Nursing homes – Provide residential accommodations, help with activities of daily living, and 24-hour skilled nursing care.
Assisted living facilities – Provide housing and services to people who need assistance but do not require round-the-clock skilled nursing care. Support may include help with activities of daily living, meals, housekeeping, medication management, transportation, and social and wellness programs.
Residential services for people with developmental or other disabilities – Provide housing and nonmedical care and services for children or adults with disabilities or functional limitations. Many different names are used for facilities of this type, including assisted living, adult living facilities, group homes, developmental homes, community-based residential facilities, and others.
A scarcity of long-term care facilities in rural communities can cause hardship and difficult choices for individuals and their families. In such cases, people who need long-term care must decide, in consultation with their families and other caregivers, if home care is possible or if relocation to a facility outside of their community is necessary. A move to another community can be stressful, and family members might not be able to visit as often as they would like. Communities also experience economic loss and diminished social connections when people leave.
What services do rural long-term care facilities provide?
What are the characteristics of residents of rural long-term care facilities?
Where are long-term care facilities located?
How is long-term care paid for?
How does the lack of access to home and community-based services affect utilization of assisted living and nursing homes in rural areas?
How prevalent is the provision of long-term care services by Critical Access Hospitals?
What effect do assisted living facilities and nursing homes have on the local economy?
What types of workforce issues do rural long-term care facilities face?
What mental health needs exist in rural long-term care facilities and how can they be addressed?
How does the quality of care of rural long-term care facilities compare with other facilities?
What type of funding is available to build long-term care facilities in rural areas?
How is technology/telehealth used to meet the needs of those living in long-term care facilities in rural areas?
What is the role of rural nursing homes in providing post-acute care?
How are quality initiatives such as antibiotic stewardship implemented in long-term care facilities?
How are residents' oral health needs met in long-term care facilities?
There is a range of services provided by residential care facilities, depending on the needs of the residents at a particular institution. Basic services include living space, food services, housekeeping services, supervised care, medication management, and collaboration with healthcare. Some also provide physical, occupational, or music therapy, transportation, and social programs and activities.
Some residents simply need help performing activities of daily living, such as dressing, eating, toileting, and bathing, while others need a higher level of care. According to the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center's 2017 policy brief Medical Barriers to Nursing Home Care for Rural Residents, patients in long-term care facilities may suffer from complex medical problems such as obesity, dementia, high blood pressure, and behavioral or psychiatric disorders. In order to address these issues adequately, nursing homes may require extra equipment and staff members who have received advanced training. The researchers found that other possible solutions to these challenges include increased funding, more beds, and elimination of the current Medicare requirement of a three-night inpatient hospital stay.
Long-term care facilities are located in rural areas across the U.S. The map below shows locations of one type of long-term care facility, dually certified Skilled Nursing Facilities, in rural areas of the United States. These institutions have certification both as a nursing facility (NF), which can provide long-term care to Medicaid recipients, and as a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF), which offers rehabilitative care to Medicare patients. Dually certified facilities can have both NF beds and SNF beds.
Pays for a large share of long-term care services. Patients' assets and income must be below a certain level and must meet state eligibility requirements related to the amount of assistance needed.
Veterans are eligible for medical benefits services, which may include long-term care. For specific information, visit the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Geriatrics and Extended Care: Paying for Long Term Care website.
Medicare provides only short-term reimbursement for care in long-term facilities, and does not cover non-skilled services related to activities of daily living. It pays for skilled nursing facility care or rehabilitation services within 30 days following a 3-day hospital inpatient stay, for a maximum of 100 days per benefit period.
For more information on Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance), see Medicare.gov: Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Care.
May provide reimbursement for short-term, skilled, medically necessary care in a long-term care facility.
In recent years, there has been more emphasis on Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) that can allow older adults and people with disabilities to remain in their homes. The Maine Rural Health Research Center's policy brief Are Rural Older Adults Benefiting from Increased State Spending on Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services? notes that in 1995 HCBS services accounted for 18% of all Medicaid long-term support services spending, but by 2013 that percentage had risen to 50%.
The lack of community-based options may also result in greater burdens for friends and family, as well as lower quality of life for those remaining at home. In addition, states are allowed considerable flexibility in allocating Medicaid funds and those with higher concentrations of urban residents may emphasize services to this population, rather than to their rural counterparts.
In rural communities, Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) play a vital role in providing long-term care services.
In the March 2011 policy brief Provision of Long Term Care Services by Critical Access Hospitals: Are Things Changing? rural hospitals were studied to assess whether and how the provision of long-term care services by CAHs has changed and how their involvement with long-term care services compares with other hospitals. The study showed that, as of 2008, CAHs were more likely than other rural hospitals to provide core long-term care services, although provision of long-term care services by all rural hospitals had declined in recent years, likely due to reimbursement changes. The publication states that in 2008, 42.4% of CAHs provided Skilled Nursing Facility care, 17.1% offered intermediate care, and 25.4% had a separate nursing home-type long-term care unit.
Assisted living facilities and nursing homes not only serve patients and their families, but may also be one of the larger employers in some rural communities. These facilities and their employees contribute to the local economy through local spending for supplies and services, as do friends and relatives who visit facility residents.
According to the National Center for Rural Health Works' 2017 document The Economic Impact of Rural Nursing Homes, data from a sample of rural nursing homes showed that the facilities surveyed had employment impact of between 70 and 259 employees, and a labor income impact of $3.3 million to $12.0 million when wages, salaries, and benefits were considered. People with various skill levels are needed as workers in these facilities, thus providing job opportunities for rural residents who may not have had years of training, as well as for those who are healthcare professionals.
The same document notes that LTC workers often need specialized training, which may be difficult to obtain in rural areas. In such cases, employers must provide the training themselves, or help employees get training in another location or online.
Healthcare workers who are not themselves from rural areas may be disinclined to relocate, thus contributing to the workforce shortage. For this reason, some locations promote grow-your-own programs, in hopes that young people will remain in the area or return there after receiving certification or completing their degrees.
A 2013 study noted that over the previous twenty years there had been an increase in the number of nursing home residents who suffer from severe mental illness. Many have been diagnosed with dementia, depression, or schizophrenia, and there is a great need for onsite mental health services in long-term care facilities.
This high level of need among nursing home residents is a particular challenge for rural facilities, where there is often a lack of basic mental health infrastructure and significant shortages of mental health professionals.
In Mental Health Services in Rural Long-term Care: Challenges and Opportunities for Improvement, the authors propose methods for increasing the rural mental health workforce as well as using training programs delivered by telemedicine to build competencies of existing members of the rural health workforce. Using telemental health to provide services to rural nursing home residents is another key suggestion. For one example, see the University of Vermont Medical Center's telepsychiatry consultation service for rural nursing homes.
According to the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center's 2015 policy brief Nurse Staffing Levels and Quality of Care in Rural Nursing Homes, although federal regulations specify minimum staffing levels for certified nursing homes, there is considerable variation in state-level requirements. Researchers found that facilities with higher proportions of RNs in their nursing staffs tended to have a higher quality of care. However, many rural areas have a shortage of RNs and a greater number of older adults within their populations.
A 2013 journal article, Nursing Home Quality: A Comparative Analysis Using CMS Nursing Home Compare Data to Examine Differences Between Rural and Nonrural Facilities, compared the quality of rural and non-rural nursing facilities, using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Nursing Home Compare data. Of the 15,177 nursing homes sampled, 69.2% were located in non-rural areas and 30.8% in rural. The study tested the overall, health inspection, staffing, and quality measure ratings, and found that rural nursing homes performed better in overall ratings and health inspections.
Nursing homes in rural areas often do not have 24-hour coverage by physicians, and as a result, patients may sometimes be transferred to a hospital unnecessarily if intervention is needed at a time when a physician is not present. This can result in higher costs and a greater risk of medical complications for patients. However, when telemedicine is used for consultation with off-site medical professionals, the cost is typically lower and patients may have better outcomes.
A 2014 Health Affairs article examined the use of telemedicine in 11 nursing homes, and found that there is considerable variation in the amount of engagement with telemedicine services. One potential cause is that, although the nursing homes pay for the technology, it is often Medicare that reaps the cost savings for patient care. The authors conclude that policy changes may be necessary in order for long-term care facilities to engage fully with telemedicine services that will benefit both patients and institutions. For one example of a successful model, see the SD eResidential Facilities Healthcare Services Access Project.
Patients who need extra help when recuperating after hospital discharge often find that a temporary stay in a nursing home is ideal for their needs. They may require wound care, IV medications, feeding tubes, dialysis, rehabilitation or occupational therapy after joint replacement, or other specialized care. In this situation, the expectation would be that the nursing home stay would be of limited duration, and the patient would return to his or her previous living situation after healing and regaining strength.
Post-acute care in rural areas may also be provided in hospitals with fewer than 100 licensed beds that have received CMS approval to participate in the Medicare swing bed program. Under this arrangement, beds may be used, as needed, either for acute care or for post-hospital skilled nursing care. For more information, see the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program's policy brief, Discharge to Swing Bed or Skilled Nursing Facility: Who Goes Where? and the What is a swing bed? section of the RHIhub Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) topic guide.
The Rural Monitor article Rural Post-Acute Care: Improving Transitions to Enhance Patient Recovery gives examples of the ways in which rural residents can benefit from post-acute care provided by skilled nursing facilities and other providers.
Shared dining and recreational spaces increase the risk of transmitting disease.
Residents experiencing cognitive decline may not be able to communicate disease symptoms to staff.
Historically, many nursing home infection prevention programs have suffered from problems such as inadequately trained staff and high turnover rates.
Clinicians may not be available when infection management decisions need to be made.
How are residents' oral health needs met in long-term care facilities?
The 2016 report Evolving Delivery Models for Dental Care Services in Long-Term Care Settings: 4 State Case Studies notes that dental services in nursing homes are limited, despite the fact that residents tend to have poorer oral health than people who live independently. Medicaid and Medicare regulations specify that LTC patients enrolled in these programs have access to basic dental care supplies and must have a dental assessment, but this can be done by nursing staff rather than by a dental professional. There is no certification requirement specific to oral healthcare providers working in long-term care facilities.
Programs like Missouri's Oral Health Alliance help increase access to oral health services for LTC patients by reaching out to dentists, hygienists, and local health departments who can then provide screenings and healthcare at LTC facilities. The Alliance also educates caregivers by showing them effective oral healthcare techniques and teaching them how to spot cavities and mouth sores.
The National Rural Health Association's 2013 policy brief Rural America's Oral Health Care Needs recommended that access to oral health services be improved for residents of rural long-term facilities by increasing Medicaid reimbursement for dental work, making the administrative burden of participation in the program less cumbersome, and providing reimbursement for procedures instead of reimbursement per visit.


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Communications Security Establishment Annual Report 2020-2021
Foreword from the Minister of National Defence
One CSE: A message from the Chief
Supporting Canada's COVID-19 response
Cyber operations leadership
A secure digital Canada
A Canadian information advantage
Thought-leading innovation
Inspired workforce
Known and trusted
The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) might not be the first government agency you would think of in relation to a global health emergency, but the shift to virtual brought on by COVID-19 put foreign intelligence, cyber security and information assurance right at the heart of Canada's pandemic response.
For CSE, as for the rest of Canada, 2020-2021 has been a time of both unprecedented challenges and hard-won achievements. From helping government to operate securely online and providing vital information to decision-makers, to defending the vaccine rollout from cyber threats, CSE's work has been a critical part of Canada's whole-of-government approach.
CSE has also been at the forefront of protecting Canadian individuals and organizations from cyber actors looking to exploit the pandemic to extort money, spread disinformation, steal personal data or copy intellectual property.
This report provides a snapshot of the scope and depth of those contributions.
As Minister of National Defence, I commend CSE for its technical leadership and innovation, operational agility and sheer hard work over the last 12 months. Canadians are safer because of your efforts.
- The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of National Defence.
I began my career at CSE 32 years ago, and I learned early on, that in the security and intelligence business, organizations like CSE don't take curtain calls. We are used to promoting and defending Canada's interests from behind the scenes.
But things are changing. Cyber security is becoming more and more integral to the lives of Canadians. Emerging technologies are disrupting the status quo. New foreign adversaries are emerging; familiar ones are evolving. Canadians, quite rightly, are demanding more transparency from their government institutions than ever before. And in response, CSE is learning to raise the curtain on our activities a little more, and even, sometimes, to take centre stage.
In this year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CSE's mission became important in ways we never imagined, and our community went above and beyond to deliver important results for Canada.
With this annual report, we will shine a spotlight on some of those contributions.
The COVID-19 response
In early 2020 we wrote our strategic vision for the next five years: CSE 2025. Central to that vision is the principle of One CSE: "CSE effectively integrates all aspects of its mandate as Canada's national cyber leader."
When the pandemic hit, CSE 2025 served as our compass through uncharted territory. And in the spirit of One CSE, we pulled together as a community, bringing the various elements of our mandate to bear in support of the government's response, from cyber security and information assurance, to foreign signals intelligence.
We identified, blocked and responded to new cyber threats directed at government, the health sector and other critical Canadian systems, including the current vaccine rollout.
We delivered highly actionable foreign intelligence to our government clients.
We helped Cabinet, parliamentary and government business to operate more securely online.
We mitigated serious new cyber risks by alerting Canadians and Canadian businesses, offering guidance and support, and promoting best cyber security practices.
We found new and innovative ways to package intelligence and reach distanced government clients.
We helped the government accelerate and secure its transition to the cloud and bolster online security for its services to Canadians.
We provided thought-leading technical input and stress-tested proposed solutions.
And all of this happened on top of CSE's regular business, with only a fraction of our staff able to access our secure facilities at a time.
I have been impressed and humbled every day by the technical wizardry, the operational flexibility, and the positive mindset with which CSE employees approached the many curveballs the pandemic sent our way. I hope this report will give Canadians a sense of the breadth and the significance of those achievements. They really are worth celebrating.
Systemic inequities
However, as we take stock of the last year, it is important to note that COVID-19 also exposed long-standing inequities in Canada's society and institutions, from which CSE is not immune.
In this context One CSE has taken on new significance, to mean a workplace where everyone belongs, where there are no barriers to participation, and where the experiences and perspectives of our decision-makers faithfully reflect the diversity of the country we serve. Not just because it's the right thing to do (though, of course, it is) but because it will help us deliver our mission for Canadians more effectively. The different perspectives, skills, talents and experiences of multi-disciplinary teams are the best way, sometimes the only way, to solve intractable problems. This has been the central tenet of our success for three-quarters of a century.
Because we consider diversity to be an operational imperative for CSE, we have prioritized it for the best part of a decade. But I will be the first to admit that the pace of change has not been fast enough, and that we need to do more. The events of the past year have served as a stark reminder that progress is not inevitable. Systemic inequities don't fix themselves.
Therefore, in full agreement with the call to action on anti-racism from the Clerk of the Privy Council, CSE employees and executives entered 2021 determined to listen, to learn, and to act, beginning with a hard look at our policies and practices. It will take concerted effort to remove barriers for under-represented groups and to deliberately level the playing field where it needs levelling. The way CSE employees, managers and executives have set their problem-solving brains to that challenge fills me with hope for the future.
And so, as I reflect on the events of the past 12 months, am I keen to see the back of this wretched pandemic? Absolutely and unequivocally, yes.
But at the same time, am I excited to use the lessons we have learned to shape the next iteration of CSE? One hundred per cent.
And am I proud of what we have achieved for Canada this past year as an organization, as a community, and as One CSE?
Proud doesn't even begin to cover it.
Shelly Bruce
Chief, CSE
The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) is Canada's foreign signals intelligence agency, and the national technical authority for cyber security and information assurance.
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre), is a part of CSE. It was stood up in 2018, combining cyber expertise from across the federal government and is the operational lead for cyber security.
This report is unclassified. It does not contain operational details about our foreign signals intelligence or foreign cyber operations activities, because their effectiveness depends upon our adversaries not knowing how we do what we do. However, it does give examples of some of the ways those activities have benefitted Canada over the past year. We are free to report in more detail about the public-facing activities of CSE's Cyber Centre.
With the exception of "Supporting Canada's COVID-19 response" the chapter headings of this report follow the themes of our five-year strategic framework, CSE 2025.
The report aims to show how our activities over the past year deliver on that strategy.
The reporting period is April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. Unless otherwise noted, statistics and references to "this year" correspond to the fiscal year.
Long description - CSE's 5-year strategic roadmap: CSE 2025
One CSE: CSE effectively integrates all aspects of its mandate as Canada's national cyber leader.
Cyber Operations Leadership: CSE is the national hub for cyber operations to defend Canada and advance its interests.
A Secure Digital Canada: CSE improves Canada's digital resilience through a national culture of cyber security collaboration and best practices.
A Canadian Information Advantage: CSE provides a strategic information advantage for Canada's security, competitiveness and prosperity.
Thought-leading Innovation: CSE is Canada's trusted pathfinder for secure solutions in the emerging digital landscape.
Inspired Workforce: CSE's employees have what they need to succeed.
Known and Trusted: Canadians understand CSE's contributions to the nation, and are confident that CSE respects the law and protects their privacy.
The need for physical distancing due to COVID-19 meant secure communications, cyber security and timely foreign intelligence were fundamental to Canada's pandemic response. CSE teams created new tools, new services and new partnerships to protect government operations, individual Canadians, the health sector and the vaccine response from cyber threats.
Protecting and enabling the government response
From the beginning of the pandemic, the Cyber Centre's secure communications solutions enabled Cabinet to lead the federal government response without having to meet in person. Ministers and senior officials could communicate at a classified level using commercial mobile handsets. The Cyber Centre also partnered with Shared Services Canada and the Privy Council Office to design and deliver a classified video-conferencing service for use by Cabinet and senior officials. This was completed and began operation in February 2021.
In April 2020, the Cyber Centre helped the House of Commons set up video-conferencing so that parliamentary business could continue. And in March 2021, Canadian Members of Parliament (MPs) voted for the first time using a secure virtual voting app, developed by the House of Commons, with technical input from the Cyber Centre. The app uses facial recognition technology and multi-factor authentication to verify MPs' identities.
As Government of Canada agencies and departments migrated rapidly to the cloud, we shared best practices to accelerate that shift and deployed innovative tools to keep their networks secure. For example, the Cyber Centre deployed cloud-based sensors to more than 50 departments (39 of them in this fiscal year) to help detect malicious cyber activity on their cloud infrastructure.
CSE experts also conducted vulnerability assessments and stress-testing of the COVID Alert (exposure notification) app to make sure it met the strict standards of privacy and security that Canadians have the right to expect.
Protecting Canadians
Cyber threat actors never let a crisis go to waste. They quickly pivoted to using COVID-19 themed phishing lures and fraudulent websites to try to scam Canadians. Among the most frequently impersonated government websites and email addresses were the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, Canada Revenue Agency, and domains related to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). From the start of the pandemic to the end of March 2021, CSE worked with trusted commercial and international partners to take down over 7,000 of these fraudulent domains.
Protecting Canada's health sector
Within a week of the nationwide shutdown in March 2020, the Cyber Centre alerted Canada's health sector that it faced an elevated risk from cybercriminals seeking ransoms, and from state-sponsored groups looking to steal COVID-19 research and sensitive data. This prediction was borne out by events, and we followed up in May 2020 with targeted advice for COVID-19 research and development organizations.
Over the past year, the Cyber Centre established new partnerships with over 100 health sector organizations, including provincial and territorial regional health authorities, patient care facilities, and organizations involved in the development, manufacture and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.
The Cyber Centre issued over 20 cyber alerts to health sector partners and provided incident response support in more than 85 cases affecting the sector.
Throughout 2020 the Cyber Centre held weekly video calls with over 100 representatives from the health sector to share practical advice and answer questions about cyber threats. In 2021, these calls are continuing on a bi-weekly basis.
Protecting the vaccine rollout
The more vital something is, the more appealing a target it becomes for cyber attackers seeking to extract ransoms or cause disruption. Canada's COVID-19 vaccine rollout is just such a target.
In January 2021, the Cyber Centre began working with the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Operations Centre to bolster the cyber security of vaccine suppliers, warehouses, hospitals and vaccine administration sites across Canada. This included:
reinforcing network perimeter security and access control
updating, patching and securing devices connected to the Internet
safeguarding stored vaccination data
raising staff awareness of cyber threats
In March 2021, the Cyber Centre's Learning Hub worked with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to develop and deliver a COVID-19 Cyber Threat Awareness course to be shared across Canada with health care workers, technicians and administrators involved in the COVID-19 vaccine deployment.
A live weekly training session and an on-demand recorded version launched in April 2021, led by Cyber Centre and OPP instructors. The Public Health Agency of Canada shared the course via their networks with the 300 vaccination sites across Canada.
Delivering key insights
Throughout the pandemic, CSE's foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) mandate supported the federal government by providing Canadian decision-makers with key insights into international readiness and foreign reactions, to inform Canada's pandemic response.
SIGINT analysts identified foreign cyber threat activity aimed at Canada's health sector and notified our cyber defence teams so they could take action to block it.
CSE identified foreign cyber espionage targeting COVID-19 vaccine research and worked with our allies to attribute that behaviour publicly.
CSE SIGINT also identified foreign disinformation campaigns seeking to undermine trust in Canadian public health guidance and the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. By alerting government clients, such as the Public Health Agency of Canada, to these campaigns, CSE classified reporting informs their public awareness efforts to counter these false and harmful narratives.
During this time, CSE reinvented the way we package intelligence reports to provide critical information about the pandemic more quickly, and in a more digestible format. We also adjusted our dissemination approach to be able to securely deliver timely intelligence to a wider group of government clients, including clients working remotely.
CSE is the Government of Canada's operational lead for cyber security. While much of that effort over the past year focused on the pandemic response, our regular work defending Canada and advancing its interests continued and intensified.
Protecting the gc.ca
Praise for HBS from our UK partners:
"We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security for all their help and support in enabling us to get to this point. The NCSC would not have been able to take on this challenge alone.
As if this weren't enough, the lessons we've learned protecting endpoint devices has helped us to defend our Health Sector during the COVID crisis."
- National Cyber Security Centre, UK
CSE is responsible for protecting Government of Canada networks, systems and databases from cyber threats. Our world-class dynamic defence capability routinely blocks between 2 and 7 billion malicious actions every day, helping to protect services Canadians rely on, and keeping their personal information secure. On a particularly busy day, that figure can be closer to 10 billion.
In November 2020, CSE revealed part of the secret sauce behind that defence capability: host-based sensors (HBS). Developed in-house by CSE experts over the course of several years, HBS is now installed on over 700,000 Government of Canada endpoints (such as laptops, desktops and servers), where it automatically detects and neutralizes malicious activity, like malware trying to download. Each sensor securely gathers system data, while protecting the privacy of those using the service.
We are proud of the leading-edge nature of HBS. In November 2020, our UK counterparts at the National Cyber Security Centre officially thanked the Cyber Centre for allowing them to use HBS technology, saying it has "transformed (their) ability to detect threats and defend the UK government in cyberspace."
Protecting critical infrastructure
CSE's Cyber Centre cultivates strategic partnerships with Canadian critical infrastructure owners and operators to share knowledge and to co-develop new cyber security solutions.
In 2020-2021 the Cyber Centre forged new partnerships in 16 critical infrastructure sectors:
information and communications technology (ICT)
provincial / territorial / municipal government
democratic institutions
small and medium organizations
Canadian citizens
This is crucial, because, as we stated in our 2020 National Cyber Threat Assessment, Canada's critical infrastructure will almost certainly continue to be a target for both criminal and state-sponsored cyber threat activity.
Much of the data we share is generated by HBS (see above) based on the threats that are hitting Government of Canada systems. A future goal is to tailor a version of HBS that can be deployed to key strategic partners to protect the critical infrastructure Canadians rely on.
Responding to incidents
CSE's Cyber Centre is the federal government's operational lead during cyber security events such as the SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange compromises, as well as thousands of other cases that never make the headlines. Our teams work 24/7 to identify compromises and alert potential victims within the federal government and Canadian critical infrastructure. In the wake of a cyber incident the incident response team offers advice and support to contain the threat and mitigate harm.
In 2020-2021 the Cyber Centre responded to 2206 cyber security incident cases affecting the Government of Canada or critical infrastructure partners. That's an average of 6 per day.
Disrupting foreign threats
In 2019, the CSE Act granted CSE new powers to conduct foreign cyber operations (both active, and defensive): in other words, to take online action to disrupt foreign threats to Canada.
Over the past year, CSE has been authorized to carry out operations to interfere with foreign-based adversaries in cyberspace. These online operations have helped to defend Canada's interests and to keep Canadians safe. They are also intended to deter threat actors by changing the cost-benefit calculus of targeting Canada in future.
Canada's use of cyber operations follows Canadian law as well as norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. For example, under the CSE Act, cyber operations must not:
target Canadians or anyone in Canada
interfere with the course of justice
interfere with the course of democracy
cause death or bodily harm, either deliberately or through criminal negligence
All our activities, including cyber operations, are subject to strict internal oversight and independent external review by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency and the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.
Part of our CSE 2025 strategy is to improve Canada's overall digital resilience by fostering a national culture of cyber security.
Protecting Canada's Internet
CSE's role defending Government of Canada networks, combined with our foreign signals intelligence mandate, give us a unique perspective on the global cyber threat landscape. We offer the benefits of that perspective to all Canadians through our partnership with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), the not-for-profit agency that manages the .ca domain.
CIRA Canadian Shield launched officially in April 2020. It is a free, protected DNS (Domain Name System) service that prevents users from connecting to websites that have been flagged as malicious. Instead of allowing malware to infect your device, or steal your personal information, that "one wrong click" doesn't connect. In December 2020, CIRA Canadian Shield reached its first-year goal of 100,000 users, 4 months ahead of schedule. In that period, it blocked more than 20 million malicious domains for its users.
CSE fosters a secure digital Canada by sharing the right information with the right audience at the right time.
For example, over the past year, the Cyber Centre published four cyber threat bulletins:
Impact of COVID-19 on Cyber Threat Activity
Impact of COVID-19 on Cyber Threats to the Health Sector
Modern Ransomware and Its evolution
The Cyber Threat to Canada's Electricity Sector
Long description - Cyber Centre public reports by the numbers:
1 National Cyber Threat Assessment
4 cyber threat bulletins
541 advisories
48 advice and guidance documents
In November 2020, the Cyber Centre published its second National Cyber Threat Assessment, laying out the latest trends in the cyber threat environment from ransomware and commercial espionage to foreign influence campaigns.
A sampling of Cyber Centre guidance documents this year includes cyber security advice for individuals and organizations on topics including:
COVID-19 and malicious websites
In addition, the Cyber Centre published hundreds of advisories and alerts for IT professionals, from run-of-the-mill security patches to major cyber incidents like the SolarWinds Orion Platform and Microsoft Exchange Server compromises.
Promoting cyber resilience
The goal of a secure digital Canada means fostering the cyber resilience of every Canadian.
Get Cyber Safe
The Get Cyber Safe (GCS) public awareness campaign specializes in easy-to-follow cyber security advice presented in an informal and creative way.
Throughout the pandemic, GCS has provided Canadians with resources on topics such as COVID-19 scams, remote working and e-commerce. This included a dedicated COVID-19 resource page, share-worthy videos, timely blog posts and vibrant one-pagers.
In September 2020, CSE launched the new the Get Cyber Safe website including the GCS Checkup cyber security self-assessment tool.
In October, GCS was the Government of Canada lead for Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM), with the overall theme of Device Appreciation Time. The Twitter posts releasing the catchy theme song video were seen over 147,000 times.
In March 2021, GCS launched CSE's largest advertising campaign ever with the tagline Don't Get Reeled In. It focused on phishing, which the Cyber Centre has identified as the biggest cyber threat to Canadians, and was seen more than 74 million times.
Long description - GCS on social media:
5 platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube)
39,000 Twitter followers in English
14,000 Twitter followers in French
The Cyber Centre's Learning Hub provides training in cyber security and communications security to federal employees, and other key sectors affecting Canadians, such as industry, academia and education.
Over the past year, the Learning Hub pivoted much of its curriculum to an e-learning model, and developed and delivered new cyber security courses for groups at higher risk from cyber threats during the pandemic, including:
researchers and academics
federal public servants working from home
teachers (to share with students grades 4 – 12)
Long description - The Learning Hub in 2020-2021:
6,435 participants (up 192%)
10 new e-learning courses
13 new cyber security courses
11 virtual events
CSE promotes Canada's security and prosperity by gathering signals intelligence from foreign networks and by protecting Canada's sensitive communications.
Providing foreign intelligence insights to Canadian decision-makers
CSE's foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) program provides Canada's senior decision-makers with insights into the activities, motivations, capabilities and intentions of foreign adversaries.
Our classified reports alert and inform government officials about threats to Canada and provide advice and guidance on practical measures to defend against them.
Over the past year, in addition to informing the government's pandemic response, CSE SIGINT has helped thwart or respond to foreign-based threats including espionage, terrorism, ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE), and kidnappings of Canadians abroad. Our intelligence reporting has also identified hostile state activities, supported Canadian military operations and protected forces deployed abroad.
CSE's relationships with its Five Eyes cryptologic partners (US, UK, Australia and New Zealand) bring great benefit to Canada through access to unparalleled foreign intelligence reporting on issues of common concern. On the strength of this 75-year partnership, CSE is able to provide the Government of Canada with the most comprehensive information available relating to Canada's intelligence priorities, directly furthering's Canadian safety, security and prosperity.
Long description - CSE foreign intelligence reporting 2020-2021:
2,528 reports
28 departments and agencies
Providing insights into cyber threats
CSE SIGINT feeds into unclassified public reports, like the 2020 National Cyber Threat Assessment (NCTA 2020), which outlines various foreign-based cyber threats to Canada, including commercial espionage and the disruption of critical infrastructure. SIGINT supports the activities of the Cyber Centre by providing early warning to thwart and mitigate such threats.
SIGINT analysis also underpins our public attributions of malicious cyber activity. For example, in July 2020, CSE and its UK and US allies named a group of sophisticated threat actors, almost certainly operating as part of Russia's intelligence services, as the source of cyber threat activity targeting COVID-19 vaccine research.
Monitoring foreign threats to our democratic process
As noted in NCTA 2020, online interference campaigns are no longer restricted to election periods. They have become the "new normal" as adversaries use social media to:
spread disinformation
polarize public opinion
discredit politicians
influence policy decisions
destabilize relations between countries
delegitimize democracy
Over the past year, CSE SIGINT continued to inform the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, an interdepartmental body established in 2019 to build awareness of foreign threats to Canada's electoral process and to help the Government assess and respond to those threats.
Reminder: The CSE Act requires that our activities do not target the communications of Canadians or anyone in Canada. The CSE Act also requires that we protect the privacy of Canadians and persons in Canada. Internal audit, external oversight and independent review bodies exist to make sure we comply with the CSE Act and all other Canadian laws.
Protecting Canada's sensitive communications
The flip side of the "strategic information advantage" coin is protecting Canada's sensitive communications from our adversaries.
CSE does this by developing, approving and overseeing communications security (COMSEC) solutions for the Government of Canada. These are devices and procedures that allow authorized individuals to call, text, email and store data securely.
Despite the pandemic, the Cyber Centre continued to deliver a full suite of COMSEC services to its client departments. This year, in support of the Privy Council Office, CSE worked with Shared Services Canada to add video-calling capability for senior officials (see Protecting the government response). Clients include Cabinet ministers, senior government officials and decision-makers across government.
CSE also continued to operate Canada's Top Secret Network (CTSN), which allows government departments and authorized contractors to store and communicate sensitive information securely.
CSE cultivates an innovation mindset because the threat landscape is constantly evolving. In cyber security, you innovate, or you lose.
Innovation through research
The Tutte Institute for Mathematics and Computing (TIMC) is a government research institute within CSE, focused on fundamental mathematics and computer science. One example of the leading-edge innovation that goes on there is UMAP (Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection).
UMAP was originally developed by Tutte Institute researchers as a technique for analyzing malware. But since they released it open-source in 2018, UMAP has been referenced in over 2300 studies ranging from machine learning to astrophysics.
In 2020 epidemiologists began to harness UMAP to analyze the vast quantities of complex data generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, it has been cited in more than 600 studies related to COVID-19, from the analysis of virus variants to the search for treatment candidates.
Long description - UMAP by the numbers:
2 million + downloads
2300 + academic citations
600 + COVID-19 related citations
Innovation through collaboration
GeekWeek is a good example of CSE's collaborative approach to innovation. It is a 9-day workshop, hosted by the Cyber Centre, where cyber security practitioners from government, industry, and academia work together to find new solutions to shared problems.
This year, due to pandemic restrictions, GeekWeek was held in a virtual format for the first time.
Teams made breakthroughs in topics including:
identifying and analyzing malicious phishing URLs
studying how threat actors use virtual currency
improving the security of:
emerging cloud technologies
Internet-connected devices
Throughout the year, the Cyber Centre and the GeekWeek community continued to collaborate on these and other projects to help build Canada's future cyber resilience.
Long description - GeekWeek 2020 by the numbers:
7 time zones
Scanning the horizon
Recognizing CSE as a hub of innovative thinking about the future of cyber security, the National Research Council (NRC) invited CSE's Chief Research Officer to participate in a Horizon Scanning Working Group, which began work in September 2020. The NRC's goal was to identify key challenges and opportunities facing Canada in the next 10 to 15 years. The working group identified several priorities at the intersection of cyber security and privacy in Canada, including:
hardening the cyber-resilience of digital infrastructure
safeguarding the privacy and security of data in the cloud
promoting Canada as a trusted storage and transit hub for international data
The NRC is due to publish its Horizon Scanning report later this year.
Addressing the quantum threat
The standard techniques used to encrypt data today will no longer be effective with the advent of quantum computing. Technology capable of breaking the cryptography we use today could be available as early as the 2030s, so CSE's Cyber Centre is preparing Canada for the future, now.
Over the past year, we shared briefings and publications with government and industry clients at both the executive and technical levels including:
Addressing the Quantum Computing Threat to Cryptography
Preparing Your Organization for the Quantum Threat to Cryptography
Blog on post-quantum cryptography standards
We also worked with industry and standards organizations to advance cutting-edge quantum-safe research and worked with Government of Canada Departments to upgrade their equipment. Together these initiatives will help to ensure Canada remains a leader in quantum-safe cyber security.
Having an inspired workforce is at the centre of the CSE 2025 strategy. It is what enables us to deliver all the other aspects. We are proud to report that CSE was recognized as a Top Employer in both 2020 and 2021.
CSE's most important asset is our people.
In March 2021, CSE added a People Committee to our governance structure to make sure employees continue to come first in CSE's corporate decision-making. Chaired by CSE Chief Shelly Bruce, the committee's duties include ensuring that CSE:
promotes workplace health and mental health
respects Official Languages law and encourages linguistic duality
promotes workplace accessibility
identifies and removes systemic barriers to participation
eliminates harassment and discrimination
institutionalizes diversity and inclusion in our corporate processes and practices
promotes the use of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) to inform policy and operations
With the exception of women, members of the federally designated Employment Equity groups are still underrepresented at CSE.
Long description - Employment Equity Representation at CSE 2017-2020
Chart showing that members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities are significantly underrepresented at CSE compared to their workforce availability and Indigenous peoples are slightly underrepresented. The percentage of women employed at CSE is slightly higher than their workforce availability.
Workforce availability
35.40% 37.70% 37.30% 37.50% 36.80%
2.08% 1.90% 2% 2.10% 1.93%
8.80% 4.10% 3.70% 3.90% 3.93%
Visible minorities
Note: The CSE data represents information voluntarily disclosed by our employees under the Government's self-identification program, as required by the Employment Equity Act. Workforce availability reference levels are based on Labour Market Availability census data (2016), factoring in additional criteria: citizenship, location and National Occupational Classification code comparisons.
One of the key tasks of CSE's new People Committee is to ensure that CSE examines its corporate policies through the lens of equity, diversity and inclusion. This includes recruitment and retention policies, as well as awareness training, program design and implementation.
The Committee is supported by an advisory group of employees from diverse backgrounds to ensure that underrepresented groups have a say in the decision-making. The advisory group will work with key human resources leaders to translate those perspectives into principle-based policy and tangible outcomes.
New training
This year, CSE worked to address systemic barriers for transgender and non-binary persons by providing training to colleagues involved in recruitment. We also began looking at other policies and practices to remove any discriminatory practices based on gender identity or gender expression.
In February 2021, two CSE employees delivered an online presentation titled "Being Black in Canada" to hundreds of their co-workers and executives. The presenters shared powerful examples of discrimination from their own lives, led a discussion on privilege and shared anti-racism resources. CSE is building a version of the presentation into our mandatory training for new employees.
Our in-person celebrations of diversity had to be adapted or put on hold this year. For instance, CSE's LGBTQ2+ community, allies and executives usually march in Ottawa's Pride parade. Instead, CSE decorated our facilities in rainbow colours and celebrated Pride Week on social media.
Crucial conversations
In January 2021, international speaker and psychologist, John Amaechi OBE, led a CSE-wide event discussing racism, discrimination and the importance of cultivating a respectful and inclusive workplace culture.
In March 2021, CSE hosted a virtual panel discussion where six employees spoke frankly about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 along gender lines.
That same month, CSE employees invited an Indigenous leader with a background in signals intelligence to build cultural understanding and discuss ways CSE can promote reconciliation.
Throughout the pandemic, CSE's Diversity and Inclusion online discussion channel has provided a safe space for sharing personal experiences and exchanging resources on how to be an effective ally for marginalized communities. The channel has more than 900 members (over a quarter of the organization).
These important conversations have already begun to enhance CSE's workplace culture. We are committed to translating them into more concrete actions this year.
Employee wellbeing
Recognizing the impact of the pandemic on mental health, CSE held training courses and speaker events on topics such as self-compassion, managing anxiety and parenting in the pandemic.
Our internal communications team sent out regular reminders about the supports available to employees.
CSE's Counselling and Advisory Program shifted its services online including:
conflict management services
support for distributed teams (new)
weekly guided meditations in French and English (new)
The pivot to remote work
Before the pandemic, most CSE staff based at our secure headquarters could not even access unclassified work emails from outside the building, so pivoting to remote work was no easy task.
The Cyber Centre was already working in a secure cloud environment, and CSE had a long-term plan to enable similar capabilities for the rest of the agency. When the pandemic hit, that long-term plan turned into an urgent requirement overnight.
In the space of two weeks in March 2020, CSE teams:
deployed secure mobile devices to employees
migrated workloads to a secure cloud environment
enabled new capabilities to allow employees to work and communicate from remote locations
Thanks to these extraordinary efforts, CSE has been able to maintain its daily operations and deliver important results for Canada throughout the past year, despite many of our employees working primarily from home.
Staying safe on site
Our classified work can only be done "on the high side", so we took steps to make working at our facilities as safe as it can possibly be. This included:
reconfiguring workspaces and common areas
staggering work schedules
mandating mask use
reinforcing public health guidelines including staying home when sick
Our cleaning team deserves special recognition for maintaining enhanced standards throughout the year.
We had no recorded cases of COVID-19 transmission in our workplaces during the reporting period.
Employee survey results
The 2020 Public Service Employee Survey included new questions about mental health, racism, and working during the pandemic. CSE's PSES results highlighted that:
91% of employees feel CSE has clearly communicated the mental health services and resources that are available to them
87% would feel free to speak out about racism in the workplace without fear of reprisal
84% are satisfied with the measures CSE has taken to protect their physical health and safety during the pandemic
While these numbers are above the public service average (84%; 79% and 81% respectively), there is still room for improvement.
Understandably, the percentage of employees who said they were experiencing work-related stress increased during the pandemic (9% in 2019; 15% in 2020).
Long description - Selected statistics from CSE's Public Service Employee Survey results
89% of CSE employees are proud of the work they do
86% feel encouraged to be innovative
90% feel their ideas and opinions are valued
92% feel CSE treats them with respect
Based on this feedback, CSE has identified three areas of focus for 2021:
Managing work-life balance, stress and mental health
Holding conversations and taking actions that promote equity, diversity and inclusion
Helping management and employees adapt to shifting "future of work" realities
CSE will keep working to ensure our employees have what they need to deliver their mission for Canada and Canadians.
Pandemic restrictions forced us to put some of our community outreach activities on hold this year, such as our coding workshops in local elementary schools. But CSE volunteers found ways to share their skills with the next generation of tech talent, virtually.
From November 2020 to March 2021, CSE volunteers delivered nine cyber security presentations, reaching roughly 220 high school students across the National Capital Region.
We continued our partnership with Hackergal, a Canadian not-for-profit that introduces girls, trans girls and non-binary students to coding. This year CSE volunteers:
mentored students
judged hackathon submissions
sat on virtual panels
gave speeches
wrote blogs
created learning videos
contributed content for Black History Month
ran a social media takeover
We continued our partnership with Cyber Titan, and provided content for their online cyber defence competition for Canadian youth in grades 7 - 12.
In July 2020 CSE volunteers began working with Black Boys Code, an organization that inspires young Black men to become tomorrow's digital creators and technological innovators.
Because much of CSE's work is classified, it is vital that we have robust systems of oversight and accountability, so Canadians can be confident that CSE respects the law and protects their privacy.
The CSE Act, which came into force in August 2019, created three new bodies to strengthen the independent, external oversight of CSE's activities:
The Office of the Intelligence Commissioner (ICO)
The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA)
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP)
CSE values the important and independent review these bodies provide as well as their recommendations on how to improve our policies and practices.
Intelligence Commissioner
The Office of the Intelligence Commissioner provides quasi-judicial oversight of CSE's foreign intelligence and cyber security ministerial authorizations before they can come into effect.
On January 27, 2021, the Intelligence Commissioner, the Honourable Jean-Pierre Plouffe, tabled his first annual report (2019).
In it, the Commissioner reviewed CSE's five ministerial authorizations from July 2019 (when the Commissioner's office was created) to the end of the calendar year. In all five cases, the Commissioner found that the conclusions on the basis of which the Minister of National Defence issued the authorizations were reasonable and valid.
The Commissioner also made several recommendations for improvement, which CSE accepted and implemented.
The Commissioner noted this improvement in his 2020 annual report, which was tabled in Parliament on April 30, 2021.
In it, the Commissioner acknowledged that CSE "displayed a continuous commitment to improving their processes and submissions, despite the challenges and the burden of the pandemic." (p. 3)
"Although this new oversight framework was only in its second year, I am encouraged by the positive developments of this past year."
- Hon. Jean-Pierre Plouffe, Intelligence Commissioner, Annual Report 2020
The report reviewed CSE's four ministerial authorizations for the 2020 calendar year and found all four to be reasonable and valid.
The Commissioner made further suggestions to improve the clarity and completeness of the application records. However, he also noted that "these issues were not detrimental to the reasonableness of the Minister's conclusions or the [Intelligence Commissioner's] approval of these authorizations" (p. 17). CSE welcomes the Intelligence Commissioner's perspective on how to improve on the Ministerial Authorization process.
National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA)
The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency is an independent review agency whose mandate is to scrutinize all national security and intelligence activities across the federal government.
On December 11, 2020 NSIRA's first annual report was tabled in Parliament.
In relation to CSE, the report noted that:
CSE has developed and rolled out comprehensive policy suites to guide information sharing with foreign partners (p. 45)
CSE employed privacy compliance measures in a timely manner and according to policy (p. 65)
CSE complied with the law in relation to a particular privacy incident concerning metadata analysis (p. 77)
On March 4, 2021 NSIRA released its first review of CSE's self-identified privacy incidents. It made five recommendations, all of which CSE accepted.
National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP)
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians is made up of members of the House of Commons and the Senate who have full security clearance. It has a broad mandate to review Canada's national security and intelligence organizations, including CSE.
NSICOP's 2020 annual report was tabled in Parliament on April 12, 2021. Approximately one fifth of the report was devoted to malicious cyber activities, which NSICOP characterized as "a serious and growing risk to Canada's national security" (p. 46).
The report was focused on updating the threat assessment first undertaken by the Committee in 2018. It was not a review, therefore there were no findings or recommendations related to CSE's activities. However, the conclusion did recognize "the efforts of the security and intelligence organizations to provide documentation in response to Committee requests despite grappling with their own pandemic-related challenges" (p. 43).
CSE will continue to support all our oversight bodies by providing the information they need to review CSE's activities on behalf of Canadians.
April 2020: Cyber Centre helps House of Commons set up virtual Parliament
May: Cyber Centre issues advice for COVID-19 research organizations
June: Cyber Centre publishes second 2020 bulletin on threats to the health sector
July: CSE and allies name Russia-linked group behind targeting of vaccine research
September: Get Cyber Safe launches new website
October: First ever virtual GeekWeek
November: Cyber Centre publishes 2020 National Cyber Threat Assessment
December: CIRA Canadian Shield reaches 100,000 users
January: Cyber Centre begins work to secure COVID-19 vaccine rollout
February: First Cabinet meeting with secure video-conferencing
March: CSE and partners reach 7000 takedowns of fraudulent COVID-19 websites
CSE-at-a-glance
CSE was formally established in 1946 as the Communications Branch, National Research Council.
In 1975, it was renamed the Communications Security Establishment and moved to the National Defence portfolio.
In November 2011, CSE became a stand-alone agency, reporting to the Minister of National Defence.
The current Chief of CSE, Shelly Bruce, was appointed in June 2018.
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security launched in October 2018 uniting expertise from across the federal government under one roof. It is part of CSE.
CSE's governing legislation, the CSE Act came into force in August 2019.
CSE's 2020-2021 budget is $794 million.Footnote *
Our workforce is just under 3000 strong.Footnote **
On September 1, 2021, CSE will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
Return to footnote * referrer
2992 full-time employees as of March 31, 2021. Does not include part-time employees, contractors or students.
Return to footnote ** referrer


A group of us drove to the North Shore to enjoy its special pleasures: gazing at the beautiful beaches and pounding surf, and making our way through the trifecta of required eating—a shrimp truck, Ted's Bakery and Matsumoto's.
A stop at Fumi's Kahuku Shrimp is always an event to look forward to. We always love it there, this trip being no exception. It would be practically a capital offense not to stop at Ted's and have the chocolate-haupia pie. We were not guilty of any crime this time through either.
One of Oahu's biggest attractions is Matsumoto's, the shave ice store in Hale'iwa. It has long been a destination ever since shave ice became the rage when surfing in the area became big time. Its popularity has spread beyond local shores, for legions of Japanese tourists arrive in phalanxes of buses, lining up out the door cheek by jowl with locals and other tourists (including our party), to satisfy their lust for shave ice. It is said that Matsumoto's turns out over 1,000 cones daily. With a crew of only 3 or 4 people working behind the counter, one wonders how it's possible to turn out consistent product. The fact that they've been doing it for years now is quite remarkable.
But, on this day, my wife and I noticed a difference in quality from what we remembered from two previous visits. The first thing is that the shave ice granules seemed to be coarser, a sacrilege in Hawaii which prides itself on serving almost fluffy snow. The other failing was the short-shrifting of syrups. Or they lacked their customary intense fruitiness. The shave ice was mostly ice on top, with the syrup pooling at the bottom of the cones, mine overflowing several times and tasting watered down. A finer grind of ice would have done a better job of suspending the syrup evenly. Is Matsumoto's cutting corners to satisfy the onslaught of customers? Let's hope not. I'm almost loath to go back.
This entry was posted in Hawaii and tagged Haleiwa HI, Matsumoto's, shave ice. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
South Korea seeks US help in bitter trade spat with Japan
By Hum Hindustani / USA News / Thursday, 11 July 2019 07:36
South Korea is seeking US help in a bitter diplomatic row with fellow American ally Japan over its moves to tighten controls on high-tech exports.
The government said on Thursday that Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by phone and conveyed Seoul's view that Japan's "undesirable" trade curbs could disrupt global supply chains and hurt trilateral cooperation among the countries.
Kim Hyun-chong, deputy chief of South Korea's presidential National Security Office, arrived in Washington on Wednesday and told reporters he would discuss the trade spat with Japan with US officials.
His trip came a day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged Japan to refrain from pushing the situation to a "dead-end street" and respond to Seoul's efforts to resolve the matter diplomatically.
"I came because there are a lot of bilateral issues between South Korea and the United States to be discussed in meetings with the White House and also the Senate and House.
Minister Kange xpressed concern that Japan's trade restrictions would not only inflict damage to our companies, but could also disrupt global supply chains and cause negative effects not only to US companies but also to the global trade order the ministry said in a press release.
"This would not be ideal for the bilateral friendship and cooperation between South Korea and Japan and also the three-way cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan."
Kim told South Korean reporters at the Dulles International Airport. When asked whether South Korea would ask the United States to mediate in the trade dispute with Japan, Kim said, "That issue will be discussed too."
South Korea, an export-reliant economy that is the world's biggest supplier of computer chips and displays, sees the Japanese trade curbs as retaliation for court rulings that ordered Japanese firms to compensate aging South Korean plaintiffs for forced labor during World War II.
Japanese officials say such materials can be exported only to trustworthy trading partners, hinting at security risks and illegal transfers of sensitive materials to North Korea, without citing specific cases.
South Korea has denied the claims, saying that an inspection of companies that process and export chemicals imported from Japan found no sign of illegal transactions that allowed them to reach North Korea or any other country affected by U.N. sanctions.
Cricket loving UK PM Theresa May hails World Champions England
Kareena Kapoor Khan's fat paycheque for Dance India Dance will leave you surprised
Priyanka Chopra congratulates 'Jsister' Sophie Turner over Emmy Nomination
Deepa pulls out of Paralympics
Bimal Jalan panel finalises report on RBI capital


15. The Fame, Lady Gaga (2008): Even if the rest of this album stunk, it would still make the list based on its singles alone. Luckily, the rest of the album is great. In regards to the singles, Gaga became the first women in ten years to record #1 Billboard Hot 100 Singles with her first two singles ("Just Dance" and "Poker Face"). The rest of the album is incredible, using sounds straight out of the '80s and making them incredibly modern with her bold musical statements.
14. Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson (2004): As I've written about this album before, I think it is important to remember how this piece changed the landscape of the music industry. With "Breakaway," Clarkson became a star in the pop world as well as the "American Idol" world. It was thought that many of the artists coming out of this show would fade away after their television success. Clarkson proved that she wouldn't go away and is still making great music to this day.
13. A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, Panic at the Disco (2005): Looking back over the course of alternative rock as it relates to this decade, this album might have been the most important. Taking an interesting approach that combined a heavy electronic sound with straight rock beats, Panic was huge before they even realized it. This album put them on the map with singles like "We Write Sins Not Tragedies," and other song titles too long to name here. The perfect flow of this album and the incredible vocal performance by Brandon Urie makes this a must-have album for the decade.
12. Get Born, JET (2003): Although they will be remembered for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl," JET brought a lot more with them from Australia when they debuted here in 2003. Another hard and fast album from an overseas band, JET provided a very light-hearted and fun style that was not coming out of American studios at the time. With two songs on our top 110 songs of the decade list, "Get Born" is a great album showcasing some of the best rock the decade had to offer.
11. Commitment, Lucky Boys Confusion (2003): This is my ego talking. Although most people have never heard this album and maybe not even this band, this is one of the best albums of the decade based on pure writing and instrumentation. With perfectly placed piano and melodic vocals, Lucky Boys Confusion were gone before they got started but left us with one album that is sure to stand the test of time. If you haven't listened to this one all the way through, don't question its spot on this list just yet.


UPSC Prelims Strategy 2017 for Preliminary Examinations. A detailed UPSC Prelims Strategy for every UPSC Preliminary Examinations & Basic knowledge in details.
SSC MTS Application Form 2018: Candidates appearing for SSC MTS (Multitasking) 2018 can go through the application procedure in detail mentioned in the article. Read for the steps to be followed for filling up the SSC MTS Application Form, details regarding the payment of the Application Fee and other important points.
SSC MTS Recrutiment 2018: SSC MTS Recruitment 2018 Notification (MTS Exam Complete detail) SSC MTS 2018 Exam Dates, SSC MTS Exam Pattern, SSC MTS 2018 Syllabus, SSC MTS Eligibility Criteria, SSC MTS (Multitasking) Online Application.


text:
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace Jcq.IcqProtocol.DataTypes
{
    public class FamilyIdToolPair : ISerializable
    {
        public const int SizeFixPart = 8;

        public FamilyIdToolPair()
        {
        }

        public FamilyIdToolPair(int serviceId, int version, int toolId, int toolVersion)
        {
            FamilyNumber = serviceId;
            FamilyVersion = version;
            ToolId = toolId;
            ToolVersion = toolVersion;
        }

        public int FamilyNumber { get; set; }
        public int FamilyVersion { get; set; }
        public int ToolId { get; set; }
        public int ToolVersion { get; set; }

        public int DataSize
        {
            get { return 0; }
        }

        public int TotalSize
        {
            get { return SizeFixPart; }
        }

        public virtual int CalculateDataSize()
        {
            return 0;
        }

        public int CalculateTotalSize()
        {
            return SizeFixPart;
        }

        public virtual void Deserialize(List<byte> data)
        {
            FamilyNumber = ByteConverter.ToUInt16(data.GetRange(0, 2));
            FamilyVersion = ByteConverter.ToUInt16(data.GetRange(2, 2));
            ToolId = ByteConverter.ToUInt16(data.GetRange(4, 2));
            ToolVersion = ByteConverter.ToUInt16(data.GetRange(6, 2));

            HasData = true;
        }

        public virtual List<byte> Serialize()
        {
            List<byte> data;

            data = new List<byte>();

            data.AddRange(ByteConverter.GetBytes((ushort) FamilyNumber));
            data.AddRange(ByteConverter.GetBytes((ushort) FamilyVersion));
            data.AddRange(ByteConverter.GetBytes((ushort) ToolId));
            data.AddRange(ByteConverter.GetBytes((ushort) ToolVersion));

            return data;
        }

        public bool HasData { get; private set; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Slatinka je malá vesnice, část města Letovice v okrese Blansko. Nachází se asi 3 km na sever od Letovic. Je zde evidováno 35 adres. Trvale zde žije 65 obyvatel.

Slatinka je také název katastrálního území o rozloze 1,66 km2.

Reference

Externí odkazy

Místní části v Letovicích
Sídla v Boskovické brázdě

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Gilmore Girls revival that debuted on Netflix over Thanksgiving was supposed to be a stand-alone series that gave fans and creator Amy Sherman-Palladino a sense of closure. However, the show closed with a serious cliffhanger in the form of four tiny words between Lorelai and Rory. (If you don't know what they are, stop now and finish the darn show already.) Now, Netflix has sent out a tweet that is making fans wonder if more Gilmore Girls is on its way.
The tweet is a throwback reference to April Nardini's science fair project that lead her to discover that Luke Danes was her father. However, the images in the tweet include Rory's on-again off-again beau Logan Huntzberger (who is currently engaged), a guy in a Wookiee costume, and her hapless boyfriend, Paul, a man she found so dull that she kept forgetting he existed.
The implication is that a future Gilmore girl will be seeking for her father. Does that mean more Gilmore Girls episodes are on the way to Netflix? Mull that over a large cup of coffee, a plate of old Halloween candy, and a box of Pop Tarts.


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Mah Laqa Bai (7 April 1768 – August 1824), born Chanda Bai, and sometimes referred to as Mah Laqa Chanda, was an Indian 18th century Urdu poet, courtesan and philanthropist based in Hyderabad. In 1824, she became the first female poet to have a diwan (collection of poems) of her work, a compilation of Urdu Ghazals named Gulzar-e-Mahlaqa, published posthumously. She lived in a period when Dakhini (a version of Urdu) was making its transition into the highly Persianized Urdu. Her literary contributions provide insight on such linguistic transformations in southern India.

Mah Laqa Bai was an influential female courtesan of the Deccan; the Nizam, ruler of Hyderabad, appointed her to the omarah (the highest nobility), and as a close affiliate at the court, she was discussed on state policies and accomplished assigned diplomatic engagements. An expert in spear throw, Tent pegging and archery she accompanied with the Nizam II in three battles, hunting expeditions and camping. She moved in palanquin with guards and drummers announcing her arrival.

In 2010, her memorial in Hyderabad, that houses her tomb, caravanserai and a mosque was restored using funds donated by the Federal government of the United States.

Life
Born as Chanda Bibi on 7 April 1768 in Aurangabad in the present-day Maharashtra. Her mother was Raj Kunwar – a courtesan who migrated from Rajputana, and father was Bahadur Khan, who served as a Mansabdar (military official) at Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah's court. Khan migrated from Delhi to Hyderabad Deccan where he met and married Raj Kunwar. Chanda Bibi was adopted by Kunwar's childless sister Mehtaab Ma who was the favored courtesan - almost a regular consort - of Nawab Rukn-ud-Daula, a Prime Minister of Nizam of Hyderabad.

Nawab Rukn-ud-Daula took personal interest in Chanda Bibi's training and provided her with the best teachers. While growing up, she had access to a well-endowed library and was exposed to the vibrant culture of Hyderabad. By the time she was 14, she excelled in horse riding and archery. It was second Nizam (Mir Nizam Ali Khan) who conferred her the title "Mah Laqa Bai". Due to her skills, she accompanied the Nizam II in three wars; dressed in male attire, she was noted for bow and javelin skills in the wars. Owing to her contributions, the Nizams awarded her with Jagir (lands) on various occasions, that include the neighborhoods of Hyderguda, Chanda Nagar, Syed pally and Adikmet. On one occasion, she was conferred the title of Mah Laqa — meaning "Visage of the Moon". Though she never married, she was in love with Raja Rao Rambha Rao (a Maratha military chief who led a cavalry of 600 army men, fought against Maratha Empire under the second Nizam and became his favourite), and used to admire Captain Sir John Malcolm (an assistant of James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the British Resident at Hyderabad).

She was an influential woman in the court of the second and third Nizam of Hyderabad. At that time, she was the only woman to be given recognition publicly in Hyderabad State. In addition, she was appointed to the omarah, the highest nobility. Mah Laqa was frequently consulted by the rulers of the state on policy matters. As a pride among the nobility in those times, a battalion of 500 soldiers was reserved to march with her while she visits any official. She was also a courtesan while the Nizams held court. She was a mistress of the Prime Ministers of the Nizams. She died in 1824 and bequeathed her properties that included land, gold, silver and diamond-studded jewellery to homeless women. Her residence which was located in Nampally, Hyderabad, today had been converted into a Government aided girls degree college. Mah Laqa of Deccan was the contemporary of renowned poets like Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Muhammad Rafi Sauda and Khwaja Mir Dard in North India. She died in Hyderabad in August 1824.

Accomplishments

Poetry

Mah Laqa was influenced by the literary work of mystic poet Siraj Aurangabadi (1715–1763), and learned poetry from Nawab Mir Alam who later became the Prime Minister of Hyderabad State. Her first language was Urdu, and she was also fluent in Arabic, Persian and Bhojpuri languages. She was the first woman poet to author a diwan, a complete collection of Urdu ghazals. The collection, named Gulzar-e-Mahlaqa, comprises 39 ghazals, and each ghazal consists of 5 couplets. The collection was published in 1824 after her death. The Diwan e Chanda is a manuscript collection of Mah Laqa's 125 Ghazals, compiled and calligraphed by her in 1798. It was signed and gifted to Captain Malcolm on 18 October 1799, during a dance performance at Mir Alam's residence. It is now preserved in the British Museum.

Her pen name was Chanda. The Urdu words Bulbul (songbird), Gul (rosebud) and Saqi (one who serves wine) recurred as themes in her ghazals. Her popularity in reading poetry made her the first poetess of the region to participate and present her poetries in a mushaira (poetic symposium) which was earlier reserved for men. Along with her poetry, sometimes she sang the songs composed by the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah and Sultan of Bijapur Ibrahim Adil Shah II. From her Diwan of 39 Ghazal collection, one Ghazal "Hoping to blossom (one day) into a flower" translates as:

Singing and Dance

Mah Laqa learned singing and classical Indian music specialising Thumri from Khushhal Khan a master musician of her time, and a great-grandson of the Tansen, the maestro of Mughal court. She excelled in Ghazal singing in multiple raga (melodic modes) and Taal (rhythms); she was adept at the Yaman raga and Khayal Tappa which she use to sing at special occasions. Mah laqa preferred using Bhimpalasi raga in romantic Ghazals. When singing Sufi songs she used Dhrupad raga mixed with taal chautala and raga Bhairavi.

Mah Laqa excelled in singing love lyrics accompanied by Deccani style of Kathak dance which was popular and practised by courtesans in the courts of the viceroy's) under the later-Mughal. According to Pallabi Chakravorty and Nilanjana Gupta suggests in their book Dance Matters Too–(2018), there is no specific written work of Mah Laqa Bai's dance form, various poses captured in her portraits, her miniature paintings and based on the modern research she practised Deccan style of Kathak dance form, which does not exist in present times. Mah Laqa Bai patronised and trained the new generation of courtesans in dance and music, she endowed an institute lead by her adopted daughter "Husn Laqa Bai" to continue a lineage of dance performers and courtesans to learn Deccan style of Kathak. According to the miniature paintings exhibited and displayed by Salar Jung Museum at Google Arts & Culture in 2016, Mah Laqa Bai learned dance from master Panna Maharaj and Khushhal Khan.

Mah Laqa Bai established a cultural centre in which 300 girls were trained by her along with other masters. Maha Laqa's library contain manuscripts and books on poetry along with the arts and the science collections. She sponsored and supervised the publication of Mahnama, a historical book about the revival period of Hyderabad State. Although Mah Laqa practiced Islam, she was influenced by the understanding of Hindu books and philosophy. One author studied her writings and said that "her verses had a distinct darbari ring in which she eulogized the king and nobles, a common style employed by poets during the 17th and 18th centuries."

Mistress
After the Battle of Kharda in 1795 AD the Nizam II was defeated by Maratha Madhavrao II which lead to the Treaty of Kharda. According to treaty the Nizam II had to cede some of the Maratha territories along with Arastu Jah—(the then Kiladar of Aurangabad) as hostage in Poona. After his two years confinement, in the year 1797 Arastu Jah had successfully managed to influence some of the Maratha leadership to channel his release and had reinstated the ceded territories of Nizam II. This diplomatic success of Arastu Jah had impressed Nizam II and he was made the Dewan of Hyderabad. Mah Laqa Bai was initially introduced to Nizam II by Arastu Jah to influence the Nizam II and wanted to be aware of his herem, it was under Arastu Jah patronage Mah Laqa began her career as a poet and upon Arastu Jah initiative her collected of poetry was published in the form of Dewan in 1798 AD.

Battles and Expeditions
Mah Laqa Bai mastered spear throw, Tent pegging and archery at the age of fourteen, for which she is known as brilliant performer and a skilled warrior. She participated in the three battles fought by the Nizam II (Battle of Kolar—1781 AD, Battle of Nirmal—1782 AD and Battle of Pangal—1789 AD) mostly dressed up in a male battle attire and showing exceptional spear throw skills. She accompanied Nizam II in multiple hunting expeditions.

Mah Laqa Bai had expertise in diplomatic negotiations, for which the then Prime Minister of Hyderabad Mir Alam could not overturn her. She was very fond of horses, her attachment with Maratha Genral Rao Ramba was culminated due to both's fondness of horses. Once on a diplomatic mission to the Maratha rulers court in Pune, Maratha Chief Minister—Nana Phadnavis was astonished with Mah Laqa Bai's profound understanding of Arabian horses, which she purchased from a French trader for herself and as a gift for Rao Ramba.

Memorial

Near a hillock in Moula-Ali, Hyderabad, Mah Laqa constructed a walled compound where she frequently held mushairas. Inside this compound, she built a tomb for her biological mother in 1792. After her death, Mah Laqa was buried next to her mother. The tomb was constructed in the Mughal and Rajasthani architectures style in the Char Bagh pattern. Along with mausoleum, the complex contains a pavilion in centre that is decorated intricately with stucco work, a Caravanserai, a mosque and two stepwells. On a carved teakwood over the door of her mausoleum, an inscription in Urdu can be seen which translates as:

Scott Kugle, a Professor at Emory University and a researcher, studied the life of Mah Laqa Bai. During his study, he came across this memorial in a dilapidated condition. Kugle proposed the idea of renovating it. In the year 2010, by using funds from the Federal government of the United States through the Consulate General's office in Hyderabad, the Center for Deccan Studies spearheaded the year-long renovation project. The Muslim Educational, Social and Cultural Organization also provided support to the project. In this renovation project, the debris was cleared, water channels were rebuilt, trees, bushes, the buildings and their exquisite decorations were restored.

Legacy and influence

According to Sajjad Shahid, Mah Laqa Bai was the inspiration for Mirza Hadi Ruswa's famed novel Umrao Jaan Ada (1899), Umrao Jaan Ada is referred to as the first true novel of Urdu literature. Abdul Halim Sharar presented Mah Laqa Bai in his Urdu novel Husan Kay Dakoo (the robbers of beauty) (1913-1914) as a well-informed lady who got benefits from the modern educational system. Narendra Luther, posits that Mah Laqa Bai, the first women poet of India whose anthology was ever published "brought much pride to Hyderabad".  In a seminar "Mad and divine women"-(2011) Scott Kugle-a Professor at Emory University, expressed that Mah Laqa Bai, besides being an aristocratic courtesan, was a devoted mystic, and was enamored by Sufi and bhakti elements.

In 2013, during the Hyderabad heritage festival, a monologue stage play "Maha Laq Bai Chanda" on the life of Mah Laqa was sponsored by Andhra Pradesh State Tourism Department. The play was directed by Vinay Varma; Ratika Sant Keswani played the role of Mah Laqa bai.

References

Further reading

External links

  The Elite Performer.
 Speech of Katherine Dhanani, U.S. Consul General, Hyderabad, on the day of restoration of tomb.
 Gulzaar-e-maahlaqa
 Ghazals of Mah Laqa Chanda

Indian female archers
Urdu-language poets from India
Hyderabadi Muslims
People from Hyderabad district, India
1768 births
1824 deaths
Indian women in war
Women in 18th-century warfare
Indian courtesans
Indian women poets
Mistresses
Poets from Telangana
18th-century Indian poets
19th-century Indian poets
19th-century Indian women writers
19th-century Indian sportswomen
18th-century Indian women writers
19th-century Indian women politicians
19th-century Indian politicians
18th-century Indian women politicians
18th-century Indian politicians
18th-century Indian sportspeople
19th-century Indian sportspeople
Archers from Telangana


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Spring Training Game Four Preview: Dan Haren Makes His Debut
Riding a two-game winning streak, next up on the Los Angeles Dodgers Spring Training schedule is the Milwaukee Brewers. After scoring only one run in their Cactus League opener, the Dodgers have put up a combined nine runs over their two wins. It's been a bag of mixed results for the Dodgers thus far. Clayton Kershaw was hit hard in his first start, Zack Greinke managed to throw four pitches before suffering a calf strain and Carl Crawford experienced tightness in his right leg while running the bases.
On a positive note, Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched well in his first Spring Training start on Friday, as did relievers Chris Perez and Jamey Wright in their spring debuts. The competition at second base has seen Dee Gordon and Alex Guerrero each look comfortable fielding at the position, but both have struggled a bit at the plate. Justin Turner has managed to swing the bat well as he continues to factor in for a role as a second or third baseman.
All eyes will be on Dan Haren when he takes the mound on Saturday, who's the next Dodger set to make his debut. Haren went 10-14 with a 4.67 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 2013 with the Washington Nationals. The 33-year-old threw seven innings without giving up a run in his only start against the Brewers last season.
Haren signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Dodgers in November. Spring Training could be particularly important for Haren, who may find himself starting one of the two games in Australia if Greinke and Kershaw are held out.
Kyle Lohse will take the mound for the Brewers, who have split their first two Cactus League games and will have a split squad on Saturday. Lohse only faced the Dodgers once in 2013, which resulted in a 2-0 loss for the right-hander. He finished the season 10-11 with a 3.35 ERA. Of the Dodgers who'll likely step in the batter's box on Saturday, Juan Uribe experienced the most success, hitting .333 off Lohse in six at-bats last season.
Yasiel Puig was given the day off on Friday, but is expected to return to the lineup on Saturday. Picking up where he left off last spring, the "Wild Horse" is batting .400 with one double and one RBI. 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun played in one of the Brewers' games and hit a two-run home run. Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez has yet to play this spring as he recovers from a procedure that removed a non-malignant polyp.
Fans with Time Warner Cable or Bright House Networks can tune into SportsNet LA at 12:05 pm for game coverage. Those who aren't subscribers to either one of the providers can listen to the game on AM570. The majority of Dodgers Spring Training games will be available on the radio. A complete schedule of the games that can be found on the radio is provided here.
Due to opening the season roughly one week earlier than all other teams but the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers are playing a condensed Spring Training schedule. Saturday marks their fourth game in as many days in a stretch where they won't have a day off until March 17.
DH: Crawford
CF: Figgins
RF: Puig
1B: Van Slyke
3B: Uribe
C: Ellis
SS: Harris
LF: Baxter
2B: Gordon
P: Haren
Brewers Lineup:
2B: Weeks
DH: Gindl
RF: Braun
C: Lucroy
CF: Gomez
3B: Francisco
1B: Morris
LF: Rogers
SS: Herrera
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Sedella pumila is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common name Sierra mock stonecrop. It is native to California, where it grows in the North Coast Ranges and adjacent sections of the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada foothills. It is a plant of vernal pools and similar habitat, growing in rocky and gravelly flats of serpentine soils, limestone, and soils of volcanic origin, often alongside mosses. This is an annual herb growing 2 to 17 centimeters high, in shades of green, yellow, and red. It has small knobby succulent leaves each a few millimeters long. The flowers atop the threadlike stems have fleshy sepals and yellowish petals a few millimeters in length. The flowers have a musty scent.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment
USDA Plants Profile
Flora of North America
Photo gallery

Crassulaceae
Flora of California
Flora without expected TNC conservation status