prominent anti-establishment right-wing figures, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge and Roger Stone. The poster's slogan reads "MAGA", an acronym standing for President Trump's 2016 campaign slogan "Make America Great Again." Furie's lawyers allege InfoWars used the character's likeness without prior authorisation and made the poster available for purchase in its online store without permission. Originally conceived as a "peaceful frog-dude" in 2005, Furie's cartoon was first drawn on Microsoft Paint and appeared in an early online comic called Boy's Club, popularised on MySpace.

The Russian military has released footage of a terrifying new piece of weaponry as it beefs up its commitment to develop the nation's armed forces. Weapons giant Kalashnikov showed off breathtaking footage featuring a robot tank levelling a building with rockets and attacking a compound alongside a group of soldiers. The video, reportedly shot on a military range in the Moscow region, shows the Soratnik (Companion) tank blasting through walls with powerful missiles. The tank, which is the size of a small car, is reportedly capable of scouting and patrolling as well as guarding duties. It is also said to be able to deal with mines and to provide covering fire for troops, but the exact level of autonomy it has remains unclear.

Bitcoin continues to be the most prominent cryptocurrency on the market, its profile greatly raised by the surge in value it experienced over the Christmas period. That sudden increase saw its worth peak at $19,850 (£14,214) in mid-December before returning to a more stable norm around the $10,500 mark (£7,568), where it remains today. But the recent rise and rise of bitcoin and the excitement it has stirred among investors has overshadowed the quiet but steady growth of several of its key rivals. Ethereum's coin ether, for instance, has a market capitalisation of $76.5bn (£55bn) compared to bitcoin's $178bn (£128bn), according to CoinMarketCap. While still a long way behind, this is impressive given that the currency was only launched in 2015 and the fact that there are 98m ethers in circulation, compared to just 16.9m bitcoins.

Bitcoin's price has dropped by 6.15 per cent over the last 24 hours - while almost all of the alternatives to the market leading cryptocurrency are also in decline. At the time of publication, all but two of the top 50 digital currencies by market capitalisation have fallen in value since yesterday, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin is now valued at $10,526 (£7,594) as a result of the drop. Ethereum, the second most valuable digital currency, is down 7.62 per cent to $799.61 (£576.96) Bitcoin cash and litecoin, which complete the top five, are down 6.81 per cent and 7.01 per cent respectively.

Taiwanese hardware company Acer has launched a new product aimed at helping devout Buddhists say their prayers. Acer's Leap Beads, effectively smart prayer beads, help practising Buddhists count the number of times they have chanted their mantra with a chip tracking how often the mala has been rotated through their hands. One complete turn marks one mantra, with the results displayed on the user's smartphone once the chip has been synched to their device. "The intent is to help people concentrate on the mantra versus being distracted by counting the times the mantra is recited," the company said. The beads will initially only be made available for sale in Taiwan - priced at 3,888 Taiwanese dollars (£95.80) - but could be rolled out to other countries if they prove popular.

Huawei is expected to announce its 2018 flagship Android phone in a couple of weeks and it looks like the company will also debut its own virtual assistant for the Chinese market. Evidence has surfaced suggesting that Huawei will soon announce HiAssistant, the company's answer to Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. The existence of HiAssistant was first discovered by XDA-Developers, which examined the firmware files of EMUI 8.1 for the Huawei Mate 10. Apparently, HiAssistant will only run on future Huawei phones that are being powered by the company's own Kirin 970 system-on-chip (SoC). This will most likely include the Huawei P20 and P20 Plus, which are both expected to be announced in Paris on March 27.

Chinese retailer JD.com has launched an accelerator called AI Catapult, which hopes to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies. The accelerator will partner with start-ups to create and test real-world applications of their technologies at scale. The start-ups will work within various parts of JD.com's retail and logistics businesses. "JD is in a unique position to explore the potential of AI and blockchain in global commerce," said Bowen Zhou, VP of JD.com's AI platform and research division. "We are excited to work with some of the world's most innovative startups to explore ways we can scale these cutting edge technologies for the future of retail and other industries, as well."

To realize that the background check industry needs an overhaul look no further than the backlog of 700,000 background checks faced by the federal agency that handles all background checks for sensitive government positions. This backlog has essentially rendered background checks useless, as many agencies are able to give security clearances on a temporary basis before a background check is even started. Intelligo is an Israeli company trying to make background checks relevant again by using AI and machine learning to not only speed up and automate the process, but also run more thorough checks. Launching out of beta today, the company has raised $6.8M to date – a seed round of $1.1M and a Series A of $5.7M. They boast investors like Eileen Murray (Co-CEO of Bridgewater Associates) and advisors like the former director of the NSA Michael McConnell and former Managing Director of the Israel Ministry of Defense Pinhas Buchris.

WASHINGTON: Firmly believing that artificial intelligence can help end social evils like caste system and reduce inequalities in India by 2030, the supporters of B R Ambedkar plan to celebrate 127th birth anniversary of the iconic Dalit leader at the UN headquarters in New York next month with the theme "Artificial Intelligence for Humanity". The anniversary is expected to be attended by representatives and artificial intelligence (AI) experts from companies like IBM, Google, Facebook and Microsoft who will discuss how the implementation of this latest technology can be used to eliminate caste system and reduce inequality in India by 2030, the event organisers said yesterday. The event is organised by the Foundation for Human Horizon-USA, in partnership with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "AI if used properly can be main driver to reduce inequalities as it has ability to create and protect much-needed safe zone ie, the AI predication of caste violence by zipcode, or caste group can provide tools to develop preventive measures to stop caste violence similar to the western world where they are using'crime maps' or'diseases map'," said Deelip Mhaske of the Foundation for Human Horizon-USA. There is great research going on AI's use in preventing racial discrimination by IBM's "optimised pre-processing for discrimination", he said.

Japan Post Co. will conduct a trial of self-driving delivery cars on public roads in Tokyo next week, with an aim of introducing a fleet of the vehicles by 2020 to cope with driver shortages. Ahead of the trial, the company held a ceremony at its headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday and demonstrated the self-driving vehicle's capabilities on a nearby public road. Japan Post President Kunio Yokoyama said at the ceremony that the company has a "social responsibility" to offer delivery services in a sustainable manner. "The introduction of self-driving vehicles is a pressing agenda," he said. In the trial, an autonomous vehicle will depart from the company's headquarters in the central Tokyo district of Kasumigaseki and drive about 2 kilometers to a post office in the Ginza neighborhood, stopping at another post office en route.