A test version of the NHS s coronavirus contact-tracing app has been published to Apple and Google s app stores. Council staff and healthcare workers on the Isle of Wight will be invited to install it on Tuesday, ahead of a wider roll-out on the island on Thursday. Project chiefs have said their so-called "centralised" approach gives them advantages over a rival scheme advocated by the US tech giants and some privacy experts. But fresh concerns have been raised. The Information Commissioner s Office has declared that "as a general rule, a decentralised approach" would better follow its principle that organisations should minimise the amount of personal data they collect. The House of Commons Human Rights Select Committee also discussed fears about plans to extend the app to record location data. "There is an inherent risk that if you create a system that can be added to incrementally, you could do so in a way that is very privacy invasive," cautioned law professor Orla Lynskey. But NHSX - the health service s digital innovation unit - has stressed that: use of the app will be voluntary the only personal data stored by the app at the start will be the first part of the user s postcode additional location data will only be recorded if users agree to a further opt-in request "Please download the app to protect the NHS and save lives," Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged Isle of Wight residents. "By downloading the app, you re protecting your own health, you re protecting the health of your loved ones, and the health of the community." Wireless signals The NHS Covid-19 app is intended to supplement medical tests and contact-tracing interviews carried out by humans, in order to prevent a resurgence of Covid-19 when lockdown measures are eased. It works by using Bluetooth signals to detect when two people s smartphones are close to each other. If one person later registers themselves as being infected, an alert can be sent to others judged to be at high risk of contagion. This might be based on the fact they were exposed to the same person for a long period of time or that there had been multiple instances of them being in the vicinity of different people. The trial on the Isle of Wight will help NHSX test how well the system works in practice, as well as judge how willing a population is to install and use the software. It follows a smaller experiment on an RAF base. Although the app is live, it is effectively hidden on the iOS and Android marketplaces, and residents will need to follow a set of instructions to install it. While in theory there is nothing to prevent the details being shared and used by others elsewhere, NHSX hopes this will not happen as it could confuse the feedback it receives. Ahead of the trial, NHSX chief Matthew Gould acknowledged that there would "inevitably be unintended consequences" and that "if we think there is a better way of doing what we need to do, we won t hesitate to change". But he added that if citizens "want to carry on saving lives, protecting the NHS and get the country back on its feet, then downloading the app is one way they can do that". More data NHSX s app will send back details of the logged Bluetooth "handshakes" to a UK-based computer server to do the contact matching, rather carrying out the process on the handsets themselves. Apple, Google and hundreds of privacy advocates have raised concerns that this risks hackers or even the state itself being able to re-identify anonymised users, and thus learn details about their social circles. But NHSX has consulted ethicists and GCHQ s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the matter, and believes safeguards are in place to minimise the risk of this happening. Furthermore, it believes any such concerns are outweighed by the benefits of adopting a centralised approach. It says a centralised app will let it: spot geographical hotspots where the disease is spreading work out how to optimise the app s algorithms to make its risk-model as accurate as possible, which in turn should help it decide who needs to be told to self-isolate or request a test gain fresh insights into how the virus spreads, such as the degree to which transmission becomes less likely the more time passes since first symptoms NHSX believes another major benefit is that its app can make use of people self-diagnosing themselves before they obtain test results. This would only be possible, Mr Gould explained, because NHSX could spot "anomalous patterns of activity" indicating that people were lying to the app for malicious reasons. But the DPT3 group - which promotes the decentralised approach - believes this claim is misleading. "I have not seen any evidence that this would do anything but spot very large-scale and quite clumsy attacks," explained Prof Michael Veale. "The only way to make sure that people can be held to account for submitting false reports is to identify them [which takes you down] a slippery slope." Another criticism of NHSX s approach is that it puts the UK at odds with Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and a growing list of other nations, which are pursuing decentralised apps. The fear is that UK citizens may face tougher restrictions on international travel if its system is not interoperable with others. Mr Gould said that NHSX was "talking to a range of countries [to] make sure that systems can talk to each other," adding that France and Japan were among others developing centralised apps. But Prof Veale warned that any attempt to try to join up the two systems risked "the worst of both worlds". "I don t think it s just a mater of political will. It would be a matter of sacrificing the privacy-by-design within both systems." The Isle of Wight s Green Party - which has nine locally-elected councillors - has also expressed its doubts. "The Isle of Wight has a significantly older and more vulnerable population [and] the island s one hospital could be overwhelmed if... people feel they do no need to stick to lockdown measures due to the rolling out of this app," it said. But the government s coordinator for testing said the island was "well-equipped" to cope. "It s quite a large population and there is a benefit in the fact that travel on and off the island is relatively restricted - the ferries are there, but they re running relatively infrequently," added Public Health England s Prof John Newton. "So it is an ideal place to look at the epidemiology and see the impact."

NASA and SpaceX said Friday they were pressing ahead with plans to launch astronauts to space from US soil for the first time in nearly a decade later on this month, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, both veterans of the Space Shuttle program that was shuttered in 2011, will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 27. Should the mission succeed, the US will have achieved its goal of no longer having to buy seats on Russian Soyuz rockets to give its astronauts rides to the International Space Station (ISS). It is also an important stage in NASA s new economic model: the space agency has spent billions on contracts with both SpaceX and Boeing to develop spaceships that will each have to make six round trips to the ISS. The model is supposed to save taxpayers from financial black holes of past programs, as well as some still to come — notably the giant Space Launch System rocket that is supposed to take NASA back to the Moon but is plagued by cost overrun and scheduling delays. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters that the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule will be only the fifth class of US spacecraft to take humans into orbit, after the storied Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. “If you look globally, this will be the ninth time in history when we put humans on a brand new spacecraft,” said Bridenstine. “We re going to do it here in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. I m going to tell you this is a high priority mission for the United States of America,” he added. Behnken and Hurley, who have been training for the “Demo-2” mission for years, will dock with the International Space Station (ISS) and remain there for between one to four months, depending on when the next mission takes place, said NASA s Steve Stich. Crew Dragon is able to remain in orbit for around four months (119 days). Hurley, who was the pilot on the last Space Shuttle mission, admitted it was “disappointing” that the launch won t be a public affair, with crowds discouraged from gathering at Cape Canaveral to witness the spectacle. “We won t have the luxury of our family and friends being there at Kennedy to watch the launch but it s obviously, the right thing to do in the current environment,” he said. – Win for SpaceX – The mission is a major milestone for SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk, who also leads and founded Tesla. His firm, which was started in 2002, has now overtaken aerospace behemoth Boeing, which failed in the uncrewed demonstration mission of its Starliner spacecraft last year and will have to start over. SpaceX, which has received billions of dollars from NASA since the late 2000s, has been supplying cargo to the ISS since 2012, and has established itself as the leader in the private space sector thanks to its reusable rocket, the Falcon 9. “I ll feel a little relief when they re in orbit, I ll feel more relief when they get to the station and then obviously, I will start sleeping again when they re back safely on the planet Earth,” said Gwynne Shotwell, the company s chief operating officer. The pandemic has, naturally, impacted the program, but Shotwell said all precautions were being taken to protect the astronauts. “We are ensuring that only essential personnel are near them. They re wearing masks and gloves. We re cleaning the training facility twice daily. “I think we re really doing a great job to ensure that we are not impacting the safety or the health of the astronauts lives.” Half of SpaceX s engineers have been teleworking, and on the day of the launch, NASA personnel in the mission control room will be spaced six feet (two meters) apart. Takeoff is scheduled for 4:42 pm (2042 GMT) on May 27, with space station docking scheduled about 19 hours later, on May 28.

Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Anthony S. Fauci said on Wednesday that the anti-viral drug remdesivir has demonstrated clear results in keeping coronavirus patients condition from deteriorating, and in reducing recovery time. He added that this matter shows that remdesivir — which is produced by the US pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences and has previously been used in the treatment of Ebola — could be used to treat the novel coronavirus COVID-19, offering hope that it will be possible to put and end to the danger of the pandemic. “Data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery,” Fauci said in statement released on Wednesday. “Preliminary results indicate that patients who received remdesivir had a 31 percent faster time to recovery than those who received placebo. Specifically, the median time to recovery was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received placebo. Results also suggested a survival benefit, with a mortality rate of 8.0 percent for the group receiving remdesivir versus 11.6 percent for the placebo group,” the report went on to say. Remdesivir has provided a glimpse of hope in recent days after preliminary trials demonstrated its success in helping patients recover from coronavirus. Meanwhile, the New England Journal of Medicine published results for remdesivir trials conducted with 53 patients with advanced and difficult stages of infection. According to the report, doctors noticed that clinical indicators improved for 36 out of 53 patients. In contrast, eight cases did not witness positive changes, while seven of them died. Doctors were able to take 17 out of 30 patients off of a ventilator. The patient mortality rate in the trial stood at 13 percent after using remdesivir. Side effects, meanwhile, included diarrhea, rash, renal impairment and low blood pressure. There are, however, significant limitations to the conclusions that can be drawn from this trial, as there was no randomized control group that could allow comparison between patients who took placebo and those who were given the drug.

Spotify has reached 130 million paid subscribers, despite initial concerns over how the Covid-19 crisis could affect listening habits. The music-streaming platform says it gained six million subscribers in the first quarter of 2020. It said the figures fell into the higher end of what had been predicted before the coronavirus outbreak. But analysts have warned Spotify s quarterly results may not be as positive as the company suggests. Spotify said a double-digit rise in quarterly revenue had helped offset a decline in ad sales, which contributed less than 10% of its overall revenue. “Despite all the turbulence around the world, we hit pretty much all the metrics,” chief executive Daniel Ek told Reuters. The platform had begun to see a fall in user numbers in February among countries hit hardest by the virus, including Spain and Italy, he said. But there had been a "meaningful recovery" over the past month. Active users The company said monthly active users had risen 31% in the quarter. But Midia Research analyst Mark Mulligan told BBC News: "Checking an app once a month is not active usage. "So daily active users and weekly active users are where scrutiny needs applying. "Spotify says that the ratio of daily active users relative to monthly active users was strong in the quarter." "However, strong does not mean up - and the fact it was reported as higher than 12 months ago but with no reference to last quarter suggests strong may not be that useful an adjective here." Radio listening Mr Mulligan also noted 28% of consumers in the US and 25% in the UK had been using their usual commute listening time now for other activities. "It is after all possible to have falling streams but a growing user base, ie more people signing up but using the service less," he added. Last month, Global, which owns Captial FM and talk station LBC, said online radio listening had jumped 15% since the UK s lockdown began. "The figures indicate that the public is turning to radio in times of crisis," a Global spokeswoman said at the time.

As the coronavirus outbreak spreads across the nation, hand-washing has become more crucial than ever. With rubbing alcohol now a more common part of households across Egypt, some wonder which is more effective: washing your hands with soap and water or alcohol? The General Director of the General Department for Infection Control Ehab Attia recommends soap and water first and foremost, as it is the most efficient way to kill harmful bacteria. He recommends rubbing alcohol be used when outside home, but also warns that excessive alcohol use can kill beneficial bacteria and increase the chance of infections. The Sugar and Integrated Industries Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned Food Industries Holding Company (FIHC), announced late March that it would pump thousands of “al-Chabrawichi” and “555” colognes to fill a deficit of rubbing alcohol products in the Egyptian market. As demand for rubbing alcohol rises across Egypt due to the coronavirus outbreak, supplies have fallen short to meet increased consumer needs. The spreading coronavirus epidemic has led to an increased need for rubbing alcohol across Egypt to help protect against the disease, which has created a black market offering unknown packages as supplies fail to meet increased demands. Pharmacist Zainab Radwan explained that alcohols come in different percentages: 40, 70 and 100 percent, with 70 percent the ideal for its ability to kill bacteria, viruses and proper sterilization.

Visits to film-piracy sites in the UK are up 43% since before lockdown measures came into effect, piracy-monitoring company Muso says. The "unprecedented gains" are reflected in other countries across the world, the company s data suggests. The largest increase was seen in Italy, one of the first countries to go into lockdown, where it surged 66%. But while film and software piracy have risen, pirated TV numbers have dropped because of a lack of live sport. In the UK, for example, Muso s data suggests pirated television has fallen by nearly 5%, which includes a fall of more than 50% in live sports streams. The data was compiled by comparing visits to different piracy sites in the last seven days of February - before widespread lockdown measures began - with the same period at the end of March. Muso s chief executive, Andy Chatterly, said piracy consumption trends "are closely linked" to similar boosts in official, paid-for content. "So, just as Netflix has seen large subscriber gains, we have seen a significant spike in visits to film piracy sites," he said. Software piracy is also up, the company says - by about 29% in both the UK and the United States and more than 41% in Italy. Rise of comic book piracy a real problem Porn troll lawyer jailed for 14 years Muso says it has the world s largest piracy dataset, tracking illicit streaming, web downloads and torrents on more than 19,000 websites so media companies and rights owners can "see the bigger picture around how their content is being consumed". And Ernesto van der Sar, editor of piracy news site TorrentFreak, said Muso s figures "match what we would expect". "We have been following the effects of the pandemic closely and in many countries there s a sharp increase coinciding with the various lockdown measures," he said. The decline in sports streaming has also led some unlicensed television streaming services to offer to a wider range of content, according to TorrentFreak.

In a normal year, the process of reviewing a new iPhone might start with a flashy press event followed some days later by a carefully-staged unboxing while a professional camera rolls on a perfectly composed reviewer. But this time, it started with a virtual presentation and ended with me stepping out my front door with gloves, Clorox wipes and hair that hadn t been brushed since who knows when to anxiously disinfect a package from Apple. All the glamor of a typical iPhone launch was gone. And yet, once opened, the device itself -- the new, lower-cost iPhone SE -- felt like a throwback to a simpler time when consumers stood in long lines on the street for a new gadget rather than toilet paper. The SE device, which began shipping to customers on Friday and comes in white, black and red, takes us back to 2017, when Apple (AAPL) launched the iPhone 8. On the surface you could easily mistake the SE for that three-year-old model with its design, home button and bezel frame. Under the hood, Apple has stuffed the computing smarts of its flagship 6.1-inch iPhone 11 into the SE s 4.7-inch body, making it arguably the most powerful budget device on the market. But it s something else -- something harder to quantify with the specs you find on a typical product page -- that makes this device feel like it was made for exactly the moment we now find ourselves in, intentionally or not. Starting at $399, it s by far the most affordable new iPhone at a time when many households may struggle to justify the four-figure price tags of Apple s flagship smartphones. More than 26 million people are out of work in the US alone and many others may worry about joining those ranks. With its smaller screen and the return of features like a Touch ID button, it s immediately familiar when practically everything else in our lives is very much not. And even some of the features that Apple forfeits in the SE feel oddly prescient and appropriate. After all, what good is it to default to relying on facial recognition to unlock a device when so many of us now must cover our faces daily with masks? What you really need in 2020 is a device that lets you video chat and email, and doesn t break when your toddler throws it on the ground. When we emerge from quarantine, however, we ll need something more. The good news is the SE is more than just a device that s nearly half the price of the $699 iPhone 11; it works nearly as well. The specs you ll care about whenever the pandemic ends This is Apple s second-generation iPhone SE. The original, which sold for $399 when it was introduced four years ago, packed the internals of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6S Plus into the 4-inch body of the iPhone 5, serving as an alternative for people who didn t want a bigger device or the price tag that comes with it. Now it s back, and so is the home button and Touch ID over the newer option to unlock through facial recognition. It s hard to shake the habit of swiping up to close out of apps like you would on newer models, but there s also something nostalgic about pressing a physical button again. The same is true of the smaller size screen, though it can take some getting used to for those who ve turned to larger devices in recent years. The display choice is striking too, with less pixel density than what s on the iPhone 11 and bezels around the frame that take up a good bit of screen real estate. Articles, 4K videos and games once again compete for space with the black perimeter intact, making the experience a bit less immersive. The iPhone SE only has one rear camera lens compared to the two you ll find on the back of the iPhone 11 (an extra for landscape shots), and the three on the iPhone 11 Pro (another for zoom effects). But coupled with the new processor, the iPhone SE can do more than you d think. Portrait mode on the selfie camera is especially notable, considering the front camera system touts just one lens. Pictures are crisp, vibrant and can easily be adjusted with lighting tools, depth-of-field control and image stabilization. What s noticeably lacking, however, is Night Mode and slow-motion selfies -- features that are hardly dealbreakers and would go mostly unused right now anyway. Concerts are now held in rock stars living rooms, rather than low-lit venues, and there s only so much you can do creatively with a "slofie" from the confines of your couch. Meanwhile, the SE s battery life gets you solid usage through the end of the day, although how much longevity you need from it now when a charger is always nearby isn t as critical as you would on a long commute home. It does feature wireless charging; something you won t find on most budget devices. In many ways, the $399 model is a steal for what you get, but as always the price ticks up if you want more than the default 64GB of storage. It costs $449 for 128GB and $549 for 256GB, the latter of which is still $150 less than the starting iPhone 11 model. It s also important to keep in mind the pandemic will likely have a significant impact on Apple s product plans for the year. In the fall, the company is widely rumored to be launching four iPhone 12 models, but some analysts suspect it could delay the launch of the much-anticipated 5G iPhone until consumer appetite returns. Considering that device will likely cost well into the mid-$1000s, it may be long past September before people feel comfortable spending that much on a gadget. The iPhone SE may not be for everyone, but its back-to-basics approach is everything we need right now to meet our needs during the quarantine and whatever comes after.

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk said the company was "fixing" the brightness of his company s satellites. Stargazers around the world and including many Britons have witnessed unusual constellations made up of the low earth orbit spacecraft. SpaceX has been launching large batches of satellites as part of its Starlink project to improve global internet coverage. The most recent launch took place on Wednesday. Responding to a question about the brightness of the Starlink satellites on Twitter, Mr Musk said it was due to the angle of the satellites solar panels and the company was "fixing it now". A fix could make them less visible from Earth. SpaceX s Starlink project aims to eventually create a network of 12,000 satellites that beam broadband internet access back to Earth. Many of the satellites that are visible now were sent up in March but their current orbital position has made them easier to see over the past few days. These satellites are also particularly bright because of their size and the proximity to Earth. Large satellites are usually sent into higher orbit. Low orbit satellites are usually smaller. Starlink satellites also have wide flat panels, which reflect light. SpaceX is working on a "sunshade" that will reduce reflection of satellites sent in future launches. According to astronomers, the visibility of the satellites now is less of a problem for them than it will be as the constellation grows and becomes operational. Currently, the spacecraft are in a parked orbit, but over the next few months, the craft will use on-board engines to move slighter further from the Earth and rotate their solar panels towards the Sun. That will make them less visible to the naked eye but could mean they cause light pollution for astronomers trying to take pictures of the farther reaches of space. "Astronomers cameras are designed to take pictures of really faint thing and bright light could ruin data," explained Dr Jonathan McDowell an astronomer at the Centre for Astrophysics, a research centre at Harvard University. "I applaud the fact that [SpaceX] has really been trying to find ways to make them less bright," he said. But Dr McDowell added that there is another problem with the launch of so many new low orbit satellites - increased traffic. The growing number of low orbit craft increases the possibility of crashes between objects which could damage machines or send materials falling back to earth. SpaceX launches have continued despite Covid-19 lockdown across the United States, where SpaceX is based. Wednesday s launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida was the fourth for Starlink this year and the seventh time it has sent a large batch of the spacecraft into orbit.

Epic Games has released Fortnite on Google s Play app store after a long-running dispute with the tech giant. The title had previously only been available to Android users outside of the marketplace. It means Google will get a cut of in-game purchases. Google introduced opt-in security measures which block apps distributed via other means in March. Epic said the move pushed it to release the game on Google s platform. Experts suggest the move will benefit players. Fortnite is one of the world s most popular video games, attracting millions of players and viewers. As a "free-to-play game", its creators make money by selling dance moves, "skins" to change the look of the player s character, and access to pre-release game modes. Apple and Google both take a 30% cut of transactions made within apps distributed via their online stores - a fee that Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney had previously described as "disproportionate". In the case of Apple s mobile iOS platform, Epic had no option but to agree, as there is no other easy way to let users install software. But it had held out against Google until now. "Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage through technical and business measures such as scary, repetitive security pop-ups for downloaded and updated software, restrictive manufacturer and carrier agreements and dealings," said Epic Games. "New efforts such as Google Play Protect outright block software obtained outside the Google Play store. Because of this, we ve launched Fortnite for Android on the Google Play Store." "Epic has bitten the bullet and released Fortnite on Google Play because there remains a partially untapped audience on Android, especially in markets where smartphone adoption is still increasing," said Piers Harding-Rolls, games research director at Ampere Analysis. "Also, the user experience of downloading and updating the game will improve through Google s first-party services." He added that the game had already been downloaded over 50,000 times on the Play Store since its release on Tuesday. Epic announced last week that it had delayed the release of its third season of Fortnite until June. It has not explained why, but there has been speculation it could be caused by delays caused by the firm s staff having to work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

France is pressing Apple to let its forthcoming coronavirus contract-tracing app work in the background on iPhones without building in the privacy measures the US company wants. The country s digital minister confirmed the request in an interview given to Bloomberg. France s system would let it glean more information about participating smartphone owners than Apple and its partner Google want to allow. Privacy experts view it as a test case. "Apple has no reason to agree to this demand and it would open the door to many other requests from other countries and entities," Prof Olivier Blazy from the country s University of Limoges, told BBC News. "As a Frenchman, I think it would be useful to avoid being dependent on the Google-Apple solution but I think it s strange that the government strategy relies on trying to convince Apple to do something that is against its interest, with no incentive to do so." Apple and Google announced on 10 April they were working together to provide a software building-block - known as an application programming interface (API) - that will let authorised Covid-19 contact-tracing apps work more efficiently. Contact-tracing apps work by logging every time two or more users are close to each other for a substantial period of time. If one device owner is subsequently diagnosed as being likely to have the virus, an alert can be sent to those they could have infected, who might be asked to self-isolate. By using such an app in conjunction with other measures, it would in theory be possible to end wider lockdowns and still suppress the disease, so long as enough people take part. Apple and Google s method relies on using Bluetooth signals to detect matches. But they have deliberately designed it so neither they nor the apps creators can see who has been given a warning. The companies have said this is to guarantee "strong protections around user privacy", which in turn should encourage adoption. By contrast, Inria - the French institute developing its StopCovid app - has developed a system of its own, called Robert (robust and privacy-preserving proximity tracing protocol). It published details about it on Sunday on the code-sharing site Github. Why are there doubts over contact-tracing apps? NHS contact-tracing app to target 80% of smartphone users UK confirms plan for its own contact tracing app And although the French government has promised adoption of the app will be voluntary and involve anonymised data, the document reveals there would be ways to "re-identify users or to infer their contact graphs" if desired. "It s a misnomer to call it a privacy-preserving protocol," said University of Oxford computer scientist Prof Max van Kleek, who prefers the Apple-Google design. "It does preserve privacy between users but not between the user and the government. "And that leads to the risk that the government later repurposes the system to make sure that people obey a quarantine or other kinds of things the state might want to know." The problem for Inria - and other countries developing their own contact-tracing apps - is Apple currently will not allow Bluetooth-based track-and-tracing to be carried out in the background. So to work, the apps would have to remain active and on screen, limiting what else owners could do with their handsets and taking an extra toll on battery life. The developers of Singapore s TraceTogether app attempted to get round this problem by offering a Power Save mode, which dims the display. But users have still complained of being unable to make calls or use other apps at the same time and having accidentally bumped the app into the background when their handset was in their pocket. And this has discouraged people from using it. "We re asking Apple to lift the technical hurdle to allow us to develop a sovereign European health solution that will be tied to our health system," France s Digital Minister, Cedric O, told Bloomberg. A spokesman for Apple referred BBC News to its earlier comments about privacy. NHSX - which is testing an app of its own for the UK - faces a similar quandary and remains in discussions with Apple and Google about the matter. "Apple and Google have a vested interest in protecting the privacy of their end-users," Prof Van Kleek said. "That s not just from governments but also from potentially malicious adversaries. "If you collect sensitive data, then it becomes more likely that that data will be leaked at some point, so from a cyber-security perspective there s lots of good reasons not to do so." French lawmakers will vote on whether to proceed with the app, after the country s government backed down from an original plan to let MPs only debate but not decide the measure. Assuming they support the initiative, Mr O has said he hopes to launch the tool on 11 May.

There are growing tensions over the best approach to coronavirus contact-tracing apps and whether or not the technology can live up to its promise. Smartphone software is being developed to alert users when someone they were recently near becomes infected. But the Ada Lovelace Institute has said there is "an absence of evidence" such tools are practical, accurate or technically capable. Others stress the initiative must be backed up by an army of human checkers. To further complicate matters, a schism has emerged among technologists working together to develop a pan-Europe solution. And hundreds of scientists and researchers have signed a statement warning "mission creep" could eventually lead to "unprecedented surveillance of society at large". What are the concerns? Contact-tracing apps try to log every instance a person is close to another smartphone-owner for a significant period of time. If any user is later believed to have become infected and records the fact, a cascade of alerts could instantly be sent to others. Those deemed to be at high risk could be told to stay at home, while others could continue to live outside of a lockdown. They employ a variety of methods, including keeping logs of users Global Positioning System (GPS) location data and asking them to scan Quick Response (QR) codes. But earlier in the month, the American Civil Liberties Union said: "We have spoken with engineers and executives at a number of the largest US companies that hold location data on Americans movements and locations and generally they have told us that their data is not suitable for determining who was in contact with whom for purposes of Covid-19." And many nations are now focused on using another technology - wireless Bluetooth signals - to detect contact matches. This still offers a way to log close encounters but not where they occurred. since some phones detect signals from up to 30m (98ft) away without being able to determine the distance. Interference can also prevent two phones noticing each other when within 2m. As a result, the Ada Lovelace study says, many matches would be missed while others would be recorded by mistake. "Digital contact tracing will be less able to control for variables such as ventilation, direction of wind or environment, factors that are normally central to manual contact-tracing efforts," it says. "[And] digital contact tracing will be vulnerable to all forms of fraud and abuse - from people using multiple devices, false reports of infection, to denial-of-service attacks by adversarial actors." Nevertheless, researchers at the University of Oxford s Big Data Institute have previously suggested even if false and missed alerts were common, the spread of the virus would still be slowed and people would have to spend less time in quarantine. How could manual trackers help? An effective automated system should be quicker and more accurate than relying on human memory. But since the app won t be 100% reliable or used by everyone, experts say manual contact tracing still has a role to play. "If you ask me whether any Bluetooth contact-tracing system deployed or under development anywhere in the world is ready to replace manual contact tracing, I will say without qualification that the answer is no, not now and, even with the benefit of [artificial intelligence], not for the foreseeable future," blogged Jason Bay, who led development of Singapore s TraceTogether app. Manual contact tracing requires the recruitment of a multitude of people. One organisation in Germany said it had already received more than 10,000 applications. And last week, England s Health Minister, Matt Hancock, said he was committed to building up the country s ranks. "They should already be putting out a call to medical and veterinary students, people who have lost their jobs and others want to volunteer and help," Prof Devri Sridhar, from the University of Edinburgh, told BBC News. "This can be used to build a large database... to start training individuals in how to do contact tracing and link into the government s existing systems." Why are there still privacy concerns? For the most part, governments are promising to anonymise users data and restrict use of information gathered to tackling the pandemic. But in many cases, where apps have yet to launch, they have yet to explain how they would do so. "I would say the details really matter, and we have no details," said Prof Vanessa Teague, from the University of Melbourne, about Australia s forthcoming app. "One obvious risk is that a person s close physical contacts could be accidentally or deliberately extracted from their phone and used for purposes unrelated to disease control." Prof Teague is one of more than 300 researchers to have signed the statement warning of "mission creep". The group applauded an initiative by Google and Apple that would make contact tracing easier on iOS and Android handsets but severely limit what information could be gleaned from it by the authorities. But they warned some "are pressuring" the two companies "to open up their systems to enable them to capture more data".

Facebook (FB) is canceling all of its planned physical events with 50 or more people through June 2021 due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Some of those events will be held virtually instead, wrote CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday. Zuckerberg also said the "vast majority" of Facebook employees will work from home through at least the end of next month. The company is extending its policy of no business travel through at least June. "A small percent of our critical employees who can t work remotely, like content reviewers working on counter-terrorism or suicide and self-harm prevention, and engineers working on complex hardware, may be able to return sooner, but overall, we don t expect to have everyone back in our offices for some time," Zuckerberg said. Covid-19 has infected more than 2 million people and killed at least 137,000 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. Zuckerberg also said employees who feel they can t return to the office for reasons such as lack of childcare can work remotely through at least the summer. In February, Facebook canceled F8, its biggest annual event, due to concerns over the coronavirus. At F8, which is aimed at developers, the company typically shares its future vision and teases new features and products. Facebook also canceled a large advertising conference in San Francisco. Apple (AAPL) moved its annual developer conference to online only. Google (GOOGL) initially moved its developer conference to online, but later canceled it completely.

Apple has announced a new iPhone SE, reviving a mid-market brand it had discontinued in 2018. It resembles the form of 2016 s iPhone 7 with a 4.7in screen, and a fingerprint ID sensor but not a depth camera for facial recognition. It is powered by the same processor as the flagship iPhone 11 Pro, but lacks multiple rear cameras. The handset costs the same as the original SE in the US, but is more expensive in other markets. The iPhone SE is priced at $399 in the US and £419 in the UK. One analyst said that having a mid-range phone again could help Apple compete for new customers against rivals such as Samsung and Google, which have a strong presence in that market sector. "Once you buy an iPhone you are more likely to buy another one," said Dan Iver from Wedbush Securities. Single camera Despite Covid-19 causing lower demand, smartphone makers continue to release models. Earlier this week, OnePlus unveiled new models, and last month Huawei launched its flagship P40 range. In February, Apple warned that the coronavirus lockdown in China would impact iPhone production and lower sales. Physical stores, including Apple s, remain closed in many countries. Apple warns coronavirus will hurt iPhone supplies Samsung unveils S20 flagship and folding Flip phone But Mr Iver expects the phone to sell between 20 million and 25 million units in the first six to nine months. "Apple s hands are almost being forced to bring this out because from a supply chain perspective it was ready," he said. But he added that while competitors might be similarly priced, "Apple is this golden brand". The device supports wireless charging. Its rear-facing camera s resolution is 12 megapixels and can still create background blur in portrait photos, despite lacking a second lens. The selfie camera is 7MP. Mobile analyst Carolina Milanesi also said Apple s brand appeal would help it in this price range. "The second-hand market is pretty vibrant for Apple so are there users who have never have a new iPhone that will want one, and can afford it at this price," said the Creative Strategies consultant. But she also warned: "I think the phone has to have some compromises. It can t be too close to the iPhone 11 or a iPhone10R - or what is the point?" The iPhone SE goes on sale on 24 April.

Researchers say the economic costs of a deadly pathogen affecting olive trees in Europe could run to over €20 billion. They ve modelled the future worst impacts of the Xylella fastidiosa pathogen which has killed swathes of trees in Italy. Spread by insects, the bacterium now poses a potential threat to olive plantations in Spain and Greece. The disease could increase the costs of olive oil for consumers. Olive tree killer still threatens EU Revealed: The secret life of the spittlebug Olive killer disease reaches Spain Xylella is considered to be one of the most dangerous pathogens for plants anywhere in the world. At present there is no cure for the infection. It can infect cherry, almond and plum trees as well as olives. It has become closely associated with olives after a strain was discovered in trees in Puglia in Italy in 2013. The organism is transmitted by sap-sucking insects such as spittlebugs. The infection limits the tree s ability to move water and nutrients and over time it withers and dies. In Italy, the consequences of the spread of the disease have been devastating, with an estimated 60% decline in crop yields since the first discovery in 2013. "The damage to the olives also causes a depreciation of the value of the land, and to the touristic attractiveness of this region," said Dr Maria Saponari, from the CNR Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection in Italy. "It s had a severe impact on the local economy and jobs connected with agriculture." As well as in Italy, the Xylella bacterium has now been found in Spain, France and Portugal. Tackling it at present involves removing infected trees and trying to clamp down on the movement of plant material and the insects that spread the disease. But if these measures fail, what will be the financial impact of the infection? In this new study, researchers modelled different scenarios including what would happen if all growing ceased due to tree death. They also compared this worst case with a scenario where replanting with resistant varieties occurred. The team made projections for Italy, Spain and Greece, which between them account for 95% of European olive oil production. In Spain, if the infection expanded and the majority of trees became infected and died, the costs could run to €17 billion over the next 50 years. A similar scenario in Italy would amount to over five billion, while in Greece, the losses would be under two billion. If the rate of infection is slowed down, or resistant varieties are planted instead, then these costs would be significantly reduced. However, the authors believe, whatever happens, there will likely be a knock-on impact on consumers. "The expected effect could be that there would be a shortage of supply," said lead author Kevin Schneider from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. "And I would expect that if prices go up, consumers will be worse off." The authors say that while their analysis looks at economics, there are also potentially large touristic and cultural losses caused by the bacterium that can t be ignored. "You really hear devastating stories of infected orchards that were inherited over generations," said Dr Schneider. "It s the same orchard that their grandparents were once working on. So how do you put an economic number on the loss of something like this. The cultural heritage value would be far larger than we could compute." There are a growing number of scientific initiatives to try and take the fight to the bacterium, including using insect repelling clays, vegetative barriers and genetic analysis to determine why some plants are more susceptible to the infection than others. Ultimately, the researchers believe that beating the pathogen will require trees that are resistant to the disease. "Seeking resistant cultivars or immune species is one of the most promising, and environmentally sustainable, long-term control strategies to which the European scientific community is devoting relevant research efforts," said Dr Saponari, "Sustainable strategies to reduce the population of the insects is the other pillar for the control of the vector-borne disease, in this regard, mechanical intervention to remove weeds in spring is one of the most efficacious applications to reduce the populations of the insect, indeed several other strategies are also being studied to implement the control of the insects," she added. While two varieties of olive tree have been found to have some resistance, the authors are calling for research in this area to be significantly boosted. The study has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Fifty years ago, the craft suffered an explosion that jeopardised the lives of the three astronauts aboard. Unsurprisingly, given they were locked in a fight for survival, relatively few onboard images were taken. But imaging specialist Andy Saunders created sharp stills from low-quality 16mm film shot by the crew. One of the techniques used by Mr Saunders is known as "stacking", in which many frames are assembled on top of each other to improve the image s detail. Crewed by Nasa astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, Apollo 13 was supposed to be the third American mission to land on the lunar surface. During the journey to the Moon, an explosion in the service module allowed some of the spacecraft s oxygen to leak out into space. Astronaut Jack Swigert reported the accident to ground controllers with the immortal, and much misquoted, phrase: "Okay, Houston, we ve had a problem here." The part of the Apollo spacecraft designed to return the astronauts through Earth s atmosphere after the mission - the command module (CM) - had to be shut down to conserve its remaining resources for re-entry. The crew had to use the lunar module (LM) - also known as the lander - as a lifeboat. The lander s life support systems were designed for two astronauts living for two days on the lunar surface. Experts at Nasa s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, had to figure out a way to stretch its resources so that it could support three crew members for four days. Lovell, Swigert and Haise looped around the Moon and back to Earth in a cold, damp module with limited drinking water. Luckily, the improvised plan to get them back was a success, and the three astronauts splashed down safely into the Pacific Ocean. Despite their grave predicament, the crew used a 16mm film camera to record scenes of life aboard the spacecraft. But the footage is of low quality by today s standards. It is this footage that Mr Saunders used as the basis of his enhanced images, which reveal new insights into the crew s fight for survival aboard the damaged spacecraft. A composite panorama of the lunar module "lifeboat" shows Commander Jim Lovell s attempts at normality by selecting some music on a tape player, while command module pilot Jack Swigert takes a nap in the storage area. Another, dubbed "Happy crew" by Mr Saunders, captures Lovell and Swigert in apparent high spirits. "One striking thing about the 16mm footage is how calm the crew appear, given the grave nature of the situation, the conditions, and the critical mission tasks that lay ahead," Mr Saunders told BBC News. "This perhaps belies their true feelings as we know that, in reality, the crew doubted if they would make it home alive." The crew members are eating in the scene. The freeze-dried food relied on mixing it with hot water, but only cold water was available. Lovell later admitted he had eaten little in the days following the accident, losing 6kg (14lb) in weight. A panorama of the dark, powered-down command module was produced from footage shot by Fred Haise when he went to check it out before the rest of the crew moved back in for the risky return through the Earth s atmosphere. In an interview for a new Nasa documentary called Apollo 13: Home Safe, Haise recalls how damp it was in the CM. The astronauts had to wipe down the panels with towels because of a concern that the water could cause an electrical short that could lead to a fire. This would have been catastrophic in the spacecraft s enclosed environment. Two concepts are important for understanding the technique used to process the images: signal - the parts of the image that are desirable to keep - and noise - the unwanted parts of the image. Mr Saunders started by stacking different frames of the same scene on top of one another. "It all hinges on the principle that stacking images improves the signal-to-noise ratio," Mr Saunders explained. He added: "As the noise in each frame is truly random, then stacking multiple frames of the same scene on top of each other and averaging out the levels of each aligned pixel has the effect of identifying and reducing noise whilst maintaining signal (the signal will be present on all frames)." This ultimately boosts the detail, along with overall image quality, making it more "photo-like". But because he was dealing with moving pictures, Mr Saunders had to re-align multiple parts of the image, combining all the results into one final picture. These combined images are made up of more than 20 sections stitched together, with each section consisting of a stack of up to 75 separate processed frames, revealing the crew and spacecraft in unprecedented detail. Using commercial software, he then enhanced the photos; adjusting the contrast, correcting the colour and removing some of the "fish-eye" effect resulting from the wide angle lens that was needed to capture events in such a confined space.

World-renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall says the coronavirus pandemic was caused by humanity s disregard for nature and disrespect for animals. Goodall, who is best known for trail-blazing research in Africa that revealed the true nature of chimpanzees, pleaded for the world to learn from past mistakes to prevent future disasters. During a conference call ahead of the release of the new National Geographic documentary “Jane Goodall: The Hope”, the 86-year-old also said everyone can make a difference. – How do you view this pandemic? – Goodall: It is our disregard for nature and our disrespect of the animals we should share the planet with that has caused this pandemic, that was predicted long ago. Because as we destroy, let s say the forest, the different species of animals in the forest are forced into a proximity and therefore diseases are being passed from one animal to another, and that second animal is then most likely to infect humans as it is forced into closer contact with humans. It s also the animals who are hunted for food, sold in markets in Africa or in the meat market for wild animals in Asia, especially China, and our intensive farms where we cruelly crowd together billions of animals around the world. These are the conditions that create an opportunity for the viruses to jump from animals across the species barrier to humans. – What can we do about these animal markets? – It s really good that China closed down the live wild animal markets, in a temporary ban which we hope will be made permanent, and other Asian countries will follow suit. But in Africa it will be very difficult to stop the selling of bush meat because so many people rely on that for their livelihoods. It will need a lot of careful thought on how it should be done, you can t just stop somebody doing something when they have absolutely no money to support themselves or their families, but at least this pandemic should have taught us the kind of things to do to prevent another one. – What can we hope for? – We have to realize we are part of the natural world, we depend on it, and as we destroy it we are actually stealing the future from our children. Hopefully, because of this unprecedented response, the lockdowns that are going on around the world, more people will wake up and eventually they can start thinking about ways they can live their lives differently. Everyone can make an impact every single day. If you think about the consequences of the little choices you make: what you eat, where it came from, did it cause cruelty to animals, is it made from intensive farming — which mostly it is — is it cheap because of child slave labour, did it harm the environment in its production, where did it come from, how many miles did it travel, did you think that perhaps you could walk and not take your car. (Also consider) ways that you could perhaps help alleviate poverty because when people are poor they can t make these ethical choices. They just have to do whatever they can to survive — they can t question what they buy, they must buy the cheapest, and they are going to cut down the last tree because they are desperate to find land on which they can grow more food. So what we can do in our individual lives does depend a little bit on who we are, but we all can make a difference, everybody can.

The joint European-Japanese mission to Mercury reaches a key milestone on Friday when it swings past the Earth. The two-in-one BepiColombo space probe is using the gravity of its home world to bend a path towards the inner Solar System. It will also bleed off some speed. The mission needs to make sure it isn t travelling too fast when it arrives at Mercury in 2025 or it won t be able to go into orbit around the diminutive world. "It would be so nice if we could take an express transfer and then we d be there in a few months, but that doesn t work for this mission," Elsa Montagnon, the flight controller in charge of BepiColombo at the European Space Agency (Esa), told BBC News. As well as this coming flyby of Earth, Bepi will perform two similar manoeuvres at Venus and six at Mercury itself before slotting into position at the "iron planet". The only alternative would have been to give the spacecraft a colossal volume of fuel to use in a braking engine. An impractical solution. Bepi will fly to within 13,000km (8,000 miles) of the Earth s surface. Closest approach is expected at about 05:25 BST (06:25 CEST). It should be visible in darkened skies in the Southern Hemisphere, although not to the naked eye. A small telescope or binoculars will be needed. Anyone who captures a picture is asked to upload the image to this Flickr group, or to post it on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #BepiColomboEarthFlyby. Esa and its Japanese counterpart, Jaxa, have billed this pass as a "hello - and goodbye" moment. "The flyby has an emotional effect," said Johannes Benkhoff, the BepiColombo project scientist at Esa. "It s the last time that we can see the spacecraft from Earth, so we are inviting amateur and professional astronomers to observe it before it goes." The €3bn (£2.6bn) BepiColombo mission was launched in October 2018. It comprises two scientific satellites - the European Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) - that have been joined to a propulsion module for the long cruise. Not only must the velocity of the spacecraft stack be controlled, but so too must its inclination with respect to the plane of the planets. Mercury s orbit is offset by 6 degrees from that of Earth s. Already since the 2018 launch, the mission has completed one and a half loops around the Sun on its grand odyssey, travelling a distance of roughly 1.4 billion km. By they time it s emplaced at Mercury and ready to begin science observations, Bepi will have completed 18 loops and covered more than 8.5 billion km. Mission scientists plan to switch on a number of the duo s instruments for the Earth pass, to test and calibrate them. Unfortunately, the main camera on Europe s MPO can t operate because of its position in the stack. But engineers did fix small inspection cameras to the side of Bepi and these will be taking some black & white pictures of the Earth and Moon. The next flyby will be of Venus in October. For most of the long journey, controllers on Earth will limit communication with the spacecraft to about one contact a week. "Of course, even when we re in quiet cruise, there are some maintenance operations to be done with the satellite. So, typically, every six months we are doing a thorough check out of the subsystems and the instruments where we activate units that are normally not active just to make sure they are still functioning okay," explained Elsa Montagnon. What science will BepiColombo do at Mercury? The European and Japanese elements of the mission will separate when they get to Mercury and perform different roles. Europe s MPO is designed to map Mercury s terrain, generate height profiles, collect data on the planet s surface structure and composition, as well as sensing its interior. Japan s MMO will make as its priority the study of Mercury s magnetic field. It will investigate the field s behaviour and its interaction with the "solar wind", the billowing mass of particles that stream away from the Sun. This wind interacts with Mercury s super-tenuous atmosphere, whipping atoms into a tail that reaches far into space. It s hoped the satellites parallel observations can finally resolve the many puzzles about the hot little world. One of the key ones concerns the object s oversized iron core, which represents 60% of Mercury s mass. Science cannot yet explain why the planet only has a thin veneer of rocks.

As the spread of the coronavirus is proving difficult to contain, so too is the misinformation surrounding it. One of the most recent, baseless conspiracy theories surrounding the virus is that 5G networks -- the next generation of wireless technology that s steadily being rolled out around the world -- are fueling the global coronavirus pandemic. They are not. Unfounded claims about a supposed link between 5G and Covid-19 began circulating on the fringes of the internet, where New Agers and QAnon followers perpetuated the hoax that global elites were using 5G to spread the virus. Unsophisticated algorithms amplified those voices and ushered unsubstantiated theories into the mainstream. Officials in the United Kingdom have expressed concerns that recent attacks on cell phone towers were motivated by false conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, actor Woody Harrelson and singer M.I.A. are among celebrities and influencers spreading such claims to their millions of followers. There s no evidence to support the theory that 5G networks cause Covid-19 or contribute to its spread. But still, it refuses to die. Here s what to know about 5G networks, how these false theories came about and why they don t hold up. How 5G works There are several theories linking 5G and Covid-19. One simply suggests that 5G networks cause Covid-19, or symptoms of the infection. Another more insidious one is that 5G networks emit radiation that weakens the immune system, making people more susceptible to infection. To break it down, it helps to understand what exactly 5G is. 5G is a next-generation wireless network that is expected to enable a wave of technologies that will change the way that people live and work -- the potential applications include self-driving cars, remote surgeries and automated factories, though it will be a while before we see those kinds of changes. The big differences between 4G and 5G are faster speeds, higher bandwidth and lower lag time in communications between devices and servers. 5G signals run over new radio frequencies, which requires updating radios and other equipment on cell towers. Carriers building superfast 5G networks have to install tons of small cell sites to light poles, walls or towers, often in close proximity to each other. So far, the networks have mostly been deployed city by city. Why people are linking 5G and Covid-19 5G networks began rolling out in cities and countries in 2018, but were more widely adopted in 2019 -- the same year that Wuhan, China, saw the world s first coronavirus outbreak. Conspiracy theorists were quick to link the two, ignoring the ever-relevant adage: Correlation does not imply causation. People on the internet shared two maps of the United States suggesting areas that had been hit hardest by Covid-19 were also places where 5G networks had been installed. Another thing those areas have in common? They re metropolitan areas: large population centers that are more vulnerable to the spread of the coronavirus and are more likely to adopt 5G networks earlier. There are other reasons those suggestions don t hold up. Although Iran has not rolled out 5G, it s one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic. Upgrades to wireless infrastructure have been falsely linked to diseases before, and the same has happened this time around with the coronavirus. Many of the 5G/Covid-19 conspiracy theories are linked to groups that have long claimed that wireless airwaves cause cancer, though there is no credible evidence to support this. Research shows that radiofrequency (RF) waves given off by cell phones do not have enough energy to damage DNA directly or heat body tissues -- their energy levels are lower even than technologies such as microwave ovens and televisions. What s more, 5G signals are actually worse at penetrating objects than 4G signals, which is why 5G networks require many more, smaller cell sites built close together. What s being done to limit the spread Social media and internet platforms have started taking steps to limit the spread of coronavirus misinformation, though some have been slow to act. YouTube videos that drew connections between 5G networks and the coronavirus have racked up hundreds of thousands of views. But the company initially said such videos were not in direct violation of its policies before moving to ban them Tuesday. Twitter said it was increasing its use of machine learning and automation to help take down false information. A quick search for "5G coronavirus" Wednesday mostly showed tweets from people casting doubt on conspiracy theories and links from news organizations in the "Top" results, despite turning up several false theories days earlier. "We will continue to take action on accounts that violate our rules, including content in relation to unverifiable claims which incite social unrest, widespread panic or large-scale disorder," a spokesperson for the company said. "If people see anything suspicious on our service, please report it to us." Similarly, a Facebook search for "5G coronavirus" yielded mostly reliable information from news organizations, hospitals and health organizations, though false theories can still be found through the platform. A spokesperson for Facebook said the company is taking "aggressive" measures to combat misinformation surrounding the virus, and is "starting to remove false claims which link Covid-19 to 5G technology" and which encourage attacks on cellular towers.

Disney has postponed the cinematic release of over 12 movies as a result of the coronavirus pandemic forcing cinema and movie theater closures all around the world. Among the postponed films are the latest additions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe such as “Black Widow” (2020) starring Scarlett Johansson, “The Eternals” (2020) starring Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek and sequels to “Thor” and “Dr Strange”. “Black Widow” was pushed to November, while an unnamed Marvel film set to be released in the summer of 2022 was dropped from the schedule entirely. Officials of the National Theater Owners Association said in an online seminar that theaters should reopen by late May or June, with social distancing policies in place. Disney s 2020 live-action remake of its animated fantasy “Mulan” (1998) will be released in July. Disney has also moved to release its newest film “Artemis Fowl” (2020) on its Disney Plus digital streaming service, completely bypassing a cinema release. No dates been set for its theatrical debut.

Joe Tsai, the billionaire co-founder of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, and his wife Clara Wu Tsai, have donated 2.6 million masks, 170,000 goggles and 2000 ventilators to New York — the US epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. The supplies were split into two shipments. The first arrived on Thursday at Newark Liberty International Airport, while the second arrived on Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport. "We kept hearing cries for (personal protective equipment) from our community and wanted to help," Clara Tsai told CNN in an interview. The state will allocate the second shipment but "it s our intention to help the most underserved institutions." She cited Jacobi Medical Center and Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx, and Elmhurst Hospital in Queens as the institutions she and her husband thought might need the supplies the most. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo referenced the donations during a daily coronavirus briefing. "I want to thank Joe Tsai, and Clara Tsai, and Jack Ma from Alibaba," said Cuomo, during a Saturday briefing. "This is a big deal and it s going to make a significant difference for us." Hospitals in New York and across the country have been scrambling to find enough ventilators, masks and other protective gear needed for healthcare workers to battle the virus, which has killed about 60,000 people worldwide. The Tsais have considerable ties to the New York community. Joe Tsai, a Canadian Taiwanese businessman and philanthropist, owns the Brooklyn Nets basketball team and Brooklyn s Barclays Center arena. His co-founder, Jack Ma, made a separate donation of masks and testing kits in March. Clara Tsai runs a charitable organization, the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, which oversees causes including economic mobility in Brooklyn. The Tsais worked with the Greater New York Hospital Association to distribute the items in their first shipment. It contained 300,000 surgical masks that went toward 11 New York City-area nursing homes, 70,000 medical goggles donated to 11 New York City-area nursing homes and Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, and 1000 ventilators that were donated to the Mount Sinai hospital system. The Tsais are letting the state handle the allocation of the second shipment after hearing Governor Cuomo announce that the state would be centralizing resource allocation. The shipment on Saturday contains 1 million surgical masks and 1.3 million KN95 masks, 100,000 medical goggles and 1000 ventilators. KN95 is a mask produced in China that is similar in name as the N95, which is considered the gold standard of respirator masks as it filters out at least 95% of very small particles from the air. The US Food and Drug Administration cleared KN95 masks for use on Friday as long as certain criteria is met, including evidence demonstrating that the mask is authentic.

What does British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have in common with virtual happy hour celebrants and thousands of students around the world? All use the Zoom videoconferencing application to get together while staying apart during the deadly coronavirus pandemic. But amid its newfound fame, the Silicon Valley-based company has come under stepped-up scrutiny over how it handles privacy and security — including allowing uninvited guests to barge in on sessions. Created by engineer Eric Yuan in 2011 and listed on the Nasdaq a year ago, Zoom has seen its market value skyrocket to some $35 billion. Yuan has spoken of a passion for communication technologies that dates back to the 1990s when, as a university student in mainland China, he longed for a way to see his girlfriend without needing to travel hours by train. Zoom hit the market as a tool for people working apart to collaborate on business, competing with offerings from the likes of Microsoft, Facebook, Google and others. – Poker and funerals – As people around the world stay home due to coronavirus risk, Zoom has become a go-to service for remote education, exercise classes, poker games, church services and happy hour celebrations. Couples have gotten married in “zoomed” ceremonies. Birthdays have been celebrated. Funerals have been virtually attended. “It s really easy to use, and free; that s nice,” said US school teacher Justin Minkel, who instructs students remotely using Zoom. “Just click a link.” Home chaos such as dogs barking or outbursts from siblings can be disruptive, but Minkel cures that by “muting” students microphones until he needs to hear them. According to Yuan, the number of people taking part in Zoom meetings daily eclipsed 200 million in March, up from just 10 million at the end of last year. Video calls have surged on all messaging platforms including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Google Hangouts, but Zoom has become a star. It lets as many as 100 people simultaneously attend a video-conference, allowing 40 minutes free and then charging for premium accounts that provide more time and features for $15 monthly. Zoom lifted the 40-minute limit on free accounts for teachers in an array of countries. Among Zoom settings is an option to chose a backdrop image, such as the Golden Gate Bridge or tropical beach, hiding what is really behind a user. – Zoombombing – Digital learning coach Stephanie DeMichele credits the surge in Zoom use to fear of being disconnected from schools, friends, families and others in our lives. “And here comes Zoom saying It s free, available, and you won t feel isolated, ” said DeMichele. “So people grabbed onto it.” A “Zoombombing” phenomenon has sparked warnings about lax security, however. Virtual intruders have interrupted religious ceremonies, remote classes, and other Zoom gatherings. In some cases, pornographic images have been displayed. US media has reported that Zoom shares some data with third parties and questioned how well virtual meeting data is defended. Prosecutors from several US states including Connecticut, New York, and Florida are investigating the company s privacy and security practices. The FBI has warned of Zoom sessions being hijacked. Yuan vowed this week to step up data security, and apologized. “We recognize that we have fallen short of the community s — and our own — privacy and security expectations,” Yuan said in a message posted online. “For that, I am deeply sorry.” Zoom was designed primarily for use by large businesses with their own tech teams to provide support and protection, according to Yuan. “We did not design the product with the foresight that, in a matter of weeks, every person in the world would suddenly be working, studying, and socializing from home,” Yuan said. “These new, mostly consumer use cases have helped us uncover unforeseen issues with our platform.” While encouraged that Zoom is admitting it has security problems, it still has “a ton of work” to do to fix them and restore trust in the platform, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation associate director of research Gennie Gebhart. While tending to its immediate concerns, Zoom would be wise to keep on eye on the future, said Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi. “Replicating what Zoom has is not too difficult,” Milanesi said. “They need to think about what else they want to be.”