- ScienceThe Canadian Press
Fermenting ferns? Rare dinosaur stomach fossil opens door to ancient world
Fresh ferns, loaded with spores, lightly dusted with leaves and twigs and perfectly seasoned with locally sourced charcoal. It did to an ankylosaur about 110 million years ago, as evidenced by amazingly complete fossils of what was certainly the tank-like dinosaur's last meal. "It's pretty exciting," said Caleb Brown, a curator at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology and co-author of a paper published Tuesday on what is one of probably only three fossilized dinosaur stomachs discovered.
BusinessThe TelegraphMark Zuckerberg defends Facebook as employee quits over refusal to act on Trump posts
Mark Zuckerberg has defended his refusal to take action on Facebook posts from Donald Trump, despite a growing employee revolt. The social network’s founder told staff at a virtual meeting that he would stick by his decision to leave up the US President’s messages, which staff said had inflamed tensions. It came as a Facebook software engineer became the first to publicly announce he was leaving the company over the controversy, Timothy Aveni said it was “complicit in the propagation of weaponised hatred [and] is on the wrong side of history”. Last week, Mr Trump had posted on Facebook referring to US protesters in Minneapolis as “thugs” and saying that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. Rival social network Twitter had hidden the same message behind a warning label, saying it broke its rules on glorifying violence and prompting a furious response from the White House. Mr Zuckerberg moved his weekly Q&A; with staff from Thursday to Tuesday to address a growing revolt, which saw dozens of staff take the rare step of publicly speaking out against the company. Several staged a “virtual walkout”, taking time off work to protest the decision as demonstrations spread across the US. On Tuesday, Mr Zuckerberg stood by his decision and said Facebook supported free speech, according to an employee following the meeting. He also acknowledged that many staff agreed with his decision, despite the vocal and public opposition to him. Unlike Twitter, Facebook does not have a warning label feature, so the company would have to remove Mr Trump’s post completely if it found it to break the rules, a move that would have enraged the President.
NewsHuffPost CanadaIs Travel Restricted Within Canada During The COVID-19 Pandemic? It’s Complicated.
Parts of the country remain coronavirus hotspots.
PoliticsThe TelegraphTrump sued over executive order seeking to strip social media companies of legal protection
A digital rights group backed by some of the world's biggest technology companies is suing President Donald Trump over his attempts to dismantle a US online freedom law. The Center for Democracy & Technology, based in Washington DC, said that Mr Trump's executive order last week was a "a direct attack on the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment." The executive order, signed last Thursday, was an attempt to change the premise of longstanding legislation which protects social media companies from legal action over what users post on their sites. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996, has long protected social media platforms from libel and other lawsuits by allowing them to set their own rules for what users can post without becoming legally responsible for all the content they host. Mr Trump's attempt to weaken the law by stating that companies will lose this protection if their moderation efforts are "deceptive or pretextual”, and asking US regulators the Federal Communications Commission to step in. After a draft version was published last week legal experts argued that it would likely be unenforceable in court.
LifestyleYahoo EntertainmentRidiculous sale: This super-speedy HP 14 Chromebook is just $330—$259 off!—for a limited time
At 44 percent off, it comes bundled with an HP wireless mouse and various cool subscriptions.
BusinessThe TelegraphLockdown video calls send Zoom to 169pc revenue jump
The rise of video app Zoom as a hub for lockdown conference calls, virtual pub quizzes and Cabinet meetings has sent the company's revenues soaring in recent months. Zoom revealed that sales for the three months to the end of April had climbed by 169pc as hundreds of thousands of businesses signed up to the service. The US company has been one of the few winners of the coronavirus crisis, beating rival video calling services from Microsoft, Google and Facebook to become the de facto app for many households and businesses. Shares have tripled this year and climbed a further 4.4pc after its results to value the company at more than $60bn (£48bn). While investor enthusiasm has been dampened by suggestions that most of Zoom’s users are consumers using the company’s free service, it said last night that it now has 265,400 businesses with more than 10 employees, a 354pc rise on last year. Zoom said it expects full-year sales to be up to $1.8bn, doubled what it said just three months ago, although it warned that more of its new customers were on monthly plans instead of being locked into long-term contracts. Although the surge in non-paying users raised costs, eating into profit margins, Zoom’s profits rose to $2.1bn, from $316m a year ago.
BusinessThe Canadian PressBell, Telus award 5G contracts to European firms, shutting out Huawei
MONTREAL — Huawei Technologies Inc.'s ambitions to be a player in Canada's 5G network are very much in doubt after two of the country's three largest telecom companies announced partnerships with the Chinese tech giant's European rivals.Bell Canada announced Tuesday morning that Sweden-based Ericsson will be its second supplier of the radio access network equipment — a major component in fifth-generation wireless networks — following its choice of Finland's Nokia in February.Later in the day, Telus Corp., which uses Huawei equipment extensively in its current network, announced that it too had selected Ericsson and Nokia for its 5G network needs. The announcements come as Ottawa continues its review of Huawei's role in Canada's 5G networks over security concerns due to suspicions about the company's relationship with China's government.The United States has warned Canada, the United Kingdom and other allies that it will limit intelligence sharing with countries that have Huawei equipment in their 5G networks — citing its potential use for spying by China, an allegation Huawei denies.Neither Bell nor Telus provided financial details about their contracts with Ericsson and Nokia. Neither company said they had ruled out Huawei for security reasons."Huawei has been a reliable and innovative partner in the past and we would consider working with them in 5G if the federal government allows their participation," said Bell Canada spokesman Marc Choma, in an email. Rogers Communications, which has long used Ericsson as its main network equipment vendor, is not expected to shift any of its business to Huawei."Telus is the most interesting one here because . . . Telus has been as clear and vocal as they can be that Huawei should have some inclusion and that some of the risk could be mitigated," said Jonathan Berkshire Miller, an expert in international security issues with the Macdonald Laurier Institute.He said that Bell's announcements may have been a factor in the Telus decision because it wouldn't want to be the only national carrier without a clear position on its 5G suppliers."I think why they haven't been so clear, for the longest time, has been their previous intention to include Huawei in their 5G systems," Miller said in an interview.Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia have been the three biggest players in the global network equipment industry and Huawei had gained market share in Canada over the past decade with its fourth-generation equipment, said IDC Canada vice-president Lawrence Surtees.He said that Canada and the United Kingdom both have national security structures that analyzed Huawei equipment thoroughly without finding it to be a security threat as the United States alleges."And my understanding, from reading unclassified (documents), no superpower intelligence agency needs to co-opt a manufacturer. They have all kinds of sophisticated ways of doing things without the manufacturer and their customers even knowing," Surtees said.Canada's relationship with Beijing has been severely damaged by the RCMP's arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver in December 2018 at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, which wants her to face charges of fraud.Huawei Canada spokesman Alykhan Velshi said in a statement Tuesday that Huawei remains committed to Canada and looks forward to the federal government making its decision about Huawei's role in Canada."We continue investing more than a quarter of a billion dollars a year in R&D in Canada. We continue building new research partnerships with Canada's world-class universities. As we have for more than a decade, we continue to work with our Canadian telecom partners to help them build and support state-of-the-art networks that connect Canadians," Velshi said. Ericsson, already a supplier of 4G LTE wireless and other technology to Bell and Rogers, also has a major research and development presence in Montreal.Bell said Ericsson will also support its rollout of 5G-enhanced fixed wireless home internet service to rural areas, which generally have less access to land-based fibre optics networks."We are proud to have earned Bell's trust to be selected as one of their key partners and significantly expand our existing relationship to accelerate the transformation of their network with 5G mobile and fixed wireless technology," said Niklas Heuveldop, president and head of Ericsson North America.Prior to the arrest of Ms. Meng, the Chinese company wasn't a household name in Canada.Since her arrest, which kicked off a major diplomatic row between China and Canada, the federal government has been undecided about whether the Chinese company will be allowed in Canada's 5G networks — which are currently being assembled.Aside from Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia, there are other companies that want a piece of the 5G network upgrades.Samsung Electronics has announced a deal to supply equipment for Videotron's wireless network in the province of Quebec and the Ottawa region of Ontario.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2020.Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE, TSX:T, TSX:RCI.B)The Canadian Press
- ScienceThe Canadian Press
Climate change threatens glass sponge reefs unique to Pacific Northwest: study
Warming ocean temperatures and acidification caused by climate change are threatening the survival of glass sponge reefs unique to the waters of the Pacific Northwest, a new study from researchers at the University of British Columbia has found. The study's lead author Angela Stevenson likens the sponges to "living dinosaurs." The glass sponge reefs play a crucial role in their ecosystem by feeding on tiny particles of organic matter.
BusinessBBCGeorge Floyd protests: Twitter bans over #DCBlackout hoax
A "blackout" that never happened and a fake "left-wing" account are among those banned.
PoliticsBBCFacebook's Zuckerberg accused of setting dangerous precedent over Trump
Civil rights chiefs say they are "disappointed and stunned by Mark's incomprehensible explanations".
BusinessThe TelegraphUS opens investigation into Britain's digital tax on tech giants
The White House has taken a step towards retaliating against Britain’s tax on tech giants, opening a trade investigation into several countries’ plans to make companies such as Facebook and Amazon pay more in local markets. Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, announced a “Section 301” investigation into the UK, Italy, Spain and the EU as a whole, among several other countries, saying plans for digital taxes would “unfairly target” American companies. Britain’s digital services tax, a 2pc levy on revenues from advertising and online marketplaces generated in the UK, came into force in April and is meant to raise £500m a year. US officials have warned the tax could derail post-Brexit trade talks. Section 301 investigations often result in retaliatory tariffs. A similar probe against France’s digital tax plans threatened duties on wine and cheese imports, until Paris agreed to postpone the tax in January. Mr Lighthizer said: “President Trump is concerned that many of our trading partners are adopting tax schemes designed to unfairly target our companies. We are prepared to take all appropriate action to defend our businesses and workers against any such discrimination.” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned that the US could target Britain’s car industry in response to the tax. Several countries working on digital taxes have said they would like an international agreement among OECD countries, but have been frustrated by slow progress.
TechnologyDigital TrendsI tried using the Surface Book 2 as my only PC, and it let me down
The Surface Book 2 looked like a PC that could serve my every need but left me annoyed and disappointed.
NewsThe TelegraphTwo-metre social distancing rule based on outdated science that may have hugely overestimated coronavirus risk
The two-metre rule on social distancing is based on outdated science that may have overestimated the risk by up to fifteen times, senior MPs and scientists have warned. The Government on Tuesday said the controversial rule would stay in place despite a major study showing the comparative risk of halving the distance to one metre was far less than previously thought. Business leaders and MPs have called for the guidance to be altered in line with WHO guidance and rules followed by some other countries in order to avoid mass redundancies and help the hospitality sector reopen. Last week, Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, suggested two metres was still necessary as the risk of spreading the virus remained too great. “It’s not an absolute [that] beyond two metres is safe and slightly less is not safe, there’s a graduation across that, and so roughly at a metre it’s somewhere between 10 and 30 times more risky than at two metres,” Sir Patrick told the Downing Street press conference on May 28. But an analysis published on Tuesday in the Lancet found the risk of standing one metre apart was only around twice that of standing two metres apart - a 2.6 per cent chance of catching the disease compared to 1.3 per cent. Keeping one metre apart also cuts the overall risk of catching coronavirus by 80 per cent, the study found.
- ScienceThe Canadian Press
Astronauts ring opening bell for Nasdaq from space station
The astronauts launched into orbit by SpaceX joined in the ringing of the opening bell for the Nasdaq on Tuesday to mark “a pivotal moment" for the space economy. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken took part in the ceremony from the International Space Station, three days after their launch by Elon Musk’s company. SpaceX became the first private company to send astronauts into orbit, with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule, and ended a nine-year launch drought for NASA.
TechnologyBBCAndroid: Why this photo is bricking some phones
An atmospheric landscape photograph set as wallpaper seems to confuse the handsets.
NewsBBCSenator tells MPs Huawei puts US troops at risk
Senator Tom Cotton also claimed that the US, UK and their allies could make superior 5G tech.
NewsBBCIndian app hunts out Chinese software on phones
Remove China Apps was developed by an Indian firm, amid rising tension between the two nations.
NewsThe TelegraphHugh Sackett, global authority on the archaeology of the Aegean – obituary
Hugh Sackett, who has died aged 91, was an internationally recognised scholar, and a classics and Greek archaeology teacher at Groton School, Massachusetts, for more than 60 years; he also made an indelible mark on the archaeology of the Aegean through collaborative excavations of sites ranging in date from the Early Bronze Age through to Roman, under the auspices of the British School at Athens. His discoveries included the Palaikastro kouros, the most magnificent prehistoric ivory statue yet found in the Aegean. In 2014 he became the first British archaeologist to receive the Gold Medal for distinguished archaeological achievement from the Archaeological Institute of America. Leyland Hugh Sackett was born in Oxford on August 13 1928 to Alfred Sackett and Dorothy, née Salter, one of four sons and a daughter. He was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, where his father was headmaster. In 1949, after two years’ National Service, he went to Merton College, Oxford, where he gained an MA in Literae Humaniores and a Dip Ed in 1954. That year also saw his first visit to the British School at Athens (BSA) on a Rotary Foundation fellowship, beginning his relationship with the institution to which he gave so much over the next 65 years. He was assistant excavator at Emporio, on the island of Chios, directed by Sinclair Hood, with John Boardman and Emily Vermeule; he worked at Mycenae with Lord William Taylour; at Myrtos Pyrgos, Crete, with Gerald Cadogan; and at the Menelaion, Sparta, with Hector Catling. At the BSA he also met John Ellis Jones, with whom he collaborated on several innovative projects investigating Classical Attica (Dema House, Vari House, and the silver mining site at Agrileza). In 1955 Sackett took up a post at Groton School, where he was an inspiring teacher. His career, the longest in the school’s history, spanned seven of its eight headmasters. One of them, Bill Polk, a former pupil of Sackett, wrote: “In his calm, patient way, he would encourage those students for whom Latin was a challenge, and challenge those for whom it was not.” The present headmaster Temba Maqubela recalled: “He was one of the finest true gentlemen I have ever met.”
ScienceThe GuardianAncient DNA is offering clues to puzzle of Dead Sea scrolls, say experts
Ancient DNA is offering clues to puzzle of Dead Sea scrolls, say experts. Study may shed light on material and debated origins of some of the 25,000 fragments
TechnologyThe IndependentApple releases iPhone update to patch ‘Unc0ver’ zero-day hack
Apple has released a new version of its operating system, iOS 13.5.1, in order to provide “important security updates [that are] recommended for all users.”It means Apple has patched the infamous “Unc0ver” jailbreak which allowed even the most recent iPhones to be compromised.
ScienceThe IndependentEarth accelerating towards sixth mass extinction event that could see ‘disintegration of civilisation’, scientists warn
The scientists who were among the first to declare the world’s sixth mass extinction event was already underway in a 2015 study, have published new research revealing the rate at which wildlife is being destroyed is accelerating and is a direct threat to human civilisation.Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich and colleagues at other institutions report in the new paper that the extinction rate is likely much higher than previously thought and is eroding nature’s ability to provide vital services to people.
TechnologyThe IndependentApple fixes sign-in bug that would have let anyone log into your apps
Apple has fixed a sign-in bug that could have allowed malicious individuals to take control of a user’s account, paying $100,000 to the person who found it.The flaw relates to the “Sign in with Apple” feature, which the company introduced in 2019 as a privacy-focused alternative to the sign-in options from Facebook or Google, yet one that is easier than using an email login.
HealthBBCCoronavirus: Could social distancing of less than two metres work?
The government is under pressure to relax the 2m social distancing rule - but is it safe to do so?
NewsCBCBell, Telus to use Nokia and Ericsson, not Huawei, in building their next-generation 5G networks
BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. will both use equipment from Scandinavian component makers Nokia and Ericsson to build out their next-generation 5G networks in Canada.BCE, the parent company of Bell, said Tuesday morning it will partner with Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson to build out its next generation wireless network, known as 5G.That makes Ericsson just the second company that Bell will allow on its network, along with Finnish supplier Nokia, which Bell announced it would work with in February in its quarterly earnings release.Notably absent from that list of two suppliers is Huawei, the Chinese technology company that has become a lightning rod because of its close relationship with the Chinese government.Huawei has become something of a household name in Canada in recent years after its vice-president Meng Wangzhou was arrested at Vancouver's airport two years ago at the request of U.S. authorities.Many countries around the world say Huawei's close relationship with the Chinese government could expose cellular networks to spying.The United States and Australia have forbidden telecom firms in those countries from using Huawei components in their 5G networks.Canadian authorities are currently mulling whether to allow Huawei to participate in Canadian networks. Canada's Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said in a statement to CBC News that the government is "taking all security factors into account, including those from our allies and our security agencies. We will ensure that our networks are kept secure and will take the appropriate decisions in due course."Tuesday's news show the industry isn't waiting around for that decision either way.Telus changes directionA few hours after Bell's move, Telus announced that it, too, would use Nokia and Ericsson for its 5G network. That's a departure from what the company said as recently as February, when Telus announced it was moving ahead with plans to roll out 5G using Huawei equipment.Huawei gear is in use on the lower-generation equipment at both telecom companies, but appears to be in the process of getting shut out of their 5G plans.Patrick Horan, a portfolio manager with Agilith Capital, said Bell's decision came as something of a surprise, given Bell's support for Huawei in the past and its current use of Huawei technology."They were probably the most outspoken of the carriers in Canada" in expressing their support for Huawei, he said.Horan says Huawei's prickly status with governments outside China was a factor in Bell's decision. "[Bell] probably looked at their ability to garner any U.S. government telecom contracts with Huawei equipment in their [network]. My guess is that would be a negative for them," he said."My guess is they decided to take that off the table."Rogers has had a long-standing partnership with Ericsson on its existing wireless networks, and announced in 2018 that it would use Ericsson equipment for its 5G network, which it started to roll out in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal earlier this year.
TechnologyThe IndependentPeloton releases Apple TV app as exercising at home boom continues
Peloton has released a new Apple TV app, allowing users to workout using their televisions.The home exercise company is perhaps the most famous of the many home exercise companies that have seen a boom as users in lockdown look to keep fit without being able to easily go outdoors.