Misinformation shrouds Philippine martial law era horrors

Lucille SODIPE
Mon, September 19, 2022


American lawyer Thomas Jones still remembers the scars of Philippine torture victims he interviewed for Amnesty International inside the country's detention centres in 1975 during the rule of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

But Marcos, who presided over widespread abuses and corruption during his 20 years in power, denied the lawyer's visit to the Philippines ever happened.

Decades later the dictator's claim -- debunked by AFP and others -- has resurfaced on social media sites popular among Filipinos.

Amnesty estimates thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands tortured and imprisoned after Marcos imposed martial law on September 21, 1972.

Under legislation signed in 2013 by former president Benigno Aquino, 11,103 victims of torture, killings, enforced disappearances and other abuses have been officially recognised and compensated.

In the run-up to Wednesday's 50th anniversary of the start of martial law, pro-Marcos posts have flooded Facebook and TikTok with false and misleading claims that cast doubt on Amnesty's findings and downplay the abuses.

AFP has fact-checked multiple posts that carried footage of Marcos addressing US media in 1982.

Marcos -- father of current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr who has defended martial law -- accused Amnesty of relying on "hearsay" for their findings. And he falsely claimed the rights group "never" visited the country.

The clip resurfaced on TikTok in March after an anti-Marcos Senate candidate running in May 9 elections cited Amnesty for figures showing the horrors of martial law.

"Amnesty International (said) 3,257 were killed during Marcos's time, 35,000 were tortured... 70,000 were imprisoned. It's a matter of record," Luke Espiritu said in a debate.

Within hours of that livestreamed event, the Marcos footage had been stitched with the Espiritu video and circulated on TikTok and Facebook.

It received more than 900,000 views, according to analysis by AFP's Fact Check team.

One post drew more than 3,000 comments that questioned Amnesty's numbers and described the dictator as "a great leader destroyed by black propaganda".


Jones said Marcos lied about the Amnesty visit and martial law abuses, and decades later Filipinos were being deceived by his son.

"People of the Philippines, they still don't know the facts," the 81-year-old told AFP from his home in Wisconsin.

Jones and a colleague interviewed Marcos, members of his cabinet and 107 detainees during their visit.

Marcos admitted about 50,000 people had been arrested in the first few years of martial law, while 71 detainees told them they had been tortured, Jones said.

Amnesty published their findings in 1976, with their conclusion that "torture was used freely and with extreme cruelty, often over long periods".

The Marcos government denied torture was "widely used" and said Amnesty's report was "based on fabrications, biased, and without factual foundations".

- 'Short memories' -

Josefina Forcadilla, 66, one of the detainees mentioned in the Amnesty report, remembers being interviewed by Jones and his colleague while she was imprisoned.

"I was hesitant to talk to them at first, until they said they wanted to document what my family went through at the time," she told AFP.

Forcadilla was 17 when police raided their house in search of her elder brother in April 1973.

She said an officer boxed her ears, fondled her breasts and played Russian roulette with a gun while interrogating her about his whereabouts.

"I was in shock. I couldn't cry. I knew then that their purpose was really to kill," she said.

She and three other siblings were eventually arrested.

Her elder sister was assaulted and died in detention, while her brother was tortured and another sister gave birth in prison.

"My family can't help but ask, why do Filipinos have short memories?" she said.

Amnesty visited the Philippines again in 1981 to document abuses that took place from 1976 onwards.

In a 2018 statement, Amnesty said: "From 1972 to 1981, some 70,000 people were imprisoned and 34,000 were tortured; over 3,200 people were killed."

Marcos was toppled from power in 1986.

Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty researcher for Southeast Asia, defended the rights group's estimates, saying they were "based on our own field missions and documentation during the 80s and cross-referenced with other research at the time".

But she said the true scale of the abuses may never be known "given the immensity and pervasiveness of violations during that time".

- Denying atrocities -

Yet, the truth about what is known is itself under attack.

Filipinos worried about martial law violence being whitewashed or erased by the new Marcos administration have been digitising books, films and articles documenting the brutality.


One group is Project Gunita, which has been scanning and posting old newspaper and magazine reports on social media to educate users influenced by pro-Marcos misinformation.

"It's pointless to have our Google drives, it's pointless to have this database of information if it doesn't get to those people who need to read them," said co-founder Sarah Gomez.

Joel Ariate, a member of the University of the Philippines' Marcos Regime Research group, said denying Marcos atrocities "has become like a bloodsport online".

He said the key to fighting misinformation about martial law was to repeat the truth "as much as the lies".

Marcos Jr, who said earlier this year he had not seen Amnesty's figures and did not know how they were generated, last week acknowledged there had been "abuses" under martial law, "like in any war".

But martial law had been "necessary" to defend the country against communist and Muslim insurgencies, he told a local celebrity talk show host.

Carmelo Crisanto of the Human Rights Violations Victims' Memorial Commission, an independent government body, said in August the real number of victims could be much higher than the official figure.

"Many people in the fringes of our society -- Muslims, farmers, fisherfolk -- they didn't even hear that there was a process for filing claims," Crisanto said.

"So the effects of the regime could have touched them but they are not recorded."

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Prime-time lies: Brazil candidates take information wars to TV

Issued on: 20/09/2022 - 

Disinformation wars on TV: Brazilians watch a presidential debate between incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at a Rio de Janeiro bar on August 29 

CARL DE SOUZA AFP

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Disinformation on social networks has become routine as Brazil heads for deeply divisive elections, but it can gain traction and a broader audience when it comes straight from the candidates' mouths on national television.

The official start last month of the campaign for the October 2 elections means candidates have huge exposure on TV, including prime-time interviews, debates and daily ad spots paid for with public funds.

In practice, that has meant a flood of false narratives being beamed into Brazilian living rooms, whether it is incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro taking credit for the idea to create a mega-popular instant payments system known as "Pix" or front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva claiming he was absolved of all corruption charges against him, to cite just two examples.

In reality, Brazil's central bank started working on Pix in 2018, a year before the far-right incumbent took office. And Lula, the charismatic but tarnished leftist who led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, had his controversial convictions stemming from the "Car Wash" corruption scandal overturned on procedural grounds. He was not absolved.

"Campaigns are above all a war of narratives," and candidates often use distorted or outright false statements to sell themselves, says Amaro Grassi, a public policy expert at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

There is nothing new about lies in politics.

But analysts warn TV is now giving broader reach to the disinformation that has been raging for months on social networks in Brazil.

"Television is still a mass medium" in Brazil, says Arthur Ituassu, associate professor of political communication at Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro.

Unlike social media, Brazilian television -- where the vast majority of audience share is still concentrated among a handful of top networks, notably the dominant TV Globo -- reaches a broad population that is "not segmented by nature," he says.
'If it's on TV, it's true'

"Television is still a space that reaches the general public, going well beyond the audience that is already firmly in one camp or the other," says Helena Martins, a communications professor at the Federal University of Ceara.

There is also a widely held belief that "if it's on TV, it's true," she adds.

The 2018 race that brought Bolsonaro to power was already awash in disinformation, especially on social media -- hugely powerful in a country that has more smart phones than people (an estimated 242 million, for 213 million inhabitants).

If anything, the campaign is arguably uglier this time around, given that the presidential race is highly polarized between the far-right incumbent and his leftist nemesis.

Amid those deep divisions, 85 percent of Brazilians say disinformation could influence the outcome of the election, according to a poll from the Ipec institute published on September 6.

At the same time, however, polls show there are relatively few voters left to persuade: 78 percent of voters say their minds are "completely" made up, found a poll from the Datafolha institute published last week.

The same poll found Lula had 45 percent of the vote, to 33 percent for Bolsonaro -- broadly in line with the institute's previous poll.

No other candidate was in double digits.

"There's a very high level of consolidation of voter intentions. That makes it difficult for any narrative to change the picture at this point," says Grassi.

That has not stopped the candidates from seeking to rile up their bases with truth-bending statements, hoping to persuade the odd undecided or third-candidate voter in the process.

Lula, for example, has repeatedly exaggerated his accomplishments on the economy.

Bolsonaro has meanwhile accused Lula of being anti-Evangelical and anti-agribusiness, two powerful groups that lean toward the incumbent.

"The idea is to reinforce those groups' rejection of Lula," says Grassi.

"Because in an election as polarized as this, it ends up being largely a battle of rejection."

© 2022 AFP

More Amazon fires so far this year than all of 2021, Brazil report shows

Issued on: 19/09/2022 - 

Aerial view of a burning area in Lábrea, southern Amazonas State, Brazil, on September 17, 2022. © Michael Dantas, AFP

Text by:NEWS WIRES

The number of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon so far this year has already surpassed that for all of 2021, according to official figures released Monday that triggered new alarm for the world's biggest rainforest.

Satellite monitoring has detected 75,592 fires from January 1 to September 18, already higher than the 75,090 detected for all of last year, according to the Brazilian space agency, INPE.

The latest grim news from the rainforest will likely add to pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro, who is fighting to win reelection next month and faces international criticism over a surge in destruction in the Amazon on his watch.

Since the far-right agribusiness ally took office in January 2019, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased by 75 percent compared to the previous decade, destroying the forest cover of an area nearly the size of Puerto Rico last year.

Experts say Amazon fires are caused mainly by illegal farmers, ranchers and speculators clearing land and torching the trees.

Despite the advancing destruction, the Bolsonaro administration has slashed budgets for environmental enforcement operations and pushed to open protected Amazon lands to mining.

Greenpeace Brazil spokesman Andre Freitas called the latest figures a "tragedy foretold."

"After four years of a clear and objective anti-environmental policy by the federal government, we are seeing that as we approach the end of this government's term -- one of the darkest periods ever for the Brazilian environment -- land-grabbers and other illegal actors see it as the perfect opportunity to advance on the forest," he said in a statement.

Election-year row

This has been a worrying year for the Amazon, a key buffer against global warming.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon last month was nearly double the figure from August 2021, at 1,661 square kilometers (641 square miles).

And since the burning season began in earnest in August with the arrival of drier weather, the number of fires has soared.

According to INPE figures, there have been multiple days that surpassed the so-called "Day of Fire" on August 10, 2019, when farmers launched a coordinated plan to burn huge amounts of felled rainforest in the northern state of Para.

Then, fires sent thick gray smoke all the way to Sao Paulo, some 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) away, and triggered a global outcry over images of one of Earth's most vital resources burning.

Bolsonaro vehemently rejects that criticism, insisting Brazil "protects its forests much better than Europe" and batting away international alarm with the line: "The Amazon belongs to Brazilians, and always will."

The front-runner vying to unseat him in next month's presidential elections, leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has vowed to do a better job protecting the Amazon.

Deforestation in Brazil's 60-percent share of the Amazon basin fell sharply under Lula, from nearly 28,000 square kilometers in 2004 to 7,000 in 2010.

Still, he has faced criticism from environmentalists for his own track record, which notably included the controversial decision to build the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon.

And the highest number of fires ever recorded in the Brazilian Amazon by INPE, whose records go back to 1998, was on his watch: 218,637, in 2004.

(AFP)

Storm damages space center in Japan, 130K still lack power

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press -

TOKYO (AP) — A tropical storm that dumped heavy rain as it cut across Japan moved into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday after killing two and injuring more than 100, paralyzing traffic and leaving thousands of homes without power.


People share an umbrella against strong wind and rain as they walk on a bridge Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. A tropical storm slammed southwestern Japan with rainfall and winds Monday, leaving one person dead and another missing, as it swerved north toward Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)© Provided by Associated Press

New damage was reported in southern Japan, where Typhoon Nanmadol hit over the weekend before weakening as it moved north.

On Tanegashima island, south of Kyushu island, a wall was damaged at a Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency’s space center, the Economy and Industry Ministry said. The extent of damage to the building used for rocket assembly was being assessed.



A person rides a bicycle against strong wind and rain as they walk on a bridge Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. A tropical storm slammed southwestern Japan with rainfall and winds Monday, leaving one person dead and another missing, as it swerved north toward Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)© Provided by Associated Press

Two deaths were reported in Miyazaki prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Monday, when the storm was more powerful, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. One was a man was found in a car sunk in a flooded farm in Miyakonojo town, and another was found underneath a landslide in Mimata.



People share an umbrella against strong wind and rain Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. A tropical storm slammed southwestern Japan with rainfall and winds Monday, leaving one person dead and another missing, as it swerved north toward Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)© Provided by Associated Press

One person was missing in the western prefecture of Hiroshima, and 115 others were injured across western Japan, the agency said. Most of injuries were minor, with people falling down in the rainstorm, hit by shards of broken windows or flying objects.

More than 130,000 homes, most of them in the Kyushu region, were still without power Tuesday morning, according to the Economy and Industry Ministry. Many convenience stores were at one point closed and some distribution of supplies has been delayed.


A person holds an umbrella against strong wind and rain as they walk on a bridge Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. A tropical storm slammed southwestern Japan with rainfall and winds Monday, leaving one person dead and another missing, as it swerved north toward Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)© Provided by Associated Press

Most transportation returned to normal on Tuesday when commuters returned to work after a three-day weekend. Bullet trains and most ground transportation resumed operation, but dozens of flights were grounded in northeastern Japan.

The tropical storm has headed out to the Pacific Ocean off northern Japanese coast, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Tuesday.

 

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FASCIST POPULISM

Italy’s Salvini Wants $30 Billion to Aid Companies Hit by Energy Prices



Daniele Lepido, Chiara Albanese and Tommaso Ebhardt
Mon, September 19, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Matteo Salvini, a leader of the right-wing coalition expected to win Italy’s elections, wants a 30 billion-euro ($30 billion) state subsidy to cap the cost of energy for businesses in the run-up to winter.

“My problem is how to ensure Italian industries survive the next months with surging energy bills,” Salvini said in an interview at the Milan exhibition center Monday, citing companies which have started to furlough workers because of the price spikes. “If the avalanche starts, when we get into government we would only be able to handle the consequences.”

Salvini, who fostered political ties with Vladimir Putin’s party before his invasion of Ukraine, said that he had changed his mind about the Russian president and doesn’t see any chance of new gas deals with Moscow for Italy.

Countries across the European Union are struggling to ease the financial pain of an energy crisis that has jolted the continent. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has proposed a mandatory cut on energy use in the bloc, as well as steps to ease the crunch in markets caused by ballooning collateral demands.

The coalition led by Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, and which includes Salvini’s anti-migrant League, is expected to win Sunday’s general elections in a context closely-watched by investors because of Italy’s precarious finances. Meloni herself is likely to succeed Mario Draghi as prime minister.

Salvini is urging Draghi to expand the budget deficit to fund the new measures, before he exits the premiership. Salvini pledged that if his request is met, he would refrain from seeking a further increase in Italy’s mammoth debt -- an option worrying investors. Draghi has ruled out such a measure.

French Model

Salvini’s proposal would also be financed by additional tax revenue collected by the state due to higher inflation. “France recently designed a price cap for energy prices domestically,” Salvini said. “We aim for the same program, to allow industrial production to reach the summer.”

France will budget 16 billion euros to limit power and gas price increases to 15% for households and small companies next year to ease the burden of the energy crisis on consumers. Prices would have risen by 120% without the limits, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sept. 14.

Salvini had long been cultivating ties with Russia, and said in 2018 that he felt at home in Russia and not in some EU countries.

Change on Putin

“My opinion about Putin has indeed changed amid the war, because when someone starts invading, bombing, sending tanks into another country, well, everything changes,” Salvini said. He added that the League had voted in favor of all sanctions against Russia, but questioned whether such measures actually work.

Salvini also backed Italy’s commitment to the NATO military alliance, saying that international relations “don’t change for us.” In May, Salvini opposed enlargement of the alliance, saying this would not favor peace.

The League leader warned against China as a business rival. “For the near future China is our main competitor, we need to fear it because it’s not a democracy and they are ready to invade the European market with their own products and goods, starting with the automotive industry with the new electrification trend,” he said.

Salvini sought to reassure investors about a possible right wing government, saying it will be stable and united regardless of which party prevails inside the coalition.

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Far-right leader senses power in divided Italy

Elections may be around the corner, but at the Ballarò market in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, the passions are not political but culinary.


The far right has surged ahead in Sicily, despite a lack of appetite for politics

© BBC

Calls ring out from traders slicing fresh calamari or tempting passers-by with the delicious local speciality: arancini, or fried balls of rice and meat.

But there is little appetite for politicians here. Wandering through the narrow stalls, most of those we asked said they would not vote in the election next Sunday: disappointment, disillusionment, and dishonesty were the words we heard repeatedly.

Piling up ripe oranges and pomegranates outside her cafe, Sonia Capizzi was a rare exception: she has boycotted elections until now, but this time is different.

"I can see things are changing and it's down to Giorgia Meloni," she says, referencing the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who tops the opinion polls.

"She's drawing me in because she's a woman, a mum, and has grit and charisma."



In Italy's last election in 2018, her party scored less than 4% in Sicily - just behind what she garnered nationally - while the populist, anti-establishment Five Star Movement came top with almost 50% of the vote here.

Four years on, Brothers of Italy have soared ahead, with the right-wing coalition it leads now scenting victory.

Ms Meloni, 45, could well become Italy's first female prime minister - and the country's first far-right leader since Benito Mussolini.


Giorgia Meloni aims to lead a coalition of right-wing parties© Getty Images

Her promises of tax cuts and a hard line on immigration are gaining considerable support here. But her pledge to scrap a flagship Five Star policy, the citizens' income - a social welfare system for those below the poverty line - splits opinion.

The poorer south of Italy has benefited from it most and it is still a vote-winner for Five Star. But some, like Sonia Capizzi, follow Ms Meloni's line that the policy has overburdened the state. "With the handout, people are just staying at home and not working," says the cafe-owner. "The government should have created jobs instead."

Related video: Ready or not? Italy's far-right Meloni launches vote campaign

Duration 0:40 View on Watch

That is a view also echoed on the outskirts of Palermo, in the deprived Zen neighbourhood. The area is one of Europe's most impoverished, where unemployment is at 50%, and at 80% among the youth.



Palermo's Zen neighbourhood is among the poorest in Europe© BBC

Between their tightly packed apartment blocks, Domenico Finocchio and Piero Gambino peer at a field strewn with litter and broken glass. Beside it lie burnt-out cars and charred rubbish bins. Both men voted for Five Star in the last election but now say they will cast their ballot for Giorgia Meloni.

"We want this area to be cleaned up so it's safer at night," says Domenico. "You can't even get rid of the rubbish because it's swarming with rats."



Both Domenico (L) and Piero have switched allegiance to Brothers of Italy© BBC

"We hoped Five Star would change things", says Piero, "but they were all talk and no action and there are still no jobs. We feel very abandoned - and we hope Meloni will fix things."

But Italy is as divided as it is diverse.

Across the country, in the northern city of Modena, plates of the local speciality, tortellini - pasta stuffed with meat - are being served up at the Festa de l'Unità, the annual festival of the centre-left. And here, the politics is of a very different taste to Meloni-land.


Barbara Rosi sees Brothers of Italy as a return to the fascist past© BBC

Speeches and debates focus on everything from education to the war in Ukraine, and talk over dinner is about how to stop Italy swinging to the far right

"I'm very worried about Giorgia Meloni - she's the worst idea of a woman I could have," says Barbara Rosi, a marketing manager who has come with her family. "I'm worried she could touch our human rights, especially abortion. She represents the past for me - fascism - and she wants to bring it back."

The Brothers of Italy leader vehemently rejects the fascist label, stating recently that it had been "consigned to history".

But her party has neo-fascist roots, its flame symbol has been interpreted by some as the fire on Mussolini's tomb, and a video emerged last year of some party members making fascist salutes.

What is clearer in Meloni's political programme is her social conservatism, particularly her opposition to same-sex families. "Yes to the natural family, no to LGBT lobbies!" she roared at a recent rally of Spain's far-right party Vox.

That strikes fear into the hearts of Christian De Florio and Carlo Tumino, fathers of four-year-old twin boys through an American surrogate. While the children build Lego in the kitchen, they tell me of their despair at what they call Meloni's attempts "to erase families like ours".



Carlo Tumino (2nd L) and husband Christian are worried by the prospect of a Meloni-led government© BBC

"Her strategy is to define enemies," says Carlo. "Gay people like us, transsexuals and immigrants are enemies - and I don't like this way of expressing herself. She always seems angry with people that don't represent her idea of society. But I think in this society, there should be a place for everyone. That is democracy."

Italy's democracy is firmly entrenched but has somehow constantly seemed unsure of which direction it should take. This political laboratory invented fascism, elected a billionaire property tycoon and media mogul in Silvio Berlusconi two decades before Donald Trump, tried anti-establishment populism, technocrat governments, and now perhaps looks set to elect a far-right prime minister.

In its constant search for a political identity, Italy is again trying something new, hoping perhaps it will finally bring change. But many here worry that the leap into the unknown could well turn out to be a very dark ride.

To Bond With Humans, Robots Are Learning to Laugh at the Right Time

Leslie Katz -

Anyone who's shared a laugh with a friend knows how deeply bonding humor can be, so it stands to reason our future robot companions have a better chance of winning our trust and affection if they can laugh with us.


Teaching Erica, the robot, to laugh is serious business. Kyoto University/Hiroshi Ishiguro Lab© Provided by CNET

But just because a robot tells jokes doesn't mean it can respond to them appropriately. Did a comment warrant a polite robot giggle or an all-out bot belly laugh? The right response could mean the difference between an approachable android and a metallic boor.

That's why Japanese researchers are attempting to teach humorless robot nerds to laugh at the right time and in the right way. Turns out training an AI to laugh isn't as simple as teaching it to respond to a desperate phone tree plea to cancel a subscription. "Systems that try to emulate everyday conversation still struggle with the notion of when to laugh," reads a study published Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI.

Erica the humanoid robot is in the lab getting a sense of humor. 

Osaka University, ATR© Provided by CNET

The study details the team's research into developing an AI conversational system focused on shared laughter to make chatter between humans and robots more natural. They envision it being integrated into existing conversational software for robots and agents, which are already learning to detect emotions and deal with open-ended complexity like vague human commands.

"We think one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy," Koji Inoue, an assistant professor of informatics at Japan's Kyoto University and the study's co-author, said in a statement. "Conversation is, of course, multimodal, not just responding correctly. So we decided that one way a robot can empathize with users is to share their laughter."

The key is that the system not only recognizes laughter, it also decides whether to laugh in response and then chooses the right type of laughter for the occasion. "The most significant result of this paper is that we have shown how we can combine all three of these tasks into one robot," Inoue said. "We believe that this type of combined system is necessary for proper laughing behavior, not simply just detecting a laugh and responding to it."

To gather training data on the frequency and types of shared laughter, the team tapped Erica, an advanced humanoid robot designed by Japanese scientists Hiroshi Ishiguro and Kohei Ogawa, as a platform for studying human-robot interaction. Erica can understand natural language, has a synthesized human voice and can blink and move her eyes when listening to humans go on about their people problems.

The researchers recorded dialogue between male Kyoto University students who took turns chatting face-to-face with Erica as amateur actresses in another room teleoperated the bot via microphone. The scientists chose that setup knowing there'd naturally be differences between how humans talk with each other and how they talk with robots, even those controlled by another human.

"We wanted, as much as possible, to have the laughter model trained under the similar conditions to a real human-robot interaction," Kyoto University researcher Divesh Lala, another co-author of the study, told me.


At left, a human talks to Erica the robot, who's being controlled from a separate room by an actress. Kyoto University© Provided by CNET

Based on the interactions, the researchers created four short audio dialogues between humans and Erica, who was programmed to respond to conversations with varying levels of laughter, from none at all to frequent chuckles in response to her human conversational buddies. Volunteers then rated those interludes on empathy, naturalness, likeness to humans, and understanding. The shared laughter scenarios performed better than the ones where Erica never laughs or laughs every time she detects a human laugh without using the other two subsystems to filter context and response.

The Kyoto University researchers have already programmed their shared laughter system into robots besides Erica, though they say the humanoid howls could still be more natural sounding. Indeed, even as robots becoming increasingly lifelike, sometimes unsettlingly so, roboticists concede that infusing them with their own distinct humanlike traits poses challenges that go beyond coding.

"It may well take more than 10 to 20 years before we can finally have a casual chat with a robot like we would with a friend," Inoue said

Erica, needless to say, isn't ready for the stand-up circuit yet. But it's intriguing to think there may soon come a day when it truly feels like she gets your jokes.

Hurricane Fiona strengthens, pummels Dominican Republic after leaving Puerto Rico in dark

Issued on: 20/09/2022 

01:50 View of the Chavon River in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Higuey, Dominican Republic, September 19, 2022. © Ricardo Rojas, Reuters

Text by: NEWS WIRES|
Video by: Catherine VIETTE


Hurricane Fiona dumped torrential rain on the Dominican Republic on Monday after triggering major flooding in Puerto Rico and widespread power blackouts in both Caribbean islands.

The stormed strengthened to a Category Two hurricane late Monday, said the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), which forecast continuing rains and possible new catastrophic floods during the night in both Puerto Rico and in the eastern Dominican Republic.

The NHC said the hurricane was still strengthening and warned that "life-threatening and catastrophic flooding and mudslides" were possible.

Several roads were flooded or cut by falling trees or electric poles around the Dominican resort of Punta Cana where the electricity was knocked out, an AFP journalist on the scene said.

President Luis Abinader declared three eastern provinces to be disaster zones: La Altagracia, home to the tourist resort Punta Cana, El Seibo and Hato Mayor.

Footage from local media showed residents of the east coast town of Higuey waist deep in water, trying to salvage personal belongings.

With 18 of the island’s 32 provinces on red alert, nearly 800 people were sheltering in safe areas, according to emergency services.

Fiona was packing maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour (155 kilometers per hour), according to the NHC which expected it to strengthen Tuesday to a Category Three storm—making it this season’s first major Atlantic hurricane.

After passing close to Turks and Caicos late Monday or early Tuesday, the storm is expected to track north later in the week, out into the ocean—although it could come perilously close to tiny Bermuda.

In Puerto Rico—where the rain was still beating down—Governor Pedro Pierluisi said the storm had caused catastrophic damage since Sunday, with some areas facing for more than 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rainfall.

Nelly Marrero made her way Monday afternoon back to her home in Toa Baja, in the north of the US island territory, to clear out the mud that surged inside after she evacuated a day earlier.

“Thanks to God, I have food and water,” she told AFP by telephone—having lost everything when Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico five years ago.

Hearing the flood alert ring out, Marrero headed out into the rain with her daughter and three infant grandchildren, seeking refuge at a relative’s house.

“It was very difficult with the babies—they were crying, they didn’t understand what was going on,” she said.

Across Puerto Rico, Fiona caused landslides, blocked roads and toppled trees, power lines and bridges, Pierluisi said.

A man was killed as an indirect result of the power blackout—burned to death while trying to fill his generator, according to authorities.

Fernando Vera, a resident of the town of Utuado, told US broadcaster NPR his family has never fully recovered from the devastation of Maria—one of two hurricanes that hit the island in 2017, along with Irma.

“We still struggle from the consequences of Maria and it’s kind of difficult knowing we’re going to probably have to start over again,” Vera said.

The governor said Fiona caused “unprecedented” flooding.

“Unfortunately, we expect more rain throughout the island today and tomorrow,” he said.

Most of Puerto Rico, an island of three million people, was without power, but electricity had been restored for about 100,000 customers on Monday, the governor said.

The hurricane has also left around 196,000 people without drinking water as a result of power outages and flooded rivers, officials said.
‘Start over again’

Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category One hurricane, at the lowest end of the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale.

Before that, the storm had caused one fatality—a man killed after his house was swept away by flooding in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, when Fiona was still classified as a tropical storm.

US President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance.

The former Spanish colony became a US territory in the late 19th century before gaining the status of associated free state in 1950.

After years of financial woes and recession, Puerto Rico in 2017 declared the largest bankruptcy ever by a local US administration.

Later that year, the double hit from Irma and Maria added to the misery, devastating the electrical grid on the island—which has suffered from major infrastructure problems for years.

The grid was privatized in June 2021 in an effort to resolve the problem of blackouts, but the issue has persisted, and the entire island lost power earlier this year.

(AFP)

Hurricane Fiona overwhelms Puerto Rico with flooding, mudslides, massive power loss: Updates

John Bacon and Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY - 

Hurricane Fiona smashed through Puerto Rico on Monday with pounding rain and winds that triggered mudslides, "catastrophic" flooding and a power outage that swept across the entire island. Hundreds of thousands lacked running water.

More than 1,000 water rescues were performed and more were underway, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said. Even as the storm made landfall Monday in the Dominican Republic, it continued to slam Puerto Rico with unrelenting rains -- more than 30 inches in southern parts of the island.

The National Weather Service in San Juan urged residents to move to higher ground "immediately."

"Heavy rainfall and catastrophic flooding continues across much of Puerto Rico," said Richard Pasch, a specialist with the National Hurricane Center.

Authorities reported two deaths in Puerto Rico – one a 58-year-old man swept away by a flooded river in the inland town of Comerio and another one a 70-year-old man burned while trying to operate a generator. Another death was reported in the Dominican Republic, where a person was hit by a falling tree.

The Aqueduct and Sewer Authority said more than 800,000 customers – two-thirds of the homes and businesses – were without drinking water service. The entire power grid across the U.S. territory went down Sunday afternoon before the storm made landfall, leaving everyone without electricity.

Less than 10% had regained power Monday, and power distribution company LUMA Energy warned that it could take several days to fully restore electricity because of the outage's magnitude.

"We have the equipment, tools and resources to respond to this event," the company said.

The Dominican Republic government reported one death from falling trees because of the storm, which prompted at least four international airports to shut down, but by late afternoon Fiona was moving away from land. It could strengthen into a major hurricane by Tuesday.

In Puerto Rico, National Guard and Municipal Emergency Management personnel were helping with evacuations and water rescues in several communities of severely damaged Salinas in the south, Mayor Karilyn Bonilla Colón said. She urged residents to stay in their homes or shelters. The southern city of Ponce, the largest population center outside the San Juan metropolitan area, also experienced major flooding.

"Lands are saturated, rivers are overgrown, areas are flooded areas, and streets are still impassable," Bonilla Colón said. "Please stay safe and consider the first responders and rescue personnel who have done a titanic job to save lives."

Helicopter pilot helps residents in need, shares 'traumatizing' pictures of damage

Much as he had done five years ago in the wake of Hurricane Maria, helicopter pilot Carlos Benitez took to the sky Monday morning to survey the damage from Hurricane Fiona and identify Puerto Ricans in need of rescue.

“We saw more than 200 houses flooded all the way up to the roof, people on the top of the roof, on the balcony, requesting rescue,” said Benitez, 42, who notified rescue personnel of their locations. Others were on boats and jet skis, he said.

Benitez, who typically does charter flights, said he flew for seven hours and shared videos of what he saw on social media. He has been receiving messages from people begging him to check in on their loved ones.

“Even though you have a strong mind, even though you have a strong heart, that PTSD always comes back, just the same way that we have five years ago for Maria,” he said. “It’s traumatizing what we see.”– Grace Hauck

Two-thirds of Puerto Rico out of water service

Water service was cut to more than 837,000 customers – two thirds of the total on the island – because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, according to officials. Only 34% of households have potable water.

“The majority of rivers are too high. We have 112 filtration plants and the majority are supplied by rivers,” Aqueduct and Sewer Authority executive president Doriel Pagán Crespo said in an interview with a San Juan radio station. She said personnel will be dispatched for cleanup as water levels drop.

“We have our personnel activated, we haven’t stopped working … we’ll keep working,” Pagán Crespo said.

The agency said on its Twitter page that water could be turbid upon service restoration and recommended that customers boil water for three minutes before using it for human consumption. – Adrianna Rodriguez

Up to 30 inches of rain could fall

Parts of the island are still healing from the battering wrought by Hurricane Maria five years ago, and more than 3,000 homes still have blue tarps for a roof. Now residents could see up to 30 inches of rain before the storm rolls out of the area late Monday, AccuWeather reported.

"These rains will continue to produce life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with mudslides and landslides across Puerto Rico," said Brad Reinhart, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, adding that "life-threatening flash and urban flooding is likely for eastern portions of the Dominican Republic."

HURRICANE FIONA MAKES LANDFALL: Puerto Rico hammered, hit with island-wide power blackout

Winds of up to 85 mph ripped the top off houses and businesses. Water rushed through streets and into homes. Roads were torn apart, and in the central town of Utuado, a temporary bridge installed by the National Guard after Maria washed away. Hours of rain were still to come.

Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Juan, said flooding reached “historic" levels.

“It’s important people understand that this is not over,” Morales said.

How to help Puerto Rico

In addition to FEMA and local emergency responders, several organizations are providing relief efforts for residents, including solar lights, generators, essential supplies and food. Here's how to help:

►PRxPR is a disaster relief fund focused on rebuilding Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. The organization is now collecting monetary donations for short- and long-term humanitarian needs in Puerto Rico.

►Project HOPE, an international organization that assisted in the response to a series of damaging earthquakes that struck Puerto Rico in late 2019 and early 2020, said it has "teams on the ground'' evaluating the health needs of people impacted by the hurricane.

►Brigada Solidaria del Oeste, a mutual-aid group based in Boquerón, Puerto Rico, is collecting emergency essential donations such as solar lamps, water filters, water-purification tablets and first-aid kids, as well as monetary donations.

►The Puerto Rican Civic Club in San Jose, California is raising funds for solar lights and gas generators in Puerto Rico. Donate Amazon items and funds here.

►The Hispanic Federation, a nonprofit focused on Latino empowerment, is raising funds for on-the-ground emergency relief services and essential supplies for communities affected by the storm.

– Cady Stanton

Locals have been feeling brunt of storm for days

Darlene Nieves, an assistant program officer for the aid organization Mercy Corps, said power and water interruptions in Puerto Rico began Thursday night -- three days before the hurricane made landfall, and some communities remain isolated.

"I have been trying to reach my family, but I can't because the access to roads is blocked by fallen trees, landslides and severe flooding," said Nieves, who has relatives in the central mountain town of Naranjito. "We see the same scenario almost everywhere, and we still received flash flood warnings today."

Nelson Cirino was sleeping in the northern coastal town of Loiza on Sunday when the roof blew off his home.

Ada Vivian Román said the storm knocked down trees and fences in her hometown of Toa Alta, southwest of the capital San Juan. She worried about how long the public transportation she relies on to get to her job at a public relations agency will be unable to operate.

“But I know that I’m privileged compared with other families who are practically losing their homes because they are under water,” she said.

Gov. Pierluisi canceled school across the island for Tuesday and said only essential, immediate response personnel should report to public agencies. More than 2,000 residents had moved into 128 shelters, he said.

Puerto Rico in 'constant state of emergency'

Mercy Corps says it has been helping people on the island better prepare for disasters by transforming local community centers into "resilience hubs" with different combinations of solar energy, potable water storage, communication systems, emergency kits and disaster preparedness training.

“Puerto Ricans have faced a constant state of emergency over the five last years," said Allison Dworschak, leader of the agency's Caribbean Resilience Initiative. "Those who don’t have the financial means to repair the damage properly are especially vulnerable to the impacts of storms like Fiona."

President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency and ordered federal assistance to supplement local responses.

Advocacy group says 'corporate greed' contributed to disaster

Jesus Gonzalez, with the Center for Popular Democracy, says "corporate greed" and predatory hedge funds have made the damage worse. Gonzalez says the federal government knew Puerto Rico would once again confront a natural disaster but did nothing to prepare. The privatization of Puerto Rico’s power system caused less investment in infrastructure and green energy in favor of profits, Gonzalez said in an email to USA TODAY.

“Austerity-driven policies have crippled Puerto Rico's infrastructure in order to pay (debts), limiting the island's ability to recover from the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria in 2017," Gonzalez said.

WHAT IS THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE? Breaking down how we classify hurricanes.

Where is Fiona now?

By 5 p.m. ET Monday, Fiona was drifting away from the Dominican Republic and heading northwest at 10 mph in the direction of Grand Turk Island 130 miles away, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm packed maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, making it a Category 2 hurricane, and they're expected to get stronger.

Rain totals of up to 15 inches were projected for the eastern Dominican Republic, where authorities closed ports and beaches and told most people to stay home from work.

Fiona became the third hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic season on Sunday, hours before its first landfall on the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. At landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday, Fiona was a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.

QUIET START TO SEASON: August hasn't been this devoid of tropical storms since 1997. Is hurricane season over?

Fiona made a second landfall in the Dominican Republic early Monday about 20 miles south of Punta Cana with sustained winds of 90 mph.

Where will Fiona go next? Will it impact the U.S.?

Impacts from Hurricane Fiona will continue over the next few days after the storm leaves the Caribbean, forecasters said. "Even though the threat of direct impacts to the United States has lessened, beaches up and down the Eastern Seaboard will still feel Fiona's effects," AccuWeather meteorologist Renee Duff said.

Beaches along the U.S. East Coast will experience high waves, strong rip currents, minor beach erosion and minor coastal flooding around times of high tide much of this week as Fiona passes by offshore, AccuWeather said.

Meteorologists expect Fiona to become the season's first Category 3 major hurricane by midweek with maximum sustained winds of at least 111 mph. It could spin near Bermuda as a major hurricane late Thursday or on Friday, forecasters said.

Contributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

Hurricane Fiona makes landfall in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, islands lose
View on Watch  Duration 1:04

A pedestrian looks at a destroyed bridge after the passage of Fiona storm at the Pont de Goyave, on the French island of Guadeloupe, on September 18, 2022.

© CARLA BERNHARDT, AFP via Getty Images

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Fiona overwhelms Puerto Rico with flooding, mudslides, massive power loss: Updates

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