The main enhancement of the Apple Watch, known as the Series 9, stems from a newly-developed processing chip called S9-Sip -- touted by the company to offer superior speed compared to the one introduced in 2020.

In terms of aesthetics, the Series 9 will maintain a familiar design but will introduce refreshed color options such as pink, starlight and silver.

In addition, the Series 9 will introduce a novel feature called "double tap" which enables users to answer calls by tapping their fingers together.

Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives at Apple, Lisa Jackson, said the Apple Watch Series 9 will be the company’s “first-ever carbon neutral-product.”

The price is set at $399 and it will be available Sept. 22.

A lineup of new iPhones was displayed: iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.

The phones will feature Dynamic Island, a reimagined notch positioned at the top of the screen, designed to occupy less screen real estate.

The base model, iPhone 15, will begin at $799, 15 Plus will have a starting price of $899 that will be available Sept. 22.

Apple’s introduced the newly upgraded Ultra 2 Smart watch which incorporates the enhanced S9 custom chip and introduces a new UWB chip.

It retains the "double tap" feature from the Series 9 while enhancing the display to provide more comprehensive tracking information.

Ultra 2 Smart watches will be $799.

The company showcased its new USB-C charger, signifying the shift of all new iPhones from Lightning to USB-C charging to comply with the EU’s common charger regulations.

Apple introduced the iPad in 2010, followed by the Apple Watch in 2014 and AirPods in 2016 – the first time in its history.

The company also highlighted its plan to attain carbon neutrality by transporting products via ocean freight and utilizing carbon credits to compensate for any remaining emissions.

Gerhard Karner said that after security forces prevented a terrorist attack on an LGBTIQ event on June 17, police “need the appropriate powers” to access messenger services.

Karner said the country's intelligence service is not sufficiently equipped to monitor applications like WhatsApp and Telegram.

Explaining his remarks, he noted that he is not talking about mass monitoring but the need for appropriate police power to handle certain threats.

The Constitutional Court and the Green Party opposed Karner's proposal.

In February, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the State Security and Intelligence Directorate (DSN),said they wanted to audit messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, citing security concerns.

“The security of networks is essential for all of us in Europe,” EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton said at a news conference presenting the latest progress report on the EU's 5G toolbox on cybersecurity.

Breton said that “only 10 EU member states” had implemented the 5G toolbox recommendations on restricting or excluding suppliers because of posing a security risk for EU governments.

According to the European Commission’s assessment, the EU countries took a “justified" decision on excluding or restricting Huawei and ZTE from 5G networks because the companies are “subject to highly intrusive own country laws on national intelligence and data security,” he added.

The European Commission will “implement the 5G toolbox principle to its own procurement of telecom services to avoid exposure to Huawei and ZTE,” Breton said.

He also stressed that the EU executive body urges member states to speed up decisions “to replace high-risk suppliers from their 5G networks.”

The US, UK, Australia, Japan, India and Canada have recently taken similar steps.

According to the statement, the ministry is holding a seminar on "Launch of new-generation mobile communication networks (IMT2020/5G)" jointly with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The seminar is supposed to address ICT technological trends, including 5G technology, its application strategies, business models, 5G frequency bands, telecom infrastructure sharing, and network rationalization, as well as the international expertise for the transition to 5G technology.

The seminar will last until November 3, 2022.

Its revenue, or total net sales, rose to almost $83 billion for the three months ending June 25, which Apple refers to as the third quarter of a fiscal year.

This posted a 2% increase from $81.4 billion in the same period a year ago.

"This quarter’s record results speak to Apple’s constant efforts to innovate, to advance new possibilities, and to enrich the lives of our customers," CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

CFO Luca Maestri said the company's installed base of active devices reached an all-time high in every geographic segment and product category.

Apple's net income, on the other hand, fell 10.6% to $19.4 billion, from $21.7 billion, during that period.

The company generated $40.6 billion from iPhone sales and $19.6 billion from services, both posting year-on-year increases.

However, its Mac sales at $7.4 billion, iPad sales at $7.2 billion and sales of wearables, home and accessories at almost $8.1 billion posted declines from the same period of last year.

With positive results, Apple's stock price was up 2.4% in pre-market on the Nasdaq at 8.19 a.m. EDT on Friday.

The company aims to enhance its presence in chip business and increase its competitiveness in the era of post-coronavirus.

Some 360 trillion won ($280 billion) or 80% of the investment will be spent in South Korea for talent recruitment and Ramp;D.

On Friday, US President Joe Biden visited Samsung Electronics chip plant in Pyeongtaek -- some 43 miles south of the capital Seoul – during his three-day visit to the country, saying Washington will end dependence on those "who do not share our values."

EU lawmakers are “ready to start negotiations” with EU member states and the European Commission “on a common charger to reduce e-waste and make the use of different mobile phones, tablets, and digital cameras more convenient,” the parliament wrote in a press statement.

The draft would allow consumers not to pay for a new charger and cable each time they purchase a new small or medium-sized electronic device if they can still use their own.

Under the new rules, the USB-C charger would become the standard equipment for all smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers, and handheld videogame consoles.

A different charger could only be used for gadgets that are too small for the USB-C, such as smartwatches or fitness equipment.

The law would imply a major change for the tech giant Apple which has insisted on using its own technology and equipping iPhones with special chargers.

According to Maltese EU lawmaker Alex Aigus Saliba, who drafted the proposal, the changes would considerably reduce the 11,000-13,000 tons of e-waste which is produced in the EU every year.

The decision follows up on the legislative proposal presented by the European Commission last September and sets the European Parliament’s position that EU lawmakers will represent at the negotiations with EU member states.

If the law passes, the new rules are expected to enter into force by 2026 to allow manufacturers to adapt to the new requirements.

According to the European Commission’s calculations, the change would save €250 million ($263 million) for European consumers every year.

In 2020, over 420 million mobile phones and other electronic portable devices were sold in the bloc.

"This is crucial support for Ukraine's infrastructure and restoring the destroyed territories," Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's vice prime minister and digital transformation minister, said on Twitter.

He added: "Ukraine will stay connected no matter what."

SpaceX founder Elon Musk began Starlink space internet services in Ukraine in late February, after Russia launched the war.

At least 2,899 civilians have been killed and 3,235 others injured in Ukraine since the war with Russia began on Feb. 24, according to UN estimates. The true toll is feared to be much higher.

More than 5.4 million people have fled to other countries, with some 7.7 million people internally displaced, data from the UN refugee agency shows.

The EU executive body announced that it has sent a so-called “statement of objections” to Apple, informing the company of the preliminary results of an investigation launched in 2020.

The probe has found that Apple violated EU antitrust rules by only allowing Apple Pay as a contactless payment method (NFC or “tap and go”) on its own devices.

“We’ve come to the preliminary conclusion that Apple holds a significant position on the device market and a dominant position in NFC inputs and wallets on iOS and Europe,” Margrethe Vestager, the commission’s executive vice-President, explained at a news conference.

She said the commission is concerned by “Apple’s decisions to block access to the NFC technology for payment purposes and use it solely for its own mobile wallet, the Apple Pay.”

“As a result, users of Apple devices can only pay with the tap and go function using Apple Pay and no other wallets,” Vestager added.

According to the European Commission, evidence suggests that developers ditched their plans on creating new online wallets because they knew they would not be accessible to Apple users.

“This behavior stifled innovation and prevented competition in the mobile wallets market. As a result, European consumers have little choice of mobile payment solutions when paying in shops,” Vestager asserted.

Apple, which has previously said that it denied access to NFC technology for payments, can now reply to the European Commission’s objections.

The commission can impose a fine if it finds that Apple breached EU competition law.

In a separate case, the EU executive body found last year that Apple abused its dominant position for the distribution of music streaming apps through its App Store and distorted competition in the music streaming market.

Maintaining fair competition in the EU’s internal market is one of the few exclusive competencies of the EU. It allows the European Commission to decide on state aid rules and fine companies for breaching EU law.

Apple, whose stocks increased by three times since the beginning of the pandemic, gained a value of around 3% on Monday.

On the first transaction day of 2022, the company’s shares hit $182.88 to hit the market value of $3 trillion.

Microsoft with a $2.5 trillion stock market value and Alphabet with $1.9 trillion followed Apple.

Apple hit the $1 trillion mark in August 2018 and $2 trillion in August 2020.

*Writing by Gokhan Ergocun from Istanbul

The suit is the latest against the beleaguered NSO Group after WhatsApp and Facebook parent company Meta took action in October.

Apple said it is seeking a permanent injunction to prevent NSO Group from ever again using any of its devices, software or services after the Israeli firm's Pegasus spyware was used to surveil and target Apple users.

“State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That needs to change,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said in a statement.

“Apple devices are the most secure consumer hardware on the market — but private companies developing state-sponsored spyware have become even more dangerous. While these cybersecurity threats only impact a very small number of our customers, we take any attack on our users very seriously, and we’re constantly working to strengthen the security and privacy protections in iOS," he added.

Apple's legal complaint alleges that NSO Group implemented a since-patched exploit known as FORCEDENTRY in its spyware that allowed its users to break into Apple devices and install Pegasus.

Apple said it would be contributing $10 million, as well as an unspecified amount of damages it is seeking in court, to organizations that specialize in combatting spyware.

Ron Deibert, the director of the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, hailed Apple's legal action, saying it is a step towards holding NSO Group "accountable for their abuses," and expressing hope that it will "help to bring justice to all who have been victimized by NSO Group’s reckless behavior."

"Mercenary spyware firms like NSO Group have facilitated some of the world’s worst human rights abuses and acts of transnational repression, while enriching themselves and their investors," he said.

NSO has maintained that it only sells its spyware to governments only for lawful purposes, but it has repeatedly been found to be at the center of controversy, including efforts to surveil journalists dissidents and heads of state.

The US sanctioned the company on Oct. 3 after it determined NSO and fellow Israeli surveillance firm Candiru "developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used this tool to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers."

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said it decided to lift the ban on the Chinese video-sharing app after "continuous" engagement with TikTok management.

“As a result of continuous engagement, senior management of the platform assured PTA of its commitment to take necessary measures to control unlawful content in accordance with local laws and societal norms,” it said in a statement. “PTA will continue to monitor the platform in order to ensure that unlawful content contrary to Pakistan’s law and societal values is not disseminated.”

The PTA has blocked and restored the app several times during the last year on similar charges -- the last in July.

Last March, the Peshawar High Court imposed a ban on the video-sharing application, which was later lifted in April.

Just after two months, the Sindh High Court ordered PTA to block access to TikTok because it was “spreading immorality and obscenity.”

But the court lifted the ban three days later.

In its latest transparency report, the platform said it removed more than 81 million videos globally between April and June 2021, including over 9.8 million from Pakistan, for violating guidelines.

The new MacBook Pro is powered by the all-new M1 Pro and M1 Max – the first pro chips designed for the Mac, California-based firm said in a statement.

Available in 14- and 16-inch models, MacBook Pro has Liquid Retina XDR display, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, while Apple argued it has the best audio system in a notebook.

Designed for developers, photographers, filmmakers, 3D artists, scientists, and music producers, the new models will start from $1,999 and will be available on Oct. 26.

The company has also updated its Final Cut Pro software for professional video editors and its professional music creation software Logic Pro that allows users to mix and export songs in Dolby Atmos.

Apple said in another statement that the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips are the most powerful the Silicon Valley firm has ever built.

M1 Pro and M1 Max delivers up to 70% faster CPU performance than the traditional M1 chip, while the GPU in M1 Pro is up to two times faster than M1, and M1 Max is up to four times faster than M1, it added.

The 3rd generation of AirPods comes with a new design and feature extended battery life that has up to six hours of listening time, and up to 30 hours with its charging case. New AirPods will be in stores as of Oct. 26 for a price tag of $179.

"Users can enjoy spatial audio featuring Dolby Atmos in Apple Music, movies, and tv shows, along with dynamic head tracking, across Apple devices. The new AirPods are resistant to sweat and water, and feature a force sensor for easy and intuitive control of music and phone calls," another statement said.

Apple's smart speaker HomePod mini now has three more colors – yellow, orange and blue along with existing colors of white and space gray – and it has smart home capabilities, built-in privacy and security features, and Siri intelligence.

HomePod mini's new colors will hit the shelves for $99 next month, and it will have seamless integration across its products and services.

Apple Music Voice Plan, a new subscription for Apple Music and designed around Siri, will cost $4.99 per month, giving access to a catalog of 90 million songs, personalized mixes, genre stations, and Apple Music Radio.

The proposal by the telecommunication giant has already received support from Home Secretary Priti Patel, The Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

Users will download the new app and enter their home address, as well as other frequent addresses, for their extended safety.

A person can call or text 888 or enter their destination into the phone app along with their predicted time of arrival before a journey, which the GPS system will monitor via text message.

Emergency services including the police will be notified if the person does not respond to a message sent by the system checking for their safe arrival.

The Daily Mail said the BT's chief executive, Philip Jansen, wrote to Patel and that the helpline would cost around £50 million ($68 million).

"This new phone line is exactly the kind of innovative scheme which would be good to get going as soon as we can. I'm now looking at it with my team and liaising with BT," Patel told the Mail.

Jansen told the tabloid that the idea of such an app came after the abduction, rape, and murder of Sarah Everard by police officer Wayne Couzens.

Couzens used his police warrant card and handcuffs to stage an arrest before kidnapping the victim on March 3.

Everard's kidnap and murder sent shockwaves across the country in March, with women's safety on the streets since becoming a hot topic.

In September, Sabina Ness, a 28-year-old primary school teacher, was attacked and killed in London as she was taking a five-minute walk from her home to meet friends.

Her body was found near the One Space Community Center at Kidbrooke Park Road in Greenwich nearly 24 hours after the murder, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Nessa was a teacher at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, southeast London.

A signing ceremony was held at Turkey's largest technology and aerospace event Teknofest for an academy to train young people interested in developing mobile games and applications.

The academy was launched through the cooperation of Google Turkey and Turkey Entrepreneurship Foundation and T3 Enterprise Center, with the support of the Industry and Technology Ministry and the Presidential Digital Transformation Office.

Speaking at the event, Mustafa Varank said: "Google will provide training for our young people who are interested in game and application development in Turkey. 2,000 of our young people will be able to receive free training for up to 400 hours."

Underlining that the youth participating in the training can also receive mentoring services from the Entrepreneurship Foundation and T3 Entrepreneurship Center on how to establish their own companies, Varank noted that they can also meet with investors.

The minister urged young people who are interested in application development to follow this program and register. “Game developers and application developers of the future will graduate from this academy, and I hope they will establish their own initiatives together with our foundations."

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) Thursday handed down the penalty on the Facebook-owned messaging service after a three-year investigation that found WhatsApp committed “severe” and “serious” violations of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

“This decision contained a clear instruction that required the DPC to reassess and increase its proposed fine on the basis of a number of factors contained in the EDPB's decision and following this reassessment the DPC has imposed a fine of €225 million on WhatsApp,” the commission said in a statement.

“In addition to the imposition of an administrative fine, the DPC has also imposed a reprimand along with an order for WhatsApp to bring its processing into compliance by taking a range of specified remedial actions.”

The commissioner of the investigation, Helen Dixon, said WhatsApp provided only 41% of prescribed information to users and non-users, who primarily used other Facebook-owned services such as Messenger and Instagram and received no information on how their data would be used.

The service is guilty of violating four “very serious” infringements of the protection regulation, according to Dixon, who argued that such infringements go against the general principle of transparency and the fundamental rights of the individual to protect themselves against personal data breaches.

WhatsApp contested the ruling, calling the fine “entirely disproportionate” and argued that the company is committed to providing a secure service to its users.

“WhatsApp is committed to providing a secure and private service. We have worked to ensure the information we provide is transparent and comprehensive and will continue to do so. We disagree with the decision today regarding the transparency we provided to people in 2018 and the penalties are entirely disproportionate.” it said.

The investigation, launched in December 2018, examined whether WhatsApp had let go of its GDPR transparency obligations regarding the provision of information and transparency of that information to users and non-users of the service.

Hyper-casual mobile game developer Ruby is the company behind Hunter Assassin, the sixth-most-downloaded game in the world last year, the Finnish company said in a press release.

In step one, this year Rovio will buy 20% of the Turkish company's shares for $10 million.

In 2022, Rovio will acquire 50% of Ruby's shares for an amount based on the Turkish firm's financial performance, but not exceeding $80 million.

Step two will be paid 60% in cash and 50% in Rovio shares.

"The remaining 30% of Ruby's outstanding shares will be purchased in five equal tranches over the next five years with a minimum of 50% in cash and rest in cash or shares at a valuation based on Ruby's financial performance," it added.

Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, Rovio's CEO, said the acquisition is an important step for Rovio's growth strategy for entering the rapidly growing hyper-casual market.

"Ruby Games has launched several successful games and their hit-ratio is impressive," he said.

Mert Can Kurum, the CEO of Ruby Games, stressed that this move opens up a new chapter for the Turkish firm, adding that Rovio's expertise will help the firm reach higher levels.

The press release said in the first half of 2021 Ruby Games generated revenues of $7.8 million.

It also underlined that Ruby Games, founded in 2018, has a talented and agile 34-member-team in the hyper-casual mobile game field.

"Since 2018 Ruby Games have launched 13 games, of which eight have reached the US Top 10 daily download chart in iOS Games, and three the #1 position," it added.

Last year two Turkish mobile game developers – Peak Games and Rollic – were bought by US entertainment giant Zynga for $1.8 billion and $168 million, respectively.

Zynga also acquired another Turkish mobile game developer, Gram Games, for $250 million in 2018.

Bekir Pakdemirli said on Twitter that Turkey has been combatting massive blazes for 15 days.

Pakdemirli said a total of 288 fires erupted in 53 provinces across the country due to hot, windy and dry weather conditions.

He said in a separate Twitter post that blazes in Koycegiz district of Mugla province had been contained after burning for 14 days and cooling efforts were underway.

Speaking at a news conference in Bucak district of Burdur later Wednesday, Pakdemirli said security forces detained six people in connection with the fires in the district and an investigation launched by the local law enforcement agency and prosecutor's office into the blazes continues.

“A total of 21 houses were damaged and seven neighborhoods were evacuated due to the blazes in Bucak district. More than 200 people were evacuated from the region,” Pakdemirli said.

Another forest fire that broke out in Antalya’s Manavgat district Tuesday afternoon was also brought under control, he added.

During a routine check on a road linking central Mardin to its Kiziltepe district, police teams found nearly two kilograms of plastic explosive in a car they stopped, said a ministry statement.

The explosives were seized, and the suspect was taken to the provincial police department, it noted.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) said it fined TikTok “for violating the privacy of young children.”

“The information provided by TikTok to Dutch users – many of whom are young children – when installing and using the app was in English and thus not readily understandable,” it said in a statement. “By not offering their privacy statement in Dutch, TikTok failed to provide an adequate explanation of how the app collects, processes, and uses personal data.”

“This is an infringement of privacy legislation, which is based on the principle that people must always be given a clear idea of what is being done with their personal data,” it said.

TikTok objected to the fine, the agency noted.

“TikTok is also facing two class-action suits in the Netherlands,” according to the website Dutch News.

“Consumers association Consumentenbond and the Take Back Your Privacy foundation are demanding the company pay all Dutch children who use the platform damages of around €1,000 for illegally collecting and trading in their private information.”

In 2020, the DPA launched an investigation into the app due to concerns about the privacy of children, “who are treated as an especially vulnerable category under the law,” the agency said.

TikTok has around 3.5 million users in the Netherlands.

The Sindh High Court issued the directives while hearing a petition filed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

In its earlier order on Monday, the court said TikTok had failed to keep its assurances that it would regulate content in Pakistan "in line with the local laws and … block accounts spreading vulgarity."

The order said the platform failed to respect the law, basic injunctions of Islam, and the culture of Pakistan and "recently started a social media campaign whereby they are celebrating "LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Pride Month."

The app was earlier banned in Pakistan for similar reasons last October, and this March.

TikTok, meanwhile, says it continues to work with regulators to serve its millions of users and creators in the South Asian country.

“We have grown our local-language moderation capacity for Pakistan, and work diligently to review and take action on content in violation of our Community Guidelines,” the platform said in a statement on Thursday.

“We continue to work with regulators, and look forward to serving the millions of TikTok users and creators in Pakistan who have found a home for creativity, fun and vital economic opportunities for many years to come.”

In its latest transparency report, the platform said it had removed 61.95 million videos globally, including nearly 6.5 million from Pakistan, for violating its guidelines in the first three months of the year.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who had earlier decried "judicial activism," welcomed the decision. "Glad that the Sindh High Court has withdrawn its earlier decision," he said in a tweet, adding that we should welcome those who are investing in the country.

In a statement, Market Information Research Foundation (SOMI) said it filed a €1.4 billion ($1.7 billion) claim for damages, which amounts to, on behalf of 64,000 parents.

The foundation claimed that TikTok does not properly obtain permission for collecting the data of child users, adding that the social media platform is doing too little to protect children.

Furthermore, SOMI alleged that TikTok collects much more data than necessary.

TikTok is now facing a claim for damages in an Amsterdam court for allegedly violating various European Union data protection laws.

Cor Wijtvliet, one of the founders of SOMI, said that the association and the relevant EU institutions have sent letters of complaints to TikTok, but no substantive results were achieved.

Speaking to local media in the Netherlands, an official from the social media platform, said that personal data security is among the priorities of the institution.

TikTok provides parents with access to their children's accounts so that they can control the accounts of their children under the age of 16 for this purpose, the official added.

TikTok allows only children over the age of 13 to become the member of the platform with the consent of their parents.

WhatsApp, owned by social giant Facebook, filed a petition late Tuesday with the Delhi High Court against the recently imposed India Information Technology (IT) rules, confirmed a company spokesperson.

“Requiring messaging apps to ‘trace’ chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp, which would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermines people’s right to privacy,” said the spokesperson in a statement.

“We have consistently joined civil society and experts around the world in opposing requirements that would violate the privacy of our users,” the statement added, but pledged to “engage with the Government of India on practical solutions aimed at keeping people safe, including responding to valid legal requests for the information available to us.”

India on Feb. 25 announced the rules, which makes it mandatory for social media sites to comply within three months. The new rules aim to make social media firms more accountable.

Under the new rules, firms are asked to appoint a local grievance officer, a chief compliance officer, and a nodal contact person.

None of the big players like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp have complied with the new rules.

However, Facebook on Tuesday said that they aim to comply with the provisions but want to have more discussions with the government on “a few of the issues which need more engagement ... Pursuant to the IT Rules, we are working to implement operational processes and improve efficiencies. Facebook remains committed to people’s ability to freely and safely express themselves on our platform."

Officials at the Communications and Information Technology Ministry could not be reached for comment.

The adjournment was requested after Meng’s legal team reached an agreement with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (HSBC) to access the documents, which may influence the hearing. The team hopes the evidence will result in an end to proceedings.

“I wish now to make plain that the remainder of the proceedings…will be rescheduled to being on or around Aug. 3, 2021,” Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said in a British Columbia courtroom as reported by CTV News.

The judge also said after delivering her decision to adjourn that further delays would not be tolerated.

The HSBC documents total thousands of pages and were ordered released by a Hong Kong court last week.

Meng’s legal team said her lawyers in New York have already reviewed the documents and found evidence that may undermine the allegations of fraud against Meng.

Meng is accused of violating US sanctions against Iran through misleading statements and outright lies. The Americans requested that she be extradited from Canada to face fraud charges. She has been under house arrest since December 2018 as the hearing proceeds.

Meng’s lawyers maintain her rights were violated and Canadian authorities were more interested in appeasing the US than they were in being fair to the Huawei executive.

At a hearing in late March, Meng’s legal team also accused both American and Canadian authorities of failing to conduct themselves honorably and transparently.

The Crown – lawyers representing the Canadian government – opposed the adjournment, saying that Meng’s legal team was on a fishing expedition.

The judge did not give reasons for granting the adjournment but said she will provide them later.

The firm announced its plan to open a factory in Turkey with an investment of $30 million in February.

Turkey is the fourth country in the world where the brand has production plants.

In a message sent to the opening ceremony, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey offers important opportunities for foreign investors thanks to its dynamic labor force and strategic location.

Turkey is open to demands by foreign investors to build research and development, and design centers within the country, Erdogan stressed.

The factory, which was established on a 14,000-square-meter (around 150,700-square-feet) area, will have a capacity of producing five million devices annually and create 2,000 jobs, he noted.

- Over 100 stores in Turkey by end-2021

Vincent Chang, head of Xiaomi Turkey, said the firm wants to become the number one smartphone brand in Turkey, both in terms of sales and customer satisfaction.

"In this context, we are aiming to have more than 100 of these stores in Turkey before the end of this year," he stated.

He also said that most importantly, the firm will train staff for experienced labor force in smartphone production, which is important for the high-tech production in the country.

Travel Xue, vice chairman of Salcomp, said his firm was active in China, India and South America, adding: "Now, we are in Turkey, I am very excited with this extension."

He said the firm aims to bring its modern technology to the local Turkish market.

- Turkey, right place for investors

Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said Xiaomi's investment in Turkey was not a surprising move.

Turkey is the right place for investors, manufacturers and exporters, she said in a video message.

Recalling that Turkey offers significant supports and incentives for companies, she stressed that thanks to these supports the country will continue to be an attraction center for international investors.

Xiaomi will be an important stakeholder in the Turkish economy, she added.

Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank also sent a video message, calling Xiaomi's investment a “milestone” for making Turkey a global mobile phone production base.

It will make a significant contribution to the Turkish economy, he asserted.

In the post-pandemic era, regional trade and proximity to the supply sources are very important, he said, adding that global technology firms' investment decisions are a result of Turkey's supports and incentives.

Oppo, another Chinese mobile phone producer, has started production in Turkey recently.

- Turkey to become global production hub

Mehmet Fatih Kacir, deputy industry and technology minister, said Xiaomi's investment was a result of steps taken by Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan and the Investment Office of the Turkish Presidency.

While around 12 million mobile phones are sold in Turkey annually, only a little part of them are produced locally, he said at the opening ceremony.

Kacir pointed out that Turkey is a base for production from many fields globally, citing that it was the largest iron/steel producer in the EU and seventh in the world last year.

Multinational firms aim to diversify production sites and create alternative production bases, he said, adding, it is inevitable that Turkey will become a significant production hub in the world.

He stressed that Xiaomi will probably increase its operations in Turkey in the coming period.

Omer Fatih Sayan, deputy transport and infrastructure minister, said Turkey has an important potential in the technology field thanks to its young population and provides important facilities for technology firms that seek to invest in Turkey.

He said Xiaomi's factory will improve the country's technological infrastructure.

Omer Abdullah Karagozoglu, head of Turkey's Information and Communication Technologies Authority, said Turkey is an attraction center with its geographical position and dynamic labor force for international companies.

Major companies look for stakeholders to improve their competitive power and Turkey offers opportunities at this point, he said.

The company secured $300 million new investment for international expansion, Nazim Salur said at a virtual news conference.

Silicon Valley's Sequoia Capital and New York-based Tiger led the latest investment round, he stated, adding that the company would hold another round by the end of the year.

"The company would start operations in Germany, France and the Netherlands in a few of months," Salur announced.

The Istanbul-based company was founded in 2015, allowing users to order a large variety of items at a moment's notice, with only a small mark-up on supermarket prices. It promises an average delivery time of 10 minutes.

In January, the company got a further $128 million in funding from the world's leading investors thanks to the company's bold approach to the delivery business and aggressive growth.

The financing, led by existing shareholders Michael Moritz's Crankstart Investments from Silicon Valley and Brazilian Base Partners, included Tiger Global and Goodwater Capital from Silicon Valley as well as Turkish conglomerates Fiba and Esas, and Revo Capital.

A unicorn is a term employed in the venture capital industry to define a privately held startup company with a value over $1 billion.

Peak Games, which was sold for $1.8 billion to a US-based entertainment giant Zynga in 2020, was the first Turkish unicorn.

This acquisition was a milestone for the country's start-up ecosystem.

“The US behavior not only damages the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, but also harms the US and the business environment in the country,” Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said at a news conference in Beijing.

Washington has imposed new restrictions on some suppliers working with China's Huawei, prohibiting them from exporting items that would be used in or with 5G devices, CGTN reported.

“It has been proven time and time again, that the US is a country that's unreliable and untrustworthy,” Zhao said.

The US, particularly under former President Donald Trump, punished many Chinese companies, including Huawei, for their alleged links to the ruling Communist Party of China.

Beijing urged Washington to stop “the unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies immediately and work harder on scientific and technological exchanges and economic and trade cooperation between both countries.”

Last November, Huawei announced a decision to sell all business assets of its brand, Honor, to ease financial impacts, following US trade curbs that blocked the company’s access to semiconductor chips.

"The Instagram algorithm is driving people further and further into their own realities, but also splitting those realities apart so that some people are getting no misinformation whatsoever and some people are being driven more and more misinformation," said Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate that conducted the study, cited by the US National Public Radio.

The social media platform recommended 104 posts containing misinformation, about one post a week, from September to November in 2020, according to the nonprofit company that has offices in London and Washington D.C.

"Putting it into the timeline is really powerful," Ahmed said. "Most people wouldn't realize they're being fed information from accounts they're not following. They think 'These are people I've chosen to follow and trust,' and that's what makes it so dangerous."

Although Facebook -- the parent company of Instagram -- allegedly took on an aggressive approach against falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines in recent months, critics say the fight has not been efficient to prevent misinformation spread with its automated suggestion posts.

SEBA, developed on Open Networking Foundation, an international platform, provides strategic superiority in network technologies, Turk Telekom said in a press release on Thursday.

It provides a better management by enabling the internet distribution devices in homes, buildings, streets, and neighborhoods to get smart with local software, according to the release.

"SEBA, where high speeds are experienced in the access network, [is] built on virtualization and developed on an open source platform and it aims to reduce foreign dependency and accelerate local production," it noted.

It added that SEBA, which Argela and its US-based subsidiary Netsia have been working on, was launched following a two-year test phase in two provinces of Turkey.

The press release said the new technology will reduce costs by working on virtual servers.

Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to ensure “stable supply of products and services globally helped Samsung’s fourth-quarter results,” the company said in a statement.

“Profit rose 26.4 percent year-on-year led by display and memory chip businesses, but fell 26.7 percent from the third quarter due to weaker memory prices and sluggish consumer products sales, as well as higher marketing costs and negative impact from the Korean won’s appreciation,” read the statement.

Samsung’s net income in the fourth quarter (October to December) stood at 6.6 trillion won (approximately $5.8 billion), up from 5.22 trillion won (approximately $4.6 billion) a year earlier.

“The Company posted KRW 61.55 trillion [approximately $55 billion] in consolidated revenue and KRW 9.05 trillion [approximately $8 billion] in operating profit in the quarter ended December 31, 2020,” the statement said.

“For the entire year, it reported KRW 236.81 trillion [approximately $211.5 billion] in revenue and KRW 35.99 trillion [approximately $32.1 billion] in operating profit.”

However, Samsung said its memory chip business saw earnings decline due to weaker prices and the Korean won’s appreciation against the US dollar.

“The local currency’s value rose sharply against the US dollar, euro and key emerging market currencies, resulting in a negative impact equivalent to about KRW 1.4 trillion [approximately $1.2 billion] compared with the previous quarter, mostly in semiconductor and display businesses,” read the statement.

The company expects a fall in overall profit in the first quarter of 2021.

“The Memory Business will likely continue to be affected by the ongoing strength in the won and costs associated with new production lines, despite solid demand from mobile products and data centers,” the statement added.

Samsung said it is anticipating a strong performance from its mobile communications business, with “robust sales of flagship smartphones such as the Galaxy S21 and new mass market models.”

* Writing by Islamuddin Sajid

Appearing Tuesday during an online parliamentary committee meeting aired on Parliament TV, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said WhatsApp had committed to not share its users’ information and data with Facebook without having proved it respected the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that was passed by the EU in 2018.

Speaking to the digital, culture, media and sport sub-committee on online harms and disinformation, Denham said “the change in the terms of service and the requirement of users to share information with Facebook does not apply to UK users or to users in the EU.”

In 2017, her office had “negotiated with WhatsApp so that they agreed not to share user information and contact information until they could show that they complied with the GDPR.”

Prior to the UK leaving the EU on Jan. 1, 2021, the GDPR was enforced by the Irish Data Protection Authority, and it was the latter’s job to oversee the operations of WhatsApp. But now that the UK is no longer a member of the bloc, the responsibility of these protections falls within the ICO’s jurisdiction.

The recent move by the ICO follows the exodus of millions of WhatsApp users worldwide who have left the once popular platform and have now joined alternative and privacy protective competitors such as Signal and Telegram.

“What’s really interesting about WhatsApp’s announcement on its ongoing sharing with Facebook is how many users voted with their virtual feet and left the platform to take up membership with Telegram or Signal,” the commissioner said, adding “users expect companies to maintain their trust and not to suddenly change the contract that they have with the users.”

WhatsApp began to experience a hemorrhaging of users in July 2020, when the platform announced plans to introduce a new privacy policy in February this year. The move, however, has been delayed due to the sudden panic of its users upon finding out that the new policy would entail sharing data and user information with Facebook.

Despite the planned changes to its privacy laws, messages on WhatsApp will still be protected by end-to-end encryption, and Facebook or any other tech giant will not be able to access users’ messages or content.

In the months following WhatsApp’s announcement, Signal and Telegram have added millions of users to their platforms. Prior to the announcement, Signal was an unknown platform that did not even register in the top 1,000 apps in the UK. It is now one of the most downloaded apps in the country.

He is one of the many Pakistanis who are looking for alternatives after WhatsApp recently decided to introduce a new policy people fear will undermine their privacy.

"Pakistanis do not want to trade their privacy for a free messaging service. BiP is a good option by Turkcell,” a leading GSM provider in Turkey, Qazi, a director at the University of Management and Technology in Lahore, told Anadolu Agency.

He found BiP, which has both voice and video calls, interactive and its value-added services such as games and instant translator useful.

For Shamsuddin Amjad, features such as multilingual instant messaging, channels, and group chats are "better than many other apps."

"You can add up to 1,000 people in groups," said Amajd, who heads the social media of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan’s mainstream religiopolitical party that has joined BiP.

Like WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, messages on BiP are also end-to-end encrypted.

"BiP takes the security of your personal data seriously," Burak Mergen, the company's corporate communications manager, told Anadolu Agency in an email interview.

The Turkish app, founded in 2013, has more than 65 million users worldwide, 10 million of which were added in the last week alone, he said.

On Google Play, it now ranks first in Bahrain, Bangladesh, Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, Mergen said, adding: "Pakistan is one of our major markets."

Even Indian users are not left behind. "I downloaded the app BiP made by Turkish company and found it better than WhatsApp / Signal / Telegram. Its features are amazing," Sayyed Ibrahim from Mumbai, India wrote on Twitter.

This is partly because of WhatsApp's controversial new privacy policy, which has now been postponed for implementation.

"WhatsApp's new privacy policy reveals that personal data of users, including phone number, IP address, contacts, status, groups (including group name, group picture, group description), payments or business features, profile photo, and timestamp, will be shared with third party websites such as Facebook," said Ramsha Jahangir, a Pakistani journalist currently based in Denmark.

"Every user wants to use a secure app and recent massive switching to other apps from WhatsApp is part of that move."

- Pakistan-Turkey relations

Another factor for BiP's success in Pakistan is its strong, brotherly relations with Turkey.

Attshan Ali Abbasi, the founding director of National Youth Assembly Pakistan, said Pakistanis feel close to Turkey, and consider BiP as their own. "Youngsters are downloading BiP because of their love for Turkey," he said.

If the company keeps improving and gives priority to its user interface and privacy, it could become the most downloaded app in the world, especially the Muslim world, Abbasi added.

In a statement, Atac Tansug, vice president of Turkcell digital services and solutions, said new features are in the works, which are sure to attract more users.

"People should switch to those applications which are offering best privacy protection," said Nighat Dad, a Pakistani cyber security expert who heads the Digital Rights Foundation.

In Google Play, BiP now ranks first in Bahrain, Bangladesh, Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, GSM operator Turkcell said in a statement.

BiP has been downloaded more than 65 million times in total. With the recent high demand from users, BiP continues to climb to the top of the ‘free most popular’ and ‘'trending’ categories in app markets worldwide.

Atac Tansug, vice president of Turkcell digital services and solutions, said the company maintains to invest in BİP, and new features in the works are certain to attract even more users.

After WhatsApp announced controversial changes to its privacy policy that allows it to share more data with parent company Facebook, users began to flee the app and seek alternatives.

Amid the backlash, WhatsApp last Friday postponed its new privacy policy from Feb. 8 to May 15.

"Days before the advertisement ban, LinkedIn announced that it will appoint a representative to our country," tweeted Omer Fatih Sayan, the country's deputy transport and infrastructure minister.

As required by the measures, Turkey has asked social media platforms that are accessed over a million times per day in the country to appoint local representatives.

Last year, Turkey imposed a fine of 40 million Turkish liras ($5.43 million) on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, for not complying with the law.

Turkey will limit the bandwidth of those platforms that flout the requirements by up to 90% and ban Turkey-based firms from running advertisements on them.

Sayan stressed that Turkey urges platforms to assign representatives before these penalties come into effect.

So far, VKontakte (VK), YouTube, TikTok and Dailymotion have decided to assign local representatives in the country.

Hailing platforms' decisions to appoint official representatives, Sayan added: "We expect the same sensitivity from other providers."

As part of the new legislation, social media firms must respond to requests by the Turkish government in the Turkish language and must answer requests concerning personal and privacy rights within 48 hours.

The platforms should also publish semi-annual reports on their response rates to such requests.

Social networks that do not comply with court orders to remove illegal content are to be subject to penalties, according to the law.

In addition, it also holds social media companies to take measures to host Turkey-based users' data in the country.

The popular messaging app said in a statement that there is misinformation that is "causing concern” after users began switching to alternatives because its new privacy policy rules forced them to accept sharing personal data with Facebook companies.

"We will always protect your personal conversations with end-to-end encryption, so that neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can see these private messages,” it said. "We also can’t see your shared location and we don’t share your contacts with Facebook."

The statement noted that the new update will not change the messaging system.

"Instead, the update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data," the company added.

It highlighted that the update does not change WhatsApp’s ability to share data with Facebook.

It underlined that users' accounts will not be suspended or deleted Feb. 8.

"We're also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp,” it said. "We’ll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15," it added.

- Alternatives

The most controversial issue in the update is that the rules will not be implemented for users in the EU, which was not noted in the press release.

Many Turkish users have shared posts on social media and deleted WhatsApps accounts since last week and switched to foreign and local alternatives, such as Telegram, Signal, Bip and Dedi.

On Friday, GSM operators in Turkey -- Turkcell, Turk Telekom and Vodafone -- joined hands to support locally developed messaging and social media platforms, Bip and Yaay, respectively.

The number of users exceeded 500 million during the first week of the new year, according to Durov.

"Twenty-five million users have joined Telegram in the last 72 hours. 38% of them are from Asia, 27% from Europe, and 21% from Latin America," he said, indicating the number of users continues to increase.

The WhatsApp messaging service forced many users last week to agree to new privacy rules for sharing personal data with Facebook companies.

Users will not be able to use the application service unless they accept the terms.

BiP, an app by Turkish mobile network giant Turkcell, gained over 1.12 million users in just 24 hours, boasting over 53 million users worldwide, according to data shared by Turkcell.

Offering superior messaging, HD voice and video call, BiP continues to be preferred in 192 countries.

Among its distinctive features is the disappear message option which allows users to send messages safely and make them disappear on the receiver’s side in the time set by the sender.

With its emergency button, BiP allows users to share their location and situation with previously determined 10 people in case of a natural disaster both via BiP message and SMS. Its emergency feature allows access to emergency phones – like ambulance, fire brigade, police.

Separately, the translation feature allows users to chat in 106 different languages during instant messaging.

- #DeletingWhatsApp

With some Chinese and the US companies reigning most of the digital area in the field of digital technology which is gaining importance day by day, “digital colonialism” has come to the fore across the globe in recent years.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously stated that he hoped new injustices and marginalization would not emerge through digitalization.

Following WhatsApp’ forced update in its privacy policy this week, users in Turkey have started to object to it on Twitter with the hashtag #DeletingWhatsapp.

Over 100,000 posts were shared in a day in Turkey and the users were seen to have turned towards local instant messaging applications.

Although there are numerous apps for messaging, BiP, Dedi, Signal, and Telegram were among those that were mostly uploaded.

The messaging service Signal -- which was launched in 2014 with the slogan: Say hello to privacy -- stands out as one of the platforms users prefer over WhatsApp. The application, which started to be preferred by more users after 2019, was developed by a non-profit organization in the US, The Signal Foundation and Signal Messenger.

With WhatsApp losing power in app stores, another application that attracted attention was Telegram. The application, headquartered in London, was founded in 2013 by two Russian brothers, computer programmers Pavel Durov and Nikolai Durov.

The changes in Whatsapp include sharing personal data, such as account information, messages, and location information with Facebook companies. It said the app could not be used unless the terms are not accepted.

Following a backlash, WhatsApp announced that users in the “Europe Region” would not be affected by the update, as their data would not be shared with Facebook companies.

But according to the app’s website, the region in question only includes EU countries, effectively forcing users in Turkey to approve the conditions to continue using the app.

Some have decried the app’s double standard, saying WhatsApp fears penalties from EU countries under data security rules.

With the changes, Telegram Messenger has become the most downloaded messaging app in Apple’s App Store in Turkey, Anadolu Agency has learned.

In second place is Signal, an app recommended by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, followed by WhatApp itself, and BiP, an app by Turkish mobile network giant Turkcell.

For Android users, Telegram Messenger was first in the Play Store, followed by WhatsApp and BiP.

BiP gained over 1.12 million users in just 24 hours, boasting over 53 million users worldwide, according to data shared by Turkcell.

Last week, WhatsApp sent its updated privacy policy to its users.

The changes include sharing personal data, such as account information, messages, and location information with Facebook companies. It said the app could not be used unless the terms are not accepted.

Following a backlash, WhatsApp announced that users in the “Europe Region” would not be affected by the update, as their data would not be shared with Facebook companies.

But according to the app’s website, the region in question only includes EU countries, effectively forcing users in Turkey to approve the conditions to continue using the app.

Some have decried the app’s double standard, saying WhatsApp fears penalties from EU countries under data security rules.

*Writing by Sena Guler in Ankara

The takedowns come amid a crackdown on unlicensed games by Chinese authorities.

Including the 39,000 games, Apple removed more than 46,000 apps in total from its store on Thursday. Games affected by the sweep included Ubisoft title Assassin's Creed Identity and NBA 2K20, according to research firm Qimai.

Qimai also said only 74 of the top 1,500 paid games on Apple store survived the purge.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple initially gave game publishers an end-of-June deadline to submit a government-issued licence number enabling users to make in-app purchases in the world's biggest games market.

Apple later extended the deadline to Dec. 31.

China's Android app stores have long complied with regulations on licences. It is not clear why Apple is enforcing them more strictly this year.

Analysts said the move was no surprise as Apple continues to close loopholes to fall in line with China's content regulators, and would not directly affect Apple's bottom line as much as previous removals.

"However, this major pivot to only accepting paid games that have a game licence, coupled with China's extremely low number of foreign game licences approved this year, will probably lead more game developers to switch to an ad-supported model for their Chinese versions," said Todd Kuhns, marketing manager for AppInChina, a firm that helps overseas companies distribute their apps.

The move to facilitate calls over large screens would put WhatsApp on par with video-conferencing bigwigs Zoom and Google Meet that have seen a meteoric rise in usage during the pandemic, but it is unclear if it has ambitions to compete with the two. (https://bit.ly/2K9Tx6W)

WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

With over 2 billion users globally, WhatsApp is second only to its parent firm Facebook Inc's namesake app, yet it is largely used for personal calls, unlike Zoom or Google Meet.

"We have restored all traffic to Kinesis Data Streams via all endpoints and it is now operating normally," the company said in a status update.

Amazon Kinesis, a part of AWS' cloud offerings, collects, processes and analyzes real-time data and offers insights.

Video-streaming device maker Roku Inc, Adobe's Spark platform, video-hosting website Flickr and the Baltimore Sun newspaper were among those hit by the outage, according to their posts on Twitter.

AWS said it had identified the cause of the outage and taken action to prevent a recurrence, according to the status update.

The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the cause of the outage.

“The ban is a violation of market principles and WTO [World Trade Organization] rules. India should immediately correct this discriminatory practice,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lijian Zhao told a news conference in Beijing, according to Chinese daily Global Times.

India on Tuesday banned 43 mobile apps for allegedly engaging in activities which are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India.”

“This action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order,” India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said.

Earlier today, China’s embassy in the Indian capital New Delhi said Beijing opposes the Indian side’s “repeated use of ‘national security’ as an excuse to prohibit some Mobil APPs with Chinese background.”

“We hope the India side can provides a fair, impartial and non-discriminatory business environment for all market players from various countries including China, and rectify the discriminatory practices violating WTO rules,” the embassy’s spokesman said.

In June, India had blocked dozens of mobile applications, including those with Chinese background.

The move came amid ongoing India-China tensions along the border, known as Line of Actual Control (LAC), in Ladakh area of disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd once challenged Samsung's top position in the global smartphone market, but the Chinese rival is in survival mode with U.S. restrictions choking off its supplies of chips used in smartphones and telecom equipment.

South Korean chip industry officials hope Joe Biden's presidency will ease some of those restrictions, although they are far from certain as they also expect the incoming U.S. administration to maintain a tough stance on China.

Samsung is preparing to launch its new Galaxy S21 as early as late January next year, whereas it previously launched its flagship S20 phone in early March this year, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the plan is not public.

Samsung Electronics declined to comment.

The South Korean company shipped 59% fewer Galaxy S20 5G series handsets in the United States in the second quarter compared to the previous model's performance a year earlier, according to research firm Canalys. In contrast, Apple shipped 15% more of its flagship iPhone 11 than last year's best-seller, the iPhone XR.

Samsung, which lost its No.1 position to Huawei in the second quarter, regained the crown in the third thanks in part to the U.S. restrictions on Huawei.

A person at one major supplier of smartphone chips said Huawei's stockpiles were expected to run out some time early next year.

Samsung, however, faces intensifying competition from Chinese rivals like Xiaomi and Oppo, which are expected to take advantage of Huawei’s struggle to retain market share.

Apple also launched its iPhone series in October, about a month later than usual, stepping up competition.

Turkcell's annual general assembly meeting held on Wednesday approved the Turkiye Wealth Fund to become the controlling shareholder of the company, the statement said.

The transaction has simplified the shareholding structure of Turkcell as the fund has a 26.2% stake, 15% of which are privileged shares.

“We have successfully completed a transaction that we have been working on day and night in a transparent fashion for the last 1.5 years," Zafer Sonmez, CEO of the fund, said.

The fund will pave the way for management to contribute to Turkcell’s future as an effective and performance-driven digital operator led by strong corporate governance principles, Sonmez noted.

Earlier this month, Islamabad had banned the popular video-sharing application due to "immoral" content.

"TikTok is being unlocked after assurance from management that they will block all accounts repeatedly involved in spreading obscenity and immorality", Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)- a state-run regulatory authority, said in a twitter post.

"TikTok will moderate the account in accordance with local laws," it added.

Last month, Information Minister Shibli Faraz had said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was considering a ban because the app was “spreading obscenity contrary to the cultural values” of the country.

Pakistan was the second Asian country to block the app this year, after India.

Influencers with thousands of followers can earn large fees from companies to promotes a product on Instagram.

In what the CMA described as an important behaviour shift by a major social media platform, Facebook Ireland, which operates Instagram in Britain, has committed to a package of changes.

"This will make it much harder for people to post an advert on Instagram without labelling it as such," the CMA said in a statement.

The watchdog said it has been investigating concerns that too many influencers are posting content about businesses without making it clear they have been paid or received other incentives to do so.

Influencers will have to confirm and disclose if they have received any incentives to promote a product or service.

Instagram will also use technology to spot when users might not have disclosed clearly that a post is an advertisement, the CMA said.

Last year, 16 celebrities pledged to clean up their act on social media after CMA action, the watchdog said.

The move enables users of each service to find, message and hold video calls with contacts on the other without needing to download both apps.

It also introduces features like custom emojis and themes that have been mainstays on Messenger but were not previously available in Instagram's minimalist messaging product, along with new features like disappearing messages.

If users accept the update, the messaging icon in Instagram will change to the Messenger logo. As on Messenger, Instagram users - who have not been able to forward messages - will be able to do so to a maximum of five people at a time.

"The goal of this exercise is to get to the point where we build something once and then it works across, so we don't have to repeat the same thing multiple times," said Messenger chief Stan Chudnovsky.

An initial launch will begin on Wednesday in a few unspecified countries and then be rolled out globally soon.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg first announced a vision for cross-app messaging early last year. The company eventually aims to integrate WhatsApp and extend end-to-end encryption across all three services.

The move is likely to figure in antitrust deliberations over Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, which are the subject of several probes.

Antitrust experts have raised concerns that weaving the services together could make it more difficult for regulators to break up the company.

Chudnovsky said no new categories of user data would be swapped between Instagram and Messenger beyond what was already shared, as both messaging services have relied on the same back-end infrastructure for years.

It was the first of what is expected to be five days of hearings in the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver.

Monday was a so-called Vukelich hearing, where the judge determines if there is enough evidence to support the possibility of the additional accusation of abuse of power.

If so, the defence will be allowed to introduce the accusation.

Meng’s lawyers contend the American extradition request made to Canada is flawed because US authorities excluded evidence that proves Meng did not lie to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Huawei’s dealings with Iran. The Americans said she fraudulently skirted US sanctions on Iran and put the bank at risk by violating the sanctions.

Defence lawyer Scott Fenton told the judge the allegations that resulted in the extradition request to Canada are “manifestly unreliable” and “seriously misleading.”

Meng has been fighting the extradition since her arrest in December 2018 in a Vancouver airport. She is under house arrest in the city.

Canadian prosecutors are arguing that Meng should be extradited to the US.

The extradition hearing is expected to be concluded by April 2021, but appeals could drag out the case for years.

The case has triggered serious backlashes from China, where two Canadians were detained a few days after Meng’s arrest and have since been held incommunicado.

Chinese authorities have also sentenced four Canadians to death on various charges.

The SEDEC conference was held virtually on Sept. 15-17 via the new application, XperMeet, developed by Turkish technology firm BITES, an affiliate of the Turkish defense giant Aselsan.

Face-to-face meetings could not be held due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but XperMeet allowed participants to have safe and secure conversations with its infrastructure.

Thanks to the secure software, Turkish security and defense industry firms held talks with procurement authorities from many countries and met with the world market.

Over three days, 254 companies and institutions from 24 countries held 700 meetings that totaled 410 hours in duration.

Ugur Coskun, the general manager of BITES, said his company developed the application amid the increase in telecommuting and distance education during the outbreak.

SEDEC provided an important opportunity to see XperMeet's capabilities, Coskun told Anadolu Agency.

"While we're trying to spread the practice in Turkey, we aren't neglecting international markets. For this reason, SEDEC was an event that coincided with our vision and we cared very much about it."

"In a sense, we held the first international launch of XperMeet and it was the first time we had a test of this scale. The feedback we got showed that we successfully passed this test."

The firm will continue to make efforts to further develop the application and create a strong international brand with suggestions and requests from users.

XperMeet will be able to provide secure video communication in strategic and critical areas like education, finance, health, energy and defense.

The application, which maintains maximum security with end-to-end encryption and SSL certification, uses native infrastructure to protect user data.

High-security file sharing will be also possible with the app, which offers seamless and high-quality conversation capabilities.

The application can be used in Internet browsers and mobile platforms.

The decision is part of US President Donald Trump’s executive orders signed on Aug. 6 when he said he would ban the TikTok app if its US business is not sold to an American company.

"At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data," Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in the statement.

Although the threats posed by WeChat and TikTok are not identical, Ross said they are similar, each collecting "vast swaths of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories."

While Trump has argued TikTok poses a national security threat to the US by sharing American users' information with Chinese government, some members of the US Congress also demanded the Department of Justice open an investigation into TikTok amid data privacy concerns.

However, TikTok's parent firm ByteDance denied such allegations, stressing that its user data is stored outside China, and saying it is committed to protect the privacy and safety of its users.

US software company Oracle last Sunday beat its rival Microsoft in a bidding war to buy TikTok's US operations, but TikTok's parent firm ByteDance said Thursday any agreement would require an approval of authorities in both Beijing and Washington.

The ban on TikTok could be revoked if Trump approves the Chinese company's deal with Oracle, or national security concerns posed by TikTok would be resolved until Nov. 12.

TikTok was downloaded 315 million times in January-March 2020, more than any app in a single quarter in history, and 37 million times in August alone when it generated a $9 million revenue that month, according to latest data from Sensor Tower.

WeChat was downloaded 6 million times worldwide, generating a $405,000 revenue in August, the analytics company's data shows.

Epic Games filed for a preliminary injunction that would put its game back in the App Store and restore its developer account. The filing was made in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

It argued that Epic Games is “likely to suffer irreparable harm” in the absence of a preliminary injunction and that “the balance of harms tips sharply in Epic’s favor”.

The filing described the iPhone maker as a “monopolist” that maintains its monopolies by “explicitly prohibiting any competitive entry”.

Late last week, Apple terminated Epic Games’ account on its App Store amid a legal battle over the iPhone maker’s in-app payment guidelines and accusations they constitute a monopoly.

Apple said last week its move will not affect Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, a software tool relied on by hundreds of other app makers.

But the move meant iPhone users will not be able to download “Fortnite” or other Epic titles through the Apple App Store.

“This was a clear warning to any other developer that would dare challenge Apple’s monopolies: follow our rules or we will cut you off from a billion iOS consumers - challenge us and we will destroy your business,” Epic Games said in Friday’s filing.

Apple pulled Epic Games after the popular games creator implemented a feature to let iPhone users make in-app purchases directly, rather than using Apple’s in-app purchase system, which charges commissions of 30%.

Apple had said it would allow “Fortnite” back into the store if Epic removed the direct payment feature. But Epic refused to do so, saying complying with Apple’s request would be “to collude with Apple to maintain their monopoly over in-app payments on iOS.”

Huawei's cloud computing business sells computing power and storage to companies, including giving them access to artificial intelligence, and has been growing rapidly, the newspaper reported on Sunday, citing sources.

In January, Huawei put the unit on an equal footing with its smartphones and telecoms equipment businesses, the FT reported https://on.ft.com/3hHJC3Y.

The unit was stepping up its offerings and Beijing will increasingly support the company through public cloud contracts, according to the report.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has restricted technology exports to Chinese companies in particular, notably Huawei, citing national security risks.

ByteDance has been ordered by President Donald Trump to divest short video app TikTok - which is challenging the order - in the United States amid security concerns over the personal data it handles.

Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp are among the suitors for the assets, which also includes TikTok's Canada, New Zealand and Australia operations.

However, China late on Friday revised a list of technologies that are banned or restricted for export for the first time in 12 years and Cui Fan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the changes would apply to TikTok.

"If ByteDance plans to export related technologies, it should go through the licensing procedures," Cui said in an interview with Xinhua published on Saturday.

China's Ministry of Commerce added 23 items - including technologies such as personal information push services based on data analysis and artificial intelligence interactive interface technology - to the restricted list.

It can take up to 30 days to obtain preliminary approval to export the technology.

TikTok's secret weapon is believed to be its recommendation engine that keeps users glued to their screens. This engine, or algorithm, powers TikTok's "For You" page, which recommends the next video to watch based on an analysis of your behaviour.

Cui noted that ByteDance's development overseas had relied on its domestic technology that provided the core algorithm and said the company may need to transfer software codes or usage rights to the new owner of TikTok from China to overseas.

"Therefore, it is recommended that ByteDance seriously studies the adjusted catalogue and carefully considers whether it is necessary to suspend" negotiations on a sale, he added.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

China's foreign ministry has said that it opposes the executive orders Trump has placed on TikTok and that Beijing will defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses.

The European Commission has opened similar inquiries in the past into sectors such as e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, financial services and energy that led to cases against companies and eventually hefty fines.

Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri and Alphabet's Google Assistant are among the most popular voice assistant devices.

"It sends an important message to powerful operators in these market that we are watching them and that they need to do business in line with competition rules," European Competition Commission Margrethe Vestager told a news conference.

The EU executive said its interest was prompted by the large amounts of user data involved in consumer "internet of things" devices and it wanted to make sure market players did not use their control of such data to hurt competition or thwart rivals.

"Interoperability is of the essence if we want to make this market accessible," Vestager said.

Vestager, who can fine companies up to 10% of their global turnover for breaching EU antitrust rules, has made the tech industry the centrepiece of her enforcement efforts, taking on Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook in recent years.

"National security comes first ... and I know that the NSC (National Security Council) and the whole of government will be placing a huge priority on our national security," he told BBC radio.

An announcement on Huawei's role would be made "as soon as practicable", he said.

"These restrictions actually haven't had an impact on Huawei's capability to supply to the UK's 5G and fibre solution at this moment," Zhang told reporters on a call.

"We need to talk about the long term impact, it takes time, it takes months."

The Southeast Asian country's tax office said in a statement that it had already assigned tax identification numbers to Amazon Web Services, Netflix, Spotify and Alphabet's Google for its Google Asia Pacific, Google Ireland, and Google LLC units.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country with a population of nearly 270 million, is experiencing a boom in its digital economy which is expected to reach $130 billion by 2025, a study by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Company predicts.

It expects a 13% yearly drop in state revenue this year as the pandemic hits business activity, which combined with nearly $50 billion for the fight against the coronavirus is forecast to more than triple its 2020 budget deficit.

Under the new rules, non-resident foreign firms which sell digital products and services in Indonesia worth at least 600 million rupiah ($41,667) a year or which generate yearly traffic from at least 12,000 users will be required to pay the 10% VAT.

"The tax office will continue to communicate with relevant businesses abroad ... the number of companies assigned to apply VAT for digital products will likely increase," tax office spokesman Hestu Yoga Saksama said.

A Netflix spokesman told Reuters that it would comply.

"It is for governments to decide the rules on VAT and in every country we operate, Netflix respects those rules."

Amazon Web Services, Google, and Spotify did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The United States Trade Representative office has launched an investigation into Indonesia and other countries for adopting or considering Digital Services Taxes, but Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Muyani Indrawati said the VAT move was not part of this. ($1 = 14,400.0000 rupiah)

The "StopCovid" smartphone app, which was launched on June 2, warns users if they have come into contact with anyone infected with the coronavirus to help to contain the epidemic as France emerges from lockdown.

The app, "Remove China Apps", had become top trending free app on Google's mobile app store in India with more than five million downloads since late May. Its popularity rose amid calls for a boycott of Chinese mobile apps in India during a Himalayan border dispute between the two nations.

A Google spokesman confirmed to Reuters the app had been removed due to violation of app store policies, but gave no further details.

A person familiar with the matter said the software violated Google's policies prohibiting apps that mislead users into removing or disabling third-party apps or modifying device settings or features.

Remove China Apps scanned users' phones for apps such as ByteDance's TikTok and Alibaba's UC Browser. Once deleted, a message popped up saying "You are awesome, no China app found."

OneTouch AppLabs, which developed the app, did not respond to a request for comment. On its website it confirmed the app had been removed and thanked users for their support.

Many Indians and a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party have used the hash tag #BoycottChineseProducts on social media, calling for deletion of popular Chinese apps.