With a few dozen men, guerrilla group sows fear in Paraguay

Author: AFP|Update: 19.05.2022

Obdulia Florenciano's son Edelio Morinigo was kidnapped by the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) eight years ago / © AFP

With a few dozen fighters, the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) guerrilla group has held residents of a central province in a grip of fear for the past 14 years.

It has long been dismissed by the government as a trifling group -- a kind of family affair -- but for the residents of Concepcion, a cattle-raising province, the EPP is no joke.

"They say they want to help the poor, that they are pro-poor. But they hurt the poor," said Obdulia Florenciano, 52, whose policeman son Edelio Morinigo has been held by the EPP since 2014.

"We are not rich, we are poor. We are workers, we are humble. They took away the son of a poor family," she said through her tears, showing AFP a photo of her son -- dubbed a "prisoner of war" by the EPP -- in uniform.

The guerrilla group, created with the stated goal of fighting the oligarchy and promoting much-needed agrarian reform in the country's poorest regions, rules with fear in the Concepcion region some 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of the capital Asuncion.

The department holds some 300,000 of Paraguay's 7.4 million people.

There are few paved roads in this sparsely-populated tropical region, but plenty of cows. And drug traffickers.

- Who is a hitman? -

On the main road leading to the porous border with Brazil, soldiers man checkpoints with large billboards nearby offering a reward for information about the whereabouts of EPP leaders.

Armored vehicles and helicopters provide backup.

Posters with the photos of wanted Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) members are dotted around Concepcion / © AFP

"We practically live together (with drug dealers and guerrillas) and we don't realize it," said Domingo Savio Ovelar, the parish priest for the town of Yby-Yua.

"Here we cannot distinguish who is a drug trafficker, who is a hitman," he said.

"There is permanent anxiety. We never know what we will wake up to."

In its 14 years of existence, 74 killings of soldiers, police and civilians in Concepcion have been laid at the EPP's door.

It has kidnapped 13 people over the same period, and still holds three.

Yet security sources says the group's manpower is modest: a few dozen armed men.

A "generous" estimate, said Juan Martens, a criminologist at the National University of Asuncion who argued the group posed no "real threat" on a national scale.

- 'We bury comrades' -

They may be few, but they are deadly, said Colonel Luis Apezteguia, who commands a force of a thousand men in the area.

"They say that we do nothing, that the EPP is an invention. But in the meantime, we bury comrades, we take wounded people to hospital," he lamented.

Last month, three soldiers were wounded by an explosive device, and last year, three others died.

The Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) operates in a region of Paraguay near the border with Brazil, with cattle ranches, few paved roads, and many drug traffickers / © AFP

Other than Morinigo, the EPP holds 73-year-old Felix Urbieta, taken from his farm in 2016, and former Paraguayan vice-president Oscar Denis, captive since September 2020.

Denis's daughter, Beatriz, told AFP: "I would accept anything to have Dad back. I will negotiate anything."

A few months ago, the family collected the equivalent of $2 million in food -- at the EPP's request, she said -- to be distributed among poor villagers.

But to no avail. No word from her father.

"Every time a hostage has been able to return home, it was not because the government found them. It was because a ransom was paid," Denis said.

The EPP has proposed an exchange of the hostages for its top two leaders Alcides Oviedo, 52, and Carmen Villalba, 50, both prisoners in Asuncion.

Villalba's brother Osvaldo leads the EPP in her absence.

Beatriz Denis's father, former vice president Oscar Denis is among the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP)'s hostages / © AFP

In 2010, documents uncovered by the Paraguayan authorities revealed links between the EPP and the since-disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

The Paraguayan government recently sought support from Colombia in intelligence and military training to combat the EPP.

In an unforeseen way, this could mean the beginning of the end for the guerrilla group.

"The Concepcion region has become a strategic place for drug traffickers, and the EPP disturbs them, because it attracts the presence of the state," said Martens.

"If the government does not eliminate them, the narcos will take care of them, and have already started. And they are much more powerful."

Landlocked Paraguay -- nestled between Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina -- has become an important launchpad for drugs headed for Europe.

Earlier this month, the country's anti-drug prosecutor Marcelo Pecci was shot dead execution-style Tuesday while honeymooning on a Colombian Caribbean island.

‘Transmitting violence’: Livestream video’s dark side

By AFP
May 18, 2022

FBI agents look at bullet impacts in the Buffalo, New York grocery store where a gunman livestreamed himself shooting 13 people -- 10 of whom died - 

Copyright AFP/File Sam PANTHAKY

Glenn Chapman with Joshua Melvin in Washington

A gunman’s livestream of a mass killing in New York state was taken down in a matter of minutes — but even that was not fast enough to prevent those images from becoming effectively impossible to erase from the internet.

Posting horrific clips like those is not barred by US speech laws, experts told AFP, so the decision on whether to keep them online is largely left up to individual tech companies.

But even the sites that want them taken down say they struggle to do so, since once unleashed onto the internet, the videos can be edited and shared again and again.

In the case of the Buffalo shooting that killed 10 African Americans at a grocery store on Saturday, it’s particularly chilling because writings attributed to the suspect noted he was in part inspired by another mass shooter’s livestream.

“If (companies) are going to commit to live streaming, you are committed to transmitting a certain number of rapes, murders, suicides and other types of crimes,” said Mary Anne Franks, a professor at University of Miami school of law.

“That’s just what comes with that territory,” she added.

The live feed of the killing on Amazon’s Twitch platform was pulled down within two minutes, the company said –- far quicker than the 17 minutes New Zealand mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant’s attack was streamed on Facebook in 2019.

Social media firms say they fight hard to keep these types of images off their platforms, with automated and manual efforts by workers to squelch video of the Buffalo attack and similar horrors.

But the images can be edited, titles or names changed and then re-posted on sites that are happy to have the traffic that others have decided is beyond their limit.

One tweet on Wednesday cited the Buffalo suspect’s name, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, and included a link to a video about the attack, but did not show the killing.

However, once on the site viewers were offered additional videos, including one showing over 90 seconds of the attack and which said it had nearly 1,800 views since Sunday.

Websites don’t have to allow this type of video but American law is mostly silent on prohibiting them.

“There is nothing illegal in the US about posting a video of the (Buffalo) livestream. It doesn’t really fall into a category of speech that is unprotected,” said Ari Cohn, who is free speech counsel at think tank TechFreedom.

– ‘Life and death consequences’ –

Once a crime like a mass shooting is broadcast on a major platform it can take various routes to perpetual life online, including being recorded by people watching it live.

A spokesperson for Facebook parent Meta said new versions of videos, which are created to dodge being removed, then become part of a whack-a-mole effort to hunt down the clips.

The same problem is seen at other platforms like Twitter, which has a policy of removing the accounts of mass attackers “and may also remove tweets disseminating manifestos or other content produced by perpetrators,” it says.

Meta’s vice president of integrity Guy Rosen told journalists in a briefing Tuesday the firm has to tread a fine line because too broad of a filter could end up unintentionally taking down the wrong kind of content.

Live broadcasts are one of the areas where social media platforms face accusations of fanning violence and hatred, and law professor Franks said it’s not likely wise to offer that capability to the general public.

“The bigger problem here is when tech companies make these decisions for the public… that this is a tool that is useful in ways that will outweigh its disadvantages,” she added.

New York’s Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday a probe of various tech companies over the attack, including Twitch.

The general lack of up-to-date social media policies on the national level in the United States has also contributed to the problems associated with live videos online.

US states have crafted their own policies, which can reflect the heavy partisan divides along what should be allowed online.

Texas, for example, has enacted a controversial social media law that bars larger sites from “discriminating against expression,” which has been heavily criticized for being so broad that it interferes with content moderation.

“The recent tragedy (in Buffalo) underscores that this is not just about partisan point scoring,” Matt Schruers, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, told a panel discussion about the law this week.

“There are life and death consequences to tying the industry’s hands to respond to bad actors on the internet,” he added.

Forbidden love: Taiwan's gay couples seek foreign marriage equality



Taiwan was the first in Asia to legalise same-sex marriages, but certain transnational couples are still unable to wed 

(AFP/Sam YEH)

Amber WANG
Wed, May 18, 2022,

Taiwan's LGBTQ community celebrated the third year of gay marriage being legal this week, but for Vincent Chuang it was a bittersweet reminder that he still cannot wed because he fell in love with a foreigner.

Socially progressive Taiwan is at the vanguard of Asia's gay rights movement, and became the first in the region to legalise same-sex unions on May 17, 2019.

But the law still contains restrictions that heterosexual couples do not face, including limits on which foreigners same-sex couples can wed.

Under the current rules, Taiwanese nationals can only marry those from the roughly 30 countries and territories where same-sex marriage is also legal.

Activists say that discriminates against most transnational couples and keeps them apart, especially during the pandemic, which has seen partners unable to cross borders and enter Taiwan as dependants or spouses.

For Chuang, a 36-year-old teacher, the enforced split from his Filipino partner Andrew Espera has been painful.

"We are just two persons who love each other and who want to be with each other. We are not asking for anything extravagant, only this small right," he told AFP.

Chuang met Espera, a cook, six years ago during a trip to the Philippines.

"He was a chef at the bed and breakfast place I was staying. It was love at first sight," he recalled.

The pandemic forced the couple into a video call relationship, with Espera teaching his partner Tagalog and cooking as they tried various ways to be reunited.

They almost gave up until Espera eventually secured a student visa and they were finally reunited this week. But both feel they have been denied a basic right given to heterosexuals.

"We are hoping and praying for this, (that) Taiwan can accept us, accept our relationship and allow us to be legalised partners even though my country is yet to legalise same-sex marriage," Espera, 31, told AFP.

- 'Missing piece' -

The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights says some 470 transnational same-sex couples currently wish to get married but are unable.

The advocacy group has launched multiple legal battles to push for full marital recognition involving foreigners.

So far they have won three cases. But the rulings only apply to the couples in question, meaning anyone who wants to follow in their footsteps would need to launch the same time-consuming legal battle.

Alliance secretary general Chien Chih-chieh said Taiwan's government often "basks in the fame of being Asia's first" to legalise gay marriage.

"But there is still an obvious missing piece that needs to be mended."

Government employee Lee Wei-cheng last saw his partner, a 33-year-old from Myanmar, when they joined a huge 2019 Pride march in Taiwan that drew a record crowd of 200,000 to celebrate gay marriage legalisation.

Since then, they have been kept separated by both the pandemic and last year's coup in Myanmar.

Every day Lee, 31, worries for the safety of his partner, who is ethnic Karen, amid ongoing fighting between a Karen armed group and junta troops.

"We hope to live together in Taiwan and we thought getting married would be the easiest way, but we are still unable to do it," he told AFP.

"We've been separated for three years and we feel so helpless. As Taiwanese, I should have the right to marry whom I want to marry, but I've been deprived of that right -- the freedom of marriage".

Malaysian Tan Bee Guat has been living in Taipei on a student visa for six years in order to be with her partner Lai Kai-li, but the couple laments that their future is forever in limbo without a legal marriage.

"I was happy and feeling hopeful when Taiwan legalised gay marriage because it's unthinkable in Malaysia, not even after 50 years," Tan said in an interview in their rented apartment.

The couple is struggling financially, having to mostly rely on 39-year-old Lai's income as an independent publisher, because Tan as a foreign student is only allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours a week.

"I am losing faith and I am tired. I am already in my 40s but I don't have a career, I don't have money," Tan said.

But the campaign to secure full equal rights must continue, they argued.

"We are treated differently because of our sexual orientation," said Lai. "This is discrimination".

aw/jta/smw/je

Inflation could put more Canadians at risk of going hungry, say experts

© Provided by The Canadian Press


TORONTO — Experts and advocates anticipate that more Canadians could be at risk of going hungry as inflation continues to outpace many consumers' grocery budgets.

Valerie Tarasuk, a professor of nutritional sciences at University of Toronto, says steepening inflation rates are likely to increase the prevalence and severity of food insecurity in Canada.

Statistics Canada says consumers paid 9.7 per cent more for food at stores in April compared with a year ago, the largest increase since September 1981.

The 2020 Canadian Income Survey found that 11.2 per cent of Canadians lived in households that had experienced moderate and severe food insecurity, and Tarasuk says only a fraction of that population uses food charities.

Canadians feeling the pinch as inflation rate soars to new 31-year high

But a couple of food banks say that soaring food prices has accelerated surging demand for their services during the COVID-19 crisis.

The CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank says the charity saw 160,000 client visits in March, up from 60,000 visits in 2019. Neil Hetherington projects that number will increase to 225,000 visits per month by this time next year.

In the first three months of 2022, the Calgary Food Bank logged a 29 per cent year-over-year increase in demand for its food hampers, said communications co-ordinator Betty Jo Kaiser.

Last month, the organization distributed food support to nearly 9,500 people, 75 per cent of whom were first-time clients, said Kaiser.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Pacific Western Transit, union restart negotiations to end to Sea-to-Sky strike

Pacific Western Transit has agreed to meet with a mediator again in an attempt to negotiate an end to the 15-week job action at its Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton locations.

© Global NewsPassengers board a BC Transit bus in Whistler in this undated file photo.

Representatives from Whistler Transit and Diversified Transportation met with Minister of Labour Harry Bains, and agreed to the arrangement.

"We are optimistic that this meeting will result in a fair and reasonable deal, returning our employees to work and restoring essential transit services to the Sea-to-Sky communities," said PW in an emailed statement.

Read more:
Mediation fails in bitter 103-day Sea-to-Sky transit strike

The mediation will resume next Friday with representatives from the company and the employee's union.

“Mediation in the context of free collective bargaining is how this dispute is going to be solved,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor Western Regional Director.

“We’re eager to get back to the bargaining table and find a resolution as soon as possible.”

Three biggest federal public sector unions challenge Liberal government's 'punitive' vaccine mandate for bureaucrats

Christopher Nardi - 

POSTMEDIA

As of March 29, 1,828 federal employees were on unpaid leave due to the vaccination policy, according to numbers shared by Treasury Board Secretariat with unions in April.

OTTAWA – The three biggest federal public sector unions are challenging the Liberal’s vaccine mandate for bureaucrats in court, arguing suspending unvaccinated workers without pay instead of letting them work from home is “punitive” and “unjustified.”

“We continue to support vaccination. But given … the loosening of the COVID restrictions and the shifting landscape, we’re of the opinion that employer’s policy right now is unreasonable. These members can work from home,” Jennifer Carr, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), said in an interview.

“Effectively, we think it is punitive and an abuse of management authority.”

Within the last week, the National Post has learned that both PIPSC and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), which represent nearly 60,000 and 21,000 public servants respectively, have filed policy grievances against the federal government’s vaccine mandate for bureaucrats.

Their challenges are in addition to the first grievances filed in late March by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the biggest federal government union.

At issue: the Trudeau government’s federal COVID-19 vaccine policy put in place on Oct. 6, 2021, which forced all bureaucrats to either get vaccinated with two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine or be suspended without pay (except those who obtained exemptions to the policy).

The unions say that working from home has become readily available for so many public servants that it’s time to let the unvaccinated employees who can work outside the office effectively do so.

Thousands on unpaid leave as Liberals late updating public service vaccine mandate

As of March 29, 1,828 employees were on unpaid leave due to the vaccination policy, according to numbers shared by Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) with unions in April.

“As the pandemic has evolved and the science has developed, we believe continuing to put unvaccinated employees on leave without pay is a harsh administrative measure that can be considered disciplinary and without just cause,” PSAC said when it announced its grievances.

They’re also frustrated that the government has yet to complete a review of the policy once since it was implemented, despite its own requirements.

A copy of TBS’ vaccine policy online says the government’s chief human resources officer is responsible for reviewing both the need of the policy and its contents “at a minimum every 6 months” and reporting those results to the minister.

Since the policy kicked in on Oct. 6, 2021, that means the first review was due by April 6.

But union heads say that date came and went without a peep from TBS, and the latest update meeting between them and government officials on Tuesday didn’t provide any new insight into when the review will be made public.

“Not only have they failed not to give us a position, they failed to let us know when they’re going to come up with a position,” Carr said. “We had a call (Tuesday), and they still can’t give us a tentative date.”

“At this point, it seems like it’s in a black hole,” she added. “That leaves a lot of public servants in limbo.”

TBS spokesperson Alain Belle-Isle said in a statement that the review is currently underway “in line with the requirement” and the results will be presented “in due course.”

“There is no obligation to update the policy every 6 months,” he said, adding that roughly 99 per cent of employees attested to being fully vaccinated.

“We are taking the time required to conduct a detailed review, which considers the evolving public health context, the latest science, and the advice of public health official,” his statement continues.

But now, the unions are asking the federal labour relations tribunal via their policy grievances to force the government to allow unvaccinated employees currently suspended without pay to be accommodated by allowing them to work from home.

They’re also asking that the government be compelled to reimburse all the bureaucrats still affected by the vaccine mandate for lost wages since April 6 (the date they say the policy needed to be reviewed).

For CAPE President Greg Phillips, working from home has become such an established practice amongst his members that the government’s vaccine policy is akin to asking someone who works in construction to wear a hard hat even if they’re working from home.

“My members are basically all office workers. For the past two years, only a statistically insignificant number of people have actually had to go into the office,” he said, adding that barely 100 of his 21,000 federal public service members are currently suspended due to the vaccine

“What we’re saying is that if you have to go into the office, you should be vaccinated, as much as if you’re going into a construction zone, you have to wear steel toed shoes.”

Carr says that the situation today is very different from two years ago, and vaccines are not the only tool the public service has to keep its employees safe from COVID-19 going forward.

“They have to look at other health and safety measures that are appropriate. Again, working from home is one of those, as well as keeping people out of contact, but also ventilation rates and spacing and masking if applicable,” she said.

Smiley and discreet: The sociologist marrying Brazil's Lula

AFP / May 19, 2022,

Brazilian former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva marries 

sociologist Rosangela Silva, in Sao Paulo.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Rosangela da Silva is a smiley, politically active member of Brazil's Workers' Party, but the new wife of presidential hopeful Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remains discreet when it comes to her private life.

Sociologist Da Silva and Lula, Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, were due to be married in a ceremony on Wednesday evening, the details of which were kept top-secret.
Pictures of the couple kissing and cuddling regularly go viral on social media but Da Silva will be brought into a new limelight if veteran socialist Lula returns to the presidency in elections later this year and makes her Brazil's first lady.

"I'm in love as if I were 20 years old, as if it were my first girlfriend," said Lula, 76, about his 55-year-old partner, nicknamed "Janja," who is credited with giving the political icon a new lease on life.

Lula was left distraught when his wife of more than 30 years, with whom he had four children, Marisa Leticia, died in 2017.

He had also lost his first wife, Maria de Lourdes, to hepatitis, in 1971.

"When you lose your wife, you think, well, my life has no more meaning. Then suddenly this person appears who makes you feel like you want to live again," Lula said in a recent interview with Time magazine.

"We will get married calmly and I will have a happy campaign," said the former metal worker and trade unionist who is set for a fiery election battle against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October.

Born in Sao Paulo, Da Silva has a degree in sociology from Parana University in the southern city of Curitiba, where Lula was jailed between April 2018 and November 2019 on controversial corruption charges.

She joined the Workers' Party (PT) in 1983, two years after it was co-founded by Lula. She then worked for almost 20 years in the state energy company Itaipu Binacional.

Brazilian media say the couple have known each other for decades but Lula's press service insists their amorous relationship began only at the end of 2017, during an event with left-wing artists.

The relationship was only made public in May 2019, more than a year after Lula was incarcerated.
"Lula is in love and the first thing he will want to do when he leaves prison is get married," one of his lawyers said following a prison visit.

Even so, it has taken him two and a half years since his liberation to tie the knot, at a private ceremony for 200 guests in Sao Paulo that is shrouded in secrecy.

During Lula's incarceration, Da Silva would often tweet about the pain of their forced separation.
"All I want is to be able to wrap my arms around you and cuddle you forever," she wrote on the day Lula turned 74.

In November 2019, just after his liberation, they shared a kiss in front of masses of supporters outside the prison in Curitiba that had been his home for 18 months.

"I want to introduce you to someone I have already spoken about but whom some of you don't know: my future spouse," said an emotional Lula.

Since Lula's corruption conviction was annulled by the Supreme Court and he was again eligible to stand for election, Da Silva has accompanied him on his many trips, including to Mexico and Europe.
Lula has suggested that, as first lady, Da Silva could play a role in food security programs, in a country where the Covid-19 pandemic has led to increased hunger.

Although highly active on social media for the Lula campaign, Da Silva is very discreet when it comes to her personal life, of which little is known.

According to Veja magazine, she was married for more than 10 years before her relationship with Lula, although she does not have any children.

Da Silva "is very politicized, she has a good political mind and is very feminist," Lula said in September, during an interview with rapper Mano Brown's podcast.

Moth last seen 110 years ago found at Detroit airport


A species of moth, last seen in 1912, was discovered inside a passenger's bag at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

May 18 (UPI) -- A species of moth, not seen since 1912, was found inside a passenger's luggage at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection found larvae and pupae from the moth last September inside a bag arriving from the Philippines.

Customs and Border Protection said Monday the passenger claimed the seeds were for medicinal tea. Upon closer inspection, agriculture specialists discovered exit holes in the pods and confiscated them.

While in quarantine, the pupae hatched to reveal what etymologists called "very flashy" moths with raised patches of black bristles, indicating the moths are members of the Pyralidae family.

A Smithsonian Institution expert later identified the moth as "Salma brachyscopalis Hampson" and determined the moth was last seen more than a century ago, according to Kris Grogan, a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection.

The Smithsonian etymologist also confirmed it was the first time larvae or pupae associated with this species of moth had been collected.

The moths found at the airport were "disposed of via steam sterilization," said Grogan.

"Agriculture specialists play a vital role at our nation's ports of entry by preventing the introduction of harmful exotic plant pests and foreign animal diseases into the United States," said Port Director Robert Larkin. "This discovery is a testament to their important mission of identifying foreign pests and protecting America's natural resources."

New NOAA study finds increase in Atlantic hurricanes linked to cleaner air

By Allison Finch, Accuweather.com

Researchers examined how particulate air pollution, or aerosols, and climate change have affected tropical cyclones across the planet over the past 40 years in a new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that was recently published in the journal Science Advances, and the results are surprising.

"Air pollution is a big environmental risk to human health, and we have made great strides in reducing health risks by reducing particulate air pollution," said Hiroyuki Murakami, a physical scientist at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and study author. "But reducing air pollution does not always decrease the risk of hazards from tropical cyclones."

Dr. Boris Quennehen, Lead Atmospheric Scientist at Plume Labs, a company acquired by AccuWeather earlier this year, said particulate matter (PM), also known as aerosols, is a mix of fine dust and tiny liquid droplets.

"Particulate matter can come from natural sources, like fine sand, wildfires, volcanic eruptions and sea salt for example, or from human activities, usually involving some kind of incomplete combustion -- a fire or explosion," said Quennehen

RELATED 116-year-old 'ghost tracks' unearthed following pesky coastal storm

From 1980 to 2020, Europe and North America have reduced particulate air pollution from automotive, and energy industries. This has resulted in an estimated 50 drop in the concentration of particulate air pollution from North America and Europe, which, as noted by the study from NOAA, has had a significant impact on water temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean basin and the development of tropical cyclones.

"Particulate matter and water temperatures are linked, in this case, by the 'parasol effect.' The PM parasol effect means that a part of the sunlight is reflected [or] trapped by particles and thus can't reach the surface as it would have if particles weren't there," said Quennehen, who was not involved in the new study. "Less sunlight reaching the surface means less energy and thus lower temperature. Less particulate matter means less reflection, thus warmer waters."

Warm water temperatures above 80 degrees F are one of the key ingredients in the formation of a tropical cyclone. So, thanks in part to the aforementioned parasol effect, water temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean basin are warming, which is creating ideal breeding grounds for tropical development.

"A warming Atlantic Ocean has been a key ingredient to a 33 percent increase in the number of tropical cyclones during this 40-year period," said Murakami.

Moreover, there has been an increase in temperature in the middle to high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere from the decreased amount of pollution, according to the study. This has resulted in a steady poleward movement of the jet stream from the tropics toward the Arctic, which has led to weaker winds in the upper troposphere in the tropical Atlantic Ocean basin.

While the troposphere is the lowest region of the atmosphere, wind speeds gradually strengthen and sometimes change direction from the lower troposphere, which is closest to the surface of the Earth, to the upper troposphere, which is about 10-12 miles from the surface of the Earth in the tropical Atlantic basin. This difference between wind speed and direction and height is defined as wind shear.

The weaker winds in the upper troposphere led to an environment with little to no wind shear, which is another key ingredient in tropical cyclone development.

Low wind shear and warm ocean waters are two of the three main ingredients needed to form and sustain a tropical cyclone, and the decreased air pollution from North America and Europe over the past 40 years has led to an environment in which these ingredients can flourish, the study said.

On the other side of the world, in the western North Pacific, where strong tropical cyclones are referred to as typhoons, quite the opposite is occurring. According to this new research, the increase in air pollution in the western North Pacific has been one of the several factors that has contributed to a 14 percent decrease in tropical cyclones during the past 40 years. Some of the other factors include natural variability and increased greenhouse gasses.

Therefore, the opposite is occurring in the western North Pacific. As Quennehen described above, more air pollution that exists in the atmosphere reduces the amount of sunlight that will reach the surface, resulting in lower temperatures.

In East Asia, the increased amount of air pollution has made the land temperature cooler, which has reduced the contrast between the land and ocean temperatures. Without this contrast, the monsoon winds become weaker.

A monsoon is defined as the change in wind direction that can trigger persistent rainfall or long-duration dry weather. In the summer, the westerly Indian monsoon winds converge with trade winds in the western Pacific Ocean, creating tropical cyclones. However, with weaker monsoon winds, a lower number of tropical cyclones have formed over the last four decades, according to Murakami's research.

Over the 40-year period Murakami examined, there has been a 40 percent increase in the amount of pollution filling the air over the western North Pacific, which has corresponded to a 14 percent decrease in the formation of tropical cyclones, or typhoons as they're called in that part of the world.

Without considering other factors, it might seem as easy as adding more particles, or air pollution, to the atmosphere will help reduce the number of tropical cyclones, but such a concept is not practical, according to Quennehen.

"Adding more particles in the atmosphere is not a viable solution for the Earth and humankind," said Quennehen. "More particles means more heath impacts but also ocean acidification which may lead to the extinction of many marine species."

Murakami suggested that there will be a need for careful policymaking in the future.

"This study indicates that decreasing air pollution leads to an increased risk of tropical cyclones, which is happening in the North Atlantic, and could also happen, if air pollution is rapidly reduced, in Asia," said Murakami. "The ironic result suggests the necessity of careful policy decision-making in the future that considers the pros and cons of the multiple impacts."

Murakami predicts in the next decade, increased greenhouse gases will significantly influence tropical cyclones compared to human-caused particulate air pollution.

2 senators reach deal on help for veterans exposed to toxic burning pits


Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., right, and Sen, Jon Tester, D-Mont., listen during a confirmation hearing on January 27, 2021. The senators announced a deal Wednesday to help veterans who were exposed to toxic dump pits while on service. 

File Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI | License Photo

May 18 (UPI) -- Congress moved closer to addressing concerns over the exposure of military members to toxic burning pits after leaders on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee announced Wednesday a bipartisan deal to help them.

Committee members Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., announced in a joint statement the legislation would expand the VA healthcare eligibility to post-9/11 combat veterans.

The bill is named after the late Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson, who died in 2020 after being exposed to toxic pits during his military service while deployed to Kosovo and Iraq with the Ohio National Guard.

"This bipartisan legislation is the most comprehensive toxic exposure package the Senate has ever delivered to veterans in this country's history," the senators said. "For far too long, our nation's veterans have been living with chronic illnesses as a result of exposures during their time in uniform.

"Today, we're taking necessary steps to right this wrong with our proposal that'll provide veterans and their families with the healthcare and benefits they have earned and deserve."

Along with the expansion of VA healthcare to 3.5 million eligible veterans, it also creates a framework for the establishment of future presumptions of service connection related to toxic exposure; adds 23 burn pit and toxic exposure-related conditions to VA's list of service presumptions, including hypertension; and expands presumptions related to Agent Orange exposure.

"In addition to providing historic relief to all generations of toxic-exposed veterans, this legislation will improve claims processing to meet the immediate and future needs of every veteran it serves," the senators said.

"Together, we will continue working until Congress delivers on its commitment to passing long-lasting solutions and comprehensive reforms for those who served our country."

Veterans were regularly exposed to open-air burn pits at U.S. military bases during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where dangerous materials ranging from electronics and vehicles to human waste were regularly doused in jet fuel and set on fire.

President Joe Biden, who backs the new legislation, has said he believes his late son Beau Biden's brain cancer was linked to his exposure to burn pits while deployed in Iraq in 2008.