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- South Korea launched the world's first nationwide 5G mobile networks two days early, giving a handful of users access in a late-night scramble to provide the super-fast wireless technology.
- Three top telecom providers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus began their 5G services at 11pm local time 3rd April, despite previously announcing the launch date would be April 5.
- South Korea has long had a reputation for technical prowess, and Seoul had made the 5G rollout a priority as it seeks to stimulate stuttering economic growth.
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- British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Friday appointed prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney as a ‘special envoy on media freedom’, who will co-chair a panel of legal experts to counter draconian laws in various countries that hinder journalists from going about their work.
- The Foreign Office noted that 2018 was the deadliest year for journalists, with 99 killed, 348 detained and 60 taken hostage by non-state groups, adding that the panel would support countries to repeal outdated laws and strengthen mechanisms to protect journalists.
- Hunt said, “Violence against journalists has reached alarming levels globally and we cannot turn a blind eye. The media has a crucial role to play in holding the powerful to account.
- There is no escaping the fact that draconian and outdated laws around the world are being used to restrict the ability of the media to report the truth.”
- “Amal Clooney’s leading work on human rights means she is ideally placed to ensure this campaign has real impact for journalists and the free societies who depend on their work.”
- The panel is expected to offer advice to governments who want to strengthen legal mechanisms to improve media freedom; supporting the repeal of outdated and draconian laws; encourage governments to help ensure existing laws and international obligations are enforced and promote best practices and model legislation to protect a vibrant free press
- Clooney added: “Through my legal work defending journalists I have seen first-hand the ways in which reporters are being targeted and imprisoned in an effort to silence them and prevent a free media.”
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- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, finalized the biggest divorce settlement in history on 4th April, leaving him with 75 per cent of their stock in the tech giant and giving her nearly $36 billion in shares.
- MacKenzie Bezos said she would give all of her stake in The Washington Post and the space exploration firm Blue Origin to her husband the world’s richest man as well as voting control of her remaining Amazon stock.
- Jeff Bezos, 55, and MacKenzie, 48, a novelist, married in 1993 and have four children. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in their Seattle garage in 1994 and turned it into a colossus that dominates online retail.
- In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Amazon, which has a market capitalization of some $890 billion, said MacKenzie Bezos will control four percent of the company’s outstanding common stock.
- At Amazon’s current share price that would be worth some $35.6 billion.
- According to Forbes magazine, the divorce settlement makes MacKenzie Bezos the third wealthiest woman in the world after L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and Walmart’s Alice Walton.
- Jeff Bezos, who now owns 12 percent of Amazon, remains the world’s richest man and the largest shareholder in the company with an estimated fortune of $110 billion, Forbes said, ahead of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett.
- Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announced their separation in January and posted Twitter messages on 4th April revealing the divorce settlement.
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