March 7, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Monday, March 7, 2016

Nancy Reagan 1921 - 2016 In this 1985 photo, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, wave from windows of his hospital room at the Navy Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The former first lady Nancy Reagan has died at 94, The Associated Press confirmed Sunday, March 6, 2016.

(AP Photo/Scott Stewart) Page 2

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan Dies at 94 in CaliforniaÂ

A2 UP

Monday 7 March 2016

FRONT

Former first lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94 in California

In this photo, President George W. Bush looks at former first lady Nancy Reagan during dedication ceremonies for the retired Air Force One Boeing 707 aircraft at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif. The former first lady has died at 94, The Associated Press confirmed Sunday, March 6, 2016.

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

C. WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nancy Reagan, the helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president — and finally during his 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease — has died. She was 94.

The former first lady died Sunday at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure, assistant Allison Borio told The Associated Press.

Her best-known project as first lady was the “Just Say No” campaign to help kids and teens stay off drugs.

When she swept into the White House in 1981, the former Hollywood actress partial to designer gowns and pricey china was widely dismissed as a pre-femi-

nist throwback, concerned only with fashion, decorating and entertaining. By the time she moved out eight years later, Mrs. Reagan was fending off accusations that she was a behind-the-scenes “dragon lady” wielding unchecked power over the Reagan administration — and doing it based on astrology to boot.

All along she maintained that her only mission was to back her “Ronnie” and strengthen his presidency.

Mrs. Reagan carried that charge through the rest of her days.

She served as a full-time caretaker as Alzheimer’s melted away her husband’s memory. After his death in June 2004 she dedicated herself to tending his legacy, especially

at his presidential library in California, where he had served as governor.

She also championed Alzheimer’s patients, raising millions of dollars for research and breaking with fellow conservative Republicans to advocate for stem cell studies. er dignity and perseverance in these post-White House roles helped smooth over the public’s fickle perceptions of the former first lady.

The Reagans’ mutual devotion over 52 years of marriage was legendary.

They were forever holding hands.

She watched his political speeches with a look of such steady adoration it was dubbed “the gaze.”

He called her “Mommy,” and penned a lifetime of gushing love notes. She saved these letters, published them as a book,

and found them a comfort when he could no longer remember her.

After Reagan was shot by John Hinckley just three months into his presidency, he was said to have famously wisecracked to her, “Honey, I forgot to duck.”

In announcing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 1994, Reagan wrote, “I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience.”

Ten years later, as his body lay in state in the U.S. Capitol, Mrs. Reagan caressed and gently kissed the flagdraped casket.

As the newly arrived first lady, Mrs. Reagan raised more than $800,000 from private donors to redo the White House family quarters and to buy a $200,000 set of china bordered in red, her signature color.

Continued on page 3

In this 2009 photo, President Barack Obama escorts former first lady Nancy Reagan after signing the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act, during a ceremony in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington.

(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

U.S. NEWS A3

Monday 7 March 2016

Nancy Reagan Continued from page 2

She was criticized for financing these pet projects with donations from millionaires who might seek influence with the government, and for accepting gifts and loans of dresses worth thousands of dollars from top designers. Her lavish lifestyle — in the midst of a recession and with her husband’s administration cutting spending on the needy — inspired the mocking moniker “Queen Nancy.”

But her admirers credited Mrs. Reagan with restoring grace and elegance to the White House after the austerity of the Carter years.

Her substantial influence within the White House came to light slowly in her husband’s second term.

Although a feud between the first lady and chief of staff Donald Regan had spilled into the open, the president dismissed reports that it was his wife who got Regan fired. “The idea that she is involved in governmental decisions and so forth and all of this, and being a kind of dragon lady — there is nothing to that,” a visibly angry Reagan assured reporters.

But Mrs. Reagan herself and other insiders later confirmed her role in rounding up support for Regan’s ouster and persuading the president that it had to be done, because of the IranContra scandal that broke under Regan’s watch.

She delved into policy issues, too. She urged Reagan to finally break his long silence on the AIDS crisis.

She nudged him to publicly accept responsibility for the arms-for-hostages scandal. And she worked to buttress those advisers urging him to thaw U.S. relations with the Soviet Union, over the objections of the administration’s “evil empire” hawks.

Near the end of Reagan’s presidency, ex-chief of staff Regan took his revenge with a memoir revealing that the first lady routinely consulted a San Francisco astrologer to guide the president’s schedule. Mrs. Reagan, who had a long-

time interest in horoscopes, maintained that she used the astrologer’s forecasts only in hopes of predicting the safest times for her husband to venture out of the White House after the assassination attempt.

Anne Frances Robbins, nicknamed Nancy, was born on July 6, 1921, in New York City. Her parents separated soon after she was born and her mother, film and stage actress Edith Luckett, went on the road.

Nancy was reared by an aunt until 1929, when her mother married Dr. Loyal Davis, a wealthy Chicago neurosurgeon who gave Nancy his name and a socialite’s home. She majored in drama at Smith College and found stage work with the help of her mother’s connections.

In 1949, MGM signed 5-foot-4, doe-eyed brunette Nancy Davis to a movie contract. She was cast mostly as a loyal housewife and mother.

She had a key role in “The Next Voice You Hear ...,” an unusual drama about a family that hears God’s voice on the radio.

She met Ronald Reagan in 1950, when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild and she was seeking help with a problem: Her name had been wrongly included on a published list of suspected communist sympathizers. They discussed it over dinner, and she later wrote that she realized on that first blind date “he was everything that I wanted.”

They wed two years later, on March 4, 1952. Daughter Patti was born in October of that year and son Ron followed in 1958.

Reagan already had a daughter, Maureen, and an adopted son, Michael, from his marriage to actress Jane Wyman. (Later, public spats with her grown children would become a frequent source of embarrassment for Mrs. Reagan.)

She was thrust into the political life when her husband ran for California governor in 1966 and won.

She found it a surprisingly rough business.

“The movies were custard compared to politics,” Mrs. Reagan said.q

This 1986 photo shows first lady Nancy Reagan holding the Reagans’ pet Rex as she and President Reagan walk on the White House South lawn. The former first lady has died at 94, The AP confirmed

Sunday, March 6, 2016.

(AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

A4 U.S.

Monday 7 March 2016

NEWS

Some Republicans see Cruz as best alternative to Trump JULIE PACE AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders on Sunday grappled with the prospect that the best hope for stopping Donald Trump’s march to the nomination may be Ted Cruz — the only candidate who causes as much heartburn among party elites as the billionaire businessman, if not more.

The Texas senator split contests with Trump in Saturday’s voting, bolstering his argument that only he can defeat the real estate mo-

gul. Trump and Cruz are now significantly outpacing Marco Rubio in the delegate count, further shrinking the Florida senator’s already narrow path to the nomination.

If Rubio’s slide continues, he would be the latest establishment candidate to fall victim to an angry, frustrated electorate that cares little about endorsements from party leaders or newspaper editorial boards. Rubio has rolled out both at warp speed in recent weeks, but his appeal with Republican voters is not keeping pace.

Rubio did pick up a victory Sunday in Puerto Rico’s primary, his second win of the 2016 cycle. Democrats were holding caucuses Sunday in Maine.

Also, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were set for a debate Sunday night in Flint, Michigan, at which they were expected to highlight their differences on economic policy.

The Democratic candidates were facing off just two days before Michigan’s primary in a city that was already in tough shape long before residents learned their drinking water

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a rally in Mandeville, La. Republican leaders on Sunday grappled with the prospect that the best hope for stopping Donald Trump’s march to the nomination may be Ted Cruz — the only candidate who causes as much heartburn among party elites as the billionaire businessman, if not more.

(AP Photo/Max Becherer)

was tainted with lead.

Clinton, a former secretary of state and senator, claims that only she has a “credible strategy” for raising wages. In recent days, she has laid out a plan for a “clawback” of tax benefits for companies that ship jobs overseas, using the money to encourage investment in the United States.

Sanders wrote in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press that his rival had supported “disastrous trade deals” such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and normalized trade relations with China that have resulted in thousands of job losses that devastated cities such as Detroit and Flint.

Sanders won Democratic contests on Saturday in Kansas and Nebraska, but Clinton’s overwhelming victory in Louisiana enabled her to add to her commanding lead in delegates to the party’s national nominating convention.

Overall, Clinton had at least 1,121 delegates to Sanders’ 481, including superdelegates — members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice.

It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.

In the Republican race, the wary interest in Cruz from more mainstream Republicans is the latest unexpected twist in a nominating contest where talk of a contested convention or third-party candidate is becoming commonplace.

“If Ted’s the alternative to Trump, he’s at least a Republican and conservative,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said. While Graham made sure to note that it’s “not like I prefer Ted Cruz,” he encouraged Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to “decide among themselves” whether they can be a realistic alternative to Trump.q

U.S. NEWS A5

Monday 7 March 2016

AP Legal Affairs:

Time running out to charge anyone who helped Bulger

Former Massachusetts Senate President William Bulger leaves the federal courthouse in Boston after attending the first appearance for his brother James “Whitey” Bulger and his girlfriend Catherine Greig.

In testimony before a federal grand jury in 2001, William Bulger acknowledged that he and his brother spoke by phone shortly after Whitey Bulger fled Boston in late 1994.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer BOSTON (AP) — Investigators who spent years building a criminal case against

gangster James “Whitey” Bulger have long believed he had multiple helpers when he fled Boston and went on the run.

But if prosecutors don’t bring charges within the next few months, the only person to be charged with actually assisting the notorious crime boss during his 16 years as a fugitive will be his longtime girlfriend.

The statute of limitations for harboring a fugitive is five years. The clock began ticking when Bulger was captured in Santa Monica, California, on June 22, 2011, and runs out on June 22, 2016.

Catherine Greig, who accompanied Bulger on his long flight from justice, was sentenced to eight years in prison for helping him.

Greig faces additional prison time after pleading guilty last month to contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating who else may have helped Bulger.

Now the question is, without Greig’s help, will anyone else ever be charged?

Spokeswoman: Jimmy Carter no longer needing cancer treatment Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter no longer needs treatment for the cancer diagnosis he revealed in August, a spokeswoman for the former president said on Sunday. Carter, 91, apparently shared the news at one of his regular Sunday School classes at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Carter announced in August that he had been diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to his brain and laid out a treatment plan, including a round of targeted radiation at the brain tumors and doses of an immune-boosting drug every three weeks. Keytruda, the drug, was approved not long before Carter’s announcement and helps his body seek out and destroy cancer cells.

Carter’s spokeswoman

Deanna Congileo said in an email that Carter received doses of the drug from August through February. She said his doctors will continue to perform scans to ensure cancer cells have not returned, and Carter will “resume treatment if necessary.” A spokesman for Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute, where Carter has been treated, declined to comment on Sunday, citing patient privacy.

Medical experts have called Keytruda and similar immune therapy drugs “game-changing” for patients with melanoma. But the drugs are relatively new, and doctors are still learning about how they should be used, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. He is not involved in Carter’s treatment.

“I don’t think the chances are great. I’d be happy to see it, but I’d be surprised to see it,” said retired state police Col. Thomas Foley, who spent two decades pursuing Bulger.

Bulger, now 86, is serving a life sentence after being convicted of a litany of crimes during a 2013 racketeering trial, including participating in 11 murders.

Over the years, investigators suspected Bulger received help from his family, and attention focused on his brother, William Bulger, a powerful political figure who was president of the state Senate for 17 years.

But William Bulger has denied helping his brother while he was a fugitive and has never been charged.

In testimony before a federal grand jury in 2001, William Bulger acknowledged that he and his brother spoke by phone shortly after he fled Boston in late 1994. William Bulger also acknowledged that he did not encourage his brother to surrender.

“I don’t feel an obligation to help everyone catch him,” he said, according to leaked transcripts of testimony published in The Boston Globe.

Another brother, John “Jackie” Bulger, pleaded guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice in 2003 for lying to federal grand juries. Jackie Bulger admitted he had spoken to his brother while he was a fugitive.

A6 U.S.

Monday 7 March 2016

NEWS

US Travel Trends:

Why your hotel room might come without a closet or a desk

SCOTT MAYEROWITZ AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hotels are going for a new minimalist look to attract younger guests, but the move has left some experienced travelers angry, wondering how they’re expected to get work done without a desk.

Younger travelers, hotels note, just want a clean and efficient space to stay.

They spend less time in rooms and like to socialize and work in vibrant lobbies with a sense of community.

So carpets are being replaced by easy-to-clean laminate floors. Tubs are being ripped out in favor of glass showers. And instead of working at a desk, guests are increasingly expected to use glorified window sills or oversized TV trays.

If those “flexible workspaces” aren’t conducive to creativity, hotels are hoping to nudge guests to bring their laptops to the lobby, where they might buy a glass of wine while typing away.

But for seasoned travelers who enjoy working in the quiet of their rooms this has caused major headaches.

“Flexible, I have no problem with. Unusable, is what I have a problem with,” says Don Wright, 59, a computer

consultant from Lexington, Kentucky.

Often, these surfaces aren’t “bigger than a sheet of paper,” he says, adding that a laptop might fit, but not also a binder full of docu-

and you can roll up in a ball and sit anywhere,” Wright says. “But when you turn 45, 50 or older, your body doesn’t like those types of positons.”

It’s such a concern that

A prototype room of Hilton’s new Tru brand on display in Los Angeles. Instead of desks, rooms in the new hotels will feature chairs with large armrests to place a laptop.

(Scott Mayerowitz) ments.

Wright has spent up to 200 nights a year in hotels and understands that many make changes to cater to younger travelers. But he can’t imagine any millennial deciding not to stay in a hotel because the room has a desk. But for older road warriors, a lack of a desk is a deal breaker.

“When you are 25 all is well

frequent traveler forums online list desk-less hotels to avoid.

Charles Kron, a 51-year-old insurance company training consultant from Atlanta, criticized Marriott in one such discussion for “moving away from being a business hotel chain.”

On one trip, he used the ironing board as a desk.

Heading to the lobby isn’t a

solution.

“I’m not on the road to be social,” says Kron, who spends 150 nights a year traveling. “I’m on the road to get work done.”

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson says guests no longer want a full dresser, closet and desk. Removing some items gives rooms a greater sense of space. Add a big TV, fast Wi-Fi and they are happy.

“We can go too far if we say no work surface is the approach,” Sorenson says.

“That’s not what we are doing. Increasingly, we settle in a place where there is a desk. It’s a smaller desk. It might sometimes be a flexible space.”

Sorenson says the goal is to make rooms feel more modern.

Take the bathroom. Historically, it was a small space with a door that swung in.

By swapping the tub for a shower and converting the door to slide into the wall, the space feels larger.

“People expect a better bath experience than they expected 25 or 30 years ago,” Sorenson says.

The redesigned rooms are “very much like that experience you have at home.”

While Marriott has taken most of the heat from road warriors for removing desks

at some properties, it isn’t alone. Several chains have been pushing new designs that upend the traditional room.

At Best Western’s new Vib brand, bed headboards double as desks. Closets have been replaced with hooks on the wall and instead of a dresser there are drawers under the bed. Hilton’s new Tru won’t have closets. Instead there will be an open space with hangers and hooks on the wall. And the desk is replaced with a chair that includes a spot for a tiny laptop or tablet. Starwood’s Aloft brand also skips out on the closet, instead offering some hangers behind a curtain in a built-in wall in the bathroom.

While hotels say this is what customers want, there is also a cost-savings. The big hotel chains don’t own most of their properties but license out rights to them.

And the owners and developers are pushing the parent companies to cut costs.

“They are more concerned about the (construction) cost, because they don’t have enough time to make that up if we hit a downturn,” says Best Western CEO David Kong. “People can’t make the numbers work.”

U.S. NEWS A7

Monday 7 March 2016

US Financial Front:

American productivity stuck in slow-growth mode

MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity fell in the final three months of 2015 at the sharpest pace in nearly two years, though the decline was not as large as first reported. Labor costs jumped in the fourth quarter at the fastest pace in a year.

The Labor Department said late last week that productivity — the amount of output per hour of work — fell at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the OctoberDecember period. Preliminary data had reported a 3 percent drop. Labor costs rose at a rate of 3.3 percent, revised from an initial 4.5 percent estimate.

For all of 2015, productivity rose just 0.7 percent, marking the fifth straight year of weak gains. It’s a troubling trend given that productivity is a key ingredient needed for rising living stan-

An employee walks past a conveyer belt carrying newly-bottled and packaged cases of Blue Moon beer, a craft-oriented label produced at the MillerCoors Brewery, in Golden, Colo. Late last week the Labor Department issued revised data on productivity in the fourth quarter.

(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

dards. Rising productivity enables businesses to pay employees higher wages without having to boost the cost of the products and

services they sell.

The Federal Reserve keeps watch on both productivity and labor costs as it deliberates how quickly it should

raise interest rates to keep inflation under control. The Fed raised a key rate by a quarter-point in December, the first increase in nearly a

decade. But weaker economic data and turbulent financial markets are likely to reduce the number of rate hikes this year from what had been an expected four down to perhaps just two.

Last week, the government reported that total output as measured by the gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 1 percent in the fourth quarter. That increase in output was reflected in the smaller decline in productivity reported Thursday.

Productivity recently has been growing well below the 2.1 percent average gains seen over the past 67 years. It had accelerated for a decade starting in 1995. Those gains were attributed to improvements in computer software and the introduction of technology that helped workers do their jobs more efficiently.

A8

Monday 7 March 2016

WORLD NEWS

EU looks to refugee-laden Turkey to ease its migrant burden LORNE COOK RAF CASERT The Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders will look to persuade Turkey’s prime minister at a summit on Monday to slow the flow of migrants traveling to Europe and take back thousands who do not qualify for asylum.

They will also be looking at how to seal the Balkan migrant route and boost aid to Greece in an attempt to restore the unity among the 28 member nations after months of increasing bickering and go-it-alone policies.

At least 18 migrants drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to reach Greece on Sunday, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported, highlighting the urgency of the migrant situation. The coast guard launched a search-and-

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, right, poses with European Council President Donald Tusk for a photo after their joint press conference in Ankara, Turkey. European Union leaders will look to persuade Turkey’s prime minister at a summit on Monday to slow the flow of migrants traveling to Europe and take back thousands who do not qualify for asylum.

(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

rescue mission for other migrants believed to be missing from the accident.

Ankara is central to easing Europe’s refugee pressures.

More than 2,000 people

arrive daily from Turkey to Greece, where many have been stranded as countries on the main migrant route through the Balkans are aiming to stop them mov-

ing north.

“The number of illegal entries from Turkey to Greece remains far too high,” summit chairman, EU President Donald Tusk, wrote in an invitation letter to the leaders.

Tusk said that he and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu “believe that we can reduce the flow through large-scale and rapid return from Greece of all migrants not in need of international protection.”

In the Balkans, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary - with support from Austria - have encouraged Macedonia to squeeze its border with Greece, allowing only a trickle of people onto its territory.

Tusk wrote that all should work for “an end to the socalled wave-through policy of migrants” meaning they should be stopped

Ukrainians rally to demand Russia release Savchenko KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — About 2,000 people rallied on Independence Square in Kiev on Sunday to demand that Russia release Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, with hundreds then marching to the Russian Embassy to vent their anger by throwing eggs and rocks at the building.

Savchenko was captured in June 2014 while fighting with a Ukrainian volunteer battalion against Russia-

backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. She is now on trial in Russia, accused of acting as a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists and several other civilians.

After Sunday’s rally, several hundred protesters reached the Russian Embassy, where they burned a Russian flag and threw eggs at the building and at an

effigy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which had a sign reading “killer” around its neck. One man wearing camouflage climbed over the fence and threw a rock through the window above the door.

Police were on the scene, but didn’t intervene.

On Saturday night, the Russian Embassy said it was attacked by men in camouflage armed with baseball bats, who badly damaged

three embassy vehicles and threw smoke bombs.

The embassy said it sent a formal note of protest to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

Savchenko declared a hunger strike on Thursday after the judge adjourned the trial for a week without allowing her to give her final statement.

Her sister, Vera Savchenko, said at the rally they are monitoring her condition.

and processed as early as possible.

“On Monday, we should all confirm this approach.

With that we will close the Western Balkans route,” he wrote without specifying the plan further.

The bloc has offered several sweeteners to get Turkish authorities to crack down on migrant movements.

Some 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) will be made available for Syrian refugees. Turkey’s long-coveted EUmembership process is being sped up, as are moves to ease EU visa requirements.

Summit meetings like these are also part of the package.

Ahead of the meeting Monday, the EU’s executive Commission trumpeted the availability of tens of millions of euros to help Syrian school children and provide food aid. It said that a new “road map” on visa liberalization for Turkey had also been submitted.

However, Turkey has a huge migrant challenge of its own, as host to more than 2 million people who fled the conflict in Syria, and the returns on the European investments have been limited so far.

Many complain that still far too many people cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, adding to the 850,000 people who entered Greece that way last year.

WORLD NEWS 9

Monday 7 March 2016

Afghan president: Islamic State being wiped out in Afghanistan RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday that the Islamic State group has been defeated in the eastern parts of the country, where it had taken over some remote districts.

Speaking at the opening of parliament, Ghani said Afghan forces had dislodged IS loyalists from regions of Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan.

“Afghanistan will be their graveyard,” he said in an address broadcast live on national television.

IS has had a presence in Afghanistan for more than a year. Officials have said most militants calling themselves IS are disaffected Taliban fighters.

Afghan forces have claimed victory following a 21day operation in the Achin and Shinwar districts of Nangarhar, claiming at least 200 militants killed, a provincial official told The Associated Press.

Achin and Shinwar are among a number of districts in the remote mountainous regions along the Pakistan border that were overtaken by IS loyalists in recent months. Operations against the militants included airstrikes to destroy bases and a radio station that was broadcasting IS recruitment messages across Nangarhar province. The radio station was destroyed, along with at least seven militants, on Feb. 1.

“The aim of the operation in Nangarhar was to root out IS from the area,” said Afghan Army Lt. Col. Sharin Aqa, a spokesman for the 201 Corps.

The operation was aided by local residents who set up checkpoints to help maintain security in their villages.

These so-called “local uprisings” had supplemented the Afghan forces, which have been stretched since the drawdown in 2014 of the international combat mission, he said. The Afghan government is attempting to end the war on its territory with hopes of drawing the Taliban into a dialogue and eventual peace talks.

Civilians and security forces gather as municipality workers remove destroyed vehicles at the scene of a deadly suicide bomb attack in Hillah, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 6, 2016.

(AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Suicide attack kills dozens south of Baghdad

A. AL-FITLAWI S. SALAHEDDIN Associated Press HILLAH, Iraq (AP) — A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden fuel truck into a security checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 47 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

It was the third massive bombing in and around Baghdad in a little over a

week, and although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, it appeared to be part of a campaign by the Islamic State group to stage attacks deep behind front lines in order to wreak havoc and force the government to overextend its forces.

Crowds gathered at the scene, picking through rubble and twisted car parts in search of survivors. Smoke

rose from smoldering cars that had been lined up at the main checkpoint at the northern entrance to the city of Hillah, located about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

“The blast has completely destroyed the checkpoint and its buildings,” Falah al-Khafaji, a senior security official in Hillah, said as he stood at the edge of the blast site.

A10 WORLD

Monday 7 March 2016

NEWS

Lacking powers, China’s legislature a venue for the wealthy CHRIS BODEEN Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China’s take on parliamentary democracy kicked off its annual session Saturday to address national priorities at a time of slowing economic growth. Unlike legislatures elsewhere, China’s does little in the way of legislating, is carefully stage-managed and allows no foreign leader to address it.

But like such chambers of power elsewhere, China’s has become something of a billionaire’s club, where the super-rich sit shoulder-to-shoulder with colorfully adorned Tibetan, Mongolian and other minority delegates and members of the country’s vast

bureaucracy. The delegates are selected through an indirect voting system that ensures those approved by the party leadership get elected.

Here is a look at the National People’s Congress, which runs through March 16: SOME TALK, LITTLE ACTION — China firmly rejects Western political notions of separation of powers, so challenging the leadership or questioning its decisions are not part of the somewhat nebulous mandate for the NPC’s nearly 3,000 delegates. Nor does it draft or seriously challenge the government’s budget proposals, instead discussing the various speeches and

Hostesses, who facilitated the arrival of delegates by bus, leap as they pose for photographers in front of the Great Hall of the People during the opening session of China’s annual National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Saturday, March 5, 2016.

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

reports in small groups before voting to approve whatever measures put before it at the close of the roughly two-week session.

The exercise is not entirely without merit, however, since members gain a better understanding of the government’s priorities and can also channel up to the leadership some of their grassroots concerns.

The vast majority of the NPC’s legislative work is handled by its 171-member Standing Committee, which meets every two months to discuss and pass laws and is more firmly under control of the ruling Communist Party.

POMP AND REPRESSION — The NPC strictly proceeds along well established lines, beginning on its first day with the premier’s work report, a kind of State-of-theNation address that reviews achievements of the previous year and sets out the new year’s goals and priorities. Focused heavily on

the economy and public services, the report is pulled together by a committee based on submissions from major government departments. Considerable lobbying precedes the premier’s 90-minute speech, since a mention of one’s pet project can be touted as a high-level endorsement. The time around the meeting is usually a dismal period for China’s embattled dissident community, which may be confined to their homes or taken on out-of-town trips in the constant presence of state security agents. Security is ratcheted up nationwide, but especially in Beijing, where out-of-town petitioners are cleared out and paramilitary guards are posted throughout city.

NO ROOM FOR OUTSIDERS — Although Chinese President Xi Jinping has grown fond of addressing his host country’s elected assemblies during overseas trips, the NPC doesn’t afford the

same honor. Partly, that’s because of limited availability, with the full congress meeting just once a year, but also because of its rigid structure that brooks no outside interference. Foreign guests may observe from the gallery, but only the premier and other top Chinese leaders are allowed to address the assembly. The most a visiting leader can hope for is a speech at one of China’s top universities.

BILLIONAIRE’S CLUB — The NPC includes many of China’s wealthiest citizens, with more than 100 billionaires by some estimates. The real number isn’t known since delegates are under no obligation to declare their assets, and wealth in China is often hidden. However, observers who run the numbers say the top 10 richest delegates are worth around $184 billion, about 100 times the wealth of the 10 richest American members of Congress.

WORLD NEWS A11

Monday 7 March 2016

Team for Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ launches PR blitz C. SHERMAN Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The once-secretive Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has launched a public relations blitz, calling on his lawyers and even his common-law wife to keep his name in the news.

Emma Coronel, mother of Guzman’s twin 4-year-old daughters, has given unprecedented media interviews, issuing dire warnings about his health and pressuring the government to improve the conditions he endures his third time behind bars.

His lawyers have gathered the media at Mexico’s supreme court and outside the White House in Washington. This weekend, one of Guzman’s lawyers called a news conference outside the maximum-security Altiplano prison where he’s being held, and which he escaped from through a mile-long tunnel in July.

Wearing an “Extradition Never!!!” sweat shirt emblazoned with a photo of his client, attorney Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza said he planned to begin a hunger strike — water and juice allowed. He called on Mexicans to join him.

Analysts say the publicity is all part of a carefully planned media strategy.

At the very least, Guzman hopes to negotiate the terms of his imprisonment

Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza, center, one of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s lawyers, holds a press conference outside the gates of the Altiplano maximum security prison to announce he would begin a hunger strike in protest over the drug lord’s treatment inside the prison, near Toluca, Mexico state, Mexico. The once-secretive Mexican drug lord has launched a public relations blitz, calling on his lawyers and even his common-law wife to keep his name in the news.

(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

in the United States should moves to extradite him succeed.

Another Guzman attorney, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, says that the drug lord wants to be sent to the U.S quickly and negotiate a guilty plea in exchange for a “reasonable” sentence in a medium-security prison in the United States.

Samuel Logan of the business and security consulting firm Southern Pulse said he doesn’t believe the ef-

fort will work.

“El Chapo’s folks are grasping at straws,” he said. “I doubt the U.S. will negotiate on any level.”

The PR campaign has featured Guzman’s former beauty queen commonlaw wife giving her first-ever public interview in February. Conservatively dressed and poised throughout her conversation with Telemundo, Coronel painted an image of “El Chapo” as a loving family man. She was

careful to suggest his innocence, or at least not confirm his guilt.

“I’m not certain that he traffics drugs,” she said.

Guzman’s attorneys have publicly expressed concern for his health and criticized his treatment while jailed.

“How long is his body going to tolerate this state of stress that he’s submitted to?” Rodriguez said last month after a 30-minute visit at Altiplano prison with Guzman. “If this doesn’t

stop, he is going to get sick and his life is at great risk.”

Outside the prison Friday, Bernarda Guzman Loera, who said she was one of the drug lord’s sisters, said his family was “very worried.”

The drug lord’s lawyers have filed several requests for injunctions in Mexican courts to stop his extradition. Rodriguez said Wednesday they won’t drop those efforts until they get an agreement with U.S. prosecutors, an unrealistic scenario.

Things were a lot different for Guzman the last time he was in prison, after being captured the second time in 2014. Mexico’s then-attorney general said the drug chieftain would only be extradited to the U.S. “in 300 or 400 years” after serving his Mexican sentence. In a recent court filing shared by his lawyers, Guzman described a relatively permissive environment with plenty of access by outside visitors and some freedom to move around. “Half a year ago I was in this place and had a daily visit of an hour and a half with my defense attorney,” Guzman said in the filing, plus “a four-hour family visit every nine days and a four-hour intimate (conjugal) visit every nine days, a daily hour on the patio to go out and walk in the sun.”

A12 WORLD

Monday 7 March 2016

NEWS

At Press Time:

Economic crisis on voters’ minds in Puerto Rico primary

Former Puerto Rico Governor and National Committeeman for the Republican Party of Puerto Rico’s General Assembly Luis Fortuno shows his vote for Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio before voting during the U.S. territory’s Republican primary in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday March 6, 2016.

(AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

DANICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A deep economic crisis was on the minds of many

voters in Sunday’s Republican primary in the U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico.

Residents of the island cannot vote in the general

election in November but they can take part in the party primaries.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has won Puerto Rico’s Re-

publican primary, his second win of the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

It wasn’t clear how many delegates the contest awards him.

The U.S. territory’s three super-delegates have committed to Rubio.

If a candidate gets more than half the votes, he gets all the delegates. If no one gets half, the delegates are divided proportionally.

In addition officials say the votes that some 6,000 inmates cast on Friday won’t be available until Wednesday.

Rubio also won Minnesota.

Edwin Mundo, electoral commissioner for Puerto Rico’s Republican Party, estimated that more than 30,000 people participated, a fraction of the peo-

EU, Cuba nearing deal to normalize relations HAVANA (AP) — After two years of negotiations, Cuba and the European Union are close to sealing an agreement to normalize relations that soured two decades ago, officials said this weekend. Cuban and EU negotiators said talks could be concluded for the March 10-11 visit to Havana by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

“We have covered all the chapters of the agreement,” chief EU negotiator Christian Leffler said, adding that the sides ended two days of talks on Friday with substantial progress.

His Cuban counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno, said the agreement could be ready for Mogherini’s visit although it would not be

signed immediately.

Since 1996, EU policy toward Cuba has been guided by the so-called Common Position, which rules out full relations with Havana until it makes reforms in areas such as more diverse political participation and freedom of expression.

Relations hit a nadir in 2003 after Cuba imprisoned 75 government opponents

during a crackdown on dissent. The EU instituted limits on high-level visits to the island, reduced cultural cooperation and began inviting dissidents to visit European embassies in Cuba.

Leffler said it was a coincidence that Mogherini would visit shortly before President Barack Obama’s historic March 21-22 trip to Cuba.

ple who voted in 2012, due in part to a sharp reduction in the number of polling places caused by budget cuts.

Voters said in interviews that they want a U.S. president who will help the island emerge from a decade of recession and a debt crisis that threatens basic government services.

“We need a radical change,” 53-year-old Richard Suarez said as he waited to cast a ballot for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in Guaynabo, a city in the San Juan metropolitan area. “Otherwise, we’ll be stuck in the same situation and will have to keep asking the U.S. government for favors.”

Raul Octaviano, a 65-yearold retiree, declined to say which candidate he favored, but said it would be someone who would help the island deal with economic conditions so grim that tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have moved to the mainland, mostly to Florida, in the largest exodus in decades.

“It’s a terrible situation,” Octaviano said. “There is no solution on the horizon.

The decisions that have to be taken will be painful.”

A decisive victory, with more than half the vote, would give one candidate all 20 delegates at stake.

LOCAL A13

Monday 7 March 2016

Top of the Caribbean:

Aruba Sweeps Awards Season As Most Decorated Destination

ORANJESTAD/ PRNewswire - While Hollywood’s hottest celebrities dazzle as “lead actor” or “best new artist,” Aruba stars as “best in show” for advertising and marketing this awards season – with achievements ranging from the most digitally-savvy island in the Caribbean to the most sustainable destination in the world.

“Receiving dozens of national and global awards for 2015 efforts alone, the entire island of Aruba is both humbled and inspired to continue our quest for innovation and creativity,” said Ronella Tjin AsjoeCroes, CEO of Aruba Tourism Authority. “Now we’re not only the sunniest and happiest island in the Caribbean, but also the most decorated.”

Most recently, Aruba received a Platinum Adrian Award for its “One Happy Selfie” advertising campaign, honoring Travel Marketing Excellence under the authority of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI). “One Happy Selfie,” a social media driven outdoor campaign

targeting key Chicago market travelers, was one of only six Platinum awards in the advertising category, selected from more than 300 entries by a panel of industry experts.

Also recognized with a Silver award was Aruba’s newest digital innovation, the Happiness Builder – a content-rich planning experience on aruba.com

where travelers can build and share their own custom video itinerary from more than 100 adventure, relaxation, romance and culture video vignettes.

Aruba’s digital prowess has been an increasingly hot topic among industry leaders, as this small, but savvy island currently ranks the most popular digital destination in the Caribbean

– according to Caribbean & Co., an expert source on Caribbean lifestyle and luxury brands.

Caribbean & Co. reports Aruba ranks No. 1 of 35 Caribbean islands for overall “destination marketing index 2015” and No. 1 of 10 Caribbean islands for Instagram, boasting double the numbers of its runner up.

The marketing index rank-

ing was derived by a proprietary weighting of various data, including social media followings, website inbound links, 3rd party rankings and more.

“Our commitment to strategic and savvy digital marketing directly impacts Aruba’s GDP, which is more reliant on travel and tourism than any other nation, relative to size, in the world,” said Asjoe-Croes.

“Aruba’s target audience visits more than 20 websites in their travel planning journey, so it’s essential for us to be front and center with relevant Aruba content at each stage.”

Solidifying its positioning as the most innovative Destination Marketing and Management Organization (DMMO) in the Caribbean, the Aruba Tourism Authority clenched the “Best Tourism Board Overall” in this year’s Travvy Awards, selected by nearly 40,000 travel agent voters, as well as a Bronze award for “Most Luxury Destination.”

Continued on Page 14

A14 LOCAL

Monday 7 March 2016

Top of the Caribbean Continued from Page 13

Specific recognition for the Aruba Tourism Authority is indicative of the dynamic approach ATA takes to marketing – with digital campaigns complemented by award-winning inmarket media events and world-leading sustainability initiatives.

Travel Weekly’s panel of industry experts recognized “Aruba Cultura,” an immersive media experience in NYC showcasing Aruba’s art, culture and cuisine, with a Gold Magellan Award. For the second consecutive year, Aruba received a Magellan Award for its sustainability initiatives.

Aruba’s “Destination Leadership” in green energy also took first place on a global stage during the National Geographic Travel World Legacy Awards at ITB Berlin, the world’s largest tourism convention.

More than 150 award entries were received, representing 56 countries and six continents. Finalists in five categories were selected by an international team

of 18 sustainable travel experts, who conducted thorough on-site inspections before choosing the winners in each category.

The global recognition continued with several digital engagement-driven TripAdvisor awards for the destination, beaches, restaurants and properties – including Aruba’s adultsonly Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort as both the No. 8 hotel in the world and No. 1 hotel in the world for romance.

Once again, The Knot named Aruba one of the world’s top 50 honeymoon destinations, based on editors’ research and personal experiences.

“The variety of awards, coupled with Aruba’s record-breaking tourism performance of more than a million stay-over visitors annually, proves the creative marketing and dedication of the government, ATA, industry partners and locals are successful in making Aruba one of the most desirable travel destinations in the world,” said Otmar Oduber, Aruba’s Minister of Tourism, Transportation,

Primary Sector and Culture.

“It’s a true pleasure to see firsthand what our small island can accomplish.”

For more information on the One happy island, visit www.aruba.com. Engage with Aruba via social media at www.facebook. com/ArubaFans or @Aruba on Twitter.

ABOUT ARUBA:

LOCAL A15

Monday 7 March 2016

Top of the Caribbean Continued from Page 14

As one of the most revisited destinations in the Caribbean, Aruba — One happy island — is an island of contradictions, where pristine turquoise waters collide against the desert-like terrain of the north shore; where peace and relaxation coexist with wild and rugged adventures; where Dutch influence meets American ease and where a diverse history parallels a bright future. Nestled in

the southern Caribbean outside the fringes of the hurricane belt, the island is just a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Miami, a fourhour flight from New York City and boasts year-round cooling trade winds with an average 82-degree temperature.

Aruba offers beach-lovers, adrenaline junkies, relaxation-seekers and everyone in between a slice of paradise with breathtaking beaches, a booming culinary scene of over 200 restau-

rants with 25+ located ideally on the water, world-famous festivals and events, exciting land and water activities, art galleries and museums, sumptuous spas, championship golf, exclusive shopping and sig-

nature experiences such as cooling off in Conchi, Aruba’s natural pool — accessible only by foot or offroad vehicle.

With all-inclusive options, boutique properties in charming Eagle Beach,

high-rise branded resorts in Palm Beach and cosmopolitan city hotels in Oranjestad, the island of contradictions provides the perfect getaway for both first-time guests and loyal visitors.q

A16 LOCAL

Monday 7 March 2016

Loyal Guests Honored by the Aruba Tourism Authority

EAGLE BEACH - Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a very loyal couple as Distinguished Visitors at the Divi Tamarijn Beach Resort. 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. John and Mrs. Linda Allen of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. John and Linda are regular guests at the Divi Tamarijn and they love Aruba very much because of the friendly people, the climate, beaches, restaurants, relaxation and being on Aruba and staying at the Divi Tamarijn is like being home for them. The certificate was presented by Mr. Jonathan Boekhoudt representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with Francis, Kathlyn and Jose, longtime friends from the Divi Tamarijn team.q

Oranjestad-Benjamin Petrocchi a true native Aruban started the newest export product of Aruba, locally produced hand rolled cigars called “Aruhiba”. These cigars are produced and cultivated in Aruba. Petrocchi always had interest in the cigar business and has also sold Premium Cuban cigars, and now he is growing his own tobacco crops.

After many attempt and trips to Santo Domingo and Cuba, he started his own production and cultivation of Aruhiba Cigars in Aruba. The whole process took him 10 years to perfect.

Petrocchi dedication to the cigars is important for the molding and process of making a perfect cigar which takes a long time. Their handmade cigar box is specially designed with their “Aruhiba” logo.Petrocchi considers Aruhiba as a promotion for Aruba trough its fine cigars .The company sells Aruhiba to the international market as well.

Visit their retail store located in front of the Historic Dutch Windmill in front of Riu Hotel, with purchase of $20 and up you receive a free “Aruhiba” cigars or ask for their gift box of cigars get 1 FREE for only $37.We are open from Monday to Saturday from 9 till 6.30 pm and on Saturdays from 10 to 4 pm. Aruhiba cigars are now available at the gift stores in your resort and at well-known cigar stores. For their complete selection and attractive by the box prices visit our retail stores. Tours are also available to the Tobacco Farm, where our cigars are grown and rolled.

Make an Aruba Tour including a stop at Aruhiba Factory call 739-2000. Winner of the best of Aruba.

The best local product Cigars in tubes Arubian design.

For a group or private tour call 586-7833/593-6177 or send us a email to aruhibacigars@gmail.com www.aruhibacigars.com

SPORTS A17

Monday 7 March 2016

In this Feb. 7, 2016, file photo, Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning holds up the trophy after the NFL Super Bowl 50 football game in Santa Clara, Calif. A person with knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press on Sunday, March 6, 2016, that Manning has informed the Denver Broncos he’s going to retire. The person, who was briefed on the matter, spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because the quarterback and the team were still working out details of an announcement.

Associated Press

Peyton Manning to retire after 18 NFL seasons

ARNIE STAPLETON AP Pro Football Writer ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Peyton Manning surveyed the landscape of his brilliant career and called one last audible. He’s retiring a champion.

A month after Denver’s triumph in Super Bowl 50, Manning informed John Elway he is following his lead and riding off into that or-

ange sunset just like the Broncos’ boss did 17 years ago after winning his second Super Bowl.

Just shy of 40, Manning will forgo $19 million and a 19th season in the NFL, where he served as both a throwback and a transformer during a glittering career bookmarked by an unprecedented five MVP awards and dozens of passing re-

cords.

“Peyton was a player that guys wanted to play with,” Elway said. “That made us better as a team and I’m thrilled that we were able to win a championship in his final year.” The Broncos scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. Monday.

Manning leaves the league he helped popularize to supersize status as its all-

time leading passer and winningest starting quarterback, the only one in NFL history to win Super Bowls with two franchises.

His first came in 2007 with the Indianapolis Colts, who drafted him No. 1 overall in 1998. The Colts gave up on him after a series of neck surgeries forced Manning to miss all of the 2011 season and left him without

feeling in the fingertips of his right hand.

A rare superstar quarterback on the open market in 2012, Manning resettled in Denver, where, despite a right arm weakened by nerve damage, he went 50-15 with his fifth MVP award and two trips to the Super Bowl in four seasons.

Continued on page 20

A18 SPORTS

Monday 7 March 2016

Shiffrin wins by huge margin, Hansdotter takes slalom title ERIC WILLEMSEN Associated Press JASNA, Slovakia (AP) — Unbeaten in her favorite discipline for more than a year, Mikaela Shiffrin still had to congratulate Frida Hansdotter of Sweden on winning the World Cup slalom title on Sunday.

The Olympic champion from the United States won the next-to-last race by a massive 2.36-second margin while Hansdotter finished 4.13 seconds back in 10th to wrap up the title.

Shiffrin has won all seven slaloms she competed in since February 2015 but couldn’t retain the discipline title this season having missed five races during a two-month injury layoff.

“I knew this was going to happen when I got injured,” said Shiffrin, who damaged her knee in warmup for a giant slalom in Are, Sweden, in December.

“First I was really mad. After a while, I honestly believe that she deserves it.

For Frida’s performances in the past four years she deserves to have something like a crystal globe to have at home and to look at the rest of her life and say, ‘Yeah, I won that fair and square.’”

Hansdotter holds a 105-point lead over VelezZuzulova with only the sea-

United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during the first run of an alpine ski World Cup women’s slalom, in Jasna, Slovakia, Sunday, March 6, 2016.

Associated Press

son-ending race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, remaining.

It’s the Swede’s first discipline title after Shiffrin won it the past three seasons.

In front of 17,000 spectators and defying tough conditions due to snowfall and rain, the American posted the fastest time in both runs to finish ahead of Wendy Holdener of Switzerland.

Veronika Velez-Zuzulova of Slovakia was 2.77 back in third.

“It feels like a dream, a little bit, and I am scared that I am going to wake up,” Shiffrin said about another

huge winning margin, three months after setting an alltime record by winning a slalom by 3.07 seconds.

“Both runs I tried to pretend there was a bear hunting me so I had to be fast. It worked really well,” she added.

Shiffrin, who turns 21 next week, earned her 19th World Cup victory. Only Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proell had won more races — 31 — at the same age.

Shiffrin had left her rivals in awe after a stunning first run that gave her a 1.67-second lead. Put-

ting in a trademark performance, she accelerated to an unmatched pace after a moderate start.

“It was really good, I felt good,” said Shiffrin, who was congratulated by many competitors and received a complimentary pat on the shoulder from Norway’s Nina Loeseth while standing in front of the leaderboard.

The American was conservative in the first few gates

and Velez-Zuzulova even led her by 0.13 at the first split time.

“Every run is like a fifty-fifty chance that I have my timing or I don’t,” Shiffrin said.

“The two months off, I definitely lost a little bit of the confidence in my timing but that run I definitely had it.”

Extending her big lead with a solid final run, Shiffrin’s victory never was in doubt.

Runner-up Holdener acknowledged that “Mikaela is really good at the moment. She skies better than us. We have to push hard so we can get to her level.”

It was the first race at the Slovakian resort in the Low Tatras mountains since 1984.

Skiing in front of her loudly cheering home crowd, Velez-Zululova was “very happy” to finish third.

“To have a home race was a dream, and it’s even better now I am on the podium,” Velez-Zuzulova said. “It was no easy race because of all the pressure and the expectations.”

A giant slalom on the same course, which was called off Saturday due to strong wind, is scheduled for Monday.q

SPORTS A19

Monday 7 March 2016

Adam Scott captures Cadillac Championship for 2nd straight win TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer DORAL, Florida (AP) — Adam Scott faced a daunting challenge, a sixshot deficit with 13 holes remaining on a course that was playing tougher than it had at any point this week.

And after overcoming that, he needed to survive two brushes with big trouble on the final hole to finish the job.

Scott won for the second straight week, shooting a final-round 69 to win the Cadillac Championship by one shot over Bubba Watson. It’s the second win for Scott in a World Golf Championships event, his 13th career win on the PGA Tour and he now hasn’t finished lower than second in any of his last three starts.

“Everything fell the right way for me today,” Scott said.

Scott finished the week at 12-under 276. Watson was alone in second, and Danny Willett (69) and Rory McIlroy (74) were tied for third, two shots back.

With course owner Donald Trump popping in on Sunday, arriving by helicopter and greeting fans as he drove around in a cart, there was plenty of drama away from the fairways and greens.

Scott ensured there was a ton on the grass as well, after two double-bogeys in a three-hole span on the front side seemed to send his round into a tailspin.

That is, until he got hot at just the right time.

It’s anyone’s guess if Scott will get a chance to defend the title at Doral in 2017.

General Motors’ sponsorship agreement with the event ends this week and with no sponsor, there’s no tournament.

“Our hope is that the future could allow us to stay here and continue to build the tournament,” PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said Sunday afternoon, meeting with reporters before sitting down privately with Trump to talk about the tournament’s future.

“But we’ll have more to say about that after we do a full evaluation of our per-

formance this year.”

Scott saved par — and perhaps his win — on the par4 16th, after his drive went over the green and nestled in a bunker. His second shot was dreadful, finding a patch of greenside rough.

From there he popped a chip 8 feet past the hole, then calmly rolled in the par putt to keep what was a one-shot lead at the time over Willett.

That wasn’t the last of Scott’s trouble.

His tee ball on 17 found a bunker while Watson, on the green ahead, made birdie to get within one.

Scott eventually saved par, headed to the final hole with that one-shot lead — and promptly put his tee shot in the right rough, a skinny palm tree impeding his path to the green. So he went left, around the tree but toward the water, and that shot somehow caught enough thick grass on a sharp slope to stop before getting wet.

“I was so lucky for it to stay up inside the hazard line,” Scott said. “When you’re that lucky, you better get them up and down.”

That’s exactly what he did.

Scott chipped to 6 feet, made the par putt and moments later knew the win was his.

“I can’t believe I’ve won back-to-back weeks,” Scott said. “To win a World Golf Championship is huge again.”

Watson has now finished second or third at Doral four times in the last five years.

He made eagle at the par5 8th to get into real contention Sunday, but his big mistake was a bogey on the par-4 14th. He couldn’t get up-and-down from a greenside bunker, Scott made birdie on the same hole just a few minutes later, and that two-shot swing proved critical.

“I gave it a good effort,” Watson said. “What I’m working on in my head is working out. Right now, I’ve got the energy and the mind-set to play some decent golf, so very positive, very happy about the week and what took place.”q

Adam Scott of Australia, holds the Gene Sarazen Cup after winning the Cadillac Championship golf tournament, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Doral, Fla. Associated Press

20 SPORTS

Monday 7 March 2016

Peyton Manning Continued from page 17 So, defensive coordinators, you can breathe a little easier today: Manning will no longer be on the docket to wreck your game plans and ruin your designs on a title.

There will be no more showdowns matching skills with Tom Brady or wits with Bill Belichick — against whom he was just 6-11 but 3-2 in AFC championships.

With no more defenses to dissect, the face of the league since the turn of this century no longer has to be buried in an iPad all day, nor will he have to submerge his battered body for hours in a cold tub in a labor of love.

“I get asked a lot about my legacy,” Manning said before the Super Bowl. “For me, it’s being a good team-

In this Jan. 24, 2016, file photo, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning waves to spectators following the AFC Championship game between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots, in Denver.

Associated Press

In this May 8, 2008, file photo, Archie Manning, center, is joined by his sons Eli Manning, left, and Peyton Manning, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Associated Press

mate, having the respect of my teammates, having the respect of the coaches and players. That’s important to me. I am not taking this for granted. I just love football.”

The 18th season for No. 18 was by far his most trying on the field. He had to adjust to new coach Gary Kubiak’s run-based offense, to unrelenting health issues and to questions about his character on his way to winning his second Super Bowl. Manning, whose dry wit and star power has made him a staple of commercials and late-night television for nearly two decades, saw

his squeaky-clean image take a beating as the final pages were flipped on his storied career.

The NFL is investigating allegations that human growth hormone was shipped to his home in his wife’s name following an Al Jazeera report that Manning dismissed as “garbage.” And in a new lawsuit filed last month. Manning was cited as an example of a hostile environment for women at the University of Tennessee for his alleged harassment of a female trainer in 1996.

A torn ligament in his left foot hampered Manning all the way back to August.

It led to his worst statistical season and sidelined him for six weeks before that fairy tale finish in Santa Clara, California, when his defense carried him across the finish line.

Constantly harassed, never quite comfortable — sort of the way the whole season played out — Manning walked away with his second NFL title after Denver’s defense, with seven sacks and four takeaways, all but handed him the Lombardi Trophy in a 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

“He had to do several things different this year,” said his dad, Archie, a former star quarterback himself. “Had to take off during the season, which he’d never done before. He ran the scout team, which I don’t think he’d ever done, and he dressed out as a backup, which he’d never done.”

Manning also had to play the role of game manager for the first time during Denver’s defense-fueled run to the title. “I’m just glad I was on the same team as our defense,” he said.

Although his teammates said his speech on the eve of the game felt very much like a goodbye, Manning didn’t call it his “last rodeo” right away, saying he needed time to reflect.

Denver gained only 194

Bowl 50 was his 14th in the postseason, one more than Favre, making him the NFL’s only 200-win quarterback.

“There’s no question that his work ethic is what made him into one of the great quarterbacks of all time,” Elway said. “All the film study Peyton did and the process that he went through with game planning and understanding what the other teams did was second to none.”

Almost from his pro debut in 1998, Manning was a pioneer in the way he deciphered defenses and directed play at the line of scrimmage. Envision him pacing from tackle to tackle, pointing and hollering, as he became a model for every quarterback who’s come along since. Manning not only was at the vanguard of the aerial fireworks shows that light up

In this Feb. 7, 2010, file photo, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning celebrates after teammate Joseph Addai scored a touchdown during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl XLIV football game against the New Orleans Saints in Miami.

Associated Press

yards against the Panthers, the fewest for a victorious team in a Super Bowl, and Manning had but 13 completions for 141 yards.

Thanks to a defense led by game MVP Von Miller, however, Manning became the oldest quarterback to win a championship, a year older than Elway was when he won his second Super Bowl in 1999 before walking away.

Manning, who revealed at the Super Bowl that he faces a hip replacement in retirement, finished in a tie with Brett Favre for most regular-season wins with 186. His victory in Super

today’s scoreboards and big-screen TVs, he was the mastermind of it.

“I think from the sense of quarterbacks, he’s been fast-paced, no-huddle, dynamic offense, score a lot of points, and score quickly,” said his brother, Eli Manning, a two-time Super Bowl winner himself, for the Giants. “Now you see that more. More teams are doing it. The Colts kind of started that trend and did it well for a long time.”So did the Broncos, for whom Manning threw 140 of his NFL-high 539 TD passes, including a record 55 in 2013.

SPORTS A21

Monday 7 March 2016

Britain’s Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish hold up a British flag as they pose for photographers with their gold medals after winning the Men’s Madison race at the World Track Cycling championships at the Lee Valley Velopark in London, Sunday March 6, 2016.

Associated Press

Wiggins conquers world ‘like Obama’ as Britain tops medals LIZ BYRNES Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Bradley Wiggins kissed the track and jokingly compared himself to Barack Obama as he said farewell to the Olympic velodrome in London on Sunday after teaming up with Mark Cavendish to win the madison, the last event of the track world cycling championships.

It was Wiggins’ final appearance at the track where an ecstatic home crowd cheered the pair’s gold medal as the host finished top of the medals table with five golds among a total of nine.

“It was my last race on this track,” said Wiggins, who intends to compete in the Rio Olympics. “Not bad was it?”

Wiggins and Cavendish won the world title back in 2008, since when Wiggins has become the first British winner of the Tour de France and Cavendish a 26-time stage winner. They reunited in the event one last time to take gold eight years on.

“You couldn’t have writ-

ten a better script,” added Wiggins. “It was like deja vu from eight years ago. We went on to conquer the world in those eight years, like Barack Obama. We’ve had a good term in presidency.

Come back, full circle and won it again.”

The pair won despite Cavendish coming off his bike, only to get back on.

“We knew we had the legs to do it,” Wiggins said.

“We just kept on going. We didn’t come here to finish fourth.”

Cavendish added: “Hearing the crowd at the end kept us going. It’s incredible, it’s untrue.”

It followed Trott’s second gold medal of the competition, as she added the omnium title to the scratch race.

Trott headed the first sprint of the points race to take the maximum five points and from there steadily extended her lead to finish with 201 points. Laurie Berthon won a sprint finish with Sarah Hammer to beat the American to silver with one point.

United States’ forward Alex Morgan (13) scores the game-winning goal as she is defended by France’s Laura Georges (4), Griedge Mbock Bathy (19) and Jessica Houara D’Hommeaux (8) during the second half of a SheBelieves Cup women’s soccer match Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. The goal gave the United States a 1-0 win.

Associated Press

Alex Morgan scores in stoppage time as U.S. beats France 1-0 TERESA M. WALKER AP Sports Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Alex Morgan scored a minute into second-half stoppage time, Hope Solo posted her 97th career shutout, and the United States beat France 1-0 on Sunday in the SheBelieves Cup. With the victory over the No. 3 team in the world, the top-ranked Americans improved to 8-0-0 in 2016, outscoring opponents 30-0.

The U.S. has won its first two games of the SheBelieves Cup after beating No. 5 England on Thursday.

On the lone goal, 17-yearold Mallory Pugh controlled the ball just past midfield and passed ahead to Morgan, who sprinted through the defense for a left-footed shot that beat goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi. It was Morgan’s 63rd inter-

national goal and made up for not connecting on a pass in the first half from Meghan Klingenberg.

“Mall played me in perfectly, and all I needed to do was put it past the keeper,” Morgan said.

The U.S. outshot France 10-8 after managing only three shots in the first half, with Solo making some key saves for her 146th international victory.

“When you can have the win and a great performance, I think it’s a good feeling,” U.S. coach Jill Ellis said. “I think the players left there with a good feeling. ... Obviously ecstatic with the world-class goal at the end there. But as I said to the players, it’s also three points in this tournament.

This is our first time at this tournament, and we’d obviously love to win it. And

one more game to go.”

Solo deflected a shot from Louisa Necib in the 14th minute, then France missed on a flurry shortly after. The ball clanged off the left post when Carli Lloyd tried to clear it, forcing Solo to dive to her right before going back to her left to save a shot from Marie-Laure Delie.

“It was nice to be able to have her back and be able to make the save,” Solo said.

In the second half, Delie’s header went wide before Tobin Heath’s shot missed wide left in the 56th minute for the U.S. The SheBelieves Cup wraps up March 9 in Boca Raton, Florida, with France playing England and the U.S. facing second-ranked Germany in this tuneup for the Rio Olympics.

A22

Monday 7 March 2016

SPORTS

Twin upsets create big opportunities for UFC’s Tate, Diaz GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Moments after Nate Diaz choked out Conor McGregor and punched a big hole in the UFC’s plans, Diaz took the microphone and triumphantly, profanely declared his victory was “no surprise!”

Maybe not to Diaz. The rest of the sport is still reeling from a revolutionary Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The pandemonium caused

by Miesha Tate and Diaz had barely subsided when everyone else began pondering the future created by their back-to-back upset victories at UFC 196.

Tate and Diaz scrapped some tentative plans for the promotion’s landmark UFC 200 show in July. Yet they also created many tantalizing new possibilities in a sport that isn’t afraid of a little chaos.

After his stunning dismissal of the touted McGregor, Diaz (20-10) likely could have virtually any fight he wants in two weight classes, perhaps including a title shot at either lightweight or welterweight. He isn’t picking an opponent yet, but he wants a big check.

“I’ve been in this a long time,” Diaz said. “It’ll be nine years. This is my 25th fight here in the UFC, and I’ve been, in the last few years, curious when this is going to pay off. And I think it’s time now.”

For Tate (18-5), her first bantamweight title defense is likely to be a third bout this fall with Ronda Rousey, according to UFC President Dana White. That discounts the possibility of an immediate rematch with Holly Holm, who got choked out with 90 seconds left in their thriller.

Although a third dance with Rousey could be among the most lucrative fights in UFC history, Tate appeared to be the person least interested in choosing her next move.

“The right move feels like drinking a Budweiser and eating cupcakes,” Tate said. “I’ll talk to my man-

Referee Herb Dean stops the fight shortly after Nate Diaz defeats Conor McGregor in a second round submission victory during their UFC 196 welterweight mixed martial arts match, Saturday, March 5, 2016, in Las Vegas. Diaz won by submission.

Associated Press

mediately said Tate will defend her belt against Rousey, who beat Tate twice before getting knocked out by Holm last November.

Trouble is, Rousey is expected to make two movies before she returns to serious MMA training, although neither of her proposed projects has started filming yet.

She isn’t expected to be ready to fight before October at the earliest, but White’s intention to book Tate-Rousey 3 seems to rule out the possibility of a Tate-Holm rematch at UFC 200. That means Holm likely will be forced to fight another contender this summer, but she accepts it as the price for her rapid MMA rise and fall.

“The biggest thing that hurts right now is my heart,” Holm said. “I want to get back in the gym and get

agement team, and we’ll talk to the UFC. My job as the champion is to fight the next best person, so whoever that is, I’ll fight them.”

As for the beaten Holm and McGregor, they’ll have the chance to regain their luster later this year.

Holm said she would love to fight again next week.

McGregor expects to drop back down 25 pounds to featherweight, where he is still the champion.

“I’ll keep my ear to the ground and see who the fans want,” McGregor said.

“Whatever the fans want is the fight that makes sense.”

Diaz’s next fight could be the title shot he has long sought — and seemed unlikely to get, given his 5-5 record in his previous 10 bouts dating to 2010.

White suggested he could match Diaz against welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in a certain brawl between two sluggers, while McGregor thinks Diaz will get the next shot at Rafael Dos Anjos, the lightweight champion who dropped out of his bout with McGregor two weeks ago because of a foot injury. Dos Anjos beat Diaz by decision in December

better. My whole MMA career has been on this fast course, which I love. I wanted to take this challenge, and I want the rematch, and I want to get back in there.”

2014.

After Nate’s star-making win, White is eager to hear what the unpredictable Diaz brothers want to do next. Nate is the younger brother of Nick Diaz, the former welterweight contender who couldn’t be in Nick’s corner because he is finishing a suspension for failing his last post-fight drug test.

White also joked that Nate might not return to the cage anytime soon if he follows through on a plan to buy a yacht with his big UFC 196 payday, which included $100,000 in performance bonuses on top of his $500,000 purse and other bonuses.

McGregor predicted he’ll defend his featherweight belt next, likely at UFC 200, even though the 145-pound weight limit is a grueling challenge for his body. The Irish champion is willing to fight former champions Frankie Edgar or Jose Aldo — and he still despises Aldo, who took to Twitter to taunt McGregor moments after the fight.

“Now another man gets a victory over me, and he celebrates it?” asked McGregor, who knocked out

Miesha Tate, top, takes Holly Holm to the mat during their UFC 196 women’s bantamweight mixed martial arts match Saturday, March 5, 2016, in Las Vegas. Tate won by submission.

Aldo in 13 seconds in December. “That’s the sign of a loser. That’s the sign of a runner-up. That’s not the sign of a champion.”

Tate’s future seems more straightforward: White im-

TECHNOLOGY A23

Monday 7 March 2016

Does an extremist’s iPhone contain a “cyber pathogen”?

BRANDON BAILEY AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A local prosecutor has offered an unusual justification for forcing Apple to help hack an iPhone used by a San Bernardino mass killer: The phone might have been “used as a weapon” to introduce malicious software to county computer systems.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos acknowledged to The Associated Press that there’s no evidence of malicious software in the county’s computer network. But he added, “I wouldn’t call it a total hypothetical.”

Computer security experts say the prospect is unlikely.

By late Friday, the prosecutor’s claim had sparked a wave of social media postings, many of which mocked the DA’s use of the non-technical term “cyber pathogen” to describe the supposed malware.

Apple has resisted calls to help unlock the phone, arguing that building a software tool to override the phone’s security features would render other iPhones vulnerable to criminals and government authorities around the world.

Investigators, meanwhile, are eager to see if the phone used by shooter Syed Farook — one issued

by Farook’s employer, the county health department — contains any useful information about other suspects.

But the idea that Farook might have used the phone to transmit a “lyingdormant cyber pathogen” into county data systems is a new one.

Ramos’ office, however, cited it in a court filing Thursday among several other reasons to support the government’s position.

“This was a county employee that murdered 14 people and injured 22,” Ramos said. “Did he use

the county’s infrastructure?

Did he hack into that infrastructure?

I don’t know. In order for me to really put that issue to rest, there is one piece of evidence that would absolutely let us know that, and that would be the iPhone.”

The argument drew condemnation from one software expert who has signed a brief in support of Apple’s position.

“Ramos’s statements are not only misleading to the court, but amount to blatant fear mongering,” independent software researcher Jonathan Zdziarski wrote in a post on his personal blog .

Other security experts who haven’t taken sides also discounted the scenario.

“It’s definitely possible, technically, but it doesn’t seem to me at first glance to be likely,” said David Meltzer, a computer security expert and chief research officer at Tripwire, a commercial IT se-

This Feb. 23, 2016, file photo shows a New York police officer stands outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue while monitoring a demonstration, in New York.

Associated Press

curity firm. He said Apple’s iPhone operating system is a relatively closed environ-

ment that’s designed so users can’t easily introduce their own programs.

Inventor of modern email, Ray Tomlinson, dies

An undated photo provided by Raytheon BBN Technologies shows Raymond Tomlinson.

Associated Press

SARAH SKIDMORE SELL AP Business Writer Raymond Tomlinson, the inventor of modern email and a technological lead-

er, died Saturday.

Raytheon Co., his employer, confirmed his death; the details were not immediately available.

Email existed in a limited capacity before Tomlinson in that electronic messages could be shared amid multiple people within a limited framework. But until his invention in 1971 of the first network person-to-person email, there was no way to send something to a specific person at a specific address.

Tomlinson wrote and sent the first email on the ARPANET system, a computer network that was created for the U.S. government that is considered a precursor to the Internet. Tomlinson also contributed to the network’s development, among numerous other pioneering technologies in the programing world.

At the time, few people had personal computers.

The popularity of personal email wouldn’t take off until years later and would ultimately become an integral part of modern life.

“It wasn’t an assignment at all, he was just fooling around; he was looking for something to do with ARPANET,” Raytheon spokeswoman Joyce Kuzman said.

The first email was sent between two machines that were side-by-side. Tomlinson said in a company interview that the test messages were “entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them.” But when he was satisfied that the program seemed to work,

he announced it via his own invention by sending a message to co-workers explaining how to use it.

“I’m often asked ‘Did I know what I was doing?”

Tomlinson said in his speech when he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.

“The answer is: Yeah I knew exactly what I was doing. I just had no notion whatsoever about what the ultimate impact would be.”

Tomlinson is the one who chose the “@” symbol to connect the username with the destination address and it has now become a cultural icon.

“It is a symbol that probably would have gone away if not for email,” Kuzman said.

A24 BUSINESS

Monday 7 March 2016

Money Matters:

Millennials hire computers to help invest their money KEN SWEET AP Business Writer PHOENIX (AP) — Computers help us decide what route to take to the grocery store, who to date, and what music to listen to. Why shouldn’t they also decide how we invest?

Younger investors, particularly those born in the early 1980s to late 1990s known as millennials, are increasingly adopting apps and what are known as roboadvisers to make their retirement decisions for them.

In the last year Betterment, Wealthfront, Acorns and others have brought in several billions of dollars in assets that used to be handled by traditional brokerages or wealth advisers.

“In terms of the overall wealth management market, robo-advisers are tiny, a drop in the bucket. But their disruption potential to traditional wealth advising is massive,” said Alois Pirker, research director at the Aite Group, which studies wealth management trends.

Robo-advisers are brokerages that use computers instead of a traditional wealth adviser to allocate customer funds across various types of investments, similar to the way

popular funds targeted at specific retirement dates allocate investments. The money goes into low-cost exchange-traded funds that own stocks and bonds.

The system automatically

adjusts the mix as the person ages or if their goals change.

“The issue is not that millennials do not have interest in investing, it’s the perception that investing is inac-

This image provided by Acorns shows a screenshot demonstrating use of the company’s app that helps users with their investments. Younger investors, particularly Millennials or those born in the early ‘80s to late ‘90s, are increasingly adopting apps and what are known as robo-advisers to make their retirement decisions for them. In the last year Betterment, Wealthfront, Acorns and others have brought in several billions of dollars in assets that used to be handled by traditional wealth advisers.

(Acorns via AP)

Fed proposes rules to boost stability of financial system M. CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has put forward new rules aimed at addressing one of the primary causes of the 2008 financial crisis — the financial exposures that the biggest banks had with each other.

The Fed is proposing new limits on that exposure. It hopes the new rules will prevent the type of crisis that engulfed the U.S. financial system in September 2008 when the collapse of Lehman Brothers raised fears about the stability of

other banks that had made loans to Lehman.

The central bank this weekend approved by unanimous vote putting the new rules out for a 90-day comment period.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that the financial crisis had shown that the lending that had taken place among the country’s biggest banks had not eliminated risks but instead had magnified them.

“We are determined to do as much as we can to reduce or eliminate the threat that trouble at one big bank will bring down

other big banks,” Yellen said.

The rules would implement a portion of the Dodd-Frank Act passed by Congress in 2010 in response to the 2008 crisis, the worst financial crisis to hit the country in seven decades.

The rules would apply only to the nation’s biggest bank holding companies with assets of $50 billion or more. Banks with assets between $50 billion and $250 billion would be subject to only the minimum requirements established by Dodd-Frank. That requirement is a limit of loans to

another financial firm of 25 percent of the bank’s total capital.

Banks with assets above $250 billion would face a stricter limit of 25 percent of the bank’s safest capital, known as Tier 1 capital.

Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo said that while the reforms already implemented have reduced the interconnections between the largest financial firms by roughly half from pre-crisis days, it is still important to “put safeguards in place to help prevent a return to those prior practices.”q

cessible,” said Jeff Cruttenden, founder of Acorns.

“The universe of investment options is too huge. Too many stock mutual funds.

Too many bond mutual funds. Too many ETFs.” Cruttenden helped launch Acorns, an app-based investing company, in 2014.

Customers choose from five portfolios that range in approach from conservative to aggressive and Acorns invests in a series of ETFs that matches their investment style.

Acorns also helps customers squirrel away savings by rounding each purchase a customer makes with their linked credit or debit card to the nearest dollar and investing the change. So if you buy a $4.25 latte at Starbucks, Acorns takes the 75 cents and put it into your investment account.

Cruttenden says Acorn customers set aside $40 to $60 a month on average this way.

Computers are usually cheaper than people, so robo-advisers have been able to attract customers both with their simple interfaces and relatively low fees, Pirker says.

“These portfolios are priced at a fraction of a traditional wealth adviser,” he said.

Betterment charges customers on a scale based on how much they have invested, from as much as 0.35 percent of assets for less than $10,000 to 0.15 percent for more than $100,000. A person with $20,000 invested would pay Betterment $70 a year, for example. Acorns charges $1 a month for balances under $5,000 or 0.25 percent for assets above $5,000.

Continued from page 28

BUSINESS A25

Monday 7 March 2016

Seeds of trouble: Monsanto could move out of India

NIRMALA GEORGE Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — U.S. seed giant Monsanto has threatened to pull its genetically modified crop technology from India if the government goes ahead with its plan to cut the company’s royalty fees. Monsanto’s joint venture firm in India said that it would be difficult to bring new technologies to India because it was becoming difficult for the company to recoup its investments in research and development of genetically modified seeds.

Shilpa Divekar Nirula, chief of Monsanto’s India unit, said in a statement seen late Saturday that if the committee recommends imposing a cut in the fees that local seed companies pay to use Monsanto’s crop genes then the company would have to reevaluate its position in India. Nirula said it was difficult for Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Limited, the company’s joint venture, “to justify bringing new technologies into India in an environment where such arbitrary and innovation-stifling government interventions make it impossible to recoup research and development investments.” In December, India’s government ordered that cotton seed prices, including royalties on seeds, be controlled from the 2016-17 crop year.

India’s agriculture ministry has set up a committee to determine the price of cotton seeds, including fees the company charges for licensing crop genes.

“If the committee recommends imposing a sharp, mandatory cut in the trait fees paid on Bt-cotton seeds, MMBL will have no choice but to reevaluate every aspect of our position in India,” Nirula said.

The company said it was “shocked and disappointed” at the news that the government plans to reduce the “trait fees,” or the fees that seed companies pay Mahyco Monsanto to use its crop genes, by around 70 percent.q

China’s top economic planner: no ‘hard landing’ BEIJING (AP) — China’s top economic planning official on Sunday said it is impossible that the Chinese economy would have a “hard landing” — or a sharp slowdown after a period of robust growth — and offered assurances that it would continue to contribute to global growth, not hinder it.

Xu Shaoshi, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news conference that China’s economy has inner flexibility and abilities to resist risks.

“I can say, China’s economy will absolutely not have a hard landing,” Xu said.

“The so-called predictions for a hard landing will definitely come to nothing.

Please rest assured, this possibility does not exist.”

Last year, China’s growth slowed to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent — but Xu said that this was still one of the fastest expansion rates in the world. On Saturday, Premier Li Keqiang said in a report to the annual National People’s Congress that authorities set a growth target of 6.5 to 7 percent for this year.

In his remarks at a news

Xu Shaoshi, director of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, waits as reporters raise their hands to ask questions at a press conference in Beijing, Sunday, March 6, 2016.

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

conference on the congress’ sidelines, Xu said China would remain stable despite sustained turbulence in the global economy.

“We are completely capable of running China’s economy within a reasonable range,” Xu said. “We are fully confident about the prospects for development.” “Our contribution to the global economy is very obvious,” he added.

“We are still a major engine

for the growth of the world economy.”

Xu said Beijing is taking steps to reduce overcapacity in production. China will cut steel production by 100 million to 150 million tons over five years and another 500 million tons in coal production in three to five years.

Beijing has set aside funds to help resettle workers affected by the reductions, and Xu said there would not be any spike in unem-

ployment. At least 1.5 million workers — and possibly millions more — are due to be let go by state-run coal mines and steel mills, while the People’s Liberation Army is shaving 300,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, the government is under pressure to find white collar jobs for the record 7.7 million students graduating from China’s colleges and universities this year.q

Ex-BOE chief says euro a ‘very serious problem’ LONDON (AP) — The European single currency is a serious problem for Britain whether or not the country leaves the European Union, a former governor of the Bank of England said Sunday.

Mervyn King said that even though Britain does not use the euro, “we are influenced and affected by what goes on in the euro area.” He says the euro has been economically “a, if not disaster, very serious problem.”

Asked on BBC television if that meant Britain should leave the EU, King said Sunday: “I don’t think you can draw that conclusion.”

He said “in or out,” Britain would have close ties to the eurozone.

“The euro area is our biggest trading partner, that’s going to carry on being the

case and therefore it does matter to us what goes on there,” said King, who now sits in Parliament’s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords.

Nineteen of the EU’s 28 members use the euro, which has suffered instability since the 2008 financial crisis hammered the currency’s debt-burdened weaker members, particularly Greece.

Those who want to leave the EU say the crisis shows Britain would be better off outside the bloc.

Economic issues have dominated the debate ahead of Britain’s June 23 referendum on whether to stay in the EU. London Mayor Boris Johnson, a leader of the “out” campaign, said Sunday that after leaving Britain would be able to negoti-

ate a free-trade deal with the EU while escaping the bloc’s “top-down legislation and regulation.”

But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said countries that wanted

access to the EU’s single market “still have to pay into the budget of the community and they have to accept the free movement of people” from EU member states.q

A26 COMICS

Monday 7 March 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Saturday’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

Monday 7 March 2016

Money Matters Continued from 24

This does not include the fees charged by the ETFs that the customer’s money is eventually invested in.

Still, wealth advisers, by contrast, typically charge 1 percent to 1.2 percent of assets to manage a portfolio, on top of fund fees.

“Wealth managers are going to have to figure out what value they are bringing to keep customers. Simple portfolio planning is not enough anymore,” Pirker said.

On the other hand, investors who want to do everything themselves can open an account at a discount brokerage like Charles Schwab or Fidelity and pay only the fund fees, which for some big exchange traded index funds can be just 0.05 percent.

The majority of Betterment’s customers are millennials, said company spokesman Joe Ziemer, but the older set is buying in too. About 30 percent of the company’s clients are over the age of 50.

Classifieds

Acorn has a similar demographic profile. Threefourths of its customers are under 34. Cruttenden says the company advertises heavily on Facebook.

“We are very proud whenever someone wakes up one morning and decides to open an account who didn’t plan on investing,” he said.

Traditional wealth management isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Pirker estimates the amount of assets managed by roboadvisers to be roughly $40 billion to $60 billion. By comparison, Vanguard’s total market fund has $385 billion by itself, and the wealth management market is measured in the trillions. While growing in popularity, robo-advisers are not suitable for everyone.

Because the portfolios are managed by computers, investors are at the mercy of the algorithms that created them. Because they are new, these algorithms have not been tested in a recession or a severely stressed market like the one seen during the financial crisis.q

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A28 SCIENCE

Monday 7 March 2016

NASA: Drought in 1998-2012 in Mideast worst in 900 years DANIELLA CHESLOW Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — A recent, 14-year dry spell in the Middle East was the worst drought in the past 900 years, according to a new NASA study released this week.

the University of California Santa Barbara found that drought triggered a collapse in agriculture in Syria and the migration of 1.5 million farmers to the cities, straining resources.

The water shortage was one of several contributing factors that had worsened the situation in Syria in the lead-up to the outbreak of that country’s devastating civil war in 2011.

Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Sci-

NASA’s researchers examined records of rings of trees in several Mediterranean countries to determine patterns of dry and wet years across a span of 900 years. They concluded that the years from 1998 to 2012 were drier than any other period, and that the drought was likely caused by humans.

The study’s lead author Ben Cook said the range of extreme weather events in the eastern Mediterranean has varied widely in the past nine centuries, but the past two decades stand out.

“This recent drought falls outside the range of natural variability,” he said.

Drought has continued in parts of the Middle East, he added.

Cook is a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City.

The researchers used records of tree rings in Northern Africa, Greece, Leba-

This Feb. 8, 2007 file photo shows sink holes on the shoreline of the Dead Sea near the town of Ghor Haditha in Jordan, showing the retreating sea water line.

Associated Press

non, Jordan, Syria and Turkey, and combined the data with records from Spain, southern France and Italy to examine patterns of drought across time in the region.

They studied rings of trees, both living and dead, that were sampled all over the region. Rings in the trunks of

trees represent years. Thin rings indicate dry years; thick rings show years when water was abundant.

Cook said the research supported other studies indicating human causes of extreme climate events.

Last year, researchers at Columbia University and

ence Center at Penn State University, said the NASA study is one of several worrying reports about unprecedented climate conditions.

Mann was not involved in NASA’s study.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Mann noted that tree rings “have their limitations and uncertainties,” but said “the authors have done a reasonable job in assessing the uncertainties.”q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29 ‘Zootopia,’ ‘London Has Fallen’ dethrone ‘Deadpool’ Monday 7 March 2016

LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Deadpool’s” three-week reign atop the box office has ended thanks to a handful of new openers, including “Zootopia” and “London Has Fallen.”

The top spot went to Disney’s “Zootopia” which staged a box office stampede in its first weekend in North American theaters with $73.7 million, according to comScore estimates Sunday. It’s the fourth highest March opening ever and a best for a Disney Animation three-day debut.

The studio’s previous record-holder, “Frozen,” grossed $67.4 million over three days in its Thanksgiving opening.

Critics and audiences love the film, which features the voices of Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin. It got a coveted A CinemaScore and a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score.

According to exit polls, families made up 73 percent of opening weekend audiences.

Dave Hollis, Disney’s Executive Vice President of Distribution, said “Zootopia” is the latest in a “creative renaissance” for the Disney Animation group, including “Tangled,” ‘’Frozen,” ‘’Big Hero 6” and “Wreck-It Ralph.”

“There is consistency at a really high level of delivering great stories, amazing worlds and characters who people can relate to,” Hollis said, noting that “Zootopia” is the only true all-audience film in the marketplace until Disney’s “The Jungle Book” bows on April 15.

“Zootopia” also brought in $63.4 million internationally, where it is in its fourth weekend. The film has grossed $232.5 million globally to date.

In second place, “London Has Fallen,” a sequel to the “Die Hard” in the White House pic “Olympus Has Fallen,” earned $21.7 million. The main cast returned for the film, including Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman, which cost a report-

This image released by Disney shows Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, in a scene from the animated film, “Zootopia.”

Associated Press

ed $60 million to make.

While it’s a decent debut, it does lag behind the first film’s $30 million opening.

But it’s a welcome change of pace for Butler, whose “Gods of Egypt” bombed in its opening last weekend.

In its fourth weekend in theaters, “Deadpool” fell to third place with $16.4 million, bringing its domestic total to a staggering $311.2 million.

The Tina Fey comedy “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” meanwhile, debuted in fourth with an estimated $7.6 million. The film cost a reported $35 million to produce.

The movie, which finds Fey’s journalist character on assignment in Afghanistan, has garnered mixed to positive reviews from critics. According to exit polls, audiences were 56 percent female and 89 percent over 25.

Fey’s last film, “Sisters,” was budgeted at $30 million.

It opened to $13.9 million against “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and went on to earn $87 million domestically.

“It’s a great weekend,” said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “And it’s another better-than-expected debut in a time of year that doesn’t usually breed great opening weekends.”q

A30 PEOPLE

Monday 7 March 2016

& ARTS Leslie Jones reacts to criticism of ‘Ghostbusters’ character

In this Sept. 6, 2014, file photo, actress Leslie Jones poses at the “Top Five” premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto.

Associated Press

DERRIK J. LANG AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leslie Jones ain’t afraid of no ghost — or playing a transit worker.

The co-star of the upcoming all-female version of “Ghostbusters” took to Twitter to defend her role as a member of the paranormal-fighting group who appears in footage released Thursday to be an employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The portrayal of the team’s only non-white member as a subway worker in filmmaker Paul Feig’s new “Ghostbusters” came under fire on social media after the trailer debuted online.

“Why can’t a regular person be a Ghostbuster?” the African-American actress-comedienne posted on Twitter. “I’m confused.

And why can’t I be the one who plays them? I am a

performer. Just go see the movie!”

Jones’ character Patty teams up to fight ghosts and other apparitions in the film with Kristen Wiig’s particle physicist Erin, Melissa McCarthy’s paranormal researcher Abby and Kate McKinnon’s nuclear engineer Jillian.

In one scene, Jones’ character tells them, “You guys are really smart about this science stuff, but I know New York — and I can borrow a car from my uncle.”

A poster for the character released earlier this year referred to Patty as a “ghost tracker, municipal historian, metaphysical commando.”

“I understand this is a reboot of ‘Ghostbusters’ from 1984 and the new characters mirror their male counterparts,” wrote Donna Dickens on the pop culture site HitFix.com on Friday.

“But it’s been over 30 years

and the dynamic of three white scientists and ‘streetwise’ minority is dated.”

Jones, who serves as a “Saturday Night Live” cast member and appeared in the film “Top Five,” made it clear she was not personally offended by the part, adding on Twitter: “IT’S NOT A MAN, WOMAN, RACE, CLASS THANG!! IT’S A GHOSTBUSTER THANG!!”

A spokeswoman for “Ghostbusters” writer-director Feig did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

In the original “Ghostbusters” films, Ernie Hudson portrayed the team’s only non-white member, Winston.

He joined the group by responding to a help wanted ad and did not have any prior experience with paranormal activity.

The new “Ghostbusters” installment is scheduled for release July 15.

Tom Hanks to help dedicate college’s renovated movie center DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio university says actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks will help dedicate the school’s newly renovated motion pictures center.

Wright State University says Hanks also will participate in an invitation-only gala to raise funds for the Tom Hanks Scholarship and Visiting Artist Program. Hanks is a national co-chair of a $150 million fundraising campaign for the school near Dayton. Hanks will appear at several private events in addition to the April 19 dedication and gala. He’ll meet with theater, dance and motion picture students.

The Oscar-winning star of “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump” is not an alumnus of Wright State, but he has long ties to the school and a connection with its teachers and alumni.

He performed at the university with a Shakespeare company in the 1970s.

In this Jan. 4, 2014 file photo, Tom Hanks arrives at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala in Palm Springs, Calif.

Associated Press

PEOPLE & ARTS

A31

Monday 7 March 2016

Celebrities urge world leaders to fight for girls and women MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A number of high-profile entertainers — including Oprah Winfrey, Mary J. Blige, Charlize Theron and Meryl Streep — have signed an open letter calling on world leaders to fight for gender equality across the globe.

The letter released Sunday states that some 62 million girls around the world are denied the right to education, 500 million women can’t read and 155 countries have laws that discriminate against women.

“Nowhere on earth do women have as many opportunities as men. Nowhere,” the letter states.

“The fight for gender equality is global.” Signers also include Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Shonda Rhimes,

Ashley Judd, Amy Poehler, Colin Farrell, Danai Gurira, Connie Britton, Elton John, Patricia Arquette, Muhammed Ali, Sheryl Sandberg and Sean Parker. The push is organized by the ONE Campaign, co-founded by Irish rocker Bono to end extreme poverty and disease. “We still living in a time period where the most impoverished and disadvantaged people in the world are, without question, women and girls,” said Gurira, the playwright of the Broadway show “Eclipsed,” in an interview. “The light and the potential of women and girls in the world today is being blocked.”

The letter comes a few days before International Women’s Day, which is Tuesday. It calls on leaders to help girls and women

In this Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014, file photo, actor, talk show host and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey addresses an audience after accepting the W.E.B. Du Bois medal during ceremonies, on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass.

Associated Press

fight HIV and malnutrition and support female economic empowerment.

Gurira, who also plays a sword-wielding zombie assassin on AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” has long been

an advocate for women and will travel to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress on Tuesday.

“Enough is enough. We have to close this gap, and we have to make a

concerted, focused effort and that requires speaking directly to the global leaders who have the power to make change,” Gurira said. “It’s an extension of myself to fight for and, as much as I can, give voice to those who are in systems of oppression based on their gender.”

An accompanying report called “Poverty Is Sexist 2016” reads: “In too many countries, being born poor and female means a life sentence of inequality, oppression and poverty — and in too many cases also a death sentence.”

Last year, Streep and singers Beyonce and Lady Gaga signed an open letter saying empowering women was the key to fighting the world’s inequalities and poverty.

Prince of Tides’ author Pat Conroy lauded after death at 70 BRUCE SMITH Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Author Pat Conroy, whose beloved works “The Great Santini” and “The Prince of Tides” are set against the vistas of the South Carolina coast that was his home, was lauded Saturday as a great chronicler of the human condition and a humble and loving soul.

Conroy, 70, died Friday at his home in Beaufort, about an hour south of Charleston, surrounded by family and friends at the time, according to his publisher.

The heavy-set author died less than a month after announcing on Facebook that he was battling cancer. He promised to “fight it hard” and told his fans “I owe you a novel and I intend to deliver it.”

A funeral mass will be held Tuesday at Saint Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort with a private burial afterward.

Barbra Streisand, who starred in and directed the movie version of Conroy’s “The Prince of Tides” posted a picture of herself with Conroy on Instagram on Saturday. The 1991 movie starring Streisand and Nick Nolte earned seven Oscar nominations, including best

In this Oct. 13, 2010 file photo, author Pat Conroy announces the finalists for the National Book Foundations annual awards during a gathering at the Flannery O’Connor House, in Savannah, Ga. Associated Press

picture.

“He was generous and kind, humble and loving ... such a joy to work with. I was so honored that he entrusted his beautiful book to me,” she said in a statement from her publicist.

“Pat’s natural language was poetry ... he wrote sentences that are like an incantation.”

While Conroy had been ill in recent weeks, last Octo-

ber the University of South Carolina Beaufort held a 3-day literary festival featuring Conroy and discussions of his work and included a screening of “The Great Santini.” The event culminated with a 70th birthday party in his honor.

“The water is wide and he has now passed over,” his wife, novelist Cassandra Conroy, said in a statement from publisher Doubleday.

Nan A. Talese, Conroy’s longtime editor and publisher, said that the late author “will be cherished as one of America’s favorite and bestselling writers, and I will miss him terribly.”

Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, who had known Conroy most of his adult life called him “the great chronicler of the time and place that I call home.

He saw it with clarity. He wrote of it with purpose.”

Conroy, who sold 20 million books worldwide, candidly and expansively shared details of growing up as a military brat and his anguished relationship with his abusive father, Marine aviator and military hero Donald Conroy. He also wrote of his time in military school, The Citadel in Charleston, and his struggles with his health and depression.

“The reason I write is to explain my life to myself,” Conroy said in a 1986 interview. “I’ve also discovered that when I do, I’m explaining other people’s lives to them.”

Much of his youth was spent in the shadow of Donald Conroy, who “thundered out of the sky in blackwinged fighter planes, every inch of him a god of war,” as Pat Conroy would

remember. The author was the eldest of seven children in a family constantly moving from base to base, a life described in “The Great Santini,” the film of which starred Robert Duvall as the relentless and violent patriarch.

The 1976 novel initially enraged Conroy’s family, but the movie three years later made such an impression on his father that he claimed credit for boosting Duvall’s career. The book also helped achieve peace between father and son.

“I grew up hating my father,” Conroy said after his father died in 1998. “It was the great surprise of my life, after the book came out, what an extraordinary man had raised me.” He would reflect on his relationship with his father in the 2013 memoir “The Death of Santini.”

“The Prince of Tides,” published in 1986, brought Conroy a wide audience, selling more than 5 million copies with its story of a former football player from South Carolina with a traumatic past and the New York psychiatrist who attempts to help him.

It was not greeted warmly by reviewers.