CLIMATE CRISIS 
Southeast Asia heat wave shatters records in several countries
By Mary Gilbert, Accuweather.com

Scorching heat shattered temperature records across portions of Southeast Asia over the weekend as the region baked under a historic heat wave.

AccuWeather forecasters say some relief is set to arrive in the coming days, but intense heat may be quick to return.

National all-time heat records were smashed in Vietnam and Laos on Saturday as temperatures soared to levels never before observed in either country.

A man eats on a bench in Lumpini Park in Bangkok during heat wave conditions. 

Photo courtesy of AccuWeather

In Vietnam, the national high-temperature record was set when the mercury in Hoi Xuan topped out at a staggering 111.4 degrees F. Dozens of other Vietnamese cities also broke site-specific heat records, according to climatologist Maximiliano Herrera.

In neighboring Laos, the country's new high all-time record high of 110.3 degrees F was set in the city of Luang Prabang. The Laotian capital of Vientiane also pulverized its all-time record when the mercury hit 108.5 degrees F, Herrera reported.

The history books were rewritten again on Sunday as the countries continued to sizzle under unprecedented heat.

Just one day after setting a new national heat record, Vietnam managed to get even hotter on Sunday. The high temperature in Tuong Duong soared to a record-breaking 111.6 degrees F on Sunday.

In Laos, Luang Prabang hit 110.3 degrees F, tying the national record it had set the day before.

Vietnam and Laos were not the only countries in the region to set records over the weekend. Cambodia had its hottest May day on record after temperatures topped out at 106.9 degrees F on Saturday.

Thailand also sizzled over the weekend. The Thai capital of Bangkok broke its all-time high-temperature record on Saturday and Sunday. Bangkok, home to more than 10.5 million people, soared to 105.8 degrees F on Sunday.

Although this part of Asia is typically rather hot in the spring, Bangkok and surrounding areas have been sweltering since temperatures first began to climb above historical average levels in late March. For Bangkok, March ended with temperatures 2.2 degrees F above the historical average. In April, that number was 4.5 degrees F, and the number is over 6 degrees F above the historical average so far in May.

Extreme temperatures have not faded away during the overnight hours either, providing little relief for residents suffering from the dangerous heat. Thailand recorded its highest nighttime low temperature ever when the city of Sakon Nakhon only managed to drop to 90.5 degrees F on Sunday morning.

While scorching hot weather has been the trend in recent weeks, AccuWeather forecasters say a strong area of high pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere is responsible for the record-setting temperatures this past weekend.

This area of high pressure, or "ridge," peaked in strength over the weekend, according to lead international forecaster Jason Nicholls.

For those suffering under extreme heat, there is some hope on the horizon.

"A nearby front with clouds and scattered rainfall will result in an easing of heat over the next several days," Nicholls said.

However, relief may be brief.

"There is a chance for heat to build again next week," Nicholls cautioned.

As summer approaches, Nicholls and the rest of AccuWeather's international long-range team of forecasters expect temperatures and rainfall levels to be near or above historical averages across Southeastern Asia.

Drought spells 'catastrophe' for Spain's olive harvest

by Valentin BONTEMPS

Many Andalusian farmers fear a repeat of last year's disastrous olive harvest.

An ongoing drought and soaring temperatures have unleashed fears of an olive "catastrophe" in Spain, the world's largest producer of olive oil, which suffered a very difficult year in 2022.

"It's barely rained since January. The ground is very dry," worries Cristobal Cano, secretary general of the small farmers' union (UPA) in the southern region of Andalusia, the heart of Spain's olive oil industry.

Cano, who owns 10 hectares of olive trees in Alcala la Real near Granada, has never seen such a worrying situation in the 20 years he's been a farmer.

"If something doesn't change radically in the next few weeks, it's going to be a catastrophe," he warned.

According to the AEMET weather agency, accumulated rainfall since October 1 has been 25 percent lower than normal across Spain and 50 percent lower in most of Andalusia, where reservoirs are at 25 percent capacity.

And the situation worsened at the end of April, when an early heatwave brought exceptionally high temperatures that saw the mercury hit 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in southern Spain.

"This happened as the olive trees were in bloom," says Rafael Pico, director of Asoliva, the Spanish association of olive oil producers and exporters, who fears the blooms will dry up.

"If there are no flowers, there's no fruit. And if there's no fruit, there's no oil."

Conditions deteriorated in April with a heatwave just as the olive trees were in bloom.

'On the brink of collapse'

For Spain—which normally supplies 50 percent of the world's olive oil and exports close to 3.0 billion euros ($3.3 billion) worth every year—the situation is even more worrying given the sector's disastrous output in 2021-2022.

During that season too, a lack of rain and extreme temperatures saw olive oil production plummeting 55 percent to 660,000 tonnes, compared to 1.48 million tonnes in 2021-2022, agriculture ministry figures show.

The scene is set to play out again this year.

"Looking at the forecasts, it's almost a given—it's going to be another grim year," says Rafael Sanchez de Puerta, head of Dcoop, Spain's leading olive cooperative.

If the predictions prove true, it could spell the end for many olive farms.

"We can cope with one difficult year. It's a natural part of the growing cycle. But two years in a row will be a disaster. Many are on the brink of collapse," he says.

With the cost of machinery, paying salaries and repaying loans, "farmers need liquidity" to remain afloat, says Asoliva's Pico, recalling that many in Spain live from olive oil production.

Andalusia is central to the industry in Spain, the world's top olive oil producer.

Runaway prices

For consumers, the outlook is also bleak.

"The global price of olive oil depends largely on Spain," says Pico.

In recent months, the price of oil has jumped.

"In mid-April, olive oil was selling at 5,800 euros ($6,400) per tonne, up from 5,300 euros in January," says Fanny de Gasquet of Baillon Intercor, a brokerage firm specialising in oils and fats.

In January 2022, it was selling at 3,500 euros.

And the upward trend looks set to continue.

In Andalusia, young olive trees "don't have sufficiently developed roots to be able to extract water" from deep underground, meaning "there will be losses" that will have an impact on production over the next two or three years, she warns.

At the end of 2022, the Spanish government moved to lower VAT on olive oil from 10 percent to five percent as part of a package of measures to help consumers in the face of soaring inflation.

Olive farmer Cristobal Cano has never seen such a worrying situation.

And to help farmers cope with the drought, the government has reduced the sector's income tax by 25 percent.

But for many, it's too little in the face of the looming crisis.

"Lowering taxes for people who will have almost no income is of little use to them," says Dcoop's Sanchez de Puerta, calling for more ambitious moves to combat "a drought that is lasting longer than it should".

© 2023 AFP

Spain heatwave to peak with record April temperatures

Spain records hottest and driest April on record
yesterday

 A man sunbathes on a hot spring day in Madrid, Spain, on April 18, 2023. Drought-stricken Spain says last month was the hottest and driest April since records began in 1961. The State Meteorological Agency, said Monday May 8, 2023 the average daily temperature in April was 14.9 degrees Celsius (58.8 Fahrenheit), that is 3 degrees Celsius above the average. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)

MADRID (AP) — Drought-stricken Spain says last month was the hottest and driest April since records began in 1961.

The State Meteorological Agency, known by the Spanish acronym AEMET, said Monday the average daily temperature in April was 14.9 degrees Celsius (58.8 Fahrenheit), that is 3 degrees Celsius above the average.

AEMET said average maximum temperatures during the month were up by 4.7 Celsius.

Rainfall was a fifth of what would normally be expected in the month, making it the driest April on record in Spain.

Last year was Spain’s hottest since record-keeping started in 1961, and also the country’s sixth driest.

Three years of scant rainfall and high temperatures put the country officially into long-term drought earlier this year.

A flash study by a group of international scientists last week found that record-breaking April temperatures in Spain, Portugal and northern Africa were made 100 times more likely by human-caused climate change and would have been almost impossible in the past.

The government has requested emergency funds from the European Union to support farmers and ranchers whose crops are being affected by the situation.

Spain’s April heat nearly impossible without climate change

By JENNIFER O'MAHONY and SETH BORENSTEIN

May 5, 2023

1 of 6
FILE - A man cools himself at a fountain in Seville, Spain, April 27, 2023. Record-breaking April temperatures in Spain, Portugal and northern Africa were made 100 times more likely by human-caused climate change, a new flash study found. (AP Photo/Santi Donaire, File)

MADRID (AP) — Record-breaking April temperatures in Spain, Portugal and northern Africa were made 100 times more likely by human-caused climate change, a new flash study found, and would have been almost impossible in the past.

A group of international scientists did a rapid computer and statistical analysis of a late-April heat wave that stretched across the Iberian peninsula into Algeria and Morocco. The four countries experienced temperatures as high as 36.9 degrees Celsius (98.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 degrees Fahrenheit) degrees.

Study lead author Sjoukje Philip of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute said in a briefing that a weather event this extreme “would have been almost impossible in the past, colder climate,” adding: “We will see more intense and more frequent heat waves in the future as global warming continues.”

Because the analysis released Friday was one of the quickest ever — the heat still hasn’t subsided much — the study by World Weather Attribution is not peer reviewed, which is the gold standard for science. But the team of WWA scientists do these quick studies using scientifically accepted techniques and often get them published later in peer-reviewed journals.

The regions in the study are all suffering from a multi-year drought, which can exacerbate high temperatures, the scientists said.

Currently, 27% of Spanish territory is in either the drought “emergency” or “alert” category and water reserves are at 50% of capacity nationally. The average dam storage in Morocco is at similarly low levels, and in Tunisia many homes have water cuts during the day.

Farmers across the Western Mediterranean have warned that poor harvests are likely, in some regions for the sixth year running.

The study also said the extreme heat in Europe is rising faster than computer models had projected. The same thing happened in the Pacific heat dome, so scientists who create computer models need to go back and rethink their overly conservative projections, said University of Washington’s Kris Ebi, who wasn’t part of the study, but praised it.

The scientists compared real life April temperatures to a simulated world without climate change. They found that a heat wave like the one the Western Mediterranean suffered in April would have been more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) less severe in a world without coal, oil and gas pollution trapping heat.

The study will also help inform governments preparing for the earlier onset of extreme hot weather, with the aim of preventing deaths and unrolling heat awareness campaigns. Last year, at least 15,000 people died in Europe because of extreme hot weather, according to the World Health Organization, with Spain one the countries worst affected.

“When we can send out warnings with calibrated messaging, that allows people to accurately perceive their personal risk, that can lead to personal behavioral changes,” said Roop Singh of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, another of the study’s authors.

Changes include access to air conditioning in schools, monitoring heat-related hospital admissions and advising citizens to avoid outdoor sports at certain hours of the day, she said.

The results of the study make sense and are important, according to three outside climate scientists.

“The world is approaching the moment when nearly all heat waves will have a climate change fingerprint,” Ebi told The Associated Press in an email. “In the meantime, these kinds of analyses are valuable for moving policymakers and justifying investments.”

Studies like these are important, but “’it’s also now like asking if the dog with berries on its face got into the pie cooling on the counter,” said North Carolina State Climatologist Kathie Dello, who wasn’t part of the study.

While some scientists question the value of looking for climate change’s fingerprint in studies like this, saying global warming is changing everything, Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who was not part of the study, said this type of analysis has value.

“Attribution is the only tool we have to understand whether extreme weather is inflamed by climate change,” Jackson said in an email. “Rare weather events are becoming more and more ‘normal.’ Climate change has loaded the weather dice.”

___ Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland

___ Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears and Jennifer O’Mahony at @jaomahony

___ Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Rocket Lab successfully launches 2 NASA storm-monitoring satellites


Rocket Lab launched two storm satellites into space for NASA on Monday. 

Photo courtesy of Rocket Lab/Twitter

May 8 (UPI) -- U.S.-based Rocket Lab Electron successfully launched a pair of NASA storm-monitoring satellites from New Zealand on Monday.

The Rocket Like A Hurricane mission with two CubeSats on board launched shortly after 1 p.m. Monday from Rocket Lab Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula on the archipelago nation's east coast.

"After 36 launches, we're still not sick of this view," Rocket Lab said in the caption of a tweet with a photo of the rocket lifting off.

The mission deployed two of four CubeSats that will create a constellation of tropical cyclone monitoring satellites for NASA that are known by the acronym TROPICS, meaning Time-Resolved Observations of precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats.

According to NASA, the constellation with provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements over the tropics to better understand storm systems.

The satellites were launched on two separate orbital planes spaced 180 degrees opposite, Rocket Lab said in a statement, stating the unique orbits over Earth's tropics will allow the orbitals to traverse over any storm at an hour interval, which is better than the six hours of current weather tracking satellites.

RELATED  Cosmonauts transfer airlock between ISS modules

Rocket Like A Hurricane launched shortly after 1 p.m. from Rocket Lab Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula eastern coast. Photo courtesy of Rocket Lab/Twitter

"The TROPICS constellation has the real potential to save lives by providing more timely data about storm intensity and providing advance warning to those in storm paths, so it's an immense privilege to have deployed these spacecraft to their precise orbits before the upcoming storm season," Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and chief executive, said in a statement.

"We're grateful to the NASA team for entrusting us with such a critical mission."

NASA confirmed in a statement that two TROPICS CubeSats had been successfully deployed and that its team was working toward signal acquisition, which could take some time to establish.

RELATED SpaceX plans to light up night skies with early Thursday Falcon 9 launch

The second pair of CubeSats are scheduled to launch aboard Rocket Lab's Coming To A Storm Near You rocket in about two weeks time, also from Mahia's Complex 1.

The launch comes nearly a year after California-based Astra failed to deploy two of the small weather satellites in what was to be the inauguration of the technology.

The launch is also Rocket Lab's fourth of the year and its 36th Electron mission overall.

The satellites are to be a part of a constellation of four that will help to monitor weather in the Tropics. Photo courtesy of Rocket Lab/Twitter

ESA releases image of Earth showing detailed weather patterns

The European Space Agency has released this detailed image of Earth from its Meteostat Third-Generation Imager-1 satellite showing detailed weather patterns in the atmosphere. 

Photo Courtesy of European Space Agency

May 4 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency and Eumetsat on Thursday released a detailed image of the Earth and its weather patterns from the Meteostat Third Generation Imager-1 satellite.

The image, which was taken on March 18, shows cloud formations over large parts of Europe with details that were previously too small to capture in similar composite images.

"This image is a great example of what European cooperation in space can achieve. The level of detail MTG-I1's image reveals, unachievable over Europe and Africa from a geostationary orbit until now, will give us a greater understanding of our planet and the weather systems that shape it," said ESA Director of Earth Observation Programs Simonetta Cheli.

The image was taken by the MGT-I1's Flexible Combined Imager, which is capable of scanning one side of the Earth in ten minutes. The ESA hopes the FCI's capabilities will help create more accurate weather forecasts.

"This image represents not just what can be achieved through European expertise but our determination to ensure the benefits of new technology are felt by communities in Europe and beyond," Cheli added.

The satellite, which is built by the OHB consortium in partnership with Thales Alenia Space, was launched in December aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

The speed with which the FCI is able to scan the Earth means composite images can be strung together to show the motion of clouds and weather patterns. The ESA released an example showing 24 hours of weather patterns over Europe.

"It might sound odd to be so excited about a cloudy day in most of Europe. But the level of detail seen for the clouds in this image is extraordinarily important to weather forecasters," said Eumetsat Director General, Phil Evans.

Biden announces new rules on how airlines compensate passengers for flight delays

By A.L. Lee & Joe Fisher

1/5
President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announce a strategy that would force airlines to provide cash refunds and expanded perks when stranded passengers accrue extra expenses for things such as meals and hotels. 

Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo


May 8 (UPI) -- The Biden administration on Monday announced a plan to set up new federal protocols that would for the first time require all commercial airlines to compensate passengers for controllable cancellations or significant delays.

The president said the new protocol will require airlines to compensate customers with meals, hotels, transportation, rebooking fees and more. The formal rule proposal is to come later this year.

President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg detailed the plans in remarks from the White House on Monday afternoon.

"You deserve to be fully compensated," Biden said. "Your time matters. The impact on your life matters."

 Biden announces strategy to eliminate hidden fees

The strategy would force airlines to provide cash refunds and expanded perks when stranded passengers accrue extra expenses for things like meals and hotels.

Currently, no airliner in the country is required to offer reimbursements for meals, lodging, and rebooking during flight delays caused by routine issues such as mechanical problems.

And none were offering any cash payouts or additional compensation beyond basic refunds and amenities in cases where an airline was directly at fault for a preventable delay, according to the White House.

 Transportation Department launches tool to find free family seating on airlines

"When an airline causes a flight cancellation or delay, passengers should not foot the bill," Buttigieg said in a statement.

The policy change is intended to establish uniform rules among all the nation's airlines in an effort to create fair compensation packages for passengers caught in significant delays.

Ten of the nation's largest airlines currently offer free meals and rebooking, while nine guarantee hotel accommodations. Two airlines offer travel credits or vouchers, while only one guarantees frequent flyer miles, the administration said.

Southwest offers frequent-flier perks to passengers stranded in winter storm

"Historically, when delays and cancellations are the airline's fault, the law has only required airlines to refund customers the price of their flight ticket but not the cost of meals or hotels or transportation when you get left in limbo," Biden said. "But then we challenged them to do better. And, in fact, they did."

Airlines would also be required to pay for rebooking expenses caused by "a cancellation or significant delay," Buttigieg said.

The imminent changes come several months after droves of Southwest passengers became stranded for days at airports nationwide during a massive winter storm that crippled travel in the middle of the holidays.

 Biden seeks more fee transparency for airline tickets

"I know these things may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter most to middle-class families and people struggling to get the cost in the first place of getting that airline," Biden said.

At the time, Buttigieg called the delays "unacceptable," and since the administration has been putting increased pressure on the industry to improve pricing and customer service.

The Transportation Department first proposed the rule changes last August after a wave of complaints from travelers due to delays and cancellations throughout the summer.

Pete Buttigieg calls on airlines to treat flyers better

Last fall, the White House also proposed transparency measures to strengthen consumer protection by requiring airlines to disclose hidden fees before customers buy tickets, which would change how fees related to baggage, cancellation, and rebooking would be applied to the regular price of a flight.

As part of the latest effort, the Transportation Department is launching "an expanded Airline Customer Service Dashboard" at FlightRights.gov, that will track which airlines offer cash compensation, travel credits, vouchers, frequent flyer miles and other amenities, the White House said.

Teacher Appreciation Week celebrated with Google Doodle

By Tonya Pendleton

Monday's Google Doodle acknowledges Teacher Appreciation Week which started as a day advocated for by Eleanor Roosevelt.


May 8 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week with a Google Doodle. Instead of the usual image of a public figure, Monday's Google Doodle is a GIF that symbolizes all the work that teachers have to do.

In the animated image, a teacher is shown as a sun-like figure, both watering and shining on another figure that is an animated image of a student reading. As the water and sun come down, the animated figure 'grows.'

Teacher Appreciation Week is an extension of Teacher Appreciation Day, which was spearheaded by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1953. She was moved to see teachers honored because she didn't believe their contributions were given enough credit.

"I have always felt that we did not give an honorable enough place in our communities to the teachers," Roosevelt wrote on Jan. 14, 1953, the day Congress passed the resolution to set aside a day to honor teachers. "Next to parents they are the most important people in our communities. It is quite impossible to give teachers monetary compensation alone that will repay for their devotion to the job and the love that must go to each and every child. But I think we could compensate a little more adequately the teachers in our communities if we were conscious of their importance.

I have heard people say: 'Why, it is a soft job to be a teacher. They work only eight or nine months of the year. Think of having such long holidays, and they are not really working hard at any time.'

As a matter of fact, good teachers give so much of themselves every day that by the end of the week they are really tired out, and if they did not have the holidays in which to study, to travel or to relax, they could never give the children under them the inspiration that children need."

Teacher Appreciation Week is now celebrated annually giving people the chance to acknowledge and celebrate the men and women nationwide who educate young people.

"In their daily lives, the men and women who teach our children fulfill the promise of a nation that's always looking forward, that believes each generation has a responsibility to help the next in building this great country of ours and making the world a better place," Barack Obama said at the 2016 National Teacher of the Year Celebration.

USPS; ‘Outraged’ letter carriers demand action to stop robberies

By DAVID SHARP

yesterday

1 of 5
A postal worker uniform shirt is attached to a tree at a makeshift memorial in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, where Aundre Cross, a 44-year-old U.S. Postal Service employee was shot and killed while delivering mail the previous week. Robberies of postal carriers have exploded, surging 78% to nearly 500 in 2022, according to data provided by U.S. Postal Inspection Service to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. 

(Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Postal carriers have more worries than snow, rain or the gloom of night keeping them from their appointed rounds. They’re increasingly being robbed, often at gunpoint, from Maine to California.

Robberies of postal carriers have exploded, surging 78% to nearly 500 in 2022, according to data provided by U.S. Postal Inspection Service to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

Letter carriers are demanding action from the U.S. Postal Service.

“The National Association of Letter Carriers is outraged and angered by the assaults, armed robberies and even murders that America’s letter carriers increasingly face as they deliver the mail. These attacks are completely unacceptable,” said Paul Barner, the union’s executive vice president.

The Postal Service said it’s adapting and implementing new measures to address the robberies, which are taking a toll on letter carriers tasked with delivering about 162.1 million pieces of first-class mail each day.

“Every postal employee deserves to work in safety and to be free from targeting by criminals seeking to access the public’s mail,” said Michael Martel, spokesperson for the inspection service.


The robberies have more than quadrupled over a decade, the data show. Weapons were used in most of the 496 robberies, injuring 31 postal carriers, last year. One, Milwaukee letter carrier Aundre Cross, was shot to death, leading to three arrests.

“They definitely need some type of security,” said Cross’s friend, Jared Tangle. “They need someone watching their back, so they can do their jobs safely.”

Many of these criminals are becoming more sophisticated and organized. Some are targeting the special keys that carriers use to access collection boxes and to deliver mail in apartment buildings.

A case this January north of Boston was typical. A letter carrier in Peabody was on his route when a 20-year-old man told him, “Give me your keys” and “Hurry up or I’ll shoot you” while pointing a semi-automatic handgun at the carrier, law enforcement officials said. The assailant fled but was later arrested.

In March, a postal carrier was slashed with a machete in Lowell, Massachusetts. That assailant also was located and arrested.

The Postal Service leadership is preparing to announce more measures to address the problem, USPS spokesperson Dave Partenheimer said.

Already, the service is working to enhance collection box key and lock technology; implement dual authentication to make keys less attractive targets for criminals; and “harden” blue collection boxes to prevent tampering, while continuing to work closely with other law enforcement agencies to bring the criminals to justice, Partenheimer said.

Partenheimer added Monday that the USPS is in the process of briefing congressional committees on its responses to postal crime.

Theft of mail carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, and possession, concealment or disposal of property carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, Martel said. Assault carries a sentence of up to 10 years for a first offense, and up to 25 years for a subsequent offense, he said.

“We will continue to adapt to evolving security threats and implement expanded measures to safeguard our employees and preserve the security of the mail that our customers expect and deserve,” Partenheimer said.

But Barner said letter carriers “demand solutions now.”

“While we will continue to engage with the Postal Service and relevant law enforcement agencies to develop measures that will enhance the safety of letter carriers, the fear and the danger that letter carriers are confronting has to end,” Barner’s statement said.

___

Follow David Sharp on Twitter @David_Sharp_AP

Biden calls for ‘fair deal’ for striking Hollywood writers

today

1 of 7
Actor Ke Huy Quan hugs President Joe Biden after he introduced Biden to speak before a screening of the series "American Born Chinese" in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The screening was held in celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Monday, May 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)



WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden called for a “fair deal” for Hollywood’s striking writers on Monday as he hosted a White House screening of the the upcoming streaming series “American Born Chinese” to mark Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Biden made his first public comments on the strike, which hits the one-week mark Tuesday, in remarks ahead of the pilot’s screening. He was joined by an overflow crowd of hundreds of community leaders, elected officials and cast members and producers from the show in the East Room and the State Dining Room.

“Nights like these are a reminder of stories and the importance of treating storytellers with the dignity, respect and the value they deserve,” Biden said. “I sincerely hope the writers strike in Hollywood gets resolved and the writers are given a fair deal they deserve as soon as possible.”

He added: “This is an iconic, meaningful American industry. And we need the writers and all the workers and everyone involved to tell the stories of our nation and the stories of all of us.”





“American Born Chinese” is an adaptation of a graphic novel of the same name by Gene Luen Yang, and stars Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. It will premiere on Disney+ May 24.

JOE BIDEN


How those fleeing Ukraine inspired US border policies


Chaos? Kumbaya? How the debt limit standoff might end




Biden uses humor to try to defuse concerns about his age


Biden would veto House GOP bill on border enforcement

Biden used his brief remarks onstage to outline his administration’s efforts to highlight the accomplishments of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities and to speak out against prejudice and violence targeting them.

“Hate can have no safe harbor in America,” Biden said. “Silence is complicity and we will not remain silent”

Quan, who introduced Biden, reflected on his journey from arriving in the U.S. as an 8-year-old refugee from Vietnam to making his first visit to the White House months after winning an Oscar.

“I do not take this moment lightly, because I know this building is a monument to a country that opened its arms to me,” he said.

ChatGPT's work lacks transparency and that is a problem

By Carter C. Price

ChatGPT can provide a summary of the consensus view of the COVID-19 pandemic. And that is the problem. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

May 8 (UPI) -- After getting a set of questions about the COVID-19 pandemic and putting together my responses, I thought that I would see how ChatGPT would do.

While ChatGPT could not provide concrete data or citations to back up its point, even with more prompting, and it missed some nuance, this is a nice first start for a summary of the consensus view on the key takeaways about from the pandemic -- and that is the problem.

At their core, ChatGPT and other Large Language Models estimate the most likely next word, phrase or sentence to follow a prompt from a user. To make these estimates, LLMs are trained on millions or even billions of texts that include recent news stories, articles and other work. When asked about lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, ChatGPT pulls from this vast corpus to predict the most likely set of sentences to respond.

To that end, the response can be seen as an amalgamation of the training pool of writing on COVID-19, text on lessons learned and the general rules of language from the full corpus. This works well, but when prompted for more details about the specifics of the points presented, a LLM may not have the appropriate details in its corpus and can't necessarily predict the best information to provide. This can make the content of the responses to followup questions underwhelming or even false (when asked for sources, ChatGPT produced three references that appear to be fictitious).

Samsung bans AI tools like ChatGPT in workplace

The first point regarding public health infrastructure is not necessarily inaccurate but is by no means obvious or a settled question. Many of the poorest countries with relatively weak health infrastructure fared quite well due in large part to their populations being much younger than those in wealthier nations.

Comparing only rich nations, there was substantial variation in COVID-19 outcomes and health spending. While public health infrastructure was important in the COVID-19 response, this is not a clear takeaway from international comparisons as stated (there may be a stronger case within the United States). The other points made by ChatGPT are stronger but not without their shortcomings.

With these content critiques in mind, ChatGPT's five points provide a useful start for a summary of key takeaways. However, the fact that it is coherently written and, on first glance, very reasonable, is quite problematic because of the lack of transparency.

When someone reads a research study or a newspaper article, facts are typically sourced, and those sources have (hopefully) been verified. While there have been high- profile cases of a few journalists making up facts, the fact that this occurrence is so rare is what makes these cases high profile. This is not true for LLMs at present.

In a world with LLMs, there is a growing need for modernized data literacy. While basic numeracy is useful when reading statistical analysis, that is not sufficient to understanding how to treat outputs from LLMs and other modern AI. Developers need to be more transparent about their algorithms and data sources so that people can assess the inherent sources of bias or problems with the approach.

Users of LLMs may find them to be a nice shortcut to drafting material, but should be warry of factual statements made and read with a careful and critical eye. While LLMs like ChatGPT have a lot of uses, providing deep commentary or useful policy analysis is not one of those uses, for now.

Here's how ChatGPT handled the assignment of writing about the pandemic:

Prompt: What are some key take aways from the COVID-19 pandemic?

"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on individuals, societies and the global community as a whole. Here are some key takeaways that have emerged from this crisis:The importance of public health infrastructure: The pandemic has highlighted the critical role of public health infrastructure in preventing and responding to outbreaks. Countries with robust healthcare systems and effective public health measures, such as testing, contact tracing and vaccination campaigns, have generally fared better in controlling the spread of the virus.
The importance of scientific research and innovation: The rapid development of vaccines and therapeutics to combat COVID-19 is a testament to the power of scientific research and innovation. The pandemic has also underscored the need for continued investment in scientific research to better understand the nature of infectious diseases and to develop new treatments and preventive measures.
The impact of social and economic inequality: The pandemic has exposed and exacerbated existing social and economic inequalities, with marginalized communities and vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the virus. This has highlighted the need for policies that address social and economic inequality and prioritize the health and well-being of all individuals.
The need for global cooperation: The pandemic has shown that infectious diseases do not respect national borders and require a coordinated global response. It has highlighted the need for international cooperation in sharing information, resources and expertise to control the spread of the virus and mitigate its impact on health and the economy.
The importance of personal responsibility: The pandemic has demonstrated the importance of personal responsibility in preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Measures such as mask-wearing, physical distancing and hand hygiene can all help reduce the transmission of the virus and protect vulnerable populations. Vaccination is also an important tool in preventing the spread of the virus and reducing its impact on individuals and society."

Carter C. Price is co-director of the Center for Scalable Computing and Analysis, research quality assurance manager for the Homeland Security Research Division and a senior mathematician at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corp.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

Could AI pen ‘Casablanca’? 

Screenwriters take aim at ChatGPT

By JAKE COYLE

May 5, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — When Greg Brockman, the president and co-founder of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, was recently extolling the capabilities of artificial intelligence, he turned to “Game of Thrones.”

Imagine, he said, if you could use AI to rewrite the ending of that not-so-popular finale. Maybe even put yourself into the show.

“That is what entertainment will look like,” said Brockman.

Not six months since the release of ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence is already prompting widespread unease throughout Hollywood. Concern over chatbots writing or rewriting scripts is one of the leading reasons TV and film screenwriters took to picket lines earlier this week.

MORE ON THE WRITERS STRIKE

– Why Hollywood writers are striking and the immediate impact

– What do striking Hollywood writers want? A look at demands

– Late-night TV shows go dark as writers strike for better pay

Though the Writers Guild of America is striking for better pay in an industry where streaming has upended many of the old rules, AI looms as rising anxiety.

“AI is terrifying,” said Danny Strong, the “Dopesick” and “Empire” creator. “Now, I’ve seen some of ChatGPT’s writing and as of now I’m not terrified because Chat is a terrible writer. But who knows? That could change.”

AI chatbots, screenwriters say, could potentially be used to spit out a rough first draft with a few simple prompts (“a heist movie set in Beijing”). Writers would then be hired, at a lower pay rate, to punch it up.

Screenplays could also be slyly generated in the style of known writers. What about a comedy in the voice of Nora Ephron? Or a gangster film that sounds like Mario Puzo? You won’t get anything close to “Casablanca” but the barest bones of a bad Liam Neeson thriller isn’t out of the question.

The WGA’s basic agreement defines a writer as a “person” and only a human’s work can be copyrighted. But even though no one’s about to see a “By AI” writers credit at the beginning a movie, there are myriad ways that regenerative AI could be used to craft outlines, fill in scenes and mock up drafts.

“We’re not totally against AI,” says Michael Winship, president of the WGA East and a news and documentary writer. “There are ways it can be useful. But too many people are using it against us and using it to create mediocrity. They’re also in violation of copyright. They’re also plagiarizing.”

The guild is seeking more safeguards on how AI can be applied to screenwriting. It says the studios are stonewalling on the issue. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on the behalf of production companies, has offered to annually meet with the guild to go over definitions around the fast-evolving technology

“It’s something that requires a lot more discussion, which we’ve committed to doing,” the AMPTP said in an outline of its position released Thursday.

Experts say the struggle screenwriters are now facing with regenerative AI is just the beginning. The World Economic Forum this week released a report predicting that nearly a quarter of all jobs will be disrupted by AI over the next five years.

“It’s definitely a bellwether in the workers’ response to the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on their work,” says Sarah Myers West, managing director of the nonprofit AI Now Institute, which has lobbied the government to enact more regulation around AI. “It’s not lost on me that a lot of the most meaningful efforts in tech accountability have been a product of worker-led organizing.”

AI has already filtered into nearly every part of moviemaking. It’s been used to de-age actors, remove swear words from scenes in post-production, supply viewing recommendations on Netflix and posthumously bring back the voices of Anthony Bourdain and Andy Warhol.

The Screen Actors Guild, set to begin its own bargaining with the AMPTP this summer, has said it’s closely following the evolving legal landscape around AI.

“Human creators are the foundation of the creative industries and we must ensure that they are respected and paid for their work,” the actors union said.

The implications for screenwriting are only just being explored. Actors Alan Alda and Mike Farrell recently reconvened to read through a new scene from “M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H” written by ChatGPT. The results weren’t terrible, though they weren’t so funny, either.

“Why have a robot write a script and try to interpret human feelings when we already have studio executives who can do that?” deadpanned Alda.

Writers have long been among notoriously exploited talents in Hollywood. The films they write usually don’t get made. If they do, they’re often rewritten many times over. Raymond Chandler once wrote “the very nicest thing Hollywood can possibly think to say to a writer is that he is too good to be only a writer.”

Picketing outside CBS Television City in Los Angeles

 (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Screenwriters are accustomed to being replaced. Now, they see a new, readily available and inexpensive competitor in AI — albeit one with a slightly less tenuous grasp of the human condition.

“Obviously, AI can’t do what writers and humans can do. But I don’t know that they believe that, necessarily,” says screenwriter Jonterri Gadson (“A Black Lady Sketchshow”). “There needs to be a human writer in charge and we’re not trying to be gig workers, just revising what AI does. We need to tell the stories.”

Dramatizing their plight as man vs. machine surely doesn’t hurt the WGA’s cause in public opinion. The writers are wrestling with the threat of AI just as concern widens over how hurriedly regenerative AI products has been thrust into society.

Geoffrey Hinton, an AI pioneer, recently left Google in order to speak freely about its potential dangers. “It’s hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” Hinton told The New York Times.

“What’s especially scary about it is nobody, including a lot of the people who are involved with creating it, seem to be able to explain exactly what it’s capable of and how quickly it will be capable of more,” says actor-screenwriter Clark Gregg.

The writers finds themselves in the awkward position of negotiating on a newborn technology with the potential for radical effect. Meanwhile, AI-crafted songs by “Fake Drake” or “Fake Eminem” continue to circulate online.

(AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

“They’re afraid that if the use of AI to do all this becomes normalized, then it becomes very hard to stop the train,” says James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell University. “The guild is in the position of trying to imagine lots of different possible futures.”

In that way, the long work stoppage that many are expecting — Moody’s Investor Service forecasts that the strike may last three months or longer — could offer more time to analyze how regenerative AI might reshape screenwriting.

In the meantime, chanting demonstrators are hoisting signs with messages aimed at a digital foe. Seen on the picket lines: 

“ChatGPT doesn’t have childhood trauma”; 

“I heard AI refuses to take notes”;

 and “Wrote ChatGPT this.” ___

 Associated Press Writer Krysta Fauria in Los Angeles and Robert Bumsted and Aron Ranen in New York contributed to this report.

___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

VIDEO https://apnews.com/ba42e8d70a4a48e989ae98269c80d741

ICYMI

Why Hollywood writers are striking and the immediate impact

By ANDREW DALTON

May 5, 2023

1 of 5
Striking writers rally in front of Netflix offices, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Los Angeles. Television and movie writers launched a strike Tuesday for the first time in 15 years, as Hollywood girded for a walkout with potentially widespread ramifications in a fight over fair pay in the streaming era. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The union representing 11,500 writers of film, television and other entertainment forms are now on strike. It’s the first writers’ strike — and the first Hollywood strike of any kind — in 15 years. Here’s a look at the storylines the fight has spawned.

WHY ARE THE WRITERS STRIKING?

Streaming and its ripple effects are at the center of the dispute. The guild says that even as series budgets have increased, writers’ share of that money has consistently shrunk.

Streaming services’ use of smaller staffs — known in the industry as “mini rooms” — for shorter stints has made sustained income harder to come by, the guild says. And the number of writers working at guild minimums has gone from about a third to about half in the past decade.

“On TV staffs, more writers are working at minimum regardless of experience, often for fewer weeks,” the guild said in a March report.

The lack of a regular seasonal calendar in streaming has depressed pay further, the report says. And scheduled annual pay bumps under the current contract have fallen well short of increases in inflation.

The weekly minimum for a staff writer on a television series in the 2019-2020 season was $4,546, according to industry trade outlet Variety. They work an average of 29 weeks on a network show for $131,834 annually, or an average of 20 weeks on a streaming show for $90,920. For a writer-producer, the figure is $6,967 per week. Writers of comedy-variety shows for streaming have no minimum protections at all, the guild says.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Hollywood’s studios, streamers and production companies, says the writers’ demands would require that they be kept on staff and paid when there is no work for them. “If writing needs to be done, writers are hired, but these proposals require the employment of writers whether they’re needed for the creative process or not,” the group said in a document outlining its positions.

And the AMPTP says its offers included the first-ever minimums for streaming comedy-variety writers.

The group also said that writers’ healthcare, child care and pension benefits set them far apart from the “gig economy” workers the writers have compared themselves to.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Months of negotiations still left considerable distance between writers and the AMPTP. The Writers Guild of America — whose East and West versions are technically two unions that act as a unit in these negotiations.

Talks, which often extend for hours or days past a contract deadline, instead ended hours before the most recent contract expired Monday night. By that point writers, who voted overwhelmingly to authorize their leaders to call a strike, had already begun making signs for picket lines, Which they promptly put to use Tuesday.

The AMPTP said that it had offered “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals,” including the highest first-year wage increase in a WGA contract in more than 25 years, and the creation of a new category of rates that would mean a new, higher minimum for mid-level writers. The group said it was prepared to improve its offers, but the union was asking for so much more than companies were willing to offer that it cut off negotiations hours before the contract expired.

WHAT SHOWS WILL BE AFFECTED FIRST?

Late-night talk shows, heavily dependent on same-day, current-events-based comedy writing, were the first to feel the strike’s effect. The shows have been the de facto frontline during previous writers strikes. NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” all went immediately into hiatus and will air reruns. James Corden’s Thursday night farewell to his “Late Late Show” was well-timed.

“Saturday Night Live,” nearly as dependent on last-minute writing, has already axed this week’s episode with host Pete Davidson. The final two episodes in the season that follow it are in serious jeopardy.

Forthcoming awards shows are keeping plans in place for now, but those could easily fall apart.

HOW WILL THE STRIKE AFFECT SCRIPTED SERIES AND MOVIES?

The strike’s impact on scripted series could take far longer to manifest. Noticeable effects on the movie release calendar could take even longer.

Shows where writers had begun work on forthcoming seasons — including Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” — have now paused the process, and would have to scramble after the strike to stay on schedule.

Production on finished screenplays can proceed as planned (without the benefit of last-minute rewrites). In general, Hollywood’s other unions — including guilds for actors and directors, both of which face expiring deals with AMPTP in the coming months — are forbidden by their contracts to join the current strike and must continue working, though both members and leaders have expressed solidarity with the WGA.

Productions, long aware of the looming deadline, sought to wrap before it arrived. FilmLA, which hands out location permits for the Los Angeles area, say that none have been requested for television dramas or sitcoms this week.

Depending on their media consumption methods, many viewers and moviegoers may not notice the effects of a strike until long after it’s over, if at all. The menus on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video will look no different next week, but because this would be the first writers’ strike of the streaming era, there is no template for how they will look months down the line.

During the last strike, when broadcast and cable networks with well-established seasonal schedules were still predominant, many shows, including “30 Rock,” “CSI,” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” shortened their seasons.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW FOR THE WRITERS?

The full stop to work will mean major economic losses for screenwriters, though many say it’s worth it to fight the day-to-day dwindling of income.

Guild strike rules prevent members from striking new deals, making new pitches, or turning in new scripts. They are allowed to accept payment for any writing that’s already been done.

Those known in the industry as “hyphenates,” including showrunners who act as head writer-producers, performer-writers, and people like Quinta Brunson of “Abbot Elementary” who do all the above, are allowed to do the non-writing parts of their jobs under union rules, though that work may be minimal as they seek solidarity with their writing staffs. (At Monday’s Met Gala, Bruson said “I’m a member of the WGA and support WGA and ... We, us, us getting what we need. ... No one wants a strike, but I hope that we’re able to rectify this, whatever that means”)

HOW PREVIOUS WRITERS STRIKES HAVE PLAYED OUT

Writers have gone on strike six times, more than any group in Hollywood.

The first came in 1960, a Writers Guild walkout that lasted nearly five months. Strikes followed in 1973, 1981, and 1985. The longest work stoppage, lasting exactly five months, came in 1988.

The 2007-2008 strike was resolved after three months. Among the main concessions the writers won were requirements that fledgling streaming shows would have to hire guild writers if their budgets were big enough. It was an early harbinger of nearly every entertainment labor fight in the years that followed.


Hollywood Writers Strike picket lines begin out of New York