Extreme weather affecting UK agriculture -- But adapting to changing climate a challenge for many farmers, study shows

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Research News

 

Extreme weather is harming UK agriculture - but many farmers have not yet made adapting to the effects of the climate emergency a priority, a new study shows.

All farmers who took part in the research said they had experienced or witnessed issues caused by extreme weather such as heavy rain or prolonged dry spells in recent years, and expected these to intensify further.

Many were concerned about the impact of heat and drought on crop and grass growth, with knock-on impacts for yield and winter animal feed, and the implications of heavy rainfall/flooding for soil run-off and erosion and for field operations such as drilling and harvesting. For a number of farmers, however, ongoing and future changes to our weather and climate were seen as too uncertain and too long-term for them to invest significant time or money in planning for them now,

The study shows many farmers are focused on short-term profitability and business survival in a challenging economic environment, as well as concerned about other political and public pressures. Although there is a growing acceptance that the climate is changing and that there are benefits to taking action, uncertainties about the exact scale, speed and nature of change locally, make it difficult for farmers to plan ahead.

The research, published in the journal Climate Risk Management, was carried out by Dr Rebecca Wheeler and Professor Matt Lobley from the University of Exeter's Centre for Rural Policy Research, in partnership with scientists from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Rothamsted Research and Lancaster University.

Researchers carried out 31 in-depth interviews, 15 with farmers and 16 with stakeholders including advisors, consultants and industry representatives.

A number of agricultural stakeholders said they were concerned too few farm businesses are taking sufficient action to increase their business resilience to extreme weather and climate change.

Some farmers "hadn't got around" to certain measures they would like to undertake, whilst others were "concentrating on the short term".

Dr Wheeler said: "Farmers have an array of challenges and uncertainties to cope with, and it is understandable they are focused on the short-term profitability and survival of their business. This seems to be preventing them from adapting to the effects of the climate emergency. It is essential the industry finds ways to build resilience, and that farm businesses are supported in planning and responding to changing weather patterns."

More positively, the research also highlighted the capacity for innovation and adaptability within the farming industry. Many farmers are building resilience within their business through actions to improve soil health, which as well as raising productivity and storing carbon, also increases the ability for grass and crops to cope with weather extremes. There is also reason for farmers to be optimistic about some of the opportunities posed by climate change, such as warmer temperatures enabling new crops and increased yields in some instances, - as long as they are able to 'weather' the challenges posed by negative effects.

As well as improving soil health, positive actions taken by farmers in the research to future-proof their business included continuous evaluation of crop/grass varieties and growing techniques, installing additional livestock housing with good ventilation, increasing rainwater storage capacity, and risk-spreading through expanding the diversity of their crops and enterprises.

Professor Lobley said: "There are many innovative and exciting activities happening on farms across the country, but much is still to be done to improve the resilience of individual farms and the industry as a whole.

"Few farmers described themselves as directly adapting to climate change but most did see themselves as taking positive steps to respond to the risks of extreme weather or to generally improve their business resilience. For a number of farmers this primarily took the form of improving soil health."

Industry representatives involved in the research welcomed such positive steps but called for greater uptake of these and other measures. The findings highlighted a need for government and agricultural stakeholders to work with farmers to help them understand the risks posed to their particular business from extreme weather and climate change. Actions to help farmers respond and adapt to these risks include improved industry collaboration, creating opportunities for farmer-to-farmer learning, and providing tailored tools and support that take into account the specificities of different farming systems.

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The research was undertaken as part of the Crop Monitoring and Modelling Network for Improved Predictions of Climate Impacts (CROPNET) project, in partnership with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster University and Rothamsted Research. The researchers are grateful to the Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems (ASSIST) network and all who contributed to and took part in the study

The research was funded by the UK Climate Resilience programme, which is jointly led by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Met Office with Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) taking UKRI lead on behalf of Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Grant ref: NE/S01702X/. The funders have had no direct involvement in the research process or publication of related articles.

Elon Musk’s carbon comments will be ‘changing point’ for bitcoin: Gryphon CEO

Josh Schafer

·Producer

Wed., May 19, 2021

Bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) price continued its free fall on Wednesday morning, down 15% to about $37,000 per coin by noon EDT. The cryptocurrency has dropped nearly 40% since Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk first bashed the fossil fuel emissions from bitcoin’s mining process a week ago.

“I believe what he said will be a changing point for the way bitcoin is perceived. He is casting a spotlight on energy use for … bitcoin, which is relevant. And it is making companies such as ourselves more relevant, and more on the forefront,” Gryphon Digital Mining CEO Robert Chang told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday.

Indeed, the race for carbon-free bitcoin mining has already begun.

Founded in early 2021, Gryphon Digital Mining operates completely free of carbon emissions by using hydropower. The company raised $14 million in April to move forward with the project and recently signed the Crypto Climate Accord, which is striving for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for all signatories by 2040 and net zero emissions from electricity consumption by 2030. Though signatories haven’t piled on yet, the accord is rumored to have around 45 supporters.

SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk holds a helmet as he visits the construction site of Tesla's gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi TPX 

“(Reaching carbon-freAYe mining is) doable now I believe,” Chang said. “For example we were able to find 100% renewable energy through hydro right off the bat, so why can't others? I think partially because the thinking process is for some reason that if it's renewable, it has to be more expensive and that's certainly not the case.”

The company is led by Chang and several other prominent executives, including founder and president, Dan Tolhurst, who held senior strategy roles at Disney and Netflix, as well as independent chairperson of the board, Brittany Kaiser, the famed whistleblower of Cambridge Analytica. Chang likes where his company is positioned as the bitcoin discussion shifts to sustainability. 

Chang's comments come after Musk tweeted on May 12 that the electric vehicle maker had suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin. "We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel," Musk wrote.

The next day, Musk reiterated his commitment to cryptocurrencies while still noting his environmental concerns

'We should look at the utility of bitcoin'

Still, Chang noted that while bitcoin’s emissions are large, they aren’t out of this world.

A Decrypt article from March equated bitcoin’s carbon emissions to the average electricity consumption of 9 million homes in one year. Still, the world carbon emissions are 620 times that of bitcoin’s, per Decrypt. Chang argued in a recent blog that bitcoin’s emissions are closer to acceptable when considering the overall value of the currency in the same way the U.S. has accepted energy consumption to print the dollar.

“I think we're looking at it the wrong way in that we should look at the utility of bitcoin as opposed to focusing so much on the cost of it,” Chang told Yahoo Finance.

Chang likened the bitcoin carbon emissions concerns to the invention of cars. In the early 20th Century, cars emitted far more fossil fuels into the atmosphere than the product’s travel predecessor — the horse and carriage — but people accepted cars’ convenience. As car models slowly shift to the electronic vehicle space, bitcoin is following a similar trajectory.

That’s why Musk’s comments aren’t bad for the industry in the long term and could even be good for carbon-free mining companies, according to Chang.

“Companies that (have carbon-free mining) will start to be getting a premium in the eyes of investors and the eyes of people looking to buy bitcoin,” Chang said.

Analysis-To tackle climate change, China must overhaul its vast power grid

SO DOES AMERICA, WHO WILL DO IT FIRST

Muyu Xu and John Geddie
Wed., May 19, 2021

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Power lines and wind turbines are pictured at a wind and solar energy storage and transmission power station in Zhangjiakou


By Muyu Xu and John Geddie

BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) - One of the most pressing challenges for China to meet its pledge to cap carbon emissions this decade and pivot toward renewables is overhauling its electricity grid, the world's largest, officials and analysts say.

Beijing's surprise announcement last year that it would hit peak emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060 could presage the biggest reduction in projected global warming of any climate commitment to date, researchers say.

But building new solar plants and wind farms is the easy part, analysts say. Upgrading the system that transmits that green power to faraway consumers could be five times more costly, and depends on rapid technological progress.

"When we talk about the challenges, most people focus on the (electricity) grid," said Chunping Xie, an expert on China's policies on climate change and energy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. "It's the first step in this long journey."

Investments in China's grid and other associated costs are expected to exceed 6 trillion yuan ($896 billion) over the next five years, Mao Weiming, former chairman of State Grid, said in a speech in October.

China, the world's biggest electricity generator, power consumer and carbon emitter, has said it is aiming for renewable power to account for more than 50% of its total electricity generation capacity by 2025, up from 42% now.

This mainly involves pivoting to solar and wind energy and away from coal, of which China is the biggest global consumer. Beijing plans to more than double its solar and wind power capacity to 1,200 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, from 535 GW now.

Such a drastic swing from coal, which generates a stable baseload power supply, to renewables, which can fluctuate with weather conditions, could play havoc with China's electricity network, officials say.

A senior manager in charge of dispatch at China's State Grid - the world's largest utility, which manages 75% of the country's network - told Reuters the system had already "reached its ceiling" of how many renewable sources it could handle and still maintain stable operations. The official asked to remain anonymous as he is not authorised to talk to the media.

But China, which runs the world's largest power system, with a total installed capacity of 2,201 GW compared with 1,107 GW in the United States, is pressing on.

By 2030, it has said it will force grid operators to buy at least 40% their of power from non-fossil fuel sources, up from around 28% now.

MAJOR COSTS

Alex Whitworth, a research director at Wood Mackenzie, said that the pace of grid investment would most likely be maintained until the end of the decade, and would be five times higher than the cost of building additional renewable plants in that period.

The major costs involve new power lines, re-tooling hundreds of coal plants as backup generators, and ramping up storage capacity, analysts and officials say.

At least seven new ultra-high voltage power lines would be built over the next five years to better connect the country's far western regions, where solar, wind and hydropower plants are mainly located, to China's big cities, the State Grid said. China has 29 such lines already.

That buildout could cost an estimated $34 billion.

"We have reached a consensus that China will preserve coal plants, but only for emergency uses," said Shu Yinbiao, president of Huaneng Group, China's second-largest power generation firm, and a former State Grid president.

But China is struggling to promote costly modifications to coal plants allowing them to offset gyrations in renewable power. It typically costs 150 million yuan ($23.27 million) to upgrade a 300-megawatt coal plant.

Only about 10% of coal-fired power plants in China have been modified, according to data from State Grid and China Electricity Council.

"China will need to establish a mechanism to make coal power unfavourable in the renewables' booming moment," said Zhang Shuwei, a director at Draworld Energy Research Centre. "Otherwise China is not able to advance its green agenda."

TECH PROBLEMS

Power storage is another obstacle.

Bing Han, a senior research analyst at IHS Markit, expects China to need about 120 GW of energy storage to support additional solar and wind power needs by 2030. That is four times more than the 32.3GW capacity in place as of 2019, according to China Energy Storage Alliance.

For battery storage, Wood Mackenzie's Whitworth said China is expected to install 47 GWh by 2030, more than four times the total global storage capacity today.

But it is not just a question of cost. Chinese officials have said they are worried about slow technological developments.

"Power storage technology has not realized revolutionary progress," said Li Gao, director of Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment at a media briefing in April.

Michal Meidan, director of the China Energy Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said "geopolitical tensions" and "technological rivalry" between China and Western countries could also hinder the collaboration needed to improve Beijing's storage capacity.

"It's not to say China cannot innovate, but it could take longer until China has its home-grown innovation," she said.

Other analysts questioned China's commitment to renewable power plans given its lack of clarity on phasing out coal and continued expansion of new power plants. China put 38.4 GW of new coal-fired power capacity into operation in 2020, more than three times the amount built elsewhere around the world.

But all agreed tackling the power system is an essential first step of a project critical to the future of the planet.

"The world just can't achieve climate targets without China," said LSE's Xie. "China's role in the world is now of a magnitude that makes its actions in the immediate future critical to how the world goes forward."

($1 = 6.4463 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Muyu Xu in Beijing and John Geddie in London, additional reporting by Nina Chestney in London; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Overwintering 'zombie' fires may become more common as climate changes


Overwintering 'zombie' fires may threaten more boreal burns


By Yereth Rosen

Wed., May 19, 2021

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - In the boreal forests of the planet’s far north, where the climate is warming faster than almost anywhere else in the world, some wildfires are surviving winter snows and sparking back up again in spring.

Now scientists from the Netherlands and Alaska have figured out how to calculate the scope of those “zombie fires” that smolder year-round in the peaty soil.

From 2002 to 2018, an average of about 1% of the burning in Alaska and in Canada’s Northwest Territories was caused by overwintering fires that survived from one summer to the next, according to a study https://go.nature.com/2RtzSCk, published Wednesday in Nature. But in one year, zombie fires accounted for 38% of the region’s burning.

“We know that fires can start in the fire season by lightning and humans. Now we can have another cause of burned area,” said co-author Sander Veraverbeke, a landscape ecologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “If it happens near a fire scar from the year before, early in the season, and there’s no lightning and it’s not human, then it’s an overwinter fire.”

As climate change dries out landscapes and drives increasingly ferocious summertime blazes, these zombie fires are also likely to become more common, he said. (Graphic on 'megafires') https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-WILDFIRES/EXTREMES/qzjvqmmravx

To calculate the extent of zombie fires in the area, the researchers built a computer algorithm that considers satellite imagery, records of lightning strikes, and human presence and infrastructure. For Alaska and the Northwest Territories, that algorithm produced an estimate of 0.8% of burned area over a nearly two-decade period.

Zombie fires have also been recorded in Siberia in recent years, and the new algorithm could be used with local data including satellite imagery to estimate the scope of overwintering fires in northern Russia, Veraverbeke said.

To survive the winter, fires have to burn especially hot and deep, the study suggests. The amount of rain or snow that falls appears to be inconsequential, according to the study.

“The sheer fact that this is happening is already pretty crazy and shows how fast this region is changing because of climate change,” he said.

The findings underline the vulnerability of boreal peat, which protects permafrost below and holds huge stores of sequestered carbon, said Nancy Fresco, a landscape ecologist and climate researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who was not involved in the study. (Graphic on permafrost) https://tmsnrt.rs/3f21asN

The potential for increased wildfire in the region threatens to release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, she said. Separately, scientists have determined that climate change – and melting sea ice – will lead to an increase in lightning strikes https://www.reuters.com/article/climate-change-alaska-idINKBN2AP1VP in the region that can also trigger more fires.

“What has been in the past a relatively rare phenomenon might become something more frequent and catastrophic,” Fresco said.

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen; Editing by Katy Daigle and Lisa Shumaker)

"Zombie fires" are real, and poised to worsen with global warming

Andrew Freedman

Axios
Wed., May 19, 2021


"Zombie fires" may sound like something straight out of science fiction, but they're a real phenomenon that is likely to become more common in the area ringing the Arctic, and possibly the Arctic itself, as climate change continues, a new study finds.

Why it matters: The study, published in the journal Nature, provides conclusive evidence that zombie or "holdover fires" exist and can be monitored, and it helps to begin to quantify their impact on global climate change.

Context: Zombie fires are blazes that ignite and burn in one season and then smolder through the winter by slowly combusting within peat and other soils, emitting smoke but little or no flames. Then they reemerge during the next spring, erupting into flames once again.

Numerous zombie fires were reported in Siberia last summer, which featured a particularly severe fire season, and such fires were also anecdotally reported during the summer of 2019, Merritt Turetsky, a University of Colorado professor who studies peat and wildfires, tells Axios. (Turetsky was not involved in the new study.)

Peat is damp soil that contains decaying plant material, and when burned, it can release large amounts of global warming pollutants.

Zombie fires have long been discussed in certain corners of the wildfire and climate science communities, but with this study, they've finally been quantified.

Turetsky describes zombie fires as a "legacy" in the climate, where one fire season can return to "haunt" the following one. "It's like a ghost of last year's fire season continuing to pop up and influence the contemporary season," she said.

How they did it: For the new study, researchers focused on fire activity in two sections of boreal forest, one in Canada's Northwest Territories and another in Alaska. They used an algorithm to detect zombie fires using satellite imagery as well as data from the ground.

What they found: Holdover fires in boreal forests tend to be more prevalent during long, hot summers, which have become more frequent in recent decades. In general, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the globe.

The study finds that between 2002 and 2018, zombie fires (referred to in the study as "overwintering" fires) caused about 1% of the total burned area in the study regions. However, this varied considerably — in some years, such blazes accounted for nearly 40% of the total burned area.

A key indicator of a zombie fire versus a new ignition, the study concludes, is that new fires tend to start later, when the lightning season commences. In contrast, zombie fires can ignite again as soon as the weather warms up and vegetation begins to dry out.

By the numbers: The researchers found that between 2002 and 2018, zombie fires in Alaska and the Northwest Territories emitted 3.5 million metric tons of carbon. The majority of these emissions occurred in just two fire seasons: 2015 and 2010.


The study cautions that this may be an underestimate, however, since computer models may not capture well the smoldering phase of these fires.


The carbon emissions from zombie fires comprise a relatively small amount (0.5%) of the total carbon emissions from fires in Alaska and the Northwest Territories. "Yet this fraction may grow larger with climate warming," the study states.

The big picture: Global warming is already supercharging fire seasons in the Arctic and sub-Arctic, as evidenced by the destructive fire seasons of 2019 and 2020. Some, like Turetsky, are worried recent severe Arctic fire seasons are a sign that climate change is destabilizing ecosystems, with severe fire seasons becoming the norm.


There are three main factors that help drive zombie fires and that are tied to global warming: summer temperature extremes, large annual fire extents, and fires that burn deeper into the soil.


Already this spring, fires are erupting in Canada and Siberia, with scientists tracking them, often via Twitter, using satellite imagery, Turetsky said.

What they're saying: The paper underscores the need for governments to start collecting official statistics on holdover fires and early season peat fires, said climate researcher Jessica McCarty of Miami University in Ohio, who was not involved in the study, in an email to Axios.

"More importantly, this paper gives our first estimates of how much holdover fires may be contributing to annual burned area totals and from there we can better understand emissions," she said.

'El Diablo!' Cyprus Eurovision entry makes some see red

Wed., May 19, 2021

Protest against the song "El Diablo", outside the offices of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation in Nicosia

NICOSIA (Reuters) - It may have won audiences in Europe, but Cyprus's entry for the Eurovision song contest has raised hackles at home, scandalising the faithful for paying homage to the devil.

"El Diablo" (The Devil), a dance mix performed by Greek singer Elena Tsagrinou, sailed through the first semi final of the contest held in Rotterdam on Tuesday night, securing a place in the May 22 finals.

A small group of people with a powerful loudspeaker system blaring Orthodox hymns protested peacefully outside Cyprus's state broadcaster on Wednesday, saying the song promoted devil worship.

Cyprus's influential Orthodox Church had waded into the fray when the song was unveiled in February, calling for the tune to be withdrawn. Thousands signed an online petition to that effect.

"We must get rid of this blasphemy," said a Greek Orthodox priest who declined to be identified. "It is an affront to Cyprus, and a danger to our children."

Amid the Orthodox chants, the sound of El Diablo was blasting from a nearby Cypriot household.

"This just promotes devil worship," said protester Eleni Ioannou, 62. "The old Eurovision used to be so good. Its all satanic now."

The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation says the song is about the battle between good and evil.

El Diablo is not the only entry to the annual contest with a nod to satan. Norway have their song "Fallen Angel" by the performer TIX, in chains and wearing white wings.

The Netherlands is hosting the 65th edition of the event, which draws a television audience of about 200 million, after Dutch singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence won the 2019 contest with the song 'Arcade'.

The contest was not held in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic. Die-hard fans had to make do instead with the Netflix hit: "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" featuring a bumbling duo of soulmates, a giant hamster wheel, cult favourite Jaja Ding Dong and murdering elves.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Eurovision: Why Cyprus’s entry ‘El Diablo’ has caused religious controversy

Adam White

THE INDEPENDENT 
Wed., May 19, 2021

Elena Tsagrinou’s “El Diablo”, which has been accused of glorifying Satan (Panik Records)

The Cypriot entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has been accused of glorifying Satanism.

Elena Tsagrinou’s “El Diablo” will represent Cyprus at the annual event, which will be held on 18 May, but has faced a backlash from Christian groups in the country.

The track finds Tsagrinou singing about falling in love with a villainous man who she compares to Satan.

“I gave my heart to el diablo,” she sings. “Because he tells me I’m his angel.”

The Orthodox Church of Cyprus led protests against the song, and attempted to convince television bosses in the country to withdraw the track from Eurovision.

In a statement, the church’s highest decision-making body claimed that the track “praises the fatalistic submission of humans to the devil’s authority”. They also claim that it “promotes his worship”.

Andreas Frangos, the chairman of Cypriot television channel CyBC, defended the song and said that it will not be withdrawn from the competition.

CyBC have described the track as reflecting “an age-old battle between good and evil”, and specifically a woman trapped in an abusive relationship with a man. They denied that it encouraged devil worship.

Singer-songwriter James Newman will represent the UK at the 18 May event. He had previously been announced as the UK’s representative for 2020’s Eurovision Song Contest, which was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Eurovision rules stipulate that Newman cannot sing the track he was due to perform in 2020, so he will perform a new song at this year’s event, one that he wrote during lockdown.

Read More

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Cyprus' devout want no part of Eurovision entry 'El Diablo'

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Cyprus Church Eurovision
A female protestor holds a cross as an Orthodox priest passes during a protest against the Cyprus' song in Eurovision, outside Cyprus' national broadcasting building in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, May 19, 2021. Several dozen Orthodox Christian faithful including clergymen held up wooden crucifixes, icons of saints and a banner declaring Cyprus’ love for Christ in a renewed protest over Cyprus’ controversial entry for the Eurovision song contest that they contend promotes worship of Satan. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

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Netherlands Eurovision Song Contest Semi Final
Elena Tsagrinou from Cyprus performs at the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest at Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, May 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

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Cyprus Church Eurovision
A female protestor holds a cross during a protest against the Cyprus' song in Eurovision, outside Cyprus' national broadcasting building in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, May 19, 2021. Several dozen Orthodox Christian faithful including clergymen held up wooden crucifixes, icons of saints and a banner declaring Cyprus’ love for Christ in a renewed protest over Cyprus’ controversial entry for the Eurovision song contest that they contend promotes worship of Satan. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)



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Netherlands Eurovision Song Contest Semi Final
Elena Tsagrinou from Cyprus performs at the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest at Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, May 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

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Cyprus Church Eurovision
Protestor hold a cross and icons during a protest against the Cyprus' song in Eurovision, outside Cyprus' national broadcasting building in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, May 19, 2021. Several dozen Orthodox Christian faithful including clergymen held up wooden crucifixes, icons of saints and a banner declaring Cyprus’ love for Christ in a renewed protest over Cyprus’ controversial entry for the Eurovision song contest that they contend promotes worship of Satan. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

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Netherlands Eurovision Song Contest Semi Final
Elena Tsagrinou from Cyprus performs at the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest at Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, May 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)


MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS
Wed., May 19, 2021


NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Several dozen Orthodox Christian faithful and clergy members held up wooden crucifixes, icons of saints and a banner declaring Cyprus’ love for Christ in a renewed protest Wednesday over the island nation's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, which they contend promotes Satan worship.

The protest, held opposite the gates of the offices of state broadcaster RIK, was the second against the song “El Diablo” staged by Christians who argue the number has no place as the national song of Cyprus in the contest because of what they say is its brazen invitation to embrace the devil.

Both RIK and singer Elena Tsagrinou, who represents Cyprus in the contest underway this week in the Netherlands, say critics have misinterpreted the lyrics of “El Diablo” and that it’s actually about an abusive relationship between two lovers.

The song passed its first competition hurdle during a Tuesday semifinal and made it into the contest's final round, set for Saturday in Rotterdam.

The people protesting Wednesday saw that as no cause for celebration, insisting that “El Diablo” is an affront to Cypriots’ Orthodox faith.

“This song doesn’t represent Cyprus. It doesn’t honor it. It insults Cyprus, it desecrates Cyprus and is dangerous, my good Orthodox Christians,” an unnamed clergyman said into a microphone while addressing the demonstrators. “It’s dangerous to our children, to our families. There is no chance that the devil can do any good to anyone.”

The Cypriot government has said that while dissent is respected, freedom of expression cannot be quashed.

The powerful Orthodox Church of Cyprus called for the withdrawal of the song in March, saying it mocked the Mediterranean island nation's moral foundations by advocating “our surrender to the devil and promoting his worship.”

The Church’s highest decision-making body, the Holy Synod, urged the state broadcaster to replace it with one that “expresses our history, culture, traditions and our claims.”

Police also charged a man with uttering threats and causing a disturbance when he barged onto the grounds of the public broadcaster to protest what he condemned as a “blasphemous” song.

Tsagrinou played down the controversy. She said “El Diablo,” which she performs flanked by four dancers in skin-tight red costumes, is about an abusive relationship and has nothing to do with devil worship.

She said dealing with COVID-19 restrictions was tough while preparing for the contest, “but that’s not going to keep us back, and we’re going to feel the vibe that we want to feel and the smile on our face.”

Israel-Gaza: Young American WOMEN on the conflict - and online activism

Sam Cabral - BBC News, Washington
Wed., May 19, 2021

Leen, Leila and Eliana share their views with the BBC

As violence escalates between Israelis and Palestinians, scenes of destruction and calls to action are ricocheting across phone screens in the US. Are these social media messages shifting attitudes in the country often viewed as Israel's strongest ally or simply removing nuance from what is a complex and long-running conflict?

Those of Palestinian descent say the ongoing social media activism is a watershed moment similar to last summer's global demonstrations against racial injustice.

Those who hold ties to Israel say online narratives are misleading and simplify the issues in favour of an 'oppressed versus oppressor' narrative.

According to a recent Gallup poll, 75% of Americans still hold favourable views of Israel, but a growing number are sympathetic towards the Palestinians.


The Israel-Palestinian conflict explained


Israel-Palestinians: Old grievances fuel new fighting


Mothers fear for children in Israel-Gaza conflict

These are the testimonials of young people deeply invested in the struggle.

Short presentational grey line
'I'm glad that people get it now'

Leila, 30, lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, but her first memories come from the two years she lived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the 1990s, attending kindergarten in Ramallah, its administrative capital.

She reminisces of how fluently she spoke Arabic back then. But she also remembers the checkpoints on the way to school every day and the warnings from her parents to steer clear of Israeli soldiers.

"When I played with the kids in our neighbourhood, all the girls were Palestinians and the boys would play Israeli soldiers. A kind of war games," Leila recalls.

She adds: "I was always afraid of Israeli soldiers. I didn't need anyone to tell me, as a little girl, that they didn't think kindly of us."

The family intended to build their lives in the West Bank, until the crumbling Israel-Palestinian peace accords forced them to fly back to the United States. Leila has never been able to return since.

As she grew increasingly distant from family members trapped in Gaza, as well as from the Arabic language and the Islamic faith, Leila retained her identity by tapping into the rich history of her family: of ancestors from seven centuries ago; of her grandparents' expulsion during the 1948-49 Middle East war following Israel's creation; and of her father's role as a student leader in the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, from 1987-1993.

In college, however, her Palestinian American pride hit a roadblock.

Leila claims she was singled out for her family ties, harassed when she spoke out and even spat on during an on-campus protest. In her senior year, she says the school put her dorm under surveillance for a week after a conservative student publicly vilified her as an anti-Semite.

But the continued attacks on Palestinians lives and homes in recent years have prompted many progressive Americans - such as Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, young anti-Zionist liberals and organisations like the left-wing Jewish Voice for Peace - to speak out against what they see as injustices, particularly through social media.

"The support of that demographic has really opened the door for people like myself to be able to speak our truths without facing as much vitriol," says Leila. "It feels a lot less scary."

Accompanying the cresting wave of progressive energy, she says, is that Palestinians on the ground have phones and social media, and can "take control of the narrative" in order to more accurately portray their plight to the rest of the world.

"Much like with the Black Lives Matter movement, where it was a lot more horrifying to witness George Floyd dying than to read about it, being able to witness the atrocities means that it runs counter to the mainstream narratives that we're seeing on TV," she explains.

Leila says her community feels "a bittersweet sense of hope, seeing the unification of Palestinians, seeing that the world is watching, and feeling like a change might be coming".

What change looks like remains unclear amid the escalating violence of the past two weeks, but she is cautiously optimistic that creating greater awareness online keeps alive "any hope for a free future, a liberated Palestine".

"In a way, it's frustrating too because I wonder: where the [expletive] have you been for the last 20 years?" she remarks.

"I'm glad that people get it now."

Short presentational grey line

The fierce debate over Israeli-Palestinian clashes has become more pronounced within the Democratic Party.

For the first time since Gallup began conducting its annual poll in 2000, a majority of Democratic voters now express support for the US pressuring Israel to make necessary compromises between the two sides.


A major foreign policy headache for Biden

But this young liberal says it isn't quite so easy.
'You can't apply an American context here'

When Adam moved to Tel Aviv a couple of months ago, he did not anticipate needing to run for cover at any given moment.

The Chicago native, 28, has no immediate family in Israel, but he grew up in a proudly Jewish family and had an acute desire "to experience life in the only Jewish country in the world".

His work week is now based around the Jewish calendar and he's learning Hebrew like he always wanted to. But he is also aware that, at any time, a blaring siren could go off and he will have 90 seconds to find shelter.

On Thursday, he had to duck into a little pizza shop when he heard the sound.

"A rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome [anti-missile system] directly overhead. We came out and saw the smoke trails in the air," he recounts.

"Simultaneously, I'm logging on to Instagram and seeing my American friends posting memes and slides without understanding the nuances of the situation."

He goes on: "It's deeply depressing to watch it happen in real time - a complex conflict boiled down into a few Instagram slides, terms like settler colonialism, genocide and ethnic cleansing thrown around, with total ignorance of the reality and the history here."

The 28-year-old is a registered Democrat in the US. He says Israel's "ugly right-wing" government has unjustly persecuted Palestinians and he is firmly pro-Palestinian statehood. But he fears "there isn't much space left to say you support Israel in the liberal camp".

People aren't willing to condemn the Hamas militants firing rockets into Israeli civilian population centres, he says, even as the terror group "welcomes the bloodshed and feeds off the terror" between the two sides.

"Accusing Israel multiple times of war crimes without, in the same breath, accusing Hamas of war crimes is baffling," says Adam. "Placing all the blame squarely on the shoulders of Israel is just wrong and I can't think of a place it would come from other than anti-Jewish bias."

He says Palestinian leaders repeatedly rejected credible two-state solutions on several occasions. He adds that current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has remained in office indefinitely since his election to a four-year term 16 years ago.

And, irked by social media posts he has seen comparing Jews to European settlers, he points out that more than half of Israel's population has roots in North Africa and the Middle East, while some who came from Europe can trace their lineage back to the area that is now modern-day Israel.

Adam considers himself to be pro-Black Lives Matter and marched in demonstrations in Chicago and Washington DC last year, but he warns that a binary narrative of oppression cannot neatly be applied outside of an American context.

"You're taking two parts of the world with infinitely different histories and contexts, and applying the same standards to them. It just doesn't work," he says.

"Innocent civilians are dying in Israel and in Gaza, and boiling it down to one side is an oppressor and the other is a victim is never the answer."

Short presentational grey line
'There's no power stronger than the people'

For some, the online conversations over the territorial dispute are significant not simply because they create awareness.

Leen credits the social media movement with "exposing" decades-long narratives about Palestinians perpetuated in the mainstream media and by foreign governments.

The 24-year-old activist says that when people post and share content from Gaza it dismantles the damaging "myth" that Israeli-Palestinian fighting is a "conflict".

"Gaza has been massacred time and time again," she tells the BBC. "This isn't a conflict; that implies an equation and it is not equal."

According to Leen, the most appropriate ways to describe the issue is as settler colonialism, apartheid and genocide, all terms that have been heavily featured in social media posts over the past two weeks, but vehemently rejected by Israel.

"There's no other way to frame trapping a population of two million people in an open-air prison and, every few years, bombing them for weeks and months at a time," she contends.

"When you're that densely populated in such a small area, there's no way to escape a full-scale bombing. That's absolutely nothing short of genocide."

Born in Jordan to parents with roots in the West Bank and Syria, Leen educated herself on the struggle for Palestinian liberation by reading dense historical texts from Palestinian and Jewish scholars before she started speaking out and organising in high school and college.

"We're expected to know every detail in order for our own calls for justice to be taken seriously and seen as not biased," she says.

But she adds: "I don't expect people to know the details the way I do because, when it comes down to it, the issue is very clear. You don't need a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies to know that what Israel is doing is wrong."

Leen's Palestinian grandparents, seen here on a US trip in 2000, have no right of return to their home country and are citizens of Jordan.

She says people are no longer afraid to weigh in on the topic, a phenomenon she - like Leila - largely attributes to the potency of the Black Lives Matter movement.

"If black organisers and activists hadn't set that stage in the past year, I don't think we would be witnessing this moment for Palestinian activism online and through social media," she observes.

"You can't really separate struggles for justice," she goes on. "All struggles for justice are interconnected. One of us can't be free until all of us are."

That's why, despite what Leen describes as "extreme anger and frustration" over alleged pro-Israel bias, she also feels "the joy of solidarity".

Short presentational grey line
'Do they know what apartheid even means?'

An Ashkenazi Jew whose ancestors immigrated to the region in the 1930s, Eliana had no immediate ties to Israel until she lived there for all of 2017.

It was an experience that left her "emotionally and culturally connected" to the place, as she studied Judaism and grew to admire Israel's cuisine and its family-based culture.

She also explored as much of the region as she could - from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, from Gaza to the West Bank. In her view, "unless people live there and know the nuances, or really know the history and where we came from, you don't know how this situation developed".

Describing herself as "absolutely pro-Israeli", Eliana says: "Everyone deserves a home and Jews have no place to call home except Israel."

She believes that Palestinians also have a legitimate right to live in the region, but a minority of Arabs are "volatile, radical and want to bomb us".

She points to the many Arabs who live in Israel, who she says are culturally Muslim but live harmoniously alongside Jews. Most of her friends there are Arabs too, she adds.

Recounting her travels through Gaza, she recalls the "heart-breaking" poverty of its residents and adds that they are the innocent victims of larger forces at play.

"They are manipulated," she opines. "Hamas and other terror organisations use the public as pawns on the frontlines, and by saying Israelis are responsible for their poor quality of life while taking money for their own agendas."


How Israel's Iron Dome missile shield works

She says that, despite coverage that shows many more Palestinians have died than Israelis in the recent escalations, it is only because Israel has built up the military strength to defend itself from neighbours "like Syria and Iran that very much do not like us".

On a trip to the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, for example, Eliana witnessed firsthand the might of Israel's Iron Dome during a missile attack.

It is absurd to her that terms like apartheid are being used in social media posts to describe the situation. "I don't know if people even know what that word means," she says.

"We're coming in like the British and trying to invade their territory?" she asks. "We are just trying to protect ourselves."



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CRIMINAL CYBER CAPITALI$M
FTC sues Frontier for delivering internet that's too slow

The Federal Trade Commission and six states are suing Frontier Communications for not delivering the internet speeds it promised customers and charging them for better, more expensive service than they actually got.

Wed., May 19, 2021



In its complaint, filed Wednesday in federal court in California, the FTC said thousands of Frontier customers have complained that the company was not delivering promised speeds. Customers said they couldn't use the internet service for the online activities they should have been able to.

The complaint concerns what's called DSL internet, an older type of network that's sent over copper telephone wires. Phone and cable companies today build networks which can handle much faster speeds. The FTC says Frontier provides DSL service to 1.3 million customers in 25 states, mostly in rural areas. It has about 3 million internet customers overall.

Involved in the suit are attorneys general from Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin and the district attorneys’ offices of Los Angeles County and Riverside County on behalf of California. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Frontier said the lawsuit is without merit and it will defend itself. The company said its internet speeds “have been clearly and accurately articulated, defined and described in the company’s marketing materials and disclosures."

Customers have for years complained about the Connecticut-based company, which filed for bankruptcy in April 2020 and emerged from out of bankruptcy at the end of April with $11 billion less in debt.

The FTC’s complaint noted that Frontier has settled with West Virginia, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Minnesota in cases since 2015 in cases claiming the company was misrepresenting its internet speeds. It has denied wrongdoing.

The acting chairwoman of the FTC, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, tweeted that while the case was important, the FTC could never “fully fill the regulatory gap” left after the Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality rules that oversaw internet service. The FCC repealed the rules under a Trump-appointed chairman in 2017. “Active oversight by the proper regulator may have prevented these violations,” she said.

The Minnesota attorney general’s office settled with Frontier last July over possible deceptive billing practices. The company agreed to disclose its prices to new customers before they get service and said it would pay $750,000 in restitution to customers. It also agreed to invest at least $10 million over four years to improve its broadband network in the state. West Virginia in 2015 required the company to spend $150 million to boost internet speeds for rural customers as part of a settlement.

Millions of Americans can’t get online because they have no access to high-speed internet or can’t afford it. The Biden administration has promised to tackle this “digital divide.”

Tali Arbel, The Associated Press

WAR PROFITEERING
Defense contractor's Senate campaign donations investigated

Wed., May 19, 2021

HONOLULU (AP) — U.S authorities are investigating allegations that a Hawaii-based defense contractor illegally donated $150,000 to the reelection fund of a Maine senator who advocated for an $8 million Navy contract with the company, according to court documents unsealed this week.

A U.S. judge approved an FBI warrant application to search a hard-drive containing images of an iPhone belonging to Martin Kao, former CEO of Navatek, now known as Martin Defense Group, based in Hawaii with offices in Maine, Washington, D.C., and other states.

The warrant was also for an iPhone belonging to the company's former chief financial officer. The news of the probe was first reported by the Axios website.

The phones were seized during a separate investigation that led to an indictment accusing Kao of defrauding banks of more than $12.8 million meant to assist businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. He has pleaded not guilty in that case. His defense attorney didn't immediately return a phone message seeking comment on the new allegations Wednesday.

Navatek, which as a federal contractor was prohibited from making political campaign contributions, set up another business that was used to conceal the donation to a political action committee supporting the re-election of Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, according to an FBI affidavit filed with the warrant application.

In December 2019, Navatek's Hawaii-based accountant wrote a check for $150,000 from the company's corporate account to the Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers LLC, which had been opened a month earlier with Kao's wife as the registered agent, the affidavit said. The newly formed organization then donated $150,000 to the Super PAC.

“The Collins for Senator Campaign had absolutely no knowledge of anything alleged in the warrant,” said Annie Clark, spokeswoman for Collins.

Between June and September 2019, Kao, his relatives and relatives of other former company officials gave money to Collins' campaign, which Kao then reimbursed using Navatek money, the affidavit said.

In August 2019, Collins announced Navatek received a Department of Defense contract worth $8 million for advanced hull planning research, the affidavit said, noting that a news release on the senator's website quoted her as saying that as "a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I strongly advocated for the funding that made this research possible and am so proud of the work Navatek and other Maine industries do to support our Navy and our nation’s defense.”

The company designs and analyzes ship hull forms, ocean structures, underwater lifting bodies and coupled hydrodynamic systems, according to the court document.

Kao stepped down as CEO in November, said Jennifer Oliver, a spokeswoman for Martin Defense Group. “The Company is fully cooperating with the government investigation,” she said in a statement.

___

Associated Press writer David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, The Associated Press

WAS IT BECAUSE SHE IS BLACK?!

Report: Tenure offer revoked from slavery project journalist

Wed., May 19, 2021



WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Faculty members of a North Carolina university want an explanation for the school's reported decision to back away from offering a tenured teaching position to journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose work on the country’s history of slavery has drawn the ire of conservatives.

Hannah-Jones was offered a position as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the school announced last month. Hannah-Jones is an investigative journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for her work on The 1619 Project for The New York Times Magazine.

But the school changed its offer from a tenured position to a five-year term as a professor with an option for review at the end of that time, as first reported by NC Policy Watch on Wednesday.

In a statement issued in response to the story, faculty members of the university's school of journalism and media said the decision was especially concerning given that Hannah-Jones had the full support of the journalism school's dean, Susan King. They said the decision also violated established tenure and promotion procedures at UNC-Chapel Hill.

“We call on the university’s leadership to reaffirm its commitment to the university, its faculty and time-honored norms and procedures, and its endorsed values of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the statement said. “The university must tenure Nikole Hannah-Jones as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism.”

King said in a statement on Wednesday that the journalism school is delighted to have Hannah-Jones join the school in the fall despite the change.

“While I am disappointed that the appointment is without tenure, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that she will be a star faculty member,” King's statement said. “I am more than delighted that she will be here at UNC, teaching our next generation of journalists, working with our graduate students, and sharing her perspective with us all. I can only imagine how our students will benefit from her wisdom and experience.”

University spokesperson Joanne Peters Denny declined comment on the situation, saying faculty hiring processes are personnel protected information. But she added that the school looks forward to welcoming Hannah-Jones to campus.

The 1619 Project is an initiative of The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. The magazine describes the project as one which is designed to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans “at the very center of our national narrative.”

The project was converted into a popular podcast. Materials were developed for schools to use and The Pulitzer Center partnered with the Times to develop 1619 Project lesson plans. However, objections to The 1619 Project have morphed into legislative efforts to prevent its presentation in public schools.

In February, an Arkansas House panel rejected legislation that would have banned schools from teaching the project. The measure failed on a voice vote on the same day the state Senate rejected a resolution that cited the country’s “ongoing positive record on race and slavery” and attacked Democrats’ history on civil rights issues.

Former President Donald Trump created a commission in response to The 1619 Project that promoted “patriotic” education and played down America’s role in slavery. After taking office, President Joe Biden revoked a report from the so-called 1776 Commission. Widely mocked by historians, the commission glorified the country’s white founders and played down the role of slavery.

Tom Foreman Jr., The Associated Press