Over the past year, billions of people all over the world have relied heavily on internet connectivity to keep in touch with family and friends, learn online, work from home and get vital information about the coronavirus pandemic. Yet over the course of 2020, 29 countries intentionally shut down or slowed their internet communications at least 155 times.

Authorities in India shut down the internet 109 times over the course of 2020, mostly in Indian-administered Kashmir, which accounted for almost 90 percent of all internet shutdowns in India last year. From January 2020 till February of this year, the internet in Indian-administered Kashmir was throttled to 2G, making life very difficult for many students in the state who had been moved to remote learning as a result of COVID-19.

• Whatsapp Added Voice And Video Calling To Desktop App.

WhatsApp’s desktop app for Mac and PC is getting voice and video calling today, the company announced, offering end-to-end encrypted calls to other WhatsApp users on both computers and mobile devices.

•  SpaceX's Unmanned Rocket Explodes.

Third time's a charm? Not so for SpaceX, whose unmanned rocket exploded on the ground Wednesday after carrying out what had seemed to be a successful flight and landing - fresh on the heels of two fiery crashes.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been developing the next-generation Starship rocket for the purpose of going to Mars - though two prototypes (SN8 and SN9) blew up in spectacular fashion on their test runs in December and early February. The tests take place in a nearly deserted area leased by SpaceX in South Texas near the border with Mexico and Gulf of Mexico - the area is vast and empty enough that an accident or explosion would not likely cause damage or fatalities.

• Supreme Court Gave Relief To Google, Facebook, & Other Tech Giants Over Royalty Taxes.

India charges a 10% royalty tax, but the ruling means a non-resident foreign software seller without a permanent establishment in India, would not have to deduct the royalty tax at the source.

With tax relief, multinational companies such as IBM, Hewlett Packard and Samsung Electronics, which import software for sale in India, could even lower their prices for the end-user. The SC ruling in question came after an examination of around 86 appeals and counter appeals by various software firms as well as India's Commissioner of Income Tax. Big tech companies Google, Facebook and Amazon could start claiming hundreds of crores in refunds from the Indian government, as a Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday clarified that payments made by local users for the purchase of software from non-resident sellers or distributors cannot be taxed as royalty.

Apple Facing Antitrust Probe In The UK Over Its Apple Store Rules