TikTok's extremism problem: Platform recommends jihad, white supremacy and anti-Semitism to teen accounts

LONG READ

Sara Alhariri, Staff Reporter

RAWSTORY.COM
November 03, 2021

TikTok's logo. (Shutterstock)

"You will fight the Jews!" "Welcome to the life of jihad." "Your mum will smile at you burning in the hellfire!"

While these might sound like quotes delivered at a madrasa in Pakistan, they're not. They're quotes TikTok recommended to an account Raw Story set up as if it were 13 years old, the age of a typical American eighth grader, within 24 hours of signing up for the app.

TikTok is a social media app that streams short user-uploaded videos, recommending additional clips based on what users stop to watch. Prior Raw Story reports have revealed that TikTok's algorithm recommends firearms acccessories to minors, as well as a plethora of videos about suicide and self-harm.

Raw Story's investigation also found that TikTok can introduce teens to extremist content. A teenage account that simply searched the word "Muslim" was eventually shown propaganda sympathizing with the Islamic State, calls for jihad, and videos championing anti-Semitism and child marriage. Some content also contained black flag emojis, symbolizing the flag of the Islamic State.

TikTok also recommended white nationalist videos that glorified the Confederate flag and spread misinformation about the flag's origin. One video showed a man standing next to a Confederate flag referring to the flag design as "a Christian symbol." TikTok also recommended videos supportive of Nazi Germany. One clip referenced rising right-wing nationalism in Japan, with a caption showing the German and Italian flags saying, "Guys the gang is back! We're back!" World War II's Axis powers used their ideologies to justify genocide.

Radical Islamist content on social media has long been a gateway to terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. With new social media apps on the rise, and platforms like Facebook revising algorithms to keep users as engaged as possible, bad actors have taken to social media as a tried and true recruiting tool. In these cases, the future of recruitment is not a matter of the individual finding their cause, but their cause being advertised to the individual effortlessly.

Other extremist groups Raw Story found included white nationalists, conspiracy theorists, and cults. TikTok recommended the videos to teen accounts even if the user was not actively searching for them.

Others have discovered even more odious content. In August, the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue uncovered more than two dozen TikTok videos recreating the massacre of Muslims and 29 videos denying the Holocaust. The group also found ISIS propaganda, including a video of two Japanese hostages moments before their death and aerial drone footage of ISIS car bomb attacks.

Have tips about TikTok or internal documents about tech companies? Email techtips@rawstory.com.

TikTok did not comment when Raw Story asked about Islamist extremist content on their platform.

"This is an industry-wide challenge complicated by bad actors who actively seek to circumvent protective measures, but we have a team dedicated to aggressively protecting against malicious behavior on TikTok," a spokeswoman said in 2019.

"We permanently ban any such accounts and associated devices as soon as identified, and we continuously develop ever-stronger controls to proactively detect suspicious activity," the spokeswoman added.

TikTok's response came after a 2019 report that Islamic State militants were posting on its platform. In July, TikTok said it removed more than 300,000 videos for spreading "violent extremism" in a three month period earlier this year.

Raw Story created a TikTok account with a 13-year-old birthday and searched the word "Muslim." Soon after liking innocuous videos containing Gordon Ramsay judging a crème brûlée preparation and dad jokes, TikTok's algorithm began recommending videos from extremist Islamist preachers located all over the globe.

"Allah does not look for lip service. Allah looks for actions," said one preacher. "I'll die for Allah's path to righteousness."

"The one that's not wearing the hijab and the one that's not covering up, the prophet says, they would never enter the (sic) paradise," shouted another.

The first preacher, Mohamed Hoblos, came under fire for suggesting that rape and murder are lesser sins than missing prayer. The second, Australian Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, spreads anti-gay conspiracy theories. TikTok's "Mohamed Hoblos" page says his videos have 53 million views.

TikTok also recommended a video from blogger and preacher Imran Ibn Mansur, better known as "Dawa Man." In one video TikTok suggested to Raw Story's teen account, Ibn Mansur stands over what appears to be a cadaver covered in an Islamic mortuary, a common sight on Raw Story's account.

"Let me show you something," he says. "This is a dead man."


London University banned Ibn Mansur from speaking in 2014 for referring to homosexuality as a "filthy disease" which must be "suppressed."

TikTok often recommended that Raw Story watch videos with the hashtag #jihad. Interaction by either liking or lingering on such videos triggered TikTok to recommend more extreme content. Despite the word being on their list of blocked search terms, hashtags like #jihad show up organically in TikTok's suggestions.

One video TikTok recommended, now taken down, showed Islamic State propaganda with messages to "welcome a life of Jihad" and to "get a gun to welcome my fate" set to Islamic chanting for holy war. More Islamic State propaganda stated, "One word which we have said is that the return of the caliphate is the promise of Allah!"

TikTok also suggested anti-Semitic videos. "Muhammad said you will fight the Jews," one unidentified preacher declared. "Take not the Jews and the Christians as friends," read text in another.

Another TikTok video showed a group of Jewish men congregating in a street in what appeared to be Israel. "Boy, you just wait until they open the borders, bro," the video's narrator said. "I swear to God I'm coming for you."


"Israel and America… fuck you," one woman yelled in a video montage of anti-Semitic messages. "Let us spit on this flag," another declared before setting an Israeli flag on fire. A third video showed a defaced photo of Israeli TikTok influencer Yael Deri. Many accounts had black flag emojis in their bios.



Experts expressed concern about TikTok recommending extremist content to minors. Seamus Hughes, Deputy Director of the Program of Extremism at George Washington University, noted that social media has been fertile ground for extremist recruiting. ISIS, he said, has a track record of recruiting very young teens.
"We have seen as young as 15-years-old," Hughes said.

In 2015, a 15-year-old boy was arrested by the FBI outside of Philadelphia for allegedly plotting to target Pope Francis in an ISIS-inspired attack. While recruitment is down, Hughes noted, it still continues.

"We are still seeing an average of one arrest per month for ISIS related cases," he said.

Devorah Margolin, Director of Strategic Initiatives at GW's extremism program, said she doesn't think the TikTok videos involve actual Islamic State recruiters. It's more likely that they're fan accounts that reupload ISIS propaganda to the platform, she said. But she stressed that fan content can still lead users to extremist causes.

"Islamic State fan content has the possibility of radicalizing and recruiting people to join the Islamic State's cause," she said. "Research shows that people typically radicalize with others, including friends, family, and peers. As such, having this content online risks like-minded individuals finding each other and radicalizing together."

Social media algorithms have been found to radicalize users. In 2019, the New York Times reported that after YouTube implemented a new artificial intelligence-based recommendation system, the platform fed Brazilians users conspiracy theories and extreme right-wing content. The effects echoed across Brazilian life. Teachers bemoaned unruly students who quoted from YouTube conspiracy videos. YouTube-sourced health misinformation undermined efforts to fight Zika. A little-known lawmaker who became a YouTube star — Jair Bolsonaro — is now Brazil's president.

Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, says that conspiracy theories can also be a gateway to extremist content on apps like TikTok.

"There are people who are willing to exploit people's vulnerabilities and weaknesses to bring them into their thrall, and they understand the power of social media," said Ahmed. "They know how to create content that exploits the algorithm."

Social media companies "have engaged in a program of systematic deceit of the public, journalists and lawmakers," Ahmed said.

TikTok has found itself caught between a rock in a hard place when dealing with controversial content. After taking down videos, it has sometimes been accused of censorship. In 2019, some users accused it of removing content to appease China, where the company is based. The firm subsequently hired two former U.S. legislators to review its content moderation policy.

TikTok's website provides a guardian's guide offering parents safety suggestions for minors. The features include Family Pairing, where parents can control privacy settings, limit what content teens see, and control how much time is spent on the app. These safety suggestions are far from foolproof, however, since children can easily create a new account in seconds using a new email address.

Extremist recruitment often takes the form of sharing accomplishments on existing online conversations in order to direct traffic to radical Islamist causes. In 2014, ISIS notoriously manipulated the Twitter algorithm by using trending hashtags in an attempt to hijack the World Cup tournament with radical Islamist propaganda.

"We see a hijacking of hashtags," said Hughes. "At one point, ISIS was tweeting the World Cup."

TikTok provides a unique opportunity for extremists, because most of its users are young. The short video format also offers sympathizers a different way to build excitement.

"The rhyme, beat, evocative lyrics and punchy delivery are especially appealing to youth," Elisabeth Kendall, an Oxford University expert on extremism, recently said. "This catchy sing-along method for propagating ISIS ideology means it spreads quickly and sticks in the collective memory. It tends to be far more effective than sermons or theological debate and treatises."

Extremists on TikTok also target other groups. A report this year from the Institute for Strategic dialogue found rampant anti-Muslim extremism, including videos depicting the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, in which an Australian white supremacist killed 51 people after opening fire at two mosques.

The Institute found more than two dozen TikTok videos expressing support for the killer, "including 13 videos containing content [he] originally produced" and "three videos that feature video game footage designed to recreate the events."

They also found a panoply of other extremist videos. The most-viewed of the videos, the report said, was an anti-Asian clip referencing Covid-19 TikTok played two million times.

"Three of the top ten most-viewed videos, with a collective 3.5 million views, featured content first produced by jailed white supremacist Paul Miller," the report added. "Two of the top ten most-viewed videos... feature comments that mock the victims and deny the existence of the Bosnian genocide and the Holocaust."

Miller, a vocal white nationalist, has been banned from YouTube and other social media platforms.

While the Islamic State has faded from U.S. view, the threat from global terrorist networks is far from over. Just yesterday, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on a Kabul hospital that claimed at least 23 lives. The UN Security Council released reports this year suggesting ISIS plans to return to violent attacks to make up for lost time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security noted that Al-Qaeda released their magazine Inspire in English for the first time in four years, indicating that English-based recruitment remains on the terrorist group's agenda.

Three months ago, Imran Ali Rasheed of Garland, Texas shot and killed his Lyft driver after she drove him to a police station where he attempted to carry out a mass shooting. Rasheed left a note in Lewis' car attributing his acts to an unnamed radical Islamist terror group. He was killed by police.

As COVID-19 restrictions ease and more people congregate in large groups, the threat of terrorist attacks has grown. Despite TikTok's community guidelines banning extremist content, the platform continues to serve as a network for like-minded extremists. Margolin, the George Washington University extremist expert, said TikTok should focus on scrubbing extremist content from their platform.

"If content on TikTok is advocating active harm, travel to join a terrorist organization, or dehumanizing those they deem to be part of an 'out-group,' it should be removed," she said.

LEGALIZE DRUGS

B.C. applies to remove criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs

VICTORIA — British Columbia is applying to the federal government to remove criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of illicit drugs in an effort to help more people get care in a health crisis that has claimed 7,700 lives over five years.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Sheila Malcolmson, B.C.'s mental health and addictions minister, said Monday that substance use and addiction is a public health issue and not a criminal one, which is why the province believes removing the penalties will reduce drug-use stigma and convince more people to seek life-saving treatment.

She said B.C. is the first province in the country to request an exemption from Health Canada under the Controlled Substances Act, asking to decriminalize for personal use up to 4.5 grams of illicit drugs, including heroin, fentanyl, powder and crack cocaine and methamphetamine.

The province's application was applauded widely as a step forward in addressing the toxic drug crisis, but concerns on both sides of the issue were raised about the amount of drugs specified in the application.

"The B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police does not support the recommendations to decriminalize 4.5 grams of illicit drugs for personal use," said association president Howard Chow, deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department, in a statement.

Instead, the association recommends a more measured approach that will see incremental increases as required and supported by evidence, Chow said in a statement.

Police are concerned drug dealers will exploit the threshold and it could lead to public consumption increases, he said.

The Pivot Legal Society, a legal advocacy group based in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, said the possession threshold is too low and doesn't adequately protect people who use drugs.

"The threshold of 4.5 grams is cumulative, meaning it refers to the combined quantity of drugs allowed to be carried rather than the amount permitted of each individual substance," it said in a statement on behalf of about 10 groups and organizations, including the Vancouver Area Network of Drugs Users.

Malcolmson said B.C. is taking the next step toward helping people end the stigma of drug use and removing the threat of criminal penalty that keeps many from seeking treatment.

She said she is encouraged the federal government recently created a federal Mental Heath and Addictions Department, appointing Carolyn Bennett as minister.

"I hope this is the first item on her desk," said Malcolmson.

Figures released in September from the BC Coroners Service show there were 1,204 deaths from illicit drugs between January and the end of July, a 28 per cent jump over the same period in 2020.

The coroner says the first seven months of this year were the deadliest since a health emergency was declared in 2016, and July was the 17th straight month in which more than 100 B.C. residents died from a toxic drug supply.

B.C.'s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said charging people criminally for possessing small amounts of illicit drugs creates a revolving door where people face the legal system but not their health issues.

"The time to make this change is now," she said. "This toxic drug crisis is not a criminal issue. It's a public health issue."

Sen. Larry Campbell, a former Vancouver mayor and B.C. chief coroner, said he supports decriminalizing small amounts of illicit drugs because he believes it will save lives.

"This is about keeping people alive," he said. "That's it. That's the bottom line. It drives me crazy that people can't get it through their heads that this is a health issue."

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said decades of criminalizing drug possession has not worked and a move away from a crime model to a health one has arrived.

"The goal of decriminalization is to reduce suffering and death," she said.

Last month, Toronto said it was also preparing to ask Health Canada for an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to decriminalize the possession of illicit drugs for personal use in the city, following a similar request made by Vancouver in May.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2021.

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

Why Pakistan has some of the most polluted cities in the world

Air pollution is a major health challenge affecting millions of people in Pakistan. Experts warn that inadequate action to tackle the problem could prove disastrous for the country.



Lahore tops the list of most polluted cities in the world

Air pollution is a major problem confronting Pakistan, with cities like Lahore and Karachi ranking among the most polluted worldwide.

According to data released by IQAir, a global environmental think tank,Lahore is the most polluted place in the world, with the city's air quality index (AQI) standing at 372 on Monday morning, way ahead of the world's second most polluted city, Zagreb in Croatia, which has an AQI of 174.

The list is updated every few minutes.

The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and danger to human health.

Air quality is considered safe if the AQI is under 50.

An AQI of between 100 and 150 poses a potential risk to children and people with heart and lung disease. An AQI of above 150 is unhealthy for everyone, while levels over 300 are classified as hazardous.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is responsible for millions of deaths worldwide every year. The health body says its data shows that people in low and middle-income countries suffer the most because of their relatively high exposure to pollutants.

In South Asia, the health of around 12 million children is at risk, as they're exposed to air pollution that is six times the safe limit, said a UNICEF report. In Pakistan, one in 10 deaths in children under the age of five is caused by air pollution.

And according to the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, an estimated 128,000 Pakistanis die annually from air pollution-related illnesses.

High concentration of particulate matter

Muhammad Irfan Khan, a professor of environmental sciences at Islamabad's International Islamic University, says the problem is mainly due to the concentration of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers, called PM2.5, or less than one-thirtieth the width of a human hair in the nation's cities.

That is small enough to penetrate the lung barrier and enter the bloodstream, raising the risk of developing heart and lung disease as well as affecting brain development and growth.

"PM2.5 concentration is currently 5.9 times above the WHO annual air quality guideline value," he told DW, adding: "The PM2.5 is generated by vehicles and factories, and also other seasonal factors such as stubble burning in winter months."

Mome Saleem, an Islamabad-based environmentalist, said transportation and the widespread use of low-quality fuel are the biggest factors contributing to air pollution.

Many vehicles in Pakistan still use a type of highly polluting sulphur-laden gas, compounding the problem of air pollution, according to a 2019 report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

Transportation alone is responsible for 25% of carbon emissions in Pakistan, Saleem told DW, adding that land degradation, poor urban planning and building construction are additional factors contributing to the problem.

"Our green belts are also shrinking because we are trying to make way for cars and vehicles," she said.

Switch over to Euro 5 standard

To control air pollution and improve the quality of life, the Pakistani government ordered a switch to the Euro 5 emissions standard for all new vehicle approvals from January 2021.

But the share of Euro 5 vehicles in the country is still very low, said Ali Tauqeer Shaikh, an expert in environmental affairs and policies, noting that less than 5% of cars in Pakistan comply with the standard.

"Moreover, heavy taxes on the use of Euro 5 vehicles are discouraging people from buying and using them.

Industrial policies and practices in Pakistan also compound the problem, Shaikh bemoaned, pointing to the burning of tires to power factory units and brick kilns, while farmers burn their fields to prepare for more planting.

Despite the government urging factories to install new technologies to lower air pollution, progress has been slow, the expert said.

What is government doing to tackle the problem?

Prime Minister Imran Khan's government says it is paying special attention to curbing air pollution, pointing to a raft of policies unveiled during its tenure, ranging from banning the import of low-quality fuel to mandates for factories and refineries to install emissions-reducing technology.

"We have come up with this idea of urban forests, which are being developed in different cities, besides cracking down on industries that are using old technologies," Muhammad Bashir Khan, an MP from the ruling party, told DW, adding that the billion-tree scheme, Euro 5 introduction, hybrid vehicles and abolishing coal-fired power are some of the steps the government has taken to combat the problem.

Muhammad Irfan Khan shares a similar view.

"The government is making efforts at different levels to reduce air pollution by promoting cleaner technologies, supporting research and development through the Higher Education Commission and enforcing regulatory compliance."

Still, some bemoan that the authorities have not taken the issue seriously.

"The government has never had a clear and consistent policy for improving air quality," Tariq Banuri, a leading environmentalist, told DW.

"Instead, reliance has been placed on slogans ad hoc/ isolated projects, and random crackdowns, like the one on brick kilns. Given the weakness of this particular regime, one should not expect any change during their tenure," he stressed.

Australia, New Zealand ratify RCEP, world's largest trade deal

The two countries join the ASEAN nations, China, South Korea, and Japan. The pact will cover 30% of the world's population and 53% of last year's exports.



China is now the largest export market for both Australia and New Zealand by a considerable margin, for everything from raw materials to meats or wine

Australia and New Zealand announced on Wednesday that they had ratified the world's largest trade pact, which will represent 30% of the world's population when it goes in effect on January 1, 2022.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) joins the 10 Southeast Asian countries of the ASEAN group with China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia and New Zealand.

The area covered by the agreement will account for 53% of the world's exports in 2020, Thailand's government said.

Bangkok confirmed that they had ratified the pact on October 28. Six ASEAN countries have yet to do so, but they are expected to soon.

"Businesses will be able to take advantage of RCEP's opportunities from early next year," Phil Twyford, New Zealand's minister of state for trade and export growth, said in a statement.

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne emphasized the strengthened relationship between Canberra and the ASEAN countries.

The pact will "signal our commitment to ASEAN-led regional economic architecture," Payne said in a statement, adding, however, that Canberra remains critical of Myanmar, which is a member of the group.

Payne mentioned her "grave concerns regarding the situation in Myanmar. We call on the Myanmar security forces to cease violence against civilians," she said.

The RCEP codifies rules regarding not only trade, but also e-commerce, intellectual property, and competition throughout the region. For now, it is not a comprehensive free trade deal comparable with that of the European Union, for instance. However, some 90% of tariffs will be nixed over the next two decades, the countries involved said.

Volcano fires molten 'lava bombs' as scientists watch in aVolcano fires molten 'lava bombs' as scientists watch in awe

Brian Lada
Tue, November 2, 2021

Geochemist Harri Geiger was on the Spanish island of La Palma in the final days of October witnessing the power of the Cumbre Vieja volcano. The volcano was erupting at what appeared to be a safe distance, but as Geiger and others watched, a piece of the volcano came racing down the mountainside, slowing to a stop just yards away from his feet.

This wasn't just any rock, it was a molten lava bomb.

Geiger's video showed the lava bomb tumbling down the side of the mountain, glowing orange as it gathered volcanic dust.


At a glance, the outside looks like a normal rock found in the vicinity of a volcano, but after closer inspection, the rocks are alive on the inside with partially molten lava.



A 'lava bomb' that has rolled down a hill is seen as the Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to erupt, on the Canary Island of La Palma, Spain, October 27, 2021 in this still image form a social media video. Video recorded October 27, 2021. Harri Geiger/via REUTERS


Lava bombs do not occur with every volcano. According to the USGS, these dangerous projectiles only occur during an explosive eruption, like the ongoing eruption in the Canary Islands, which began in late September.

Additionally, to be considered a bomb, the fragment must be at least 2.5 inches across.

The lava bomb captured on camera by Geiger was much bigger than that, measuring 3.2 feet across with an estimated weight of half a ton. It was also careening down the mountainside at speeds in excess of 35 mph, Geiger said.

Once the chunk of debris came to a rest, Geiger and others approached it for a closer look.

Over the last month, the Cumbre Vieja volcano has been causing quite a disruption on the island of La Palma, forcing thousands to evacuate, closing the La Palma airport and leading to the destruction of numerous properties. It has also drawn global interest and drone operators have been capturing footage of the volcano's impacts, including dramatic video of the moment a lava flow collided with a swimming pool.

Meteorologists have also paid close attention to the Cumbre Vieja volcano for the impacts it has had on the weather. In October, satellites captured a rare phenomenon known as gravity waves, which were triggered by the volcanic eruption. The lava bombs are the latest in a series of jaw-dropping images that have resulted from the eruption.

As a man in Hawaii found out a few years ago, anyone in the vicinity of a volcano should be on alert for lava bombs as they can endanger lives and property.

In 2018, Darryl Clinton was protecting homes from the Kilauea eruption on Hawaii's Big Island, using garden hoses and fire extinguishers to stop the lava bombs from igniting houses. Clinton turned his attention away for just a few moments before he was struck in the leg by a lava bomb.

"‘That didn't just happen' was my first thought," Clinton told CNN at the time. "I knew it was real because of the pain. Then I got caught on fire, fell on the floor, grabbed my foot and leg and held ‘em together."



Clinton was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was able to be treated for his injury.

The volcano in the Canary Islands is not the only one in the world that is currently erupting.

Around 2,500 miles to the north, scientists and travelers have been flocking to see the Fagradalsfjall volcano, the first volcanic eruption in far southwestern Iceland in nearly 1,000 years.

One group of researchers in Iceland took advantage of the sizzling volcanic rocks to cook hot dogs while out in the field, saving the scientists a trip back to town or the hassle of lugging a grill out in the volcanic landscape.

For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.

Banana farmers lose livelihoods as lava devours La Palma


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APTOPIX Spain VolcanoAsh from the volcano covers a banana plantation on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. The volcano that has been roaring on Spain's La Palma for over six weeks has destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and workers who grow and sell the Canary Islands banana. So far, lava flows have covered over 390 acres of land dedicated to the cultivation of the sweet yellow fruit that feeds 30% of the economic motor of the Atlantic island. 

(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)More

EMILIO MORENATTI and JOSEPH WILSON
Tue, November 2, 2021

LAS MANCHAS DE ABAJO, Canary Islands (AP) — His home went first. Then the house his father built. Then the lottery stand and hardware store he owned succumbed.

Lastly, Antonio Álvarez had to watch as lava from a volcanic eruption slowly devoured the remaining pillar of his family’s wealth: the dozen acres he dedicated to growing the Canary Island banana that for generations has provided the agricultural lifeblood of the Atlantic Ocean archipelago.

“My father always told me ‘don’t make the house too big, it won’t make you money; invest in banana! The bananas will give you a house.' And it’s true,” Álvarez said. “When I filmed (the lava destroying) my father’s house, it was seeing him die all over again. That house was a part of him.”

Álvarez, 54, is one of thousands of farmers and workers on Spain’s La Palma island whose livelihoods have been put in jeopardy by the destruction wrecked by volcano that is still going strong six weeks after the ground first broke open on Sept. 19.

The regional government of the Canary Islands, an archipelago including La Palma located off the coast of northwest Africa, estimates that the volcano has already caused 100 million euros ($116 million) in losses for the island’s banana industry. Over 390 acres (158 hectares) of land used for banana farming have been covered by molten rock, and more than 700 additional acres (300 hectares) have been cut off after roads on the island's western side were enveloped by lava.

Spain VolcanoAntonio Alvarez carries a bunch of bananas in a banana plantation on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. The volcano that has been roaring on Spain's La Palma for over six weeks has destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and workers who grow and sell the Canary Islands banana. So far, lava flows have covered over 390 acres of land dedicated to the cultivation of the sweet yellow fruit that feeds 30% of the economic motor of the Atlantic island. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

The banana growers association for the Canary Islands, ASPROCAN, estimates that around 1,500 of the island’s 5,000 owners of banana plantations have been hurt. Most owners have small patches of a few acres. Many, like Álvarez, have seen their land burnt and crushed. Others have lost harvests because they can't get to their trees. And many more have seen their product become unmarketable due to the volcanic ash that has ruined the banana peels.

It's been an shock wave for an industry that provides 30% of the economic life of the island, according to regional government statistics. There are entire businesses dedicated to packing and transporting the fruit, which, along with tourism, keeps La Palma going.

“They say it has wiped out 10% of the island’s economy. I think it is more. It wasn’t just the bananas, or the apartments, or the bed and breakfasts, it has taken everything,” Álvarez said. “What has happened to us has happened to 90% of the people here.”

La Palma, an island of 85,000, is the second-largest producer of banana for the eight-member archipelago, which at its nearest point is 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco. Last year it produced 148,000 tons of the local banana, most of which were shipped to Spain’s mainland. While usually more expensive than imported bananas from Latin America and Africa, the smaller Canary Island banana is often preferred for its sweeter taste and meatier texture

APTOPIX Spain VolcanoLava flows from a volcano as it continues to erupt on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain Spain, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. A volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma that has been erupting for six weeks has spewed more ash from its main mouth a day after producing its strongest earthquake to date. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)Less

Authorities have pledged financial aid to help the sector and fund furloughs for workers. They have also promised to revise a law that says that new land formed by the lava is property of the state.

Desalination plants have been shipped in to supply the water-dependent banana trees at points where lava flows have wrecked the irrigation systems. The island’s government has asked for the military to consider taking farmers in by boat to tend to farms that have been isolated by the rivers of lava.

The lava, however, keeps spewing from the Cumbre Vieja ridge, threatening to widen and consume more land as it churns its way downward to the Atlantic, where a new patch of lava land is forming.

The house of farmer Jesús Pérez is still at risk, but for him the most important property he owns is already gone.

“I would have prefered to lose my house instead of my banana trees,” the 56-year-old Pérez said. “The trees give you life, the house gives you nothing. I have sacrificed all my life, and for what, nothing?”

Spain VolcanoCristina Vera leaves her house covered with ash from volcano eruptions after collecting her last belonging at the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. A volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma that has been erupting for six weeks has spewed more ash from its main mouth a day after producing its strongest earthquake to date. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

___

Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona.

‘We do need to back away from the coast,’ climate scientist warns

Grace O'Donnell
·Assistant Editor
Tue, November 2, 2021, 

Sea levels will continue to rise over the next century as a result of climate change, and this could drastically alter the lives of the 127 million people in the U.S. who live in coastal areas.

“We do need to back away from the coast,” Christian Braneon, a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit (video above). “And I think what we need to do is actually proactively set up areas with affordable housing before the real estate market catches up and kind of fully understands the risk on the coast. Too many human beings living on the coast right now are exposed to just exorbitant amounts of climate risk.”

The risks that coastal communities face include threats of "sunny day flooding" and storm surges that will be both more frequent and more extreme. And a higher prevalence of flooding not only displaces residents, but also incurs high economic costs to rebuild.

Yahoo Finance and Yahoo News will be reporting from COP26, which is set to begin on October 31 and last until November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. Check out the coverage here.

The extent of sea level rise depends on how quickly nations can reduce and sequester greenhouse gas emissions that cause polar ice to melt and waters to swell through thermal expansion.

In an aerial view, Bruce's Beach is wedged between expensive real estate on April 19, 2021 in Manhattan Beach, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Under low greenhouse gas emissions scenarios — the hope guiding the COP26 climate conference currently underway — sea levels will rise between 1 and 2 feet by 2100, according to the UN's report on climate science. Those levels increase to 2 to 3 feet under high emissions scenarios. Most alarming was that scientists were not able to rule out sea levels exceeding 6 feet by 2100, which would be catastrophic.

“We are all at risk,” Katherine Hayhoe, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, said. “And we know that cutting emissions is absolutely essential to avoid the even more dangerous impacts if we don't.”
‘An uncomfortable conversation’ about climate change

For Braneon, who grew up in Houston and has family living in New Orleans, the issue of rising sea levels is personal.

“I've been encouraging my family in New Orleans to move for many years,” Braneon said. “But like many people, they're attached to their communities. They're attached to their homes. They're really invested in staying where they are.”

He add that "I think we need to give people the opportunity to leave. I think we need to give them options and have community-led retreat where we give both options over a period of time. And maybe in 10 years, they're not ready to move. But maybe in 20 years, they may be.”

One thing that Braneon and Hayhoe both stressed is that extreme weather events will impact communities differently in terms of displacement, resilience, and rebuilding after natural disasters. These challenges present an “uncomfortable conversation that we are going to have to have more and more,” Hayhoe said.

Chase Sutton kayaks over a sidewalk in downtown Annapolis, Md., Friday, Oct. 29, 2021, as he surveys the flooding. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Part of that conversation entails evaluating how federal disaster aid can be distributed more equitably, Braneon explained.

“A lot of this allocation of aid is based on cost-benefit calculations that are meant to minimize taxpayer risk,” he said. “But this can actually allow rich people to get richer, and poor people to stay poor. And really, low-income folks are going to come back after disaster in a different way than wealthy folks.”

Braneon stressed that this means "we need to be a little bit preemptive."

“Before everyone catches on, think about encouraging development that's inland, encouraging development with meaningfully affordable housing, not affordable housing that's based on some algorithm, but affordable housing that means that folks that are low income can actually afford it," he said.

Meanwhile, the continued development in areas prone to flooding and sea level rise adds another layer of complexity to the situation. According to a 2019 report by Zillow and Climate Central, the states with the most homes newly built in 10-year flood zones are New Jersey, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and Delaware.

“It's as if we are a frog in water that is heating up slowly,” Hayhoe said. “If we just wait until everybody catches on, it's going to be too late. And that's why the time to act is now.”

Grace is an assistant editor for Yahoo Finance.

These photos of the dry-docked Ever Given reveal the damage it suffered after blocking the Suez Canal

Hannah Towey
Tue, November 2, 2021

The Ever Given container ship arrived in Qingdao, China in October for repairs.

 Li Ziheng/Xinhua via Getty Images

The world's most famous container ship is back after blocking the Suez Canal in March.

The Ever Given dry-docked in China for repairs - its 6-day saga took a toll on the ship's exterior.

One expert said its bow will be replaced with a "whole new lower bow section" already prepared.

The massive Ever Given container ship known for blocking the Suez Canal in March was spotted in Qingdao, China, as it underwent repairs.

Photos released in October reveal how six days inside the canal destroyed the ship's bow.

Ever Given container ship berthed at a ship-repairing dock of Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. Photo by Li Ziheng/Xinhua via Getty Images

The damage is so extensive that there's a "whole new lower bow section in the yard prepared," according to Dr. Salvatore R. Mercogliano, an associate professor of history at Campbell University and adjunct professor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

"They will cut out that entire area and replace it with the new one they have fabricated," he said in a tweet.

More than 1 million cubic feet of sand and mud were removed from around the ship as workers worked round-the-clock to dislodge both the bow and stern back in March. One Twitter user compared the damaged "bulbous bow" to a photo that appears to show the same section of the boat wedged underneath the side of the canal.

An aerial view of the ship shows the damage from above. The Ever Given weighs 220,000 tons, making it one of the largest container ships in the world.

Container ships are getting larger every year - the Ever Given is longer than three football fields. 

Zhang Jingang/VCG via Getty Images

Union seeks Biden admin's help in Charleston port dispute


A sign marks the site of a new South Carolina Ports Authority terminal named for longtime state Sen. Hugh Leatherman on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021, in North Charleston, S.C. Currently, the International Longshoremen's Association is calling on the Biden administration for help resolving a labor dispute at the terminal. 

(AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

MEG KINNARD
Mon, November 1, 2021

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As port logjams across the country continue to constrain the U.S. supply chain, the union that represents dockworkers at South Carolina's ports tells The Associated Press it is calling on the Biden administration for help in a dispute related to a new shipping terminal.

But the chief executive in charge of the state's ports authority tells AP that the “hybrid” union-non-union employment model at the Port of Charleston “has worked to the benefit" of all employees.

At issue is the September decision of a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge, who ruled that the International Longshoremen's Association could not prevent shipping lines from calling on the new Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston.

The $1 billion first phase of the terminal, named for longtime state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, opened earlier this year and is operating at 35% of its current capacity. Under a contract reached with the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents shipping carriers, the union has claimed that only its members will be the ones to operate heavy-lift equipment, like cranes, at newly constructed terminals in the state, such as Leatherman.

Currently, those cranes are operated by State Ports Authority employees, not longshoremen.

Attorney General Alan Wilson and the South Carolina Ports Authority filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union and the alliance. The case, Newsome said, accuses both entities of pressuring carriers not to call on the Leatherman terminal, implementing what Newsome called a “secondary boycott” — an illegal tactic under the National Labor Relations Act.

But, according to the judge who heard that complaint, that deal was intended to preserve work for the union, not take over previously non-union jobs. The longshoremen, the judge wrote, cannot “threaten, restrain or coerce” shipping lines “to cease doing business with the South Carolina State Ports Authority, the State of South Carolina or any other person."

In a statement provided Monday to AP — the union's first comments since the decision — Kenny Riley of the International Longshoremen’s Association called South Carolina's climate toward unions “hostile” and vowed to keep fighting the issue in court. The association also said it would "seek the support of the Biden administration to advocate for a strong and sustainable future for union workers.”

South Carolina is a “right-to-work” state, meaning workers can’t be compelled to join unions, even if the organizations represent them. According to data released earlier this year by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, South Carolina had the lowest union membership rate, at 2.9 percent.

Newsome, in an interview with AP, said “there’s no advantage to” Ports Authority employees joining the union, where he said they would not be paid as well as they are currently.

“I think our guys would take a cut in pay if they went to work for the union," Newsome said.

Last month, President Joe Biden announced a deal to expand the Port of Los Angeles to a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week operation as a way to try to tamp down inflation. It comes as prices keep climbing and container ships wait to dock, a traffic jam threatening the U.S. economy and holiday shopping.

Prices are jumping in large part because container ships are stranded at ports, and because unloaded goods are waiting for trucks, leading to mass shortages and delays that have caused a longer than expected bout of inflation.

As for the port slowdown, Riley blamed South Carolina's Republican leadership like Wilson and Gov. Henry McMaster for the Leatherman terminal sitting “nearly idle” while they are “trying to score political points” with the NLRB case. The ordeal, he said, represented “an ugly pattern of relentless efforts by the state’s most ardent union busting Republican lawmakers to oppress trade unionism, no matter the cost or consequence.”

Newsome, conversely, said it was the union whose tactics were intimidating mostly foreign-owned carriers from calling on the Leatherman terminal, out of fear of running afoul of U.S. labor laws, thereby allowing supply chain issues to fester.

“There's no reason that they can’t call there," Newsome said, of the Leatherman terminal, which is currently home to one shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd. “When we have supply chain issues out the wazoo in this country ... why constrain this terminal? There's no reason to.”

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

Democrats Are Close To Implementing Big Fines For Illegal Union Busting

The deal reached on Biden’s Build Back Better framework includes monetary penalties of up to $100,000 for employers who violate labor law.

Dave Jamieson

HUFFPOST
10/29/2021 04:25pm EDT


It may finally cost something for employers to illegally break unions.


Congressional Democrats and the White House on Thursday reached a tentative deal on a trimmed-down yet still historic $1.75 trillion spending package that would broaden the social safety net and address climate change. Although it’s still subject to changes, the current version of the Build Back Better framework includes a potentially landmark reform to labor law: monetary penalties for union busting.

The latest iteration of the bill released by House and Senate leaders Thursday would fine employers up to $50,000 for each “unfair labor practice,” and up to $100,000 in cases where a worker was illegally fired. An unfair labor practice ― commonly called a ULP ― is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act, the New Deal-era law that protects the right of workers to form unions or join together to improve their working conditions.

“These fines will actually make the law real.”

- Rebecca Givan, Rutgers University

These fines would have big impact because currently, there’s almost no downside to breaking the law. If an employer is found to have illegally fired union supporters, the most they have to do is offer reinstatement and backpay. And the backpay is “mitigated” — meaning any other wages the worker earned elsewhere after getting fired would be subtracted from what the scofflaw employer owes the person it fired.

In many cases, an employer found to have committed ULPs merely has to hang a poster in the workplace acknowledging they did so. With such weak penalties, employers are acting rationally when they violate the law, which is why ULPs are so common in organizing drives.

But with monetary penalties, employers might make a different calculation.

“These fines will finally give a fairly toothless law some enforcement power. Employers have been able to break the law with impunity,” said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labor studies at Rutgers University. “These fines will actually make the law real, and will force employers to follow rules that have been on the books for over half a century.”

The penalties have a place in Democrats’ spending bill because they raise revenue. To survive under the rules of budget reconciliation — the process Democrats are using in an effort to pass the legislation on a party-line vote — a provision needs to have some kind of budgetary effect.

But the real idea behind the penalties isn’t to bring in money ― it’s to stop employers from breaking the law, and make it easier for workers to organize. That’s why the penalties are included in another one of Democrats’ sweeping plans: the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, which seeks to buck up labor rights. The penalties would be the most significant piece of the PRO Act to make it into the Build Back Better framework.

Union membership in the U.S. is hovering near historic lows, particularly in the private sector, where just 6.3% of workers now belong to a union. In the years following World War II, roughly a third of U.S. workers were in unions. President Joe Biden has pledged to help turn around the labor movement, promising to be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.”




Amazon settled a case involving unfair labor practice charges over the firing of two workers who’d criticized the company on climate change.

Benjamin Sachs, a labor law professor at Harvard Law School, said the inclusion of labor law reforms in Biden’s signature bill would show that collective bargaining is part of the administration’s broader vision for economic fairness.

“The Biden administration understands why organizing rights are essential to rebuilding the economy. Those things are related to one another,” Sachs said.

Like many other experts, Sachs has argued for a complete reconstruction of labor law to give workers more leverage, finding that the current system has essentially failed to create a needed counterweight to employers.

“We need a real overhaul to labor law, and that’s not this,” he said of the union-busting penalties. “But in terms of fixes to the current system, this is great progress.”

According to a 2019 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, employers were charged with committing ULPs in 41.5% of union elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board in 2016 and 2017. The employer was accused of illegally firing workers in nearly 20% of cases, and coercing or threatening employees in nearly 30%.

Researchers cautioned that their findings “likely understate the extent of employer aggression against unions,” since many violations go unreported.

The NLRB often changes rules and precedents making conditions more or less favorable to workers organizing, depending on whether there’s a Democratic or Republican majority on the board. But amendments to the law like the one being considered by Congress right now are extremely rare, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations School. One notable example would be when Congress extended collective bargaining rights to nonprofit health care workers in 1974.

“The way the process works now, they tend to get settled out because the penalties are just pieces of paper. ... But when these penalties start to have value, the unions are not going to settle them. It will become much more high-stakes.”

- Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School

Bronfenbrenner’s research has shown that employers have grown more aggressive in combating organizing campaigns in recent decades, which she believes is a major factor in the declining rate of unionization.

She cautioned that there are still large, powerful employers that would view even a $100,000 fine as the “cost of doing business.” She cited Amazon, which unleashed a robust anti-union campaign to defeat an organizing drive at its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse earlier this year.

A labor board official has called for that election to be rerun because Amazon went to great lengths to have a U.S. Postal Service mailbox for ballots installed on warehouse grounds. Amazon also settled a case involving unfair labor practice charges over the firing of two workers who’d criticized the company on climate change.

But most employers will have to take the fines seriously, she said. And unions may be less likely to seek settlements when there are meaningful penalties attached to the cases.

“The way the process works now, they tend to get settled out because the penalties are just pieces of paper. To the union, the penalties are not that important because they don’t do anything,” Bronfenbrenner said. “But when these penalties start to have value, the unions are not going to settle them. It will become much more high stakes.”

Axel Springer's 401(k) Blunder Boosted Politico Union Effort

The German media company's acquisition of Politico left staffers without a retirement plan while organizers were gathering union cards.

By Dave Jamieson

HUFFPOST
11/02/2021 



Axel Springer acquired Politico last month in a $1 billion deal.

Journalists at Politico and E&E News had been working to form a union for several months when their new owner, the German media company Axel Springer, gave the organizing effort an inadvertent boost.

On Oct. 19, hours after Axel Springer officially acquired the news sites from Robert Allbritton for $1 billion, Politico human resources chief Traci Schweikert sent an email to staffers regarding an “important update” on their benefits. The top of the note explained that their paid time off and health care would remain unchanged, but the third bullet point was what journalists call a “buried lede”: their 401(k) plan would be halted for at least several months.

“We anticipate that the new plan will be available in early 2022,” she wrote.

Losing the 401(k) plan, even temporarily, would amount to a compensation cut, since employees received a match from Politico worth up to 3% of their salary. A followup note from Schweikert said Axel Springer was “committed to finding a solution that compensates 401(k) participants for the temporary gap.”

Staffers wondered why the retirement plan wasn’t tended to as the deal closed. A private Signal group for employees filled with concern and anger, several said.

“It blew up much more over that than it did over the Ben Smith piece in The New York Times,” said one reporter, referencing Smith’s investigation detailing sexual harassment complaints at the German publisher.

The reporter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the company’s mishandling of the 401(k) undoubtedly gave the union campaign some added momentum. Last Friday, a week and a half after Schweikert’s initial email, staffers at Politico and E&E announced that they had gathered union cards from 80% of the expected bargaining unit of 250 workers, Bloomberg reported. They intend to unionize under the name PEN Guild, as an affiliate of the NewsGuild-CWA.

“It was one of those things that undermines trust in management,” the reporter said of the 401(k) snafu. “And if you’re management and you know there’s a concerted union drive going on at the moment, it is not a good time to undermine trust with your employees.”

Allbritton had urged staffers not to seek out union representation in August, saying it was “not in the publication’s interests, our reader’s interests, or in the interests of individual employees.”

“It was one of those things that undermines trust in management.”

- a Politico reporter

Workers have many different reasons for joining a union effort, and several Politico employees said they have broader concerns over pay equity and working conditions. But the temporary loss of a 401(k) plan hits everyone on the income scale who participates ― including high earners who might otherwise be lukewarm on a union ― and serves as a reminder of how easily benefits can disappear when they’re not contractual.

Gavin Bade, who covers trade for Politico Pro and is a member of the PEN Guild organizing committee, agreed that the 401(k) likely contributed to the union’s extremely high signup rate, though it was not “the overwhelming factor.” The committee tracked support over time and could see a boost after the 401(k) brouhaha.

“We were obviously talking to a lot of people throughout the newsroom, and pressing people to sign union cards,” Bade said. “But we definitely saw another surge of support after the 401(k) issue, and just solidifying support among people who might have been on the fence.”

Four other Politico and E&E staffers said they agreed with that assessment.

Eric Phillips, an Axel Springer spokesperson, said the company was working on fixing the 401(k) issue.

“It is our top priority to find a solution that compensates 401(k) participants for the temporary gap in coverage,” he said in an email. “We are working to resolve the matter as quickly as possible and expect to announce details very soon.”

For now, the money that workers would have put into their retirement accounts is going straight into their paychecks.

In theory, the company could give workers a lump payment or temporarily increase the employer contributions once a new 401(k) plan is up and running. But several staffers noted that they weren’t sure how the company might account for potential market gains during the months they didn’t have a plan.

Even trickier is how Axel Springer could expect to make up for employees’ lost tax advantages.

Employer 401(k) plans divert your pre-tax income to a retirement account, lowering your adjusted gross income and therefore your tax bill. Going without a 401(k) plan for a while not only costs you the employer contributions but increases your tax liability. Having a higher gross income than expected can have other downsides, too, since it could impact a filer’s eligibility for the new child tax credit or the ability to make Roth IRA contributions.

Politico and E&E employees will apparently be moving from one Vanguard plan to another. In one of her emails to staff, Schweikert said the 401(k) hiatus came about because of the speed of the deal between Axel Springer and Allbritton. “Due to the short time between signing and closing of the acquisition, Vanguard was not able to establish the new plan immediately following close.”

“We definitely saw another surge of support after the 401(k) issue.”

- Gavin Bade, PEN Guild organizing committee

A $1 billion acquisition creates a lot of paperwork for lawyers, and human resource issues can sometimes fall by the wayside, said Ted Benna, a retired consultant who’s often credited with creating the first 401(k) plan following the Revenue Act of 1978. Benna said the 401(k) plan transition can be smooth with proper planning.

“There isn’t any reason there has to be any break or disruption in participation, other than it’s not as high a priority as other things,” he said.

Representatives of the PEN Guild met for the first time Monday with Politico’s general counsel to discuss several issues, including the 401(k). The union is hoping to work out a deal for “voluntary recognition,” in which Axel Springer would opt to start bargaining with the union rather than force an election through the National Labor Relations Board. In the latter scenario, the union would need to win a majority of votes.

The apparent supermajority of support gives the union a strong position. From the employer’s standpoint, forcing an election can start to look a little futile when 80% of employees support the union effort. That may be especially true in journalism, where employers who demand NLRB elections in the face of a stack of union cards don’t have a great track record.

Strong union participation would be particularly important at Politico and E&E, which are based in Rosslyn, Virginia. Virginia is a right-to-work state, making the workplace an “open shop” where contributing dues would be optional, even though the union would be obliged to bargain on everyone’s behalf. Open shops require unions to do more work signing up members, but they can also make for a stronger, more engaged membership.

One Politico employee said they were onboard with the union effort all along, but the 401(k) news served as a reminder of why it was necessary.

“Without a voice at the table, the things you think are pretty good can actually change pretty quickly,” they said.




Dave Jamieson
Labor Reporter, HuffPost