February 4, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Thursday, February 4, 2016

THE VISIT

President Barack Obama speaks to members of the Muslim-American community at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Baltimore, Md. Obama is making his first visit to a U.S. mosque at a time Muslim-Americans say they’re confronting increasing levels of bias in speech and deeds.

Associated Press Page 3

Obama decries anti-Muslim rhetoric

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Thursday 4 February 2016

FRONT

Zika affects plans for destination weddings, babymoons BETH J. HARPAZ AP Travel Editor Some travelers are trading in Caribbean and Latin American vacations for ski trips and Hawaii as they rethink destination weddings, babymoons and other getaways in light of the Zika virus.

The mosquito-borne virus can cause mild illness, but some travelers are worried about a possible link between the virus and babies born with smaller-than-normal heads, mostly in Brazil.

Dr. Brian Levine, a New York City fertility doctor, “spent the majority of the last week counseling patients about (the) Zika virus. I’ve had to have discussions about canceling babymoons, canceling trips before starting in vitro fertilization and even having husbands provide a frozen semen sample because they plan on traveling to a Zikaaffected region for work.”

New Yorker Mark LoCastro and his pregnant wife canceled a babymoon

— the term for a couple’s getaway before a baby is born — to St. Lucia. “We instead traveled to Charleston, South Carolina,” he said. He’s seen friends who are rescheduling trips post new destinations on social media with the hashtag #zikafreezone.

Laura E. Lynn, who is five months pregnant, canceled a vacation to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, her parents had planned with Lynn, her sister and their husbands. “I couldn’t imagine being stuck inside in long sleeves, paranoid about being bitten and unable to relax,” she said.

Travel agency owner Sandy Anderson helped a couple plan a Hawaii getaway rather than the Caribbean because they were “uncomfortable” with the risks posed by Zika.

“We also have a destination wedding going out in about two weeks to Mexico, and two couples canceled because both of the women are expect-

APNewsBreak: Fl a. governor declares Zika emergency TAMARA LUSH GARY FINEOUT Associated Press TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Gov. Rick Scott declared a health emergency in four counties Wednesday after at least nine cases of the mosquito-borne Zika illness were detected in Florida.

Health officials believe all of the cases are from people who contracted the disease while traveling to affected countries.

“We have to ensure Florida is prepared and stays ahead of the spread of the Zika virus in our state,” Scott said in a statement. “We know that we must be prepared for the worst even as we hope for the best.”

Scott signed the order to cover Miami-Dade, Lee, Hillsborough and Santa Rosa counties. That’s where all of the affected cases

were detected.

The order allows the state’s agriculture department to use mosquito spray more in those areas. It also directs the Florida Department of Health to make its own decisions about what’s needed from the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Zika virus is linked to brain deformities in babies and is causing concern among public health officials worldwide. The illness is primarily spread through mosquito bites, but investigators have been exploring the possibility it could be sexually transmitted.

U.S. health officials say a person in Texas became infected with Zika through sex, in the first case of the illness being transmitted within the United States.q

Sandy Anderson, owner of the travel agency Travel Leaders Riverdale, poses in her office Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Coon Rapids, Minn. Anderson has heard from a number of clients concerned about travel to places affected by the Zika virus. She has helped some of them rebook trips to alternate destinations outside the affected areas.

Associated Press

ing babies,” said Anderson, owner of Travel Leaders Riverdale in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Her agency’s website now includes a link to the Centers for Disease Control advisory on Zika, and she’s making sure that clients understand the value of “cancel for any reason” travel insurance.

Hung Thai, an engineer who lives in the Seattle area, is maintaining plans for a December wedding in Mexico’s Riviera Maya.

“The biggest point we’ll be making to our guests is to buy travel insurance,” he said. He and his fiancee, Lina Jiang, are telling friends who are starting families that “we’re absolutely OK if they cancel.

We would not want them to travel to our wedding if they get pregnant.” On the other hand, for most travelers, the risks appear to be limited, “so there’s no need to push the panic button.”

Thai’s wedding planner, Carla Schipper, who works at Unique Romance Travel & Destination Weddings, said she’s telling clients if they’re expecting or trying to get pregnant, “travel should be to the Hawaiian islands, South Pacific and Europe.”

Kenneth Robison was able to get a refund from Spirit Airlines after canceling a

trip to Nicaragua. He and his wife had arranged for his mother to watch their toddler for a week in March so they could get away, but they canceled because they hope to have a second child at some point, and “thatched bungalows on the beach of a rainforest island without air conditioning or even closed windows would put us at extra risk of mosquitoes.”

“We are looking at going skiing in Canada instead,” he said.

Major U.S. airlines said they would let pregnant women, and in some cases their traveling companions, rebook trips without penalty or get refunds for flights to areas covered by the CDC travel advisory. Many cruise lines, tour operators and other travel providers are also providing credits for future trips or alternate itineraries for pregnant travelers.

Travel Insured International saw a 30 percent increase in the purchase of “cancel for any reason” travel insurance policies during January compared with January 2015, “which we are attributing to the Zika virus,” said spokesman Isaac Cymrot. Julie Loffredi, editor at InsureMyTrip.com, also reports a “spike in interest in cancel-for-anyreason coverage,” and a

20 percent increase in calls from concerned travelers, “many of whom are pregnant.”

Some travelers are undeterred. Christy Nielson, who lives in Dallas, just arrived in Mexico with a group of friends. “We talked about Zika, but decided we’d just pack a lot of bug spray and long sleeves rather than cancel. Luckily, none of the women are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant, so the risk seems manageable,” she said.

Tara Cannon, a Vancouver, Canada, mother of two who blogs at PintSizePilot.com, is also planning a Mexico trip. She’s gone with her family to other locales where mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue and chikungunya are endemic.

They use repellent and for sleeping, mosquito nets.

“We are fully used to being vigilant when it comes to mosquitoes and try our hardest to avoid getting bitten,” she said.

Marissa Siebel-Siero’s sister is going ahead with a wedding in St. John in the Caribbean even though “multiple wedding guests have canceled due to being pregnant.”

The bride-to-be is putting it all in perspective: “She is supplying bug spray in all of the welcome baskets.”q

U.S. NEWS A3

Thursday 4 February 2016

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Obama visits U.S. mosque, says impression of Muslims distorted DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press CATONSVILLE, Md. (AP) — President Barack Obama sought Wednesday to correct what he called a “hugely distorted impression” of Muslim-Americans as he made his first visit to a U.S. mosque. He said those who demonize all Muslims for the acts of a few are playing into extremists’ hands.

Inserting himself into a debate that has ricocheted in the presidential campaign, Obama told parishioners at a mosque outside Baltimore that he’d heard from young Muslims worried they’ll be rounded up and kicked out of the country.

He said Muslims, too, are concerned about the threat of terrorism but are too often blamed as a group “for the violent acts of the very few.”

“We’ve seen children bullied, we’ve seen mosques vandalized,” Obama said, warning that such unequal treatment for certain groups in society tears at the nation’s fabric. “That’s not who we are.”

For Muslim advocates, Obama’s visit was a longawaited gesture to a community that has warned of escalating vitriol against them that has accompanied the public’s concern about the Islamic State and other extremist groups.

Although Obama has visited mosques overseas, he waited until his final year in office to make such a visit at home, reflecting the issue’s sensitive political implications.

In this year’s Republican presidential campaign, Donald Trump has called for banning Muslims from the U.S. temporarily and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio

warned of “radical Islamic terrorism.”

Muslim-American advocacy groups have warned of growing antagonism that has followed recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, by those purporting to act in the name of Islam.

“We have to understand: An attack on one faith is an attack on all our faiths,” Obama said. He said it fell on all Americans to speak up.

For Obama, the visit reflected a willingness to wade into touchy social issues that often eluded him earlier in his presidency. For years, Obama has fought incorrect claims that he’s actually a Muslim and was born in Kenya, beliefs that polls suggest remain prevalent among many Republicans. Obama, a Christian, was born in Hawaii.

Obama, acknowledging that uncomfortable chapter in his own story, noted that Thomas Jefferson had also been accused of being a Muslim.

“So I was not the first,” Obama said to laughter from a hundred or so Muslims who gathered for his speech. “No, it’s true. Look it up.”

Obama challenged Hollywood to start casting Muslims in roles “that are unrelated to national security.”

Drawing a parallel with African-Americans’ struggle for broad societal acceptance, he noted, “there was a time when there were no black people on television.”

With no plans to ever again appear on a ballot, Obama faces less pressure to avoid political controversy, and seemed to relish the possibility that his visit would raise eyebrows

Children from Al-Rahmah school and other guests react after seeing President Barack Obama during his visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Baltimore, Md. Associated Press

among some of his most entrenched critics. Ahead of his visit, White House officials acknowledged the visit could spark controversy but suggested that would help make his point about ignorance and religious bias.

Still, the president was pointed in acknowledging that concerns about violence emanating from some corners of the Islamic world were not ill-founded.

He denounced what he called an “organized extremist element” twisting selective Islamic texts in a way that ends up reflecting negatively on the overwhelming majority of lawabiding Muslims.

“It is undeniable that a small fraction of Muslims propagate a perverted interpretation of Islam. This is the truth,” Obama said. He added, “It’s real. It’s there.”

But Obama said suggestions that Islam is at the root

of the problem only play into terrorist propaganda, weakening U.S. national security as opposed to strengthening it. He said IS and other extremist groups are desperately working to legitimize themselves by masquerading as religious leaders and holy warriors.

“We must never give them that legitimacy. They’re not defending Islam,” Obama said. “The vast majority of the people they kill are innocent Muslim men, women and children.”

Ahead of his speech at the suburban Islamic Society of Baltimore, Obama met with Muslim university chaplains, community activists and public health professionals to discuss religious tolerance and freedom.

Among the participants was fencer Ibtihaj Muhamma. The White House said she’ll make history at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games as the first

United States Olympian to compete in a hijab.

Nearly half of Americans think at least some U.S. Muslims are anti-American, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday. Twothirds of Americans said people, not religious teachings, are to blame when violence is committed in the name of faith.

However, when respondents were asked which religion they consider troubling, Islam was the most common answer.

“We never thought that when we held our first prayers in the small room nearly a half a century ago that we would be hosting the president,” said Muhammad Jameel, the mosque’s president. “Today is a newstarting point.

It is also a continuing journey — a journey steeped in American history and tradition.”q

A4 U.S.

NEWS ‘Suspending’ a campaign in U.S. means game over Thursday 4 February 2016

CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — To hear U.S. exiting presidential primary candidates tell it, their campaigns never die. They are just suspended.

Make no mistake. When they suspend a campaign, as Rand Paul did Wednesday and Mike Huckabee and Martin O’Malley did right after the first voting sessions in the state of Iowa, it’s not to take a break for household chores or a reflective week at the beach. It’s game over.

Suspending a campaign is a term of art in politics that has little if any legal significance but may give the hopeful-no-more some wiggle room for continuing to raise money, if anyone is still inclined to give it, and for winding down operations.

Also, it sounds better than quitting.

The ex-candidates’ campaign websites live on — mostly phantoms now, but with the “donate” link still active. The frantic appeals for cash subside, although

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks to WBKO in his hometown, Bowling Green, Ky., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, after announcing he is dropping his 2016 campaign for president.

Associated Press

In this Jan. 22, 2016, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley speaks during a campaign stop at the Tilton Diner in Tilton, N.H. O’Malley is ending his bid for the Democratic nomination for president on Feb. 1, 2016.

Associated Press

In this Jan. 31, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee speaks at Inspired Grounds Cafe in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Associated Press

Rick Santorum appealed for money to help pay the bills after suspending his 2012 Republican primary campaign.

Huckabee, a Republican, now says on his site “I have suspended my campaign” and he’ll finally be “spending some time with my dogs.” O’Malley, a Democrat, says “I am suspending my campaign for the presidency.” Paul’s still has him wanting to “unleash the American Dream” and an outdated schedule of campaign events. The site

hadn’t caught up with the Republican senator’s video announcement: “Today I will suspend my campaign for the presidency.”

A suspension may imply that if rival campaigns implode, the candidate can always jump back, a road rarely taken. One of the few exceptions: Ross Perot suspended his third-party presidential campaign in July 1992 only to renew it that October, a month before the election.

Candidates who power through much of the race before quitting have some standing afterward: a coveted endorsement to give, a prominent convention speaking slot to negotiate, perhaps substantial delegates to steer to a favored contender. But those who make little impact in the primary campaign have little impact outside of it.

For these departed, the bottom line of a suspension is that employees are let go, advisers disperse, donors place their bets on those still politically alive, and the campaign world moves inexorably on without them.q Publishable Editors Notes: EDITOR’S NOTE _ An occasional look at words we hear in the 2016 campaign and what’s behind themq

U.S. NEWS A5

Thursday 4 February 2016

Trump accuses Cruz of fraud in Iowa caucuses NASHUA, New Hampshire (AP) — Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz of fraud in the Iowa caucuses, Rand Paul dropped out of the crowded Republican race and candidates from both major parties focused on New Hampshire before the state’s first-in-the-nation primary next Tuesday.

In attacks posted on his official Twitter account Wednesday, Trump said “either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified” in Monday’s Iowa contest. The billionaire businessman placed second behind the conservative Texas senator. The tweets were a reversal for Trump, who congratulated Cruz on Monday night and told reporters on Tuesday he was “very happy with what happened in Iowa.”

But a Trump tweet on Wednesday accused the Cruz campaign of telling Iowa voters that Ben Carson was quitting the race so he could steal Carson votes.

Earlier Wednesday, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told CNN the Texas senator had apologized personally to Carson. Tyler said the Cruz team “as a campaign” never alleged Carson was dropping out.

Carson said the Monday comment amounted to “dirty tricks.”

Asked whether the campaign planned to file a formal complaint, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said: “Wait and see.” Officials from the Iowa Republican Party did not respond immediately to questions about their process for handling complaints like Trump’s.

Meanwhile, Paul said he

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meets with attendees during a campaign stop Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, in Milford, N.H. Associated Press

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks at a town hall campaign event, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Henniker, N.H.

Associated Press

will now turn his full attention to his Senate re-elec-

tion campaign in Kentucky.

He never caught on with

voters beyond the small group of libertarian-leaning

Republicans who backed the previous White House bids of his father, Ron Paul.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who placed third among the Republicans in Iowa, said he will try to persuade some of Rand Paul’s supporters to redirect their support to him, despite the stark differences the two have on foreign policy.

Rubio is trying to be the Republican establishment’s preferred alternative to Trump or Cruz.

For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton was seeking to turn a narrow victory in Iowa over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders into some momentum. The former secretary of state and first lady defeated Sanders by less than three-tenths of 1 percent, the closest result in Iowa Democratic caucus history, the state party said.

New Hampshire is the second in a series of state-bystate nominating contests to decide who will be each party’s candidate for president in November.

Polls show Sanders leading by double digits in New Hampshire, which neighbors Vermont.

Trump has been leading the Republican polls in New Hampshire, which has historically favored more moderate candidates than Iowa. Polls show well over half of Republican voters have yet to make up their minds. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all hope New Hampshire will breathe life into their flagging campaigns.

Candidates are also looking ahead to more diverse South Carolina, which holds the first primary in the South later this month.q

A6 U.S.

Thursday 4 February 2016

NEWS

City’s water woes reach US Congress, and it’s a blame game MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Government officials fought on Wednesday over who was to blame for the water crisis in the city of Flint, Michigan, at a combative congressional hearing that also pitted Democrats against Republicans.

Joel Beauvais, acting water chief for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Michigan officials ignored federal advice to treat Flint water for corrosion-causing elements last year and delayed for months before telling the public in the city about 100 kilometers northwest of Detroit about the health risks of lead-contaminated water.

“What happened in Flint was avoidable and never should have happened,” Beauvais said.

EPA’s Midwest regional office urged Michigan’s environmental agency to address the lack of corrosion control in Flint’s water, “but was met with resistance,” Beauvais told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “The delays in implementing the actions needed to treat the drinking water and in informing the public of ongoing health risks raise very serious concerns.”

Countering the Obama

Witnesses, from left, Joel Beauvais, acting deputy assistant administrator, Office of Water, EPA; Keith Creagh, director, Department of Environmental Quality, State of Michigan; Marc Edwards, Virginia Tech professor, Environmental and Water Resources Engineering: and Flint, Mich. resident LeeAnne Walters, are sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, prior to testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing to examine the ongoing situation in Flint, Mich.

Associated Press

administration official, Keith Creagh, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, acknowledged that the state should have required Flint to treat its water, but said the EPA “did not display the sense of urgency that the situation demanded,” allowing the problem to fester for months.

Creagh apologized for the state’s role in the water crisis, but said, “in retrospect, government at all levels

should have done more.”

The hearing was the first on Capitol Hill since the lead contamination crisis in Flint made national news last year, and frustrated Democrats complained that the Republican-led committee didn’t ask the state’s Republican governor to explain what happened.

Flint is under a public health emergency after its drinking water became tainted when the city switched from the Detroit system and

began drawing from the Flint River in April 2014 to save money. The city was under state management at the time.

Water was not properly treated to keep lead from pipes from leaching into the supply. Some children’s blood has tested positive for lead, a potent neurotoxin linked to learning disabilities, lower IQ and behavioral problems.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has apologized repeatedly

for the state’s role in the crisis. Snyder and state legislators have enacted $37 million in emergency Flint funding for the current fiscal year. Snyder is expected to propose an additional $30 million in state funding to help Flint residents pay their water bills.

The crisis has taken on partisan overtones, as Democrats blame the Republican governor and some Republicans target the EPA for failing to intervene sooner.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the oversight panel, said EPA should have acted on its own to warn the public about water problems in Flint.

“Why didn’t EPA tell the public they’re poisoning their kids if they drink the water?” he asked Beauvais, adding that EPA knew about potential health risks for nearly a year before making the results public.

“What good are EPA if they don’t tell kids” about lead in the water, Chaffetz shouted.

“Can anybody tell me why Gov. Snyder is not here today?” asked Rep. Matt Cartwright, a Democrat, “Because he’s hiding, that’s why,” Cartwight added, answering his own question.

Boston mobster’s longtime love pleads guilty to contempt DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer BOSTON (AP) — The woman who spent 16 years on the run with Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger pleaded guilty Wednesday to a criminal contempt charge for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating whether other people helped him as a fugitive.

Catherine Greig, 64, entered her plea in U.S. District Court in Boston without having any agreement or sentencing recommendation from prosecutors.

Greig is already serving an eight-year prison term for helping Bulger while he was on the lam.

Greig did not flinch when Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV told her that because there is no maximum penalty for the contempt charge, he could sentence her to any term, including up to life in prison.

When prosecutor Mary Murrane told Saylor that Greig had refused to testify despite a judge’s order and grant of immunity, Greig made a point of noting that she had not asked for immunity.

After the hearing, Greig’s lawyer, Keven Reddington, said she did not invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, but instead refused to testify at all before the grand

jury.

“Yeah, she loved him and still does,” Reddington said.

Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 just before he was indicted and remained a fugitive until 2011, when he and Greig were found living together in a rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica, California.

Murrane told the judge that Greig was called before a grand jury in October 2014, but refused to answer questions about whether any third parties provided assistance to her or Bulger. The following month, Judge Denise Casper entered an order compelling her to testify and granting her immunity.

This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows Catherine Greig, longtime girlfriend of Whitey Bulger, who was captured with Bulger in 2011 in Santa Monica, Calif.

Associated Press

U.S. NEWS A7

Thursday 4 February 2016

Kansas man pleads guilty in plot to bomb Army post JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man whose lawyer says he is mentally ill pleaded guilty Wednesday in connection with a plot to plant a bomb outside an Army post, acknowledging that he wanted to aid the Islamic State group.

John T. Booker Jr. of Topeka admitted in court to trying to set off what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb in a van outside Fort Riley, about 60 miles west of Topeka. He signed a plea agreement with prosecutors that recommends he spend 30 years in prison.

Booker, 21, was arrested outside the post in April 2015 as he was trying to arm what he believed was the bomb. He had been plotting the bombing with two contacts who actually were confidential FBI sources.“If this defendant had succeeded, American soldiers would have died,” Barry Grissom, the U.S. attorney for Kansas, said after Booker’s court hearing.

“The investigators and the attorneys who worked on this case were our line of defense against terrorism.”

During the hearing, defense attorney Kirk Redmond told U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia that Booker has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is characterized by mood swings that can affect functioning. Redmond said Booker is taking medication for the disorder, which Booker confirmed in court.

Neither Redmond nor Booker said whether the disorder was a factor in Booker’s actions. A Muslim cleric who counseled

Booker before his arrest said at the time that Booker was acting strangely in the days leading up to it.

Booker pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and one count of attempting to destroy government property with an explosive device. The plea agreement recommended a sentence of 30 years on the first charge and 20 years on the second, to be served at the same time. A conviction on the weapons-of-mass-destruction charge could have led to life in prison.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped a charge of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group.

Booker initially pleaded not guilty to all three charges, but notified Murguia in December that he wanted to change his pleas. His hearing Wednesday was scheduled to allow him to do that. Murguia has not yet scheduled a sentencing hearing. He advised Booker that in any criminal case, the judge does not have to follow the recommendations in plea agreements. “There’s no limit on the information the court could consider,” Murguia said. Still, when the judge asked whether Booker still wanted to plead guilty, he answered, “Yes,” in a calm voice.

Booker acknowledged in court that he told one of the FBI informants that he wanted to kill Americans and engage in violent jihad on behalf of the Islamic State group. His plea agreement said he made a video in April 2015 tell-

ing Americans “today we will bring the Islamic State straight to your doorstep.”

In court, Redmond once referred to Booker as Muhammad. Booker had an alias, Muhammad Abdullah Hassan.

The presentation of the plea agreement to Murguia was delayed after the judge announced in court that Booker had sent him a letter. The judge did not disclose its contents and conferred with Booker and Redmond privately for several minutes; Redmond then left the courtroom with two prosecutors for a few minutes.q

This 2010 yearbook file photo provided by Topeka Public Schools from a Topeka West High School shows John Booker.

Associated Press

A8 U.S.

Thursday 4 February 2016

NEWS

Central Europe guardedly welcomes U.S. military spending boost VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Countries in Central and Eastern Europe are welcoming a U.S. plan to quadruple military spending in Europe in reaction to Russia’s military resurgence, yet the tone from several governments appears guarded as it remains unclear how much of the spending will translate into a real and lasting presence of troops and weapons on NATO’s nervous eastern flank.

Poland’s Foreign Ministry, for instance, said Wednesday that it welcomes the U.S. plan but considers it only one element in improving the region’s security. It said it also hopes the initiative will be “supplemented” at a NATO summit in Warsaw this July “with other specific and credible elements of military presence, fully adequate to the current threats in the security environment.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Tuesday that the Obama administration plans to increase spending in 2017 to $3.4 billion from $789 million for what the Pentagon calls its European Reassurance Initiative, which

In this June 17, 2015 file photo an air-cushion vehicle goes toward the beach as NATO troops participate in the NATO sea exercises BALTOPS 2015 that are to reassure the Baltic Sea region allies in the face of a resurgent Russia, in Ustka, Poland.

Associated Press

was announced in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and incursion into eastern Ukraine.

“The U.S. initiative still seems to fall short of the expectations of Poland and the three Baltic states for a permanent presence of U.S. combat units on their soil,” said Lukasz Kulesa, research director at the Euro-

pean Leadership Network, a London-based think tank focused on international relations and security. “The Americans talks about weapon pre-positioning and a ‘persistent’ rotational presence, not ‘bases.’”

That, Kulesa said, leaves many leaders struggling with this question: “Should we just accept this pack-

age and be happy, or should we still try to get more defense commitments from the U.S. and other NATO countries at the Warsaw Summit in July?”

He said the region also worries about whether the U.S. spending pledge, which is only for 2017, can be sustained.

Poland and the Baltic

Rebel shelling destroys museum in Yemen AHMED AL-HAJ Associated Press SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Shelling by Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels in the heavily contested western city of Taiz struck a museum housing rare manuscripts and the possessions of a deceased ruler, activists said Wednesday.

Activist Reham al-Badr, who inspected the National Museum in Taiz, told The Associated Press that Shiite rebels have routinely shelled the district where it is located, which is defended by local fighters.

She said the museum was struck Sunday.

The interior walls of the building were torched black and the museum was filled with rubble and twisted metal.

In this picture taken Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2016, a man examines the damage at the National Museum in the war-torn city of Taiz, Yemen.

Associated Press

Al-Badr, who visited the museum earlier Wednesday, said it housed a collection of watches, guns, swords, gifts from foreign visitors and manuscripts belonging to Imam Ahmed, who ruled until the 1960s.

Houthi spokesmen declined to comment.

Yemen has been torn apart by conflict since 2014, when the rebels allied with troops loyal to a former president and captured large swaths of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, lies along a main route from the port city of Aden, held by a loose array of forces allied with the internationally recognized government, to Sanaa.

Residents and aid groups

states — the NATO members that feel most nervous about Russia — want their allies to create permanent bases on their territory. But so far, the alliance’s main response to the new challenges presented by Moscow has been to cycle forces in and out of the area, hold more exercises, preposition additional weaponry and supplies and create a new, highly nimble force to come to the aid of allies in trouble.

One of the few concrete details so far on where the money could go came from the Netherlands — much further to the west.

About the same time that Carter was making the announcement in Washington, the Netherlands Defense Ministry was announcing an agreement in principle for stockpiling some U.S. equipment at Eygelshoven, a hamlet in the southern province of Limburg where the existing military depot had been slated to close.

Still, Estonian Defense Minister Hannes Hanso welcomed the U.S. announcement as a “solid response” to Russia’s recent behavior and said he thinks it “demonstrates the shift in the thinking of the U.S. and NATO.” “When you look at Russia’s troop movements, the exercises, snap exercises, and the aims of those exercises and the very unpredictability of Russia’s behavior, then it is quite clear that this behavior needs a response,” Hanso said.

Bruno Lete, senior program officer at the German Marshall Fund think tank in Brussels, said he is struck by the fact that the U.S. plan was unveiled just two weeks after Russia announced the creation of three new military divisions on Russia’s western borders and five new strategic nuclear missile regiments.

“So while Russia is pushing westwards, the U.S. plan seems to meet a call from Central European nations to push Europe’s first defense line eastwards,” Lete said. “But it is a tactical necessity.q

WORLD NEWS 9

Thursday 4 February 2016

Ambassador: U.S. to continue South China Sea flights, sail-bys

This Feb. 1, 2005 file photo shows an aerial view of the Siachen Glacier, which traverses the Himalayan region dividing India and Pakistan, about 750 kilometers (469 miles) northwest of Jammu, India.

Associated Press

U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg answers questions from the media during a forum Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016 at suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. Goldberg talked about the issue in the South China Sea involving the Philippines and China as well as the global fight against terrorism.

Associated Press

TERESA CEROJANO Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The U.S. ambassador said Wednesday joint patrols with the Philippines are possible in the South China Sea, where the United States has asserted its freedom to navigate by sending planes and ships into China-claimed areas.

Manila protested when a commercial Chinese aircraft landed recently on one of several artificial islands Beijing has built in the Spratlys, and officials say China has essentially declared an air defense identification zone over the sea by issuing “provocative” challenges to Philippine military flights in the area.

Ambassador Philip Goldberg said the U.S. and the Philippines both have deep interest in ensuring freedom of navigation and he is not discarding the possibility of

joint patrols in the area.

Two U.S. warships have sailed by China-claimed islands in the Spratly and Paracel island chains since October.

“I am not going to announce beforehand what we do in terms of freedom of navigation, but suffice it to say that the United States will follow international law, will continue to enjoy our rights under international law to sail through international waters or fly to international air space,” Goldberg told a media forum.Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said last week the officials discussing possible joint patrols were looking at an area within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

“I am not going to prejudge what we are going to do and when we are going to do it, whether we are going to do it with the Philippines

or with others, but we do discuss that principle with the Philippines and so I am not discarding that possibility,” Goldberg added when asked if a proposal for U.S. joint patrols with the Philippines has been approved.

Tensions have risen in the last two years after China built islands on disputed reefs in the Spratly Islands chain that China’s neighbors fear could be used to threaten their territories.

China and Taiwan have nearly identical claims to almost the entire South China Sea while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei say parts of the sea belong to them. The United States does not claim part of the territory but says it has interest in the peaceful settlement of the disputes and in freedom of navigation in waters that are critical for world trade.q

Avalanche traps 10 Indian army soldiers on Kashmir glacier SRINAGAR, India (AP) — An avalanche hit the Siachen Glacier in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir early Wednesday, trapping 10 Indian army soldiers in the snow.

Army and air force teams were trying to rescue the soldiers in the northern part of the glacier, army spokesman Col. S.D. Goswami said. Rescue dogs also have been pressed into service.

Avalanches and landslides are common in Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both entirely.

The rival nations also dispute the undemarcated border through the Si-

achen Glacier at an altitude of nearly 19,000 feet (5,800 meters).

Thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops are stationed on the freezing Himalayan terrain, where more troops have died from the grueling conditions than from hostile fire.

Last month, four Indian soldiers on foot patrol were killed by an avalanche in the same region.

In 2012, an avalanche in the Pakistan-controlled part of the glacier killed 140 people, including 129 soldiers.

The two countries have discussed ways to demilitarize the Siachen Glacier without success.q

A10 WORLD

Thursday 4 February 2016

NEWS

After 2 days, Syrian peace talks to take a ‘temporary pause’ BASSEM MROUE JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The peace talks in the Syrian civil war are taking a break. The fighting is not.

U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced Wednesday there would be a “temporary pause” in the indirect peace talks between the government and opposition, saying the process will resume Feb. 25.

In a statement later in the day, de Mistura’s office said the talks would take a “recess” by the end of Friday and would resume “no later than 25 February, and possibly much earlier.”

The delay reflects the rocky start of the talks Monday in which neither the government nor the opposition even acknowledged that the negotiations had officially begun.

“It is not the end, and it is not the failure of the talks,” de Mistura told reporters after a meeting with opposition leaders.

Both sides remain “interested in having the political process started,” he added.

The conflict that began in March 2011 has killed at least 250,000 people, displaced 11 million and given an opening for the Islamic State group to seize large parts of the country from forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.

“I’m not frustrated I’m not disappointed,” de Mistura said of the pause. “When you have a five year war and had so many difficult moments you have to be determined, but also realistic.”

Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, speaks to the press in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.

Associated Press

The last round of talks broke down in 2014.

The Saudi-backed opposition, known as the High Negotiations Committee, had been reluctant to come to the talks, saying the government should first end the bombardment of civilians, allow aid into besieged rebel-held areas, and release thousands of detainees.

On Wednesday, delegation head Riad Hajib said the Assad government had not met those demands.

“The HNC delegation will leave tomorrow and will not return (to Geneva) until we see positive steps on humanitarian issues,” he said.

“This regime that ruined the Geneva negotiations in 2014 is doing it again during this political process,” Hijab added.

“We came to Geneva to prove to the world that this regime does not believe in

a political solution.”

The head of the Syrian delegation, Bashar Ja’afari, said the opposition “had orders from its masters to ruin the talks.”

“Yes, there is a failure. It is a failure of everybody except the government of the Syrian Arab Republic,” Ja’afari said. “Those who have the responsibility of this failure are the Saudis, the Turks and the Qataris.

They are the real handlers and the masters of the Riyadh group.”

On Wednesday, Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, blasted their way into two Shiite villages in the north, breaking a long-running rebel siege, Syrian TV reported.

The villages of Nubul and Zahra are located in the middle of opposition territory and have been blockaded by rebel groups for about three years, with the

army occasionally dropping food and other aid to those inside.

Reaching them marked a major victory for government forces, which have made significant advances in Aleppo province in recent days. The Syrian troops severed a key supply route linking the rebels in the city of Aleppo to the Turkish border.

If the pro-government offensive succeeds, it will be one of the biggest blows to the insurgents since they captured large parts of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, in the summer of 2012.

The offensive has led the opposition to accuse Damascus of negotiating in bad faith.

The two delegations were not meeting face to face but were in separate rooms, with de Mistura shuttling between them in the so-called “proximity talks.”

He had scheduled the talks to last six months.

De Mistura said he will ask the U.N. Security Council and the International Syria Support group of about 20 regional and world powers to address some of the pending issues in the talks, including what can be done “to make a difference for the Syrian people.”

He said “the U.N. cannot allow simply procedural matters to actually become more important than actually the result for the humanitarian situation for the Syrian people, who have been waiting for us to deliver not a conference but something concrete for them.”

He said he would not directly address the battlefield developments, but that “military activities and other reasons” had made it impossible to make headway on humanitarian issues, such as the lifting of sieges on many cities, towns and villages.

Western powers expressed support for de Mistura and sharply criticized Assad and Russia.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France condemns the “brutal offensive by the Syrian regime with Russia’s support to encircle and asphyxiate Aleppo and its hundreds of thousands of residents.”

In a statement, Fabius said France backs de Mistura’s move to suspend the talks under such circumstances, saying Assad’s regime and its supporters “visibly don’t want to contribute to them in good faith, thus torpedoing peace efforts.”q

WORLD NEWS A11

Thursday 4 February 2016

Philippines fears new fighting with stalled Muslim autonomy

JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine Congress ended its last regular session of its term Wednesday without passing a Muslim autonomy bill that aims to peacefully settle a decades-long Muslim rebellion in the south, sparking concerns the setback may ignite new fighting.

Lawmakers had until Wednesday to deliberate on the bill before they start a three-month break at the end of the week. The long-delayed legislation is at the heart of a peace deal signed by the largest Muslim rebel group and the government of President Benigno Aquino III, whose term ends in June.

The killing of 44 police commandos in fighting that involved some guerrillas from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front early last year scuttled the early passage of the Muslim autonomy bill outlined in the 2014 peace deal. The separatist conflict has left 150,000 people

dead and stunted development in the country’s poorest region.

The peace deal, which seeks to provide a more powerful and potentially larger autonomous region to minority Muslims in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, should have been a major legacy of Aquino’s presidency.

While the Malaysian-brokered peace accord remains effective, a new autonomy bill will have to be presented to the new Congress under Aquino’s successor. The presidential election is May 9.

“This delays the final settlement,” said Teresita Deles, the presidential adviser on the talks.

“There will be elements that will completely lose hope that this can really be done.”

Government peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said hard-line groups like the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which opposed peace talks and

Filipino Muslims pray at the gates of the Philippine Congress during a protest Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, at suburban Quezon city. northeast of Manila, Philippines.

Associated Press

vowed to continue fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the south, could exploit the setback.

“They will be emboldened to renew their course in the hope that they will harvest the discontent,” Ferrer said.

She blamed “the sheer in-

difference and chronic absenteeism of a majority of the legislators” in part for the failure to pass the bill, adding, “at this low point, we call for sobriety and perseverance.”

Mohagher Iqbal, a senior rebel leader, has said that

delays in the passage of the autonomy bill and efforts to water it down have sparked frustration among guerrillas and Muslims in the south. Residents have staged rallies to protest the delays in two predominantly Muslim cities. q

Malaysian politician ousted after criticizing prime minister

Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, smiles as he leaves after a press conference in Kedah, Malaysia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.

Associated Press

EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The son of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad re-

signed as the top leader of a federal state Wednesday, saying he was ousted because he had criticized Prime Minister Najib Razak over a $700 million financial

scandal.

Mukhriz Mahathir said he had lost majority support in the Kedah state assembly following a party bid to remove him as chief minister.

Mahathir has been leading calls for Najib to step down, and Mukriz’s ouster was seen as a continuing purge of critics in Najib’s government.

The prime minister’s office in a statement said Mukhriz lost majority support because of a lack of confidence in his leadership and concerns that better preparations were needed for the party to retain the state in general elections due in

2018.

Mukhriz however, warned that the ruling Malay party was now at “its weakest point,” tainted by scandalridden state investment fund 1MDB and more than $700 million that was channeled into Najib’s personal bank accounts.

The attorney general last week cleared Najib of any criminal wrongdoing, saying most of the money in his accounts was a private donation from the Saudi royal family and that Najib had returned most of it.

Authorities in Switzerland, Singapore and other countries are still investigating

1MDB for possible graft, and two former Malaysian officials also have challenged the attorney general’s decisions.

“Scandal after scandal, we can’t take it all. It’s too much for us. This is traumatizing all of us,” Mukhriz said.

1MDB is mired in 42 billion ringgit ($10.1 billion) in debt and has been selling its assets to clear its books. Najib, who formed 1MDB in 2009, became embroiled in the scandal after documents were leaked last year suggesting that money deposited into his accounts may have come from entities linked to 1MDB.q

A12 WORLD

Thursday 4 February 2016

NEWS

Californians want rum-crazy Cuba to start drinking wine ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — The 3.5 million tourists who flooded Cuba last year downed oceans of mojitos, lakes of daiquiris and rivers of thin, sour beer. Only an odd few accompanied their ropa vieja and croquetas with wine — mostly overpriced, low- to mid-grade vintages from Chile, Argentina and Spain.

That may be about to change, at least around the margins of Cuba’s once-dismal dining scene.

Some of the United States’ largest vintners want to turn this island of sweet rum and flat state-brewed beer into a haven for robust California zinfandel, oaky chardonnay and powerful cabernet sauvignon.

Thousands of private restaurants have cropped up around Cuba in recent years under economic reforms designed to soften the shock of cutbacks in the troubled state-con-

point of inefficiency and bureaucracy that makes it virtually impossible for private businesses to bring in large quantities of goods from other countries. Paladar owners depend on black-market goods, items bought at retail stores or supplies brought in the suitcases of people paid to “mule” products from the U.S. and other countries.

The lack of a legal wholesale market is widely seen as one of the main hindrances to the efficient development of private enterprise in Cuba.

California winemaker Keith Nichols stands at a table with a selection from his winery during the first California Wine Symposium in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. About 100 California wine producers, distributors and exporters descended on Havana this week for a two-day symposium aimed at reintroducing Cuban restaurant owners and managers to the viticultural powerhouse.

Associated Press

producers, distributors and exporters descended on Havana this week for a two-day symposium to reintroduce Cuban restaurant owners and managers to their products.

People attend the first California Wine Symposium in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. In a sign of changing times, California’s largest winemakers hold a two-day tasting and trade show for Cuban restaurant owners in hopes of developing a new market in a country dominated by rum, weak beer and cheap South American wine.

Associated Press

trolled economy. Particularly on the high end, those restaurants’ clients are increasingly American, part of a 76 percent surge in U.S. tourism — to 161,174 last year — that followed Presidents Raul Castro and Barack Obama’s declaration of detente at the end of 2014.

Hoping to ride both trends, about 100 California wine

The California Wine Symposium was organized by the California Wine Institute, associations of Napa and Sonoma valley wine producers and Sonomabased U.S. Cava Exports, a two-year-old company founded to export California agricultural products to Cuba. The event featured tastings, talks on California’s vineyards and one-

on-one meetings between U.S. business people and Cuban restaurateurs and state officials.

“This is a spectacular meeting,” said Orlando Rodriguez, owner of Waoo!!, a three-year-old, 20-employee restaurant in Havana’s trendy Vedado neighborhood. “It arouses interest, which prompts business, which creates profits.”

Some 50 private restaurants, or paladares, and hundreds of sommeliers and buyers for state-run restaurants attended the conference, whose participants included representatives of the E&J Gallo and Francis Ford Coppola wineries.

It’s been legal for Cuba to buy wine and other agricultural products from the U.S. for years but Cuban officials say they stopped importing California wine in 2005 because the U.S. trade embargo prohibits American producers from selling agricultural goods to Cuba on credit. Obama allowed sales of most goods to Cuba on credit through executive action last week but lifting the ban on credit for farm products would require an act of Congress.

Cuba has never been a

“It doesn’t matter to me if a private person or the state does the importing.

What matters is that there’s somewhere to buy this wine,” said Julio Valdes, a representative of the Five

Fernando Fernandez, Cuban Master of cigar sommeliers, smells a glass of wine during the first California Wine Symposium in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. Some of the United States’ largest vintners want to turn this island of sweet rum and flat state-brewed beer into a haven for wine.

Associated Press

big wine-drinking country, but it imports some 360,000 cases of wine a year from countries that allow sales on credit.

Darius Anderson, head of U.S. Cava Exports, said he hopes to be shipping California wine to Cuba by the end of the year.

“We’re working on the shipping, we’re working on the financing, and we hope to have them all solved by mid-year, have two or three containers on the water and get them here by the holidays,” he said.

Only a small number of Cuban government agencies are allowed to import goods, creating a choke-

Corners Trattoria in Old Havana. “It’s important for us to have a variety for our clients. Right now we have Chilean, Italian and Spanish wine that we buy in stores bit by bit.”

Francisco Chacon, sommelier of the state-run Conde de Villanueva hotel, said he is focused on the ratio of price to quality and the U.S. being just 90 miles from Cuba offers a major advantage.

“It makes much more economic sense for us to bring a wine from the United States than from Spain,” he said.q

LOCAL A13

Thursday 4 February 2016

The new luxury beachfront condominium

Azure Beach Residences brakes ground in Eagle Beach

The Pering Group developers of Oceania Residences and Blue Residences is adding Azure Beach Residences to its exclusive portfolio of luxury condominium developments in Aruba.

The property will feature 106 spacious whole-ownership condominium units and 9 superb villas that will be built in two phases, with the first scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2018.

Alberto Perret-Gentil, Project Manager said: “Our vision is to create a highquality product with all the modern conveniences and services of a full-service resort. When we selected the site for Azure and enjoyed ances and electronics, and wireless internet.

Planned on-site amenities include a private beach protected by a jetty, two swimming pools, fitness center, tennis court, Residents-only Club Room and landscaped sun-deck.

In addition to poolside and beach butler service guests will have access to concierge services and be able to request pre-arrival grocery stocking and daily the stunning views of Eagle Beach Bay, we knew it was spectacular – it’s hard to imagine a more idyllic location.”

Pering is partnering up once again with architects Enrique Feldman and Armand De Koning which will be in charge of the project’s design.

The team will also include Juan Ramon Pacheco who will oversee landscaping in the project.

Nicole Muxi, Vice President of Sales and Marketingadded “Having seen the plans for the resort, it’s impressive how every aspect

of the property is designed to exceed the expectations of owners and guests.

In particular I love the ocean-front pool area with its expansive green lawns” 180o views of Eagle Beach Bay from the comfort of your own private balcony.

Azure Beach Residences will consist of two residential towers with spacious units ranging from two to five bedrooms and offering unobstructed views of the Atlantic. They will be decorated in a sleek contemporary style and feature elevated ceilings, roomy terraces, upscale appli-

maid service.

Owners and guests also can enjoy water sports at nearby Eagle Beach or golf privileges at two nearby courses, including Tierra del Sol, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. The property is located steps away from Aruba’s two most popular beaches and tourist areas: Eagle Beach and Palm Beach.

AZURE is an easy walk from dining and attractions.

Just four miles from Azure Beach Residences, Aruba’s capital Oranjestad retains the charm of a quaint seaside village, although it has developed into a cosmopolitan, international tourist destination, with stylish shops, gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, and casinos.

Other attractions are crystal-clear blue waters, miles of white-sand beaches, music festivals, and local cultural events.q

A14 LOCAL

Thursday 4 February 2016

Night time is the Light time

On Thursday February 4th 2016, The streets of San Nicolas will be filled with lights. San Nicolas will be hosting its famous PARADA DI LUZ [Lighting Parade] at 8pm.

The Parade starts at the Joe Laveist Sport Park will move through Pastoor Hendrickstraat-Caya Dick Cooper – Caya Captain H. Rodger – Lagoweg – Bernardstraat – Dr. Schaepmanstraat – PastoorHendrickstraat and completes its course back at Joe Laveist Sport Park Musical groups participating in this parade will be: 1. Royal Carnival Group Aruba- NBO 2. Dushi Carnival Group – Hildward’s Dushi Band of Aruba 3. Empire Carnival Group Buleria Official 4. Champagne Carnival Group - Tsunami Aruba 5. North Fantasy Carnival Group – D’-Licious 6. OPC Carnival Group OREO

7. TOB Carnival Group – N Fuzion Aruba andDVIBE

8. Pleasers & Teasers Carnival Group – Le Grooveq

LOCAL A15

Thursday 4 February 2016

Maoreen Every is Aruba’s first Certified Incentive Professional Oranjested – Maoreen, who has been in the destination management business since the age of fourteen when she assisted her mother Wichita Villacres, President & CEO at Eco Destination Management Services of ARUBA NV, has grown through the company ranks, going from Operations Assistant, to Account Manager, then Sales Manager. She assumed the role of Director of Operations, last year and as such just graduated the SITE International CIS certification, together with other travel professionals from around the globe. The CIS workshop had just concluded in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Maoreen is pictured here with the program trainers who presented her with her certificate of graduation, Dana Weaver, Growmark and Jim Skiba, World Incentive Nexus.

Maoreen reports that the workshop delivered a broad comprehension

of the incentive travel industry, and that the CIS certification was an excellent stepping stone, as she takes the level of service to this specialized segment of the meetings and events industry to a higher level of

professionalism. Designed for SITE members, it was an excellent source of knowledge, expertise, and personal networking, she concludes.

ECO DMS is the Dutch Caribbean’s premier full ser-

vice Destination Management Company operating in both Aruba and Curaçao, with a branch office in Florida. The company has combined creativity, personal service and superior professional skills to deliver

memorable motivational experiences to clients from around the globe, for more than 26 years. ECO DMS is a proud member of: SITE, MPI, FICP, ISES, ADME, AHATA, CHATA, SKAL & GMIC.q

A16 LOCAL

Thursday 4 February 2016

George and Linda Fussner honored at the Tropicana Resort & Casino Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a very nice couple as Distinguished Visitors at the Tropicana Resort and Casino.

The symbolic honorary title is presented in the name of the Minister of Tourism as a token of appreciation to guests who visit Aruba for 10 to 19 consecutive years.

The honorees were Mr. George and Mrs. Linda Fussner from Allentown Pennsylvania. This lovely couple loves Aruba very much because of the friendly people, the climate, beaches, restaurants, the Tropicana Casino and being on Aruba and staying at the Tropicana is like being home for them and the wonderful staff of the resort is like family to them. The certificates were presented at

the Tropicana Casino by Mr. Ernest Giel representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with Ms. Nelida Rodriquez, Ms. Jacky Feliciana, Mr. Wilfred Trimon Dir. Casino Operations and Mr. Richard Roy GM at the Tropicana Resort and Casino.

SPORTS A17

Thursday 4 February 2016

GotYoBack# Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant drives toward the basket during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 119-115.

Associated Press

Kobe scores 38, L.A. beat Wolves to end 10-game skid LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant hit seven 3-pointers while scoring a season-high 38 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped their 10-game losing streak with a 119-115 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night.

Lou Williams scored 20 points for the Lakers, who avoided the longest losing streak in the 16-time champion franchise’s history despite blowing a 16-point lead in the second half. Los Angeles had lost 10 straight for the first time since 1994.

Bryant took charge with a vintage performance in his farewell season, repeatedly scoring from the perimeter in the Lakers’ first win since Jan. 12.

After Minnesota took the lead in the waning minutes, Bryant put the Lakers back ahead with dramatic back-to-back 3-pointers.

He scored 14 of the Lakers’ 18 points in the final 5:02.

Continued on Page 22

Cespedes: First choice was to stay a Met New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes speaks during a baseball press conference at CitiField in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.

Cespedes agreed to a $75 million, three-year deal with the team.

Associated Press Page 19

A18 SPORTS

Thursday 4 February 2016

Newton wants black QB issue put away for good BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Cam Newton wants any discussion of black quarterbacks in a Super Bowl put away.

The Carolina Panthers quarterback on Tuesday emphatically tried to lay to rest any relevance of an African-American quarterback appearing in the NFL’s championship game.

During a series of questions by a media member that bordered on confrontational, Newton finally said to the reporter: “It’s not an issue. It’s an issue for you.”

Carolina’s All-Pro quarterback, seemingly tired of the topic, added: “We shattered that a long time ago.”

This was the third time Newton had to deal with the subject since the Panthers made the Super Bowl. He didn’t need to point out that several other black quarterbacks have led their teams to the big game:

end’s NFL decider, Newton said race was relevant only in his ambition to be role model for children.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton smiles as he answers questions during a press conference Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016 in San Jose, Calif. Carolina plays the Denver Broncos in the NFL Super Bowl 50 football game Sunday, Feb. 7, 2015, in Santa Clara, Calif.

Associated Press

Doug Williams, Steve McNair, Donovan McNabb, Colin Kaepernick, and Seattle’s Russell Wilson the past two years.

“I don’t even want to touch on the topic of ‘black quarterback’ because this

game is bigger than black, white or even green,” the fifth-year Panther said. “We limit ourselves when we just label ourselves just black this, that ...

“I want to bring awareness

because of that, but yeah, I don’t think I should be labeled just a black quarterback. It’s bigger things in this sport that need to be accomplished.”

Speaking at a media session ahead of this week-

“When I go places and I talk to kids and I talk to parents and I talk to athletes all over, they look at my story and they see a person — African-American or not — they see something that they can relate to. They see a guy who went a different route than just going to a major Division I school and flourishing there.

“But I just want to become relatable, you know what I’m saying? It’s bigger than race. It’s more so of opening up a door for guys that don’t want to be labeled, that have bigger views and say: ‘Well, I’m in this situation, I’m living in this environment right now, but I also want to be an artist, I want to be a poet. But I don’t have the means, you know, to necessarily do the right things at that point.

“As for me, I just want to give those people hope.”q

Roger Federer has knee surgery, will skip 2 tournaments BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Roger Federer has had knee surgery and will miss tournaments in Rotterdam and Dubai this month.

“Roger Federer underwent successful arthroscopic knee surgery today in Switzerland to repair a torn meniscus,” a statement on his official website said Wednesday.

It is a rare injury setback for the 34-year-old Federer, who has had relatively minor back problems in 2008 and 2013.

The statement did not specify which knee is injured, though it said it happened last Friday, one day after his Australian Open semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic.

“My doctors have (assured) me that the surgery was a success and with proper rehabilitation, I will be able to return to the Tour soon,” Federer said in the statement.

His next scheduled tournament is in Indian Wells, California, starting March 7.

“I apologize to my friends in Rotterdam and Dubai,

as I was very much looking forward to playing those events,” Federer said in a statement on his Facebook page.

The organizer of the Rotterdam tournament, former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, said he got the news on Tuesday.

“Obviously, receiving this information yesterday evening is a major setback for us, as it is for the fans looking forward to his presence,” Krajicek said. “We hope to have Roger back next year.”q

Roger Federer of Switzerland answers questions at a press conference following his semifinal loss to to Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016.

Associated Press

SPORTS A19

Thursday 4 February 2016

Cespedes says staying with Mets always was his preference RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Yoenis Cespdes says he chose happiness over more dollars.

Of course, the lower offer was a $75 million, threeyear contract that kept him with the New York Mets.

“It’s not always about the amount of money being offered,” he said through a translator Wednesday in his first public comments about his Jan. 22 decision.

“It’s about wanting to be in a place you want to play in, that you’re happy in.

And as you can see, this is just what happened in that case.”

Still, the slugging outfielder has the right to terminate his contract after one season and $27.5 million, then become a free agent once again.

Acquired from Detroit on July 31, Cespedes had 17 homers and 44 RBIs for the Mets, helping the team reach its first World Series since 2000. Fans at Citi Field likely expect him to keep up that pace.

“From my first day when I came last season after the trade, that very first day ... the fans showed incredible support, my teammates were so welcoming, as well as the full Mets organization,” the 30-year-old Cespedes said. “And I think that was what encouraged me to make the decision to come back.”

New York treated Cespedes as a newly signed player, showing video highlights of his performance last season after he entered the news conference.

Chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and general manager Sandy Alderson presented Cespedes with his No. 52 jersey, which fit snugly over his street clothes. The Mets gave him his own hashtag: “GotYoBack.”

Since starting his big league career in 2012, the Cuban star played for Oakland, Boston and Detroit before landing with the Mets.

Washington was among the clubs that pursued Cespedes and was said to have offered a $110 mil-

lion, five-year deal that included deferred money.

“There were several teams that wanted to give me five years,” Cespedes said.

New York, shaken by underperforming players with large salaries in the 2000s, refused to consider a contract of that length.

“I don’t think it had specifically to do with Yoenis,” Alderson said. “I think it had as much to do with just the history of long-term deals, both generally throughout baseball as well as in recent years with the Mets.”

Cespedes was driving in his Florida farm when his agent told him the deal with the Mets had been agreed to.

“It was a big relief for me,” he said.

Cespedes is expected to see time in center as well as left, relegating Juan Lagares to mostly a backup and late-game defensive role.

With Cespedes’ return, Alderson said Michael Conforto could be used in right field during spring training.

Playing time could be limited for outfielder Alejandro de Aza, signed as a free agent.

While the Mets haven’t pursued a possible trade, Alderson said interest from other teams during spring training was conceivable.

“We’re happy to have another left-handed hitter that hits well against righthanded pitching, and we’ll figure it out,” Alderson said.

Cespedes’ deal raised the Mets payroll to about $140 million, its highest level since 2011.

Alderson said the team likely would not agree to any more major league contracts with free agents during the offseason, which probably precludes the return of reliever Tyler Clippard.

Mets home attendance increased to nearly 2.57 million last year, its highest since the club drew more than 3 million during Citi Field’s inaugural season in 2009. Executive vice president and chief revenue officer Lou DePaoli said season ticket equivalents had doubled since this point last year, although he would not specify a figure.q

New York Mets Yoenis Cespedes holds a bat as he poses in the clubhouse after a baseball press conference at CitiField in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Cespedes agreed to a $75 million, three-year deal with the team.

Associated Press

20 SPORTS

Thursday 4 February 2016

SPORTS A21

Thursday 4 February 2016

NHL Capsules

Panthers beat Capitals 5-2 in clash of East division leaders

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice during a three-point night and Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist to help the Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 Tuesday in a matchup of Eastern Conference division leaders.

The Atlantic Division-leading Panthers also got a goal from Vincent Trocheck, an empty-netter from Quinton Howden and 36 saves from backup goalie Al Montoya as they won their fourth game in a row. They took advantage of backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer and the absence of Washington star Alex Ovechkin, who was required to sit out after missing the NHL All-Star Game with an injury.

Florida scored on two of its four power plays while the Capitals went 0 for 8 in a game full of whistles.

Nicklas Backstrom and Andre Burakovsky scored for Washington.

OILERS 5, BLUE JACKETS 1 EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists in his return from a nearly threemonth absence and Edmonton beat Columbus to end a three-game skid.

Eric Gryba, Benoit Pouliot, Leon Draisaitl and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Oilers, and Cam Talbot made 36 saves.

McDavid, the first-overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft, was shelved by a broken clavicle on Nov. 3 after a promising start to his pro career. He missed 37 games.

McDavid scored a highlight-reel goal in the second period. He danced through two defenders and beat Joonas Korpisalo with a backhand-to-fore-

Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand is dropped to the ice in front of Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer on a rough check during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Boston, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016.

Associated Press

hand deke for his sixth goal of the season and a 2-1 lead.

Matt Calvert scored for the Blue Jackets, and Columbus had a two-game winning streak come to an end.

PENGUINS 6, SENATORS 5 PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored three straight goals for his first natural hat trick in more than five years, and Pittsburgh opened the second half of the season with a 6-5 win over Ottawa.

The two-time NHL MVP pushed his goal total to 20 and has scored at least one in Pittsburgh’s last eight home games. The Penguins have won four straight and lost in regulation just once since Jan. 6.

Chris Kunitz had a goal and two assists. Kris Letang added a goal and an assist, and Matt Cullen also scored for Pittsburgh. The Penguins’ six goals were a season high. Marc-Andre Fleury settled down after a shaky start and finished

with 18 saves.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Mark Stone, Cody Ceci, Chris Wideman and Dave Dziurzynski scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson made 38 stops.

BLACKHAWKS 2, AVALANCHE 1 DENVER (AP) — Corey Crawford stopped 22 shots, Richard Panik and Artemi Panarin scored and Chicago beat Colorado without captain Jonathan Toews.

NHL-scoring leader Patrick Kane added an assist with Toews suspended a game by the league for pulling out of All-Star weekend.

Toews cited an illness.

Gabriel Landeskog scored the only goal for Colorado, which was missing starting goalie Semyon Varlamov.

He wrapped up a civil lawsuit filed against him by a former girlfriend, with a jury ruling in his favor late Tuesday and awarding Varlamov approximately $126,000 in damages.

Calvin Pickard gave up two early goals before settling

into a rhythm. He stopped 40 shots.

DUCKS 3, SHARKS 2 ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Garbutt, Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell scored to send the Anaheim Ducks past the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Tuesday night for their fourth consecutive victory.

Frederik Andersen stopped 30 shots for Anaheim, which has climbed back into playoff contention with an 11-3-1 record since Christmas.

Tommy Wingels and Dainius Zubrus scored for San Jose, and Martin Jones made 24 saves. The Sharks’ streak of earning at least one point in 10 straight games ended, as did Joe Thornton’s run of 10 games in a row with a goal or an assist.

KINGS 6, COYOTES 2 GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Dustin Brown scored twice and Jake Muzzin and Alec Martinez each added a goal and an assist to lead Los Angeles over Arizona.

Marian Gaborik and Brown

scored 12 seconds apart late in the second period, with Gaborik’s goal coming off a turnover when Arizona defenseman Kevin Connauton’s stick broke on a shot attempt. Brown fired in a shot from beyond the blue line at 18:59 for a 4-2 lead, and the Kings spoiled the 1,000th game as head coach for the Coyotes’ Dave Tippett.

Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty had two assists apiece for the Pacific Division leaders, who won for the second time in five games. Jonathan Quick stopped 23 shots.

BLUES 1, PREDATORS 0 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Troy Brouwer scored with 1:05 remaining in the third period and Brian Elliott made 16 saves to give St. Louis a victory over Nashville.

St. Louis has won all four matchups between the teams this season.

Coming off his first All-Star Game appearance, Pekka Rinne made 22 saves in defeat. The Predators had won a season-best four straight.

On the game’s only goal, Robby Fabbri carried the puck around the net and found Alex Pietrangelo just inside the top of the right circle.

Pietrangelo fired a onetimer toward the Nashville net, and Brouwer was in front to deflect the puck past Rinne.

STARS 5, JETS 3 WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Tyler Seguin scored twice, John Klingberg had a goal and an assist and Dallas held on to beat Winnipeg.

Vernon Fiddler and Antoine Roussel also scored for Dallas, and Antti Niemi stopped 21 shots.q

SPORTS Former NFL QB Ken Stabler had brain disease CTE A22

Thursday 4 February 2016

JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer BOSTON (AP) — Former Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, the late NFL MVP and Super Bowl winner who is a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, has been diagnosed with the brain disease CTE, Boston University researchers said Wednesday.

Stabler, who died of colon cancer at 69 in July, had Stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Dr. Ann McKee told The Associated Press. McKee said the disease was widespread throughout his brain, with “quite severe” damage to the regions involving learning, memory and regulation of emotion.

“We’ve now found CTE in former NFL players who played every position except kicker,” said McKee, a professor of neurology at Boston University. “While we know on average that certain positions experience more repetitive head impacts and are more likely at greater risk for CTE, no position is immune.”

The diagnosis was first reported by The New York Times.

The disease, which can

In this Dec. 27, 1976, file photo, Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler stands on the sidelines during the second half of AFC championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Oakland, Calif.

Associated Press

be diagnosed only after death, is linked to repeated brain trauma and associated with symptoms such as memory loss, depression and progressive dementia.

CTE has been found in the brains of dozens of former football players.

According to Chris No-

winski, the founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Stabler told his family he wanted to have his brain studied after learning that former NFL linebacker Junior Seau had been diagnosed with the disease.

In 2012, Seau shot himself in the chest at the age of 43.

“What is interesting about Ken Stabler is that he anticipated his diagnosis years in advance,” Nowinski wrote in an email to the AP. “And even though he’s a football icon, he began actively distancing himself from (the) game in his final years, expressing hope

NBA Capsules Continued from Page 17

Andrew Wiggins scored 30 points for the Timberwolves, who have lost five straight and 16 of 18.

ROCKETS 115, HEAT 102 HOUSTON (AP) — James Harden scored 26 points and tied a career-high with 14 assists as Houston snapped a three-game skid. The Rockets had a double-digit lead for most of the second half and were up by 10 when Josh Smith scored all of the team’s points in a 7-2 run that pushed the advantage to 104-89 with about five minutes remaining.

Houston started Smith, a 6-foot-9 forward, at center with Dwight Howard serving a one-game suspension for making contact with an official this weekend and Clint Capela out

with a thigh injury.

Smith scored a season-high 19 points in his second start this season and first since returning to Houston in a trade from the Clippers on Jan. 22.

Luol Deng had 17 points for the Heat whose seasonhigh four game winning streak ended.

RAPTORS 102, SUNS 97 PHOENIX (AP) — Kyle Lowry scored 26 points, including five 3-pointers, DeMar DeRozan added 22 points and Toronto spoiled the debut of Phoenix interim coach Earl Watson.

The Raptors, whose franchise-record 11-game losing streak ended Monday night in Denver, led the entire second half but had to hold on at the finish.

Markieff Morris had 30

Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant, center, comes down with a rebound while under pressure from Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, left, and forward Julius Randle watches during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

points and 11 rebounds, both season highs, for the Suns, who fired coach Jeff Hornacek on Monday and promoted the 36-year-old Watson to the interim job.

Phoenix rookie Devin Booker added 27 points, matching his career best with six 3s. Archie Goodwin had 18 points and a career-best 12 assists for the Suns, who

that his grandsons would choose not to play.”

McKee said the extent of the damage to Stabler’s brain was surprising because he was relatively young when he died and because he was a quarterback and thought to be less exposed to repeated head trauma.

“There was no evidence of any other brain disorder to explain the difficulties he experienced during life,” McKee said.

The left-handed Stabler, nicknamed “Snake” for his ability to escape from defenders, led Alabama to an undefeated season in 1966.

A second-round draft pick

by Oakland, he was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1974 and led the Raiders to victory in the 1977 Super Bowl.

In all, Stabler threw for 27,938 career yards and had a .661 winning percentage over 15 seasons, which also included stints with the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. He was selected as a finalist for the Hall of Fame by its Seniors Committee; the inductees will be announced Saturday.q have lost five in a row and 20 of their last 22.

CELTICS 97, KNICKS 89 NEW YORK (AP) — Isaiah Thomas had 20 points and eight assists, and Boston wore down New York.

Jae Crowder and Tyler Zeller each added 16 points, while reserves Evan Turner and Kelly Olynyk were also in double figures as the Celtics were fresher and sharper in dominating the final 15 minutes.

Turner had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Olynyk scored 13 points in the Celtics’ fifth victory in six games.

Carmelo Anthony had 16 points and 14 rebounds but shot just 4 for 16 in the Knicks’ sixth loss in seven games. Robin Lopez added 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Arron Afflalo ended a shooting slump with 18 points but had some careless turnovers. q

TECHNOLOGY A23

Thursday 4 February 2016

Comcast loses fewest TV customers in 8 years TALI ARBEL AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast is trumpeting its best year for traditional TV services in nearly a decade, even though it continues to lose TV subscribers.

As the number of traditional TV customers declines across the industry, Comcast is stemming its losses by luring them with new TV-Internet packages, while keeping TV customers around for longer with the help of a fancier cable box. The company also says recent investments in customer service, long a blemish on its reputation, have helped.

Comcast said Wednesday that it added 89,000 TV customers in the last three months of 2015, which it said was its best quarter since the October-December period of 2006. For the full year, Comcast lost 36,000 TV customers, the smallest drop since its annual string of TV customer losses that began in 2007.

Other cable companies are improving, too, even as cable bills rise overall, and people spend more time watching video online.

Time Warner Cable posted a small gain of 32,000 TV customers for 2015, the first year it’s added TV subscribers since 2006.

Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson Research wrote that even as cord-cutting has “dramatically accelerated,” with TV customers dropping nearly 1 percent a year, cable companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cox

This Thursday, July 23, 2015, photo, shows the Comcast building sign at Rockefeller Center, in New York. Comcast reports financial earnings on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.

Associated Press

are losing fewer customers overall than they have in years. That’s come as satellite-TV providers and phone companies like Verizon and AT&T do worse. (AT&T bought satellite provider DirecTV in July.)

This year could be the year that cable companies starts adding back TV customers, even as traditional TV customers overall drop, says Morgan Stanley analyst Ben Swinburne. The cable companies are getting a boost from their relatively fast Internet offerings and from skinny bundles — cheaper packages with fewer TV channels.

Comcast’s skinny bundles include Internet Plus — local TV stations, the Internet and HBO — and a service called Stream, which delivers channels over the In-

ternet without needing a cable box.

On a call with analysts, Comcast said that 75 percent of its new TV customers were “higher-end,” bigger bundles. And the company defended the traditional bundle. Steve Burke, the head of NBCUniversal, said the big bundle is “going to continue to be a very good business for a very long time.”

Comcast is also still rolling out its updated X1 cable box, which the company says has helped it hold on to customers longer. X1 users also tend to spend more on extra DVRs, meaning more money for Comcast.

Comcast says 61 percent of its new video customers in the fourth quarter got X1, and that 30 percent of its customer base has it.

And like other cable companies, Comcast has seen its Internet-access business grow. It added 1.4 million Internet customers in 2015, including 460,000 in the October-December quarter.

That’s largely due to a lack of choice for speedy Internet access at home.

Two-thirds of the country’s homes have just one option or none at all at the speed the Federal Communications Commission has deemed broadband: 25 megabits per second.

Comcast typically promotes Internet speeds ranging from 25 to 150 megabits per second. The company announced Tuesday that it will offer gigabit Internet service — or about 1,000 megabits — in five cities this year through a modem upgrade, although it didn’t

say what the price would be. Rolling a faster service out nationwide should help Comcast continue to grow Internet customers, says Nomura’s Anthony DiClemente.

Looking to the future, Comcast also said it may buy up wireless airwaves in the government’s upcoming auction, which could help it offer cellphone service.

The company has said that it is “exploring” what kind of wireless service it could do.

Any cell plan from Comcast is expected to rely on Wi-Fi, but last year the company also confirmed that it was activating an option it had to resell cell service from Verizon’s network.

As for Comcast’s NBCUniversal business, TV ad revenue fell 2 percent to $9.18 billion for the year. For the quarter, ad revenue was largely unchanged at $854 million at cable channels like Bravo, CNBC and USA and rose 7 percent to $1.78 billion for NBC and Telemundo. The movie business got a boost from DVD and on-demand sales of hit Universal movies such as “Jurassic World,” released theatrically earlier in the year.

Company-wide profit rose more than 2 percent to $1.97 billion, or 79 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. Adjusted for one-time costs, per-share earnings came to 81 cents. Revenue rose 8.5 percent to $19.2 billion.

Its shares rose $1.84, or 3.4 percent, to $56.43 in midday trading Wednesday. Its shares are up almost 2 percent over the past year.q

U.S. to rework arms control rule on exporting hacker tools TAMI ABDOLLAH Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is rewriting a proposal under arms control rules from 20 years ago to make it simpler to export tools related to hacking and surveillance software since they are also used to secure computer networks.

The White House said it supports making cyber intrusion tools available overseas for legitimate cyberse-

curity activities, according to a letter made public Tuesday.

Industry groups and lawmakers have raised fears that overly broad language aimed at limiting the spread of such hacking tools would have unintended negative consequences for national cybersecurity and research.

As one of the 41 member countries of the 1996 Wassenaar Arrangement,

which governs the highly technical world of export controls for arms and certain technologies, the United States agreed in 2013 to restrict tools related to cyber “intrusion software” that could fall into the hands of repressive regimes.

The Obama administration agrees that “keeping these technologies from illegitimate actors must not come at the expense of legitimate cybersecurity

activities,” according to a letter from the National Security Council’s Senior Director for Legislative Affairs, Caroline Tess. Tess said the White House has intensified its discussion with U.S. officials and industry and that the Commerce Department will not issue a final rule without an additional round of public comment on a revised draft version.

Langevin, however, said in a statement Tuesday

that problems with the rule may lie in the language itself, which would require a renegotiation of the 2013 agreement to limit such tools.

Efforts to come up with a workable U.S. rule have highlighted the difficulty of applying the export controls restricting physical items to a virtual world that relies on the speedy free flow of information for network security. q

A24 BUSINESS

Thursday 4 February 2016

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N. America, China power GM to record profit

TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — If you’re an automaker, especially one from Detroit, conditions probably aren’t going to be better for you to make a lot of cash.

For General Motors, that’s what happened last year as the company posted a record $9.7 billion net profit.

Yes, a good chunk of that was a $3.9 billion one-time accounting gain due to better prospects in Europe, but the company still made billions on booming sales of its strong lineup of SUVs and trucks, mainly in North America.

Earnings were so strong that most of GM’s 49,600 hourly workers will get $11,000 profit-sharing checks on Feb. 26. The checks were based on North American pretax earnings, which hit a record of just over $11 billion for the year.

Yet even with the earnings, GM gets no respect from

This Friday, May 16, 2014, file photo, shows the General Motors logo at the company’s world headquarters in Detroit. GM reports financial results on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.

Associated Press

the stock market. Its shares were down 3.5 percent at midday Wednesday to $28.61. Investors haven’t been kind to auto stocks for years. GM shares are down more than 15 percent in the past year, and are more than $4 below the company’s initial public offering price of $33 in November of 2010.

The strong performance

actually worked against GM, with investors fearing that auto sales have peaked and the U.S. is toward the end of a sevenyear positive economic cycle, said Jeff Windau, equities analyst with Edward Jones in St. Louis.

Although GM executives tried to highlight that there’s still room for growth, investors are skeptical about what will drive it, he said.

“As you post strong numbers, it raises the question of how much better can it get?” said Windau, who gives GM a “Hold” rating but forecasts modest sales growth.

Excluding special items, GM earned $5.02 per share for the year, beating Wall Street estimates of $4.82.

Full-year revenue fell just over 2 percent to $152.4 billion, but still beat analyst estimates of $144.9 billion.

For the fourth quarter, GM posted a profit of $6.3 billion, including the accounting gain in Europe.

GM expects to break even there this year and took the gain because prospects for making money are good.

Without special items, the company earned $1.39 per share, beating estimates of $1.20. Fourth-quarter revenue was flat at $39.6 billion, just below Wall Street expectations.

In Europe, GM lost $298 million before taxes, narrowing the loss from last year.

International operations including China made $408 million, while the company lost $47 million in South America.

Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens said he wasn’t worried about the full-year drop in revenue, blaming currency fluctuations for about a $10 billion decline.

“Size for size sake is not something that drives us,” he said. “Growing profitability is much more important to us than growing revenue.”

He argued against the theory that the U.S. economy is poised for a downturn, saying that fundamentals remain strong. Still, GM will maintain a low break-even point, seek cost efficiencies and control inventory levels just in case, he said.

“We believe we are wellpositioned for the downturn,” Stevens said. q

BUSINESS A25

Thursday 4 February 2016

Led by the energy sector, U.S. stocks stage a late turnaround KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks staged a rapid comeback in late-afternoon trading to close solidly higher Wednesday, helped by a surge in the price of oil and a decline in the U.S. dollar.

Chipotle Mexican Grill fell as the company said a federal investigation into its E. coli outbreak had widened, and Yahoo sank as the troubled Internet company announced layoffs and plans to sell businesses.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 183.12 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,336.66. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 9.50 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,912.53 and the Nasdaq composite fell 12.71 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,504.24.

It was a day of major swings. The Dow had been down nearly 200 points earlier. Major industries that were deep in the red, like energy and financials, were able to recover almost all the ground they lost. In the red most of the day, energy stocks ended up nearly 4 percent.

The gains can be largely attributed to a decline in the value of dollar against the major other currencies.

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market. Nearly all that decline happened in the last two hours of trading.

Many U.S. companies have been complaining that the appreciation of the dollar was eroding their earnings by making U.S. exports less profitable.

A weaker dollar also tends to send commodity prices higher. That was a relief to investors as well since a plunge in the price of crude oil has been decimating profits at energy companies.

The price of U.S. crude oil jumped $2.40, or 8 percent, to close at $32.28 a barrel, which helped lift up energy stocks.

Despite the gains on Wednesday, investors remain skeptical of this market. They are still putting money into traditional safe-havens: stocks that pay high dividends, U.S. government bonds, and precious metals.

The Dow Jones utility index, a basket of 15 utility companies, rose 1.3 percent.

That index is up more than 8 percent this year. Utilities and other companies that pay large dividends are popular at times of uncertainty because they provide a regular return and are large, mature businesses that tend to stand up well during economic downturns.

Some traders are taking that a step further.

In other company news, Yahoo slumped $1.38, or 4.7 percent, to $27.68 after the company announced late Tuesday it would cut 1,700 jobs and sell some of the company’s struggling businesses.

Chipotle fell $13.90, or 3 percent, to $461.74 after the company said the E. coli outbreak at its stores hurt sales more than anticipated.

Chipotle also disclosed it was now under investigation by Federal regulators over the outbreak.

In individual currencies, the euro rose against the dollar to $1.1101, the dollar fell against the Japanese yen to 117.85 yen, and the dollar fell against the British pound to $1.4598.

In other energy commodities, heating oil jumped 6.8 cents to $1.0786 a gallon,

In this Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015, file photo, a Wall Street street sign is framed by a giant American flag hanging on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange.

Associated Press

wholesale gasoline rose 1.3 cents to $1.014 a gallon, and natural gas rose 1.3 cents to $2.038 per thousand cubic feet.

In metals, gold rose $14.00,

or 1.2 percent, to $1,141.30 an ounce, silver jumped 45 cents, or 3 percent, to $14.73 an ounce and copper rose four cents, or 2 percent, to $2.095 a pound.q

Raise your spoons: Ben & Jerry’s now has non-dairy ice cream SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Raise your spoons: Ben & Jerry’s now has nondairy ice cream.

The Vermont ice cream maker has created four flavors using a certified vegan almond milk base.

Available are the classic Chunky Monkey and Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavors, plus a couple of

new ones: Coffee Caramel Fudge and P.B. and Cookies.

The P.B. and Cookies variety is a vanilla non-dairy frozen dessert with chocolate sandwich cookies and crunchy peanut butter swirls.

The company has been getting requests for years

to make non-dairy ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s Kirsten Schimoler says creating the lineup with a non-dairy base composition that meets consumer expectations was quite a challenge. But, she says, “We nailed it.”

The flavors are available in pints.q

A26 COMICS

Thursday 4 February 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Yesterday’s puzzle answer

Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

CLASSIFIED A27

Thursday 4 February 2016

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A28 SCIENCE

Thursday 4 February 2016

Scientists map bedbug genome, follow pest through NYC subway VERENA DOBNIK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists have mapped the genome of bedbugs in New York City, then traced fragments of the nefarious pests’ DNA through the subway system.

In the grubby recesses of hundreds of stations, they discovered surprising genetic diversity among the bloodsucking creatures.

The next step is to figure out how the information can be put to good use, such as to develop better insecticides or blood thinners.

But these goals will take further medical research.

For now, the focus is on two main players in New York life: the subway and bedbugs.

Scientists already have found that genetic traces of bedbugs in northern Manhattan are more closely related to those in the island’s southern part, while there are bigger vari-

In this March 30, 2011, file photo, a bedbug is displayed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.

Associated Press

ations between the Upper East Side and Upper West Side.

Geneticist Christopher Mason, who worked on the project, says the reason for that can be found simply by looking at a subway map: In Manhattan, for instance, subway lines run the length of the island north to south, while there’s no subway link through Central Park between the East Side and the West Side.

Not that bedbugs are riding the subway, noted George Amato, an evolutionary biologist at the American Museum of Natural History who also worked on bed-

bug project.

He says New York’s bedbugs “move around with people, dogs, and people’s items — and they probably move most easily the way people move most easily.”

Amato collaborated with Mason, who works at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Institute for Computational Biomedicine.

A bedbug colony at the famed museum was used for the genome map. A similar map was assembled by an international

research team at 36 institutions, including the University of Cincinnati.

The New York team’s resulting scientific paper on the subject was published Tuesday in Nature Communications. A second paper on bedbug genetics, from the University of Cincinnati, also appeared Tuesday in the same publication.

To learn how the bedbug has evolved and spread, the New York team took DNA sample swabs from 1,400 city locations including subway cars, turnstiles, ticket vending kiosks, and above ground places like parks.

Amato said there are many ways small fragments of the insects’ DNA, or DNA of a related species, could get into the subway — clinging to the clothes of some of the 6 million daily riders and their belongings, or washed down into the stations.

Amato said the first rough bedbug genetic sequence emerged about a year ago, but it took months to refine the model into an accurate genome.

“Before this, people were just feeling their way through in the dark; this genome turns the light on for various areas of other research,” said Amato.

“Our team is now moving on to the genetics of cockroaches and other living fossils.”q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Thursday 4 February 2016

Halftime at the big game is among the top culture moments DAVID BAUDER AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Warren Duncan has something in common with Madonna, Beyonce, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and Prince — and doesn’t hesitate to let his grandchildren know about it every year about this time.

All performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, although it wasn’t quite the spectacle in Duncan’s time that it is now. He was at snare drum for the Florida A&M University marching band at Super Bowl III in 1969, when the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts.

“I really hated to see it transition to what it is,” Duncan said.

“I really wish it would be like the traditional band halftime show.”

Those days have gone the way of leather helmets. The halftime show has become one of the year’s top cultural moments, so anticipated that it is commonly seen by more people than the game itself. The British band Coldplay steps into the spotlight this weekend, with an expected cameo

by Beyonce.

The Super Bowl show can easily be divided into two eras: Before Michael Jackson and after. His 1993 performance established halftime as something more than an afterthought. With the fireworks and extras, Jackson proved no gesture could be too big.

The NFL begins planning its halftime show months in advance, negotiating with chosen artists and mapping out how things will proceed, said Mark Quenzel, NFL senior vice president in charge of the halftime show. Following Janet Jackson’s breastbaring episode in 2004, the league has maintained strict control.

“In some ways, it is the worst 12 and a half minutes of my year,” said Quenzel, who watches from the sideline hoping for no wind, rain, electronic glitches or — shudder — wardrobe malfunctions.

By the time Katy Perry rode

In this Feb. 1, 2009 file photo, Bruce Springsteen performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl XLIII football game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa, Fla. Associated Press

in on a mechanical lion last year, and soared away on a platform designed to look like a shooting star, she had rehearsed the show some 40 times. “Anyone who has ever done it has been scared,” she told Elle magazine later. “You stay off the Internet for five days afterward.”

Today, it’s almost impossible to conceive that the second Super Bowl featured Miami-area high school bands at halftime.

Florida A&M’s band performed twice, once after Duncan graduated. The University of Michigan and Grambling State University bands were other two-timers.

Duncan can barely recall what his band played that day; a James Brown tribute sticks in his mind. He better remembers hanging with his friends on a Miami street at 3 a.m. when Jets quarterback Joe Namath rode by in a car filled with women, holding out his index finger in a promise of a victory he later delivered.

The lineup for the 1980 halftime show — a salute to the Big Band Era with the youthful singing group Up With People — practically screams at anyone under age 50 to find something else to do.

Up With People was such a regular part of Super Bowl halftime that Tim Lane participated in four of them: singing “Philadelphia Freedom” for the 1976 Bicentennial-themed show, in the chorus for the Big Band tribute, operating a spotlight for 1982’s salute to Motown and picking participants for the 1986 show.

The youth education organization still exists, and celebrated its own 50th anniversary last year. Lane is its vice president of alumni engagement.

“We love the fact that we did it as often as we did,” he said. “We don’t know if we ever will again.”

It finally dawned on the NFL in the 1990s that halftime was a massive missed opportunity.q

A30 PEOPLE

Thursday 4 February 2016

& ARTS

20 years later, metal band Sevendust relishes Grammy nod

MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — If Grammys were handed out for sheer persistence, the metal band Sevendust would have a bunch by now.

The quintet from Atlanta is celebrating two decades together this year with its first Grammy nomination.

The nomination is for a song that is, appropriately, named “Thank You.” “This is a big deal. I feel like

it’s going to push us to work even harder,” said Lajon Witherspoon, the band’s lead singer and co-songwriter. “I think we’re on the right avenue right now.”

Sevendust, known for its melodic approach to metal, has put many miles on the road, supporting everyone from Metallica to Creed. The band finally got the attention of the Recording Academy for last year’s “Kill the Flaw,” its

In this Jan. 27, 2016 photo, Lajon Witherspoon, lead singer of Sevendust, poses for a portrait in New York. The Atlanta band is celebrating two decades together with their very first Grammy nomination for their song, “Thank You.” Associated Press

11th studio album.

The music has elements of classic metal, thrash, southern rock and even some soul, led by the fearsome instrument of Witherspoon’s voice, one of the most flexible and exciting in music today.

“Music is music. I never put a label on it. I just feel I’m a rocker,” said Witherspoon, who also recently sang with the Moscow Studio Symphony Orchestra for a side project and who has embraced Sevendust’s acoustic side.

“I’m sure there are people out there that would say Sevendust isn’t heavy enough, but I don’t believe everything has to be always breaking walls down,” he said.

“I’ve been onstage and felt like Britney Spears compared to some of the bands that we’ve played with. But we still get out there and rock it.”

Sevendust hits the road as a headliner this spring starting April 26 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and wrapping up May 28 at the Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma.

Sevendust’s lineup — which

also includes Clint Lowery on lead guitar, John Connolly on rhythm guitar, Vince Hornsby on bass and Morgan Rose on drums — has been remarkably stable over the years, with the exception of Lowery stepping away for a few years.

“We don’t really ever fight.

There’s no reason to. We’re grown men,” said Witherspoon, who welcomed his third child in December and just celebrated his 12th wedding anniversary. He is well versed on car seats and diapers, yet onstage can deliver the lyric “All the things we loathe, we become it” with full-throated power.

At the Grammys, Sevendust faces off against Slipknot, Lamb of God, August Burns Red and Ghost.

Though the winner won’t be televised, Witherspoon and his family will proudly be on the red carpet.

For a guy who watched the ceremonies as a boy, he wouldn’t miss it, especially as a way to thank his wife for all her sacrifices while he and his band crisscrossed the country. “This is for the wives,” he said.

Witherspoon was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and sang in his church choir. Even his grandmother sensed there was a showman in the youngster.

“I wanted to perform,” he said, laughing. “I was rocking my gown.”

Though he sang in R&B bands, by high school he was hanging out with the long-haired kids listening to Guns N’ Roses and Black Sabbath.

Able to wail and growl, he gravitated toward metal, an often rare genre for an African-American.

Witherspoon says he doesn’t see racism at Sevendust gigs these days, but years ago on tour with Slipknot he saw “a couple of knuckleheads” in the mosh pit give the Hitler salute, oblivious to what it meant.

In melancholy moments, he suspects his race might have slowed the band’s rise.

“I’ve always wondered if I had not been a black man in Sevendust, would it have even gotten bigger?” he asks. “At the end of the day, I’m glad that it took this long because we’re still here.”q

PEOPLE & ARTS A31

Thursday 4 February 2016

Elizabeth McGovern, Andrew Garfield set for National Theatre

In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 file photo, Hilary Duff speaks during the “Younger” panel at the TV Land 2016 Winter TCA in Pasadena, Calif.

Associated Press

Judge finalizes Hilary Duff’s divorce from ex-NHL player LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge has finalized Hilary Duff’s divorce from former NHL player Mike Comrie.

The judgment, which was first reported Tuesday by celebrity website TMZ, was finalized on Thursday.

The 28-year-old singer and actress starred in the “Lizzie McGuire” television series and film and stars on the TV Land series “Younger.”

Comrie played professional hockey between

2000 and 2011, ending his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Duff and Comrie were married in August 2010 and separated in January 2014.

They have a three-year-old son together and will share joint custody.

The judgment states the pair had a prenuptial agreement and Comrie is giving up rights to their home in exchange for a $2.4 million payment from Duff.q

LONDON (AP) — Elizabeth McGovern of “Downton Abbey” and former “Spider-Man” Andrew Garfield are among the stars of upcoming productions from Britain’s National Theatre.

McGovern will appear in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s play “Sunset At The Villa Thalia,” which opens at the London theater in June.

Garfield will take the central role of Prior Walter in a revival of Tony Kushner’s epic AIDS-crisis drama “Angels in America,” opening in May 2017. Other big names announced Wednesday include “Extras” star Tamsin Greig, who will play a female Malvolio in William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” from February 2017. The following year, Ralph Fiennes will star in Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra.” Both productions will be directed

by Simon Godwin.

The company’s second season under artistic director Rufus Norris, who took over last year, will also tackle the radicalization of young people by Muslim extremists in fact-based drama “Another World: Losing Our Children to Islamic State,” which opens in April.

Like other state-supported theaters, the National has faced cuts to its funding from Britain’s austerityminded government. Upcoming work includes likely crowd-pleasers such as a

In this February 27, 2011 file photo, actor Andrew Garfield arrives before the 83rd Academy Awards in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Former “Spider-Man” Andrew Garfield and Elizabeth McGovern of “Downton Abbey” are among the stars of upcoming productions from Britain’s National Theatre, it was announced Wednesday Feb. 3, 2016.

Associated Press

new production opening in October of “Amadeus” starring British actor Lucian Msamati as Mozart’s rival, Salieri.

Experimental Belgian di-

rector Ivo van Hove will helm his first production for the National, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler.” It opens in December.q

Jimmy Buffett musical to premiere at California theater

In this June 9, 2015 file photo, Jimmy Buffett arrives at the premiere of “Jurassic World” in Los Angeles. Producers said Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, that a Jimmy Buffett musical, combining Buffett’s blend of rock and country tunes with an original story by writers Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley will open at the La Jolla Playhouse in California on May 16, 2017.

Associated Press

MARK KENNEDY AP Drama Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Jimmy Buffett musical will make its world premiere next year somewhere nice and warm — the La Jolla Playhouse in California.

Producers said Wednesday that the show, which combines Buffett’s blend of rock and country tunes with an original story by writers Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley, will start grooving onstage on May

16, 2017.

Buffett has had hits with such beach-bum classics as “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” ‘’Margaritaville,” ‘’Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”

The new musical is described “as the story of a part-time singer, part-time bartender, and fulltime good ol’ boy named Tully who suddenly finds himself in uncharted territory — falling in love

with a beautiful, careerminded tourist.”

Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley, the director of the Tony-winner “Memphis,” will direct the still-untitled show.

The producers of the musical are Frank Marshall, Mindy Rich, Anita Waxman and Beth Williams.

Garcia is the creator of TV shows including “My Name Is Earl” and “Yes, Dear,” which O’Malley also starred in. q