In today’s Bulldog wrapup of science and technology news:

  • South Korean court sentences Samsung heir to 5 years prison
  • Apple gets $208M in tax breaks to build Iowa data center
  • Tanzania to use drone network to deliver critical medicines
  • Britain to test part-driverless platoons of trucks

The details:

  • South Korean court sentences Samsung heir to 5 years prison

A South Korean court sentenced the billionaire chief of Samsung to five years in prison for bribery and other crimes in a stunning downfall for the heir to South Korea’s biggest family fortune and a global consumer electronics empire.

The Seoul Central District Court said Friday that Lee Jae-yong, 49, was guilty of offering bribes to Park Geun-hye when she was South Korea’s president, and to Park’s close friend, to get government support for efforts to cement his control over the Samsung empire. The revelations that led to Lee’s arrest in February fed public outrage which contributed to Park’s removal as president.

A panel of three judges also found Lee guilty of embezzling Samsung funds, hiding assets overseas, concealing profit from criminal acts and perjury. Prosecutors had sought a 12-year prison term.

Lee was accused of offering $38 million in bribes to four entities controlled by Choi Soon-sil, a long-time friend of Park, in exchange for government help with a merger that strengthened Lee’s control over Samsung after his father suffered a heart attack in 2014.

Samsung has not denied transferring corporate funds. But Lee, vice chairman at Samsung Electronics and the Samsung founder’s grandson, claimed innocence during the court hearing. He said he was unaware of the foundations or the donations, which were overseen by other executives.

  • Apple gets $208M in tax breaks to build Iowa data center

Iowa approved a deal Thursday to give Apple $208 million in state and local tax breaks to build two data storage centers near Des Moines and to create at least 50 jobs — a pact that critics quickly panned.

The deal approved by the Iowa Economic Development Authority includes a refund of $19.6 million in state sale taxes for Apple Inc. and a $188 million break on property taxes from Waukee, a booming suburb bordering Des Moines.

In addition to the promised 50 jobs, Apple has agreed to buy 2,000 acres of land for the $1.4 billion project, enough to allow for future development, said Debi Durham, the state’s economic development director.

At an event with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds outside the Capitol building, Apple CEO Tim Cook credited Iowa’s “world-class power grid” and what he called the state’s culture of developing computer programmers who have created applications ranging from education to entertainment.

“At Apple we admire what you guys have accomplished and we want to be a part of it,” Cook told cheering supporters. Neither he nor the governor took questions at the event.

Cook promised to invest $100 million to a newly created public improvement fund to be used for community development, including the revitalization of streets, libraries and parks. The first project will be a youth sports campus that can host community and high school games and that will include a greenhouse, playground and fishing pier.

  • Tanzania to use drone network to deliver critical medicines

Drones soon will be used in Tanzania to deliver medicines to health facilities across the East African country, continuing a trend of African governments embracing drone networks to deliver critical services.

Tanzania’s government is working with U.S. logistics company Zipline to launch what they call the world’s largest drone delivery service for emergency medical supplies.

In the first quarter of 2018, Tanzania’s government will begin using drones to make up to 2,000 deliveries per day to more than 1,000 health facilities, Zipline said in a statement Thursday.

The service will be crucial in times of unexpected demand or bad weather and for small but critical orders, said Laurean Bwanakunu, director-general of Tanzania’s national medical stores.

Since October 2016, Zipline has been operating a similar drone delivery service in Rwanda for emergency blood deliveries to transfusion clinics.

With its harsh landscapes of desert and rain forest and extremes of rainy seasons and drought, Africa is burdened with what the World Bank has called “the worst infrastructure endowment of any developing region today.”

  • Britain to test part-driverless platoons of trucks

Britain is set to conduct road trials of self-driving trucks, involving a “platoon” of vehicles controlled by a driver in the front.

The Department for Transport said Friday that up to three trucks will travel in convoy, connected by Wi-Fi and with braking and acceleration controlled by the lead vehicle.

Officials say the formation saves fuel and reduces carbon emissions, because the lead truck pushes air out of the way, making the others more efficient.

Similar trials have been conducted in Europe and the United States. But critics say driverless trucks are unsuited to Britain’s often narrow and winding roads.

Automobile Association President Edmund King says “platooning may work on the miles of deserted freeways in Arizona or Nevada, but this is not America.”