Trickbot trojan found to now have the ability to modify a computer's UEFI

by Bob Yirka , Tech Xplore

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A combined team of security experts from Advanced Intelligence and Eclypsium has announced that the Trickbot trojan malware now has the ability to modify a computer's Unified Extensible Firmware Interface—the interface between the firmware on a computer motherboard and the computer's operating system—in this case, Microsoft Windows.


Trickbot has been in the news of late due to its advanced capabilities. It has a modular design and is notable for its ability to gain administrative capabilities on infected computers. The entities behind the creation of the trojan are believed to be criminals in Russia and North Korea, and they have used it to target telecoms, health care firms, education institutions and even infrastructure operators (quite often in the form of ransomware).

The trojan and its designers have also achieved a degree of fame over the past year as they managed to overcome a takedown by a combined team of experts from Microsoft and a variety of security firms. Now, it appears the trojan has become even more sophisticated, able to embed itself in the computer's firmware. This new development is considered to be a serious threat because of what it can do once installed.

When a computer boots up, the UEFI and firmware work together to bring up the operating system—if nefarious code has been embedded in the firmware, it can load its own software modules or even modify the operating system as it loads. Such modules would then go undetected by conventional antivirus software and would not be overcome, even if the hard drive were wiped clean or replaced altogether.

The team at Eclypsium has dubbed the new feature "Trickboot," and suggests it allows its makers to take control over both individual computers and whole networks of them. And as a bonus, because it is modular, it can be sold by the developers to users with criminal intent—all the buyers need do is add code to be executed by one of the existing modules. Such functionality could give groups with limited resources the power to create havoc in the user community.


Explore further Microsoft targets malware vendor Trickbot amid US election fears

More information: eclypsium.com/2020/12/03/trick … ersist-brick-profit/

© 2020 Science X Network

Huge drone set to launch satellites in mid-air

by Peter Grad , Tech Xplore


We all have images in our mind of rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station hurtling astronauts into space and satellites into orbit.

But those launches may be a thing of the past as a new generation of drones that can do the same job cheaper, safer and better steps into play.

Alabama-Based Aevum unveiled its Ravn X Autonomous Launch Vehicle Wednesday that it says is the world's largest unmanned aircraft system.

The Ravn X fleet, with aircraft at 80 feet long and 60 feet wide, can deliver satellite payloads with precision accuracy every 180 minutes around the clock. Best of all, company officials say, it can be done safer than current space delivery systems because the crafts are unmanned.

"Aevum is completely reimagining access to space," said Jay Skylus, founder and CEO of Aevum. "The current definition of rocket science doesn't work for us. With Aevum, everyone will be able to say, 'It is rocket science and I can do it.' Aevum is pushing logistics to the next generation with software and automation technologies."

The Ravn X does not require a runway longer than one mile, allowing it to take off and return to remote areas lacking formal airports. The drones take off and land without human assistance.

The vehicles are also economical: 70 percent of each Ravn X is reusable after launch. The company says it is aiming to build drones that are ultimately 95 percent reusable in the near future.

Weather does not appear to be a critical factor. Except for rare, extreme conditions, the drones can be launched under bad weather conditions that would prevent flight by current satellite delivery systems.

The autonomous system takes into account not just weather but other key variables such as air traffic congestion, payload weight, destination and ground crew scheduling.

Skylus sees a higher mission with the creation of the Aevum Autonomous Launch System.

"U.S. leadership has identified the critical need for extremely fast access to low Earth orbit. We're faster than anybody," he said. "To me, space is merely a vantage point from which the next generation can commit global progress. Aevum will shorten the lead time of launches from years to months, and when our customers demand it, minutes. This is necessary to improve lives on Earth. This is necessary to save lives."

Two competitors, the Virgin Group, home of Virgin Airlines, and Stratolaunch, founded by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, launched their own satellite-delivery companies offering mid-air satellite launch systems over the past decade. But unlike the Ravn X, those aircraft require onboard pilots to assist in operations. The Ravn X is fully autonomous.

According to a company summary of the project, the Ravn X, unlike ground launch or air launch, "involves a global, fully-autonomous, self-flying, self-managing, self-operating intelligent system of systems, called the autonomous launch architecture, working in concert to deliver payloads from any terrestrial origin to any space destination in low Earth orbit."

The Ravn X already has customers lined up for the first launches set to begin late in 2021. Twenty missions over nine years have been scheduled with the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. And the U.S. Space Force has signed a $5 million contract for the launch of its ASLON-45 experimental satellite system.


Explore further European space rocket launch fails minutes after takeoff

More information: www.businesswire.com/news/home … Out-Ravn-X-The-World%E2%80%99s-First-Autonomous-Launch-Vehicle-and-the-Largest-Unmanned-Aircraft-System-UAS

www.aevumlaunch.com/

© 2020 Science X Network

Giant vertical farm opens in Denmark

by Camille Bas-Wohlert

First developed around a decade ago, vertical farms have taken off in Asia and the United States

A purple glow illuminates stacked boxes where lettuce, herbs and kale will soon be sprouting at one of Europe's biggest "vertical farms" which has just opened in a warehouse in an industrial zone in Copenhagen.


Fourteen layers of racks soar from floor to ceiling in this massive, 7,000-square-metre (75,350-square-foot) hangar used by Danish start-up Nordic Harvest.

The produce grown here will be harvested 15 times a year, despite never seeing soil or daylight. It is lit up around the clock by 20,000 specialised LED lightbulbs.

In this futuristic farm, little robots deliver trays of seeds from aisle to aisle.

The large aluminium boxes are mostly empty for now, but lettuce and other leafy greens will soon be growing.

Some 200 tonnes of produce are due to be harvested in the first quarter of 2021, and almost 1,000 tonnes annually when the farm is running at full capacity by the end of 2021, explains Anders Riemann, founder and chief executive of Nordic Harvest.

That would make the Taastrup warehouse one of Europe's biggest vertical farms.

These urban facilities have unsurprisingly received a cool welcome from rural farmers, who have questioned their ability to feed the planet and criticised their electricity consumption.

But Riemann stresses the environmental benefits of his farm, with produce grown close to consumers and its use of green electricity.

A robot, used to plant seeds and check the plants while growing, moves past vertical racks at 'Nordic Harvest' in Taastrup, a suburb west of Copenhagen

"A vertical farm is characterised by not harming the environment by recycling all the water and nutrition or fertiliser," says Riemann, who uses no pesticides.

In Denmark, a world leader in wind farms, about 40 percent of electricity consumption is wind-based.

"In our case, we use 100 percent energy from windmills which makes us CO2-neutral," he adds.

While he wouldn't disclose how much Nordic Harvest's electricity bill comes to, he said the power came with "wind certificates" registered on the Danish commodities exchange.

These legal documents guarantee that "the amount of electricity you consume in one year is equivalent to the electricity produced by numbered windmills offshore".

Slow start in Europe

First developed around a decade ago, vertical farms have taken off in Asia and the United States, which is home to the world's biggest.

The idea has slowly started to catch on in Europe.


Urban farming could even allow land exploited by single-culture farming to be reforested, Riemann said.

Shelves of the vertical plant farm 'Nordic Harvest' where lettuce, herbs and kale will soon be growing

"We moved the forests in order to have fields," he laments, noting that now farmers like him can bring "some of the food production back into the cities where you can grow on much smaller land and space optimised in height".

His farm uses one litre of water per kilogramme of produce, or 40 times less than underground farms and 250 times less than in fields, he says.

The names of his clients remain confidential, but they include caterers, restaurants and even supermarkets.

According to a poll conducted by the Danish Farmers Union, 95 percent of Danes are ready to change their consumer behaviour to protect the environment.

Nordic Harvest's products are however not labelled as organic.

"The EU regulation dictates that the word organic is linked to the word 'soil' so if you take soil out of the equation you can't name it organic anymore," he says.

But "we grow on the same terms as organic: we don't use pesticides or insecticides".

Meanwhile, Aarhus University agriculture professor Carl-Otto Ottosen notes that Denmark "doesn't have a space problem" and companies like Riemann's are largely a novelty that won't threaten Danish farming traditions.

"It works in Japan or Shanghai, where there's no space to farm and where they want quality products," he says.

But despite what polls suggest, Ottosen insists Danes are still more inclined to buy products based on "price, not taste".

Explore further

The yield potential of wheat grown in controlled-environment vertical farms

© 2020 AFP

How clean electricity can upgrade the value of captured carbon

by Tyler Irving, University of Toronto
  

Credit: University of Toronto

A team of researchers from U of T Engineering has created a new process for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from smokestacks into commercially valuable products, such as fuels and plastics.

"Capturing carbon from flue gas is technically feasible, but energetically costly," says Professor Ted Sargent (ECE), who serves as U of T's Vice-President, Research and Innovation. "This high energy cost is not yet overcome by compelling market value embodied in the chemical product. Our method offers a path to upgraded products while significantly lowering the overall energy cost of combined capture and upgrade, making the process more economically attractive."

One technique for capturing carbon from smokestacks—the only one that has been used at commercial-scale demonstration plants—is to use a liquid solution containing substances called amines. When flue gas is bubbled through these solutions, the CO2 within it combines with the amine molecules to make chemical species known as adducts.

Typically, the next step is to heat the adducts to temperatures above 150 C in order to release the CO2 gas and regenerate the amines. The released CO2 gas is then compressed so it can be stored. These two steps, heating and compression, account for up to 90% of the energy cost of carbon capture.

Geonhui Lee, a Ph.D. candidate in Sargent's lab, pursued a different path. Instead of heating the amine solution to regenerate CO2 gas, she is using electrochemistry to convert the carbon captured within it directly into more valuable products.

"What I learned in my research is that if you inject electrons into the adducts in solution, you can convert the captured carbon into carbon monoxide," says Lee. "This product has many potential uses, and you also eliminate the cost of heating and compression."

Compressed CO2 recovered from smokestacks has limited applications: it is usually injected underground for storage or to enhance oil recovery.

By contrast, carbon monoxide (CO) is one of the key feedstocks for the well-established Fischer-Tropsch process. This industrial technique is widely used to make fuels and commodity chemicals, including the precursors to many common plastics.

Lee developed a device known as an electrolyzer to carry out the electrochemical reaction. While she is not the first to design such a device for the recovery of carbon captured via amines, she says that previous systems had drawbacks in terms of both their products and overall efficiency.

"Previous electrolytic systems generated pure CO2, carbonate, or other carbon-based compounds which don't have the same industrial potential as CO," she says. "Another challenge is that they had low throughput, meaning that the rate of reaction was low."

In the electrolyzer, the carbon-containing adduct has to diffuse to the surface of a metal electrode, where the reaction can take place. Lee's experiments showed that, in her early studies, the chemical properties of the solution were hindering this diffusion, which in turn inhibited her target reaction.

Lee was able to overcome the problem by adding a common chemical, potassium chloride (KCl), to the solution. Though it doesn't participate in the reaction, the presence of KCl greatly speeds up the rate of diffusion.

The result is that the current density—the rate at which electrons can be pumped into the electrolyzer and turned into CO—can be 10 times higher in Lee's design than in previous systems. The system is described in a new paper published today in Nature Energy.

Lee's system also demonstrated high faradaic efficiency, a term that refers to the proportion of injected electrons that end up in the desired product. At a current density of 50 milliamperes per square centimeter (mA/cm2), the faradaic efficiency was measured at 72%.

While both the current density and efficiency set new records for this type of system, there is still some distance to go before it can be applied on a commercial scale.


Explore further Fuels out of thin air: New path to capturing and upgrading CO2

More information: Geonhui Lee et al. Electrochemical upgrade of CO2 from amine capture solution, Nature Energy (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-020-00735-z

Journal information: Nature Energy

Provided by University of Toronto

Green energy transition: 

Early and steady wins the race

by Aarhus University
  

Assistant Professor Marta Victoria. Credit: Ida Jensen, AU

What's the cheapest, easiest way to honor the Paris Agreement of limiting the global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius? A clear and strong investment in wind and solar power. Starting now.

That's the message in a new scientific paper published in Nature Communications, in which Aarhus University researchers have modeled the decarbonisation of the sector-coupled European energy system using uninterrupted, high-res hourly data for every European and Scandinavian country and network interconnectivity.

Using the university's supercomputer, PRIME, the researchers have modeled how to modify the production of electricity, heating and transport sector energy to make sure that there's enough energy for every possible hour, even in the coldest weeks of winter.

"We ask the question of which energy strategy to employ in order to reach the 2050 goal. We have a carbon budget—a maximum amount of CO2 we can emit—and how do we make sure that by 2050 we reach climate neutrality in the cheapest and most feasible way?" asks Assistant Professor Marta Victoria, an expert in photovoltaics (PV) and energy systems at the Department of Engineering, Aarhus University.

She continues: "There are two scenarios: Early and steady or late and rapid. Our model clearly shows that the cost-optimized solution is to act now. To be ambitious in the short term. And we find solar energy and onshore and offshore wind to be the cost-optimized cornerstone in a fully decarbonised 2050 energy system."

Marta Victoria says that both paths require a massive deployment of wind and solar PV during the next 30 years. The required installation rates are similar to historical maxima, making the transition challenging, yet possible.

"It's not an easy task," she says. "In some years, we will have to install more than 100 Gigawatts of solar PV and wind power, and to achieve full decarbonisation, the CO2 prices will have to be a lot higher than today."

The paper illustrates a slowly inclining CO2 price that maximizes around 400 €/ton in the year 2050—around 20 times higher than today's prices. This is required in order to favor the renewable transition, Marta says.

The model also includes hydro power, and to account for so-called "nightmare weeks," a small amount of gas-based electricity and heating production plus energy storage facilities: "District heating systems are efficient for very cold and critical periods when electricity demand and heating demand is high, but wind and solar energy production is low. Large hot-water tanks discharge during those weeks. This way, we make sure that the future energy systems works for every possible scenario."

A more profitable and eco-friendly method for turning biomass into biochemicals and green hydrogen

by Colleen MacPherson, Canadian Light Source

The UCalgary team is observing a photo-reactor that is being used for a photoreforming reaction with wheat straw. Left to right: Prof. Md Golam Kibria, Dr. Adnan Khan (Research Associate), Dr. Heng Zhao (Post doctoral fellow), Prof. Jinguang Hu. Credit: Prof. Hu and Kibria group

Many have dreamed of being able to turn straw into gold like the fabled Rumpelstiltskin. While this may not be possible in the literal sense, scientists are using sunlight to turn straw into something more valuable.

With the aid of technology from the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, Canadian researchers have made important advances to use the power of the sun to convert biomass like wheat straw into hydrogen fuel and value-added biochemicals. This method is more efficient, eco-friendly and lucrative.

Producing energy from biomass, or plant material, has been studied for more than four decades, said Dr. Jinguang Hu, assistant professor at the University of Calgary (UCalgary). The two most common processes are thermo-chemical and biological, but these are still carbon intensive and are not economically feasible.

Dr. Hu and Dr. Md Golam Kibria, an assistant professor at UCalgary, have been focusing their recent research on an alternative approach to commonly used petro-refinery. Their novel and environmentally friendly approach called photobiorefinery uses solar energy to break down biomass, in this case wheat straw, to make green hydrogen and a high value biochemical. Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) has been supporting this research and their recent findings were published by the American Chemical Society.

One of the key aspects of an effective biomass photorefinery approach is pre-treatment of the wheat straw. Hu explained plant cell walls are made of complex and highly organized cellulose structures, a major building block of biomass. Pre-treatment of the biomass destroys those structures and exposes more of the material to the sun-driven process. Kibria added the goal was to identify a pre-treatment that does not require non-renewable resources, thereby "saving a lot of carbon and cost."

Using the CLS's Hard X-ray Micro-analysis beamline, the researchers compared how raw wheat straw and straw pre-treated in a number of ways reacted in the photorefinery. Their findings showed a phosphoric acid pre-treatment resulted in the highest production of green hydrogen and lactic acid, which is typically used for bioplastics and in food, chemical, and medical industries.

"The CLS facility allowed us to see how stable the material was at the start, during and after photorefining of wheat straw. And, we could see that in real time, which is a big advantage," said Kibria.

Another critical factor was to find an inexpensive, readily available catalyst to drive the photorefinery. The study found the best results using a low-cost photocatalyst, made from carbon and nitrogen, that is designed for visible light driven cellulose photoreforming.

"Because all biomass has a similar chemical composition, what we've shown is that you can tailor the pre-treatment and the catalyst to valorize any renewable organic material," said Hu. This finding opens up opportunities for turning straw and other plant materials into value-added green hydrogen and biochemicals.

Kibria said the next steps in the research will be to "tune the catalyst to capture more of the visible light spectrum," and then to scale up the photorefinery with an eye to eventual commercialization.

"Because biomass captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, we can use this process to take care of the environment and produce green hydrogen and chemicals that are economically viable," he said.


Explore further Designing water splitting catalysts using waste-yeast biomass

More information: Xinxing Wu et al. Sunlight-Driven Biomass Photorefinery for Coproduction of Sustainable Hydrogen and Value-Added Biochemicals, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c06282 

Provided by Canadian Light Source

CANADA

Crackdown on land protests in 2020 infringes on liberties, future activism: experts

TORONTO — Months after a group of Haudenosaunee people set up camp on a construction site near Caledonia, Ont., an provincial court granted Haldimand County an order permanently forbidding people from “interfering” with any public road.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

A lawyer for the county argued that the injunction was the “only remedy” to keep roads open in the event of future blockades over disputed land.

“I kind of jokingly -- but not jokingly – say, if you get a flat tire and are impeding traffic with that flat tire in any kind of way, you are now breaching that injunction,” Skyler Williams, a spokesman for the 1492 Land Back Lane camp, said in a recent phone interview.

The Haudenosaunee protesters argue the site of the housing development is on unceded land. Williams and more than 30 others who call themselves "land defenders" refused to obey the court order and are now facing charges.

The county’s move to effectively ban protest indefinitely is part of a broader trend as governments at various levels crack down on Indigenous-led land protests. Some provinces have introduced legislation that experts warn infringes on civil liberties and could have a chilling effect on future activism.

After blockades in solidarity with Wetsu’we’ten hereditary leaders opposing a pipeline through their territory near Smithers, B.C., shut down railways and roads last winter, Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party introduced a bill outlawing disruptions to “critical infrastructure,” broadly defined to include highways, railways and pipelines.

The bill, which became law in June, carries fines up to $25,000 and six months in jail for each day of an alleged violation. Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative government has said it plans to introduce similar legislation next year, with the fine print under wraps until then.

Shiri Pasternak, an associate professor of criminology and research director at Ryerson University’s Yellowhead Institute, said such laws appear to be “risk mitigation measures” as land defence movements gain support across Canada.

“These bills are meant to, I think, head off these movements at the pass by issuing blanket criminalization of any kind of action actions or interventions to infrastructure,” she said by phone.

Pasternak said she agrees with critics in Alberta’s legal community who argue the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act violates Charter rights. It also has an amplified effect on Indigenous people who have special constitutional rights to the land, she said.

The law fits with Canada’s historic attempts to restrict Indigenous people's mobility, Pasternak said, pointing to the pass system that required people to present documentation in order to leave reserves.

“Now, you see what's been the history and the legacy of Canadian colonialism being applied to the Canadian population more generally,” she said.

Cara Zwibel with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said laws like Alberta’s that target Indigenous protesters show “intolerance for the fact that democracy can be messy,” and stoke divisions between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous neighbours who aren’t informed about the history behind the conflicts.

There are ripple effects when governments target one group of people with such legislation, she added.

“If one group doesn't have the right to protest then no one really does,” Zwibel said in an interview.

Zwibel said the non-profit may join a constitutional challenge of Alberta’s law filed by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, depending on the outcome of a January hearing on the government’s request that the claim be struck.

The statement of claim from the union filed in June argues that the Act “will have a chilling effect on legitimate and peaceful protests, demonstrations, strikes and leafleting, activities essential to a healthy democracy.”

A statement from a spokesman for Alberta’s justice minister denied that the infrastructure law targets people by race, and said it does not restrict protected rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

“Albertans understand the difference between legitimate protest and criminal acts designed to shut down the economy,” Blaise Boehmer’s statement said.

There is also a court challenge underway appealing the permanent injunction orders against the 1492 Land Back Lane camp in Ontario.

Haldimand County Mayor Ken Hewitt said he doesn't want to take away the right to protest, but he's considering the "rights of those that can't traverse across these streets," and people waiting to move into the housing development.

"I'd say that everybody has the right to protest, but when that line is crossed, where the protest now infringes on those that are innocent, how far can you go," Hewitt said in an interview.

Pasternak said the Haldimand court challenge will likely be closely watched, saying a win for the protesters would create “more legal uncertainty for infrastructure projects” – in which case, a law like Alberta’s would offer governments and companies a shortcut around similar constitutional challenges.

The federal Liberals’ recent move to bring the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People into law may also gives Indigenous people more legal options in future cases, Pasternak said, though the exact application of the law in Canada is still unclear.

Hayden King, executive director of the Yellowhead Institute, said the recent trend of “disciplinary, oppressive response” to land defence movements signals the end of a recent period of dialogue between Indigenous and Canadian governments, and it shows the limits of reconciliation in those relationships.

Despite increasingly “draconian” responses to conflicts over land in several provinces, King said that young Indigenous activists and leaders appear eager to keep the movements alive.

“I think that these types of movements are going to continue on and they're going to keep pushing, and it's going to continue to open up space for dialogue,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Dec. 10, 2020.

Holly McKenzie-Sutter, The Canadian Press

Malalai Maiwand: Afghan female journalist killed by gunmen

The Afghan government has described the killing of female journalist Malalai Maiwand by gunmen on Thursday as "utterly despicable."

© Handout/Nangarhar Provincial Media Office 

Malalai Maiwand was not the first of her family to be targeted. Five years ago, her mother, also an activist, was killed by unknown gunmen.

Sediqi Sediqi, a spokesperson for President Ashraf Ghani condemned the murder, calling it "cowardly and heinous."

"The Afghan government strongly condemns it and conveys message of condolence and sympathy to her family and friends," Sediqi said in a tweet. "The current senseless violence against our people must end."

At 7 a.m. local time, unidentified gunmen shot and killed Maiwand and her driver in an attack on their vehicle in Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern province of Nangarhar, a statement from the provincial media office said. She was a reporter at Enikas Radio and TV in Nangarhar and this is an incident that underscores an increasing trend of violence against journalists in the country.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Reuters cited Afghan interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian as saying that -- over the past 15 years -- the Taliban has been behind the majority of attacks on journalists.

CNN has reached out to the Taliban for comment. Meanwhile Reuters has cited Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid as saying he denied the group's involvement in the incident.

"She was on the way to office when the incident happened," Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, told Reuters.

Enikas has been targeted before, with its owner, Engineer Zalmay, kidnapped for ransom in 2018.

Maiwand is also not the first of her family to be targeted. Five years ago, her mother, also an activist, was killed by unknown gunmen.

"With the killing of Malalai, the working field for female journalists is getting more smaller and the journalists may not dare to continue their jobs the way they were doing before," Nai, an organization supporting media in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Last month, Elyas Dayee, a Radio Azadi journalist, was killed in a bomb blast in the southern Helmand province, and Yama Siawash, a former TOLOnews presenter, was killed in a similar blast in Kabul.

The Afghan government, German embassy, EU delegation and British ambassador condemned growing attacks on journalists and activists.

International donors and governments have also expressed apprehension about a possible reversal of progress on women's rights over the last two decades if the Taliban return to any sort of power with the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country next year.

The Taliban's hardline rule was marked by oppressive laws for women up until the group was toppled following a 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Liberals set to kick-start talks on new child-care system and funding, Hussen says

OTTAWA — Two key federal cabinet ministers marked the anniversary of a landmark report on women's issues in Canada with a political push for a national daycare system, encouraging provinces and MPs to not stand in the way of the revived promise.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

It was 50 years ago Monday that the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada released its final report, which called on all levels of government to immediately start work on national child-care system.

The Liberals, who promised a universal daycare system on the campaign trail in 1993, have once again pledged to deliver on that goal. The Liberals put some money toward that end in the fall economic statement tabled late last month, but getting there will take time and negotiations with provinces about the fine details of how a program would look.

Families Minister Ahmed Hussen said in an interview Monday that the Liberals would be as "accommodating as possible" during what he agreed could be challenging talks.

He argued that provincial and federal politicians should be onside with the essence of what the government wants to put in place — the federal New Democrats in particular.

The Liberals have long sought to pin blame on the NDP for siding with other opposition parties to bring down the minority Paul Martin government in 2005, which ended talks towards a national child-care system at the time.

"Ultimately, it's about the kids and it's about the parents so that they can go back to work and have access to truly affordable child care, because that's the biggest pressure on all levels of government," Hussen said.

He added that "politicians in this country need to support this effort."

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered a similar message Monday during an appearance on CTV talk show The Social, as the Liberals vie for public backing for a plan they have yet to fully form.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the Liberals need to look in the mirror to find someone to blame for why the country still lacks universal child care.

"They've had the ability and the time to bring in place universal child care and they simply have not done it," Singh said Monday on Parliament Hill.

"Right now, they're not showing a commitment to universal child care. They're not even showing a commitment to keeping the existing level of child care. Let that be very clear."

Child-care experts suggest a national system could take years to create, including building new infrastructure to accommodate the more than two million spaces that are estimated to be needed for widespread coverage, and training new staff.

Freeland acknowledged a longer time frame when asked about a five-year spend on a child-care secretariat to build policy capacity inside the federal government.

"It's going to take time," Freeland said in the television interview.

"I'm not going to promise instant results. That's impossible and would be dishonest."

The Liberals have promised $420 million to train and retain early childhood educators, the specifics of which will be subject to negotiations with provinces, Hussen said.

That would mean provincial needs would determine how many staff get retained through wage increases, or students trained through the help of bursaries.

Talks will start over the coming months on how that money will be used while at the same time negotiations push ahead on funding arrangements set to expire in March for existing child-care dollars.

"We have to do two things: continue the current supports through and beyond COVID, but on a parallel track, negotiate and try to establish this national system as early as possible," Hussen said.

Hussen suggested the current agreements could be used as a platform for a national system, including expectations for how provinces report on spending, how the money can be used and the number of spaces protected or created.

Accountability in a national system would follow the same lines, "if not introduce even more expectations of higher levels of accountability," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2020.

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

Avoiding cheetah hangouts helps ranchers protect herds


WASHINGTON — On the dusty savannahs of Namibia, one of the last strongholds of cheetah populations on Earth, conflicts between cattle ranchers and big cats threaten the survival of the embattled carnivores.  

© Provided by The Canadian Press

But new research on how cheetahs use the landscape has allowed some ranchers to reduce the number of calves killed annually by 86%, largely by avoiding popular cheetah hangouts.

Cheetahs are the fastest land mammal, capable of speeds exceeding 60 miles per hour (97 kilometres per hour). But they also hold another distinction: the rarest big cat in Africa, with fewer than 7,000 alive in the wild.

By following movements of 106 GPS-collared cheetahs from 2007 to 2018, researchers from Germany and Slovenia gleaned new insights into cheetah social structure, which they shared with ranchers.

Unlike most African felines, cheetahs hunt by day, covering vast distances. Some males team up to hunt and defend territories, but other males and all females lead largely solitary lives.

Even a loose-knit society needs a way and place to communicate. Within core areas of their territories, some male cheetahs leave scent marks by urinating or defecating in prominent locations, typically on trees, termite mounds or rocks. Other cheetahs come to these areas to sniff around and learn who’s passed by recently, and who may be ready to mate or fight.

“You can think of these landmarks as the most popular bar in town,” said Joerg Melzheimer, an ecologist at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, and co-author of a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “It’s the main address for all the boys and girls looking for partners to go. It’s a communication hub.”

And these hubs are enduring. Through interviews with ranchers, Melzheimer learned that some trees marked by cheetahs in his study were also used by cheetahs 80 years ago. "They go back generations and generations,” he said.

Using GPS tracking data that recorded locations every 15 minutes, the researchers calculated that cheetah activity around these hubs is about 20 times higher than elsewhere.

“This is an extraordinary data set demanding a huge amount of work and the authors have used state-of-the-art statistical methods to analyze the data thoroughly,” said Tim Caro, a biologist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the study.

The hub areas are the most dangerous for calves, which are vulnerable to cheetahs during the first six months of their lives.

In 2008, researchers convinced the first rancher to move herds to avoid cheetah hubs during calving season. The team initially wasn’t certain whether the big cats would follow the herds, or simply prey more on wildlife such as grazing oryx in and around the hubs. The latter happened.

As word got out, other ranchers joined the experiment. The scientists collected data on cheetah kills before and after herding routines were changed for six ranches. Other ranchers also changed their routines.

The average number of calves lost to cheetahs per year went from 15 to two, the researchers found. The trend held for a decade, indicating it wasn’t just happenstance.

The study shows cheetahs “are only opportunistically targeting livestock, not selecting them,” said Elizabeth Naro, a conservationist at African People & Wildlife, who works on carnivore monitoring in Tanzania and was not involved in the study.

“What the authors found is exciting because it shows that cheetahs rely on activity centres, where predation is simply incidental," said Christine Wilkinson, a University of California, Berkeley researcher who studies carnivore conflict in Kenya and was not involved in the study. “The researchers realized the focus should be on ‘problem areas,’ not ‘problem individuals,’ for cheetahs."

Keeping calves away from cheetah communication hubs can help mitigate conflict with ranchers, said Vincent Van Der Merwe, a biologist at the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Cheetah Metapopulation project in South Africa.

“This is not a complete solution, because cheetahs still roam a larger landscape,” added Van Der Merwe, who was not part of the study. “But it can make a big impact."

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Follow Christina Larson on Twitter: @larsonchristina

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Christina Larson, The Associated Press