WikiLeaks has just published a new batch of the ongoing Vault 7 leak, this time detailing an alleged CIA project that allowed the agency to hack and remotely spy on computers running the Linux operating systems.

Dubbed OutlawCountry, the project allows the CIA hackers to redirect all outbound network traffic on the targeted computer to CIA controlled computer systems for exfiltrate and infiltrate data.

The OutlawCountry Linux hacking tool consists of a kernel module, which the CIA hackers load via shell access to the targeted system and create a hidden Netfilter table with an obscure name on a target Linux user.

“The new table allows certain rules to be created using the “iptables” command. These rules take precedence over existing rules, and are only visible to an administrator if the table name is known. When the Operator removes the kernel module, the new table is also removed,” CIA’s leaked user manual reads.

Although the installation and persistence method of the OutlawCountry tool is not described in detail in the document, it seems like the CIA hackers rely on the available CIA exploits and backdoors to inject the kernel module into a targeted Linux operating system.

However, there are some limitations to using the tool, such as the kernel modules only work with compatible Linux kernels.

“OutlawCountry v1.0 contains one kernel module for 64-bit CentOS/RHEL 6.x; this module will only work with default kernels. Also, OutlawCountry v1.0 only supports adding covert DNAT rules to the PREROUTING chain,” WikiLeaks says.

Previous Vault 7 CIA Leaks

Last week, WikiLeaks dumped a classified CIA malware that tracks geo-location of targeted PCs and laptops running the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Dubbed ELSA, the malware captures the IDs of nearby public hotspots and then matches them with the global database of public Wi-Fi hotspots’ locations.

Since March, the whistleblowing group has published 14 batches of “Vault 7” series, which includes the latest and last week leaks, along with the following batches:

• Brutal Kangaroo – a CIA tool suite for Microsoft Windows that targets closed networks or air-gapped computers within an enterprise or organization without requiring any direct access.
• Cherry Blossom – a CIA’s framework, generally a remotely controllable firmware-based implant, used for monitoring the Internet activity of the target systems by exploiting flaws in WiFi devices.
• Pandemic – a CIA’s project that allowed the spying agency to turn Windows file servers into covert attack machines that can silently infect other computers of interest inside a targeted network.
• Athena – an agency’s spyware framework that has been designed to take full control over the infected Windows machines remotely, and works with every version of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, from Windows XP to Windows 10.
• AfterMidnight and Assassin – Two apparent CIA’s malware frameworks for the Microsoft Windows platform that is meant to monitor and report back actions on the infected remote host computer and execute malicious code.
• Archimedes – A man-in-the-middle attack tool allegedly built by the spying agency to target computers inside a Local Area Network (LAN).
• Scribbles – A piece of software reportedly designed to embed ‘web beacons’ into confidential documents, allowing the CIA hackers to track insiders and whistleblowers.
• Grasshopper – A framework that allowed the CIA to easily create custom malware for breaking into Microsoft’s Windows and bypassing antivirus protection.
• Marble – The source code of a secret anti-forensic framework, primarily an obfuscator or a packer used by the spying agency to hide the actual source of its malware.
• Dark Matter – Hacking exploits the agency designed and used to target iPhones and Mac machines.
• Weeping Angel – Spying tool used by the CIA to infiltrate smart TV’s, transforming them into covert microphones in target’s pocket.
• Year Zero – CIA hacking exploits for popular hardware and software.

Snap Map is Snapchat’s plan to tie together its online content with ways to augment your offline reality, and it’s got the patent to back it up. Augmented reality location startup Drop tells TechCrunch that Snap Inc. acquired its intellectual property in 2015, including its “Location-based messaging” patent.

In 2013, Drop developed an app that would let you post photos or text to a certain location, like a landmark or business, and your followers would get an alert to check it out when they came nearby. By utilizing Drop’s intellectual property, Snapchat could launch a similar feature allowing users to discover location-based messages with the Snap Map or Snapchat’s AR lenses. Snap declined to comment on this story, as it usually does regarding M&A news.

Drop won TechCrunch’s 2013 Boston pitch competition, and you can see an interview with the team below. Drop went on to raise a $1.25 million seed round from Atlas Ventures and Spark Capital. At the end of 2015, Drop eventually launched a real-time location-sharing app called Firefly. The app was quite similar to Zenly, the social map startup that TechCrunch reported last week had been bought by Snapchat for $250 million to $350 million, and will continue to run autonomously while also having inspired Snapchat’s new Snap Map.

In anticipation of Snap Map’s launch, it appears that Snapchat sought to beef up its location patent portfolio. In 2014, CEO Evan Spiegel filed a patent for seeing other people’s photos taken somewhere and unlocking geofenced photos from friends. Snap acquired a geofilter patent from Yo founder Moshe Hogeg’s startup Mobli for $7.7 million. Prior to its IPO, Snapchat bought 245 patents from IBM, including ones for representing the location of messages’ senders on a map and estimating the location of social network users. And just this month, Snap acquired Placed to prove how its geofilters drive brick-and-mortar store visits.

Now TechCrunch has learned that in 2015, Snapchat reached out to Drop to buy its location tech IP, according to co-founder Zachary DeWitt. He tells us that “Snapchat reached out to buy the IP portfolio. We went back and forth on terms and price, but ended up selling them our whole portfolio of IP. The patent included a very detailed section on the line by line technology implementation so the owner of the patent would be able to replicate the code consistently with our original technology specifications.” The patent was reassigned in December, and the deal led Drop to pivot entirely to working on Firefly.

DeWitt characterized the insistence of Snap Inc., saying “They came in and they were very determined. They paid all our legal fees. It happened very fast.” After some prying, he revealed that total price paid was “under $1 million,” though another source tells TechCrunch it was closer to $100,000. While not a ton of cash, it’s not a bad consolation prize for a failed startup.

“I think the reason Snapchat went after our patent is because we’re one of the first to have a patent in the space. Our patent was very expansive and covered a lot of use cases” DeWitt says. “We definitely think it’s a linchpin patent to what they’re trying to achieve.”

“Our firm view at Drop was that physical and digital worlds would increasingly converge over time. Whether it be a visualization of your network’s location, or contextual content specific to a place, people will be able to interact with the world in a completely different way,” DeWitt says. “It is clear from Snap’s moves with Snap Map and in recent additions to the Company’s patent portfolio that they share this belief and aim to be a key enabler of this trend.”

Snap’s not the only one. During its F8 conference in April, Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Facebook’s augmented reality Camera Effects Platform will include the ability to leave AR notes for people at specific places. Meanwhile, Instagram recently launched Location Stories that shows other people’s ephemeral photos and videos from a certain place.

That means there could a be race between Facebook/Instagram and Snapchat to see who can popularize unlockable geofenced content. This could encourage users to take out their phones to check if there’s any hidden content wherever they are, which might in turn inspire them to capture and share their own location-based content to whichever app wins.

“Snap may soon allow you to create location-specific content that your friends will discover when they arrive at that location” DeWitt predicts. “For example, leave a Snap video message at the airport for your brother to find when he lands. Thus, Snaps may become virtual sticky notes that are scattered around the Snap Map for users to find, add to, and interact with in fun and creative ways.”

Snapchat needs a new hit product after Instagram Stories copied and surpassed it. That could be Snap Map if it combines the utility of finding friends with whom to hang out with Drop’s location-based content discovery… and can avoid violating people’s privacy. The physical world will take a lot of work to flesh out with augmented reality content. But even if it has poor relations with developers, Snap could fill its map with an army of teen contributors.

Red Lion Hotels today announced plans to enhance guest experiences with a series of Apple-related technology upgrades, including Apple TVs in hotel rooms, an updated iOS app that allows guests to check in using their iPhones, iPad kiosks for lobby areas, and more.

Red Lion Hotels is starting to add in-room Apple TVs to its “Hotel RL” branded properties. The TVs will be equipped with Red Lion Hotel apps that allow guests to watch DirecTV channels and the Hotel RL Living Stage channel that highlights local artists and performers performing live across the Hotel RL brand.

Hello Rewards, the Red Lion Hotel app, is being updated with new functionality that will allow guests to manage loyalty accounts and check in and check out right on their iPhones. The app will include digital keys, so guests don’t need to visit the hotel’s registration desk at all – the iPhone can unlock a room door.

“We are constantly looking at ways to service guests with tailored experiences,” said Edwards. “We understand that sometimes guests don’t prefer engaging with people during travel, so we created a way for people to arrive, check in, proceed directly to their room, and even check out. We want to accommodate them in every way that we can, and our updated Hello Rewards app with new check-in and check-out features, plus digital room keys, deliver on that promise.”

With these additions, Red Lion Hotels is aiming to create a connected experience for guests from check in to check out. Prior to arriving at the hotel, guests will receive a text message with a link to the Hello Rewards application, and from there, Hello Rewards can be used to manage the entire hotel experience. Along with serving as a digital key, the app can allow guests to communicate with hotel staff and discover local venue recommendations.

Red Lion Hotels is also equipping its staff with Apple products. Valet staff will be provided with Apple Watches to manage car retrieval requests without needing to be present at the hotel’s valet stand, and in the lobby, there will be self-service iPad kiosks for checking in and contacting customer support, all with the aim of streamlining the hotel experience for customers.

In this week’s UpFront, we speak to former Afghan spy chief Amrullah Saleh about the US-led war in Afghanistan and why 16, years on, the Taliban continues to have a strong foothold in the country.

In the Reality Check, we explain why conflating Israel with Jewish people is wrong, and how it’s sometimes Israeli officials who make this assumption.

And in the Arena, we debate whether Joseph Kabila, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will keep his promise to hold elections by the end of this year, since he is already past the two-term limit enshrined in the constitution.

Headliner – Is the military strategy in Afghanistan flawed?

This year marks 16 years of unrelenting war in Afghanistan between the US-backed government and the Taliban.

With no end to the war in sight, can the Taliban forces be defeated? Is reconciliation possible?

For Amrullah Saleh, who served in Afghanistan as State Minister for Security Reforms, to defeat the Taliban, US-backed forces must focus on Pakistan instead, calling its southern neighbour the “root cause” of violence.

“Go to the source, and go to the root cause of this,” says Saleh, who also served for six years as the leader of Afghanistan’s spy agency, the National Directorate of Security. “What the United States does need is [to] come out with more clarity and tell the Pakistanis: We know what you are doing and we are a superpower, but we do not have super-patience.”

In this week’s Headliner, Mehdi Hasan challenges former Afghan security official Amrullah Saleh on why he believes the US needs to change its strategy in order more effectively to combat the Taliban.

For more from this interview, click here.

Reality Check – Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and Israel’s leaders

Anti-Semitism is racism. No ifs, no buts. It’s hostility to, or prejudice, against Jews.

There are some who have suggested that anti-Zionism – the opposition to a Jewish-majority state in Palestine – is also a form of anti-Semitism.

While some anti-Zionists do cross the line into anti-Semitism, many, including Jewish anti-Zionists, make clear their criticism is of Israel, not of the Jewish people. They make a distinction between Jewish people and Israel’s policies.

In this week’s Reality Check, Mehdi Hasan explains why conflating Israel with Jews is wrong, and how it’s sometimes Israeli leaders who do this conflating.

Arena – DR Congo: Does Kabila intend to stay in power?

The Democratic Republic of Congo was expected to welcome a new president last year, but with elections delayed, President Joseph Kabila remains in office past the two-term limit enshrined in the constitution.

Kabila has promised that elections will be held by the end of this year. So will the country finally be restored to full democratic rule, or could he attempt to remain in power?

For Martin Fayulu, an opposition politician who claims to have been shot in the head by government forces during a peaceful protest, Kabila is not willing to give up power.

“Kabila knew clearly that he has to go by the end of last year. But what he did? He tried to manoeuvre not to have elections,” says Fayulu, who hopes to replace Kabila. “I’m not sure that by the end of this year we’ll have that transparent and credible election.”

“If there is anything Kabila does not want to do, it is to stay in power for ever,” says Zihindula Mulegwa, a former spokesman for Kabila. “We are involved in voter registration right now and we expect to have elections at the end of this year.”

In this week’s Arena, former government spokesman Zihindula Mulegwa and opposition politician Martin Fayulu debate the future of democracy in DR Congo.

Follow UpFront on Twitter @AJUpFront and Facebook.

Source: Al Jazeera News

Playground Ventures — the VC fund co-founded by Android inventor and former Google exec Andy Rubin that sits alongside an eponymous incubator/startup studio and is making some big bets in areas like artificial intelligence and new generations of hardware– is raising more money. A Form D filed with the SEC notes that Playground Ventures is in the process of adding another $15 million into its coffers. The filing notes that none of the sum has yet to be raised.

Relatively speaking, $15 million a modest figure: since 2015, it looks like the Playground group, which includes the Playground Global incubator and Playground Ventures, has disclosed about $242 million in funding as part of a projected $300 million fundraise, and what appears to be a bigger plan to raise $500 million. We have contacted the company to ask if it can elaborate more on whether this $15 million is one more segment in that wider effort, or if it is for another, different purpose.

Specifically, this latest funding is for “Playground Ventures Affiliates II”. Two previous Playground Ventures filings at the SEC include Playground Ventures, which is from 2015 and covers the $242 million raise; and Playground Ventures II, which dates from November 2016 and is the filing to raise $500 million. We’ll update this as we learn more.

Notably, en route to raising $300 million to date, Playground has picked up a number of strategic backers like Google, HP and Foxconn, which together with others put in $48 million towards the running total.

Why? Everyone likes to back a winning team, and by virtue of Rubin’s experience with Android and Google, and the impressive backgrounds of others on the team (including the creator of QuickTime, the co-creator of Danger, the creator of the first big video codec and many others), Playground has one of the best track records around. And getting involved at the LP level gives these companies a chance to work early on with startups that have the potential to become big.

Up to now, Playground has served as a vehicle for backing some big ideas.

The full portfolio today includes deep linking startup Branch, French high-end audio maker Devialet, driverless tech startup Nauto, the new phone company Essential and more. But not all of them may be flying. Just earlier this week we reported that AR company CastAR appears to have shut down.

In some cases, the companies have been incubated and have Playground’s support and network access in exchange for equity, but no investment. In other cases, Playground has invested.

Turkey has said that the rights of Qatar should be respected in resolving an escalating dispute between Doha and its neighbours.

“The current issues between the (Gulf) countries, who are brothers, must be resolved soon on the basis of a sincere dialogue and respect for Qatar’s rights,” Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik said during a meeting with his Qatari counterpart Khaled bin Mohammed al-Attiyah in Ankara on Friday.

The meeting came as Turkey, which has stood by Doha throughout the crisis, resists pressure to shutter a Turkish military base in Doha that Qatar’s neighbours want to see closed.

READ MORE- Analysis: The implications of the Qatar-Turkey alliance

Earlier in June, Turkey’s parliament ratified two deals on deploying troops to Qatar and training its army.

Al-Attiyah said that the focus of his visit is about the Turkish base in Qatar.

“Qatar and Turkey maintain historic ties and my visit comes in the context of boosting defence cooperation between the two countries,” he said.

Last week Riyadh and its allies issued 13 demands to Qatar for resolving the crisis, including the closure of the Turkish military base and the Doha-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit back at the sweeping Saudi-led demands, saying they were “against international law”.

He also described the call for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Qatar as “disrespect to Turkey.”

Meanwhile, Erdogan and US President Donald Trump discussed the Gulf crisis over the phone on Friday, highlighting the need for negotiations to ease regional tensions.

The leaders agreed that ongoing tension between Qatar and other Gulf countries should be reduced for the sake of the region’s security and stability.

Erdogan and Trump also discussed bilateral ties related to economy and defence sectors, and also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Source: News agencies

A former employee of a New York City hospital opened fire with an assault rifle inside the building, killing one doctor and wounding six other people before fatally shooting himself, officials said.

The gunfire broke out at 2:50 pm local time on Friday (18:50 GMT) inside the Bronx Lebanon Hospital in the Bronx.

The assailant, wearing a white lab coat and armed with an assault rifle, stalked the 16th and 17th floors of the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center.

Police who swarmed the building found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a search, they said.

One physician was shot to death in the course of the bloodshed, and six other people were injured, five seriously, including one who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, Police Commissioner James O’Neill said at a news conference.

“One doctor is dead and there are several others who are fighting for their lives right now,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters.

The mayor characterised the shooting as an “isolated incident” that appeared to be “workplace-related”.

Authorities did not immediately identify the gunman or any of his victims.

An NYPD official also confirmed on Twitter that the attacker died in hospital.

One shooter is deceased at the hospital. https://t.co/qgRQdwd33j

— J. Peter Donald (@JPeterDonald) June 30, 2017

Television images showed the hospital surrounded by police cars and fire trucks. Police could be seen on the roof of the building, at one point, with their guns drawn.

Bronx Lebanon Hospital describes itself as the largest voluntary, not-for-profit health care system in the south and central Bronx.

The 120-year-old hospital claims nearly 1,000 beds spread across multiple units.

Source: News agencies

The death toll from an oil tanker explosion in central Pakistan has risen to 190, hospital and government officials said, as 16 more people succumbed to their injuries on Friday.

The oil tanker overturned on Sunday morning on a main highway from the coastal city of Karachi to Lahore while carrying around 40,000 litres of fuel.

It exploded minutes later as crowds from a nearby village gathered to scavenge for fuel, despite warnings by the driver as well as motorway police to stay away. 

“The death toll from the tanker fire incident is now 190 after expiry of more injured people,” Tahira Parveen, medical superintendent of Bahawalpur Victoria hospital, told AFP news agency.

The charred wreckage of dozens of motorcycles and cars could be seen scattered on the highway, along with kitchen utensils, pots, water coolers, jerrycans and buckets which victims had brought to collect the petrol.

Local sources told Al Jazeera that most of the victims were residents of nearby areas who were collecting fuel from the spillage.

Motorway police spokesman Imran Shah said that a government inquiry into the incident found at least five police officials guilty of hiding information.

The tragedy marked a grim start to Eid, the celebrations closing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Analysts said the reaction of the crowds is not surprising, given the problem of fuel shortages and poverty.

Children were among the dead and injured, according to Mohamed Ahmed, a hospital doctor.

People with severe burns were being sent to other cities because the hospital lacked facilities to treat so many patients at the same time, he said.

Rana Sanaullah, Punjab’s law minister, told the ARY news channel that DNA tests were being used to identify the dead.

He said the driver of the fuel tanker had survived the crash and been taken into custody.

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, expressed his grief at the accident and ordered authorities to make sure the victims were treated at the best medical facilities, his office said in a statement. 

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Samsung Display is planning to construct the world’s biggest OLED display manufacturing plant, with more than 30 percent higher production capacity than the company’s current biggest factory, according to Korean website ETNews. “iPhone 8” mockup designed by Benjamin Geskin for iDrop News

The report, citing unnamed industry sources, suggests the tentatively named A5 factory could begin mass production in 2019, with a peak yield of between 180,000 and 270,000 display panels per month.

Samsung Display has reportedly also been expanding its existing A3 plant since the second half of 2015 in order to fulfill demand for OLED displays from both its sister company Samsung Electronics and Apple.

Apple is widely rumored to release its first iPhone with an OLED display, known as the “iPhone 8” for now, later this year. Reports claim Apple has ordered between 70 and 92 million OLED panels from Samsung for the device.

An earlier report out of Korea claimed Apple aims to switch its entire iPhone lineup to OLED displays by 2019.

Ransomware Ransomware Everywhere Not a Single Place to Hide!

But, Microsoft has a simple solution to this problem to protect millions of its users against most ransomware attacks.

Two massive ransomware attacks — WannaCry and Petya (also known as NotPetya) — in a month have caused chaos and disruption worldwide, forcing hospitals, ATMs, shipping companies, governments, airports and car companies to shut down their operations.

Most ransomware in the market, including WannaCry and NotPetya, are specifically designed to target computers running Windows operating system, which is why Microsoft has been blamed for not putting proper defensive measures in place to prevent such threats.

But not now!

In the wake of recent devastating global ransomware outbreaks, Microsoft has finally realized that its Windows operating system is deadly vulnerable to ransomware and other emerging threats that specifically targets its platform.

To tackle this serious issue, the tech giant has introduced a new anti-ransomware feature in its latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build (16232) yesterday evening, along with several other security features.

Microsoft is planning to introduce these security features in Windows 10 Creator Update (also known as RedStone 3), which is expected to release sometime between September and October 2017.

The anti-ransomware feature, dubbed Controlled Folder Access, is part of Windows Defender that blocks unauthorized applications from making any modifications to your important files located in certain “protected” folders.

Applications on a whitelist can only access Protected folders. So you can add or remove the apps from the list. Certain applications will be whitelisted automatically, though the company doesn’t specify which applications.

Once turned on, “Controlled folder access” will watch over files stored inside Protected folders and any attempt to access or modify a protected file by non-whitelisted apps will be blocked by Windows Defender, preventing most ransomware to encrypt your important files.

So, whenever an application tries to make changes to Protected files but is blacklisted by the feature, you will get a notification about the attempt.

How to Enable Controlled Folder Access, Whitelist Apps and Add or Remove Protected Folders

Here’s how to enable the Controlled folder access feature:

• Go to Start menu and Open the Windows Defender Security Center
• Go to the Virus & Threat Protection settings section
• Set the switch to On

Here’s how to allow apps that you trust is being blocked by the Controlled folder access feature to access Protected folders:

• Go to Start menu and Open the Windows Defender Security Center
• Go to the Virus & Threat Protection settings section
• Click ‘Allow an app through Controlled folder access’ in the Controlled folder access area
• Click ‘Add an allowed app’ and select the app you want to allow

Windows library folders like Documents, Pictures, Movies, and Desktop are designated as being compulsorily “protected” by default, which can not be removed.

However, users can add or remove their personal folders to the list of protected folders. Here’s how to add folders to Protected folders list:

• Go to Start menu and Open the Windows Defender Security Center
• Go to the Virus & Threat Protection settings section
• Click ‘Protected folders’ in the Controlled folder access area
• Enter the full path of the folder you want to monitor

Users can also enter network shares and mapped drives, but environment variables and wildcards are not supported at this moment.

Other Security Feature Introduced in Windows 10 Insider Program

With the release of Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16232, Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) for Edge — a new system for running Microsoft Edge in a special virtual machine in order to protect the OS from browser-based flaws — also received improvements in usability.

Windows 10 Insider Preview Build also comes with support for Microsoft Edge data persistence when using WDAG.

“Once enabled, data such as your favorites, cookies, and saved passwords will be persisted across Application Guard sessions,” Microsoft explains.
“The persisted data will be not be shared or surfaced on the host, but it will be available for future Microsoft Edge in Application Guard sessions.”

Another new security feature called Exploit Protection has been introduced in Windows 10 16232, which blocks cyber attacks even when security patches are not available for them, which means the feature will be useful particularly in the case of zero-day vulnerabilities.

Exploit Protection works without Microsoft’s Windows Defender Antivirus tool, but you can find the feature in Windows Defender Security Center → App & Browser Control → Exploit Protection.

In the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10, Microsoft has also planned to use a broad range of data from Redmond’s cloud services, including Azure, Endpoint, and Office, to create an AI-driven Antivirus (Advanced Threat Protection) that can pick up on malware behavior and protect other PCs running the operating system.

Also, we reported about Microsoft’s plan to build its EMET or Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit into the kernel of the upcoming Windows 10 to boost the security of your PC against complex threats such as zero-day vulnerabilities.

Also, the company is planning to remove the SMBv1 (Server Message Block version 1) — a 30-year-old file sharing protocol which came to light last month after the devastating WannaCry outbreak — from the upcoming Windows 10 (1709) Redstone 3 Update.

Besides this, some other changes and improvements have also been introduced with the release, along with patches for several known issues.

With the launch of the new iPad Pro models at WWDC this year, Apple introduced new 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch devices that both came with an A10X Fusion Chip, which is said to deliver 30 percent faster CPU performance than previous-generation iPad Pro models and 40 percent faster graphics performance. The manufacturing process by which Apple fabricated the chip was never clear, but now TechInsights has confirmed that the A10X chip was built using a 10-nanometer FinFET process.

Specifically, the the chips were built using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s new 10-nanometer FinFET process, making the A10X the first TSMC 10-nanometer chip to show up in a consumer device. In comparison, the A9 and A10 were built using a 16-nanometer process, the A8 used a 20-nanometer process, and the A7 used a 28-nanometer process. As AnandTech pointed out, the A9, A8, and A7 were all iPhone chips that debuted a new process node at the time of their manufacturing, so it’s unclear why Apple decided to fabricate a mid-generation X-series chip within an iPad on a new process node this time around.

Image via TechInsights

Compared to previous SoC standards not in the X-series, the A10X (96.4mm squared) is 24 percent smaller than the A10 (125mm squared), and 9 percent smaller than the A9 (104.5mm squared). For previous X-series chips, the A10X is 34 percent smaller than the A9X and 20 percent smaller than the A6X. “In other words, Apple has never made an iPad SoC this small before,” AnandTech explained.

Ultimately what this means is that in terms of design and features, A10X is relatively straightforward. It’s a proper pipecleaner product for a new process, and one that is geared to take full advantage of the die space savings as opposed to spending those savings on new features/transistors.

TechInsights‘ die shot revealed some details about the floorplan of the A10X, including 12 GPU clusters on the left and CPU cores on the right, but otherwise the shots weren’t clean enough to draw any more information about the chip that Apple hasn’t already confirmed. The “conservative” SoC is said to be largely similar to the A9X SoC, with a few differences: the A10X includes 3 Fusion CPU core pairs, up from 2 on the A10 and A9X, and has seen a bump in the L2 cache to 8MB, up from 3MB on the A9X.

Image via AnandTech

The GPU sticks with 12 clusters, seen in the floorplan, which the A9X also had, meaning that “the only major change is the CPU cores.” So the A10X is more powerful than the A9X at a significant decrease in die size, as is typical with Apple’s manufacturing processes. One confirmation offered by the die shot appears to be that Apple is still using Imagination Technology’s PowerVR architecture in the A10X SoC. This past April, Apple told the manufacturer it would stop using its graphics technology in its devices within two years time, because the Cupertino company is developing its own independent graphics processing chips.

In March it was reported that TSMC was gearing up to begin production on the iPhone 8’s A11 chip, and after a delay that production has officially begun, also using the manufacturer’s 10-nanometer FinFET process. In general, the jump to 10-nanometer instead of 16-nanometer will yield chips that are more power efficient, resulting in user experiences that are snappier.

For TSMC, the 10-nanometer FinFET process is predicted to be a short-lived node, as it’s said that the manufacturer is gearing up to jump to a 7-nanometer process in 2018. Other manufacturers, including Samsung and Intel, are believed to stick with 10-nanometer as their main fabrication process for a bit longer than TSMC.

New photos of an alleged “iPhone 8” prototype have been shared on Twitter by Latvian student Benjamin Geskin, who allegedly obtains his information from Chinese sources in contact with him on WeChat and WhatsApp.

The prototype, if it’s even real in the first place, likely isn’t Apple’s finalized design for its widely rumored 5.8-inch iPhone with an OLED display. Geskin himself expressed skepticism about the photos in his tweet.

Multiple reports have claimed the high-end iPhone will have an edge-to-edge display like Samsung’s Galaxy S8, but the prototype pictured still has left and right bezels. The top bezel also lacks the 3D sensors expected.

“iPhone 8 Prototype, Inside tip”

This ugly design, again? Hmm.. http://pic.twitter.com/qzlrEvl9XK

— Benjamin Geskin (@VenyaGeskin1) June 29, 2017

One design aspect that is likely accurate is the lack of a Home button, as Touch ID is reportedly expected to be embedded into the display, or placed on the rear of the smartphone in the absolute worst case scenario.

The prototype appears to be stored in Apple’s supposed “stealth” case, photos of which Australian leaker Sonny Dickson shared with MacRumors in February. The prototype is concealed by the front cover of an iPhone with a Home button.

Reports suggest the “iPhone 8” has faced multiple delays due to manufacturing challenges, but as production ramps up over the summer, better evidence of Apple’s next smartphone should begin to emerge from within the supply chain.

Indian businesses are bracing for the worst as the country storms ahead with its most ambitious reform in decades – transforming the world’s fastest growing major economy into a single market.

At midnight on Saturday, July 1, the long-awaited goods and services tax (GST) will be rolled out, replacing about 20 federal and state taxes and unifying the country’s $2 trillion economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government promises the new system will not just simplify trade by replacing more than a dozen levies with one tax, but combat corruption and enrich state coffers by bringing the informal economy into the digital era.

But many businesses and retailers complain they are ill-prepared for the massive changes and about what to charge.

Mamata Banerjee, the leader of the All India Trinamool Congress, warned of a “chaotic situation,” adding that millions of small businesses were not yet ready to file multiple tax returns.

Thousands of textile mills and retailers across the country went on strike this week to protest the tax. Small businesses in particular are unhappy at the extra demands made of them to be tax compliant during the change-over.

“There are different rates for a mobile set, charger and headphones – all of which come in one box,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of Confederation of All India Traders, pointing to one such example.

“What tax rate will be applicable in such a scenario? We don’t know yet.”

READ MORE: ‘Modi didn’t think of the poor’

A slew of basic staples like fresh vegetables and milk are exempted, along with less obvious items like temple offerings, the national flag and human hair.

So-called “sin” goods like tobacco will be slapped with extra levies, while states will still be allowed to separately tax some products including alcohol, petrol and aviation fuel.

India has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world and these changes, though initially painful, will have a “significant impact” on compliance, said Neelkanth Mishra, managing director at Credit Suisse.

“India is like a house under renovation. While the new parts are being built, no one will be happy,” he told AFP.

The sweeping reforms comes less than a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi devalued India’s largest banknotes in a sudden move designed to outmanoeuvre tax cheats, but was blamed for a crippling cash shortage and slowing growth.

To avoid a similarly rough landing, the government has trained 60,000 tax bureaucrats and run sessions with private accountants to ensure everyone is up to speed on the finer points of the GST.

A GST Council has spent months thrashing out the final legislation, which was blocked in parliament for a year until an amended version was approved.

Source: News agencies

It’s the day many families in India spend their lives dre aming of and saving for: their daughter’s wedding. But behind the veil of the big Indian wedding lurks a hidden menace – dowry deaths.

In India, one woman dies every hour in a dowry-related case. Dowry is a social tradition where the families of Indian grooms can make endless financial demands of the bride’s family.

In extreme circumstances, the newlywed bride can be murdered by her in-laws, or driven to commit suicide.

And now, 101 East reveals that this deadly tradition has arrived on Australian shores.

Join the conversation  @AJ101East

Source: Al Jazeera News

Islamabad, Pakistan – A Pakistani journalist arrested last week at his home in the southwestern city of Quetta has been charged with allegedly posting illegal material on Facebook, rights groups and his family said.

Armed men, some in paramilitary uniform and others in plainclothes, broke down the door to Zafar Achakzai’s home on June 25 and arrested him, Achakzai’s father told Al Jazeera.

He was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency on Thursday and charged under the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), said Naimat Achakzai.

Provincial government officials did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment on the case.

The detention is the latest in a series of arrests targeting journalists and social media activists for criticising the country’s powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for roughly half of its 69 years since independence.

The crackdown was ordered by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, according to an interior ministry statement on May 14.

Achakzai said that he believed his son was arrested for criticising security forces regarding their handling of a hit-and-run case where a provincial lawmaker allegedly struck and killed a traffic policeman.

The case went viral on social media after CCTV footage appeared to show the lawmaker’s car striking the policeman and driving away.

Naimat Achakzai owns the Daily Qudrat newspaper, an Urdu language daily with a small print run but a huge following online, with more than seven million followers on Facebook across Pakistan.

Zafar Achakzai, 21, is the newspaper’s chief reporter, he said.

“They broke the door down, they assaulted our family members … They took him from us during this raid,” said Naimat, of the raid.

“I was asking where they had come from, but they were not telling us. Whoever spoke to them, they would slap them.”

Zafar’s mobile phones and laptop were also taken during the raid, Naimat said. Family members said they have been denied any information on the whereabouts of Zafar Achakzai since his abduction.

Ongoing online crackdown

In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for the immediate release of the journalist. Freedom Network, a leading Pakistani media watchdog, said it was concerned by the latest arrest.

“We are seeing more and more that people in smaller towns and cities are using social media to express themselves, and this is the last frontier that the government is trying to control,” Iqbal Khattak, Freedom Network’s safety advisor, told Al Jazeera.

“I think they are systematically, slowly and steadily going towards controlling the medium the same way they have almost completely controlled the print and electronic media,” Khattak said.

Pakistan has a vibrant media, with dozens of private television news stations and newspapers, but the country consistently ranks low on press freedom rankings, mainly due to censorship around the role of the military in both security and political affairs, and threats from armed groups such as the Pakistani Taliban.

The country slipped to 139 out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index in 2017.

RSF has specifically pointed to the use of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) as a means to control the news media. PECA criminalises any online posts that are critical of the country’s military, government and other institutions of the State.

Last month, dozens of political activists were arrested and charged under PECA for allegedly posting material that was critical of the military.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera’s Web Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim.

Source: Al Jazeera

A young girl was killed and seven Lebanese soldiers were wounded on Friday when army raids on two refugee camps near the village of Arsal at the Lebanese-Syrian border were targeted by a group of suicide bombers.

“Five suicide bombings and a grenade attack targeted the Lebanese Army early Friday in the northeastern border town of Arsal, leaving seven soldiers wounded,” the army said in a statement. 

Four of the suicide bombers struck in the Al-Nour camp near the border town of Arsal, the army said.

A young girl, whose parents are both refugees, was killed and three soldiers wounded, the army said.

A medical source in the provincial capital Baalbek told AFP news agency the girl was two and a half years old.

Troops recovered four explosive devices during the raid.

“The army immediately detonated these devices in the places they were planted,” the statement said. 

Another attacker blew himself up in the nearby camp of al-Qariyeh, and a second attacker threw a grenade at troops, wounding four of them.

The army said its units were continuing with the raids, which are aimed at “arresting terrorists and seizing weapons”.

Witnesses reported hearing intermittent bursts of gunfire in the area.

The wounded soldiers were airlifted to hospital by a Lebanese army helicopter, Tayyar media reported.

There have been multiple clashes along the border between the Lebanese army and hardline fighters connected to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) or Al-Qaeda.

READ MORE: A voice of horror from Lebanon’s Arsal

In August 2014, the army clashed with ISIL and Al-Qaeda’s then Syria affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra in the Arsal area, with hardline fighters kidnapping 30 Lebanese soldiers and policemen as they withdrew back along the border.

After long and arduous negotiations, 16 of the kidnapped men were released in December 2015 in exchange for Islamist prisoners held in Lebanese jail.

The hardline fighters executed four of their hostages while a fifth died of wounds he suffered in the initial Arsal clashes, leaving nine members of Lebanon’s security forces still in their hands.

About 1,500 fighters are still believed to be operating near the flashpoint town of Arsal, which was overrun by ISIL in 2014.

Across the border, advances by the Syrian army, backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, last year cut off the rebels from the east, leaving them surrounded in an area straddling the border.

About 70,000 Syrian refugees live in camps in and around Arsal, some of the more than one million Syrians who have fled to Lebanon to escape a bloody civil war on the other side of the border. 

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

In iOS 11, Siri has a new feature that lets you ask the personal assistant to translate English into one of several different languages. We already did a Siri overview video showing off Siri’s new capabilities, but we thought we’d take a closer look at translate, which can come in handy when you’re traveling.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

Translate works as expected — ask Siri how to say something in another language, and Siri does it. For example, you might say “Translate ‘Where’s the bathroom’ to Spanish,” or “How do I say ‘I am a vegetarian’ in Chinese?”

When translating, Siri speaks the translation aloud, so whomever you’re speaking to can hear what you have to say directly in their language. There’s also a button for quickly repeating the spoken translation.

Siri can translate English to Mandarin, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, but not the other way around. Apple says there are plans to expand the feature to include additional languages in the coming months.

As you might have noticed, Siri’s new translating abilities are accompanied by a more natural, human sounding voice with better pronunciation and inflection. Siri’s also much smarter in iOS 11, thanks to new on-device learning functionality and cross-device syncing. Siri can also make suggestions based on your browsing habits, and it knows more about music.

For details on Siri’s new capabilities and all of the other features in iOS 11, make sure to check out our iOS 11 roundup.

Apple today released the first public beta of macOS High Sierra, the next major version of its operating system for Mac computers that will officially be released in the fall. The beta of the upcoming OS is compatible on all Macs that are able to run macOS Sierra.

The availability of the public beta means users who aren’t signed up for the Apple Developer Program can test the software update ahead of its official release. Bear in mind that Apple’s intention is to act on user feedback to iron out remaining bugs and issues, so the stability of the beta isn’t guaranteed and probably shouldn’t be installed on a Mac that you use every day.

Note that if you decide you want to revert back to your previous setup after testing the High Sierra beta, you will need to erase the beta partition and perform a fresh installation of macOS Sierra.

With those caveats out of the way, here’s a step-by-step breakdown describing how to download and install the macOS High Sierra Public Beta on a Mac.

Enroll in the Apple Beta Software Program

To install the macOS High Sierra public beta, you need to enroll your Mac in the free Apple Beta Software Program.

• Visit the Apple Beta Software Program website in a browser on your Mac.
• Tap on the Sign up button, or sign in if you are already a member.
• Enter your Apple ID credentials and tap on the Sign in button.
• Agree to the Apple Beta Software Program terms and conditions if necessary.
• On the Guide for Public Betas screen, with the Mac tab selected, scroll down to the Get Started section and tap on enroll your device.

Download the macOS High Sierra Public Beta

After enrolling in the Apple Beta Software Program, you need to grab the profile installer and run it on your Mac. Here’s how:

• In the same Get Started section on the beta site’s Mac tab, click the profile button under where it says Download macOS High Sierra public beta access utility, and wait for the file to download.
• Open the downloaded file in your Downloads window and double-click the package to run the installer.
• When the installer has completed the download, the Mac App Store should open automatically showing the Updates screen. Click Update to download the public beta software. (If it doesn’t show the public beta in the Updates list, manually restart your Mac and navigate back to the Updates section in the Mac App Store.) When the download is complete, your Mac should restart automatically.

Install the macOS High Sierra Public Beta

If the macOS High Sierra installer doesn’t automatically open upon restart, launch it from your Applications folder using the Finder.

• Click continue at the bottom of the installer.
• A dropdown prompt will appear advising you to back up your Mac. Click Continue – assuming you’ve already backed up. If not, click Cancel and do that now.
• Click Continue at the bottom once you’ve finished backing up, or if you already performed a backup.
• Click Agree to accept the terms and conditions and then click Agree again to confirm.
• Select the drive on which you want to install the public beta.
• Click Install, enter your administrator password, and click OK.
• Click Restart, or wait for your Mac to reboot automatically.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

And that’s it. Your Mac should now be running the macOS High Sierra Public Beta. For a complete picture of all of the new features you can expect to see when macOS High Sierra is released in the fall, make sure to check out our full macOS High Sierra roundup.

If it wasn’t free, High Sierra might be a hard sell for casual users. The most meaningful updates are mostly below the surface — the first full macOS upgrade to do so since 2009’s Snow Leopard. The first public beta of the OS arrives today, and while I’ve been playing around with a build of the software on one of those new 13-inch MacBooks, I keep finding myself referring back to Apple’s product page to remind me of what’s new.

But Apple doesn’t seem to have any doubts about adoption. High Sierra’s visible upgrades are relatively few and far between, but as the company would likely point out, that didn’t stop people from buying Snow Leopard — and that was back when you still had to pay for upgrades.

The new operating system isn’t rife with shiny new features, but it brings enhancements under the hood designed to speed up devices. More importantly, they help future-proof Apple’s technology, from its first new file system since the early days of the Mac, to graphical and processing enhancements designed to usher in virtual reality content creation.

Like a number of the company’s recent hardware upgrades, it’s tough to do a full preview of the new OS that isn’t just a list of benchmarks — and performance upgrades are hard to qualify for most use cases. But there are some visible changes worth noting here, like new search in Safari and an overhaul for the Photos app. It’s also worth discussing what Apple’s trying to accomplish with tweaks to the Mac’s underlying technologies.

For the sake of immediacy, let’s start with some of the features you’ll actually see.

Photos

Photos gets the most meaningful visual overhaul in High Sierra. The changes are mostly organizational, which is good news for users who have a lot of images to comb through. The toolbar has been revamped and is now persistent while using the application, and users can customize it by reordering sections. Media is organized by content type, including Bursts, Live Photos, Panoramas, Selfies and the newly supported Animated GIFs, for all of your meme-related needs.

Apple’s also brought a bunch of new editing tools to the table. I’ve got a Photoshop account, so I’ve never given much thought about using Photos for editing, but the toolset is pretty robust for a free offering. In addition to a bunch of new filters, Photos now also sports features like Curves, a color adjusting tool that offers much more subtle refinement than standard color sliders. Selective Color is also pretty sophisticated for a free photo app. You choose a color with the dropper tool and can subtly refine it by hue, saturation, luminance, range and the like.

Of course, none of this is new for those who have been using paid photo-editing apps, but the added features are nice enhancements for amateur photographers or people just looking to step up their iPhone photography game. And for those who do use apps like Photoshop and Pixelmator, you can now access those programs for a given image directly through Photos, which will save a lot of the back and forth over importing images directly.

High Sierra also brings editing tools to the iPhone’s Live Photo feature, so you can filter, crop and adjust the color of the animated images on a small timeline in the toolbar.

Safari

Apple is definitely going to raise the ire of ad companies with one of Safari’s best new features, Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which relies on machine learning to remove cross-site tracking. It’s designed to eliminate things like advertising cookies, so stuff you shopped for doesn’t follow you to every site you visited, but useful contextual information is saved for pages you actually visit. The feature is on by default, but it can be disabled in the settings, if you’re a cookie monster.

Like Photos, Safari also brings more content refinement than previous versions. Settings now features a Websites pane, which lets you customize the way you interact with individual sites. From there, you can make site always appear in Reader Mode (a bare-bones layout that emphasizes text), apply content blockers, shut off autoplay and kill notifications, location tracking and mic and camera access. Adding them individually is a bit of a chore, but that level of customization is great for sites with annoying tracking tendencies.

That fancy new file system

The name High Sierra is more than just an excuse for Craig Federighi to crack some dad jokes about smokin’ doobies onstage at WWDC (“they assured us this name is fully baked”). It’s a reference to Apple’s attempt to build upon and perfect the latest version of the OS. The biggest piece of that puzzle is APFS (short for Apple File System), a system Apple has been talking up since the last WWDC.

It replaces (the even more boringly named) HFS+, which has been the Mac’s main file system since the late 90s, and was, in turn, based on HFS, a system that goes all the way back to 1985 — the year Marty McFly first went back to the future. In other words, it was more or less a 30-year-old system that was well overdue for a change. APFS represents a new system designed from the ground up and built for 2017 technology.

So, what does the new file system actually mean for users? For starters, this will likely be a longer installation, so maybe take the dog for a walk or go grab a cup of coffee from the fancy new cafe you’ve been meaning to check out. This is due to the fact that the High Sierra install is effectively converting your boot drive to the new file system. The actual time of install depends on a number of factors, including hardware speed and storage size.

Apple seems confident that the maneuver will keep users’ files in tact — after all, millions of iOS devices already made the jump in 10.3 earlier this year. But it’s still recommended that users do a full system backup before installing — probably a good idea any time you’re set to install a new operating system.

AFPS is more secure than its predecessors, with FileVault encryption built in. The one place you’re really going to see an instantaneous change is when duplicating a file. In fact, it was one of the few features Federighi demonstrated onstage as the company moved through announcements at a record pace, copying and pasting a group of large video files all at once, without having to sit through the usual progress bar.

Also of note

• Siri: Siri’s new voice is coming soon, coinciding with the arrival of HomePod, the very Apple take on home assistants like Echo and Google Home.
• Metal 2: Apple’s graphics API gets a bunch of enhancements as noted at the keynote. Most notable among them for us non-developers is support for VR and external GPUs. That means the first generation of virtual reality games for the Mac is likely right around the corner.
• Mail: Apple’s email app has improved search that surfaces customized “Top Hits” suggestions that uses a combination of factors to prioritize messages: including reading frequency, VIP/favorite status and how often the sender emails you. The company also is compressing messages differently, promising that they’ll use up to 35 percent less space than before.
• Spotlight: Finder’s built-in search now features flight tracking. Type in a flight number and it will surface a bunch of relevant info like status, times, delays and gates. The feature also has been added to Safari.
• FaceTime: If you’re Facetiming and the person on the other end is doing something particularly note-worthy, you can snap a Live Photo-style moving screenshot of the moment. Each party will get a notification when this happens, a la Snapchat.
• Messages: Conversations on Messages are now automatically stored in iCloud to improve syncing across Apple devices and to free up some local storage space in the process.

Between a new file system and enhanced developer tools, High Sierra is an attempt to future-proof the operating system. The visible features are relatively few and far between and are mostly about refining existing products. For most users, it won’t be the most exciting upgrade, but it’s ultimately going to be an important one. The new OS is out now as a public beta, with final version is due out in the fall.

Apple this afternoon shared a short film created by French director Michel Gondry, who is known for indie movies like The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep. The film is available on Apple’s French site and on its UK and French YouTube channels.

Called Détour, the 11 minute short was captured entirely on an iPhone and funded by Apple. It features the story of a tricycle that falls off of a car as a family heads out on vacation and its journey to find its owner, a little girl. On its travels, the tricycle encounters a wide range of colorful characters and experiences some emotional moments before finding its happy ending.

Détour is accompanied by six additional short tutorial videos that give a behind the scenes look at the filming and offer up some video capturing tips for iPhone users. Topics covered include “A cinematic touch,” “Time-lapse,” “Stop motion,” “Slo-mo,” “Night scenes,” and “Perspective tricks.”

Apple plans to screen Détour at the Marché Saint-Germain Apple Store in Paris on June 30. Michel Gondry will also be present to share details on the making of the film and to take about the future of cinema.

A Russian jury has found five men guilty of organising and carrying out the contract killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov two years ago, after a trial his allies say failed to unmask the masterminds.

Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and fierce Kremlin critic, was gunned down in central Moscow as he walked home with his girlfriend late in the evening of February 27, 2015.

The murder just steps from the Kremlin in the Russian capital was the most high-profile political killing in the capital since President Vladimir Putin rose to power some 17 years ago.

OPINION: Boris Nemtsov’s last walk

The 12-person jury ruled after the third day of deliberations that defendants Zaur Dadayev, Shadid and Anzor Gubashev, Temirlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev – all ethnic Chechens from Russia’s volatile North Caucasus – carried out the hit as part of an organised gang.

Dadayev, a former officer in an interior ministry battalion in Chechnya, was found guilty of firing the four fatal shots.

The Gubashev brothers, Eskerkhanov and Bakhayev were found guilty of helping to organise and carry out the killing.

The jury’s decision was reached by majority vote after they first failed to come to unanimous decisions on the long list of charges against the defendants at the end of ten months of hearings.

‘Real organisers’

Nemtsov’s supporters welcomed the verdict, but said Dadayev and the others were low-level operatives. The case remained unsolved, they said, because those who had ordered, financed and organised the hit had not been caught.

“It’s the biggest crime of the century and yet they haven’t identified the real organisers or those who ordered it,” Vadim Prokhorov, a lawyer for the late politician’s daughter, told reporters after the verdict.

“The Russian government was not prepared to look into the entourage of [Chechen leader Ramzan] Kadyrov,” he said, despite his view that one of the masterminds was a close associate of Chechnya’s president.

Zhanna Nemtsova, the slain politician’s daughter, has repeatedly said she wanted Kremlin-backed Kadyrov, to be questioned about what he knew about the case.

Kadyrov has previously praised Dadayev, the trigger man, as a “true patriot of Russia”, referring to his military service.

But Kadyrov, who has denied allegations he was personally involved, never appeared before the court.

READ MORE: March to remember murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov

“The criticism that a lot of people are making, not just Nemtsov’s family, is that this crime really couldn’t have been okayed and carried our without some higher-level green light, certainly in the Chechen Republic,” Moscow-based journalist Fred Weir told Al Jazeera.

“So this all remains hanging, but as far as the five low-level guys, the actual small fry who carried out the crime are concerned, they have been found guilty and not one of them is able for leniency.”

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Protests are showing no sign of ending and the economy is spiralling further out of control in Venezuela.

Supreme Court has barred Luisa Ortega, the nation’s chief prosecutor, from leaving the country and ordered her bank accounts frozen hours after she delivered a scathing critique against President Nicolas Maduro.

The development came hours after a helicopter attack on the Supreme Court.

Who are the protesters supporting the opposition? And can Maduro continue to resist calls for an election to replace him?

Presenter: Richelle Carey

Guests:

Sonia Schott – director of Schott International Consulting; expert in Latin American relations with a special focus on Venezuela

Lucas Koerner – editor of Venezuela Analysis

Antonio Mora – journalist and political analyst specialising in Latin America 

Source: Al Jazeera News

iPhone 4 (2010): Eye candy

Considered the greatest and best known French writer of all times, Victor Marie-Hugo was born in Besancon, eastern France, on February 26, 1802.

From an early stage, he showed a commitment to raising social justice issues and giving voice to the oppressed, as well as standing against capital punishment. 

Hugo was born three years after Napoleon Bonaparte had seized power, and two years before he declared France an empire.

He studied law, though he never committed to legal practice. Encouraged by his family, he embarked on a career in literature.

Coming of age after Napoleon’s defeat, Hugo began his life as a poet and a writer and soon became a key figure in the development of French Romanticism.

One of his very famous works is the novel Les Miserables, first published in 1862, and considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. For many, he captured the humanity of those who were condemned to marginality. 

On Thursday, a Google Doodle was created in his honour.  

Les Miserables 

Through Les Miserables, Hugo examined the history of France, delving into issues such as poverty, politics, moral philosophy, justice and religion.

On June 5, 1832, the death of General Lamarque sparked a rebellion against the monarchy which was quickly and brutally repressed.

This would provide the inspiration for the student revolt at the centre of Les Miserables. “We shall have a republic one day,” he argued, “and when it comes of its own free will, it will be good. But, let us not harvest in May fruit which will not be ripe until July; let us learn to wait … We cannot suffer boors to bespatter our flag with red.”

Politically influential 

As a public figure, he was politically influential. 

Hugo was elevated to the peerage by King Louis  and entered the Higher Chamber as a pair de France, a designation of high distinction applied to a small number of the French nobility. 

He spoke against death penalty and social injustice. Hugo raised to political fame after the February revolution and was ultimately elected as a representative of Paris. 

When Napoleon III took complete power in 1851, Hugo openly declared him a traitor to France.

He moved to Brussels, then Jersey, from where he was expelled for supporting a newspaper that criticised Queen Victoria. He settled in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, where he would live in exile from October 1855 until 1870.

Lasting impact

While in exile, he published his political pamphlets against Napoleon III.

They were banned in France but they had a strong impact there. 

His work had also a lasting impact on writers such as Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Albert Camus.

He died in Paris in 1885, and he became the first person to be buried in the Pantheon, a former church designed by 18th-century architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot and often compared in style to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London or the US Capitol building in Washington. 

More than two million people attended his funeral, one of the largest mass mobilisations ever seen in Paris, and more than the city’s total population at the time. 

Source: Al Jazeera News