Aircraft Lands Unannounced in SA, France moves to Stop Libra, and California to Pass Historic Gig Economy Bill

Africa

Plane makes unannounced landing at South Africa’s OR Tambo Airport

A private light aircraft made an unannounced landing at OR Tambo, South Africa’s busiest airport, ENCA has reported. The landing occurred at a time while other aircraft were queuing for take-off and was confirmed by the Air Traffic Navigation Services at the airport. The pilot said “he was dropping off a friend who needed to catch a flight,” the report added. Aviation experts have called for strict sanctions against the pilot and owner of the aircraft. “To enter controlled airspace, you’ve got to have permission, you have to have clearance,” Captain Karl Jensen of Experimental Aircraft Association said. OR Tambo will investigate whether the pilot had permission and whether he has previous offences.

Nigeria, FBI clamp down on cybercrime

A coordinated effort between the FBI and local anti-fraud authorities led to the arrest of 281 fraudsters, 167 of whom were Nigerians. The BBC report mentions how the FBI-led investigation used phishing tools to lure scammers into wiring money into bank accounts, and then tracing those accounts to their respective owners. Dubbed Operation Rewired, the effort led to the arrest of 167 Nigerian scammers known popularly as Yahoo Boys. Arrests in 10 countries with other local security forces led the FBI to seize almost $3.7m from the criminals. Based on evidence gathered, the FBI hopes to recover about $118m in stolen money. Operation Rewired targeted Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya in Africa, as well as other countries like UK, USA, Malaysia, Turkey, France, Japan, and Italy.

The Americas

Apple sheds light on triple-camera iPhone

Apple has revealed specs for both iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro at an event in California, Reuters has reported. iPhone 11 will have two rear cameras, which will include an ultra wide-angle lens. It will also be embedded with next generation A13 microchips. At $699, the iPhone 11 will come cheaper than the previous year’s version. Meanwhile, iPhone 11 Pro will sport three rear cameras which will include, ultra-wide, wide angle, and telephoto. The Pro will come with a $999 price, and allows users to make videos with both rear and front cameras. Both phones are available for order this Friday, Apple said at the event in California. Sales are projected to top 200 million units in the next year. In addition, buyers will have a year’s free streaming of Apple TV+.

Facebook bans self-harm content

Facebook says it will no longer allow content that depict self-harm across its platform, Reuters has reported. It says such content will no longer be available in the Explore section of its photo-sharing app, Instagram. According to Reuters, Facebook is employing at least five external vendors to review content and also has a team of moderators that scour the platform for live suicide attempts and violent acts. Facebook, as well as Twitter and Google, offer helpline numbers to persons who make enquiries involving the term “suicide”. More than 8 million people are believed to die every year through suicides, according to a World Health Organisation report.

California passes gig economy bill

California has passed a landmark bill to protect gig economy workers, a report by BBC has confirmed. The bill, known as Assembly Bill 5, will affect how companies like Lyft and Uber interact with and pay their drivers. Assembly Bill 5 rules that such tech companies should consider their workers as employees once the employees are always told what to do. Meanwhile, both Uber and Lyft have proposed a referendum to allow the populace to take a decision on the matter. “We are fully prepared to take this issue to the voters of California to preserve the freedom and access drivers and riders want and need,” Lyft said in a statement. It has been suggested by experts that the bill could increase costs for these tech giants by up to 30%.

Asia

Jack Ma quits Alibaba

Jack Ma has officially left his post at Alibaba after 20 years at the company he founded. Ma made his last appearance as head of the e-commerce company at an event held for employees. This is in fulfillment of Jack Ma’s promise to hand over the reins of the e-commerce giant a year ago, Reuters reported. “After tonight, I will start a new life. I do believe the world is good, there are so many opportunities, and I love excitement so much, which is why I will retire early,” Jack Ma said at the event held in an 80,000 capacity stadium. Alibaba started as a small company in a shared apartment. Today, it’s worth $460 billion and employs over 100,000 people. Jack Ma has officially handed over to CEO Daniel Zhang.

Huawei offers to sell 5G technology

Huawei has offered to sell its 5G know-how to a western company in a bid to ease concerns about its security, BBC has reported. Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder, said “[Huawei is] open to sharing our 5G technologies and techniques with US companies, so that they can build up their own 5G industry.” The intention, according to Zhengfei’s statement, is to create “a balanced situation between China, the US, and Europe.” While experts considered it a generous offer, Prof Steve Tsang of SOAS University of London said thinks not many firms would be willing to take up the offer. “But it’s difficult to see Nokia or Ericsson being interested in buying it. And it’s also difficult to see how an American company would be able to reassure the Trump administration that it’s absolutely top notch American technology. And if they can’t do that, why would they want to spend tens of billions of US dollars on something that will quickly become out-of-date.” Huawei has been blacklisted by the Trump administration over concerns that the company has close ties with Beijing.

Cashier arrested for stealing credit card details of 1,300 customers

A cashier in Tokyo has been arrested for stealing credit card details of 1,300 store customers, CNN has reported. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police announced that the cashier used his ‘photographic memory’ to perpetrate those acts. A notebook filled with credit card details was found by the police in the apartment of the accused. The suspect, who worked in a Koto City shopping mall, has been in custody for the past six days, and could be held for up to 20 days before being formally charged.

Europe

France to block Facebook’s Libra

France has said it will block the development of Facebook’s digital currency, Libra, as the currency could jeopardize monetary sovereignty of governments, the BBC has reported. Facebook announced its decision to deploy its own digital currency back in July. Since then, governments and politicians have raised concerns about its effect on national economies given how pervasive the social media giant is. France’s position was stated by Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who said, “This eventual privatization of money contains risks of abuse of dominant position, risks to sovereignty and risks for consumers and for companies.” With a potential user population topping 2 billion, a breakdown in the underlying systems could cause disruptions of seismic proportions, the minister suggested. Despite his stance on Libra, Le Maire revealed he’d had talks with executives of the European Central Bank about a “public digital currency” under the auspices of international financial institutions.

Google to pay €1bn to end French tax probe

Google has agreed to pay a €1bn settlement to end a probe into alleged tax breaches, BBC has confirmed. This includes a $500m fine and a €465m in unpaid taxes to French authorities. The tax probe began with a raid of Google’s Paris office in 2016 after the company was said to owe about €1.6bn in unpaid taxes. Google, whose headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland, is said to pay very little taxes in many EU countries. This settlement brings an end to the long-running investigation and would give Google a clean slate for the coming tax year.

UK government questioned over handling of personal data

The Information Commissioner’s Office has questioned the UK government over its collection and handling of personal data on the gov.uk website, BBC has reported. This comes after leaked documents showed how the prime minister gave orders for the website to be used for collecting “targeted and personalized information”. According to leaked papers, the Cabinet Office had been instructed to use the website as a “platform to allow targeted and personalized information to be gathered, analysed and fed back actively to support decision making” as Brexit loomed. While government defended its intention of making public services accessible to the citizenry, Big Brother Watch, a privacy rights group questioned the justification for such form of sustained personal tracking. The Commissioner’s Office said, “We have contacted government regarding the collection of personal data on Gov.uk in order to fully understand its approach to compliance with data protection law and whether any further action is necessary.” Gov.uk brings together all public services onto one platform, giving people the opportunity to pay for passports, renew taxes, and access other public services.