The James Webb Space Telescope — which NASA has long expected to replace the fabled Hubble — was initially meant to go into service this year but has faced multiple hitches.

The Webb telescope will be the most powerful ever built — about 100 times more sensitive than Hubble — and is to be deployed on a mission to give astronomers an unprecedented glimpse at the first galaxies that formed in the early universe.

The highly-anticipated equipment “currently is undergoing final integration and test phases that will require more time to ensure a successful mission,” NASA said in a statement.

“Webb’s previously revised 2019 launch window now is targeted for approximately May 2020.”

NASA said that once a new launch date was finalized, it would “provide a cost estimate that may exceed the projected $8 billion development cost.”

Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot called the Webb project “the highest priority project for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate, and the largest international space science project in US history.”

But the prospect of the program’s going over its already high budget could create more headaches on the path ahead.

The project, a joint endeavor with the European and Canadian space agencies, has already drawn scrutiny from lawmakers for its ballooning costs, given that its initial estimated budget was $3.5 billion.

An independent review board will assess the mission and report back later this year on what needs to be done — and likely how much it will cost. NASA must then provide an update to Congress.

“Considering the investment NASA and our international partners have made, we want to proceed systematically through these last tests, with the additional time necessary, to be ready for a May 2020 launch,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will weigh about 13,500 pounds (6,100 kilograms). JWST’s main mirror will be 6.5 meters (7 yards) in diameter, three times as large as Hubble’s.

It will carry four instruments, including cameras and spectrometers that can capture extremely faint signals.

Infra-red capability will help it observe distant celestial bodies, and its camera shutter will be able to remain open for long periods, NASA has said.

NASA said the telescope will “next undergo environmental testing, subjecting it to the vibrational, acoustic and thermal environments it will experience during its launch and operations,” a process lasting a few months.

“Engineers then will integrate and test the fully assembled observatory and verify all components work together properly,” the space agency said.

The James Webb telescope is named after NASA’s second administrator, in office from 1961 to 1968. It will be launched aboard an Ariane-5 rocket from French Guiana.

The joint venture, Six Network, will offer the digital currency, called SIX, for a use as a utility token. The alliance between the partners aims to create what they call “a more transparent, fair, secure, and efficient ecosystem for all stakeholders” across all parts of the digital economy.

Contributing investment of 40 per cent each in Six Networks are Ookbee U and YDM, a subsidiary of Yellow Mobile. Ookbee U is a joint venture between Ookbee and Chinese technology giant Tencent. Computerlogy put in 20 per cent of the investment.

Six Network aims to create and operate SIX as a utility token for use by participants in the emerging innovative and digital sectors of the new industrial landscape – not only in Thailand, but throughout Asia and, ultimately, across the world.

The joint venture has initiated one billion SIX tokens, each valued at 10 US cents. It aims to gain hard currency from an initial coin offering (ICO) valued at US$43 million.

The pre-sale starts on April 3 and the public ICO will start immediately after the pre-ICO tokens are sold out; the public ICO will last until May 31. The minimum investment is 1,000 SIX tokens.

Natavudh Pungcharoenpong, co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Six Network, said that the company’s ambitions for SIX as a utility coin for the global digital creative industry will start with Thailand and other Asian countries, especially South Korea, capitalising on YDM’s presence there. Expansion to countries farther afield would follow.

The partners aim for SIX to be the “Internet of Digital Services”, providing decentralised solutions for a range of transactions in the digital and creative economies.

Under Six Network, there are more than 40 digital and creative startups in South Korea, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. It brings together an alliance of more than one million content creators, social media influencers, comic writers, VDO producers and more than 10 million active users of platforms offered under the alliance.

“On the Ookbee U platform alone, we have 330,000 creative workers,” said Natavudh. “We also have a total of six million users participating daily on our services. Over the past 18 months, around 550,000 people have been using Ookbee U tokens. These groups will be the first to adopt the SIX token.”

Vachara Aemavat, another co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Six Network, said that the company “uses blockchain technology and smart contracts to reinvent the digital economy by building infrastructure and an ecosystem with three main features: financial services, a digital asset wallet, and wallet-to-wallet commerce”.

To build the ecosystem, Vachara said Six Network launched the Blockchain Startup Fund with Bt500 million of investment. The funds will be invested in partners, business development and community development.

Separately, JVentures yesterday said it would launch digital currency trading in the secondary market on May 2. The firm also will come out digital loan services to support people at the grassroots level of the economy in the second quarter of this year.

Taro Lertwattanarak, chief executive of JVentures, a subsidiary of Jay Mart (JMart), said that the firm on February 14 launched an ICO of 100 million JFin Coins to more than 2,200 backers, known as supporters, with a market value of around Bt660 million. Each JFin Coin was valued at Bt6.60.

The company will distribute the 100 million JFin Coins to the supporters on April 2 and allow them to begin official trading in the coins via local secondary exchanges on May 2. The digital currency trading platforms involved are TDEX, Coin Asset, iCoin, BX Thailand, Cash2Coins and JibEx.

The company is awaiting the approval of an emergency decree on the matter from Bank of Thailand, which is expected to come soon.

Taro said JMart would provide the digital loan services under the brand Big Brother, involving a decentralised digital lending platform (DDLP) based on blockchain technology that supports peer-to-peer lending.

The acquisition marks the biggest step by TCC Group in its strategic shift towards the digital era, both in Big Data analysis and e-commerce platforms, as well as gaining a new business with a promising growth outlook.

Under the acquisition, TSpace Digital holds a 51 per cent stake in Tarad.com, with the company’s founder and managing director Pawoot Pongvitayapanu owning the rest.

The company declined to disclose the acquisition price.

TSpace Digital was set up this month with Bt1 million in registered capital, and is 100 per cent owned by Adelfos Co Ltd, an investment arm of TCC Group.

Pawoot said that Tarad.com had transformed itself from an e-marketplace company into a one-stop e-commerce service provider.

“We have created a new business model, called U-Commerce, which will consist of many electronic platforms, comprising e-commerce, e-marketplace, e-marketing (advertising), e-payment, e-logistic and warehouse, and e-knowledge,” said Pawoot, noting that Tarad.com would cover full e-commerce models, including consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business to business to consumer (B2B2C) and a full ecosystem.

He said that Tarad.com would invest at least Bt100 million this year in exploring e-commerce platforms, which will allow the company to become a provider of turnkey e-commerce solutions. The company expected to post revenue growth of between 200 per cent and 300 per cent that would see the company achieve profitability this year.

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“With the business transformation, we (Tarad.com) will no longer focus solely on the e-marketplace, which requires a huge investment budget to stay competitive. The e-marketplace business has become a ‘red ocean’ and is dominated by big foreign players, such as Lazada, Shopee, 11Street, and JD Central,” said Pawoot.

He said that by being a provider of total e-commerce services, Tarad.com will be a partner with those e-marketplace operators and a hub for Thai manufacturers that want to explore entry for their products into foreign markets.

Thailand’s total e-commerce market was estimated Bt2.8 trillion for last year.

The three most popular channels are brand site, e-market place, and social media.

Marut Buranasetkul, president and CEO of TSpace Digital, said that the company has realised a dramatic change in business trends with the critical role of online and other digital elements in the business operations.

“TSpace Digital has been set up to support and develop the new businesses in order to connect seamlessly with the digital-based consumers, who are lifestyle-driven,” Marut said. “The demand for consumer understanding with digital solutions is high and will be the major element for all business operations and we must find the way to access to them in all channels, both online and offline, with in-depth data analysis.

“In addition to that, we recognise the potential of our local SMEs and local community products, including those are under the Pracha Rath scheme, that are determined to expand their businesses to meet with the needs of the digital era, especially e-commerce and other online businesses.

“We believe that many of our SMEs are competent with a capability to compete in the international arena if proper support is provided. TSpace Digital is determined to play such a role to drive the growth of these businesses.”

Leveraging a data-driven Internet of Things(IoT) infrastructure, Diebold Nixdorf AllConnect Services fully optimizes efficiencies and transforms operations to enable businesses to focus on their core competencies and consumer experiences, the company said in a press statement.

Diebold Nixdorf AllConnect Services uses an advanced IoT infrastructure as the foundation for all service endpoints that intuitively analyzes data to predict trending outcomes and enrich decision-making. With this holistic view, end-to-end business operations are transparent 24/7 in order to identify and remove redundancies to drive peak performance, make business operations agile and foster innovation, the statement added.

According to the stateement, Diebold Nixdorf AllConnect Services powers a collection of integrated business solutions for the connected world, including:

●        Managed Mobility Services:  Diebold Nixdorf AllConnect powers cutting-edge services that manage mobile device fleets seamlessly and efficiently, relieving a huge IT burden faced by organizations. The day-to-day management of all assets — including apps — and sourcing and shipping devices are in sight and in use, all the way until the end of the lifecycle.Diebold Nixdorf manages, monitors and provides the essential analytics that optimize business processes and store operations.

●        Branch and Store Lifecycle Management: Provides businesses with tailored IT services that ensure optimal performance and the end-to-end management of full-store or branch infrastructure. Retailers and financial institutions profit from comprehensive transparency of performance and costs, while staying in control of their IT and store networks. In addition, they can quickly innovate in a rapidly shifting retail landscape and focus on improving the consumer experience.

●        ATM-as-a-Service: Diebold Nixdorf takes the responsibility to operate banks’ entire self-service fleets, providing increased availability and expanded payment processing functionality. ATM-as-a-Service optimizes internal operations and minimizes the total cost of ownership all while ensuring consumers remain delighted with their self-service experience.

●        Financial and Retail Total Implementation Services:Diebold Nixdorf provides scalable and modular expertise to oversee design, customization, deployment and installation — on time and within budget — in a multivendor environment. These services use industry best-practice processes and project management, local and global expertise, covering the management of all suppliers and stakeholders.

“Diebold Nixdorf AllConnect Services leverages our broad knowledge of global markets, awareness of industry shifts and a consumer-centric view of what our clients need in order to accelerate their business transformation,” said Mr. Chukiat Jearjesadakul, Managing Director at Diebold Nixdorf (Thailand). “The underlying foundation of our services infrastructure will always consist of the most dedicated people providing industry-leading integrated solutions. We pride ourselves in this approach and our customers can feel confident their team is powered by ours.”

Firstly, in an e-mail sent to its users, Grab says that “in the immediate term, nothing will change and operations will continue as normal.”

Uber’s services will still be available in South-East Asia until April 8, but after that, passengers can only use the Grab app (available on iOS and Android) to book their rides.

For existing Uber users, they can still view their past trips and ratings in the app. The account remains active and can be used when in any country outside South-East Asia where Uber operates.

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In the email, Grab assures that there won’t be any changes to the fares. “For services that are on dynamic fares such as GrabCar and JustGrab, fares will continue to be calculated based on a base distance, with a dynamic surcharge that will be applied based on factors including demand and supply in that particular point in time, traffic conditions and estimated time taken for the journey.

“This is a fair calculation for drivers as they navigate varying road conditions throughout the day. This means fares are lower in low demand periods – and vice versa – which helps match drivers to passengers efficiently throughout the day,” it states.

Passengers who choose GrabTaxi (Metered) and GrabTaxi (Executive) options will continue to pay by metered fares that are set by the taxi companies.

So will the users be able to get a ride faster? Perhaps, but Grab does warn that during this transition, there may be service disruptions. However, in the following weeks, users can expect a faster booking experience as more drivers join the Grab platform.

There won’t be any changes to the existing Grab drivers as the benefits and incentives structure remains the same. However, the existing Uber drivers are recommended to sign up if they wish to join the Grab platform.

The driver’s Uber account information, which includes the past history and ratings, will be transferred to Grab upon notice. Grab says that it will be contacting and helping Uber drivers through the “onboarding” process with Grab so that all drivers can continue to drive as usual after Uber’s service in South-East Asia ends in April.

Uber will pay its drivers for the fares and corresponding incentives from the completed rides they picked up using the Uber Partner app. Drivers can contact Uber support within the “Help” section of their Uber app or on help.Uber.com.

As for Uber Eats, by May, users will be invited to try GrabFood – Uber Eats and Grab’s new food delivery app. Users will be required to sign up with a fresh account and profile on the new app, while their Uber Eats order history will remain in the old app.

All the restaurants on Uber Eats will be available on GrabFood, with the same prices, and Grab promises to add more restaurants to the list.

The Federal Trade Commission confirmed news reports from last week that it had opened an inquiry over the harvesting of data on tens of millions of Facebook users by the British consulting group Cambridge Analytica.

While the FTC normally refuses to comment on its probes, it took the unusual step of confirming a “non-public investigation” into Facebook over whether it mishandled private data or violated a 2011 agreement which settled an earlier probe.

Acting FTC consumer protection chief Tom Pahl said the agency will look into whether Facebook violated its privacy promises or failed to comply with the US-EU agreement on data protection known as the Privacy Shield.

The agency also will also determine if Facebook engaged “in unfair acts that cause substantial injury to consumers in violation of the FTC Act.”

The FTC suggested that Facebook could face new legal problems if it violated the consent decree with the consumer agency in 2011 settling charges that it deceived consumers on how it handled private data.

“Companies who have settled previous FTC actions must also comply with FTC order provisions imposing privacy and data security requirements,” Pahl said in the statement.

“Accordingly, the FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook.”

Facebook shares reversed early losses and closed up 0.42 percent on Monday, after having lost some 14 percent last week.

Separately, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley said he had asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear at a hearing on April 10 “to discuss Facebook’s past and future policies regarding the protection and monitoring of consumer data.”

Grassley said he also invited Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey “to discuss the future of data privacy in the social media industry.”

Germany to boost oversight 

Germany’s justice minister meanwhile said Monday that Facebook should face “stricter” oversight and be more transparent with its users.

Speaking after a meeting with European Facebook executives in Berlin, Justice Minister Katarina Barley said the firm’s assurances that it had already cracked down on the misuse of personal data were “not enough.”

“In future we will clearly have to monitor companies like Facebook more strictly and punish data protection violations severely and quickly,” she told reporters.

The world’s biggest social network is facing calls on both sides of the Atlantic for more information on how its user data was leaked. Several US states have opened investigations.

A public apology by Zuckerberg has failed to quell outrage over the hijacking of personal data.

Separately, Facebook disputed reports that it had been logging call and text data surreptitiously from its users.

A Facebook statement said call and text history logging “is part of an opt-in feature” for those using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android.

“This helps you find and stay connected with the people you care about, and provides you with a better experience across Facebook,” the statement said, while pointing to ways users can turn off the feature.

In London, authorities said they were assessing data seized in a raid on the offices of Cambridge Analytica as part of their investigation.

About 18 enforcement agents from the Information Commissioner’s Office participated in the raid late Friday after getting a court order.

“This is one part of a larger investigation by the ICO into the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, parties, social media companies and other commercial actors,” the UK agency said.

Cambridge Analytica, which worked on US President Donald Trump’s election campaign, has been accused of illegally mining tens of millions of users’ Facebook data and using it to target potential voters.

Facebook took out full-page ads in nine major British and US newspapers on Sunday to apologize to users.

“We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t we don’t deserve it,” Zuckerberg said in the ads.

Twitter followed the lead of Google and Facebook, which earlier this year cracked down on digital currency ads to protect users from being duped.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of the Twitter community,” Twitter said in a statement.

“As such, we have added a new policy for Twitter Ads relating to cryptocurrency.”

Under the new policy, the advertisement of ICOs, or initial currency offerings, and token sales will be prohibited at the global one-to-many messaging platform.

Some startups have used ICOs to raise billions of dollars in a highly volatile, unregulated market.

Twitter said: “We know that this type of content is often associated with deception and fraud, both organic and paid, and are proactively implementing a number of signals to prevent these types of accounts from engaging with others in a deceptive manner.”

The value of bitcoin dropped eight percent to $7,929 after the Twitter ad ban was announced, according to market data from Bloomberg.

The new policy leaves open the door for ads for cryptocurrency exchanges or secure “wallet” services offered by public companies listed on some major exchanges.

Twitter plans to modify its ad policy as the digital currency market evolves and its ability to distinguish dubious marketing messages improves.

The British government early this year called for global regulation of controversial virtual currency bitcoin, adding that the G20 would address the topic this month.

Bitcoin is independent of governments and banks and uses blockchain technology, where encrypted digital coins are created by supercomputers.

The virtual currency is not regulated by any central bank but is instead overseen by a community of users who try to guard against counterfeiting.

Virtual currency exchanges have seen tremendous volatility, and have sparked concerns they can be used to launder money for criminal networks.

The value of Litecoin also tanked on Monday, after the Singapore-based nonprofit Litecoin foundation put out word that payments processor LitePay ceased operations.

LitePay had asked the foundation for more funding, but was “unable to provide a satisfactory picture” of what it did with the money it had already been given, according to a release.

“We are greatly disheartened that this saga has ended in this way and we apologize for not doing enough due diligence that could have uncovered some of these issues earlier,” Litecoin foundation said in the release.

“We are currently working hard to tighten our due diligence practices and ensure that this does not happen again.”

Litecoin was down about 10 percent to $144.05 as of mid-day.

Singapore-based Grab is taking over the ride-sharing and food delivery operations of Uber in the region, with the California-headquartered company to receive a 27.5 percent stake in the business in return.

The sale is Uber’s latest withdrawal from a market where it had faced tough competition, as new chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi seeks to stem huge losses and move past a series of scandals.

After a fierce battle, Uber sold its China operations to rival Didi Chuxing in 2016 in return for a stake, and last year the US firm merged in Russia with the taxi-hailing app of internet giant Yandex.

The deal with Grab — which operates in eight Southeast Asian countries — is similar to the one struck with Didi, and ends a fight for market share in a region that is home to some 650 million people and an increasingly affluent middle class.

“Today’s acquisition marks the beginning of a new era,” said Grab chief executive Anthony Tan. “The combined business is the leader in platform and cost efficiency in the region.”

Khosrowshahi, who is joining Grab’s board as part of the agreement, said: “This deal is a testament to Uber’s exceptional growth across Southeast Asia over the last five years. It will help us double down on our plans for growth.”

The value of the deal, which Grab said was the largest ever acquisition by a Southeast Asian internet company, was not disclosed.

Grab has long been the dominant force in ride-hailing in Southeast Asia and speculation mounted that a deal with Uber was on the cards after Japanese financial titan Softbank invested huge sums in the US firm.

Softbank is also a major investor in Grab, and is known for pushing for consolidation in the global ride-hailing industry, which has been losing billions of dollars a year due to turf wars.

‘Fewer choices for commuters’

As part of Monday’s deal, Grab is combining Uber’s food delivery service in the region with its own and plans to expand it to more countries.

While both sides said the move would benefit customers, analysts raised concerns a lack of competition could push up prices.

“Industry consolidation will mean fewer choices for commuters and fares are likely to trend higher over time as the remaining players seek to improve their profitability longer term,” Corrine Png, a transport analyst from Singapore-based research firm Crucial Perspective, told AFP.

Grab, launched in 2012, has poured money into expanding its regional fleet and now operates in 195 cities in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

As well as linking customers up with private cars, it has services offering motorbike taxis in some countries, regular taxis and carpooling, as well as food and package delivery.

Before the acquisition, Uber operated in 64 cities in eight Southeast Asian countries.

Competition between ride-hailing apps has been heating up in Southeast Asia, with the market forecast to grow more than five times to $13.1 billion by 2025, according to a 2016 report by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek.

Uber is the largest firm of its kind with a presence in more than 600 cities, but it has been rocked by scandals and is facing fierce competition from rivals in Asia and Europe.

Chief executive Travis Kalanick was ousted in June last year after missteps including allegations of executive misconduct, a toxic workplace atmosphere and potentially unethical competitive practices.

New boss Khosrowshahi has vowed to turn the company around as Uber gears up for a 2019 public share offering.

But he has a fight on his hands — Uber’s losses in 2017 grew to $4.5 billion from the $2.8 billion the company lost a year earlier.

“We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t we don’t deserve it,” he said.

The ads ran in prominent positions in six British nationals, including the best-selling Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Times and The Observer — which helped break the story — as well as the New York Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Zuckerberg explained there was a quiz developed by a university researcher “that leaked Facebook data of millions of people in 2014”.

“This was a breach of trust, and I’m sorry we didn’t do more at the time. We’re now taking steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

The ad reflects public statements Zuckerberg made last week after the row prompted investigations in Europe and the United States, and sent Facebook’s share price plunging.

He repeated that the social media giant had changed the rules on apps so no such data breach could happen again.

“We’re also investigating every single app that had access to large amounts of data before we fixed this. We expect there are others,” he wrote.

“And when we find them, we will ban them and tell everyone affected.”

There was no mention of the British firm accused of using the data, Cambridge Analytica, which worked on US President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

It too has blamed the University of Cambridge researcher Alexsandr Kogan, for any potential breach of data rules

Kogan created a lifestyle quiz app for Facebook which was downloaded by 270,000 people, but allowed access to tens of millions of their contacts.

Facebook says he passed this to Cambridge Analytica without its knowledge. Kogan says he is being made a scapegoat.