NIGERIA
Climate change threatens our survival, women farmers in Niger cry out— 

Smallholder Women Farmers
By Editorial

SWOFON members in Magama LGA -


FEMALE farmers in Niger State have raised alarm that Nigeria might experience a severe food crisis beginning from this year because of the adverse effects of climate change, insecurity, and other challenges. DANIEL ATORI reports.

THE late rains have left several small-scale holder farmers in Niger State vulnerable. Therefore, they have been told to use improved seedlings to boost production, but this advice has not allayed their fears.

“We used the improved seedlings and planted early but the rain which did not come has adverse effects on our farms. We are helpless and survival is critical at this time,” a woman farmer said

In the 2020 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Nigeria ranks 98th out of the 107 countries and with a score of 29.2 per cent, an indication that the country faces a serious case of hunger.

Nigerian rural female farmers account for nearly 70 per cent of agricultural workers and 80 per cent of food producers but they are at the receiving end of the negative impacts of climate change and insecurity.

A tour of five local government areas – Edati, Lapai, Lavun, Magama and Shiroro – in the three senatorial zones of Niger State exposed the need for urgent intervention from the government and other stakeholders.

Mairo Abdulmumini, Coordinator, Small-scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria, (SWOFON), and 24 other women including, Dina Daniel, manage farmland at Tawale-Gwada in Shiroro Local Government Area, where they plant crops such as cassava, yam, and groundnuts.

When our reporter visited their farms, the women farmers had planted yam but they are afraid that if it does not rain on time, the yam will dry up, and eventually, they will lose their crops.


” You know now even if we do the ridges, cassava and yam require water, if you don’t have water, you can’t work on cassava and yam.

And when it finally rained, it resulted in heavy flooding that swept away our cassava farm.”

The women, therefore, appealed to the government to create more awareness and sensitisation for those of them in the rural areas so that they can have full knowledge of climate change for better and improved farming.

Michael E. Mann, one of the world’s most influential climate scientists, has noted that the world has “finally reached the point where it is not credible to deny climate change because people can see it playing out in real-time in front of their eyes”.

Mairo Abdulmumuni, Coordinator Shiroro LGA

The rising incident of security is another challenge. Many farmers can no longer go to farm.

“The bandits usually attack, steal our produce, destroy our farms and produce and even our stores,” Abdulmumini said.
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According to Eunice Adeditan, SWOFON Coordinator in Lapai, most women farmers feel vulnerable and are afraid of going to their farms because of fear of attack by herders or bandits.

“Most of our women will not come out except we get men and security agents to follow us. The Fulani herdsmen used to bring their cows into our farms and eat everything and if you talk, it becomes a problem.”

The state Coordinator, Disa, said Niger State has security problems, even the SWOFON national headquarters knows about it, especially in places such as Kuta, Shiroro and Minna.

Eunice Adeditan, Coordinator Lapai LG

SWOFON also complained about the difficulty of accessing funds in terms of the agriculture budget at the state ministry of agriculture.

“I met with the director handling Planning, Agriculture Services, he told me the state ministry of agriculture under the Mechanised Section, has something for us, but they will not give us funds directly, but use the money to buy gender-friendly machines for us.

“But till now, nothing has been given to us. We are planning to meet him soon because I told him we are coming.”

The Coordinator of SWOFON in Magama Local Government Area, Dorcas Jagaban, warned that the challenges faced by many women farmers will cause prices of food to go even higher than it already is.

But there are ways through which the government can assist the women.

Head, Women in Agriculture (WIA) under the Niger State Agriculture and Mechanisation Development Authority (NAMDA), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Rose Saba, said the government intervention through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could be helpful.

She also said that more training should be given to farmers so that they can learn how to boost their farming during the dry and rainy seasons.

•This report was made possible with support from the International Budget Partnership (IBP)

CYBERWAR

An espionage campaign spread its wings from Myanmar to the Philippines, raising new questions


An emperor moth (Saturnia) butterfly sits on a currant bush at a garden outside Moscow on May 4, 2018. (Photo credit should read YURI KADOBNOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Written by Tim Starks
JUL 14, 2021 | CYBERSCOOP

A cyberespionage campaign that spread through Myanmar last fall at first looked like many others of the genre: a handpicked set of targets affected by highly tailored break-in methods.

After all, scattershot attacks historically are not only less likely to hit valuable victims, but they also equal a greater chance of being caught and halted before the hackers gather the information they want.

Then something changed, according to the security firm Kaspersky. What began as a small campaign — ultimately affecting approximately 100 Myanmar victims that Kaspersky identified — leapfrogged to another country, the Philippines, where the victim count exploded to 1,400 and included some government entities.

Kaspersky researchers on Wednesday detailed the extent of the campaign, and who they believe is behind it. But they remain unsure why it evolved the way it did, even if they have some informed guesses.

The investigators attributed the infections to a group dubbed LuminousMoth, which Kaspersky tied with medium to high confidence to a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group called HoneyMyte, or Mustang Panda. That’s a group that’s allegedly collected intelligence in areas as far-flung as a U.S. think tank and the the Vatican, but seems primarily to be interested in Asia and Africa.

It’s not clear if the extensive spread of the LuminousMoth campaign is incidental, or by design. One of the ways the malware spreads is by USB drives, still a common espionage technique.

“It is likely that the high rate of infections is due to the nature of the LuminousMoth attack and its spreading mechanism, as the malware propagates by copying itself to removable drives connected to the system,” the researchers wrote. “Nevertheless, the noticeable disparity between the extent of this activity in both countries might hint to an additional and unknown infection vector being used solely in the Philippines.”

Possibilities include watering hole or supply chain attacks. The latest campaign could also hint at renewed efforts from Beijing to obscure the source of attacks in a way that would prevent investigators from tying them to past work, Kaspersky said.

“This new cluster of activity might once again point to a trend we’ve been witnessing over the course of this year: Chinese-speaking threat actors re-tooling and producing new and unknown malware implants,” said Mark Lechtik, senior security researcher with Kaspersky’s global research and analysis team.

CYBERWAR IS REAL
Biden says 'shooting war' could break out with foreign heavyweights over cyberattacks

Joe Biden tours the National Counterterrorism Center Watch Floor at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in McLean, Virginia, July 27, 2021. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Written by Tim Starks
JUL 28, 2021 | CYBERSCOOP

The U.S. is “more likely” to end up in a “real shooting war with a major power” over a cyber incident than other kinds of conflict, President Joe Biden suggested on Tuesday.

“We’ve seen how cyber threats, including ransomware attacks, increasingly are able to cause damage and disruption to the real world,” he said at a speech at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Virginia. “And it’s increasing exponentially — the capabilities.”

While Biden delivered his speech before intelligence personnel, at least one of his intended recipients appeared to be Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Biden administration has been talking tough about Russia providing safe haven for ransomware gangs believed to be responsible for headline-making attacks on Colonial Pipeline, JBS and Kaseya.

Biden has pressed that message to Putin directly as recently as July. Russia has rejected U.S. suggestions of wrongdoing.

“I can’t guarantee this, and you’re as informed as I am, but I think it’s more likely we’re going to end up — well, if we end up in a war, a real shooting war with a major power, it’s going to be as a consequence of a cyber breach of great consequence,” Biden told his audience at the counterterrorism center.

Biden also took the Kremlin to task over election meddling.

“Look what Russia is doing already about the 2022 elections and misinformation,” he. said. ” It’s a pure violation of our sovereignty.”

Both of Biden’s immediate predecessors, Donald Trump and Barack Obama, have held open the possibility of retaliating against foreign government hackers with physical, or kinetic, force.

“When warranted, the United States will respond to hostile acts in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country,” states a 2011 strategy paper from the Obama administration. “We reserve the right to use all necessary means — diplomatic, informational, military, and economic — as appropriate and consistent with applicable international law, in order to defend our Nation, our allies, our partners, and our interests.”

A 2018 Trump administration strategy offered similar language.

“All instruments of national power are available to prevent, respond to, and deter malicious cyber activity against the United States, This includes diplomatic, information, military (both kinetic and cyber), financial, intelligence, public attributio

Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano erupts, sending column of ash 4,500m into the sky

The volcano was dormant for 400 years, before erupting back into life in 2010, and has remained highly active ever since.

Megan Baynes
News reporter @megbaynes


Wednesday 28 July 2021

People watch as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Pic: AP

Indonesia's Mount Sinabung has erupted, sending a thick column of ash 4,500m into the air.

The eruption lasted for more than 12 minutes, a local geological agency said.

Villages near the volcano in North Sumatra province had already been relocated following previous eruptions, and there were no casualties, said Armen Putra, an official at the Sinabung monitoring post.

Mount Sinabung is one of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. Pic: AP

Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said: "The eruption column is thick grey, 4,500m high above the peak and inclined to the east and south."

"Hot clouds" have reaches as far as 1,000m south-east of the peak, it added.

An image shared by the agency showed billowing, dark smoke coming from the crater.

The volcano alert remains at level three, the second-highest level, where it has been since May 2019.


Mount Sinabung was dormant for 400 years, before erupting in 2010 and killing two people.

It erupted again in 2013 and has remained highly active ever since.

Sixteen people were killed in 2014, while another seven died in an eruption in 2016.

The last eruption was in early May when ash fell on nearby villages.

Villagers have been advised to stay 5km (3.1 miles) from the crater's mouth.

More than 30,000 people have been forced to leave their homes around the mountain in the past few years.

It is one of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, with the country sitting on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - a group of volcanoes and fault lines around the ocean's basin prone to seismic activity.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Sinabung 

SOCIALISM BY ANY OTHER NAME

UK
Ministry of Defence acquires Sheffield Forgemasters


By Jonathan Wilson

Published Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Sheffield Forgemasters’ shareholders have agreed to sell the company’s entire share capital to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to support a substantial recapitalisation of its defence-critical plant, equipment and infrastructure necessary to secure the delivery of components into future MoD programmes.


The Ministry of Defence will buy Sheffield Forgemasters, saying it intends to invest up to £400m into the firm for defence-critical plant, equipment and infrastructure over the next decade. The cost of the acquisition is £2.56m for the entire share capital of the company, plus debt assumed.

The intervention will secure Sheffield Forgemasters’ role as a key supplier into the MoD for the long term, and is structured to invest substantial new capital into the modernisation of defence-critical assets, including plans for a replacement heavy forge line and building; a flood alleviation scheme, and major machine tool replacements.

The company’s main driver of revenue and profitability over recent years has been manufacturing specialist forgings and castings for submarine platforms and surface vessels as a supplier to Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Babcock International, who have provided guarantees to support the financing of the company. With the company’s existing credit facilities due to expire in December and significant investment required for it to a reliable supplier into MoD, the intervention provides the financing necessary to place the company on a secure footing.

David Bond, CEO at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “The agreement to bring the company under the ownership of the MoD provides a more secure future for the business and its people. The MoD’s intention is to invest up to £400m over the next 10 years to replace defence-critical equipment and infrastructure as we recapitalise our productive capacity, positioning the company to retain and create new highly skilled manufacturing jobs within the Sheffield City region.

“Sheffield Forgemasters and its shareholders are not able to fund an investment of this size and so this acquisition marks the culmination of a process, started two years ago, that enables us to be a reliable and secure supplier to defence for the long-term. I am grateful to my colleagues on the board and throughout the business who have supported us on this journey.”

The intervention heralds a new chapter in the long history of Sheffield Forgemasters and is expected to benefit the local economy.

Steve Hammell, CFO, added: “The board of directors at Sheffield Forgemasters is unanimous in its support for the terms of the acquisition and is strongly of the view that the deal is in the long-term interests of all stakeholders of the business, including shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, the local community and the Sheffield City region.

“We have secured the support of our major shareholders, who have agreed to sell their shares to the MoD at a price of 121 pence per share, equating to total consideration of £2.56m. The transaction also involves a refinancing of the company’s credit facilities with the financial guarantees provided by Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Babcock falling away. We will now enter an approved offer period with completion of the deal to follow in three weeks’ time.

“We recently announced the purchase of a second-hand 13,000-tonne forging press from Japan and will move forward with the recapitalisation programme to renew defence-critical infrastructure.”

Sheffield Forgemasters will operate under the leadership of its current executive directors and senior management, supplemented by the appointment of two further non-executive directors including one from UK government.

Bond highlighted the future ambitions of the business: “Although the MoD’s priority is to secure defence outputs, we will continue to operate in commercial markets with our existing equipment and will also look to exploit opportunities that may arise from the UK government’s net-zero carbon agenda, including off-shore wind projects and the civil nuclear market.

“Sheffield Forgemasters has now established a base for a sustainable future. These are exciting times for the company as we enter a new chapter in its 200-year history alongside the Ministry of Defence.”

A ministry statement said the change “will not prevent other UK-based manufacturers bidding for MoD contracts, which will continue to be run in an open and fair competition”.

Unions have welcomed the move to nationalise the historic steel company, saying it ends years of instability. Unite union assistant general secretary Steve Turner said: “Unite has been engaged in a long battle with the Ministry of Defence and the UK government to protect UK steel supply to our defence and nuclear programmes, so today’s news will be welcomed with a huge sigh of relief right across our steel communities.

“It brings to an end years of instability for this historic 215-year-old company, but is also a sign that government is maybe finally waking up to a crisis of its own making. Critical infrastructure industries like steel function better in public hands, and advanced economies like our own need to have stable, secure domestic steel production capabilities to protect our national security interests as well as to compete in global markets.

“We look forward to a secure future for the plant which brings with it the guarantee for both today’s workforce and the thousands of young workers to follow the hope of a highly skilled job in a well-paid, unionised plant.”

Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community trade union, said: “This move will secure Sheffield Forgemasters’ role as a critical supplier to the next generation of UK defence programmes. We know with the right framework of support our industry has a bright future at the core of a low-carbon economy, so we are pleased to see some much-needed investment going into Sheffield Forgemasters to provide long-term security.

“We see this move as a recognition of the importance of the steel industry to our country’s economic future. The pandemic has showed us the danger of relying on fragile overseas supply chains, so we are pleased to see a viable future secured for Sheffield Forgemasters.”

Sheffield Forgemasters provides casting and forging solutions for complex engineering challenges, specialising in the design and manufacture of high-integrity forgings and castings and offering end-to-end manufacture for steel production from a single site in the UK. Its global markets include UK and global defence; civil nuclear; oil and gas; power generation; renewables, and steel processing.

Some of the largest bespoke engineered steel products in the world are produced at the company’s Brightside Lane facility, with capacity for castings of up to 350 tonnes and forgings of up to 175 tonnes finished weight

SEE

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

#MIC

'Metaverse': the next internet revolution?

Issued on: 28/07/2021 

Existing virtual reality headsets remain bulky 

David Becker GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Imagine a world where you could sit on the same couch as a friend who lives thousands of miles away, or conjure up a virtual version of your workplace while at the beach.

Welcome to the metaverse: a vision of the future that sounds fantastical, but which tech titans like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are betting on as the next great leap in the evolution of the internet.

The metaverse is, in fact, the stuff of science-fiction: the term was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel "Snow Crash", in which people don virtual reality headsets to interact inside a game-like digital world.

The book has long enjoyed cult status among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs -- but in recent months the metaverse has become one of the tech sector's hottest buzzwords, with companies pouring millions of dollars into its development.

Facebook fuelled the excitement further Monday by announcing the creation of a new team to work on Zuckerberg's vision of the metaverse.

"This is going to be a really big part of the next chapter for the technology industry," Zuckerberg told tech website The Verge last week. Over the next five years, he predicted, Facebook would transition from "primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company".

As with many tech buzzwords, the definition of the metaverse depends on whom you ask. But broadly, it involves blending the physical world with the digital one.

With the help of augmented reality glasses, it might allow you to see information whizz before your eyes as you walk around a city, from traffic and pollution updates to local history.

But metaverse enthusiasts are dreaming of a future in which the idea could be extended much further, allowing us to be transported to digital settings that feel real, such as a nightclub or a mountaintop.

As workers have grown weary of video-conferences during the pandemic, Zuckerberg is particularly excited about the idea that co-workers could be brought together in a virtual room that feels like they are face-to-face.

- Digital casinos and Gucci handbags -

Games in which players enter immersive digital worlds offer a glimpse into what the metaverse could eventually look like, blurring virtual entertainment with the real-world economy.

As far back as the early 2000s, the game Second Life allowed people to create digital avatars that could interact and shop with real money.

More recently, plots of land in Decentraland -- a virtual world where visitors can watch concerts, visit art galleries, and gamble in casinos -- have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars in MANA, a cryptocurrency.#photo1

The hugely popular video game Fortnite has also expanded into other forms of entertainment, with 12.3 million people logging in to watch rapper Travis Scott perform last year. Fortnite's owners Epic Games said in April that $1 billion of funding raised recently would be used to support its "vision for the metaverse".

And on Roblox, a gaming platform popular with children, a digital version of a Gucci bag sold in May for more than $4,100 -- more than the physical version would have cost.

Cathy Hackl, a tech consultant who advises companies on the metaverse, said the next generation was more comfortable with the idea of attaching real meaning to virtual experiences and objects.

"My first concert was in a stadium. My son's first concert was (American rapper) Lil Nas X on Roblox. Just because it happened in Roblox, it didn't make it less real for him," she said.

- Exhilarating, or dystopian? -

Hackl rejects the dystopian vision presented in "Snow Crash" of a virtual world where people go to escape the horrors of reality, an idea that emerged again two decades later in the novel and Steven Spielberg movie "Ready Player One".

Nor does she think the metaverse would necessarily involve everyone shutting out their neighbours with virtual reality headsets around the clock.

Facebook has invested heavily in technology that allows people to feel like they are physically somewhere else, such as its Portal video-calling devices, Oculus headsets and its Horizon virtual reality platform.

But even Zuckerberg has admitted that existing virtual reality headsets are "a bit clunky", requiring far greater development for the kind of experiences he has described.#photo2

Wedbush tech analyst Michael Pachter said it was hard to predict whether Facebook could truly transform into a "metaverse company" in five years.

"But they certainly have a huge advantage of having one billion people log on every day," he said. "If they offer entertainment options, it's likely they will succeed."

© 2021 AFP

"GOOD TROUBLE"
China court jails billionaire Sun Dawu for 18 years for 'provoking trouble'

Issued on: 28/07/2021 - 

Sun Dawue has been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019 NOEL CELIS AFP/File


Beijing (AFP)

A Chinese court sentenced agricultural tycoon Sun Dawu to 18 years in jail on Wednesday for a catalogue of crimes including "provoking trouble" after the outspoken billionaire and grassroots rights supporter was tried in secret.

The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.

He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.

The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.

He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease.

Sun was also fined 3.11 million yuan ($475,000) by the court on Wednesday.

The hearing began at Gaobeidian People's Court in northern Hebei province Thursday, according to his lawyers, who said in a statement that the secrecy of the trial "violated legal guidelines and did not protect the defendant's litigation rights."

Sun had previously been sentenced to prison for "illegal fundraising" in 2003, but this was overturned after a massive outpouring of support from human rights defenders and the public.

Video footage shared by Sun's lawyer on Tuesday showed tight security outside the courtroom, with convoys of police vehicles and plainclothes police.

- 'Wholly socialist' -

Prosecutors alleged the Dawu Group deceived its employees, "seriously interfered with local orderly administrative management" and "endangered national grassroots political stability", according to a court witness account shared by his legal team.

In response, Sun said the Dawu Group was "wholly socialist, everyone is on the road to common prosperity, and Dawu employees live very well," according to the account.

The Dawu Group employed over 9,000 people before Sun's assets were seized by the state and employees forced out of after Sun's detention in November.

The businessman has for decades been a vocal critic of China's rural policies and has demanded greater freedom for farmers to organise to protect their economic interests.

He ran a website in the early 2000s that included criticism of state-owned banks, which he accused of neglecting rural investment while funnelling rural residents' savings toward urban projects.

His farms were badly affected by the 2019 African swine fever outbreak, which decimated pig herds nationwide.

He criticised the Hebei local government for attempting to cover up the scale of the outbreak and posted pictures of thousands of dead pigs online -- quickly forcing it to respond.

© 2021 AFP

India skips key London climate meet

India currently generates more than 40 percent of its electricity from coal 

Issued on: 28/07/2021 
New Delhi (AFP)

India, the world's third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, skipped a key climate meeting of more than 50 countries, the environment ministry said Wednesday, citing technical and other difficulties.

The two-day conference in London was the first face-to-face talks among governments in more than 18 months and offered a chance of compromise ahead of the pivotal COP26 climate summit in November.

The talks on Sunday and Monday followed a G20 meeting last week in Naples where the leaders failed to reach a consensus, with India, a big player in climate negotiations, resisting a timeline to phase out coal power generation.

Other countries such as Russia, China and Turkey also resisted such efforts.

The London meeting also ended without an agreement to phase out the polluting fossil fuel, according to Britain's COP26 president, Alok Sharma.

Gaurav Khare, spokesman of India's environment ministry, said the government had decided against attending the London conference as it had already made its views known at the G20 in Naples.

"We attended the G20 ministerial and made our stand clear. The UK Climate ministerial was right after that," Khare said in a statement.

"It was being held in the middle of the parliament session (in India) so it was decided that this time we cannot be present."

Khare also said India wanted to participate virtually but couldn't "because of various technical issues".

The London event covered the goal of keeping to the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise limit, exploring topics such as climate finance on which India has been vocal.

The United Nations is pushing for a global coalition committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 which will cover all countries.

At the G20 ministers' meeting in Naples however India's new environment minister Bhupender Yadav resisted international pressure to announce such a target.

He reiterated India's stand that the richest countries should lead in cutting emissions and urged G20 nations to make a pledge that focused on per-capita emissions.

While India is the third-largest emitter, its emissions per head are low owing to its huge population of 1.3 billion.

India is a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement that aims at cutting down greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.

It currently generates more than 40 percent of its electricity from coal.

© 2021 AFP

German government denounces disinformation in flood areas


BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Wednesday denounced attempts by some people or groups to spread disinformation in areas devastated by floods two weeks ago.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

More than 200 people were killed in Germany and neighboring Belgium when torrential rain turned small rivers into raging torrents on July 14. Repairing the extensive damage is expected to be a long task. Over half of the victims died in western Germany's Ahr valley.

Police in that area said early last week that they were aware of right-wing extremists posing as “carers on the spot.” They said officers would act against any people who “abuse the situation for political ends under the guise of helping,” but they could only act if the law was actually being broken. They also said vehicles with loudspeakers, which looked similar to patrol cars, had been spreading false information that police and rescuers were cutting back their deployment.

Over the weekend, the government's THW disaster aid agency reported cases in which helpers were insulted and garbage thrown at their vehicles.

Government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer on Wednesday praised Germans' readiness to help and thanked foreign countries for their offers of help — in particular aid given by a Polish fire service team. But she voiced “great concern and shock” that some people had used the situation to spread disinformation.

“These people are contributing to aggravating and exploiting the tense situation and the completely understandable uncertainty of the people affected,” Demmer told reporters in Berlin. “With their actions, they are also undermining trust in the many volunteer helpers, the collective management of the situation and action by the state.”

Demmer said that some of those involved appeared to belong to the Querdenker movement, which staged protests against coronavirus restrictions over the past year.

The Associated Press

Facebook and tech giants to target attacker manifestos, far-right militias in database

By Elizabeth Culliford

© Reuters/Dustin Chambers FILE PHOTO: Militia groups stage rallies at the Confederate memorial at Stone Mountain

(Reuters) -A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest U.S. tech companies including Facebook and Microsoft is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias, the group told Reuters.

Until now, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism's (GIFCT) database has focused on videos and images from terrorist groups on a United Nations list and so has largely consisted of content from Islamist extremist organizations such as Islamic State, al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Over the next few months, the group will add attacker manifestos - often shared by sympathizers after white supremacist violence - and other publications and links flagged by U.N. initiative Tech Against Terrorism. It will use lists from intelligence-sharing group Five Eyes, adding URLs and PDFs from more groups, including the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters and neo-Nazis.

The firms, which include Twitter and Alphabet Inc's YouTube, share "hashes," unique numerical representations of original pieces of content that have been removed from their services. Other platforms use these to identify the same content on their own sites in order to review or remove it.

While the project reduces the amount of extremist content on mainstream platforms, groups can still post violent images and rhetoric on many other sites and parts of the internet.

The tech group wants to combat a wider range of threats, said GIFCT's Executive Director Nicholas Rasmussen in an interview with Reuters.

"Anyone looking at the terrorism or extremism landscape has to appreciate that there are other parts... that are demanding attention right now," Rasmussen said, citing the threats of far-right or racially motivated violent extremism.

The tech platforms have long been criticized for failing to police violent extremist content, though they also face concerns over censorship. The issue of domestic extremism, including white supremacy and militia groups, took on renewed urgency https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-administration-unveils-plan-tackle-domestic-terrorism-2021-06-15 following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Fourteen companies can access the GIFCT database, including Reddit, Snapchat-owner Snap, Facebook-owned Instagram, Verizon Media, Microsoft's LinkedIn and file-sharing service Dropbox.

GIFCT, which is now an independent organization, was created in 2017 under pressure from U.S. and European governments after a series of deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels. Its database mostly contains digital fingerprints of videos and images related to groups on the U.N. Security Council's consolidated sanctions list and a few specific live-streamed attacks, such as the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand.

GIFCT has faced criticism and concerns from some human and digital rights groups over centralized or over-broad censorship.

"Over-achievement in this takes you in the direction of violating someone's rights on the internet to engage in free expression," said Rasmussen.

Emma Llanso, director of Free Expression at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said in a statement: "This expansion of the GIFCT hash database only intensifies the need for GIFCT to improve the transparency and accountability of these content-blocking resources."

"As the database expands, the risks of mistaken takedown only increase," she added.

The group wants to continue to broaden its database to include hashes of audio files or certain symbols and grow its membership. It recently added home-rental giant Airbnb and email marketing company Mailchimp as members.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford in New York; Editing by Kenneth Li, Lisa Shumaker and Rosalba O'Brien)