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A Canadian man has been accused of co-ordinating ransomware and other cyber-attacks on individuals, businesses and government agencies.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced that 31-year-old Matthew Philbert had been charged with fraud and unauthorised use of computers.

The US State of Alaska has also brought charges against Mr Philbert.

He was arrested on 30 November and remains in police custody awaiting a court date.

The OPP said the arrest was made following a 23-month investigation which involved the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the US FBI and Europol.

At present, the alleged targets of the cyber-attacks have not been disclosed. The OPP said this was to avoid compromising court proceedings.

However, it is alleged that Mr Philbert co-ordinated cyber-attacks using malicious emails with virus-infected attachments.

Another Canadian man was charged in January for allegedly carrying out ransomware attacks linked to the Netwalker gang.

This is the second significant arrest of an alleged ransomware hacker in Canada this year.

Does this mean that Canada is a hotbed for these ransomware groups? No.

But it does highlight that the fight against this pervasive cyber-threat is a global issue.

Many of these crews are run completely remotely, so you never really know who is ultimately pressing the buttons and where they are from.

While evidence points to Russia being the headquarters for many ransomware gangs, it is clear that the lure of riches is not overlooked by criminals in other parts of the world.

Of course, suspects in Canada are investigated, arrested and face a trial to find out if they are guilty.

In Russia, the authorities refuse to acknowledge they have a role to play, and suspected Russian hackers avoid facing prosecution or justice.

The UK will phase out 2G and 3G mobile services by 2033, the government says.

The switch-off date has been agreed with mobile-network operators Vodafone, EE, Virgin Media, O2, and Three.

In July, EE owner BT revealed plans to phase out 3G by 2023, and 2G later in the decade. And many other companies have already begun phasing out technology that support the services.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said the move would help the UK make a smoother transition to faster networks.

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She said: “5G technology is already revolutionising people’s lives and businesses – connecting people across the UK with faster mobile data and making businesses more productive.”

The government also promised a funding boost to help future-proof the UK’s mobile networks, ending the country’s over-reliance on a small number of suppliers and making it easier for new equipment-makers to enter the market.

“Today, we are announcing a further £50m to put the UK at the forefront of mobile connectivity and to make sure our telecoms networks are safe and secure now and in the future,” Ms Dorries said.

‘Consumer-protection dimension’
Assembly Research founder Matthew Howett told BBC News the change would probably come sooner than the government’s 2033 deadline.

The switch-off will affect all sorts of older devices, such as 3G-only smartphones.

And it would be crucial for the government to act on behalf of consumers who may be slow to adjusting, Mr Howett said.

“There is an important consumer-protection dimension to all this,” he said.

“You will of course have some people who may still rely on a 2G/3G-enabled handset to make calls in emergencies but also because devices such as smart meters run off the 2G network.

“Involving these stakeholders will be crucial to avoid disruption.”

5G coverage
In July, Amazon warned users some of its older Kindle models would soon be unable to connect to the internet.

“Starting in 2021, some prior generation Kindle e-readers will not be able to connect to the internet using cellular connection through 2G or 3G networks,” the technology giant told its US customers.

Meanwhile, 5G coverage is being expanded across the UK.

In July, EE announced customers would be able to receive 5G “anywhere” in the country by 2028.

Social media giant Weibo has made its Hong Kong stock market debut as Chinese technology firms come under intense pressure at home and abroad.

Weibo’s shares fell by more than 6% in the first few minutes of trading.

The firm joins other major Chinese technology companies, including Alibaba and JD.com, which are listed in both the US and Hong Kong.

It comes just days after Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi said it will move its listing to Hong Kong from the US.

Weibo raised $385m (£290m) from the secondary share listing in Hong Kong.

The company’s US-listed shares have lost around a third of their value in the last six months.

Why is Weibo listing in Hong Kong?
Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing that heightened significantly during the Trump administration show little sign of easing under President Biden.

Chinese companies that have their shares listed in the US have found themselves caught in the middle of the ongoing spat between the world’s two biggest economies.

In recent months, Beijing has increased its oversight of China’s biggest businesses with the technology industry coming under particular scrutiny.

Meanwhile, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finalised rules that would mean US-listed foreign companies can be delisted if their auditors do not comply with requests for information from regulators.

Some Chinese firms are now looking for alternative sources of funding in case they have to take their shares off US stock markets.

“It will be disastrous if all Chinese companies are forced to delist from US exchanges. Despite the intense competition between the two countries, they need, must, and have to be interdependent financially, economically, technologically, socially, and culturally,” Nina Xiang, managing director of China Money Network in Hong Kong said.

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Will Weibo follow Didi out of the US?
Last week, ride-hailing giant Didi Global said it it would take its shares off the New York Stock Exchange and move its listing to Hong Kong.

It raised $4.4bn from its US market debut at the end of June, but within days China’s internet regulator ordered online stores not to offer Didi’s app, saying it illegally collected users’ personal data.

Didi’s announcement that it was planning to delist in the US came just hours after the SEC announcement that it was moving ahead with its efforts to remove Chinese firms from US stock exchanges for not complying with new accounting rules.

Didi’s shares have fallen by more than 50% in the five months since they started trading in New York.

Ms Xiang believes Weibo should be safe, for now: “Much depends on if Chinese and American regulators can work through their differences to reach a solution on access to auditing documents.”

What is Weibo?
Weibo is the Chinese word for microblog and the firm is known as the country’s version of Twitter.

It launched in 2009 and now has more than 570m monthly users, compared to Twitter’s 211m users per month.

The company is China’s second biggest social media platform, after technology giant Tencent’s WeChat.

China is the world’s biggest social media market, with more than 900m users.

Major US platforms like Twitter and Facebook are blocked in China, meaning the country offers huge growth potential for domestic social media firms like Weibo.

Uber is to pay $9m (£6.8m) to settle a complaint over its sexual-assault and harassment reporting in California.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) had told Uber to hand over information about assault and harassments – but it did not do so.

At the time, Uber had argued it would be a “shocking violation of privacy” for victims.

The payment – reduced from an initial $59m fine – will help fund passenger-safety promotion, CPUC said.

The settlement between Uber, CPUC, and the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (Rainn) brings to an end a dispute lasting almost two years, over whether Uber should hand over records about reported incidents involving its drivers.

Uber had argued that disclosing such records publicly could be traumatic for those who had been assaulted and might discourage reports in the future – particularly because CPUC was asking for the names of all “witnesses” – which would include those attacked.

Rainn had raised similar concerns about whether the California officials would be able to treat the sensitive information with appropriate care.

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But the CPUC said it only needed the information “under seal” – meaning the details of each individual case would be kept secret. It suggested Uber’s response was an “effort to frustrate commission oversight”.

In December 2020, a year on, CPUC initially fined Uber $59m (£44.5m) for refusing to comply.

But following Uber’s appeal, it agreed this week’s settlement of $9m, as a result of which:

$5m will be spent on “victims of violence and sexual violence”, preferably those who were passengers
$4m will be spent on addressing violence in the “passenger carrier industry”
Uber will pay an extra $150,000 to the California state general fund
Uber will also provide reports to California officials from now on, using “unique identifiers”, rather than names, to protect the identities of individuals. It will also build an “opt-in” process for “survivors” who want to provide more information about what happened to state officials.

In a statement, Uber said it was “glad the full commission has adopted this agreement”, adding: “Most importantly, we can move forward with a solution that preserves the privacy and agency of survivors.”

CPUC said the reduction of the planned $59m fine was, in part, down to months of negotiations where “all parties gain advantages and give concessions”.

The ride-hailing app had been under pressure to disclose details about its safety record, and first published its US-based safety report in December 2019, with a promise to release a further report every two years.

The 2021 edition has not yet been published. But the first report showed that Uber had nearly 6,000 reports of sexual assault in 2017 and 2018 – a number the company pointed out was a tiny fraction of the more than two billion rides it provided in that time.

It is not the only such company facing such issues.

Lyft, another ride-hailing app popular in the US, reported more than 4,000 incidents of sexual assaults between 2017 and 2019 in its first safety report published earlier this year.

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global has announced plans to take its shares off the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and move its listing to Hong Kong.

The firm has come under intense pressure since its US debut in July.

Within days of the initial public offering (IPO) Beijing announced a crackdown on technology companies listing overseas.

Earlier on Thursday the US market watchdog unveiled tough new rules for Chinese firms that list in America.

“Following careful research, the company will immediately start delisting on the New York stock exchange and start preparations for listing in Hong Kong,” the company said on its account on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging network.

In a separate English language statement Didi said its board had approved the move, adding: “The company will organise a shareholders meeting to vote on the above matter at an appropriate time in the future, following necessary procedures.”

At the end of June, Didi – China’s answer to Uber – raised $4.4bn (£3.3bn) in its New York IPO.

However, trading was muted on the first day as investors weighed concerns over tensions between Washington and Beijing, and issues raised by US regulators over some Chinese firms’ financial reports.

Within days China’s internet regulator ordered online stores not to offer Didi’s app, saying it illegally collected users’ personal data.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said it was investigating the firm to protect “national security and the public interest”.

In response Didi said in a statement: “The company will strive to rectify any problems, improve its risk prevention awareness and technological capabilities, protect users’ privacy and data security, and continue to provide secure and convenient services to its users.”

Didi also warned that the removal of its app from Chinese stores would have an adverse impact on its revenues.

Like many other Chinese technology companies Didi has also come under pressure from regulators in the US and Europe.

On Thursday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said it had finalised rules that would mean US-listed foreign companies can be delisted if their auditors do not comply with requests for information from regulators.

The law was passed in 2020 after Chinese regulators repeatedly denied requests from US authorities to inspect the the accounts of Chinese firms that list and trade in the US.

Meanwhile in August, a company source told the BBC that it had halted plans to launch in the UK and continental Europe.

It had been planning to roll out services in Western Europe, including major British cities.

Japan’s SoftBank is Didi’s largest single investor with a stake of more than 20%. It is also backed by Chinese technology giants Alibaba and Tencent.

Uber also owns a stake in the firm as a result of Didi taking over Uber China in 2016.

Didi Global shares have lost more than 40% of their value since their US market debut.

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global has announced plans to take its shares off the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and move its listing to Hong Kong.

The firm has come under intense pressure since its US debut in July.

Within days of the initial public offering (IPO) Beijing announced a crackdown on technology companies listing overseas.

Earlier on Thursday the US market watchdog unveiled tough new rules for Chinese firms that list in America.

“Following careful research, the company will immediately start delisting on the New York stock exchange and start preparations for listing in Hong Kong,” the company said on its account on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging network.

In a separate English language statement it said its board had approved the move, adding: “The company will organise a shareholders meeting to vote on the above matter at an appropriate time in the future, following necessary procedures.”

At the end of June, Didi – China’s answer to Uber – raised $4.4bn (£3.3bn) in its New York IPO.

However, trading was muted on the first day as investors weighed concerns over tensions between Washington and Beijing, and issues raised by US regulators over some Chinese firms’ financial reports.

Within days China’s internet regulator ordered online stores not to offer Didi’s app, saying it illegally collected users’ personal data.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said it was investigating the firm to protect “national security and the public interest”.

In response Didi said in a statement: “The company will strive to rectify any problems, improve its risk prevention awareness and technological capabilities, protect users’ privacy and data security, and continue to provide secure and convenient services to its users.”

Didi also warned that the removal of its app from Chinese stores would have an adverse impact on its revenues.

Like many other Chinese technology companies Didi has also come under pressure from regulators in the US and Europe.

On Thursday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said it had finalised rules that would mean US-listed foreign companies can be delisted if their auditors do not comply with requests for information from regulators.

The law was passed in 2020 after Chinese regulators repeatedly denied requests from US authorities to inspect the the accounts of Chinese firms that list and trade in the US.

Meanwhile in August, a company source told the BBC that it had halted plans to launch in the UK and continental Europe.

It had been planning to roll out services in Western Europe, including major British cities.

Japan’s SoftBank is Didi’s largest single investor with a stake of more than 20%. It is also backed by Chinese technology giants Alibaba and Tencent.

Uber also owns a stake in the firm as a result of Didi taking over Uber China in 2016.

Didi Global shares have lost more than 40% of their value since their US market debut.

From Alibaba to Tencent, Chinese technology companies have been under scrutiny at home and abroad.

The country’s ride-hailing giant Didi has been at odds with Chinese regulators for months.

It shocked investors when Beijing removed Didi from app stores just a few days after the firm went public on Wall Street in late June, accusing it of violating data security rule.

Beijing has also announced rules to protect the rights of the millions of ride-hailing drivers, in a move aimed to underpin the sector’s growth.

But Chinese companies have also been closely watched by American regulators.

Didi said it is preparing to list in Hong Kong, and shareholders of its US listed shares will be able to convert their holdings to those on another stock exchange.

The company is also preparing to relaunch its apps in China by the end of the year.

Facebook owner Meta Platforms has removed more than 500 accounts linked to an online disinformation network primarily based in China.

The accounts had promoted the claims of a fake Swiss biologist called “Wilson Edwards”, who alleged the US was meddling in efforts to find the origins of Covid-19.

Edwards’ comments had been widely carried by Chinese state media outlets.

However, the Swiss embassy said that it was unlikely this person existed.

Meta said in its report the social media campaign was “largely unsuccessful,” and targeted English-speaking audiences in the United States and Britain and Chinese-speaking audiences in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tibet.

Earlier in July, an account posing as a Swiss biologist called Wilson Edwards had made statements on Facebook and Twitter that the United States was applying pressure on the World Health Organization scientists who were studying the origins of Covid-19 in an attempt to blame the virus on China.

State media outlets, including CGTN, Shanghai Daily and Global Times, had cited the so-called biologist based on his Facebook profile.

However, the Swiss embassy said in August that the person likely did not exist, as the Facebook account was opened only two weeks prior to its first post and only had three friends.

It added “there was no registry of a Swiss citizen with the name “Wilson Edwards” and no academic articles under the name”, and urged Chinese media outlets to take down any mention of him.

Meta Platforms said in a November report that its investigation into the matter found “links to individuals in mainland China, including employees of Sichuan Silence Information Technology Co Ltd… and individuals associated with Chinese state infrastructure companies based around the world.”

Sichuan Silence Information’s website describes the company as a network and information security company that provides technical support to China’s Ministry of Public Security and CNCERT, the key team that coordinates China’s cybersecurity emergency response.

Facebook said it had removed a total of 524 Facebook accounts, 20 pages, four groups and 86 Instagram accounts after reviewing public reports that centred around the fake Swiss biologist.

The persona’s original post was initially shared and liked by fake Facebook accounts, and later forwarded by authentic users, most of which belonged to employees of Chinese state infrastructure companies in over 20 countries, Meta said.

It added that the operation used Virtual Personal Network (VPN) infrastructure to conceal its origin, and to give Edwards a more rounded personality. It also said that his profile photo also appeared to have been generated using machine-learning capabilities.

The investigation into the origins of Covid-19 have been a source of tension between the US, China and other countries, as the source of the virus remains murky almost two years after it was first discovered.

The Chinese province of Henan is building a surveillance system with face-scanning technology that can detect journalists and other “people of concern”.

Documents seen by BBC News describe a system that classifies journalists into a “traffic-light” system – green, amber and red.

Journalists in the “red” category would be “dealt with accordingly”, they say.

The Henan Public Security Bureau has not responded to a request for comment.

The documents, discovered by the surveillance analyst firm IPVM, also outline plans to surveil other “people of concern”, including foreign students and migrant women.

Human Rights Watch said: “This is not a government that needs more power to track more people… especially those who might be trying to peacefully hold it accountable.”

‘Thematic libraries’
The documents, published on 29 July, are part of a tendering process, encouraging Chinese companies to bid for a contract to build the new system, won, on 17 September, by NeuSoft.

NeuSoft has not responded to BBC News request for comment.

The system includes facial-recognition technology linked to thousands of cameras in Henan, to alert authorities when a “person of concern” is located.

“People of concern” would be categorised into “thematic libraries” – in an already existing database of information about and images of people in the province.

The system would also connect with China’s national database.

‘Key concern’
One of the groups of interest to the Henan Public Security Bureau is journalists, including foreign journalists.

“The preliminary proposal is to classify key concerned journalists into three levels,” the documents say.

“People marked in red are the key concern.

“The second level, marked in yellow, are people of general concern.

“Level three, marked in green – are for journalists who aren’t harmful.”

And an alert would be triggered as soon as “journalists of concern”, marked as “red” – or “yellow”, if they had previous criminal charges – booked a ticket to travel into the province.

The system would also assess foreign students and divide them into three categories of risk – “excellent foreign students, general personnel, and key people and unstable personnel”.

“The safety assessment is made by focusing on the daily attendance of foreign students, exam results, whether they come from key countries, and school-discipline compliance,” the documents say.

The schools themselves would need to notify the authorities of students with security concerns.

And those considered to be of concern would be tracked.

During politically sensitive periods, such as the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, “a wartime alarm mechanism” would be activated and tracking of “key concern” students stepped up, including tracking their cell phones.

The documents outline a desire for the system to contain information taken from:

cell phones
social media – such as WeChat and Weibo
vehicle details
hotel stays
travel tickets
property ownership
photos (from existing databases)
It should also focus on “stranded women”, or non-Chinese migrant women who do not have the right to live in China.

A large number of women enter China to find work.

Others have been trafficked from neighbouring countries.

And the system would “dock” with the National Immigration Bureau, the Ministry of Public Security and Henan police, among others.

The documents were published around the time the Chinese government criticised foreign media outlets for their coverage of the Henan floods.

Conor Healy, Government Director of IPVM, said: “The technical architecture of mass surveillance in China remains poorly understood… but building custom surveillance technology to streamline state suppression of journalists is new.

“These documents shed light on what China’s public-security officials want from mass surveillance.”

China’s facial-recognition system is thought to already be in use across the country.

And last year, the Washington Post reported Huawei had tested artificial-intelligence software that could recognise people belonging to the Uighur ethnic minority and alert police.

Human Rights Watch’s China director Sophie Richardson said: “The goal is chilling, ensuring that everyone knows they can and will be monitored – and that they never know what might trigger hostile interest.”

South Africa’s president has condemned travel bans enacted against his country and its neighbours over the new coronavirus variant Omicron.

Cyril Ramaphosa said he was “deeply disappointed” by the action, which he described as unjustified, and called for the bans to be urgently lifted.

The UK, EU and US are among those who have imposed travel bans.

Omicron has been classed as a “variant of concern”. Early evidence suggests it has a higher re-infection risk.

The heavily mutated variant was detected in South Africa earlier this month and then reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) last Wednesday.

The variant is responsible for most of the infections found in South Africa’s most populated province, Gauteng, over the last two weeks, and is now present in all other provinces in the country.

The WHO has warned against countries hastily imposing travel restrictions, saying they should look to a “risk-based and scientific approach”. However, numerous bans have been introduced in recent days amid concerns over the variant.

WHO’s Africa director Matshidiso Moeti said on Sunday: “With the Omicron variant now detected in several regions of the world, putting in place travel bans that target Africa attacks global solidarity.”

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In his speech on Sunday, Mr Ramaphosa said there was no scientific basis for the travel bans and that southern Africa was the victim of unfair discrimination.

He also argued that the bans would not be effective in preventing the spread of the variant.

“The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic,” he said.

He called on countries with bans in place to “urgently reverse their decisions… before any further damage is done to our economies”.

Mr Ramaphosa described the emergence of the Omicron variant as a wake-up call for the world regarding vaccine inequality – warning that until everyone was vaccinated, more variants were inevitable.

There are no vaccine shortages in South Africa itself, and Mr Ramaphosa urged more people to get jabbed, saying that remained the best way to fight the virus.

A previous statement by the South African foreign ministry on Saturday also strongly criticised the travel bans, saying the country was being punished – instead of applauded – for discovering Omicron.

Omicron has now been detected in a number of countries around the world, including the UK, Germany, Australia and Israel.

In other developments on Sunday:

In the Netherlands, Omicron was detected in 13 people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa.
Separately, Dutch police said they detained a couple who had escaped from a quarantine hotel. The arrest was made on a plane just before the take-off
Israel banned all foreigners from entering the country for 14 days from midnight Sunday
The UK called for an emergency meeting of the G7 group of nations on Monday to discuss the new variant
Voters in Switzerland backed the government’s measures to tackle Covid, according to preliminary results

As people rush to snap up their Black Friday deals, there are mounting worries that some gadgets won’t be available for Christmas.

Silicon, which is in most products, is in short supply because of high demand and manufacturing problems since the start of the pandemic.

The world now faces one of the most extreme chip shortages it has seen.

It means that this year, people may be disappointed when it comes to giving and receiving tech as presents.

Gamers face disappointment
According to technology experts Trusted Reviews, the Nintendo Switch is the UK’s most wanted piece of tech this year.

Earlier this month, Nintendo revised its sales forecast because of “the effects of the global semiconductor shortage”.

Chip designers ARM warned the scarcity could delay Christmas gifts like the Switch being delivered on time and said that, in some instances, the wait for chips is taking 60 weeks.

The PS5 and the Xbox Series X and Series S have been extremely difficult to buy since they launched last year. Demand for these new consoles would have been high regardless of the chip shortage. When they are occasionally restocked, they often sell out in minutes.

The situation has created a community of console hunters who aim to identify those rare times when stock is delivered, so they can pass the news on to their followers.

One is YouTuber Jake Randall, who says he has contacts with many employees across various retailers, who tell him when new batches are going into shops.

He also looks for clues on websites, such as Amazon talking about special deals for consoles for Prime customers which can be swiftly followed by new stock appearing online.

Jake told BBC’s World Service Tech Tent: “It’s extremely difficult to get a games console right now. This is probably the hardest it’s ever been – even more so than launch day or even earlier in the year.

“A lot of people have waited to get one because they thought it would get easier, but these companies cannot manufacture anywhere near enough to meet demand.”

The market is not helped by a community of people who use bots to buy up consoles and sell them at inflated prices, he added.

Smartphone supplies also hit

Apple’s iPhone is also a much wanted gift for Christmas, after its latest generation model was released in September.

The company recorded a 54% increase in revenue in the first three months of 2021, when compared with the same period last year.

But it faced “larger than expected supply constraints” between June and September, and said that the chip shortage is now affecting “most products”.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook previously warned investors that it could affect sales of the iPhone and the iPad.

There are less handsets available too. Apple had originally planned to produce 90 million iPhones in the final months of this year, but cut that figure by 10 million because there were not enough available parts.

There are also reports that Samsung and OnePlus are struggling to keep up with demand for their phones.

Earlier in the year, Google was forced to limit its Pixel 5a launch to only the USA and Japan.

Good news if you want a laptop
There is some good news though, as the big online retailers do seem to have stock of both laptops and tablets.

The pandemic created huge demand for laptops, because people needed kit to work from home.

Tech company Philips also said memory chip producers were not able to keep up, and that ships transporting products were backed up in ports.

Laptop manufacturers like Dell, Acer and HP say that they are selling models as fast as they can make them, and with the recent launch of Windows 11, competition for stock is even fiercer.

However, Argos has assured its customers that they will have access to a range of deals and products, although it made no guarantees.

“Availability in some product categories may vary, but alternatives are available and stores continue to receive deliveries daily,” a spokesperson said.

And Currys said it has been “working hard” to ensure that its customers can get hold of the goods they want.

“Thanks to our preparations and strong relationships with the biggest brands, we already have more stock in the business than we did last year,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

“There are inevitably some products that will be hotter than others, but we’re confident we’ll have plenty of choice for everyone.”

When will this shortage end?
Experts have predicted the shortage could go on for another year or so.

Pedro Martins, co-founder of IT company Totality Services, said: “The reality is, the silicon chip shortage has been ongoing for some time now, it just wasn’t visible to the general public.

“It’s more prominent now because of the sheer volume of user devices that require chips. In the past it was mainly servers, workstations and laptops that needed the chips, that’s no longer the case.

“The reality is, no-one actually knows when the shortage will end, but it will without a doubt improve in the short term.”