Top News Stories –
DON’T set your iPhone to 1 January 1970 or you’ll break it –
Apple is warning iPhone users not to fall for an internet hoax that leaves handsets useless and irreparable. A fake advertisement claims that changing the date on your iPhone to 1 January 1970 will give you a retro Apple design – it doesn’t. And the date change will cause your phone to become permanently stuck while rebooting if it’s switched off or runs out of battery. The bug affects the likes of the iPad Air, Mini 2 and any iPhone 5s onwards. The glitch was discovered last week, but a fake photo has been circulating on social media encouraging people to switch the date on iPhones 5s and upwards. Users were meant to be able to discover an Easter egg in the form of a 1970s-style multicoloured Apple logo and design. Unfortunately, going retro on your iPhone won’t change the design. Instead, when the phone is turned off and turned on again, it refuses to reboot, displaying the Apple home screen and going no further. [BBC Newsbeat]
Apple ordered to help FBI break into San Bernardino gunman’s phone –
An American judge on Tuesday ordered Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation break into a phone belonging to Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the killers in the December shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California. Sheri Pym of the US District Court in Los Angeles ruled Apple must provide “reasonable technical assistance” to investigators seeking to unlock the data on Farook’s iPhone 5C. This includes bypassing its auto-erase function and passcode protection so investigators can try an unlimited number of passcode guesses. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling. The company has five business days to contest the order if it believes compliance would be “unreasonably burdensome,” Ms Pym said in her decision. [Daily Telegraph]
World’s largest lottery winners come forward to claim share of $1.58bn jackpot –
The winners of the world’s largest ever lottery have finally come forward to claim their ticket, more than a month after the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot sent America into a frenzy. David Kaltschmidt, 55, and his wife Maureen Smith, 70, won a $528.7 million (£370m) share of the jackpot – splitting their winnings with John and Lisa Robinson, who purchased their winning ticket in Tennessee, and a California winner who has yet to come forward. But the Florida pair, who announced their win at a press conference on Wednesday, said they did not even tell their children at first. “That was hard,” said Ms Smith. Her husband said they were determined the win wouldn’t change them. They decided to take the $327.8m lump sum rather than receiving the $528m sum in instalments. The odds of winning the $1.58 billion jackpot were 1 in 292.2 million. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
The Chicken Test
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Three Americans abducted last month in Baghdad are freed by the Iraqi National Intelligence Service. (AP via Orange County Register)
- Arts and culture
- The jewels of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos are to be auctioned. Valued at $21 million (USD), they were seized by the government when her husband Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown.(CNN), (BBC)
- After more than 200 years, Mozart’s and Salieri’s lost cantata Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia is discovered in Prague. (Reuters), (The Independent), (BBC)
- International relations
- Cuba–United States relations
- The United States and Cuba sign an agreement restoring commercial air traffic between the two countries for the first time in 50 years. The U.S. Department of Transportation immediately opened bidding for as many as 110 U.S.-Cuba flights per day to Havana and nine other destinations. Travel from the U.S. is permitted in 12 authorized categories, which does not include tourism. (AP) (AFP via The Jamaica Observer)
- Law and crime
- Four American journalists are charged by Bahrain for “unlawful obstruction of vehicles and attending unlawful gatherings.” The state-run Bahrain News Agency said all were released “pending further investigations.” Freelance reporter Anna Day and a film crew, who were covering the fifth anniversary of the Arab Spring uprisings, are scheduled to fly to Dubai tonight. (NBC News) (New York Daily News)
- Politics and elections
- Philippine Senate election, 2016
- Filipino Senate candidate and boxer Manny Pacquiao calls LGBT people “less than animals” when asked about his opposition to same-sex marriage, prompting condemnation from prominent Filipino LGBT figures such as Aiza Seguerra, John Lapus and Vice Ganda. Pacquiao later apologizes. (NPR) (The New York Times) (Rappler)
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