The Tribune

• Google plans to start charging smartphone makers to pre-install apps like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps on Android handsets sold in Europe, a response to a record $5bn antitrust fine imposed by the European Union.

The US tech company’s announcement yesterday is a change from its previous business model of letting manufacturers install Google’s suite of popular mobile apps for free on phones running its Android operating system.

Device makers will also now be able to install rival modified, or “forked”, versions of Android, the most widely used mobile operating system.

The company is taking the measures to comply with the July ruling by EU authorities that found Google allegedly abused the dominance of Android to stifle competitors. Google is introducing the changes at the end of October to meet a deadline set out in the European Commission’s decision, which it is appealing in a process that could take years.

EU regulators decided it was unfair for Google to force smartphone makers that used Android to also install its apps. The company argued that giving away its open-source operating system resulted in cheaper phones and more competition with chief rival Apple.

• Japan’s space agency is delaying a spacecraft touchdown on an asteroid because scientists need more time to find a safe landing site on the extremely rocky surface.

The spacecraft Hayabusa2 left Earth in 2014 and traveled 280 million kilometres (170 million miles) to the area of asteroid Ryugu, which it reached in June.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to attempt three brief touch-and-go landings on Ryugu to collect samples in hopes of gaining clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.

JAXA Hayabusa2 project manager Yuichi Tsuda said last week that the rockier-than-expected asteroid hardly has any flat spaces for landing.

“Those rocks are our biggest headache,” Tsuda said. “Ryugu is extremely rocky and it’s almost cruel.”

He said his team needs at least a month to revise the landing plan, and is still hopeful.

“We will not let Hayabusa2 come back empty-handed,” Tsuda said earlier.

A one-month delay at this time of year means two more idle months because the spacecraft will be on the other side of the sun from the Earth in November and December, making it unable to communicate.

Scientists are analysing data that Hayabusa2 collected when it moved close to the asteroid to release three rovers, as well as images and other data collected by the rovers, to determine the best landing spot.