Scientists unearth ancient SKUNK fossil from 74 million years ago


Ian Randall For Mailonline

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The remains of an ancient, skunk-like mammal, dubbed Orretherium tzen, the 'Beast of Five Teeth', has been unearthed in Chilean Patagonia.

Palaeontologists uncovered part of the creature's fossilised jawbone, complete with five attached teeth, in the 'Mammal Quarry' of the Río de Las Chinas Valley.

O. tzen is thought to been a herbivore and lived around 72–74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, making it a contemporary of the dinosaurs.




Palaeontologists uncovered part of the creature's fossilised jawbone, complete with five attached teeth (pictured), in the 'Mammal Quarry' of the Río de Las Chinas 
3 SLIDES © Provided by Daily Mail

Palaeontologists uncovered part of the creature's fossilised jawbone, complete with five attached teeth (pictured), in the 'Mammal Quarry' of the Río de Las Chinas Valley

The discovery of O. tzen adds to mounting evidence that mammals were roaming the area we know today as South America a lot earlier than was previously thought.

With the exception of Magallanodon baikashkenke — a rodent-like creature who was also found in the Río de Las Chinas Valley last year — mammals from 46–38 million years ago had only previously been found at the southernmost tip of the Americas.

The team believe that O. tzen and M. baikashkenke likely lived at the same time.

According to University of Chile palaeontologist Sergio Soto, such discoveries are critical to completing the evolutionary puzzle of the group of long-extinct early mammals called 'Gondwanatheria'.

'This and other discoveries that we are going to make known in the future are revealing that there is enormous potential in terms of palaeontology in the southern tip of Chile,' said Dr Soto.

'We are finding things that we did not expect to find and that are going to help us answer a lot of questions that we had for a long time about dinosaurs, mammals and other groups.

'

© Provided by Daily Mail O. tzen is thought to been a herbivore and lived around 72–74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous — making it a contemporary of the dinosaurs. Pictured: the mammal's teeth© Provided by Daily Mail The discovery of O. tzen (pictured in an artist's impression) adds to mounting evidence that mammals were roaming the area we know today as South America a earlier than once thought

'Findings of new fossiliferous sites, not only in Patagonia but also in the Antarctic Peninsula and the rest of South America are needed,' the researchers concluded.

This, they added, will allow us to determine 'if Patagonia summarizes the fossil record of the continent, or even of [the supercontinent] Gondwana, or if it is only a small piece of a marvellous history at the dusk of the Mesozoic Era.'

'Certainly, Patagonia was an evolutionary laboratory in which disparate body sizes and craniodental morphologies appeared.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

© Provided by Daily Mail 'This and other discoveries that we are going to make known in the future are revealing that there is enormous potential in terms of palaeontology in the southern tip of Chile,' said Dr Soto. Pictured: Three-dimensional renderings of O. tzen's jaw and teeth

© Provided by Daily Mail Palaeontologists uncovered part of the creature's fossilised jawbone, complete with five attached teeth, in the 'Mammal Quarry' of the Río de Las Chinas Valley

POACHED FOR RABBIT STEW?

‘World’s biggest rabbit’ stolen from home in Worcestershire

Owner Annette Edwards offers £1,000 reward for return of Guinness World Record-holding giant rabbit

Annette Edwards with Darius, her continental giant rabbit – she has offered a £1,000 reward for his return. Photograph: Mcfadden/ANL/Rex/Shutterstock

PA Media
Mon 12 Apr 2021 

A rabbit proclaimed the biggest in the world has been stolen from its home in Worcestershire, police have said.

West Mercia police believe the 129cm-long continental giant rabbit, named Darius, was taken from its enclosure in the garden of the property in Stoulton overnight on Saturday.

The rabbit was awarded a Guinness World Record in 2010 for being the biggest of its kind.

His owner, Annette Edwards, has offered a £1,000 reward for his return, saying it was a “very sad day”.

Edwards asked on Twitter for those who took Darius to “please bring him back”, saying he was too old to breed now.

A West Mercia police spokesperson said: “We are appealing for information following the theft of an award-winning rabbit from its home in Stoulton, Worcestershire.

“It is believed the continental giant rabbit was stolen from its enclosure in the garden of the property of its owners overnight on Saturday 10 April to 11 April.”

The force have asked for those with information about the incident to contact PC Daren Riley via 101 quoting reference 00286-I-11042021.

ALL CAPITALI$M IS STATE CAPITALISM

Air Canada agrees to $5.9-billion aid package, giving Ottawa equity stake in airline

LIBERAL'S PRIVATIZED CROWN CORPORATION

AIR CANADA TO AVOID TAXPAYER BAIL OUTS

OTTAWA — After months of negotiations, Ottawa has reached a multibillion-dollar rescue deal with Air Canada that will give the government an equity stake in the pandemic-battered airline.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Under the agreement, Air Canada can access up to $5.9 billion from the public purse but must refund passengers whose flights were cancelled due to COVID-19, cap executive compensation at $1 million and restore service to regional airports.

The package, which will see the federal government pay $500 million for a six-per-cent stake in the country's biggest airline, also requires the carrier to maintain employment at current levels or higher.

“Taxpayers aren't footing the bill. This is a loan facility, and the government of Canada fully expects to be paid back," Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday night, referring to the $5.4-billion credit facility.

Some $1.4 billion of that is earmarked to help reimburse the thousands of customers who paid for tickets but remained in the lurch at the end of 2020.

“We have agreed with Air Canada that refunds should be issued as soon as possible, beginning in the coming weeks and months," said Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, though Air Canada has up to seven years to draw on the low-interest loan.

Both Goldy Hyder, chief executive officer of the Business Council of Canada, and Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff expressed approval of a rescue package tailored to a devastated industry.

But the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants, decried the deal, saying it "betrays the government’s commitment to support airline workers affected by the pandemic."

"We had a commitment from the Trudeau government that any relief money for the airline sector would flow directly to support workers, and that commitment is not reflected in this agreement,” CUPE president Mark Hancock said in a statement.

"This deal is exactly what we feared a deal cooked up behind closed doors would look like: it’s a year late, no transparency, and not nearly enough to support the thousands of flight attendants still reeling from the impacts of the pandemic."

Travel restrictions introduced through the beginning of the pandemic have been catastrophic for the airline sector.

Air Canada's passenger numbers declined 73 per cent in 2020 following several years of record growth for the airline. During 2020, it reduced staff by more than 20,000, more than half of the pre-COVID total, then cut another 1,700 employees in January.

The Montreal-based company posted a staggering $1.16-billion loss in the fourth quarter of last year, a result that caps off what the carrier's then-CEO called the bleakest year in aviation history.

Freeland, asked whether the package could provide a framework for a deal with WestJet, stressed the importance of two national airlines and characterized negotiations with the Calgary-based No. 2 carrier as "constructive."

The deal was hashed out under the watch of Michael Sabia, who was named deputy finance minister in December following decades in senior roles in both the corporate world and public service. He stepped down as CEO of the Caisse de depot et placement in February 2020 after 11 years at the helm.

Video: Air Canada aid package gives government equity stake in airline: Freeland (Global News)

The deal he helped hammered out bars dividend payments and share buybacks by Air Canada, on top of capping executive compensation for as long as the loans play out, Freeland said.

The company has also committed to resume service at 13 regional airports as well as seven others through "interline agreements" with regional carriers.

It has further pledged to complete the purchase of 33 Airbus A220 aircraft, manufactured at the Mirabel facility in Quebec, guaranteeing continued employment for factory workers.

Refunds will be available for flights purchased on or before March 22, 2020, for travel after Feb. 1 of last year, regardless of whether they were cancelled by the passenger or the airline, Freeland said.

Tickets purchased after March 22, 2020, where the flight was subsequently cancelled by the airline will also be refundable, she said.

Air Canada confirmed that customers who accepted flight credit or Aeroplan points as well as those who declined both will be eligible for reimbursement.

Ottawa's half-million-dollar purchase of 21.6 million shares at $23.18 per share leaves it with a small ownership stake and the right to buy 14 million more. Its voting interest in the company is capped at just under 20 per cent.

Jacques Roy, a professor of transport management at HEC Montreal business school, deemed the equity stake "a little bit of a surprise."

Canadian airlines had been resisting that tool, though it's been deployed elsewhere. Last week the French government announced it would up its stake in Air France-KLM to about 30 per cent with a $6-billion investment. Germany unveiled a 20 per cent stake in Lufthansa last May as part of a $13.7-billion bailout.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ottawa can buy millions of shares at $27 per share — Air Canada's closing price Monday — over 10 years, if Air Canada chooses to trigger that option.

"Assuming that Air Canada does well and that two, three, five years from now the company shares are back to $40, $50, then the Canadian government can actually make a good deal out of this," Roy said.

More than $2.3 billion of the $5.4 billion in available loans have an interest rate below two per cent, a "cheap" rate that would be enviable to other Canadian carriers, he added.

On top of the massive loan under Canada's Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) program, the company has raised $6.8 billion in liquidity to stay afloat during the pandemic.

"This program provides additional liquidity, if required, to rebuild our business to the benefit of all stakeholders and to remain a significant contributor to the Canadian economy through its recovery and for the long term," CEO Michael Rousseau said in a statement.

Air Canada collected $554 million from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy in 2020 and said it would continue to access the program in 2021.

The company lost $4.6-billion in 2020, compared with a profit of $1.5 billion the year before.

In early April, Air Canada pulled the plug on its planned $190-million takeover of Montreal-based tour operator Transat AT, citing Europe's unwillingness to approve the deal, thus triggering a $12.5-million termination fee.

Organizations supporting Air Canada's calls for a bailout have included unions such as Unifor and the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association, as well as the National Airlines Council of Canada industry group.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC, TSX:TRZ)

— With files from Dan Healing

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Let users carry certain amounts of drugs without criminal sanctions: Vancouver mayor


VANCOUVER — The City of Vancouver has outlined the amounts of various drugs people should be allowed to carry as it seeks a federal exemption to decriminalize possession for personal use.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Its proposal to combat the overdose crisis is part of an application to Health Canada. It lists possession thresholds for four main drugs: opioids, cocaine, crack cocaine and amphetamines.

The recommended amounts for opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl, are listed as two grams; three grams are proposed for cocaine; one gram or 10 rocks for crack cocaine; and 1.5 grams for amphetamines. The amounts are based on long-term studies of drug users.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart said Monday the city has worked with police, the health authority's chief medical health officer, drug users and experts to determine the three-day supply that would prevent people from seeking substances on a daily basis.

The goal is to remove criminal sanctions and reduce stigma by using a health-focused approach to addiction, Stewart said.

The broad framework of the proposal was submitted to Health Canada in March. The final phase of the proposal is expected to be forwarded in May with more drugs added to the list for consideration.

Drugs that are part of the proposal are recorded as some of the top culprits in overdose deaths by the B.C. Coroners Service, which reported a record 1,716 deaths last year from illicit drugs.

"All you have to do is watch in horror as the next coroners report comes out and we just see the numbers increasing and increasing and increasing. All options have to be on the table and not just talked about," Stewart said.

Mayors in Canada's other big cities are facing similar challenges on overdose deaths without action from all levels of government, Stewart said.

"It's one of the biggest public health policy disasters that we've had in the history of the country. It's just astounding that year after year things don't get better, they get worse. And it shows the level of change that's needed to save lives."

Stewart said policies so far have discriminated against drug users, but Vancouver is trying to take measures that will help, such as providing permanent funding last week for a project that follows up with overdose survivors and offers services including health care, housing and income assistance.

"What I'm hoping is once we get out of COVID we have decriminalization, we have safe supply, we have more housing for folks, for example, and other programs that will be able to turn this around. But we've absolutely failed. All of us have to this point."

In February, British Columbia also requested a similar provincial exemption from Canada's drug laws.

Vancouver city council voted unanimously in November to ask for an exemption.

On Monday, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said substance use has affected thousands of families in communities across Canada and the federal government would work on options to respond to the needs of various jurisdictions.

"Health Canada is working with officials from the province of British Columbia, City of Vancouver and Vancouver Coastal Health to work through the details of these requests, and identify options that will respond to their needs," she said in a statement.

Vancouver's proposal is based on findings from two ongoing studies: one that began in 1996 and involves injection drug users, and another of people between the ages of 14 and 25 whose use includes those drugs listed in the proposal.

Kora DeBeck, a research scientist at the B.C. Centre on Substance Use and one of the expert consultants on the proposal, said the two studies total 1,190 people who reported their drug use patterns, interactions with police and challenges accessing health-care services.

"I think it will be a very important change for some people who use drugs, particularly those who are on the street and quite vulnerable because they are still at risk now of having their drugs seized. Although they're not getting arrested and prosecuted, which is good, it still can be quite a devastating encounter."

Some drug users could resort to sex work while others may be pushed into committing property crime to make money for drugs, she said.

However, DeBeck said that while decriminalization would chip away at some of the stigma of drug use, it will not, on its own, have a large impact on the overdose crisis.

"What this does not do is address the toxic drug supply that people are continuing to rely on," she said.

British Columbia declared a public health emergency because of overdose deaths in April 2016, and over 7,000 people have fatally overdosed since then.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2021.

Camille Bains, The Canadian Press

New Mexico becomes latest state to legalize marijuana, a rebuttal to America's 'failed war on drugs'

cdavis@insider.com (Charles Davis) 4/12/2021

New Mexico has joined 17 other states and the District of Colombia in legalization the recreational use of marijuana, with retail sales to begin by April 2022. David McNew/Getty Images

Adults in New Mexico will soon be able to possess and grow marijuana.

The state legalized recreational use of cannabis this year, with retail sales to begin by April 2022.

"We're going to start righting past wrongs of this country's failed war on drugs," Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham said.

Beginning this summer, New Mexicans 21 and older will be able to both possess and grow marijuana. The state on Monday became the latest to legalize the recreational use of cannabis - with retail sales to begin by early 2022.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who in March convened a special session of the legislature to reform the state's drug laws, signed a legalization bill into law. 

She also put her signature on a companion bill that will give many with past marijuana convictions a clean record.

"We're going to start righting past wrongs of this country's failed war on drugs," Lujan-Grisham said in a statement. "And we're going to break new ground in an industry that may well transform New Mexico's economic future for the better."

One of the country's most impoverished states, a legal cannabis industry could spawn a $318 million market and more than 11,000 jobs, according to an economic analysis trumpeted by the governor.

Although New Mexico's political scene has long been dominated by Democrats, the state for years struggled to move forward with marijuana legalization, with reform efforts thwarted by more conservative members of the party. In 2020, however, several of those conservative Democrats lost primary races to more progressive challengers who went on to win in November, shifting the state Senate to the left.

While marijuana will become legal on June 29, New Mexico residents will, for a time, need to grow their own (under the new law, they are allowed up to six plants each). That's because the state will first need to develop both a regulatory infrastructure and sufficient commercial supply before allowing retail sales, which could begin as late as April 2022.

The upside for marijuana consumers is that, unlike in California and some other states that have legalized cannabis, local governments will not be able to issue blanket prohibitions on sales within their jurisdiction, the Albuquerque Journal reported. And anyone whose past offense would now be legal, or would have resulted in a lower sentence, will have their criminal record automatically expunged, per the Las Cruces Sun News.

Although New Mexico is known for its libertarian streak, the state's Republicans are displeased.

"Recreational marijuana is hardly a pressing issue," the New Mexico GOP said in a statement on Monday, arguing that cannabis legalization "will lead to even more crime, underage use, and impaired driving."

In fact, surveys have found that the rate of marijuana use by young people has either remained the same or declined in states that have legalized its recreational use. Studies have also failed to detect a clear connection between road safety and the legal status of cannabis. And researchers have found little to no impact on crime.

Eighteen states and the District of Colombia have now either voted or passed legislation to legalize recreational marijuana. Colorado, in 2012, was the first.

NEW MEXICO LEGALIZES RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA USE

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation Monday legalizing recreational marijuana use within months and kicking off sales next year, making it the seventh state since November to put an end to pot prohibition.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The governor, a Democrat, has supported marijuana reform as a way to create jobs and shore up state revenue.

On Monday, she also touched on concerns about the harm inflicted on racial and ethnic minorities by drug criminalization and tough policing, noting that the new law could free about 100 from prison and expunge criminal records for thousands of residents.

“It is good for workers. It is good for entrepreneurs. It is good for consumers," she said of legalization. “And it brings about social justice in ways in which we have been talking about and advocating for, for decades.”

The signed bill gives the governor a strong hand in oversight of recreational marijuana through her appointed superintendent of the Regulation and Licensing Department.

Agency Superintendent Linda Trujillo said people age 21 and over will be allowed start growing marijuana at home and possess up to 2 ounces (56 grams) of cannabis outside their homes starting on June 29.

Recreational cannabis sales start next year by April 1 at state-licensed dispensaries.

Lujan Grisham highlighted that licensed cannabis farmers can begin scaling up cultivation several months ahead of opening day in efforts to keep pace with demands when sales begin.

New Mexico voters ousted ardent opponents of legalization from the state Senate in the 2020 Democratic primary, opening the way for recreational marijuana.

The governor called a special legislative session to tackle the issue in late March after legalization efforts faltered.

Legislators rallied behind a legalization framework from state Rep. Javier Martínez of Albuquerque that provides automated procedures for expunging past pot convictions.

Martinez said he hopes that a spate of legalization efforts by states will spur the federal government to follow suit, linking tides of immigration from Central America to drug-cartel violence and related corruption.

“I grew up along the border. I’ve seen what the war on drugs has done,” Martinez said. “I’m proud that New Mexico — little old New Mexico — has done its part to tell the federal government once and for all to legalize cannabis for the people.”

Republican lawmakers were notably absent from the signing ceremony, though GOP state Sen. Cliff Pirtle was credited with influencing the outcome through a competing bill that emphasized free markets and public safety.

Regulators in early legalization states have been whipsawed by initial fluctuations in marijuana supplies and prices, amid concerns about child access and workplace and roadway safety.

In New Mexico, regulators will be able to put a cap on marijuana cultivation quantities for years to come and impose a per-plant state fee of up to $50 a year. The new law mandates child-proof packaging and defers to employers on whether workers can indulge in marijuana.

At the same time, home marijuana growers will be allowed to grow up to six plants per person, or 12 per household. The scent of marijuana will no longer be grounds for police searches.

Local governments can’t prohibit marijuana businesses from setting up shop. They can have a say through zoning about the location and hours of operation.

Medical marijuana dispensaries already are staking out territory in small towns near the border with Texas — a major potential market for marijuana tourism. It remains illegal to transport marijuana across state lines.

Challenges await state regulators as they prepare to accept applications for a variety of marijuana business licenses as soon as September. The state will license product testing labs, industrial operations that grow, refine, package and sell cannabis products and craft marijuana “microbusiness” that grow only up to 200 plants.

Rules also are due by the start of 2022 on product safety, minimum qualifications for a marijuana business license and standards for vetting and training “cannabis servers” — who must hold a state permit and be 21 or older.

The state will levy an excise tax on recreational pot sales that starts at 12% and rises over time to 18%, on top of current taxes on sales.

All taxes will be waived on medical marijuana. Decisions are still pending about exactly how much marijuana the industry must set aside for qualified medical cannabis patients.

Enrolment in the state’s existing medical marijuana program climbed in March to more than 112,000 patients -- about 5% of the state’s population of 2.1 million residents.

The approved legislation allows the state to forge agreements with Native American tribal governments that could open the marijuana industry to tribal enterprises.

Morgan Lee, The Associated Press

Hackers want millions in ransom. American schools are considering the cost.

The ransomware attack on her daughter's school was the last thing Glynnis Sanders needed.  

© Provided by NBC News

Like most parents, Sanders has been performing a daily juggling act. When she's not teaching special education classes at Buffalo Public Schools, she and her husband are usually making sure their three kids are attending their remote classes.


So it hit hard when hackers struck the school of her youngest daughter in early March, the Friday before she was supposed to finally return to in-person learning twice a week.

“It’s very frustrating. You think, how could this happen? You wonder if your information is secure,” Sanders said. “It’s just the headache of Covid as it is, and it’s adding to the stress of the school year. Like what else could happen?”

The hackers infected Buffalo’s schools with malicious code that spidered through their networks, freezing computers and making it impossible for teachers to reach their students who were working remotely because of the pandemic. They demanded a ransom to make it go away.

School officials canceled remote classes for the day while they figured out what to do. They would end up needing more than a week to resume their planned class schedule. A single infection of a school district can affect dozens or hundreds of schools: Buffalo counts 63 individual schools and learning systems.

In public statements, Buffalo Public Schools referred to what happened broadly as a “cybersecurity attack.” But it wasn’t a mindless act of internet vandalism. Buffalo had become the latest in a long spree of ransomware attacks, a type of hack where malicious software locks as many related computers as possible, rendering files inaccessible in an attempt to coerce victims to pay up.

© Libby March Image: Libby March for NBC News Glynnis Sanders, a parent with children in the Buffalo school system, on April 2, 2021. (Libby March / NBC News)

The attack underscores how a once obscure form of cybercrime now preys on Americans almost daily. While some ransomware gangs spend months targeting large businesses in hopes of a giant payday, many also go after institutions that don’t have dedicated cybersecurity staff or expensive cybersecurity contracts to better protect them from hackers, like hospitals and city and county governments, which are often wide open to attack.

Schools are soft targets, too — and during a pandemic, particularly soft ones. Cybercriminals have recently ramped up attacks against American public school districts, with at least 44 of them this school year alone, according to a count by Allan Liska, a ransomware analyst at the cybersecurity company Recorded Future. The FBI issued a warning in mid-March that ransomware attacks against schools were spiking, but the U.S. federal government has limited power to stop ransomware attacks. As recently as Thursday, schools in Haverhill, Massachusetts, had to close.

Cybersecurity company Emsisoft has estimated that ransomware attacks cost the U.S. more than $1.3 billion in 2020. The FBI often is the primary agency responding to ransomware attacks in the U.S., but as the agency focuses more on arrests than on disruption, and most ransomware gangs operate in countries where it's hard or impossible to get cybercriminals extradited, it’s rare for the criminals to face serious repercussions.

A spokesperson for Buffalo schools declined to comment, citing an ongoing FBI investigation, and the agency also declined to comment. But school officials were clearly caught off guard by the severity of the hack, as they spent the next week issuing last-minute class cancellations.

After calling off all remote classes for the day that first Friday, they announced Sunday evening that there would be no class whatsoever on Monday. Then Monday evening, they cancelled in-person learning through Wednesday, then Wednesday evening extended that ban for the rest of the week.

“Tuesday night we found out late," said Gary Cartwright, a father of four kids in the district. "Monday night we found out late there was no school. Sunday night, late."
To pay or not to pay

The FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, the federal agencies that respond to ransomware victims, officially don’t recommend paying a ransom to hackers, both because doing so can encourage them to target more victims and there’s no guarantee that the hackers will honor the agreement. Paying isn’t illegal in most cases, but it’s still a risky prospect: A recent survey by the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky found that just over half of ransomware victims chose to pay, but 17 percent of those who did still never recovered their files.

But sometimes a school will try to pay, only to find it impossible to negotiate with the hackers. In March, after negotiations broke down between one gang and Broward County, Florida, school system — one of the largest school districts in the country, with more than 260,000 students — the hackers published the transcript of their conversation on their website. The conversation shows the gang initially asked for $40 million in ransom, to the school official’s bafflement.

Excerpts of a conversation between a Broward County Public Schools official and a member of a criminal ransomware gang posted to the gang's blog.

A Broward spokesperson for the school declined to comment on the published negotiations but said in a statement, “We have no intention of paying a ransom.”

Even when a school catches the attack early and chooses to not pay the hackers, the costs can be severe, as was the case when the Affton, Missouri, school district was hit in February. The district’s director of technology, Adam Jasinski, received an early morning text message from a teacher that showed a picture of a computer with a picture of a ransom note.

"Hi Company, Every byte on any types of your devices was encrypted," the hackers wrote. "Don't try to use backups because it were encrypted too."

Excerpts of a conversation between a Broward County Public Schools official and a member of a criminal ransomware gang posted to the gang's blog.

Recognizing the potential for ransomware to spread quickly from computer to computer, Jasinski quickly ordered them all shut down and began examining computers individually to see which ones were infected. Only 30 were, and the school was able to replace them and resume classes the next day.

But the hackers weren’t done. As retaliation, they published files they were able to exfiltrate from the infected computers, which included scores of tax and human resource documents like notes on teachers and their pay and the school’s tax documents since 2018.

Jasinski said despite that hassle, he’s still confident he made the right decision.

"One thing I hope people take away from experiences like ours is don’t pay the ransom, because it only encourages them," he said.

'A matter of national security'

Most of the damage is done by a dozen or so hacker groups, which effectively run as organized crime rings. Their members’ identities are largely known to the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, officials at those agencies say, but they tend to live in Russia or other Eastern European countries that don’t extradite their citizens to the U.S.

The Biden White House has a plan to deal with ransomware hackers, but such a plan is still several weeks away, said Anne Neuberger, a top White House cybersecurity adviser.

"Ransomware is a matter of national security because it affects so many Americans, including our small businesses, and state and local governments," Neuberger said in an emailed statement. "Making progress to address ransomware will require cooperation with international partners."

In some cases, hackers make remote learning nearly impossible. Huntsville City Schools in Alabama, which allows parents to choose whether their kids go to in-person classes or learn remotely through the Huntsville Virtual Academy, sent everyone home on Monday, Nov. 30, the first day back after Thanksgiving break, because of a ransomware attack.

It took a week for in-person classes to resume. But because of lingering issues with school devices, HVA students for weeks learned purely through “paper packets,” with no interactions with their teachers. Every Sunday, parents dropped off their students' previous week of paperwork and picked up a new week’s worth.

Brooke Abney-Stratton, a mother to an elementary school student and a middle school student in the district, saw her mother hospitalized with Covid-19 in July and didn’t hesitate to enroll her kids in HVA at the beginning of the school year. While she had mixed feelings about the program’s deployment before the cyberattack, she said her children had no direct interactions with their teachers in December — just packets of paper she shuffled back and forth.

"The virtual academy kids — my kids — had no access to email their teachers. No administrators. Nothing," Abney-Stratton said in a phone interview. "They were handed a paper packet, told to do the work and turn it back in, while the other students who were traditional in-person students were in a classroom every day."

"It took until after New Year’s to get my son logged back in," she said. "It’s been the worst experience. I never could have imagined."

Jerome Powell says cyberattacks are the number-one threat to the global financial system

By Brian Fung, CNN Business 4/12/2021

Cyberattacks are now the foremost risk to the global financial system, even more so than the lending and liquidity risks that led to the 2008 financial crisis, according to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The assessment by one of the world's leading banking officials underscores how the threat of hacking has become a top concern in the highest reaches of government.

In an interview that aired on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday, Powell said the world has changed substantially since the days of the Great Recession.

"I would say that the risk that we keep our eyes on the most now is cyber risk," Powell told CBS. "So you would worry about a cyber event. That's something that many, many government agencies, including the Fed and all large private businesses and all large private financial companies in particular, monitor very carefully, invest heavily in. And that's really where the risk I would say is now, rather than something that looked like the global financial crisis."

One nightmare scenario, Powell said, would be if hackers managed to shut down a major payment processor — hamstringing the flow of money from one financial institution to another. That could shut down sectors or even broad swaths of the financial system, he said.

Governments and private businesses are increasingly on guard for those types of threats, Powell said. "We spend so much time and energy and money guarding against these things. There are cyber-attacks every day on all major institutions now. And the government is working hard on that. So are all the private sector companies. There's a lot of effort going in to deal with those threats. That's a big part of the threat picture in today's world."

Digital dollars?

Asked whether the United States plans to launch a digital US currency in response to moves by China to do the same, Powell demurred. Officials are thinking about the issue, he said, and there are studies taking place all around the country. But no decision has been made, he said, because it is not clear whether digital dollars would help serve Americans.

"Really, the fundamental question for us is if we add this new digital currency to trusted money that we're counted on to provide to the public, will that help the public?" Powell said. "Will the public be better off? And will there be any negatives too? Will that have perhaps unexpected effects in other parts of the financial system that we need to consider in weighing the costs and benefits of this? We're the world's reserve currency. The dollar is so important. We need to get this right. We do not need to be the first ones to do this. We want to get it right. And that's what we're going to

Domino's pizzas now delivered with autonomous cars in Houston

Sean Szymkowski 

ROADSHOW

4/12/2021

Other companies may soak up more of the limelight, but Nuro's been a quiet, busy bee. In fact, Nuro's R2 self-driving car is the only vehicle to receive an exemption from the US Department of Transportation to operate despite having no human controls. Now, this robo pod is getting in on the pizza delivery business.

© Provided by Roadshow The future is now. Domino's

Domino's and Nuro announced Monday that the latter's autonomous car will report for pizza delivery duty this week. It's only for customers in the vicinity of a single pizza shop in the Houston area, but still -- this is wild. On certain days and in blocked-out periods of time, customers can request their pizza for delivery via a Nuro R2 if they place a prepaid order online. Domino's will select a customer at random to carry out the delivery order, and the customer will receive text message notifications saying where the little robocar is. They'll also get a PIN that'll let them access their order when it arrives. No pizza thievery allowed, guys

.

© Provided by Roadshow Enter the PIN and grab your grub. Domino's

Once the R2 pulls up to the destination, the customer enters the PIN on the touchscreen and the doors retract to reveal the food inside.

© Domino's

Nuro actually announced this program all the way back in 2019 and said it planned to work with Domino's to use its latest R2 self-driving car. Back then, it was still working with what it called the R1. With the R2 roadworthy in the US these days, the program's ready to roll. Nuro also partnered with Kroger to deliver groceries from select stores in Arizona in the past, so it's got experience.

Digit is a robot that wants to put parcels on your porch















Digit is the creation of Agility Robotics. The company is working with Ford to investigate the use of this robot as a last-mile delivery worker
1/14 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow

Digit is the creation of Agility Robotics. The company is working with Ford to investigate the use of this robot as a last-mile delivery worker.

This was originally published on Roadshow.

 PROVINCE OPPOSED TO CARBON TAX

Saskatchewan electric vehicle owners hold rally opposing new provincial tax

Kelly Skjerven

GLOBAL NEWS 
4/12/2021

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that there were 70,000 electric vehicles in California when an electric vehicle tax was introduced to the state. This is incorrect, there were 700,000 electric vehicles when the tax was introduced.

© Brady Ratzlaff / Global News Saskatchewan electric vehicle owners held a rally on Saturday expressing their disappointment with the provincial government's recent decision to impose an annual tax on owners.

The Saskatchewan government’s recent decision to tax electric vehicles prompted a rally in Saskatoon on Saturday.


In the 2021-22 budget, the government introduced a new road use fee of $150 paid annually for electric vehicle owners. In their reasoning, the government stated this will ensure all road users contribute to road maintenance and replacement.

The government added that this tax is an effort to improve "tax fairness" noting that electric vehicles "contribute to wear and tear on provincial roadways, but because they do not consume traditional fuels, they are not contributing to highway maintenance through the provincial fuel tax."

Read more: Saskatchewan’s incoming electric vehicle tax sends ‘wrong message,’ advocates say

Electric vehicle owners and advocacy group SaskEV's board members gathered in a Rotary Park parking lot before a procession through downtown Saskatoon. Roughly a dozen electric vehicle car owners took part in the rally.

Jason Cruickshank, president of SaskEV, said owners don’t understand why the province wants to tax electric vehicles at a time when other provinces and the federal government are offering incentives to increase electric vehicle ownership.

Cruickshank said there are currently 403 electric vehicles in Saskatchewan.

“It’s only going to raise $60,000 (a year),” Cruickshank said about the tax.

He added that the provincial government compared its new tax to one that was introduced in California last year, but that state had nearly 700,000 electric vehicles when the tax was introduced and “significant” charging stations on the road.

“Here, we really only have charging infrastructure on the Trans Canada Highway,” Cruickshank said.

He said rally members were also hoping to raise awareness about electric vehicles.

"We're concerned about the signal that this is sending to drivers in the province," he said.

Cruickshank said at the same time an electric vehicle tax was introduced in California, a study came out that found these types of fees can potentially reduce sales of electric vehicles by 10 to 24 per cent.

Read more: $830M budget for Saskatchewan highway system: provincial government

"We're really nervous about this, adding another headwind for people to consider electric vehicles in the province," Cruickshank said.

The new fee comes into effect Oct. 1 and will be payable through SGI at the time of registration.

--with files from Roberta Bell

Segway's slick Tron-style motorcycle runs on hydrogen
Sean Szymkowski 

ROADSHOW, 4/12/2021

Americans know Segway as the transportation of choice for tourists and mall cops. But ever since the company became part of China's Ninebot, it's been hard at work rolling out more futuristic scooters and associated mobility gear. That includes the radical new motorcycle seen here, called the Apex H2. Revealed last week, Segway promises to put it into production.

© Provided by Roadshow So, yeah, this looks cool. Segway

It's not just you: The Tron vibes are strong, and it's really wonderful to look at. Now, the challenge will be bringing the looks, and likely enormous engineering challenges associated with them, to production. Also, it runs on a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain -- yet another big promise for a motorcycle. The details are pretty slim for now on what we can consider a concept, but they also sound realistic for the powertrain. Segway said it targets 80 horsepower with a top speed of around 90 mph. How the company manages to make the suspension work and make the trick, hidden steering system viable remains a mystery.

The wildest thing about the Apex H2 is the company's promised price. At current exchange rates, Segway's talking about roughly $10,700, which is incredibly cheap for a motorcycle with this kind of promised technology. Hopefully the company can swing it, and if it does, we need to get our resident motorcycle man, News and Features Editor Kyle Hyatt, on this bike as soon as possible.

Segway Ninebot KickScooter Max

















a close up of a knife

1/19 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow