News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

US NEWS

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Pro-Terror Teenagers Admit They Learned to Hate Israel on China’s TikTok, Zuckerberg’s Instagram

Young people attending a New York City anti-Israel rally have admitted that they learned to hate Israel by watching pro-Palestinian videos on Chinese-owned app TikTok and Mark Zuckerbeg’s Instagram.

More than a dozen young protesters who skipped school to join an anti-Israel rally in Manhattan on Thursday told the New York Post that their opinions about the Israel-Hamas war were shaped mainly by China’s TikTok and Facebook-owned Instagram, as well as their teachers.

New Utrecht High School students 17-year-old Zara Asif and 16-year-old Manoor Javed told the outlet that TikTok and Instagram videos inspired them to attend pro-Palestinian rallies around the Northeast and Washington D.C. area.
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Javed said that while her school prohibits students from talking about pro-Palestinian politics, “Everyone’s pushing and everyone is posting and that’s how we’re going to make a difference,” adding, “We won’t quit — ever.”

Another 17-year-old who identified herself as Adama told the New York Post that she follows Palestinian accounts on TikTok who are based in Gaza, saying, “Places like CNN and other mainstream media are not posting about it.”

St. John’s University student Ravia Sidhu and her 19-year-old friend, CUNY student Zarif Islam, told the outlet that they attended the Thursday rally after what Sidhu said was “a lot of doing our own research” — which included watching videos on the Chinese app.

Anti-Israel protestors were reportedly seen at the Thursday rally tearing down posters of Israeli hostages currently being held by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, with others praising those who did.

Some protestors even compared the surge in anti-Israeli sentiment to the Arab Spring of 2011, in which Twitter and Facebook galvanized protesters to take on regimes across the Middle East.

People don't know this, but China loves making maps. The problem is that the CCP already made Israel disappear from their own maps. You can still find cities like Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv but no Israel label anywhere in the Middle East region.

EUROPEAN NEWS

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Apple Suffers Setback in Fight Against EU's $14 Billion Tax Order

An EU tribunal made legal errors when it ruled in favour of Apple over a 13-billion-euro ($14 billion) tax order and should review the case again, an adviser to Europe's top court said on Thursday, in a potential setback for the iPhone maker.

The tax case against Apple was part of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's crackdown against deals between multinationals and EU countries that regulators saw as unfair state aid.

The European Commission in its 2016 decision said Apple benefited from two Irish tax rulings for more than two decades that artificially reduced its tax burden to as low as 0.005% in 2014.

The European Union's General Court in 2020 upheld Apple's challenge, saying that regulators had not met the legal standard to show Apple had enjoyed an unfair advantage.

But advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella at the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) disagreed, saying CJEU judges should set aside the General Court ruling and refer the case back to the lower tribunal.

"The judgment of the General Court on 'tax rulings' adopted by Ireland in relation to Apple should be set aside," he said in a non-binding opinion.

He said the General Court committed a series of errors in law and had also failed "to assess correctly the substance and consequences of certain methodological errors that, according to the Commission decision, vitiated the tax rulings."

"It is therefore necessary for the General Court to carry out a new assessment," Mr. Pitruzzella said.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

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Fast Charging EV Company Closes Australian Plant, Pivots to US to ‘Achieve Profitability’

Electric vehicle fast-charging company Tritium will shutter its Brisbane factory and consolidate operations for better profitability in the United States.

This comes after the company reported a loss of $120.3 million (AU$189.2 million) for the 2022-23 financial year (pdf), compared to a loss of $298.6 million (AU$469.5 million) in the previous year.

Around 200 jobs will also be cut.

Tritium CEO Jane Hunter said it was necessary to close the Brisbane plant to remain competitive, while reducing general and administrative expenses.

Ms. Hunter previously said the company may be forced to close its Australian plant and move its headquarters to the United States if it is to remain financially viable.

“This transition is aligned with the company’s plan to be profitable in 2024,” Ms. Hunter said in a statement.

Emergency Flying Taxi Receives $5 Million in Government Funding

The Australian Government will provide $5.43 million (US$3.5 million) to an aerospace company to develop a hydrogen-powered electric air taxi for emergencies.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is delivering the funds to AMSL Aero under the 'Advancing Renewables Program.'

The aircraft operates similar to a helicopter with eight rotors and can carry five passengers over a distance of up to 1,000 kilometres.

The flying hydrogen aircraft is known as an electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft (eVTOL) and has been given the name Vertiia. eVTOLs are also sometimes referred to as air taxis or flying taxis.

AMSL Aero, based in Bankstown New South Wales, describes Vertiia as the "world's first eVTOL designed to be powered by hydrogen" and says it will save lives.

The Vertiia could be used for air ambulance, emergency services, and passenger and cargo transport. This could include fighting bushfires and carrying ambulance passengers.
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The project costs $10.86 million in total, meaning the grant covers half the cost. However, the Vertiia project has also received support from the Federal Government under the Emerging Aviation Technology Partnerships program.

'Stop Herding Us Into a Cashless Society': Calls for Pause on Bank Closures Following Optus Outage

Cash advocates are calling for a halt to bank and automated teller machine closures in Australia following a major telecommunications outage.

Ten million Australians and 40,000 businesses were affected when Australia's second largest telecommunications network went down on Nov. 8.

The disruption led to coffee shops, bowling alleys, businesses, and government authorities without access to Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) services across Australia.

As a response, the telecommunications company said it is providing 200GB of free data to impacted customers to acknowledge their patience and loyalty. However, both a Senate and a separate government inquiry are now looming for Optus.

The outage resulted in widespread disruptions to mobile, data, and internet services, affecting various government departments, including health.

In light of these challenges, Cash Welcome, a grassroots campaign working to protect the right to use and access cash, is calling for an "immediate pause" on all banks and ATMs.

"They can't build a reliable digital payment system—so stop herding us into a cashless society," Cash Welcome posted to social media.

ASIAN NEWS

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South Korea Tests Its Urban Air Taxi System, Expecting Commercialization by 2025

An urban air mobility (UAM) system developed by South Korea is expected to reduce travel time significantly in urban areas once in operation.

On Nov. 3, a test flight event for the South Korean UAM (K-UAM) was held at its demonstration base in Goheung County of the Jeollanam-do Province, the southernmost province in mainland Korea.

Hosted by the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) and organized by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the event showcased various K-UAM components, including aircraft, vertical take-off and landing platforms, traffic management systems, and service systems like terminals, marking the first public presentation of these domestically manufactured facilities in South Korea.
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Attendees, guided by narrators, toured various passenger terminal applications of technology and equipment, including the comprehensive control room and noise measurement. They also witnessed a demonstration using South Korean-developed aircraft in the first-ever established UAM operational system in South Korea.

Two aircraft models were tested at the event. SKYLA-V2, one of the two models, has a top speed of 60 mph, a range of up to 16 miles, and a maximum flight time of 20 minutes, while OPPAV, the other model tested on the day, can reach speeds of up to 150 mph, cover distances of up to 31 miles, and have a maximum flight time of 45 minutes.

Following the first-stage test flights in open areas, K-UAM will begin test flights in densely populated areas, including Seoul and its surrounding cities, starting in August next year. This verification process will continue until June 2025. At that time, the travel time required when driving a car for one hour will be reduced to approximately 20 minutes by K-UAM.

According to the passenger boarding process demonstrated at the event, passengers can make reservations through an app by inputting information such as their departure and destination, preferred departure time, and the number of passengers. Upon arriving at the vertical airport at their chosen departure time, they can board the aircraft using facial recognition and new security screening technology.