SHANGHAI – China's state-controlled news broadcasters have long been considered somewhat robotic in their daily recitation of pro-government propaganda and a pair of new presenters will do little to dispel that view. Calling it a "world first," the Xinhua News Agency this past week debuted a pair of virtual news anchors amid a state-directed embrace of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence. Based on the appearances of two flesh-and-blood Chinese news presenters, the computerized avatars read out text that is fed into their system, their mouths moving in tandem with the reports. Xinhua said the "AI Synthetic Anchors," one for Chinese and one for English news, were developed along with Sogou Inc., a Beijing-based creator of search engines and voice-recognition technology. China last year unveiled plans to become a world leader in AI and other high-tech fields, though it has since toned down the rhetoric amid a trade war with the United States, which has included accusations by President Donald Trump that China steals U.S. technologies.

ZHUHAI, CHINA – China is unleashing stealth drones and pilotless aircraft fitted with AK-47 rifles onto world markets, racing to catch up to U.S. technology and adding to a fleet that has already seen combat action in the Middle East. Combat drones were among the jet fighters, missiles and other military hardware shown off this past week at Airshow China, the country's biggest aerospace industry exhibition. A delta-winged stealth drone received much attention, highlighting China's growing production of sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles seeking to compete with the U.S. military's massive fleet. The CH-7 -- a charcoal-gray UAV unveiled at the air show -- is as long as a tennis court and has a 22-meter (72-feet) wingspan. It can fly at more than 800 kph (500 mph) and at an altitude of 13,000 meters (42,650 feet).

Adverse drug reactions or adverse drug events refer to unwanted or harmful reactions experienced following the administration of a medicine or combination of medicines under normal conditions of use. A clinician or patient then suspects the reaction, such as rash or a headache, to be linked to the drug. The event is reported back to the manufacturer of the medicine for investigation and be subject to scrutiny by a regulatory agency, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The practice of monitoring the effects of medical drugs after they have been licensed for use, especially in order to identify and evaluate previously unreported adverse reactions is referred to as pharmacovigilance, and monitoring is an activity incumbent upon drug manufacturers. The process is also designed to support public health programs by providing reliable, balanced information for the effective assessment of the risk-benefit profile of medicines.

NASA has spotted a gigantic new iceberg three times the size of Manhattan in Antarctica. Named B-46, it is believed to measure 66 square nautical miles (87 square miles), according to estimates from the U.S. National Ice Center. NASA's Operation IceBridge flight spotted the giant berg, which broke off from Pine Island Glacier in late October. Wednesday's flight plan took the IceBridge team over Pine Island Glacier as part of the long-running campaign to collect year-over-year measurements of sea ice, glaciers, and critical regions of Earth's ice sheets. 'As NASA's DC-8 flew its pre-determined flight pattern, the new iceberg that calved in late October came into view,' the Space Agency said.

Salts found in Martian soil could be transformed into breathable air thanks to a bacteria created in the lab by a group of students. Their genetically engineered organism can convert perchlorate - a chemical compound that covers over one per cent of Mars - into oxygen. The did so by placing a solution containing the salt into a bioreactor with the engineered bacteria. It then broke the compound down into its building blocks, chloride and oxygen, the latter of which was then harvested. NASA aims to have humans on Mars by 2030 and, if successful, a colony may be built in the future.

Sue Gordon, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, wakes up every day at 3 am, jumps on a Peloton, and reads up on all the ways the world is trying to destroy the United States. By the afternoon noon, she has usually visited the Oval Office and met with the heads of the 17 intelligence agencies to get threat reports. The self-described "chief operating officer of the intelligence community" has a lot to worry about, but the 37-year veteran is generally optimistic about America's future. Now, she says, she just needs Silicon Valley to realize that tech and government don't have to be opposed. On a recent trip to Silicon Valley, Gordon sat down with WIRED to talk about how much government needs Silicon Valley to join the fight to keep the US safe.

China believes the children are the future -- of its autonomous weapons program. According to a story published Thursday in the South China Morning Post, the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), which operates under the supervision of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, just selected 31 students under the age of 18 for a special four-year program. Its goal: to develop intelligent weapons systems -- weapons that can decide for themselves when to take a human life. More than 5,000 students reportedly applied to take part in the program, and one BIT professor involved in the screening process explained to the SCMP exactly what the school saw in the 31 students -- 27 boys and four girls -- who made the final cut. "These kids are all exceptionally bright, but being bright is not enough," said the man, who asked to remain anonymous.

National technology investment strategies are hard to define let alone pass through complicated legislative bodies, like the US Congress, even when there's a declared war that threatens a country's financial and economic competitiveness. The war for global leadership in artificial intelligence and machine learning is well underway, and the US is poised to lose perhaps the most important technology war in its history. Is the AI war well-understood? Not even close, at least not by the "leaders" who develop national strategies or by the citizens of the United States – who all need to spend some time on https://willrobotstakemyjob.com. While I searched and searched, I could not find a single political candidate in the recent US mid-term elections who discussed AI, the AI war, or how the US will likely lose the war unless a massive strategic pivot occurs immediately.

The Japanese government has decided to ban flying drones near venues for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games during the events, a government source said Friday. As part of efforts to counter possible terrorist attacks, the government aims to pass legislation that will allow police to collect and destroy drones if they are flown near designated zones without permission, the source said. The government will also consider whether the envisioned law should include U.S. military bases and Self-Defense Forces facilities as restricted areas, the source said, adding that the regulation will also cover venues of the Rugby World Cup 2019 during the event. It plans to submit a bill for relevant laws to the ordinary Diet session to be convened early next year. Japan already prohibits drone flights above such key facilities as the Prime Minister's Office and the Imperial Palace, but many sports venues are not covered.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: EV has received speaking fees from SwissRe, Novartis R&D Academy, and Google Netherlands. IGC served as a consultant for Otsuka Pharmaceuticals advising on the use of digital medicine for its Abilify MyCite product. IGC is supported by the Collaborative Research Program for Biomedical Innovation Law, which is a scientifically independent collaborative research program supported by Novo Nordisk Foundation.