Thursday
June 8, 2017 T: 582-7800 | F: 582-7044 www.arubatoday.com
Gennett homers 4 times Page 20
Shovel Ready
Trump Promises ‘First-Class’ Infrastructure System for US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Rivertowne Marina, Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Cincinnati. Trump promised to create a “first-class” system of roads, bridges and waterways by using $200 billion in public funds to generate $1 trillion in investment to pay for construction projects that most public officials agree are badly needed and long overdue. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press CINCINNATI (AP) — Dogged by allegations in Washington, President Donald Trump traveled to friendlier territory Wednesday and promised to create a “first-class” system of
roads, bridges and waterways by using $200 billion in public funds to generate $1 trillion in investment to pay for construction projects that most public officials agree are badly needed and long overdue. “America must have the
best, fastest and most reliable infrastructure anywhere in the world,” Trump said, pushing his infrastructure plan in middle America as Washington geared up for Thursday’s appearance before Congress by fired FBI Director James Comey.
“We will fix it,” said Trump, standing along the Ohio River. “We will create the first-class infrastructure our country and our people deserve.” But the controversies and distractions in Washington continued to dog the presi-
dent throughout the day. As he was speaking, the Senate Intelligence committee released the prepared testimony Comey is expected to deliver Thursday. Continued on Page 3
A2 UP
Thursday 8 June 2017
FRONT
Comey: Trump sought to ‘lift the cloud’ of investigation
By JULIE PACE ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Fired FBI Director James Comey will testify under oath Thursday that President Donald Trump repeatedly pressed him for his “loyalty” and directly pushed him to “lift the cloud” of investigation shadowing his White House by declaring publicly the president was not the target of the probe into his campaign’s Russia ties. Comey’s detailed and vivid recollections of his one-on-one conversations with Trump were revealed in seven pages of prepared testimony released Wednesday, the day before his much-anticipated appearance before the Senate intelligence committee. His remarks paint a picture of an FBI director so disconcerted by his interactions with the president that he began keeping written memos of their private discussions. He’ll tell lawmakers he be-
In this combination photo, President Donald Trump, left, appears in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 10, 2017, and FBI Director James Comey appears at a news conference in Washington on June 30, 2014. Comey is making his first public comments since being fired by President Donald Trump and, according to his prepared remarks, will talk about the president’s efforts put the investigation behind him. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, left, and Susan Walsh)
lieved the president was trying to create a “patronage relationship” with him and describe in detail an Oval Office meeting in
which Trump urged him not to investigate ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s contacts with Russian officials.
But the ex-FBI director also will validate Trump’s assertion that he was not personally a target of the federal counterintelligence inves-
tigation into possible campaign collusion with Russia. Comey says he did offer the president that “assurance,” but resisted Trump’s appeals to make that information public. “The FBI and the Department of Justice had been reluctant to make public statements that we did not have an open case on President Trump for a number of reasons, most importantly because it would create a duty to correct, should that change,” Comey says in the prepared remarks. Trump’s personal lawyer said Trump was cheered by the testimony. “The president is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the president was not under investigation in any Russian probe,” attorney Mark Kasowitz said in a statement. “The president feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.”q
US intelligence chiefs decline to discuss Trump contacts By DEB RIECHMANN ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers verbally sparred with top intelligence chiefs on Wednesday after they staunchly refused to answer questions about conversations they had with President Donald Trump regarding probes into Russian activities during the election. Members of the Senate intelligence committee wanted to know about news reports claiming Trump had asked Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Adm. Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, to publicly state that there was no evidence of collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Trump has consistently pushed back against suggestions that his campaign coordinated with Russia and says the investigations into the matter are a hoax. “In the three-plus years
From left, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
that I have been the director of the National Security Agency, to the best of my recollection, I have never been directed to do anything I believe to be illegal,
immoral, unethical or inappropriate,” Rogers told the committee. “And to the best of my recollection, during that same period of service, I do not
recall ever feeling pressured to do so.” Coats, who was confirmed as Trump’s national intelligence director in midMarch, said: “In interacting
with the president of the United States or anybody in his administration, I have never been pressured. “I’ve never felt pressure to intervene or interfere in any way and shape — with shaping intelligence in a political way, or in relationship to an ongoing investigation.” Those answers didn’t satisfy the senators. Even mildspoken Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, got testy. He demanded to know what legal basis justified Coats’ refusal to answer questions. “I’m not sure I have a legal basis, but I am more than willing to sit before this committee ... in a closed session and answer your questions,” Coats said. With the frustrated lawmakers gearing up for Thursday’s long-awaited testimony from ousted FBI Director James Comey, the committee on Wednesday afternoon took the unusual step of releasing the written statement Comey plans to deliver.q
U.S. NEWS A3
Thursday 8 June 2017
Trump promises ‘first-class’ infrastructure system for US Continued from front
It includes detailed descriptions of meetings and phone conversations between Trump and Comey. In the speech, the president also pressed the Senate to send him a health care bill, criticized congressional Democrats as “obstructionists” and revisited his controversial decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement. Trump said that as he campaigned across the country last year, people often asked him why the U.S. was spending money to rebuild other countries when the roads and bridges they travel on needed rebuilding, too. Trump declared the days of spending on other nations are over: “It’s time to rebuild our country” and to “put America first,” he said. While infrastructure initially was seen as an area where Republican and Democrats could work together, Democrats have balked at Trump’s plan for using tax incentives and
public-private partnerships to finance improvements. Many argue such a plan would result in taxpayerfunded profits for corporations with the cost loaded onto consumers. Before the speech, Trump met aboard Air Force One with a pair of families the White House said were “victims” of the Obamaera health care law that the president and congressional Republicans want to repeal and replace. Trump said the families — one from Ohio and another from Kentucky — are going through “turmoil” along with millions of other consumers who are facing rising premiums and limited choices for health coverage under the 2010 law. “Now it’s time for the Senate to act and save Americans from this catastrophic event because Obamacare is dead,” Trump said. “Obamacare was one of the biggest broken promises in the history of politics. Remember ‘you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan?’
Trump eases Qatar critique, offers to mediate Gulf spat By JOSH LEDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump offered Wednesday to personally broker a resolution to the Persian Gulf’s escalating diplomatic crisis, as both he and Qatar looked past his pointed suggestion only a day earlier that the tiny gas-rich nation enables terrorism. In a phone call with Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, Trump said he wanted to help Qatar and its Arab neighbors resolve the row that has upended any sense of Gulf unity, suggesting a possible White House summit among leaders. Though Trump again said countries must eliminate funding streams for terror groups, the White House said he focused on the need for the region’s various U.S. allies to stick together. Blockaded by its neighbors
by land and sea, Qatar is eager for Trump’s help. Qatar’s U.S. ambassador, Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, told The Associated Press his country is counting on Washington to persuade Saudi Arabia and others to back down. “We have great confidence in the president’s ability to calm this crisis and to resolve it,” Al Thani said in an interview. Trump’s bid to fashion himself as a neutral arbiter among Arab governments departed from his stance only a day earlier, when he left little doubt about where he felt the fault rested. In a tweetstorm, Trump said Mideast leaders he’d met with last month had all “pointed to Qatar” as the source of terrorist financing, waxing optimistically that the isolation of the kingdom might be “the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism.”q
President Donald Trump smiles as he arrives for rally at the Rivertowne Marina, Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Didn’t work out that way.” The Republican-controlled House has passed a health care bill that no Democrats supported. Senate Republicans are working on their own version. Trump also mentioned his announcement last week that he was pulling the U.S. out of what he dismissively referred to as the “so-called” Paris climate accord. Trump has said the pact that nearly 200 nations agreed to in
2015 was unfair to the United States. Trump said as long as he is president “we will never have outside forces telling us what to do and how to do it.” The White House has yet to outline specifics of the infrastructure plan, which it hopes to achieve largely through publicprivate partnerships. It has proposed funding improvements with $200 billion in public funds over nine years
that would theoretically leverage $1 trillion worth of construction. Trump’s speech came the day before Comey’s highly anticipated testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday as the White House faced fresh allegations about possible efforts by the president to influence the investigation into potential ties between his campaign and Russia.q
A4 U.S.
Thursday 8 June 2017
NEWS
Alleged leaker’s parents fear Trump will be tough on case By JOHNNY CLARK RUSS BYNUM Associated Press AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A young woman charged with leaking U.S. government secrets to a reporter poses no flight risk if she’s released from pre-trial confinement, her parents said Wednesday, though they fear prosecutors will seek to use the case to send a tough message from the Trump administration. It will be difficult for 25-year-old Reality Winner to get a fair trial if her case becomes “this big thing where we’re not going to tolerate leakers,” Winner’s mother, Billie Winner-Davis, told The Associated Press in an interview. “I think they’re going to try to make an example out of her because of the political climate right now,” Winner-Davis said. Winner, a former Air Force linguist who now works as a U.S. government contractor, was arrested Saturday by FBI agents on charges that she made copies of a classified report containing top-secret information and mailed it to an online news
This June 2017 photo released by the Lincoln County (Ga.) Sheriff’s Office, shows Reality Winner. Winner, is being held for federal authorities at the Lincoln County, Ga., jail. Winner charged with leaking U.S. government secrets to a reporter poses no flight risk if she’s released from pre-trial confinement, her parents said Wednesday, June 7, 2017, though they fear prosecutors will seek to use the case to send a tough message from the Trump administration. (Lincoln County (Ga.) Sheriff’s Office via AP)
organization. A judge has scheduled a hearing Thursday for Win-
ner in U.S. District Court to determine whether to allow her to be released on
bond pending trial. She has been jailed in neighboring Lincoln County since her arrest, according to a booking report released by the sheriff. “She’s not a flight risk,” said Gary Davis, Winner’s stepfather. “Everybody in America knows what she looks like at this point. She’s never ran away from anything in her life. She’s not a violent person. She has no record. There’s no reason to hold her.” Prosecutors have not named the news outlet, but her arrest was announced Monday as the website The Intercept reported it had obtained a classified National Security Agency report suggesting Russian hackers had attacked a U.S. voting software supplier before last year’s presidential election. The Intercept said the NSA report was dated May 5 — the same date court records cited for the documents Winner is accused of leaking. Winner grew up in Kingsville, Texas, and enlisted in the Air Force after graduating from high school. Davis said she became a
linguist, speaking Arabic and Farsi, and spent four years assigned to the NSA at Fort Mead, Maryland. During that time, he said, Winner provided real-time translation to Americans conducting field missions. Davis said she received a commendation for aiding in the deaths of more than 100 enemy combatants and more than 250 enemy captures. “If she made this mistake,” Davis said, referring to the leaked documents, “it needs to be balanced against what she has done in the past and how she has served this country.” Neither prosecutors nor Winner’s parents have identified the government agency where she worked at the time of her arrest. But the NSA has operated a $286 million complex in Augusta since 2012. Though she was active on social media, Winner doesn’t appear to have discussed her work online. She did use her Facebook page to speak freely about politics, including some scathing opinions on President Donald Trump. She posted on Facebook three months ago that climate change is a more important issue than health care “since not poisoning an entire population seems to be more in line with ‘health’ care, and not the disease care system that people voted for a soulless ginger orangutan to ‘fix.’” Court records say Winner admitted to mailing a copy of the classified report to a news outlet when an FBI agent interviewed her at her home Saturday. In a court affidavit filed late Tuesday, the FBI said it seized Winner’s U.S. passport, two spiral-bound notebooks, two laptop computers, and a Department of Defense-issued country handbook for Iran. Investigators said in court records that they wanted to search her property for a variety of computer information as well as possible contacts with media outlets and any possible contacts with “foreign governments, foreign powers, or agents of foreign powers.”
U.S. NEWS A5
Thursday 8 June 2017
Cosby’s accuser stands by her story under cross-examination By MARYCLAIRE DALE MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The woman who accuses Bill Cosby of drugging and violating her more than a decade ago stood by her story at his sex-crimes trial Wednesday, withstanding hours of often ponderous cross-examination that didn’t produce the stumbles the TV star might have hoped for. Calm and composed, Andrea Constand brushed off suggestions she and Cosby had a romantic relationship before the 2004 encounter at his suburban Philadelphia home. And she explained away the numerous phone calls she made to him afterward by saying she was merely returning Cosby’s messages about the women’s basketball squad at Temple University, where he was a powerful member of the board of trustees and she was director of team operations. Constand, 44, left the witness stand after some seven hours of testimony over
two days, during which she told the jury that the comedian gave her three blue pills and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay paralyzed on a couch, unable to tell him to stop. Constand’s mother followed her on the stand and bolstered her daughter’s account. Gianna Constand told the jury that she was distraught to learn what Cosby had done to her daughter. “They were good friends. She viewed him like a father. He is 10 years older than even her own father,” the mother testified, breaking down on the stand. Gianna Constand said she confronted Cosby by phone during a two-hour call in which she said he “surrendered” to her about the sexual encounter and told her he “was sick.” After that conversation, she said, she bought a recording device in hopes that Cosby would again confess to harming her daughter. But she said he kept their next conversation short. Prosecutors played a recording of the call, in which
Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Wednesday, June 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Cosby offered to pay for Constand’s education. “She could go to school,” he said. “If she wanted to do that, then I would be willing to ... pay for the schooling.” Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault. The 79-year-old comedian once dubbed America’s
Dad could get 10 years in prison if convicted. Cosby’s lawyers have argued that the sexual encounter with Constand was consensual and have cited phone records showing she called the TV star 53 times afterward, including one call that lasted 20 minutes. But Constand said she was
returning calls Cosby made to her university-issued cellphone about the basketball team. “She continued to do her job,” Constand’s lawyer, Dolores Troiani, said outside court. “This man was a trustee at Temple. Of course she was calling him back.” q
Man accused in Portland stabbings targets victim in outburst By STEVEN DUBOIS Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The man accused of killing two men and wounding a third who tried to stop his anti-Muslim tirade against two teenagers on a Portland, Oregon, light-rail train shouted he was “not guilty” Wednesday during a courtroom outburst directed at one of the victims. “Not guilty,” Jeremy Christian said before a pause, “of anything but defending myself against the violent aggression by Micah Fletcher!” Fletcher was in the court-
room but said nothing to reporters and displayed no reaction as he left with his father. The 21-year-old was stabbed in the neck during the May 26 attack that killed Ricky Best and Taliesin Namkai-Meche. Christian was arraigned in a 15-count indictment charging him with aggravated murder, attempted murder and other crimes. The judge did not ask him for a plea during the twominute hearing, but court records show the entry of “not guilty” pleas. The stabbings shocked the
liberal city and deepened worries about a series of apparent hate crimes in the region and contentious public rallies that have drawn national attention. Prosecutors who have reviewed videos and interviews with witnesses say in court papers that Christian yelled hateful comments at two black girls, one of whom was wearing an Islamic head covering called a hijab. When the girls moved away from Christian, he made a sudden move toward Namkai-Meche. The two got into a confronta-
tion, prompting Fletcher to stand up. Christian shoved Fletcher in the chest and then pulled out a knife that he concealed in his right hand, prosecutor Ryan Lufkin wrote. Fletcher pushed Christian back, causing him to stumble. Christian asked Fletcher to “Hit me again!” as Fletcher kept telling him to get off the train. Christian then stabbed Fletcher, Namkai-Meche and a third man who intervened, Best. The defendant is being held without bail at a jail
in downtown Portland. He due in court again July 18. Court officials made Wednesday’s hearing earlier and banned livestreaming in an effort to avoid the chaos that erupted at Christian’s first court appearance. Last week, Christian shouted, “You call it terrorism; I call it patriotism!” and spectators watching a video feed in the hallway because they could not get a seat nearly brawled with one of the suspect’s supporters before turning their anger against sheriff’s deputies.q
A6 U.S.
Thursday 8 June 2017
NEWS
Message from woman in suicide trial: ‘It’s my fault’
Michelle Carter, right, listens to the testimony of Thomas Gammell, as she sits with her defense team, Cory Madera, foreground, and Joe Cataldo, left, during her trial, Tuesday, June 6, 2017, in Taunton, Mass. Carter is charged with manslaughter for allegedly using text messages to encourage her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, 18, to kill himself. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) — A young woman charged with using text messages to encourage her boyfriend to kill himself when they were teenagers sent
a text to a friend from high school about two months after the death, saying, “It’s my fault,” according to testimony at her trial on Wednesday.
Michelle Carter, then 17, cajoled Conrad Roy III, 18, to kill himself in July 2014 with a series of texts and phone calls, prosecutors allege. Roy died when his pickup truck fill with carbon monoxide in a store parking lot in Fairhaven. “It’s my fault,” Carter texted to her school friend Samantha Boardman. “I could have stopped him but I told him to get back in the car.” Boardman was among several of Carter’s friends and acquaintances who took the witness stand on the second day of the involuntary manslaughter trial in Taunton juvenile court. Carter’s lawyer disputes a crime occurred. Attorney Joseph Cataldo said Roy was depressed, had attempted suicide before, researched suicide methods online and was completely responsible for his own death. He said Carter’s text messages are protected free speech. Carter, now 20, also told Boardman that she feared getting in trouble after she
found out that police had Roy’s phone. “I’m done,” Carter wrote in one text displayed in the court room. “His family will hate me and I can go to jail.” Two other friends say Carter texted them saying she was on the phone with Roy as he died. “I was talking on the phone with him when he killed himself ... I heard him die,” Carter texted to Olivia Mosolgo days after Roy’s death, Mosolgo testified. Carter also expressed remorse in a message to a friend: “I’m the only one he told things too. I should have gotten him more help,” she wrote. The police detective who conducted the criminal investigation also testified. Fairhaven Detective Scott Gordon said he found Roy’s phone and discovered the text conversation between Roy and Carter. The case is being tried without a jury, and a judge will deliver the verdict. The judge visited the site where Roy’s truck was found on Wednesday afternoon. q
Illinois:
Child found in garage may have been killed in 2013
By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — Police in Illinois believe the remains of a child found in the garage of a vacant home had been there four years and are investigating the death as a homicide. Officers found the remains Tuesday morning after a woman in Las Vegas contacted police and told officers her husband had killed their then-6-year-old daughter in Illinois years earlier and hid the body in the garage of a home in Centreville, near St. Louis. She also said her husband, identified by police as Jason Quate, 34, forced her into sex trafficking over the past two years and had abused two other children. Las Vegas police shared the tip with Centreville police, who found the small decomposed body wrapped in two blankets inside the detached garage behind
a dilapidated and vacant home in the impoverished town of about 6,000 residents. Authorities suspect the child was killed in nearby Belleville in 2013 and taken to the Centreville garage. An autopsy is expected later this week, St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. said. The girl’s mother contacted police from a woman’s shelter, where she said she had gone to seek refuge from her husband. She said Quate killed the child during a “physical altercation,” Las Vegas police Lt. Raymond Spencer said in a video statement. Spencer said officers were told the woman’s remaining children, who are in their early teens, were never allowed outside, even to attend school. He described them as pale and lacking socialization skills, and said officers observed signs of abuse. Both
children were taken into protective custody. “It was very disturbing when you saw the children,” Spencer said. Belleville detectives were sent to Las Vegas to work on the case, while others focused Wednesday on a Belleville home, Master Sgt. Todd Keilbach said Wednesday. Real estate records obtained by The Associated Press show Quate lived in the Belleville home that was being examined. There are no records indicating that Quate ever lived at the home in Centreville. Quate is jailed in Las Vegas. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he expected to file charges of felony sex trafficking and living off the earnings of a prostitute Wednesday against Quate. Wolfson said the woman also is under investigation.
“We’re looking at the behavior of both of them for potential criminal charges,” Wolfson said. Any charges related to the girl’s death would be filed in Illinois. St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly said the investigation was still ongoing and declined further comment. Court records show that a man with the same name and birth date as Quate was convicted of three crimes in Belleville. He was sentenced to probation for two residential burglaries in July 2000 and was convicted of misdemeanor retail theft in May 2000. Neighbors told the Belleville News-Democrat that the small house in Centreville with boarded-up windows has been vacant for more than two years. Property records show the home was last sold for $25,500 in 2005.q
Woman sentenced over Sandy Hook parent threat case
By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman pleaded guilty and was sent to prison Wednesday for threatening a man whose 6-year-old son was killed in the 2012 mass shooting at a Connecticut school, which she contended was a hoax. Senior U.S. District Judge James Cohn sentenced Lucy Richards, 57, to five months in prison, followed by five months of home detention. She pleaded guilty to interstate transmission of a threat to injure in communications with Lenny Pozner, the father of Noah Pozner, who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Cohn called Richards’ actions toward Pozner “disturbing” and said no one should cite a conspiracy theory or belief in a hoax in the deaths of 20 children and six adults that occurred at the school. “I’m sure he wishes this was false and he could embrace Noah, hear Noah’s heartbeat and hear Noah say ‘I love you, Dad’,” Cohn told Richards. “Your words were cruel and insensitive. This is reality and there is no fiction. There are no alternative facts.”Investigators say Richards made four voicemail and email threats to Pozner on Jan. 10, 2016, after viewing internet sites claiming the shooting was a hoax aimed at curtailing Americans’ Second Amendment gun ownership rights. The messages said things such as “you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon” and “LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH.” Richards, seated in a wheelchair at the hearing, has significant mental health problems including agoraphobia — fear of leaving one’s house — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety disorder, court documents show. But Cohn said he did not think mental illness triggered Richards’ actions.q
U.S. NEWS A7
Thursday 8 June 2017
A miracle save by a homeless man gives him a new beginning By WILSON RING Associated Press WILLISTON, Vt. (AP) — James Pocock was living a quiet, under-the-radar life in the Vermont woods when he suddenly was showered with attention and called a hero, responsible for possibly saving another man’s life. He’s grateful his unselfish act may transform his life for the better. Pocock, 45, was sitting near his tent last month when he heard a crash on Interstate 89 in Williston. He rushed to the scene and used the CPR skills he learned decades ago to help revive truck driver Paul Bristol, who was stricken with a heart attack while behind the wheel. “To me, what James did, it seems like this whole thing was something like Godsent,” said Bristol, 68, who is back home with his fiancee in Whitefield, New Hampshire, but frequently chats with Pocock. “Everything was right in line.” Pocock, who has been homeless on and off for years, has been living in a hotel since last weekend after well-wishers heard of the incident and raised the money for the room. Efforts are now underway to find him a home. “When the accident happened, nobody knew who I was. You’d go by and sometimes people would lock their doors, say ‘Oh, my gosh, there’s a homeless person, lock your door,’” Pocock said, sitting in a chair in his tent. “Well,
In this Monday, June 5, 2017 photo, James Pocock poses for a photo in Williston, Vt. Pocock was honored by Williston officials after he helped save the life of a truck driver whose vehicle crashed after suffering a heart attack near Pocock’s home in the woods. Local emergency officials said that without Pocock’s help driver Paul Bristol would have died. (AP Photo/Wilson Ring)
since then, people are like, ‘Oh, my gosh, there’s that homeless guy. Roll down your window.’” The Williston Fire Department says Pocock’s fast action prevented Bristol from suffering irreversible brain damage before rescue workers arrived and restarted his heart using a defibrillator. They took Bristol to a hospital, where his blocked arteries were cleared.
Pocock is a native of Canton, Ohio. He said he never finished high school, but got a GED in his early 20s. He said he lived for years as a nomad, crisscrossing the country by hitchhiking with long-haul truckers. He said he became certified as an emergency medical technician while living in California in the early 1990s. He arrived in Vermont around 2003 and never
left. He said he’s worked as a prep cook and has at times has had places to live. Whenever times get tough, though, he retreats to his home in the woods. Pocock has always lived alone, staying warm in the winter with the help of a military-grade Arctic sleeping bag. When not working, he gets the basics by panhandling. Around 1:30 p.m. on May 4,
Bristol was headed back to New Hampshire after dropping off a load of footwear at a distribution center in Milton, Vermont. Doctors told him he suffered a massive heart attack. Pocock heard the crash and ran to the scene. He saw Bristol lying between the seats of the truck, his face bloody after apparently hitting the steering wheel. With the help of two unidentified passers-by, he pulled Bristol from the truck and performed CPR on him. The next day, one of Bristol’s sons and some of his grandchildren showed up at Pocock’s camp with cooking equipment, food, a cot and a new pillow. Several weeks later, a Williston Fire Department official invited Pocock to a ceremony where he was given a medal, recognizing him for his actions. Within hours of the news stories that followed, Lynnea Nichols of Middlebury set up a GoFundMe page. As of Wednesday, the fund had raised more than $13,000 from just under 300 people. q
Court:
Neighbors can sue pot grower for stinky smells
By KRISTEN WYATT Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A pot farm’s neighbor can sue them for smells and other nuisances that could harm their property values, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling revives a lawsuit between a Colorado horse farm and a neighboring marijuanagrowing warehouse. The horse farm’s owners, the Reillys, sued in 2015, claiming that the pot-growing
warehouse would diminish their land’s value by emitting “noxious odors” and attracting unsavory visitors. A federal district court dismissed the Reillys’ claim, and the pot warehouse opened in 2016. The horse farm owners appealed,
and a three-judge appeals panel agreed Wednesday that their claims should be heard. But the judges said the Reillys can’t sue Colorado to force the state to enforce federal drug law and not allow the pot warehouse in the first place.q
A8
Thursday 8 June 2017
WORLD NEWS
French president Macron creates new counterterrorism unit By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron held a special meeting Wednesday to create a new counterterrorism unit to improve intelligencesharing and elaborate security strategies, one day after a man attacked a
police officer in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The “national center of counterterrorism” was formally presented Wednesday during a defense council at the Elysee palace, in the presence of government members and top security officials.
The unit, composed of about 20 people, will supervise all counterterrorism efforts. It will be based at the Elysee, will operate 24 hours a day and will act directly under the president’s authority — an unprecedented situation in the country, where some observers
have denounced a lack of coordination between foreign and domestic intelligence services. A top official at the French presidency said the new unit will notably determine strategies to fight against radicalization on the internet and diffusion online of instructions on how to carry
out an attack. It will also focus on the issue of French citizens who joined the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq before trying to come back to national territory. The official spoke anonymously in line with the presidency’s customary practice.q
UK contenders trade blows on last day of election campaign By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — After a seven-week election campaign that veered from the boredom of staged soundbites to the trauma of two deadly attacks, Britain’s political leaders asked voters Wednesday to choose: Who is best to keep the U.K. safe and lead it out of the European Union? Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn crisscrossed the country on the final day of campaigning, trying to woo voters with rival plans for Brexit, building a fairer society and combating a terrorist threat made all too immediate by attacks in Manchester and London. May promised to crack down on extremism if she wins Thursday’s vote — even if that means watering down human rights legislation. “We are seeing the terrorist threat changing, we are seeing it evolve and we need to respond to that,” May said. Corbyn argued that the real danger comes from Conservative cuts to police budgets. “We won’t defeat terrorists by ripping up our basic
Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn waves at an election event on the Promenade in Colwyn Bay, Wales, Wednesday June 7, 2017, ahead of the general election on Thursday. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
rights and our democracy,” he said. Polls will be open Thursday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (0600GMT to 2100GMT), with all 650 seats in the House of Commons up for grabs. A party needs to win 326 seats to form a majority government. May called the snap election — three years early — in a bid to boost the Conservative majority in Parliament, which she says will
strengthen Britain’s hand in divorce talks with the European Union. “Get those negotiations wrong and the consequences will be dire,” she warned Wednesday. Brexit negotiations will take up much of the incoming government’s time over the next two years. But it has taken a back seat in the election — initially to debates about how to narrow the gap between rich and
poor, then by the attacks in Manchester and London. Regarding the former, a Conservative victory would mean continued cuts to public spending in a bid to reduce the nation’s deficit; Labour says it will pump millions more into education and health care and raise income tax on the highest earners. Corbyn said Thursday’s vote offered a clear choice between “another five years
of a Tory government, underfunding of services all across the UK ... or a Labour government that invests for all, all across Britain.” The deadly attacks in Manchester on May 22 and London on Saturday twice brought the campaign to a temporary halt — and put the threat from international terrorism front and center. As May vowed to bring in new anti-terror measures, Corbyn criticized cuts to the police under the Conservatives, which saw the number of officers plummet by almost 20,000 between 2010 and 2016. May responded by assailing Corbyn’s security record. He opposed British military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, wants to scrap Britain’s nuclear arsenal and shared platforms with Irish republicans in the years when the IRA was setting off bombs in Britain. Conservative-supporting newspapers went on the attack against Corbyn on Wednesday. The Daily Mail branded him and senior colleagues “apologists for terror,” while the Daily Express exhorted: “Vote May or we face disaster.”q
Russia denies reports of hacking Qatar’s state news agency MOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials on Wednesday angrily rejected allegations that Russian hackers breached Qatar’s state news agency and planted a fake news story that led to a split between Qatar and the other Arab nations. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday dismissed Tuesday’s CNN report containing the claim as “yet
another fake, another lie.” Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen cut diplomatic ties with the tiny Gulf state, accusing Qatar of harboring extremists and backing Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, Iran. Qatar has denied the allegations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also dismissed CNN’s report on Tuesday, saying it “further under-
mined its reputation as an independent and objective media outlet.” “CNN and some other media sit and wait for any kind of scandal ... to automatically and without any evidence blame it on Russia or Russian hackers,” he said at a news conference following his talks with Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis. Tensions between Qa-
tar and Saudi Arabia — a Middle East heavyweight — bubbled to the surface two weeks ago when Qatar said its state-run news agency and its Twitter account were hacked to publish a fake story claiming the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had called Iran “a regional and Islamic power that cannot be ignored.” State-linked media in the
region ignored Qatar’s denial and continued to report the comments. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt blocked access to Al Jazeera and launched an aggressive campaign accusing Qatar of supporting terrorist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State, destabilizing the region and stabbing its allies in the back.q
WORLD NEWS A9
Thursday 8 June 2017
Islamic State claims stunning attack in heart of Iran
By AMIR VAHDAT AYA BATRAWY Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Wednesday for a pair of stunning attacks on Iran’s parliament and the tomb of its revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 40. Tehran Police Chief Gen. Hossein Sajedinia announced late Wednesday night that five suspects had been detained for interrogation, according to a report in the semi-official ISNA news agency. Sajedinia did not offer any further details. Reza Seifollahi, an official in the country’s Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by the independent Shargh daily as saying that the perpetrators of the attacks were Iranian nationals. He did not elaborate. The bloodshed shocked the country and came as emboldened Sunni Arab states — backed by U.S. President Donald Trump — are hardening their stance
Police officers control the scene, around of shrine of late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, after an assault of several attackers in Tehran, just outside Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
against Shiite-ruled Iran. The White House released a statement from Trump condemning the terrorist attacks in Tehran and offering condolences, but also implying that Iran is itself a sponsor of terrorism. “We grieve and pray for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks in Iran, and for the Iranian people, who
are going through such challenging times,” the statement said. “We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote.” In recent years, Tehran has been heavily involved in conflicts in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State, but had remained untouched by IS violence
around the world. Iran has also battled Saudi-backed Sunni groups in both countries. Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard indirectly blamed Saudi Arabia for the attacks. A statement issued Wednesday evening stopped short of alleging direct Saudi involvement but called it “meaningful” that the attacks followed
Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, where he strongly asserted Washington’s support for Riyadh. The statement said Saudi Arabia “constantly supports” terrorists including the Islamic State group, adding that the IS claim of responsibility “reveals (Saudi Arabia’s) hand in this barbaric action.” The “spilled blood of the innocent will not remain unavenged,” the Revolutionary Guard statement said. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, used the attacks to defend Tehran’s involvement in wars abroad. He told a group of students that if “Iran had not resisted,” it would have faced even more troubles. “The Iranian nation will go forward,” he added. The violence began in midmorning when assailants with Kalashnikov rifles and explosives stormed the parliament complex where a legislative session had been in progress. The siege lasted for hours, and one of the attackers blew himself up inside, according to Iran’s state TV.q
Emirati diplomat to AP: ‘Nothing to negotiate’ with Qatar By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A top Emirati diplomat said Wednesday “there’s nothing to negotiate” with Qatar over a growing diplomatic dispute about the energy-rich nation’s alleged funding of terror groups, signaling Arab countries now isolat-
ing it have no plans to back down. Speaking in a rare interview, Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told The Associated Press that Qatar has “chosen to ride the tiger of extremism and terrorism” and now needed to pay the price, despite Qatar long denying the allega-
tion. Gargash said Qatar “definitely” should expel members of Hamas, stop its support of terror groups “with al-Qaida DNA” around the world and rein in the many media outlets it funds, chief among them the Dohabased satellite news network Al-Jazeera. While applauding a Kuwaiti
effort to mediate the crisis, Gargash said Emirati and Saudi officials planned to concede nothing to Qatar, home to some 10,000 American troops at a major U.S. military base and the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Their “fingerprints are all over the place” in terror funding, Gargash said.
“Enough is enough.” Qatari officials declined to immediately comment on Gargash’s comments. Its foreign minister has struck a defiant tone in interviews, even after worried residents emptied grocery stores in its capital of Doha as Saudi Arabia has blocked trucks carrying food from entering the country.q
A10 WORLD
Thursday 8 June 2017
Nigeria adrift as leader in London for treatment By KRISTA MAHR Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria, West Africa’s economic and military powerhouse, is adrift as President Muhammadu Buhari has been in London for medical treatment for a month as of Wednesday, worrying many that his undisclosed health problems have left Africa’s most populous country without strong direction. The president’s prolonged absence has created “a vacuum,” said Dapo Alaba Sobowale, the head of a small IT company in Lagos’ sprawling Computer Village, where small shops and vendors line the streets selling mobile phones and computer gadgets. “A lot of people are relying on him,” Sobowale said. He said he isn’t bothered about who, exactly, is sitting in office. Buhari, 74, went on medical leave to the United Kingdom on May 7 for unspecified health problems. He had already been in London for nearly seven weeks earlier this year for treatment. He looked thin and frail when he returned to Nigeria, where he later missed three consecutive weekly Cabinet meetings. On his return, he said he’d never been as sick in his life. Government officials and Buhari’s family have sought to reassure Nigerians who have expressed their worry about his absence on social media under hashtags like #WhereIsBuhari and #MissingPresident. On Tuesday, Aisha Buhari, the president’s wife, said her husband is “recuperating fast” after she returned to Nigeria from visiting him in London. “He thanks Nigerians for their constant prayers for his health & steadfastness in the face of challenges,” she tweeted. Buhari’s long absences this year have raised questions over whether the former military leader from northern Nigeria will be able to complete his four-year term that is up in 2019 and kicked off speculation over who might succeed him.q
NEWS
Violence warned over US dropping conflict minerals rule
By JUSTIN LYNCH Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Increased violence and corruption in central Africa
signed a letter with five other Democratic senators urging the SEC to uphold the rule. The conflict minerals report-
In April, acting SEC chairman Michael Piwowar said his organization will no longer enforce the 2012 rule that requires companies
A Congolese miner digs for cassiterite, the major ore of tin, at Nyabibwe mine, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Increased violence and corruption in central Africa could be the result of the recent decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission not to enforce a rule requiring American companies to report their use of conflict minerals, warn Congolese civic groups, rights groups and U.S. senators. In April 2017 the SEC said it will no longer enforce the 2012 rule that requires companies to verify that products using valuable African minerals don’t benefit armed groups. (AP Photo/Marc Hofer)
could be the result of the recent decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission not to enforce a rule requiring American companies to report their use of conflict minerals, warn Congolese civic groups, rights groups and U.S. senators. “The conflict minerals rule has played a critical role in reducing violence in mining areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, who recently
ing rule, part of the DoddFrank financial regulations law, has largely been successful in ensuring that minerals worth trillions of dollars don’t benefit armed rebel groups blamed for human rights abuses, a coalition of groups from Congo and southern Africa told the SEC in a series of public comments earlier this year. In an opposing view, some business groups in the U.S. dismissed the regulation as ineffective and an unnecessary burden.
to verify their products do not use tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten that have been mined or trafficked by armed groups in Congo and other central African countries. Although the SEC is independent from the Trump administration, Piwowar was designated as acting chairman by Trump, and the SEC’s action appears to be in line with the president’s view that the government should reduce regulations of company operations.
In addition to the SEC action, Republican legislation to roll back the Dodd-Frank law, expected to pass the House in coming weeks, would repeal the conflict minerals rule. The bill’s prospects in the Senate are unclear. Armed rebels and criminal gangs have been funded for decades by the illicit trade in Congo’s minerals, estimated to be worth $24 trillion, according to the U.N. The minerals are essential ingredients in smart phones, laptops, tablets and other high-tech products. Dropping the conflict minerals rule implicitly supports conflict in the Great Lakes region, Leonard Birere, president of the Coalition of Anti-Slavery Civil Society Organizations in Goma, Congo, told The Associated Press in an email. “The activity of the armed groups in the mining sites had decreased substantially as well as their capacity for violence” due to the conflict minerals regulation, Birere said. Some leading American companies also support the conflict minerals regulations. “Apple believes there is little doubt that there is a need to enhance gold trading due diligence,” the company wrote in its 2016 conflict minerals report to the SEC. The SEC’s action risks rolling back efforts to “combat human rights abuses and potential cases of conflict financing,” Carly Oboth, a policy adviser at rights group Global Witness, told the AP.q
At least 8 dead as storm hammers Cape Town coastline By CHRIS TORCHIA Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A storm pummeled the coastline around the South African city of Cape Town on Wednesday, unleashing heavy rains as well as high winds that fanned fires and forced evacuations of some residents. At least eight people were killed. Many people in Knysna, a town on the scenic Garden Route east of Cape Town, fled as blazes tore through
homes. An evacuated hospital was among buildings that caught fire and the main highway was closed in the area, South African media reported. Clinton Manuel, Knysna’s fire chief, said his teams were struggling to contain numerous fires. “This wind is blowing very, very strong, causing the fire to spread extremely rapidly,” Manuel said, according to the African News Agency. The town mayor,
Eleanore Bouw-Spies, described the fires as the worst in decades. In Cape Town and surrounding areas, storm victims included four people who died in a fire caused by lightning, three who died in another fire and one who was killed when a home collapsed, disaster management officials said. Cape Town workers said they had taken measures to protect some poor residents, who live in sprawling
neighborhoods of makeshift homes. However, hundreds of homes were flooded or damaged, authorities said. The storm forced President Jacob Zuma, who was in Cape Town, to cancel a speech to an international media conference in Durban, a city on the Indian Ocean coastline, his office said. He was due to address an annual congress organized by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.q
WORLD NEWS A11
Thursday 8 June 2017
Beijing lashes out over Pentagon report on Chinese military By CHRIS BODEEN Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Beijing says it is “firmly opposed” to a Pentagon report that highlighted China’s construction of military facilities on man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea and speculated that Beijing would likely build more bases overseas. The annual report made “irresponsible remarks on China’s national defense development and reasonable actions in defending our territorial sovereignty and security interests in disregard of the facts,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters Wednesday. “China is firmly opposed to that,” Hua said, adding that her government was a force for safeguarding peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world. While Hua declined to comment on possible overseas bases, she said China and Pakistan — one of the countries considered most likely to host a Chinese military presence — were close friends that conduct mutually beneficial cooperation in a variety of fields. China is now building its first overseas base in Djibouti, which it says will help facilitate its participation in anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and U.N. peacekeeping operations in the region. The base is near Camp Lemonnier, the U.S. base in the Horn of Africa nation, although American military leaders have said they don’t see it as threatening U.S. operations. “China most likely will seek to establish additional mili-
tary bases in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan, and in which there is a precedent for hosting foreign militaries,” the Pentagon report said. “This initiative, along with regular naval vessel visits to foreign ports, both reflects and amplifies China’s growing influence, extending the reach of its armed forces.” The assessment also focused on the military buildup in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety. It said that as of late last year, China was building 24 fightersized hangars, fixed-weapons positions, barracks, administration buildings and communication facilities on each of the three largest outposts — Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs. China claims the bases are there to improve navigation safety and assistance for fishermen. But it also says they help reinforce China’s sovereignty claims and that China is fully entitled to provide them
In this April, 2017 photo, an airstrip, structures and buildings on China’s man-made Subi Reef in the Spratly chain of islands in the South China Sea are seen from a Philippine Air Force C-130 transport plane of the Philippine Air Force. Beijing says it is “firmly opposed” to a Pentagon report on the Chinese military that highlighted China’s construction of military facilities on made-made islands in the South China Sea and speculated that Beijing would likely build more military bases overseas. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
with defensive capabilities. “That we develop national defense is to safeguard China’s independent sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is a legitimate right of a
sovereign state,” Hua said, without mentioning the islands directly. While China objects vocally to U.S. naval operations in the South China Sea, it is eager not to be seen as
a threat, and its criticism of the annual Pentagon assessment is part of a drive to avoid being perceived as attempting to seize the mantle as the region’s dominant military force. q
Philippines asks social media to remove militant video MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine military officials said Wednesday that they’ve asked social media companies including Facebook to remove a video of militants smashing icons in a Catholic church in a besieged southern city, saying it may be an attempt to fan hatred and turn the conflict into a religious war. Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, the military spokesman, also urged netizens not to share the video, which
shows militants ripping a picture of Pope Francis, toppling a crucifix, and stomping on and torching religious statues. Militants aligned with the Islamic State group continue to control pockets of territory in Marawi, where they laid siege more than two weeks ago. They are believed to be still holding a Catholic priest and many other hostages. “We requested that this be pulled out because it may
fan hatred,” Padilla told reporters. “It is intended by these militants to ... sow hatred among Christians and Muslims.” He urged social media users not to spread the video and not to “buy into the plan of these groups to inflame the feelings” of followers of various religions in the predominantly Catholic country. “This is not a religious war, this is a terror attack on the city of Marawi, and we must be clear about it,” Pa-
dilla said. He said those killed since the fighting broke out on May 23 include 20 civilians, 134 militants and 39 government troops. More than 1,500 civilians have been rescued. The militants’ “world is continuously growing smaller and smaller every day,” Padilla said. Police and military operatives arrested several suspected militants Tuesday outside of Marawi.q
A12 WORLD
Thursday 8 June 2017
NEWS
Brazil judges clash over evidence in case against Temer
Brazil’s President Michel Temer attends a ceremony at the Planalto Presidential Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, June 7, 2017. Brazil’s top electoral court is returning to its examination of illegal campaign finance allegations that could force President Michel Temer from office. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
By PETER PRENGAMAN Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Judges on Brazil’s top electoral court argued on Wednesday whether to accept new evidence of alleged illegal campaign contributions that stem from a sweeping probe of graft in Latin America’s largest nation as they consider a case that could force President Michel Temer from office. The ruling on revelations from recent plea bargains would be a strong indication of how the court is leaning, and Wednesday’s testy debate showed sharp divisions between the judges who appear to favor accepting the damaging revelations and those who oppose. The latter camp includes Superior Electoral Tribunal President Gilmar Mendes, who has called the president whose political fate he is deciding “a friend of decades.”
At issue is whether the 2014 campaign of Temer, then vice president, and former President Dilma Rousseff received illegal financing. If the court finds it did, Temer could be removed from office, adding further to the country’s corruption-fueled political turmoil. Defense attorneys argue that evidence in the case was submitted long ago, and say the court shouldn’t be able to consider new revelations that emerged from plea bargains by 77 executives at the huge construction company Odebrecht, one of the businesses at the center of a sprawling investigation into kickbacks and bribes at the state-run oil company Petrobras. The testimony describes myriad details of alleged bribes to many politicians as well as millions of dollars of illegal money that allegedly went into the coffers of the Rousseff-Temer ticket.
Judge Herman Benjamin, who was named by the court to examine the case, argued that the plea bargains were a crucial part of the investigation. He also said that Odebrecht’s role in the investigation and plea bargains was well known, and thus it was impossible to argue it had all come out of nowhere. Meanwhile Mendes, who in the past has sided with politicians facing legal troubles, said that using Odebrecht plea bargain testimony would represent the latest overreach in the so-called “Car Wash” investigation. He also said allegations that tens of millions of dollars were put illegally into campaign coffers meant that the electoral system needed to be reformed — subtly arguing against punishing politicians for having to operate in a flawed process. The court adjourned in the early afternoon, with
plans to take up the question Thursday morning. Both Rousseff, 69, and Temer, 76, have denied wrongdoing. The current president has vowed to continue in office despite many calls for him to resign and approval ratings around 8 percent. If at least four of the seven judges vote to allow the testimonies, Temer would be one step closer to being pushed out of office, following the path of Rousseff, who was impeached and removed last year for illegally managing the government’s budget. If the court rules against them, Rousseff could lose her right to hold office for eight years. The trial was expected to take at least three days, and there is no deadline for a final ruling. It is the first time in Brazil’s history that a sitting president has risked having the job taken away by the electoral court. The suit was brought after the 2014 election by the right-leaning Brazilian Social Democracy Party, whose presidential candidate, Aecio Neves, lost to the Rousseff-Temer ticket. Ironically, the party has been a key ally of Temer since he replaced Rousseff. If the court decides against the Rousseff-Temer ticket, Temer’s mandate would be annulled and Congress would have to pick someone to serve out his term through December 2018. The embattled president has said he would appeal. If Temer should be forced from the presidency by the court, or decided to resign, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Rodrigo Maia would take over for 30 days while Congress votes in a new leader.q
Venezuela’s defense chief warns guardsmen on force CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s defense minister is urging the country’s national guardsmen to refrain from using excessive force as they confront protesters after more than two months of anti-government demonstrations.
Speaking at a military event Tuesday, Vladimir Padrino Lopez said he didn’t want to see “one more national guardsman committing an atrocity on the street.” The police and national guard have drawn international condemnation
for their heavy use of tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators. Nearly 70 people have died in the political unrest, which has seen hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans take to the streets demanding new elections. The defense minister’s re-
marks come as opposition leaders are accusing national guardsmen of attacking protesters. Demonstrators on Monday charged that guardsmen had robbed protesters and journalists of possessions, including cameras and even shoes.q
El Salvador hopes for replacement for temporary status SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s foreign minister said this week he hopes for a more permanent situation for the “temporary protected status” that currently shields about 190,000 Salvadoran migrants in the United States. Hugo Martinez told local media that “it isn’t a question of boxing ourselves into just an extension of the TPS,” which has been extended several times by the U.S. since 2001. “We should erase this word ‘temporary’ from the map,” Martinez added, saying Salvadorans need “something better and more stable than the TPS.” He said about 260,000 Salvadorans got TPS after this country’s 2001 earthquakes, but the number has declined to about 190,000. Their status has been renewed every 18 months, and it will be up for renewal again early next year. In May, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security granted just a six-month TPS extension for nearly 60,000 Haitians and officials suggested Haitians in the program should get their affairs in order so they would be ready to return home. As for Central Americans, the department said, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly would review conditions and consult with appropriate agencies as the expiration date approaches next year. El Salvadorans are worried about increased joblessness if all the migrants return home. “Things are bad here and if this big number of people come back, forget it, we’ll be eating one another,” said Carmen Melendez, who lives in the capital, San Salvador. Jose Guerra, an unemployed construction worker, said, “There will be more unemployment here, and crime could go up.” “It would be better for them to stay in the United States, there is no work here,” Guerra said.q
LOCAL A13
Thursday 8 June 2017
Artist ESHA Releases her Second Album, ‘Dangerous’ (eshaofficial.com) ORANJESTAD - Creativity is a complex, often elusive process, yet some just have a gift for harnessing emotion, fusing it with words and melody and delivering universal truth in songs. Esha possesses that gift. In listening to her finely crafted, emotionally charged music it’s hard to believe the heart and the voice behind itbelongs to a 15-year-old, but then, creativity isn’t limited by any number. Esha is proof. With the release of her debut album “Beautiful” in 2016, and her second album, “Dangerous” in 2017, Esha is on her way to creating a name for herself. Her songs carry the emotional depth of Adele and commercial sensibilities of Ed Sheeran, yet her voice possesses a strong, unique edgy quality that truly defies comparison to any other artist. “Dangerous” shows the evolution of Esha from a tremendously talented young singer/songwriter to a world-class artist. While “Beautiful” was an emotional, intimate diary of a young artist discovering her talent, “Dangerous” is a brave, passionate collection of songs that explores the dangers of love. It is all about risk, empowerment and growth wrapped up in music that dares the listener not to move with the beat, sing along to the catchy hooks or cry with the deep heart wrenching vocal ballads. With a wisdom beyond her years, Esha has an innate ability to write great songs that tackle complex life experiences, yet she’s often at her most compelling when exploring more personal territory on vulnerable ballads such as “I’m
Not Loving You.” “I’ve always had it in my heart,” she says of her affinity for music. Esha began writing songs when she was only six years old, shortly after being diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. “Music became my therapy. It helped me cope and gave me an outlet for my emotions. And it taught me to dream.” These days, she’s learned to manage her challenges and isn’t letting anything slow her down as she pursues her music. “I’ve found a way to cope through songwriting,” she says. “When you find something that you really love and put effort and time into it, it can have a positive impact on all areas of your life. You can get so lost in what you love doing that it’s easy to forget about your problems. My advice to others dealing with challenges is to find what you love and let it save you.” Esha has a lot to chan-
nel all her positive energy into as her career is taking off. She’s signed a management deal with the Nashville-based Copeland Tucker Group. Her music video, “Yesterday” already has over 24,000 views in just a few short months. You will also find her featured in the 2017 issue of Destination Magazine and she will be bringing her live show to some very prestigious music festival events in the summer and fall of 2017. Esha has learned that music is a powerful force and she’s ready to wield it to make a difference. “I hope for my music to make an impact on people,” Esha says. “I want it to touch people and I want them to find something in every song that they can truly relate to.” Contact: Copeland Tucker Group / 1-615-429-5032 / susan@copelandtuckergroup.com.q
A14 LOCAL
Thursday 8 June 2017
Aruba Marriott Proudly Announces Internal Promotions and Transfers PALM BEACH, ARUBA – May 2017 – As part Marriott’s core value “Putting People First”, the Aruba Marriott is proud to announce the internal promotion and transfer of eleven associates. Encouraging this important core value, the Aruba Marriott strives to continuously train its associates and provide the necessary resources and tools to prepare them for their next career step and as a result confidently be able to promote within the company first. The Aruba Marriott congratulates these eleven associates whom showed hard work and dedication and in return received the great opportunity of being promoted and transferred to the following positions during the 1st quarter of 2017. -Edmar Goeloe promoted from Lead Loss Prevention Supervisor to Assistant Loss Prevention Manager. -Tamara Fingal promoted from Human Resources Coordinator to Human Resources Supervisor. -Jessika Panneflek promoted from Banquet Captain to Events Manager. -Juan Vega promoted from F&B Operations Manager I to F&B Operations Manager II. -Rosa Rasmijn promoted from Assistant Housekeeping Manager to Rooms Op-
erations Manager. -Carlos Thode promoted from Casino Income Auditor to Senior Casino Income Auditor. -Lisamarie Vis promoted from Front Desk Rooms Controller to Loss Prevention Supervisor. -Virgilio Flores promoted from Engineer III to Engineering Supervisor. -Ulrick Thijzen transferred from Engineer I to Engineer II Shift. -Luz Mery Ricaurte transferred from Front Desk Agent to Front Desk Rooms
Controller. -Jerome Nicholson transferred from Recreation Supervisor to Bellman. “We are honored to share this great news with the local community as Marriott continuous to provide equal opportunity to those seeking to jump start their career in the hospitality industry and continues to be committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture”, shared Reuella Reeberg – Human Resources
Manager. For those interested in starting their career at the Aruba Marriott please visit www.marriott.com/careers to review current job opportunities. Or contact Human Resources at 520-6267 or 520-6265 for more information. Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino opened its door in 1995 with 411 guestrooms. In 1999 the
Marriott’s Aruba Ocean Club opened its door with 311 guestrooms and in 2004 Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club was opened with 900 guestrooms. The Aruba Marriott family consists of about 1100 associates. The Aruba Marriott Complex is the largest in the Caribbean in terms of total guestrooms as well total employees. q
LOCAL A15
Thursday 8 June 2017
Loyal Island Guests Honored at La Cabana Beach Resort EAGLE BEACH - Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a very nice couple who are loyal and friendly visitor of Aruba as Distinguished Visitors at La Cabana 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. Ronald and Mrs. Anne Chrzanowski from Connecticut, celebrating their 10th consecutive annual visit to Aruba! Ronald and Anne are loyal members of La Cabana Beach Resort and they love Aruba very much because of the friendly people, fun in the sun, the climate, the beaches and the restaurants. They say that being on Aruba and staying at La Cabana Beach Resort is like being at their vacation ‘homeaway-from-home.’ The certificate was presented by Mr. Jonathan Boekhoudt representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with Ms. Desiree Henriquez from La Cabana Beach Resort. q
A16 LOCAL
Thursday 8 June 2017
Loyal Island Guests Honored at the Marriott Surf Club PALM BEACH - Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a very nice couple who are loyal and friendly visitor of Aruba as Distinguished Visitors at the Marriott Surf Club. 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. Roi and Mrs. Judy Tucker from New Jersey, celebrating their 10th consecutive annual visit to Aruba! Roi and Judy are loyal members of the Marriott Surf Club and they love Aruba very much because of the friendly people, fun
in the sun, the climate, the beaches and the restaurants. They say that being on Aruba and staying at the Marriott Surf Club is like being at their vacation ‘homeaway-from-home.’ The certificate was presented by Mr. Jonathan Boekhoudt representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with Executive Administrative Assistant to the General Manager Ms. Jenny Boekhoudt from the Marriott Surf Club. Remarkable about this specific ceremony was that Judy is one of the few persons ever to fully translate back in English the text written on the certificate (in Papiamento). q
SPORTS A17
Thursday 8 June 2017
MIGHTY MIKE Austria’s Dominic Thiem celebrates wining his quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in three sets 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-0, at the Roland Garros stadium, in Paris, France. Wednesday, June 7, 2017. Associated Press
‘16 champ Djokovic in ‘whole new situation’ after Paris loss
HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Tennis Writer PARIS (AP) — His French Open title defense nearing an end, Novak Djokovic stumbled and tumbled to his knees on the red clay, his racket flying from his right hand as his opponent’s backhand zipped past. Even Djokovic found it hard to fathom how far he’s fallen, only a year removed from leaving Roland Garros as a player nonpareil, the first man in nearly a half-century to win four consecutive Grand Slam titles. That he departed this time with a surprisingly lopsided 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinal loss to sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria on Wednesday left everyone, including Djokovic, pondering the answers to difficult questions. Continued on Page 18
Royals’ halt Astros’ win streak at 11 Kansas City Royals’ Mike Moustakas watches his two-run home run to win a baseball game against the Houston Astros during the ninth inning Tuesday, June 6, 2017, in Kansas City, Mo. The Royals won 9-7. Associated Press Page 19
A18 SPORTS
Thursday 8 June 2017
Djokovic Continued from Page 17
Did he give up in the last set? What has happened to his once-impervious play? Can he summon that again? Does he need a break from the grind of the tour? “It’s a fact that I’m not playing close to my best, and I know that,” Djokovic said after his first straightset loss at a major since the 2013 Wimbledon final. “For me, it’s a whole new situation that I’m facing.” Since completing his career Grand Slam at the French Open 12 months ago, Djokovic has participated in four majors in a row without earning a trophy. He also lost his No. 1 ranking to Andy Murray. Djokovic was runner-up at the U.S. Open but lost in the third round at Wimbledon, the first round at the Rio Olympics and the second round at the Australian Open. “The win here last year has brought a lot of different emotions. Obviously, it was a thrill and complete fulfillment, I guess,” Djokovic said during an expansive and frank news conference. “I have lived on that wave of excitement, I guess, ‘til the U.S. Open or so. And at the U.S. Open, I just was emotionally very flat and found myself in a situation that I hadn’t faced before in (my) professional tennis career.” The 23-year-old Thiem next faces nine-time French
Open champion Rafael Nadal, who advanced when No. 20 Pablo Carreno Busta stopped while trailing 6-2, 2-0 after injuring an abdominal muscle late in the first set. “I mean, it’s a joke how tough it is to win a Slam,” said Thiem, the only player who beat Nadal in one of his 23 clay-court matches this season. “Now I beat Novak. On Friday, (it’s) Nadal. In the finals, there is another top star.” In the other semifinal, 2016 runner-up Murray will face 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka in a matchup of three-time major title winners. Murray eliminated No. 8 Kei Nishikori 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (0), 6-1 on Wednesday, while No. 3 Wawrinka won 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 against No. 7 Marin Cilic. Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova reached the women’s semifinals. Halep came all the way back from a set and 5-1 down in the second to defeat Elina Svitolina 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0. Pliskova beat Caroline Garcia 7-6 (3), 6-4. With the wind whipping at more than 15 mph (25 kph), and the temperature in the low 50s (low teens Celsius), Djokovic was out of sorts in so many ways even before that 20-minute third set in which he won only 8 of 34 points. It’s only the second time Djokovic lost a final set by the score of 6-0 in his 937 career tour-level matches. “It’s hard to comment (on) the third set. Obviously, nothing was going my way
Eunice Kennedy Shriver to receive posthumous Ashe award
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver will be posthumously honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY Awards in July. Timothy Shriver, one of Shriver’s sons and chairman of the Special Olympics, will accept the award on July 12.
Eunice Shriver founded Special Olympics in 1968 to help individuals with intellectual disabilities through sports. Shriver died in August 2009. The Special Olympics will mark its 50th anniversary next year. The Ashe award is given to individuals whose contributions transcend sports.q
In this May 25, 2000, file photo, American Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, poses with her Sport for Good Award during the Laureus Sports Awards ceremony in Monaco. Associated Press
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic falls as he plays Austria’s Dominic Thiem during their quarterfinal match the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Wednesday, June 7, 2017 in Paris. Associated Press
and everything his way,” Djokovic said. “Just pretty bad set.” But both men thought the match was decided in the first set, when Djokovic held two set points at 5-4, 1540 on Thiem’s serve. Thiem erased the first with a forehand volley and the other with a service winner that prompted Djokovic to roll his eyes. Djokovic’s backhand really let him down in the tiebreaker: All seven points won by Thiem ended with that stroke. In all, Djokovic made nearly twice as many unforced errors, 35, as winners, 18.
“More or less, all the parts of my game are kind of going up and down. I’m feeling like I’m missing consistency,” Djokovic said. “I play a great match or two in a row, and then I play a completely opposite match. That’s what happened today.” Still, how unlikely was this result? Djokovic had won all five previous matches — and 11 of 12 sets — against Thiem, including in the French Open semifinals a year ago. Plus, Djokovic had appeared in a record six consecutive semifinals in Paris. Now he is at a crossroads
of sorts. He just turned 30. He split from coaches Boris Becker and Marian Vajda and other members of his team, bringing aboard Andre Agassi for Week 1 of the French Open. On Wednesday, he wouldn’t rule out some time off. “It’s obviously tough to get out of it and figure out the way how to move ahead. At least I’m trying,” Djokovic said. “I know that I have achieved the biggest heights in this sport, and that memory and that experience gives me enough reason to believe that I can do it again.”q
SPORTS A19
Thursday 8 June 2017
Royals’ Moustakas homers to halt Astros’ win streak at 11 The Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — Mike Moustakas hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning after Kansas City rallied from a six-run deficit to end Houston’s 11-game winning streak. Moustakas drove an 0-1 pitch from Ken Giles (1-2) out to right field with Salvador Perez aboard. Moustakas had four hits and three RBIs. Alex Gordon also homered for the Royals, his first since Sept. 25 — a span of 192 at-bats. Kansas City trailed 7-1 in the fourth but fought back with a four-run eighth. Whit Merrifield hit a three-run double with two outs to tie it at 7. Merrifield has hit safely in 20 of his last 21 games. Giles blew his second save in 18 opportunities. The Astros’ winning streak was the longest in the majors this season. They dropped to a major league-best 42-17. Mike Minor (3-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win. Carlos Beltran hit his 429th home run for the Astros. ORIOLES 6, PIRATES 5, 10 INNINGS BALTIMORE (AP) — Jonathan Schoop tied it in the ninth inning with his second home run of the game and Mark Trumbo singled home a run in the 10th to rally Baltimore past Pittsburgh. Baltimore trailed 4-1 after
Kansas City Royals’ Alex Gordon dives home to score on a three-run double by Whit Merrifield during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros Tuesday, June 6, 2017, in Kansas City, Mo. Associated Press
six innings and 5-3 in the ninth. Schoop’s two-run drive off closer Tony Watson knotted it at 5, setting the stage for Trumbo’s big hit. Adam Jones singled with one out in the 10th against Wade LeBlanc (3-1) and took second when Manny Machado hit a fly ball to
the warning track in left. Trumbo then lined a single to center, and Jones easily beat Andrew McCutchen’s throw to the plate. Brad Brach (1-1) worked the 10th for the Orioles, who improved to 8-1 in extra innings. RED SOX 5, YANKEES 4 NEW YORK (AP) — Mitch
Moreland and Hanley Ramirez hit back-to-back home runs and Andrew Benintendi later connected off struggling Masahiro Tanaka, powering Boston over New York. The Red Sox made their first visit of the season to Yankee Stadium, and the matchup between the longtime ri-
vals and top teams in the AL East had the feel of October, mostly because of the raw weather — low 50s, windy and damp. Overpowering closer Craig Kimbrel struck out five in 1 1/3 innings for his 17th save in 18 chances. He fanned one batter on a wild pitch, and struck out big-hitting rookie Aaron Judge on a 99 mph fastball to finish it. Playing at the new Yankee Stadium for the first time without now-retired slugger David Ortiz on the roster, the Red Sox launched a trio of long balls and moved within a game of first-place New York. Tanaka (5-6) lost his careerworst fifth straight start. He’s been tagged for 27 runs and 11 homers in 22 2/3 innings during that span. Drew Pomeranz (6-3) labored through a careerhigh 123 pitches in five innings to win his third start in a row. WHITE SOX 4, RAYS 2 ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — Avisail Garcia, Volmer Sanchez and Todd Frazier homered to help Chicago stop a five-game losing streak with a victory over Tampa Bay. Chris Beck (1-0) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning to win in relief of Jose Quintana, who avoided becoming the first pitcher in the major leagues to lose eight games this season. q
Beltre out of Rangers’ lineup again after spraining ankle ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adrian Beltre is out of the Texas Rangers lineup again, this time with a sprained left ankle, putting his pursuit of 3,000 career hits on hold. Team physician Dr. Keith Meister examined Beltre on Wednesday and confirmed the diagnosis of a sprain, though it was unclear how long the third baseman might be out. The Rangers said only that the 38-year-old Beltre was undergoing treatment and is considered day to day. Beltre got hurt again Tuesday night in only the seventh game since the be-
lated debut of his 20th season. He missed the first 51 games because of calf issues. Manager Jeff Banister said Beltre was sore and unavailable to play, leaving Texas with only two position players on the bench for Wednesday night’s game against the New York Mets. “To miss 50-something games and finally come back ... and this happens,” Beltre said after Tuesday’s game, when his left foot was already in a protective boot. “What are you gonna do?” Beltre, only 48 hits from 3,000, jammed his ankle
when he hit first base while beating out an RBI fielder’s choice grounder in the first inning in the 10-8 win over the Mets on Tuesday night. After initially staying in the game, Beltre had a single in the third inning for his 2,852nd hit. But he was removed for a pinch runner after a walk in the sixth, and was clearly discouraged afterward when he said the ankle hadn’t gotten worse during the game. X-rays were negative. “He wants to play,” Banister said. “Adrian plays with a different purpose than most.”q
In this Tuesday, June 6, 2017, photo, Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre warms up before the fifth inning of the team’s baseball game against the New York Mets in Arlington, Texas. Associated Press
A20 SPORTS
Thursday 8 June 2017
Scooter Gennett hits 4HRs for Reds to tie MLB record The Associated Press CINCINNATI (AP) — Scooter Gennett hit four home runs, matching the major league record, and finished with 10 RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds routed the slumping St. Louis Cardinals 13-1 on Tuesday night. Gennett became the 17th player to homer four times in one game — and perhaps the least likely. A scrappy second baseman who was claimed off waivers from Milwaukee in late March, he began the night with 38 career home runs in five seasons, including three this year. Josh Hamilton was the previous player to hit four home runs in one game, for Texas against Baltimore in May 2012. The 27-year-old Gennett singled his first time up and then homered in four straight at-bats, including a grand slam. His 10 RBIs tied Cincinnati’s club record. Gennett ended an 0-for-19 slump during the Reds’ 4-2 win over the Cardinals on Monday. He went 5 for 5 on Tuesday and raised his batting average 32 points to .302. Since being picked up by the Reds late in spring training, Gennett has played a
utility role for Cincinnati. He started in left field Tuesday night. Gennett hit an RBI single and his second career slam off St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright (6-4) Tim Adleman (4-2) gave up one run — on Stephen Piscotty’s homer — in seven innings. NATIONALS 2, DODGERS 1 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Max Scherzer struck out a season-high 14, outpitching Brandon McCarthy and leading Washington over Los Angeles in a game that ended with a testy exchange. With a runner on second base, Koda Glover fanned Yasiel Puig for his eighth save and shouted in the direction of home plate. Puig walked toward the mound and twice appeared to ask Glover what he said. Glover took off his cap and tossed aside his glove as players from both teams quickly intervened to keep the two separated. Nothing escalated before the squads headed off the field. Both starting pitchers went seven innings and allowed only three hits. The first 11 outs for Scherzer (7-3) came on strikeouts.
Cincinnati Reds’ Scooter Gennett hits a two-run home run and his fourth overall in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, June 6, 2017, in Cincinnati. The Reds won 13-1. Associated Press
Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy each had a sacrifice fly for the Nationals, who have won the first two games of this series between NL pennant contenders. McCarthy (5-3), who lasted only four innings in his previous start because of a blister, walked two and struck out four. ROCKIES 11, INDIANS 3 DENVER (AP) — Rookie pitcher Antonio Senzatela
hit a three-run double and Mark Reynolds homered twice to drive in five runs for Colorado. Carlos Gonzalez also hit a home run for the Rockies, who can sweep the twogame interleague set on Wednesday. Bouncing back from a loss in his previous outing, Senzatela (8-2) allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one in continuing to lead
major league rookie pitchers in wins this season while also opening the scoring for Colorado. Mike Clevinger (2-3) allowed five runs in four innings for Cleveland. CUBS 10, MARLINS 2 CHICAGO (AP) — Jake Arrieta pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning, Anthony Rizzo drove in four runs and surging Chicago beat Miami for its seasonhigh fifth straight win.q
Rockies’ Bettis back with team following cancer treatment
Injured Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Chad Bettis jokes with teammates during a practice session Tuesday, June 6, 2017, in Denver. Associated Press
BRENT W. NEW Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Chad Bettis was greeted with smiles and bear hugs in his return to Coors Field. Bettis rejoined the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday after finishing treatment for testicular cancer last week in Arizona. He threw off flat ground and lifted weights prior to the opener of a two-game series against the Cleveland Indians. “How do I feel to be back?” he said with a grin. “It feels great. Physically, I feel good. But I think this is way more mentally of a weight off my shoulders to be back with my teammates and brothers.”
The 28-year-old had surgery in November to remove a testicle and rejoined the team in February, but left again in March to get chemotherapy after doctors found the cancer had spread. He had surgery about a week ago to get his chemotherapy port removed. Bettis called Tuesday a “light workout day” and said his arm “felt fresh.” Bettis, a right-hander who went 14-8 with 4.79 ERA in 2016, said he hopes to return by the All-Star break, although he isn’t sure if that is realistic. “I think that’s unfair to put a date on that,” Colorado manager Bud Black said.
“Chad will do everything he’s capable of here in the next few weeks to get him closer to the mound, get him closer to the game. But as far as timeline, I think his strength and conditioning, his body will tell him what’s going on.” Bettis said he has to get back into playing shape. “I feel like the strength is there,” Bettis said. “I would say much more the stamina. Going through the chemo, I’ve realized what it can do to your lungs and stuff like that. And so I got to get that back. I felt myself a little short of breath today at the very end of throwing.”q
SPORTS A21
Thursday 8 June 2017
Mystics beat Dallas to claim 5th straight win in WNBA The Associated Press ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Elena Delle Donne scored 23 points to help the Washington Mystics win their fifth straight with a 101-89 victory over the Dallas Wings on Tuesday night. Washington led by at least seven points in the fourth quarter until the 2:34 mark when Dallas pulled to 8983. But Tierra Ruffin-Pratt answered with a floater in the lane and the Mystics grabbed two offensive rebounds on their next possession, leading to Kristi Toliver’s 3-pointer from the corner for a 94-85 lead. Toliver and Tayler Hill each added 17 points for Washington (6-2), which topped the century mark for the first time this season. Krystal Thomas and Ivory Latta scored 10 apiece. Skylar Diggins-Smith had 23 points and seven assists for Dallas (3-5). Glory Johnson added 19 points and eight rebounds, and Allisha Gray, the WNBA’s rookie of the month, was just 2-of-12 shooting for 12 points. STORM 85, STARS 76 SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Breanna Stewart scored a season-high 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Alysha Clark added 17 points, and Seattle beat winless San Antonio. Seattle had a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter but San Antonio pulled to 75-69 with 2:49 left after Moriah Jefferson’s backto-back jumpers. Seattle responded with six straight points — four by Crystal Langhorne — for an 81-69 lead. Langhorne scored 14
Dallas Wings guard Skylar Diggins-Smith (4), back, and Washington Mystics guard Elena Delle Donne (11) go after a loose ball during the second half of a WNBA basketball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, June 6, 2017. Associated Press
points, and Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd each added 10 for Seattle (5-2), which won its first road game this season. Kayla McBride led San Antonio (0-8) with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Jefferson and Isabelle Harrison had 10 apiece, and former Washington Husky Kelsey Plum was held to six points. SPARKS 79, SKY 70 her first double-double of the season, helping Los Angeles beat Chicago.q
Wladimir Klitschko says he’ll decide future within 2 weeks Hamburg, germany (ap) -former heavyweight champion wladimir klitschko says he’ll decide whether to have a rematch with anthony joshua “within the next two weeks.” Klitschko, who lost by an 11th round tko in a pulsating bout with the briton on
april 29, says in comments reported by news agency dpa, “my life isn’t only sport and boxing,” and that he’s planning “the career after the career.” Klitschko, who reigned over the heavyweight division for a decade, is also fighting father time at the age
of 41.His fight in london’s wembley stadium against 2012 olympic champion joshua, 14 years his junior, was one of the best heavyweight bouts in recent times.Klitschko fell to 64-5 in a career that began in 1996 after he won the olympic gold in atlanta.q
A22
Thursday 8 June 2017
SPORTS
Column: Don’t expect to see Kaepernick on an NFL field soon TIM DAHLBERG AP Sports Columnist No less of a coach than Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks believes that Colin Kaepernick is “a starter in this league,” whatever that means. It certainly doesn’t mean Kaepernick will have a job in the NFL this coming season. Not in Seattle, which declined to sign him, and probably not among the other 30 teams that — under different circumstances — would be lining up to outbid each other to sign a quarterback of his talent. A lot of NFL fans think that’s a good thing. They hate the idea that Kaepernick wouldn’t stand during the playing of his country’s national anthem, and hate any suggestion that the team they love might sign a player so publicly out of touch with how they feel. New York Giants coowner John Mara said as much when he told The MMQB last month that Giants fans made it clear to him that Kaepernick — who the Giants were not pursuing — would not be welcome at the Meadowlands. “It wasn’t one or two letters,” Mara said. “It was a lot. It’s an emotional, emotional issue for a lot of people, more so than any other issue I’ve run into.” Perhaps that’s what the Seahawks discovered af-
In this Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017, file photo, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) warms up before an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara, Calif. Associated Press
ter bringing Kaepernick in a few weeks ago to sound him out about backing up Russell Wilson. The team isn’t explaining why, but their interest in Kaepernick suddenly waned to the point that on Monday they signed Austin Davis — who didn’t even play last year — instead of the former San Francisco 49er. Not exactly the kind of move you’d expect a team to make when it had a chance to pick up a quarterback that just five years ago led his team to a Super Bowl. If Kaepernick is too toxic for Seattle, he’s not likely to be
welcomed anywhere else in the NFL. There are no other teams courting him — at least publicly — and time is running out as teams get their rosters ready for the opening of training camps next month. No, he’s not officially blackballed from the league. But he might as well be as teams in the last few months have signed lesser quarterbacks like Case Keenum and Mark Sanchez without even picking up the phone to see if Kaepernick is interested. Taking a stand often means paying a price. In Kaepernick’s case, not standing
up for the national anthem may cost him his career. He acknowledged as much at the time, knowing that what he did would not be popular among the majority of NFL fans. Indeed, the backlash was so severe that some blamed Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the anthem for a decline in the NFL’s television ratings. But Kaepernick said he could not show pride in a flag of a country he believes oppresses blacks and other minorities. “If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right,” he said at the
time. Take away the controversy, and Kaepernick would seem an attractive candidate for any team looking for another quarterback. Though the 49ers went 1-10 behind him last year, he threw for 16 touchdowns against only four interceptions. He’s not dealing with any injuries, is well-liked by fellow players and donates his time off the field to several charities. He’s also reportedly indicated he would stand for the anthem this coming season should a team give him a chance to play. Still, there are no takers. Aside from Seattle, no team has expressed any real interest. “He’s a starter in this league and I can’t imagine that somebody won’t give him a chance to play,” Carroll said last week. Actually, it’s pretty easy to imagine. You can kill dogs, be involved in sexual assaults or do any number of bad acts and still get a second chance in the NFL, assuming you have enough talent. Disrespect the flag in a league that sells patriotism at every turn, though, and good luck finding a job. Kaepernick is smart enough to know that. Yet he felt his cause was so just that he took a knee with the 49ers anyway.q
APNewsBreak: Fox plans all-American World Cup broadcast crew
At left, in a Sept. 11, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Galaxy’s Landon Donovan acknowledges fans after the team’s MLS soccer match against Orlando City, in Carson, Calif. At right, in an Oct. 4, 2010, file photo, U.S. men’s soccer player Stuart Holden runs drills in Bridgeview, Ill. Associated Press
RONALD BLUM AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Fox plans to go all-American with its top broadcast crew for next year’s World Cup, pairing play-by-play man John Strong in the booth with former U.S. national team players Landon Donovan and Stuart Holden. “Soccer in our country is at a point now where I think we’re ready to do that, and we have announcers and talent that are capable of bringing educated options,” Holden said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I think it’s time. I think it’s
time that we embrace the American voices.” They will broadcast Thursday night’s World Cup qualifier between the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago in Colorado. Strong and Holden will call Sunday’s qualifier at Mexico and will be the primary announce team for the Confederations Cup in Russia starting June 17. Donovan will skip the Confederations Cup while awaiting the birth of a child. “They’re American voices, diverse American voices,” said David Neal, executive producer of Fox’s World Cup coverage. “Soccer
is truly becoming a mainstream sport. I think it’s in the top four already. I think it’s supplanted the NHL.” Fox announced its Confederations Cup coverage Wednesday, and Neal said the three-man booth with Strong, Donovan and Holden was likely to be the network’s top World Cup team.“At this moment, that’s where we’re looking. Obviously, we’ve got 13 months before have to lock it in,” he said. “Stu is effervescent, and Landon is probably a little more laconic. It really is a perfect pair of personalities that can help each other.”q
TECHNOLOGY A23
Thursday 8 June 2017
Autonomous cars (no human backup) may hit the road next year
In this March 22, 2006, file photo, Delphi’s World Headquarters is shown in Troy, Mich.
By Tom Krisher Dee-Ann Durbin AP auto writer Detroit (ap) -- autonomous vehicles with no human backup will be put to the test on publicly traveled roads as early as next year in what may be the first attempt at unassisted autonomous piloting. Automotive electronics and parts maker delphi and french transport company transdev plan to use autonomous taxis and a shuttle van to carry passengers on roadways in france. The companies on wednesday said they plan to combine delphi’s self-driving technology with transdev’s knowledge of mobility operations. Transdev operates trains, buses, ferries and
other transportation services in 19 countries, including the u.s. Two on-demand Renault Zoe autonomous taxis will be deployed in Rouen, Normandy, and a shuttle van will run between a rail station and campus in the university district of ParisSaclay. Both will start with humans on board later this year, with the intent of going fully autonomous sometime in 2018. From the start, the shuttle van won’t have a steering wheel or pedals, and humans will be inside solely to communicate with passengers, said Leriche, chief performance officer at Transdev Group. But humans at a central dispatch center would still be able to take control of the
vehicles, said Glen De Vos, Delphi Corp.’s chief technology officer. “We’re confident that in the event they would need to intervene, they can,” he said. The companies also plan a similar test in North America and are scouting locations, De Vos said. He believes they’ll go through several iterations of self-driving software and systems before the French vehicles are fully operational sometime in 2019. Transdev plans to gradually spread the technology throughout Paris and other cities that it serves, so the autonomous vehicles will be on roads along with human drivers. It may take a while for people to trust the vehicles
Associated Press
enough to use them, but Leriche said acceptance may not be that hard to get. Transdev has surveyed users in autonomous shuttle tests about the service and quality, and more than 90 percent were excited about the service. “They were not afraid of the fact that there was no driver,” he said. Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who tracks self-driving cars, said the Delphi-Transdev project would be among the
first to carry passengers on roads without human backup drivers. Similar projects are ramping up in California and the Netherlands, he said. The partnership comes less than a month after U.K.based Delphi joined with BMW, Intel and Mobileye to develop autonomous vehicles. Delphi, which has U.S. operations just outside of Detroit, makes the computing platform that brings together information from the car’s sensors, cameras and computers.q
A24 BUSINESS
Thursday 8 June 2017
Consumers increased borrowing by smallest amount since 2011 By MATT OTT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers increased their borrowing at the slowest pace in April than they have in almost six years. Credit card spending growth slowed, while borrowing gains for school and autos also cooled. The Federal Reserve reports that total consumer borrowing rose $8.2 billion, or
2.6 percent, to $3.8 trillion. It was the smallest percentage increase since borrowing declined 3.5 percent in August 2011. The category that includes student and auto loans increased $6.7 billion, or 2.9 percent — also the smallest increase in that category since August 2011. Credit card borrowing increased $1.5 billion, or 1.8 percent.
Consumer borrowing is closely watched by economists to determine consumers’ willingness to take on more debt to support their spending. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. The Commerce Department reported last month that consumer spending rose in April in part due to solid gains in incomes. Economists believe
growth in consumer credit will remain strong this year, reflecting low unemployment and strong consumer confidence. The Labor Department reported slightly sluggish job gains last week, but it was enough to nudge the unemployment rate down to 4.3 percent, its lowest level in 16 years. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported last
month that U.S. household debt had reached a record high in the first quarter of 2017, topping the previous peak reached in 2008, when the financial crisis plunged the economy into a deep recession. Even with debt levels back to record heights, analysts say that household borrowing appears more sustainable now than it did nearly a decade ago.q
Banks lead US stocks slightly higher; oil slumps
Traders Michael Smyth, left, and Eugene Mauro work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Banks and other financial companies led U.S. stocks slightly higher Wednesday, snapping a twoday losing streak for the market. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer Banks and other financial companies led U.S. stocks slightly higher Wednesday, snapping a two-day losing streak for the market. The latest gains were partially offset by a slide in energy companies following a steep slump in the price
of U.S. crude oil, which fell 5.1 percent, its biggest single-day drop in nearly three months. Trading was mostly subdued, with the major indexes trading in a narrow range as investors sized up the latest company earnings and looked ahead to testimony Thursday from
former FBI Director James Comey, part of a congressional investigation into Russia’s possible election meddling. “From an investor perspective it would be nice to get another potential distraction out of the way and move toward the threefold mandate of the Trump
administration: deregulation, reduced taxes and improved infrastructure, because they have been delayed, delayed and delayed,” said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 3.81 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,433.14. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 37.46 points, or 0.2 percent, to 21,173.69. The Nasdaq composite index added 22.32 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,297.38. The Russell 2000 index of smallcompany stocks picked up 1.78 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,396.67. The major indexes remain slightly below record highs set late last week. Stocks wavered between small gains and losses early Wednesday as investors weighed the latest company earnings reports. Comey’s appearance before the Senate intelligence committee will be his first public comments since he was abruptly ousted by President Donald Trump on May 9. The former director’s associates
say Trump asked Comey if he could back off an investigation into Michael Flynn, who was fired as national security adviser because he misled the White House about his ties to Russia. Investors will try to glean how the outcome of the hearing may play into the administration’s efforts to forge ahead with Trump’s pledge to cut taxes, increase infrastructure spending and implement other business-friendly policies. Financials were the biggest gainers in the S&P 500, rising 0.8 percent. The sector is up 23 percent this year. Speculation that the Federal Reserve may raise its key interest rate at a meeting of policymakers next week likely helped lift the sector on Wednesday, said Davidson. Higher interest rates allow banks and credit card issuers to charge more for loans, which boosts profits. JPMorgan Chase gained 95 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $83.91. American Express rose $96 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $79.81.q
Spanish bank buyout showcases Europe’s new anti-crisis rules ARITZ PARRA Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Banco Santander is paying 1 euro to take over troubled rival Banco Popular, in a deal that showcases Europe’s new system to rescue failing banks without burdening taxpayers or stressing markets. Santander said Wednesday it will take over all the shares in Banco Popular,
which had lost more than half their value since last week as concerns grew about the lender’s financial health. It will raise around 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in a share issue to strengthen Banco Popular’s balance sheet. The takeover was conducted in an auction sanctioned by European authorities after the main banking regulator in the
eurozone, the European Central Bank, said Tuesday that it believed Popular was “failing or likely to fail.” It was the first time the ECB had pulled the plug on a bank since it was given new powers aimed at preventing the rescue of banks from overwhelming government finances, as they did during the eurozone’s debt crisis. European leaders agreed
to move banking supervision to the EU level — socalled “banking union” — due to concerns that national regulators were too slow to flag problems at their home banks. The ECB took over supervisory responsibility on in November 2014. Madrid-based Popular has been struggling with 7.9 billion euros ($ 8.9 billion) in non-performing assets,
including 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in real estate. As confidence waned in Popular, shares in the bank fell about 38 percent last week and another 20 percent this week, to 0.32 euros per share before regulators halted trading in its shares ahead of Wednesday’s market opening. Popular had 305,152 shareholders as of the end of March.q
BUSINESS A25
Thursday 8 June 2017
Big firms join race for investors looking to make an impact By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — If you haven’t heard of impact investing yet, just wait. It’s one of the hottest areas in investing, and the industry is racing to offer more opportunities for people to put their money into investments that deliver a positive impact on the world, along with positive returns. Think: projects and stocks of companies that are providing clean water or looking to prevent disease. This formerly niche corner of investing has become increasingly mainstream, partly because it offers a tantalizing opportunity to target millennial customers. Big-name players are getting involved, such as Morgan Stanley, which has created an Institute for Sustainable Investing and recently raised more than $125 million for a global impact fund. The prominent venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is backing OpenInvest, which matches people with socially responsible investments. All the new entrants are bringing more credibility to the field, but they’ve also coincided with some growing pains. Swell, a company backed by the insurance giant Pacific Life, is one of the latest entrants and offers a case study of how keen the industry is to tap into impact investing’s growth. Swell launched last month, but it’s already gone through a couple iterations. After its first prototype didn’t attract enough customers, Swell partnered with, of all things, a design company to help in its construction.
IDEO is the same firm that designed Apple’s original computer mouse, and it helped Swell develop everything from its web site to its philosophy on hiring. The stakes are high. Sustainable, responsible and impact investing accounted for $8.7 trillion last
vestors want to be sure to steer their dollars toward companies that they see as helping. The fast growth is not universally welcomed. Investors who have long been in the space are encouraged to see big-name firms enter, but 71 percent of them also
and partnered with an online broker, and its first prototype came out in 2015. It allowed investors to choose from four portfolios, each filled with stocks of companies whose foundations are big contributors to causes, such as “Improve Education.” Macy’s stock
This image provided by IDEO shows three weeks of design prototypes to explore how consumers think about social impact investing. Early in their work together to develop Swell’s platform for investing in a way that makes a social impact, IDEO & Swell ran through several prototypes to test what customers said was most important to them. (Courtesy of IDEO via AP)
year, or $1 of every $5 under professional management, according to US SIF, a trade group. That’s up 33 percent in two years, and it far outpaces the 5 percent growth for U.S.-registered investment companies overall. With the recent U.S. pullout from the Paris climate accord, one school of thought says impact investing could get even more popular. If Washington is leaving more environmental issues to the market to decide, some in-
say it introduces the risk of “mission drift or impact dilution,” according to the latest survey by the Global Impact Investing Network. At Swell, the company’s own approach has shifted as it heard more from customers about what they want. It started in 2012 when Dave Fanger, a financial actuary working in mergers and acquisitions at Pacific Life, wanted to help people invest with their values in mind. He launched Swell
was in the “End Cancer” portfolio because it donates to cancer research, for example. But not enough customers were actually signing up. So Fanger, who was in business school at the time and had been learning about IDEO and its theory of design thinking, got in touch with the firm through a contact at Pacific Life. After IDEO came in, they quickly zeroed in on a couple issues. One was that Swell’s site pushed users to
another web site, the broker’s, to actually invest their money. “And there was a gap between the promise of investing in companies that make the world a better place and the companies in the portfolio,” said Bryan Walker, a partner at IDEO. Instead of investing in companies whose foundations donated to causes, customers wanted to put their money into companies that were directly doing things themselves. So, more a Mohawk Industries, which recycles plastic bottles to make carpet, than a Macy’s. Swell now offers six portfolios to invest in, each filled with stocks of companies looking to make changes in a certain field. Mohawk is in the “Zero Waste” portfolio, along with LKQ Corp., which recycles auto parts. The “Green Tech” portfolio includes electric-car maker Tesla Motors and Xylem, a water technology company. IDEO and Swell also put together prototypes to test what customers wanted. They asked whether customers were willing to give up some returns in exchange for greater social impact (they were not) and whether they preferred something with bigger risks and bigger potential rewards or something that was more stable (they wanted to go big). Through its prototypes, Swell and IDEO also gauged what customers were willing to pay in fees. They set the minimum investment at $500, with an annual fee of 0.75 percent, or 75 basis points. q
Mutts
A26 COMICS
Thursday 8 June 2017
Conceptis Sudoku
6 Chix
Blondie
Mother Goose & Grimm
Baby Blues
Zits
Yesterday’s puzzle answer
Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
CLASSIFIED A27
Thursday 8 June 2017
dOCTOR ON DUTY Oranjestad
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San Nicolas
Time Share Resale Marriott Ocean Club Gold Season 1 Br Ocean View $6500 2 BR Ocean View $8000 Marriott Surf Club 2 BR Ocean View $8000 2 BR Ocean Front $16000 3 BR Ocean Front $16000 Call:011-297-630-1307 johnnypaesch@gmail.com In this Monday, June 5, 2017 image made from cellphone video provided by Rani Ghanem, bottles tumble as an animal control officer attempts to net a female peacock that wound up inside the Royal Oaks Liquor Store in Arcadia, Calif. (Rani Ghanem via AP)
Feathered frenzy: Peacock breaks bottles inside liquor store By AMANDA LEE MYERS Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — A female peacock has ruffled more than just feathers at a Los Angeles-area liquor store. Without a peep, the peahen strutted into the open door of the Royal Oaks Liquor Store in Arcadia on Monday. Store manager and college senior Rani Ghanem said he didn’t even know it was there until a customer walked in and asked him about “el pollo,” Spanish for “the chicken.” Ghanem, a 21-year-old San Bernardino resident whose family owns the store, said he then tried to guide the sharp-clawed bird outside but that she spooked, at one point flying directly to-
ward him and then up onto a top shelf of the store. And that spooked Ghanem. An animal-control officer responded after Ghanem called 911, approaching the peahen with gloves and a fishing net. That’s when the hilarity ensued, Ghanem said. “He was trying to get it with the fishing net, and (the bird) jumped on the first wine bottle. When that happened, I was like, ‘Aw, this is about to be a big mess,’” Ghanem said. “He tried to get it again with the net ... It just went straight diving into all the bottles. The more he kept on trying to use the net, the more it kept on flapping its wings and knocking everything over.”q
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A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 8 June 2017
This is us: Earliest fossils of our species found in Morocco MALCOLM RITTER AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) — How long has our species been around? New fossils from Morocco push the evidence back by about 100,000 years. The bones, about 300,000 years old, were unearthed thousands of miles from the previous record-holder, found in fossil-rich eastern Africa. The new discovery reveals people from an early stage of our species’ evolution, with a mix of modern and more primitive traits. “They are not just like us,” said Jean-Jacques Hublin, one of the scientists reporting the find. But they had “basically the face you could meet on the train in New York.” Coupled with other evidence, the Moroccan fossils suggest that Homo sapiens may have reached its modern-day form in more than one place within Africa, said Hublin, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and the College of France in Paris.
The undated artist rendering provided by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology shows two views of a composite reconstruction of the earliest known Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) based on micro computed tomographic scans of multiple original fossils. Associated Press
Previously, the oldest known fossils clearly from Homo sapiens were from Ethiopia, at about 195,000 years old. It’s not clear just when or where Homo sapiens came on the scene in Africa. Hublin said he thinks an earlier stage of development preceded the one revealed by his team’s discovery. We evolved from predecessors who had differently shaped skulls and often heavier builds, but were otherwise much more like us than, say, the ape-men that came before them. Our species lived at the same time as some related
Lipstixaruba@outlook.com
ones, like Neanderthals, but only we survive. Hublin and others described the new findings in two papers released Wednesday by the journal Nature . The discovery could help illuminate how our species evolved, Chris Stringer and Julia Galway-Witham of the Natural History Museum in London wrote in a Nature commentary. The Moroccan specimens were found between 2007 and 2011 and include a skull, a jaw and teeth, along with stone tools. Combined with other bones that were found there decades ago but not correctly dated, the fossil collection represents at least five people, including young adults, an adolescent and a child of around 8 years old. Analysis shows their brain shape was more elongated than what people have today. “In the last 300,000 years, the main story is the change of the brain,” Hublin said.
When these ancient people lived, the site in Morocco was a cave that might have served as a hunting camp, where people butchered and ate gazelles and other prey. They used fire and their tools were made of flint from about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away. So where did the fully modern human body develop? The researchers say evidence suggests primitive forms of Homo sapiens had already widely spread throughout Africa by around 300,000 years ago. The different populations may have exchanged beneficial genetic mutations and behaviors, gradually nudging each other toward a more modern form of the species, Hublin said. In this way, he said in an interview, modern Homo sapiens may have arisen in more than one place. So if there’s a Garden of Eden, he said, it’s the continent as a whole. Some experts who didn’t participate in the research called that idea possible, although not yet demonstrated. But John Shea, an anthropologist at Stony Brook University in New York, said it’s more useful to think of the different local populations as a single one, connected the same way a big city is connected by subway stops. “These are parts of a network,” through which ideas and genes flowed, he said.
Shea said it made sense to find such old traces of early Homo sapiens in northwestern Africa. He agreed that it doesn’t mean our species first appeared there. “When it comes to evidence for human origins in northwest Africa versus eastern Africa versus southern Africa, it’s a tie,” he wrote in an email. Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History said the Morocco fossils “appear to reflect the very early transition to Homo sapiens, very possibly denoting the outset of the lineage to which all people belong.” The site is about 34 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of the coastal city of Safi, northwest of Marrakech. Its age was determined chiefly by analyzing bits of flint found there, and the authors concluded they were around 315,000 years old. Hublin said that since a different method suggested a younger age for the site, he considers the bones to be about 300,000 years old. Richard Roberts of the University of Woollongong in Australia, an expert in determining ages of ancient sites, supported that conclusion. “I’d say the authors have presented pretty convincing evidence for the presence of early modern humans at this site by 300,000 years ago and perhaps a little earlier,” Roberts wrote in an email.q
PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Thursday 8 June 2017
Oliver Stone: Megyn Kelly didn’t know her stuff with Putin DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Film director Oliver Stone, whose series of conversations with Vladimir Putin air next week on Showtime, said he watched Megyn Kelly interview the Russian president on NBC and concluded that “he knew his stuff and she didn’t.” Kelly’s interview, which aired on the debut of her newsmagazine, “Sunday Night with Megan Kelly,” on Sunday, “became machine-gun like,” Stone said, and was an example of how American journalism frequently leaves little room for nuance. “I think she was attractive and she asked hardball questions, but she wasn’t in position to debate or counter him, because she didn’t know a lot of things,” he said. NBC News President Noah Oppenheim shot back that “no one here is interested in Oliver Stone’s unsolicited thoughts on Megyn Kelly’s appearance or his ill-informed opinion of her journalism.” “But so long as we’re offering each other professional feedback, please let him know I don’t think he’s made a decent movie since the early ‘90s,” he said. Putin was combative when asked in the NBC interview about hacking in the U.S. presidential election and relations between Russia and President Donald Trump’s team. He’s more serene on Showtime, where more than a dozen interviews that Stone conducted with the Russian president between 2015 and early this year unfold one hour per night for four nights starting Monday. As an example of where he believed Kelly was mistaken, Stone said the claim that 17 U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded the Russians were behind election year hacking and used as a preface for a question had been “walked back.” It was a reference to testimony from James Clapper, former director of national
In this Saturday, June 3, 2017, photo released Monday, June 5, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with Megyn Kelly during an interview with NBC’s “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” in St. Petersburg, Russia. Associated Press
intelligence, about a hacking report by three specific agencies. The independent organization Politifact has produced a report that backs Kelly, however, because Clapper had earlier said that all 17 intelligence agencies he had supervised agreed about Russia’s involvement. Stone, a controversial figure who has interviewed Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and produced a documentary backing Putin’s version of events in the Ukraine, conducts a Putin interview far less confrontational than Kelly’s, at least on the basis of two episodes provided for screening by Showtime. One critic, Marlow Stern in The Daily Beast, called in a “wildly irresponsible love letter” to Putin. The filmmaker’s style does include its share of ingratiating remarks. “You have a lot of discipline, sir,” he says at one point. “You are an excellent CEO. Russia is your company,” he says at another. Besides office sitdowns, Putin is interviewed driving a car, walking through horse stables at his home and after he played in a hockey game. When Putin makes a claim about a letter he received from the CIA and Stone asks him to produce it, the Russian president says, “My words
are enough.” Yet Stone also challenges Putin on his authoritarian style and questions his claims of democratic reform. The filmmaker said in an interview that there are more direct questions about relations with the United States in the unseen third and fourth episodes. He asks Putin about assassination attempts and, while it was inadvertent in one case, captures a couple of eye-opening moments. Asked if he ever have bad days, Putin replies that “I am not a woman so I don’t have bad days,” adding a reference to “natural cycles” affecting behavior. During a discussion about gay rights, Putin said about a homosexual male: “I prefer not to go in the shower with him. q
A30 PEOPLE
Thursday 8 June 2017
& ARTS
Earth, Wind & Fire take to the road with hits _ and sadness MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Earth, Wind & Fire goes on the road this summer with some classic hits, a new touring partner and lingering heartache. The hits include “September,” ‘’Shining Star” and “Boogie Wonderland,” while they’ll share the stage with the band Chic, featuring Nile Rodgers. The sadness comes from the
loss last year of their founder Maurice White. “We’re still healing,” said drummer Ralph Johnson, one of three original members still playing the band’s infectious hooks. “I think the way we’ve dealt with it has been to do the music.” Concertgoers can expect a teary memorial to White amid the disco grooves and horn-driven funk. The band has always honored its missing member — White
In this Feb. 14, 2016 file photo, Verdine White, from left, Philip Bailey and Ralph Johnson of Earth, Wind and Fire perform at the 2016 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala in Beverly Hills, Calif. Associated Press
stopped touring in 1995 — but this time the section has a final kiss to it. “It’s not something you get over. Maurice will always be part of us. We cut our teeth on Earth, Wind and Fire. He was our mentor, our leader, our Elvis, our John Lennon, all in one guy,” said White’s brother, Verdine. Earth, Wind & Fire and Chic embark on their Live Nation tour July 12 in Oakland, California, and then hits New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston and Washington, D.C., before concluding Aug. 22 in Detroit. It’s called 2054 The Tour and it looks backward to the heyday of the infamous disco Studio 54 and to a shiny, electronic future. Each venue will be reconfigured to make it easier for the bands to interact with dancing fans. Each night, after unleashing a top-heavy string of hits, Earth, Wind & Fire get serious during the White tribute. It comes during the song “That’s the Way of the World,” when a video memorial of Maurice White plays. He died at 74 last year after suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Johnson and Verdine White — joined by fellow original member, singer Philip Bailey — said they try to avoid looking at each other dur-
ing the show’s memorial part for fear that tears will fall. Many fans stop to pull out cellphones and capture the moment. “Everything is fun, fun, fun, fun. Then we get to that section and that’s when the show gets heart. All we see is just phones,” said White. “It’s heavy. It’s deep. It’s beautiful, though.” Earth, Wind & Fire was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, played the 2005 Super Bowl halftime show and has six Grammys. The band’s “Got to Get You Into My Life” was on President Barack Obama’s first Spotify playlist. Each generation seems to rediscover the band, in part because popular culture can’t get enough of its bouncy vibe. Last year, in one November weekend, the band had three songs in the world’s top two movies — “Trolls” and “Doctor Strange.” “We’re part of peoples’ lives. As they say, ‘the soundtrack of their lives’ — literally,” said White. “They always want pictures: ‘Can I take this for my dad or my mom?’ ‘Will you sign this for my dad?’ We get that all the time.” Satellite and classic rock radio keep the band’s hits alive and online services like iTunes, SoundCloud
and Shazam have made their work accessible. A band that started on vinyl turns out to be thriving in the digital age. “They can get to us. They can discover us. And rediscover us and rediscover us and turn a friend on to us,” said White. “So when we’re doing the concert, they’re Googling and they’re buying songs they didn’t even know that existed. So actually I think it’s been a big help.” Earth, Wind & Fire and Chic hit the road proving that nostalgia acts are still reliable tour sellers. Other bands from the 1970s like Queen, Foreigner, Boston, Aerosmith, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Billy Joel and Rod Stewart are also touring this year. “I think people will always be enamored with bands that can really play — live performance. You can’t beat that,” Johnson said. “There’s something you get from a live performance you can’t get from a record or a CD. The experience is very different.” How long will they keep at it? Until the boogie wonderland stops. “Maurice wanted a band that could play all genres of music and a band that would not be standing still onstage. q
PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Thursday 8 June 2017
Universal’s ‘The Mummy’ kicks off push for new film universe LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Is The Invisible Man any match for Iron Man at the box office? That’s the question Universal Pictures will be testing with their Dark Universe — a connected, multi-film revival of the studios’ classic monster properties from the 1920s through 50s, including The Invisible Man, Dracula, Frankenstein and the Phantom of the Opera. It launches this Friday with “The Mummy,” starring Tom Cruise. The studio already has flashy talent lined up in front of and behind the camera for this expanded universe, including Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man, Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll and Javier Bardem as Frankenstein’s Monster. The Dark Universe has a Danny Elfman-composed theme and a nostalgic trailer looking back at the days of Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi. Creatives Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan are stewarding the endeavor. It’s no wonder why Universal is trying it out. In the hierarchy of Hollywood franchises, it’s hard to beat the idea of the shared universe, which superheroes dominate. “Universal desperately wants a universe to call their own, especially since
In this image released by Universal Pictures, Tom Cruise appears in a scene from, “The Mummy.” Associated Press
they are one of the only studios that hasn’t been able to capitalize on the comic book craze,” said Jeff Bock, a senior box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. Nearly every major studio has at least a scrap of that coveted intellectual property too; Disney has the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and Star Wars), Warner Bros. has the DC Extended Universe, Sony has SpiderMan and Fox has X-Men, but Universal Pictures has remained ardently outside of the comic book squall. Instead, it’s focused on homegrown franchises, like the $5.1 billion “Fast & Furious” films, the $3.6 billion “Jurassic Park” films and the $2.7 billion “Despicable
Me” films, to name a few. “This is an incredible opportunity for Universal to set itself apart by leaving Marvel and DC to compete head to head with their superhero line-ups while offering a fresh take on the notion of interwoven characters and stories,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for comScore. “There are unlimited creative possibilities.” The idea of the Dark Universe, including the name, has been on the table for quite some time. While Universal officially announced the name in late May, the company has been scooping up trademarks for more than 600 types of branded items, from energy drinks to canned vegetables
and television shows going back to November 2014. It’s also likely been an expensive investment. “For the studios’ sake, this better pay off, as they’ve invested a fortune already. Tom Cruise, Danny Elfman, Bill Condon, Russell Crowe, Alex Kurtzman, Javier Bardem ... these people demand big up-fronts and even bigger back-end deals,” Bock said. “I’m not saying they’re betting the farm on this thing, but they’re certainly blowing through truckloads of that ‘Fast & Furious’ cash.” Universal has actually been waging its own experiments with its monsters for years, long before Marvel and its “Avengers” films made the interconnected
universe an aspirational business model. The most successful attempt was “The Mummy” reboot from 1999, with Brendan Fraser, which spawned two sequels and a spinoff. Others attempts floundered — like “Dracula Untold” in 2014 and “The Wolfman” in 2010 — and went back into the vault. Even this present-day set “Mummy” reboot has been in various stages of development since 2012. What is new is the idea that the monster films will all relate to one another. “The Mummy” promises to get this interconnectedness going immediately by introducing Crowe’s Dr. Jekyll character as the leader of a shadowy multinational corporation, Prodigium, which is committed to destroying evil in the world (not dissimilar sounding to Marvel’s overarching S.H.I.E.L.D.) Whether or not that means anything to an audience is still up for debate for some. Forbes contributor Scott Mendelson isn’t sold on the idea that moviegoers necessarily care about shared universes. “The only way to make this thing work is to make a bunch of good and crowd-pleasing star-driven monster movies that will get audiences excited outside of their existence in a shared universe,” Mendelson wrote.q
Noel Gallagher is donating song royalties to Manchester fund JOSEPH LONGO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Noel Gallagher will donate royalties from Oasis’ song “Don’t Look Back In Anger” to the British Red Cross’ One Love Manchester fund, a spokesperson for a benefit concert where the song was performed said Wednesday. A spokesperson for the production companies behind Sunday’s benefit concert said that neither Gallagher, 50, nor Oasis was set to perform. SB Projects, Live
Nation, Festival Republic and SJM Concerts produced the event, which was broadcast around the world. Gallagher told organizers that he would donate the royalties and approved using Oasis’ music at the concert, the statement said. His brother Liam Gallagher, 44, performed at the benefit concert, fueling speculation the brothers would reunite. Oasis disbanded in 2009. After the show, Liam Gallagher criticized his brother’s
absence, saying he had shown his “true colours.” “Sunday’s concert was a huge success, and we are all dismayed that there is negativity aimed towards Noel Gallagher,” Wednesday’s statement said. Coldplay’s Chris Martin later defended Noel Gallagher. Martin said everyone knew in advance he could not make it. Noel Gallagher’s spokesman previously said the singer could not attend because of a long-standing family trip.q
In this Oct. 19, 2015 file photo, Noel Gallagher poses for photographers upon arrival at the Q Awards ceremony in London. Associated Press
A32 FEATURE
Thursday 8 June 2017
Winery or ‘weedery’: Vineyards rip up grapes, switch to pot GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press JACKSONVILLE, Ore. (AP) — Bill and Barbara Steele moved to this sleepy corner of Oregon to start their own winery after successful, high-powered business careers. Now, more than a decade later and with award-winning wine to show for their hard work, they are adding a new crop: marijuana. Oregon’s legalization of recreational pot two years ago created room for entrepreneurial cross-pollination in this fertile region abutting California’s socalled Emerald Triangle, a well-known nirvana for outdoor weed cultivation. Recreational marijuana cannot be sold legally in California until next year. But a few miles north of the border in Oregon, a handful of winemakers are experimenting with pot in hopes of increasing their appeal among young consumers and in niche markets. “Baby boomers are drinking less. Millennials are coming into their time, economically, where in 2016 they were the fastest-growing consumers of wine, both in dollars and volume,” said Barbara Steele, who runs Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden in rural Jacksonville with her husband. “They’re looking for an experience of ‘wine and weed.’” The Steeles leased their
In this April 5, 2017 photo, vineyard owner Katherine Bryan laughs as she discusses the wines available for tasting at Deer Creek Vineyards in Selma, Ore. Associated Press
land to grow 30 medical marijuana plants last year, and this year they are growing double that amount to be branded with the same label as their wine. They started with seeds in plastic cups under incubators in their laundry room, and pride themselves on a “seed to smoke” philosophy. This year’s crop also is for medical use, but the Steeles are seeing the benefits of the expanding market from legal recreational pot. Their weed was reviewed alongside one of their white wines in Stoner Magazine, an Oregon cannabis publication. “That conversation is possible here because our quality — the agricultural possibility — is so high. This is an
In this April 4, 2017 photo, tiny marijuana seedlings push out of the soil in cups kept in a growing room owned by winemakers Bill and Barbara Steele at their winery, Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden, outside of Jacksonville, Ore. Associated Press
amazing growing region,” Barbara Steele said. It’s hard to know exactly how many in the wine industry are looking at pot
ness Kenyon & Associates, based in southern Oregon. “The ‘weedery’ and the winery. I think that’s huge, and we see it developing.”
liquor license, however, could get a recreational marijuana license, she said. In the nearby Illinois Valley, Katherine Bryan is tackling these challenges as she launches a marijuana business with her son. She owns Deer Creek Vineyards with her husband, but her pot operation will be called Bryan Family Gardens and will operate on land next to the vineyard. “We want to be as transparent as possible because when you’re under the federal government umbrella for your wines, you have to be very, very careful,” Bryan said. She plans to grow several hundred marijuana plants with a focus on organic cultivation and an eye toward a high-end market. They already have some
In this April 4, 2017 photo, Bill and Barbara Steele walk through their vineyard outside Jacksonville, Ore. Associated Press
here, but there’s plenty of buzz surrounding the subject. Some vineyards are ripping out portions of grapes in favor of marijuana plants or leasing land to private growers. Others are talking about wine-and-weed tourism, including high-end shuttles that would stop at local wineries for tastings and at marijuana farms for glimpses of how pot is prepared for market. “There are a few wineries setting up very large recreational grows right now,” said Brent Kenyon, of the marijuana consulting busi-
But that enthusiasm comes with a caveat. Marijuana is still federally illegal, and wineries must keep their wine and weed businesses separate or risk losing a federal permit that allows them to bottle and sell wine. That means establishing two distinct lots for tax purposes and keeping two licenses with the state, said Christie Scott, alcohol program spokeswoman for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which also licenses recreational marijuana. Vineyards that grow grapes but don’t have a
buyers lined up and are installing greenhouses and lighting as they await approval of their recreational license. “I get $2,000 a ton for my pinot gris grapes, whereas I can make potentially $2,000 or more per pound of cannabis,” Bryan said. “We have 31,000 plants out here for grapes, so I’m pretty sure I can handle 300 to 500 cannabis plants.” Mark Wisnovsky, of Valley View Winery in Jacksonville, says some vintners are upset because of the stigma associated with marijuana. q