January 12, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Clinton Plays Offense as Iowa Polls Tighten

LISA LERER KEN THOMAS Associated Press WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Hillary Clinton has spent much of her presidential campaign looking past Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, focusing instead on Republicans and the November general election. No longer. Three weeks before the lead-off Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1 and with polls suggesting a tightening race, she now

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Waterloo, Iowa.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

is confronting the Vermont senator more directly, attempting to undermine his liberal credentials on gun control, health care and even the Wall Street regulations that have

been the core of his insurgent campaign.“It’s time for us to have the kind of spirited debate that you deserve us to have,” Clinton told voters on Monday.

“We do have differences.”

After months with a comfortable edge in most Iowa polls, the former secretary of state finds herself battling an underdog rival in a state that has a history of rewarding anti-estab-

lishment campaigns — a situation that brings back echoes of her 2008 loss to Barack Obama in the Midwestern state.

Continued on Page 3

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Tuesday 12 January 2016

FRONT

Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, US seek roadmap to peace KATHY GANNON Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Four countries __ Afghanistan,

fied because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said, “some good progress” was made dur-

for direct talks between representatives of the Government of Afghanistan and representatives from

Afghanistan Deputy Foreign Minister, Hekmat Khalil Karzai, right, shakes hands with Sartaj Aziz, adviser to the Pakistani prime minister on foreign affairs, prior to meeting of delegates from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and United States who hope to lay the roadmap for peace talks with the Taliban, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. Richard Olson, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan is seen at left.

(Associated Press of Pakistan via AP)

Pakistan, China and the United States __ were cloistered away late into the night Monday trying to lay a foundation they hope will eventually lead to peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban fighters.

But in the end, the biggest decision that appeared to be reached was to meet again.

Still an Afghan official, who was in the meeting but did not want to be identi-

ing what turned out to be a marathon session.

The Taliban were not invited to the talks and a Taliban official, in a rare face-to-face meeting with The Associated Press, said there would be no direct talks with the Afghan government without first talking to the United States.

The final communique, however, seemed to rule that out.

“The participants emphasized the immediate need

Taliban groups in a peace process that aims to preserve Afghanistan’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said the communique.

A small breakaway Taliban group said Monday it was ready for talks.

The faction, which emerged following the revelation last year that the Taliban leader and founder Mullah Mohammed Omar had died two years ago, is believed to be relatively

small and its absence from the battlefield is unlikely to be a game changer.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks across the country and while they have been unable to hold urban centers, the religious militia has operated in rural areas, often dispensing justice and challenging the government’s authority.

Afghan security forces have taken heavy casualties, particularly since the withdrawal of NATO-led forces from Afghanistan last year.

They complain bitterly about inadequate supplies and still rely heavily on U.S. airpower.

The presence of the U.S. and China together at the table reflects the urgency of getting talks started.

China has historically close ties with Pakistan and while there were four countries represented at Monday’s talks, Pakistan — which is often accused of harboring Taliban leaders, including the fierce Haqqani group, a U.S.-declared terrorist group — is seen as the key to getting the largest contingent of Taliban fighters to the table.

Imtiaz Gul, whose Center for Research and Security Studies has delved deeply into the Afghan conflict and Pakistan’s decadesold involvement, says Pakistan has significant leverage with the Taliban, led

by Omar’s replacement Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.q

Iran disputes UN finding that it worked on nuclear arms GEORGE JAHN Associated Press VIENNA (AP) — Iran has rejected an assessment by the U.N. nuclear agency that it did past work on nuclear arms but is praising some aspects of the agency’s investigation of the issue, reflecting satisfaction that the more than decade-long probe has ended.

Closure of the file means that some questions about the alleged weapons work may never be resolved. Before the 35-nation board of the U.N’s International

Atomic Energy Agency adopted a resolution last month ending the investigation, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told the meeting that his investigation couldn’t “reconstruct all the details of activities conducted by Iran in the past.”

But both Iran and the international community are eager to put the issue behind them in order to be able to implement a landmark nuclear deal that commits Tehran to significant limits on its nuclear activities for over a decade in exchange for relief from

crippling economic sanctions.

Implementation day will come once the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency certifies that Iran has fulfilled its commitments, and diplomats on Monday told The Associated Press that could happen within a week. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment on the process.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported a key step toward that goal, saying that technicians have dismantled

the core of the Arak heavy water reactor on Monday and filled it with concrete.

The probe had to be formally ended as part of the July 14 nuclear agreement.

The IAEA board closed the books on the investigation last month, even though Amano repeated an assessment he made in his final report on the issue in November that Iran worked on “a range of activities relevant” to making nuclear weapons, with coordinated efforts up to 2003 tapering off into scattered activities into 2009.q

Investigators: Friends say that US woman stayed behind at a club FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Friends of an American woman found slain in her rented Florence apartment have told police she stayed behind at a nightclub when they left, investigators said Monday.

Coroners began an autopsy on Ashley Olsen’s body Monday afternoon.

First results, including time and cause of death, could come as soon as Tuesday.

Investigators based in Florence’s prosecutors’ offices stressed that after questioning the 35-year-old woman’s boyfriend, who is an Italian artist in the city, as well as friends of Olsen they haven’t put anyone under investigation.

The investigators, who declined to be identified because the probe is still ongoing, said the woman’s friends told them they were together with Olsen at a Florence nightspot late Thursday. According to their account, the friends decided to leave but Olsen remained there.

Her body was discovered on Saturday afternoon after the boyfriend told the apartment’s owner he was worried because he hadn’t heard from her and they went together to open the apartment. Police have said the victim’s neck had bruises and scratches, indications of possible strangulation.

Investigators have said there were no signs of a break-in, indicating that Olsen likely knew her killer.

Olsen’s beagle, Scout, a frequent companion of the woman on strolls through Florence’s historic center, was found unharmed in the apartment.

The woman had lived in Florence for some three years and was known among the Renaissance art city’s close-knit expatriate community.

Her father, Walter Olsen, who teaches in Florence and is known in the design field, laid a floral bouquet and knelt for a few minutes in front of the apartment building,.q

U.S. NEWS A3

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Clinton confronts rival Sanders as Iowa polls tighten Continued from front

While she has locked up the vast majority of support from party leaders and large donors, Sanders has captured the hearts of many in the Democratic base with his unapologetically liberal economic message.

An NBC/The Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Sunday found Clinton with 48 percent and Sanders with 45 percent of likely Iowa caucus goers, representing a closer margin than past polls have indicated.

Sanders has maintained an edge in New Hampshire, which neighbors his home state of Vermont, making Iowa even more important for Clinton. The NBC/ Wall Street Journal/Marist poll showed Sanders with 50 percent and Clinton with 46 percent in that primary which takes place Feb. 9.

Clinton still holds a strong advantage among black and Latino voters who play a bigger role in the primaries in late February and March. But even if Clinton pulls out a win in Iowa, a narrow victory could set off alarms among Democrats about her strength against Sanders, who started the campaign as an obscure senator polling in the single digits.Until now, Clinton has rarely mentioned Sanders by name at her campaign events, choosing instead to warn voters about the risks of electing a Republican.

She has pointed to efforts

by Republicans to repeal Obama’s signature health care law — the president vetoed the most recent try — as a sign of what could come if Democrats lose the White House. But on Monday, she widened her health care critique to include Sanders, saying he would “rip up” the law and put power in the hands of states. Sanders said during a town hall meeting in Perry, Iowa, that many people have inadequate coverage and must pay large fees to cover medical expenses before payments from private insurers kick in. Sanders advocates a system in which medi-

cal claims would be paid out by the government as it does with the Medicare program covering seniors.

Clinton also announced a new plan that would impose a 4 percent fee on taxpayers making more than $5 million — an effort to match Sanders’ focus on income inequality.

And she talked about guns.

When Obama said last week he would not support a Democratic nominee who didn’t support “common-sense gun reform,” Clinton’s team quickly sought to turn it to their advantage, reminding voters that Sanders had backed legislation in 2005 that protected gun-makers from lawsuits. Clinton — who’s done only a select few national interviews since announcing her campaign in April — called in to MSNBC’s “Hardball” on Friday night, invoking Sanders name six times during a short interview to criticize his vote on liability for gun-makers and his past opposition to other gun control legislation.

Sanders, during a town hall meeting in Des Moines, expressed his own support for Obama’s use of executive actions to curb gun violence, suggesting little daylight between him and the president. Sanders has long targeted Iowa and New Hampshire as places where he could trip up Clinton, who started the campaign with a commanding lead in national polls but has watched her advantage in the early voting states diminish. The senator has also pointed to favorable polls showing him outperforming Clinton in hypothetical matchups against Republicans like billionaire Donald Trump.

Sanders has held multiple events in the state since Friday. Clinton was back in Iowa after a two-day trip to the state last week but has also held fundraisers in California and plans to keep a lower profile later this week with closed fundraisers in Washington and New York.

Former President Bill Clinton returns this week, accompanied on Saturday by the couple’s daughter, Chelsea.q

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton reaches for a smartphone for a selfie with a supporter after a campaign rally, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Waterloo, Iowa.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A4 U.S.

Tuesday 12 January 2016

NEWS

House moves on North Korea sanctions bill after bomb test

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. House of Representatives House pushed ahead on legislation that seeks to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test by expanding sanctions on Pyongyang, a move with strong bipartisan support despite questions over how effective the new restrictions can be.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

RICHARD LARDNER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House of Representatives House pushed ahead on legislation that seeks to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test by expanding sanctions on Pyongyang, a move with strong bipartisan support despite questions over how effective the new restrictions can be.

Lawmakers are scheduled to vote Tuesday on the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act, which proposes to deny North Korea the hard currency they say it needs for its weapons programs. Holding the vote tomorrow puts it on the same day as President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address.

But former State Department officials said any new

sanctions won’t have teeth unless China makes a major shift in policy toward its rebellious ally. Separately, a panel of experts on North Korea said existing United Nations sanctions against the reclusive country are going unenforced.

The House bill is sponsored

by Rep. Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The new sanctions

would put “targeted economic financial pressure” on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Royce said Monday ahead of the vote, arguing that a failure to respond aggressively will embolden Pyongyang.

Rep. Eliot Engel, the committee’s top Democrat, said Kim is on a “dangerous, destabilizing course” and theU.S. needs to act unilaterally to show the North Koreans that “there are consequences for their actions.”

Royce’s committee unanimously approved the measure in February 2015 and it remained there until last week when North Korea announced it had conducted a fourth nuclear test — this one detonating a thermonuclear device with massive destructive power.

The announcement was met with doubt North Korea had set off a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major technological advance for Pyongyang’s limited nuclear arsenal. But it could take weeks or even longer to confirm or refute the claim. Yet lawmakers are pushing ahead.

In the wake of the announcement, Republicans

CNN reports American detained by North Korea WASHINGTON (AP) — The government of North Korea has detained a U.S. citizen on suspicion of spying, CNN reported Monday. It said a man identified as Kim Dong Chul was being held by the Pyongyang government and said authorities had accused him of engaging

in spying and stealing state secrets.In an interview with a CNN correspondent, Kim said he had traveled extensively in recent years between China and North Korea and had made some trips to South Korea as well.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John

Kirby said he could not confirm the report. He declined to discuss the issue further or confirm whether the U.S. was consulting with Sweden, which handles U.S. consular issues in North Korea because Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.

“We are looking into the matter, and when we have more that we can say — if we have more that we can say — we will,” Kirby told reporters. CNN displayed Kim’s US passport and said he had lived in China for many years, but also had resided in Fairfax, Virginia.q

derided the Obama administration for not being more forceful in its policy toward North Korea. Royce said the administration’s approach of “strategic patience” toward North Korea has failed to stop its nuclear program.

It’s uncertain what the bill’s prospects will be in the Senate if it’s passed by the House.

But Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he wants theU.S. and its allies “to take a more assertive role in addressing North Korea’s provocation.”

A central part of Royce’s legislation is to make socalled “blocking sanctions” mandatory rather than discretionary as currently permitted through existing regulations. The sanctions are mandated against any country, business or individual that materially contributes to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development, imports luxury goods into North Korea, or engages with Pyongyang in money laundering, the manufacture of counterfeit goods, or narcotics trafficking, according to the legislation.

A similar tactic was used by the Treasury Department a decade ago, Royce said, and it drained North Korea of the hard currency essential for buying the parts and supplies necessary for weapons development and missile production.

Nor did Pyongyang have enough money to pay its army or police forces. q

U.S. NEWS A5

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Judge reduces bond for mother of Texas ‘affluenza’ teen

JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The mother of a Texas teenager who used an “affluenza” defense for a deadly wreck could soon leave jail after a judge on Monday sharply reduced her bond.

Tonya Couch’s bond is now $75,000 instead of $1 million. She is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon after she and her son, Ethan Couch, were caught in a Mexican resort city. Ethan, 18, killed four people in a 2013 crash and was facing allegations that he violated his probation.

Authorities say Tonya Couch took $30,000 and fled with Ethan to Mexico out of fear that her son would face prison for violating his probation. The two were caught in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Dec. 28. Tonya Couch was brought back to Texas last week, while Ethan Couch remains in a Mexico City detention facility, where he is contesting his extradition.

If Tonya Couch makes bail, she will be required to wear an electronic ankle moni-

Tonya Couch appears in court in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The mother of Ethan Couch, who used an “affluenza” defense after killing people in a drunken-driving wreck, appeared in court on a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon.

(Rodger Mallison/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)

tor and remain at home except for appointments with her doctor and lawyer.

State District Judge Wayne Salvant said he understood prosecutors’ concerns that Couch might flee again, but that the charge against her, while a thirddegree felony, wasn’t serious enough to merit a $1 million bond.

One of her attorneys,

Stephanie Patten, said afterward that she wasn’t sure if Tonya Couch would immediately post bond.

Ethan Couch was 16 and driving at three times the legal limit for adult drivers when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people trying to help stranded motorists on the side of a North Texas road.

Four people were killed in

4 teens in custody in NYC park group rape TOM HAYS VERENA DOBNIK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A father trying to report that his daughter was being accosted by armed teenagers in a city playground said a merchant refused to let him use a telephone, delaying the police response to the scene until after the girl had been raped, authorities said Monday.

Police said that more than 15 minutes elapsed between when the alleged attack began last Thursday

in a dark corner of a Brooklyn park and when officers, flagged down by the distraught father, responded to the park only to find that the young assailants had fled into the night.

Four teenagers were in custody on Monday in connection with the incident.

Two of the teens, ages 15 and 17, were arrested on Sunday and the two others, ages 14 and 15, were turned in by their parents.

A fifth was being sought.

Police hadn’t yet announced what charges

the teens would face.

The attack began at about 9 p.m.

Thursday after an 18-yearold woman and her 39-year-old father decided to drink beer together near a handball court at a playground residents say usually is quiet and empty at night.

The woman told investigators that a group of teenagers approached the pair in the park and one of them pulled out a handgun and ordered the father to leave. q

the June 2013 wreck.

A juvenile court judge gave the teen 10 years’ probation, outraging prosecutors who had called for him to face detention time.

The case drew widespread derision after an expert called by Ethan Couch’s lawyers argued he had been coddled into a sense

of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert called “affluenza.”

Despite all of the previous testimony about the teen’s wealthy upbringing, his mother’s attorneys have argued that she had few assets to her own name and couldn’t pay the cost of a $1 million bond.

Another of Tonya Couch’s sons, Steven McWilliams, testified Monday that the balance on a bank account belonging to her read “-$99 billion.”

Tonya Couch is separated from Fred Couch, Ethan’s father, who owns a suburban Fort Worth business that does large-scale metal roofing.

According to an arrest warrant, Tonya Couch is accused of telling Fred Couch that he would never see her or Ethan again before fleeing.

Tarrant County criminal investigator Darran Gabbert testified Monday that Tonya and Ethan Couch had a “planning meeting” with several other people before leaving for Mexico. q

A6 U.S.

Tuesday 12 January 2016

NEWS

Michigan governor pledges contact with every Flint household DAVID EGGERT Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — An apologetic Gov. Rick Snyder pledged Monday that officials would make contact with every household in Flint to check whether residents have bottled water and a filter and want to be tested for lead exposure while his embattled administration works on a long-term solution to the city’s water crisis.

He also said he first clearly knew of Flint’s lead problem around Oct. 1, when state health authorities confirmed elevated bloodlead levels in children that were detected by a local doctor. Exposure to lead can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children. It was the Michigan Republican’s first visit to the 99,000-resident city since October, when he called for a switch back to Detroit’s water after more corrosive Flint River water leached lead from 15,000 service lines and into homes. Snyder said he may ask state lawmakers

for additional money for the emergency before his budget proposal in February.

Flint switched from Detroit’s water system to river water in a cost-cutting move in 2014, while under state financial management.

That was intended as a temporary step while a pipeline was built from Lake Huron. The city returned to Detroit’s Lake Huron water in October after various problems, but officials remain concerned about the corrosion caused by the Flint River water. Extra anti-corrosion controls began last month.

“We don’t want people to assume anything’s good until we have a chance to do extensive testing and confirm that publicly,” Snyder said.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Interim Director Keith Creagh gave no timeline for when the tap water would be OK to drink, saying additional testing is needed.

The state auditor general and a task force created

An officer with the Genesee County Sheriff’s office carries water filters as he along with fellow officers and a work detail of people sentenced to community service hand out water filters and gallons of water to residents of Flint’s north side on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Mich.

(Sean Proctor /The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

by Snyder have faulted the Department of Environmental Quality for not requiring Flint to treat the river water for corrosion and belittling the public’s fears.

Former DEQ Director Dan Wyant resigned last month.

Last week, a professor who

has investigated the Flint situation posted online an email obtained through a public records request that shows Snyder’s chief of staff expressing concerns in July to Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon that Flint

residents were “basically getting blown off.” Snyder said Monday he wanted to “push on (state) departments” after hearing concerns from the community, and the agencies “reaffirmed they didn’t believe there was an issue. q

High court seems ready to scrap mandatory public union fees SAM HANANEL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appears ready to deliver a major setback to American unions as it considers scrapping a four-decade precedent that lets public-sector labor organizations collect fees from workers who decline to join.

During more than an hour of oral arguments Monday, the high court’s conservative justices seemed likely to side with a group of Cali-

fornia teachers who say those mandatory fees violate the free-speech rights of workers who disagree with a union’s positions.

Labor officials fear unions’ very existence could be threatened if workers are allowed to get all the benefits of representation without at least paying fees to cover the costs of collective bargaining. The case affects more than 5 million workers in 23 states and Washington, D.C. Union advocates say the

lawsuit is part of a conservative agenda to weaken unions, which are known for reliably supporting Democratic candidates and policies. The challengers are backed by the conservative Center for Individual Rights.

But Justice Anthony Kennedy rejected arguments by lawyers for the state of California and the California Teachers Association that the current fee system is needed to prevent nonmembers from becoming

“free riders” — workers who reap the rewards of union bargaining and grievance procedures without paying for it. “The union basically is making these teachers compelled riders for issues on which they strongly disagree,” Kennedy said, noting the political nature of bargaining issues like teacher salaries, merit promotions and class size.

Even Justice Antonin Scalia, who in the past has expressed some sympathy for the free-rider argument,

said all the items negotiated in a collective bargaining agreement “are necessarily political questions.”

Arguing in support of the union, California Solicitor General Edward DuMont said the state needs a reliable bargaining partner that is funded by all the workers it represents. He said the fees for collective bargaining typically apply to non-political issues such as mileage reimbursement, working hours and other mundane matters. q

U.S. NEWS

A7

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Rauner says he has plan to stop court-ordered spending

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner overlooks the south fork of the Sangamon River in Kincaid, Ill. Rauner said Monday he will outline a plan to get out from under court-ordered spending that’s plunging Illinois further into debt during a seven-month budget stalemate.

(AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

IVAN MORENO ASHLEY LISENBY Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner said Monday he will outline a plan to get out from under court-ordered spending that’s plunging Illinois further into debt during a seven-month budget stalemate.

Even without a budget, the state has been required to continue spending on things such as Medicaid and services for people with disabilities because of federal consent decrees and court orders.

Rauner said in an interview with The Associated Press that getting out from under those will “be a big part of our plan going forward,” but he declined to offer specifics on his idea, which one analyst said would require court approval.

The new state legislative term begins Wednesday and the Republican governor is marking his first year in office Tuesday.

It’s been a tumultuous year for the wealthy businessman who has battled with Democrats over the state’s spending plan. It should’ve taken effect July 1.

Rauner has said a budget needs to include reforms he argues will help the state economy, such as curbing the power of unions and passing business-friendly laws. He also wants term limits and changes to how legislative districts are drawn every decade.

Democrats, who hold supermajorities in the Legislature, say they won’t cave to some of Rauner’s demands because it would hurt the middle class.

It’s unclear how Rauner can get out of the courtmandated spending, which is running up a big tab on state expenditures.

That’s because the state is spending based on revenue levels from last year, when the individual Illinois income tax rate was at 5 percent, not the rate of 3.75 percent. A recent report from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget says if the current spending levels continue without new taxes or the legislature cutting spending the deficit for the fiscal year ending in June will be $4.6 billion.

To get out of the courtordered spending requirements, Rauner would have

to show that the state is complying with spending for services the federal government has deemed essential, like caring for people with developmental and physical disabilities.

“He can’t simply say we’re not going to provide services people have a fundamental right to,” said Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy for the American Civil Liberties Union in Illinois. Not having a budget will only make it harder for Rauner to show the state is complying with funding requirements, Yohnka said.

“If the governor has a

magic wand he could wave today for the state to become complaint, we welcome him to use it.

It doesn’t exist,” he said.

“These are hard, persistent problems. You actually have to do it.”

“I have to be able to say to you, you’re getting value for your taxes before I would ever discuss with you taking more of your money,” Rauner said.

Rauner pinned the blame for the budget gridlock on Democrats who control the Legislature and said House Speaker Michael Madigan has been unwilling to compromise.

Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, said it was too early tell how Democrats would react to Rauner’s idea of ending court-ordered spending. He took exception to Rauner’s comments and noted Madigan has compromised, including as recently as last month when lawmakers and Rauner agreed to spend $3 billion from special funds. Some of that went to emergency dispatch call centers and 52 domestic-violence shelters.

“We have compromised.

That’s the point,” Brown said.q

A8

Tuesday 12 January 2016

WORLD NEWS

Officials pledge closer cooperation against extremists MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Police, politicians and intelligence officials from more than 50 countries pledged Monday to intensify the fight against

European Union police organization Europol.

“Terrorism is like a virus. It adapts,” he added. “We have to be quicker than they are.”

Koenders said that building trust between countries

bases at Interpol and other national and international agencies tracking such extremists and fraudulent documents they use.

Addressing fears that extremists could be crossing borders amid the current

French Secretary of State for EU affairs Harlem Desir, left, is greeted by Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders prior to the start of an anti terror conference at the Europol headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016.

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

violent extremism by cooperating more closely in tracking foreign fighters, their finances and communications.

“We all agree that we need to share information better, smarter and faster,” Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said after the meeting at the headquarters of

and agencies not always accustomed to swiftly sharing intelligence was a key result of the behind-closeddoors meeting.

Among a raft of measures agreed by the delegates were moves to disrupt travel routes used by foreign fighters, in part by updating on a daily basis data-

surge in migrants entering Europe, Koenders said agencies need up-to-theminute information, “to check the personal data of all persons who cross borders.”

The meeting came two months after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, in which extremists took advantage

of gaps in European intelligence as they plotted and executed the rampage that killed 130 people.

Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini, two fugitives in the Paris attacks, had appeared on a list of suspected Belgian extremists, but the list apparently was never widely shared.

Authorities say Abdeslam was able to crisscross Europe, pick up accomplices, rent rooms and cars, and buy detonators from a fireworks shop. He was even stopped by police and released again Nov. 14 because his name had not yet been linked to the attacks, even though he rented apartments in the Paris area and a car under his name.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected planner of the attacks, was among the most wanted men in Europe, but French authorities were seemingly unaware until after Nov. 13 that his first cousin, with whom he was in close contact, was living in the Paris region.

The cousin, Hasna Ait Boulahcen, was tapped in an unrelated drug investigation, but it was Moroccan intelligence that pointed French authorities to the apartment in Saint-Denis where the cousins were hiding out with an accomplice. They died in a raid there.q

Germany:

Pakistanis, Syrian attacked in Cologne amid tension

GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A string of attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve blamed largely on foreigners was “intolerable,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Monday, but added nothing excuses retaliatory assaults on immigrants.

Merkel has proposed making it easier to deport immigrants involved in crimes, and her spokesman Steffen Seibert emphasized the government is looking into both “possible consequences for criminal law (and) possible political consequences for the intol-

erable crimes.”

But after Cologne police said a group of Pakistanis and a Syrian were attacked in the city on Sunday, Seibert said Germans must not blame all the nearly 1.1 million migrants who entered the country last year, and said the government is also focused on their welfare.

“We’re doing all of these things to protect the population in Germany,” he said.

“We are also doing this for the great majority of innocent refugees who have sought refuge from bombs and war in our country, and who should get this protection and who are prepared to adapt to the rules and

values in our country.”

The six Pakistani nationals were attacked Sunday by around 20 people, and two of them were briefly admitted to a hospital, police said. Also Sunday evening, five people attacked a Syrian man, who was injured but didn’t need treatment.

Police official Norbert Wagner said authorities are treating those attacks as anti-foreigner crimes and believe the assailants arranged to meet via social media, news agency dpa reported.

The New Year’s Eve assaults stoked tensions over Germany’s open-door policy to refugees and prompted

politicians to call for tougher laws against migrants who commit crimes.

“As abominable as the crimes in Cologne and other cities were, one thing remains clear: there is no justification for blanket agitation against foreigners,” Justice Minister Heiko Maas said, adding that some people “appear just to have been waiting for the events of Cologne.”

In the eastern city of Leipzig on Monday night, supporters of the anti-Islamic PEGIDA movement demonstrated, carrying signs with slogans like “RAPEfugees not welcome” and “Freedom for Germany.”q

Migrants in poor French camps get housing upgrade ALEX TURNBULL Associated Press CALAIS, France (AP) — French officials took steps on Monday to improve the lot of thousands of migrants living in dreadful conditions in northern France, setting up containers with bunk beds in Calais, the largest camp, and approving plans to relocate another squalid camp outside nearby Dunkirk.

Migrants throng by the thousands to Calais and Dunkirk in a bid to sneak into Britain. But until Monday, authorities had done little to make life easier for migrants — from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and elsewhere — because France and Britain are trying to dissuade them from coming.

A group of 140 people moved into the white containers with bunk beds in the Calais camp. The containers can house 1,500, with children and families getting priority.

In Grande-Synthe, the mayor’s office approved relocating a camp mired in mud to another location, after weeks of discussions among local authorities and Doctors Without Borders, which led the effort.

The new camp will open in four weeks, according to the prefecture of the Nord region.

Up to 2,500 people stay in the Grande-Synthe camp, known as a haven for smugglers.

Both camps ballooned with the influx of migrants to Europe, and the Calais camp has evolved into a slum with shops, mosques and a church between the tarps and tents. Up to 6,000 people were staying there in the fall, though the number has decreased recently.

Authorities are cautious not to allow housing to attract more migrants. The goal is to reduce the Calais migrant population to 2,000. Security has been tightened at the port and Channel tunnel.q

WORLD NEWS 9

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Aid convoys reach 3 Syria communities besieged for months ALBERT AJI Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Aid convoys delivered long-awaited food, medicine and other supplies to three besieged communities Monday, part of a U.N.supported operation to help tens of thousands of civilians cut off for months by the war in Syria.

Reports of starvation and images of emaciated children have raised global concerns and underscored the urgency for new peace talks that the U.N. is hoping to host in Geneva on Jan. 25.

The U.N. Security Council took up the issue Monday.

The U.N. says 4.5 million Syrians are living in besieged or hard-to-reach areas and desperately need humanitarian aid, with civilians prevented from leaving and aid workers blocked from bringing in food, medicine, fuel and other supplies.

It will take several days to distribute the aid in the town of Madaya, near Damascus, and the Shiite villages of Foua and Kfarya in northern Syria, and the supplies are probably enough to last for a month, aid agencies said.

“It’s really heartbreaking to see the situation of the people,” said Red Cross spokesman Pawel Krzysiek, who oversaw the distribution in Madaya. “A while ago, I was just approached by a little girl and her first question was, ‘Did you bring food?’”

Added Sajjad Malik, a representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees who took part in the operation: “It’s cold and raining, but there is excitement because we are here with some food and blankets.”

The operation marked a

This picture provided by The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), working alongside the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the United Nations (UN), shows a convoy containing food, medical items, blankets and other materials on its way to the towns of Foua and Kfarya in northern Syria, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. Both towns are under siege by rebels seeking to oust President Bashar Assad.

(ICRC via AP)

small, positive development in a bitter conflict now in its fifth year that has killed a quarter of a million people, displaced millions of others and left the country in ruins.

Rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad are in control of Madaya, a mountain town about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Damascus. Government troops and fighters

from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have surrounded the town. Opposition activists and aid groups have reported several deaths from starvation in recent weeks.

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari denied anyone was starving in Madaya and blamed Arab television especially “for fabricating these allegations and lies.”

Speaking at U.N. Headquarters, he blamed “armed terrorist groups” for stealing humanitarian aid and reselling it at prohibitive prices.

“The Syrian government is not and will not exert any policy of starvation against its own people,” Ja’afari said.

An Associated Press crew saw the first three trucks cross into Madaya on Monday, although journalists were not allowed to accompany the aid workers.

At the town’s entrance, several civilians — including five children shivering against the cold — said they were waiting to be taken out.

“I want out. There is nothing in Madaya, no water, no electricity, no fuel and no food,” said Safiya Ghosn, a teacher who stood at the entrance of the town hoping to be evacuated.q

IS claims responsibility for Baghdad mall attack SUSANNAH GEORGE Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Baghdad mall attack that killed 18 people on Monday.

Gunmen stormed into the Jawhara Mall after setting off a car bomb and launching a suicide attack at its entrance.

Iraqi officials say the attack which lasted over an hour, killed at least 18 people and wounded 50 in the city’s mainly Shiite east.

The IS statement, posted online shortly after the attack, said a car bomb and

four IS fighters carried out the attack, targeting an area where many Shiite Muslims are known to gather and warned of “worse” to come. Iraqi officials say the attack was carried out by seven men, one of whom died when he detonated his explosive vest at the start of the attack. The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled.

Iraqi officials initially described the attack as a hostage situation, estimating that 50 people were trapped inside the complex. But Iraqi forces soon

surrounded the building and landed troops on the roof. They clashed with the attackers inside, killing two of them, and arresting the other four.

At least four police officers were among those killed in the assault, which lasted around an hour and a half, according to police and medical officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Following the attack, authorities shut down the city’s highly fortified Green Zone, home to a number

of foreign embassies and most of the country’s political elite. A number of major roads, shopping malls and bridges around the Iraqi capital were also closed for fear of follow-up attacks.

Also on Monday evening, a car bomb in southeast Baghdad in a crowded market area killed five and wounded 12, according to hospital and police officials.

Another deadly attack was carried out in the town of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad in Diyala province. q

A10 WORLD

Tuesday 12 January 2016

NEWS

China: Giant Mao Zedong statue demolished BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese village has abruptly demolished a statue of communist China’s founder, Mao Zedong, after images of the structure covered in gold paint and looming 37 meters (120 feet) high over farmland attracted heated discussion on social media.

Although the official reason for the demolition is unknown, with even a high-level Communist Party newspaper struggling to explain the episode, the rise and fall of the Mao monument in central China’s rural Henan province highlights the political sen-

sitivities in the country surrounding a historical figure alternatively revered and criticized by both the public and the government.

The project, reportedly financed by entrepreneurs, cost $460,000 and was near completion last week when it was nixed by local officials after images of the statue elicited mixed reactions on Chinese social media, and the story was picked up by domestic and international media.

The People’s Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper, said the statue may have lacked approval

from cultural management authorities, though it also cited an official as saying that did not appear to be the reason. Local officials could not be reached for comment on Monday, and some agencies’ publicly listed telephone numbers appeared to be disconnected.

Since his death in 1976, Mao has been both revered as a founding father and blamed for political turmoil and disastrous economic policies that claimed millions of lives. Successors including Deng Xiaoping, China’sparamount

leader during the 1980s, openly rebuked the cult of personality that had been built around Mao and warned cadres about the risk of overly concentrated influence.

Even as China’s current president, Xi Jinping, consolidates power to a degree that has drawn comparisons to Mao, he warned in a 2013 speech against “worshipping” revolutionary leaders without pointing out their mistakes.

Still, Mao, known as the “Great Helmsman,” has kept a firm grip on the imagination for a large

swath of the population, particularly the dissatisfied, rural poor, drawing notice of central authorities.

Last month, the Global Times, a Communist Party tabloid, reported on the latest Mao statue to rise in rural northwestern China, where villagers sang revolutionary songs in a quasireligious ceremony that featured “ecstatic dance” and a shamanistic figure brandishing a sword.

“Building Mao temples is not encouraged by the central government or local authorities,” the article noted.

Philippines, US to discuss new Chinese islands JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine foreign and defense chiefs will discuss with their American counterparts ways to address new security concerns arising from China’s completion of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, an official said Monday.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the Philippines will ask the United States to continue patrols to ensure freedom of navigation in the area, a strategic passageway for many commercial and military ships, during Tuesday’s talks in Washington.

The possibility of joint patrols by the U.S. and its Asian security allies may also be discussed, he said.

Recent Chinese flights to

A China Southern Airlines jetliner lands at the airfield on Fiery Cross Reef, known as Yongshu Reef in Chinese, in the Spratly Islands, known as Nansha Islands in Chinese, of the South China Sea. An official says Philippine and U.S. foreign and defense chiefs will discuss new security concerns arising from China’s completion of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, on Tuesday, Jan. 12 in Washington.

(Cha Chunming/Xinhua via AP)

test a runway on one of the seven man-made islands, Fiery Cross, have raised concerns that Beijing may plan to impose an air de-

fense identification zone over the South China Sea, officially or otherwise, Jose said.

Vietnam and the Philip-

pines opposed the Chinese flights.

“They can declare it officially or we may witness a de facto ADIZ,” Jose said by telephone. In 2013, China declared such an aviation security buffer zone over the East China Sea, where Beijing and Tokyo have been contesting ownership of a chain of uninhabited islands. The U.S. and its allies led by Japan protested the action and announced they would not recognize the Chinese defense zone.

In the South China Sea, Beijing shooed away U.S. and Philippine planes even while it was building the islands from previously submerged reefs and atolls in the Spratly Islands, indicating its intention to control access to the region, Philippine diplomats said.

The U.S. sent a guided-missile destroyer close to one of the Chinese-built islands, called Subi Reef, in October in one of its boldest challenges yet to Beijing’s territorial claims, sparking warnings from China. U.S. officials vowed to continue maneuvers to protect freedom of navigation and overflight.

China has said it built the islands primarily to foster safe civilian sea travel and fishing but added they may also be used militarily.

Analysts say the new islands will give Beijing a much stronger security grip over a vast stretch of the SouthChina Sea farthest from the Chinese mainland, in an area where Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia have stationed forces on islands and reefs which China also claims.

Kim’s nuke test proves gift of sorts for S. Korean president FOSTER KLUG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s nuclear test has provoked global outrage, a push for sanctions, even fear. But Kim Jong Un’s decision to conduct it has also handed a gift of sorts to his rival in the South.

In an instant, Wednesday’s explosion shifted the focus of debate about the presidency of Park Geun-hye, who has faced several mass protests condemning her leadership in recent

weeks.

Park’s swift, hard-line response, including a return of cross-border propaganda broadcasts that Pyongyang loathes, has, for the time being, overshadowed criticism of her leadership style, her alleged abuse of workers’ rights and her purported submission to Tokyo in a deal meant to end a dispute over Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women.

Park has temporarily stopped a slide in popular-

ity by doing something she has proven herself adept at: Standing tall in the face of what Seoul sees as a provocation from its northern rival. A survey showed her approval rating rose slightly last week, for the first time in five weeks.

While the boost is likely temporary, the timing of the nuclear test may help Park and her ruling party.

Crucial parliamentary elections loom in April.

The test is “immediately quieting down” the most con-

tentious complaints against Park, said Yoon Tae-Ryong, a professor at Seoul’s Konkuk University.

“Some members of the ruling party must be grinning inside.” Shortly after the North’s test, Park put her front-line troops on their highest alert, reportedly moved missiles, artillery and other weapons closer to the border, partially banned South Koreans from a jointly run factory park in the North and allowed huge green speakers along the

border to begin cranking out South Korean K-pop songs and criticism of the North’s leadership.

She could have done more to punish the North, by slapping them with bilateral punitive measures and ending the South’s participation in the factory park, which is a rare cash cow for the impoverished, widely shunned North. The park, however, is also the last major inter-Korean project from an earlier era of rapprochement.

WORLD NEWS A11

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Apparent relaxation of security before drug lord’s recapture FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer LIMA, Peru (AP) — As the world’s most hunted man, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman had to know the most sophisticated information and surveillance technology available was marshalled against him: satellites, unmanned aircraft, NSA and DEA eavesdroppers, malware-sowing Mexican state hackers.

Yet Guzman may have let his guard down before receiving Hollywood actors Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo three months ago on a remote central Mexico mountaintop in apparent hopes of getting get a biopic made to his liking.

Authorities are not identifying whatever information security missteps may have led to Guzman’s being recaptured Friday in a seaside town not far away.

“Whatever mistake or screw-up played a role, presumably the government is going to keep it secret. Because if El Chapo made this mistake others will make it in the future,” said Christopher Soghoian, a surveillance expert with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Mike Vigil, a former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the Oct. 2 visit likely went undetected because Penn took “extraordinary” measures beforehand, changing disposable phones daily.

Neither actor took electronics to the meeting.

Instead, previously intercepted communications between Del Castillo and Guzman’s lawyers were key — authorities knew about the movie plans and were closing on him well before Penn, on assignment for Rolling Stone, accompanied Del Castillo to

the meeting she arranged, said Vigil, who was briefed.

Mexico’s attorney general, Arely Gomez, said Friday that cartel security had been compromised during contacts between El Chapo’s lawyers and “actresses and producers” hoping to make a biopic.

She presumably meant Del Castillo, who Penn said was contacted by a Guzman lawyer in 2014 on the matter. Mexican agencies possess commercial spyware from firms including Hacking Team that could have been used to infect computers or cellphones of people involved. Such programs harvest keystrokes, voice calls, emails and text messages.

Vigil said El Chapo’s narrow Oct. 6 escape from a government attempt to capture him in the same mountains where he met with Penn and Del Castillo was not directly related to his meeting with the Hollywood stars. The military was simply tightening the noose, he said.

Penn said he felt he was being watched after arriving in central Mexico for the meeting.

“There is no question in my mind but that the DEA and the Mexican government are tracking our movements,” he wrote.

Mexican news media on Monday published images of him and Del Castillo that apparently came from a security camera in Guadalajara. Penn said he was “bewildered” by El Chapo’s willingness to risk the visit and imagined a “weaponized drone” hovering above as he drank tequila with the capo.

The Mexican newspaper El Universal said Monday that a cartel lawyer in September gave Del Castillo a “special phone” presum-

A police truck sits parked outside the home where marines engaged in a gun battle during the search for Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, in Los Mochis, Mexico.

(AP Photo/Christian Palma)

ably used to arrange the visit.

“Can’t speak to that,” Penn responded curtly when asked via email if he knew of the phone. Penn also reiterated what he said in his

article: He did not carry his cellular phone to Mexico from Southern California.

“My comms were not in the mix,” he said.

Penn did not address specifics on security measures

taken.

In Rolling Stone, he described “labeling TracPhones (burners), one per contact, one per day, destroy, burn, buy, balancing levels of encryption, mirroring through Blackphones, anonymous e-mail addresses, unsent messages accessed in draft form.”

He also called himself “the single most technologically illiterate man left standing.”

“OPSEC (Operational Security) is not easy even for experts, bringing in a gross amateur like an actor is just insanely reckless,” said Nicolas Weaver, a University of California, Berkeley cybersecurity expert.

While Blackphone calls are encrypted, their location and an owner’s identity can be determined. q

A12 WORLD

Tuesday 12 January 2016

NEWS

Puerto Rico’s crisis threatens to cut gas, power supplies

DANICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s government and some institutions face a worsening cash crunch that threatens to cut off their access to gasoline and electricity amid the island’s economic crisis, officials said Monday.

The U.S. territory reached a tentative deal late last week with Total Petroleum Puerto Rico Corp. after the company warned it would no longer supply state vehicles with gasoline because of the government’s $16 million debt, said Danny

Hernandez, a spokesman for the General Services Administration.

The deal is good only if the government makes a $3 million payment on Monday and another $4 million payment before month’s end, he said.

Puerto Rico’s heavily indebted public power company also announced it would cut electricity to three hospitals and clinics this week because they have not paid their multimillion-dollar bills. Jose Daniel Echevarria, a spokesman with the Electric Power Authority, said that cuts in ser-

vice can be avoided only if the hospitals and clinics agree to a payment plan in upcoming days.

The company already cut off power to the government’s Highway and Transportation Authority last month because of unpaid bills. Service was restored when a payment plan was implemented.

The island’s worsening financial situation comes as Puerto Rico struggles through nine years of economic stagnation and faces $72 billion in public debt that the governor says is unpayable and needs re-

structuring.

“We’re already seeing the first consequences of this situation,” Public Affairs Secretary Jesus Manuel Ortiz said at a press conference on Monday. “If we don’t address the reality of this crisis, it will only worsen.”

Ortiz renewed the government’s plea for the U.S. Congress to give Puerto Rico access to some sort of bankruptcy mechanism.

The government already faces its first lawsuit over how it has diverted funds to meet certain bond payments as its liquidity dwindles.

Members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources are scheduled to talk about Puerto Rico’s economic problems on Tuesday. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, recently pledged the House will come up this year with “a responsible solution” for the island’s debt problems.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing an appeal on a ruling that barred Puerto Rico from giving municipalities the power to declare bankruptcy.q

Brazil’s Rousseff focuses on economy in face of impeachment M. SAVARESE Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — With her job on the line, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is spending January developing an economic plan she hopes will restore faith in her leadership and weaken looming impeachment proceedings against her.

The once-popular successor of former President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva has fallen so far that it’s unclear whether she can recover.

And she’ll have little room to maneuver once Congress reconvenes in Brasilia in February: Her approval ratings hover in the single digits, both friendly and hostile lawmakers are restive and Latin America’s largest economy is expected to continue contracting in 2016.

“Dilma will have one month with no major problems blowing up in Brasilia to come up with a plan to re-

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff listens to a question in Brasilia, Brazil. With her job on the line, Rousseff is spending January of 2016 developing an economic plan she hopes will restore faith in her leadership and weaken looming impeachment proceedings against her.

(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

vive a faltering economy,” said Claudio Couto from Brazilian think tank Fundacao Getulio Vargas. “The key is to bring some confidence back.”

That confidence has been shaken by a series of ballooning crises over the past year. Major scandals, some of which touch Rousseff,

have combined with tanking commodity prices to slam the economy, which has suffered credit-rating downgrades, a sharp currency devaluation and 10-percent annual inflation.

“I can’t wait to stop hearing bad news from Brasilia,” said Gabriela Malvezzi, a 28-year-old psychologist in

Rio. “I don’t even turn on the TV anymore. All that I wanted was for 2015 to end.”

Nelson Barbosa, who took over as finance minister in December, is expected to propose a stimulus package and fiscal reforms over the next several weeks.

Ideas being floated include infrastructure projects, tax breaks for home purchases and a car-swap program to encourage buying new vehicles. Some are proposing a tax on banking transactions and a reform of the country’s pension system to keep workers in the job market an additional five years. Depending on the sector, women now can retire between 50 and 55 years old, while men can do the same between 55 and 60.

Pension reform is sure to draw the ire of Rousseff’s base. But analysts say she must show she is serious about tackling spend-

ing, and that she has little to lose.“Let’s say she tries something and it doesn’t work. So what?” said Peter Schechter, director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.

“Does that mean she goes from 8 percent to 7 percent approval ratings?”

Regardless of what Rousseff proposes, Congress may not go along. The Workers’ Party has only 59 of the 513 members of the lower house and traditionally has passed legislation by forming coalitions with other large blocs, which may find little incentive to work with the president now.

It’s also unclear whether even reforms can slow the tidal wave of bad economic news. Layoff announcements, from sugar mills to steel factories, are a daily occurrence. Even WalMart, one of the largest supermarket chains in Brazil, said it would close 30 stores in January.q

Official: Drug seizures in USVI and Puerto Rico increasing

DANICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal authorities announced Monday that they discovered more than $4 million worth of cocaine stashed in bushes along Puerto Rico’s north coast as they find more drug shipments but with smaller payloads in the U.S. Caribbean.

Some 340 pounds (154 kilograms) of cocaine were

found at a popular beach in the town of Isabela, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. One man was arrested.

It’s one of the largest seizures in recent months. A group of federal agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard report an increase in cocaine and marijuana seizures in waters around Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the past year,

but with fewer large ones.

“We’re seeing more interdictions with smaller loads,” Capt. Robert Warren, U.S. Coast Guard commander in San Juan, told The Associated Press. “In the past, we got primarily the big loads coming up from the south.”

More than 16,000 kilograms (35,000 pounds) of cocaine were seized in the past fiscal year, a nearly 10 per-

cent increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, more than 18,000 pounds (8,000 kilograms) of marijuana have been seized, a 138 percent increase from fiscal year 2014.

Warren attributed the increase in part to more federal resources after Puerto Rico reported a record 1,164 killings in 2011.

“It was the growing violence and the association

with the drug flow that got national attention,” he said.

The number of slayings in Puerto Rico has since dropped to the lowest point in decades, but drug seizures have only increased.

Puerto Rico police alone have reported a 170 percent jump in heroin and marijuana seizures and a 47 percent increase in cocaine seizures.q

LOCAL A13

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Benefiting the Donkey Sanctuary:

A New Route for Aruba’s Traditional Annual Donkey Walk

BRINGAMOSA - The traditional donkey Walkathon, the 6K walk through the gorgeous Aruban countryside will be held on Saturday, January 16. This time a new route will be followed: the starting point is the donkey sanctuary’s new location Bringamosa, where some 70 donkeys already find a home. Bringamosa is easy to find: coming from Santa Cruz you take the turn towards the Frenchman’s Pass and then the signs will lead you to the sanctuary.

Participants can register at the entrance starting from 4pm; the start of the Walkathon is at 5pm. Runners as well as walkers are

welcome to join the beautiful trip through the Aruban countryside.

Participants will be joined by several quadrupeds, of

course: some of our donkeys love the Walkathon.

The fee is ten florins per person and this amount goes entirely towards the

donkey sanctuary. Sponsor SuperFood is taking care of fresh fruit at the finish and each participant also gets a small gift.

Reasons enough to walk along with us, make a good start of a healthy year and meet some really nice people along the way.q

A14 LOCAL

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort Introduces Spay and Neutering Campaign for Aruba

--In partnership with all island veterinarians and accessible to pet owners and charity animal organizations.

EAGLE BEACH - Aruba’s long battle with the overpopulation of dogs and cats has a new ally. Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort has

teamed up with island veterinarians to help reduce the number of homeless dogs and cats in Aruba, and to make responsible pet ownership a reality. Introducing “Love me. Sterilize me.,” this new community outreach provides island dogs (“crioyo”) and

cats with much-needed spay and neutering surgeries thanks to generous subsidies from Bucuti.

The only solution to the dog and cat overpopulation problem is to reduce the population and to have responsible pet ownership. “Love me. Sterilize me.” makes sterilization more affordable by significantly reducing the price of surgery for pet owners and organizations caring for homeless animals. In decreasing the animal population, there will be many less dogs and cats that cannot be cared for that die of starvation and disease or are euthanized at the island’s Kill Cage.

“Love me. Sterilize me.” is intentionally simple and accessible to every pet owner and homeless animal organization on Aruba so that a major impact can

be made to curtail the cat and crioyo dog population. Interested pet owners

and organizations can go to stimamisterilisami.com to register each pet and receive the special rate on the dedicated website.

They’ll then receive a call with a registration number, which can be used to make an appointment at the veterinary clinic of their choice as all island veterinarians are participating.

The veterinarian charges them a nominal fee for the surgery and invoices Bucuti for the balance. In addition, Bucuti is also donating microchips that can be

implanted into dogs during the operation.

The significantly reduced special fees for pet owners/animal organizations are: --Crioyo dog (male) = Afl. 75.

--Crioyo dog (female) = Afl. 100.

--Cat (male) = Afl. 25.

--Cat (female) = Afl. 70.

As the sponsor of “Love me.

Sterilize me.,” Bucuti has committed to the program for at least two years. The resort is a longstanding supporter of better living initiatives and has long had a pet adoption program to help visiting guests and employees with the cost of adopting homeless dogs. That alone cannot completely correct the dog and cat overpopulation issue. This new sterilization campaign will aid in a long-term solution to the island issue and ultimately ensure that every pet has a family to love them.q

LOCAL A15

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Loyal Visitors Honored at the Divi Phoenix Beach Resort!

PALM BEACH - Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a group of loyal and friendly visitors of Aruba at the Divi Phoenix Beach Resort as Distinguished Visitors.

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. Walter and Mrs. Vira Myskin of Mahopac, New York.

Walter and Vira are loyal members of the Divi Phoenix and they love

Aruba very much because of the friendly people, the weather, the beaches, the restaurants, the Casinos, and just about everything else!

They say Aruba feels like a second home where the people are like family to them,

and the Divi Phoenix is truly their ‘home-away-from-home. ’ The certificates were presented Mr. Ernest Giel representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with Mrs. Avril Culley and Mr. Daniel Ras representing the Divi Phoenix.

Congratulations!q

A16 LOCAL

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Tedx Aruba Update:

Fingerprint Life Presents “Global Purpose Day: A Space For Purpose”

Dwayne Heronimo ORANJESTAD - When Vanessa Benlolo emerged from Tedx Aruba to give her talk, “Livestreaming Is Collective,” what she witnessed catalyzed the launch of her social entrepreneurship venture — FingerPrint Life. During the Tedx Aruba sessions she was continually struck by the dynamic and innovative speakers and their insights into human psychology, sustainability, technology, and economics. From the work of Arnaud Collery on happiness, Joseph Simcox and the agricultural revolution, Maite Hontele on following your passion, Rachel Brathen’s reflections on social media, and Varelie Croes — thought leader with perspectives on the new economy. What surfaced from all the talks, back-

stage conversations and interactions with her Tedx colleagues was an underlying essential theme: purpose had been the crucial element in the transformation arcs showcased that week on the Tedx stage.

Later, in a conversation with Arda Zakarian at the event — close friend and reporter who covers Tedx events in Toronto — Arda noted in relation to the stage art-work, and the music that Tedx Aruba was more than an evening of talks, it was an “experience”. Something clicked. Vanessa was in the midst of finishing a Purpose Guide certification when Brandon Peele — leader of the program — asked her to consider creating a Tedx event centered around the theme of Purpose. The idea seemed good but there were logistical hurdles,

however, within a week she connected with fellow Purpose Guide colleague Oscar Medina, who was working on producing an event around Purpose, and a dialogue was sparked. A kinship was soon formed around an alignment in vision and values and FingerPrint Life was born.

FingerPrint Life is now an event curation and creative consulting agency that leads people to discover and embody their purpose through events, inspired by Tedx Aruba — with a multi-imaginal approach to the event experience. It is a project that re-envisions the limits of self-awareness and growth possibilities that can be experienced in an immersive group setting. FingerPrint Life takes a whole systems approach to Purpose, by integrating the expressive arts, mindfulness, nature, technology and community in conjunction with innovative speaker talks to deliver more than an intellectual experience — they are designed to transform the participant at a deep

level of embodiment.

On January 29th, Fingerprint Life will present, “Global Purpose Day: A Space for Purpose”, to celebrate the first annual day for Purpose, and the launch of

ing the embodiment of purpose, and Day Schildkret — artist and Purpose Guide will lead you through purpose as legacy. The event will be Livestreamed so that people from all around the

the 21 Day Purpose Challenge — a free online purpose discovery and community platform. The event is an immersive, multi-dimensional journey that follows the process of purpose as it unfolds in three distinct phases: discovery, embodiment, and legacy. Brandon Peele, founder of PlanetPurpose.org, will provide tools in the process of purpose discovery — Gino Pastori-Ng, social entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Youth Impact Hub, will be model-

globe can witness and participate in the transformation — as it’s happening.

There will be riveting talks, interactive workshops, and a panel discussion along with a gallery of impermanent art pieces, live music, and expressive movement.

It will be a magical night to celebrate the inauguration of the 1st annual Global Purpose Day — and a unique experience for the emergent discovery and the re-imagining of our lives.q

SPORTS

A17

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Messi, Lloyd Win FIFA World Player Awards Carli Lloyd of the USA and Argentina’s Lionel Messi pose with their trophies after winning the FIFA soccer player of the year 2015 prize during the FIFA Ballon d’Or awarding ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, January 11, 2016.

(Walter Bieri/KEYSTONE via AP))

GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer ZURICH (AP) — Now score it Lionel Messi 5, Cristiano Ronaldo 3.

Messi won the Ballon d’Or trophy on Monday as the world’s best player in 2015, ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s two-year hold on soccer’s top individual honor.

“It’s incredible that it’s my fifth,” said the 28-year-old Barcelona and Argentina forward, who won four straight FIFA awards from 2009-12.

Messi earned his record-

extending fifth after being runner-up to his great rival for the past two years.

“It’s a very special moment for me to be back here on the stage,” Messi said in Spanish in his acceptance speech, “after being there in the audience watching Cristiano win.”

Five major titles for Barcelona last year — leaving none for Ronaldo’s Real Madrid — brought the golden ball back into Messi’s hands. It was not even close.

Messi got 41.33 percent of total voting points in a

23-candidate ballot. Ronaldo received 27.76 percent and third-place Neymar, Messi’s Barcelona teammate from Brazil, got 7.86 percent. Voting was by national team captains and coaches, plus invited journalists, from FIFA member countries.

As usual, Argentina captain Messi and Portugal captain Ronaldo ignored each other on their own ballot papers. Messi voted for three Barcelona teammates and Ronaldo listed three Madrid colleagues. However, Por-

tugal coach Fernando Santos did put Messi second to Ronaldo. It was a stellar night for Barcelona and the World Cup-winning United States women’s team.

Luis Enrique was named best coach after guiding Barcelona to win the Champions League, Spain’s La Liga and cup, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup. The women’s awards were won by U.S. captain Carli Lloyd and coach Jill Ellis.

Lloyd stood out by scoring six World Cup goals, includ-

ing a stunning hat trick in the opening 16 minutes of a 5-2 rout of Japan in the final. At first unable to speak with emotion, Lloyd was loudly applauded as she prepared to begin her acceptance speech.

“I honestly wouldn’t be sitting up here, standing up here, without my incredible teammates,” said Lloyd, who made the three-player shortlist for the first time at age 33.

Continued on page 22

A18 SPORTS

Tuesday 12 January 2016

NFL Relocation: LA’s fans have unified hope, divided loyalties GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The NFL has never been closer to ending its 21-year absence from the city that staged the first Super Bowl and supported several teams in several leagues through several decades of professional football.

Those teams all once played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which could see the sport back

But mere days before the meetings in Houston could end a two-decade discussion, nobody is certain what course the owners will choose.

Virtually any combinations of those three teams and two stadium proposals are still possibilities. There are ardent backers for both the Rams’ plan for a Hollywood Park stadium and the Chargers’ hopes to build a Carson arena to share with the

have been waiting and loyal, and they still follow the Rams in St. Louis,” said Randy Troy, a longtime fan aligned with the Bring Back the Los Angeles Rams supporters’ group.

“Other fans like me follow college football and don’t care about the NFL,” Troy added. “But when I have the Los Angeles Rams, I care again. There are so many football fans in Los Angeles. The NFL is No. 1.

Rams football fans hold banners, wave signs and chant while marching around the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016 in Los Angeles. Boisterous Los Angeles Rams fans gathered Saturday to herald the NFL football team’s possibly imminent return to Southern California after a 21-year sojourn in St. Louis.

(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

on its 93-year-old field in August. Several hundred Rams fans — and a few Raiders and Chargers fans, too — gathered outside the venerable stadium last weekend under slate-gray skies that made for perfect football weather. They threw a pigskin, chanted slogans and looked forward to relief from a twodecade drought.

“We really can’t believe it’s almost time for this to end,” lifelong Rams fan Ray Ochoa said. “It’s time. We just want football.”

The NFL’s owners are expected to decide this week whether any combination of the Rams, Chargers and Raiders will be allowed to move to Los Angeles, finally filling the gaping hole in the sports landscape of the nation’s second-largest media market.

Raiders.

All three teams have history and fan support in the city, and the franchises are eager to capitalize on the theoretically boundless wealth and attention to be found under Hollywood’s bright lights. The owners will consider financial rewards and personal friendships when they make their decision among the three contenders, but it’s unclear whether the ability to capture the heart of those L.A. fans will play any role.

If those owners saw the gathering at the Coliseum, they would know the Rams never lost the fan base they abandoned when the late Georgia Frontiere moved her team to St. Louis after the 1994 season, leaving behind 49 years of steadfast support.

“There are many fans who

What do you think will happen when the L.A. Rams return here? It’s going to blow up.”

There’s no definite way to tell which team has the most fan support in Los Angeles, but the two that moved after the 1994 season both have strong cases. Most observers think the Chargers are in third place in the race for L.A. fans’ hearts and minds even though they’re technically the only team born here: Barron Hilton’s AFL team played its inaugural season at the Coliseum before relocating to San Diego.

The Rams rather hilariously cited a Twitter poll conducted by an ESPN.com writer as proof of their predominance while arguing for relocation, but their colors still show up regularly at local sporting events.q

Bengals critical of Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter JOE KAY CINCINNATI (AP) -- Bengals players aren’t happy with Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter, who was on the field in the closing minutes of Pittsburgh’s 18-16 playoff victory and wound up in the middle of an altercation.

Players and coaches from both teams were on the field after Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict hit Antonio Brown in the head following an incompletion, leaving the receiver dazed on the ground.

Brown suffered a concussion on the play, and Burfict was penalized for targeting a defenseless receiver.

While players and coaches milled around on the field, Bengals cornerback Adam ‘’Pacman’’ Jones went after Porter and drew another penalty. The two penalties moved the Steelers in range for their winning field goal.

The conduct of Steelers assistant coaches - offensive line coach Mike Munchak was penalized for grabbing the hair of safety Reggie Nelson in the first half - still bothers the Bengals. ‘’I’ve got a ton of respect for those guys,’’ left tackle Andrew Whitworth said of the Steelers. ‘’Joey Porter is not one of them. He’s not one of the guys I respect very much. He’s a guy that has always run his mouth.

He’s always been disrespectful to people.’’

Porter was in the middle of a group of players when Jones went after him, bumping an official and drawing the flag.

After the game, Jones made a profane Instagram post ripping the officials for their handling of the situation.

Jones said on Monday that coaches shouldn’t be on the field. He also said Munchak should have been ejected from the game and fined by the league. ‘’Coaches are supposed to be held to a higher standard when it comes to stuff like that,’’ Jones said. ‘’Even with Mike Munchak grabbing Reggie’s hair. Thank God that wasn’t me. I wouldn’t have just walked away.’’

The teams have a history of animosity that boiled out during the Steelers’ 33-20 win at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 13.

There was an altercation at midfield during pregame warm-ups and numerous personal fouls during the game. Whitworth said Porter was among those on the field pregame talking trash.

Whitworth said Porter was known for trash talking when he was a player. ‘’To me, Joey Porter just doesn’t have a lot of class,’’ Whitworth said. ‘’As a coach, there’s a different standard.’’

Lewis declined to address Porter being on the field, but said he’s strict about making sure his assistants keep to the sideline. ‘’I’m clear with our coaches all the time: We’ve got to stay back,’’ Lewis said on Monday. ‘’I know everything’s been written about what happened with coach Munchak and Reggie and Joey but again, all of that out of the way, let’s win a football game and let’s do it the way we’re coached to do it.’’

After the ugly game on Dec. 13, Lewis emphasized to his players that they’ve got to keep their cool. In the week leading up to the playoff loss, Lewis had a quote from franchise founder Paul Brown displayed on the monitors in the locker room: ‘’The key to winning is poise under stress.’’

That quote was still displayed on Monday, a reminder of why they let another playoff game get away.q

SPORTS A19

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Robert Allenby is seeking to put ‘nightmare’ behind him DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — Robert Allenby returned to paradise with hopes of putting a nightmare behind him.

Allenby has missed the Sony Open only three times in his 17 years on the PGA Tour, and this would have been an acceptable occasion to miss. He went from victim of what he first described as a robbery and kidnapping to the butt of jokes over a bizarre night in Honolulu that left him with a bloodied forehead and no memory of what happened.

So why bother going back?

“I’ve got so many great memories here that I wasn’t going to let one bad one interrupt it,” he said Sunday night after checking into the Kahala Hotel at Waialae Country Club. “I also thought for my own wellbeing that maybe I could come here and face it and put some closure on what happened last year.”

He had dinner at the hotel with friends and already has his dining plans laid out for the week.

“Room service and (hotel) restaurant,” he said.

The 44-year-old Australian last year missed the cut in the first full-field event of the year, and then went to Amuse Wine Bar with his caddie and a friend. He recalls golf fans recognizing him and wanting a photo.

He said police surveillance shows him leaving the restaurant. And that was it.

Whatever happened that night — Allenby says he still doesn’t remember anything during a 2½-hour window — it might have gone unnoticed except that Allenby posted a photo his private Facebook page

of a bloody scrape on his head and a swollen eye.

Then came the tale of being tossed from the trunk of a car. Allenby said he was told that by a homeless woman who helped him escape from the park after his story was questioned. A homeless man said he saw Allenby pass out and hit his head on a rock.

He was found unconscious about a block from the restaurant.

Golf Channel cited unidentified sources at a strip club that Allenby ran up a $3,400 tab at Club Femme Nu. However, Honolulu Police Det. John McCarthy said the report was not true and the police investigation showed Allenby was never in the strip club.

Allenby believes someone slipped a date-rape drug into his drink at the restaurant when he was taking photos, which he said explains the memory loss.

A month after the incident, police arrested a Hawaii man for using Allenby’s credit cards. Owen Harbison was sentenced in August to five years.

Through it all, his reputation didn’t help.

He is renowned for a fierce temper on the golf course.

Allenby once claimed Anthony Kim was out all night before the final day of the Presidents Cup — after Kim had beaten him badly in singles. He mixed it up with Geoff Ogilvy over who was to blame for a team loss in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne two years later.

And he has gone through more than a dozen caddies.

Allenby, however, said he felt as though he went from the victim to the culprit and that it marred the rest of his year.q

Jordan Spieth hits from the 18th tee during the final round of the Tournament of Champions golf event Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. Spieth finished at 30 under par for the tournament win.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

Spieth’s statement as big as his 8-shot win DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — Jordan Spieth went on Twitter in the final hour of 2015 to say, “Would rather this year not end.”

Maybe it never did.

Coming off a blockbuster year including the Masters, U.S. Open, five victories and the FedEx Cup, Spieth delivered a statement Sunday in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions by crushing the winners-only field at Kapalua for an eight-shot victory.

“I felt like it was a short three-week break and continue what we were doing last year,” he said. “That’s the way I’ll keep on thinking about it. It worked well this week. All parts were firing.”

He made an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 6-under 67 and a spot in the PGA Tour record book with Ernie Els. They are the only two players at 30-under par or lower in a 72hole event. Spieth, playing smart with a big lead on the back nine, finished at 30-under 262. That was one

short of the record Els set at Kapalua in 2003.

He also joined Tiger Woods as the only players since full records began in 1970 to win seven times on the PGA Tour at age 22. Woods was a month younger, and he turned pro later. Spieth collected his seventh win in his 77th start. Woods won his seventh in only his 38th tournament as a pro.

“My putting feels like it’s 100 percent ready for major championships, and I’ve just got to dial in everything else just a little bit more,” he said. “But I can sit here and say that my putting certainly is ready for the Masters to be next week. It’s a really good feeling to have that confidence with the flat stick.”

Brooks Koepka played with Spieth in the final round and started five shots behind. On the first hole, Spieth’s approach somehow settled inches away on the top of a steep bunker about 50 yards from the hole. His pitch rode the grain to 4 feet for par. Koepka three-putted for bogey. Then, Spieth rolled in a

35-foot birdie putt.

“It’s incredible the way Jordan manages his game going around all 18 holes,” Koepka said. “He doesn’t seem to make a mistake.

When he does get in trouble, he gets out of it and he makes those 15-foot clutch putts to keep the round going. It’s impressive to watch, it really is. It’s fun to watch.”

Koepka shot 71 and tied for third.

Defending champion Patrick Reed had three birdies in five holes, and he pulled within three shots with a birdie at No. 9. The next time he saw a leaderboard, Spieth was five shots in front and the gap only got bigger from there.

Reed closed with a 69 and was runner-up.

“He hasn’t given anyone opportunities to really catch up,” said Rickie Fowler, who finished 10 shots behind in fifth place. “It’s just solid golf, and I think you’re going to see a lot of that like he did last year.

You’re going to have to play a good, solid golf tournament to have a chance to win.”q

20 SPORTS

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Prokhorov: Easy decision to begin Nets’ reset now BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov wanted a championship, and his team never got close.

Now he wants a reset, and said it was an easy decision to start it now.

“If we look at the team for the time being, it’s clear we’re doing not the best way,” Prokhorov said Monday.

A day after firing coach Lionel Hollins and reassigning general manager Billy King, Prokhorov blamed himself for a win-quick strategy that’s left the Nets in one of the NBA’s worst situations — then said he hopes to contend for an NBA title next season.

He’ll try to do that with new leadership that he hopes will help clarify what kind of team the Nets want to be and what kind of personnel they will need. The Russian billionaire had deter-

Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov speaks during an NBA basketball news conference in New York, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. The Nets reassigned their general manager and fired coach Lionel Hollins on Sunday in the midst of their worst season since moving from New Jersey.

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

mined more than a month ago that King and Hollins weren’t among them.

“I have to look at the reality and make a change if things are not going in the

right direction,” Prokhorov said. “That’s what we have done. It was just very easy.”

The Nets made the playoffs the last three years but are 10-27 entering Monday’s game against San Antonio.

Their likely spot in the NBA draft lottery will go to Boston as payment from one of King’s big trades, and they don’t fully control their own first-round pick until 2019.

Our approach helped us to reach three playoffs in a row but we have failed to go further. And for us it’s important to go further,” Prokhorov said. “That’s why we need a small reset for this year and I hope we’ll be back not as a playoff team, as a championship contender. This is my only goal.”

He wanted a title within five years of buying the team in 2010, and King was aggressive in trying to build a contender quickly. He acquired Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in moves that came at a future cost the Nets are paying now.q

SPORTS A21

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Cardinals sign Korean pitcher Seung Hwan Oh to bolster ‘pen R.B. FALLSTROM AP Sports Writer ST. LOUIS (AP) — Seung Hwan Oh has been such a dominant pitcher in Japan that he has two nicknames: “Final Boss” and “Stone Buddha.”

The St. Louis Cardinals project the Korean with 357 career saves as a reliever who’ll get the ball to their own record-setting closer, Trevor Rosenthal.

“We felt like we wanted to do something to ramp it up,” general manager John Mozeliak said Monday at a news conference to announce the signing of Oh to a one-year contract with a club option for a second year. “He really matched up well for what we were trying to accomplish.”

The 33-year-old Oh, who had 41 saves last year, said through an interpreter that playing in the major leagues has long been a dream and now “the dream comes true.”

“I’ve achieved everything in Korea and Japan as a closer,” Oh said. “I wanted a new environment and was looking for motivation.”

Rosenthal set a franchise record with 48 saves last season for the NL Central champions. The Cardinals also have Jonathan Broxton and Kevin Siegrist for late-inning work although Mozeliak said the team doesn’t know the availability of Jordan Walden, who missed much of last year with a shoulder injury.

“Success in the postseason is based on having a very strong bullpen,” Mozeliak said. “You look at that core and you have to have a lot of confidence going forward.”

The Cardinals have been devoting more energy to finding talent in the Asian

St. Louis Cardinals Senior Vice President/ General Manager John Mozeliak introduces the newest Cardinals pitcher Seung Hwan Oh on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, during a news conference at Busch Stadium. At right is agent and translator Douglas Kim. (J.B. Forbes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

market in recent seasons.

Earlier this winter, they unsuccessfully bid on Korean first baseman Byung-Ho Park, who landed with the Twins, and last year, they bid on shortstop Jung Ho Kang, who plays for the Pirates.

Mozeliak said the team has

been scouting Oh since 2009. Manager Mike Matheny said he’s seen Oh on videotape and was impressed, saying “Good stuff is good stuff.”

The 5-foot-10, 205-pound Oh — his name is pronounced “SEWN-whan”— had been facing a suspen-

sion for casino gambling had he returned to pitch in Korea. He said he hadn’t been aware that casino gambling was illegal in that country. Mozeliak said the sides came to an agreement before that suspension was announced.

Oh signed a free agent

deal with Hanshin prior to last season. He led the Japanese Central League in saves in 2014 and ‘15, setting the record for most saves by a Korean pitcher in Japanese League play.

In 498 career games in Korea and Japan, Oh is 32-20 with a 1.81 ERA with 772 strikeouts in 646 1-3 innings.

He also was a member of the Gold medal-winning Korean Olympics team in 2008 and played for Korea in the World Baseball Classic in 2006, ‘09 and ‘13.

The Cardinals will hire a fulltime interpreter to help Oh adjust to the United States.

Matheny said it shouldn’t be a big deal with mound conferences because he and pitching coach Derek Lilliquist aren’t big on making “a whole lot of mechanical adjustments,” but rather giving the pitcher a chance to take a deep breath.

Though other rivals have been more active in the offseason, Mozeliak said he’s confident taking this team to spring training next month.

“Ultimately, I’m not all that bullish on necessarily chasing something right now,” the GM said.

Milestone: Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin scores 500th goal WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 500th goal Sunday night, becoming the 43rd player in NHL history to reach the milestone.

Ovechkin reached the mark in vintage fashion, scoring from just beyond the left hash marks during a second-period power play to give the Washington Capitals a 5-1 lead over the Ottawa Senators.

Ovechkin got an extended standing ovation and took a skate around the rink,

acknowledging the cheering crowd that included his parents. He later drew another roar while waving to fans from the bench.

He added No. 501 midway through third, beating a defender with a sweeping deke at the top of the zone before smacking a shot past goalie Andrew Hammond for a 7-1 lead.

At 801 games, the Russian winger is the fifth-fastest player to 500 goals, trailing only Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky (575 games), Mario

Lemieux (605), Mike Bossy (647) and Brett Hull (693).

“He is one of a kind,” Hull told the AP in a phone interview last week. “I admire what he does because he’s a pure goal scorer.”

Ovechkin has filled the net more often than anyone since he entered the league in 2005, scoring 149 more goals than the next closest player, Jarome Iginla.

Ovechkin was the first overall pick in the 2004 draft

by Washington. He’s been

named an All-Star in each of his 11 seasons and was voted a captain for this year’s All-Star game. He’s won three straight Richard Trophies as the league’s leading goal scorer and five overall. He’s also won three Hart Trophies as league MVP. The 30-year-old Ovechkin is the NHL leader in career goals by a Russian-born player.

Ovechkin has 26 goals this season, including five over his past three games.q

A22

Tuesday 12 January 2016

SPORTS

Extra Time:

Villa well on way to joining list of fallen English giants STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer Evoking memories of Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War, an American board member at Aston Villa recently urged fans of the Premier League’s last-place club not to give up hope in its increasingly desperate bid to escape relegation.

“We were standing next to minefields separating Saudi Arabia and Kuwait,” Gen. Charles C. Krulak, a former Commandant of the Marine Corps, recounted in British newspaper The Sun. “There were trenches filled with gas, massive artillery ready to rain down on us and the threat of chemical attack.

“My next-in-command looked at me and said, ‘How are we gonna get through this?’ I said, ‘We’re gonna do it, we’re gonna go through this like a knife through butter.’ It’s easy to give up, but you can’t do that.”

Villa, a seven-time English champion and European Cup winner in 1982, is an odds-on favorite to lose its unbroken status as a Premier League club. Winless since the opening day of the season on Aug. 8, the biggest team from central England — boasting fa-

mous fans in Prince William and British Prime Minister David Cameron — heads into a home match against Crystal Palace on Tuesday 11 points from safety with

loss to the league’s next-tolast team.

On Saturday, the atmosphere became more heated, with players requiring a police escort to get

seasons in 2008-10 and has long been one of the most celebrated clubs in English soccer fallen this far?

It’s a story of inertia and apathy in the boardroom, of

Wycombe Wanderers’ Aaron Holloway, right, and Aston Villa’s Jores Okore battle for the ball during their FA Cup, third round soccer match at Adams Park, High Wycombe, England, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016.

(Paul Harding/PA via AP)

18 games remaining, and in turmoil on and off the field.

Two weeks ago, disgruntled supporters chanted, “You’re not fit to wear the shirt,” as Villa players prepared to leave the stadium in Sunderland after a 3-1

on the team bus as angry Villa fans vented their fury following a humiliating 1-1 draw at fourth-tier club Wycombe in the FA Cup. How has it come to this?

How has a team that finished sixth in the Premier League for three straight

strategic failures in recruitment, and of a squad that has been regularly stripped of its best players.

The people in key positions at the club appear to be either unsuited to the task, not up to it, or simply don’t want to be there.

Messi, Lloyd Win FIFA World Player Awards Continued from page 17 Lloyd got 35.28% of the voting points, ahead of Germany’s Celia Sasic with 12.6 percent. Third-place Aya Miyama of Japan got 9.88 percent. Sasic also scored six goals in Canada to win the tournament Golden Boot, then retired aged just 27.

Ellis won the coaching award in women’s football ahead of two men: Japan coach Norio Sasaki and Mark Sampson, who led England to third place at the World Cup. English-born Ellis got the most dominating win. She scored 42.98 percent,

ahead of Sasaki on 17.79 percent and Sampson’s 10.68 percent.

The Americans last swept the women’s awards after its 2012 Olympic title, when forward Abby Wambach and Swedish coach Pia Sundhage were rewarded.

Barcelona also swept the 2011 men’s awards when Messi and then-coach Pep Guardiola won following the club’s previous Champions League title.

Guardiola, now coaching Bayern Munich, placed second to his former teammate Monday, getting 22.97 percent against for 31.08 percent for Luis Enrique. Neither could attend due to team commitments.

Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli placed third, on 9.47 percent, for guiding the host to a first Copa America title. Messi lost out in the Puskas Award for most beautiful goal to Wendell Lira of Brazil. Lira’s bicycle kick for Goianesia against Atletico-GO in a league game topped an online poll that logged more than 1.6 million votes.

The gala night allowed FIFA to forget its corruption crisis and many legal problems in 2015 to focus on soccer highlights.

Still, FIFA withheld the Presidential Award that Sepp Blatter would traditionally pick and present. The outgoing Blatter was absent

Monday due to this eightyear ban imposed by the FIFA ethics committee last month. Four of the five candidates competing to succeed Blatter in the Feb. 26 election attended on Monday: Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, Jerome Champagne, Gianni Infantino and Tokyo Sexwale. Only Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa skipped the event.

In Blatter’s absence, acting FIFA President Issa Hayatou of Cameroon made the formal opening speech. He noted the election meeting in Zurich where 209 member federations will also vote on restructuring and modernizing the embattled soccer body.q

Randy Lerner, the former owner of the Cleveland Browns, bought Villa in 2006 for $104 million but has been looking to sell the club since May 2014, saying he was drained by the “week-in, week-out battles.”

Villa’s current manager is Remi Garde, hired in November as its sixth coach since 2010. Garde is a Frenchman with no previous coaching experience in England.

Thrust immediately into a relegation dogfight, he has yet to win a game after 10 in charge. It sums up Villa’s plight that in welcoming Garde to Villa Park, the club misspelt his name, saying on Twitter: (hashtag) WelcomeRemy.

Villa has an American chief executive, Tom Fox, whose background is mainly in marketing and who risked intensifying fan ire by saying last week that the club was “making progress” because it has “generated more revenue on both our shirt and kit deals and in our ability to control costs.”

Fox arrived from Arsenal, as did newly hired sporting director Hendrik Almstadt, who brought with him the risky transfer strategy of buying young to get better value-for-money signings so they can be sold for a profit. The so-called “Moneyball” policy has been a disaster so far. Thirteen players — many unproven youngsters from overseas — joined last offseason for 50 million pounds ($72.5 million), but for a reported net spend of only 7 million pounds ($10 million) as Villa used the cash recouped from selling Belgium striker Christian Benteke and England midfielder Fabian Delph — its two best players.

Garde has the January transfer window to work a miracle, but which potential savior wants to join a club destined for relegation? Garde may just have to work with the current set of players, who have proven this season they are simply not good enough.q

TECHNOLOGY A23

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Driverless taxi on Seoul campus offers glimpse of future YOUKYUNG LEE AP Technology Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean university is testing a sedan that can pick up and transport passengers without a human driver, giving a glimpse into the future of autonomous public transport.

Seo Seung-Woo, director of the Intelligent Vehicle IT Research Center at Seoul National University, said the university has been testing the driverless taxi to transport disabled students around campus.

The vehicle, called Snuber, has been navigating the 4,109 square meter (44,200 square foot) campus for the past six months without any accidents. It works in conjunction with a hailing app created by the university. Companies around the world are betting that automated driving technology will transform public transportation.

In Japan, a company called Robot Taxi Inc. plans to offer a full commercial service in 2020. In Greece, driverless buses called CityMobil2 have been tested in real traffic. General Motors Co. said Monday it is investing $500 million in ridehailing company Lyft Inc. and forming a partnership that could eventually lead to on-demand, self-driving cars. South Korean companies, however, have been slow to embrace the self-driving technology.

The country’s largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor Co., said it expects to roll out a fully automated car in 2030. Only this month, Samsung Electronics created a team to focus on autonomous driving.

On the campus of Seoul National University, many heads turn as the grey sedan passes. It has turret on its roof with devices

that scan road conditions.

Seo’s team outfitted the Genesis sedan with a camera, laser scanners and other sensors. For now, due to regulations banning autonomous vehicles on the roads, a driver is behind the steering wheel and can override the automation in emergency situations. The car cannot travel faster than 30 kilometers per hour (18.6 miles per hour) because of the speed limit on campus. There are no full traffic lights but researchers have programmed Snuber to navigate around other challenges.

The vehicle applies a brake pedal at a red stop sign and at a pedestrian crosswalk. When another vehicle stops in the middle of the road, the automated sedan will scan the other lanes to detect vehicles traveling from the opposite direction. If there are no other vehicles, the Snuber moves into the oncoming lane to pass the vehicle.

However, it is not yet ready for use outside the relative-

A researcher from the Intelligent Vehicle IT Research Center at Seoul National University shows the smartphone application for the driverless car called Snuber with a fixture on its roof with devices that scan road conditions at Seoul National University’s campus in Seoul, South Korea. The South Korean university is testing the sedan that can pick up and transport passengers without a human driver, giving a glimpse into the future of autonomous public transport.

(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

ly controlled campus environment.

“It will take a huge amount of time and effort,” said Seo. “We need more tests in real traffic conditions.”

He said in early 2020, a driverless car will be running between tollgates on highways. A door-to-door pickup service using a selfdriving car is likely in early

2030, he said.

Experts said such services have the potential to change delivery businesses, not only mass transport. q

hackers to remotely take over a Jeep Cherokee.

The hack by security experts Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek touched off the investigation in July and raised fears that millions of cars and trucks could be vulnerable.

They were able to change the Cherokee’s speed and control the brakes, radio, windshield wipers and transmission through the Uconnect infotainment system.

The hackers informed Fiat Chrysler of their findings and detailed them at a cyber conference, triggering the investigation.

But the fear of widespread vulnerability to hackers appears to be unfounded.

NHTSA investigators said in documents that similar radios made by Harman International went to Volkswagen, Audi and Bentley, but that those vehicles have safety systems that would stop hackers.

“Based on a thorough review of technical information supplied during the course of this investigation, there does not appear to be a reason to suspect that the infotainment head units Harman supplied to other vehicle manufacturers contain the vulnerabilities

identified by FCA,” NHTSA said in the documents.

In addition, the agency said Sprint, Fiat Chrysler’s wireless provider, blocked access to a radio communications port that was unintentionally left open. q

Feds: Non-Jeep car radios aren’t vulnerable to hacking TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety regulators have determined that only Fiat Chrysler radios have a security flaw that allowed friendly hackers to take control of a Jeep last year.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents posted online this weekend that it’s ending a five-month investigation into the vulnerabilities of automotive radios.

The agency also said last summer’s recall of 1.4 million Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge and Ram vehicles closed the opening that allowed

A24 BUSINESS

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Stocks end mostly higher; energy sector tanked by oil ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer The U.S. stock market mounted a last-minute comeback to close slightly higher on Monday, snapping a three-day losing

easy about the trajectory of China’s economy and the possible implications for U.S. company earnings.

China’s Shanghai composite fell 5.3 percent on Monday.

at a rebound early Monday, but spent much of the day in the red as investors weighed the implications of another stock market drop in China and the slide in crude. The market ap-

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, center, is applauded by New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley, right, and Mike Preston, Arkansas Executive Director of Economic Developement, as he rings the New York Stock Exchange opening bell, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. The U.S. stock market mounted a last-minute comeback to close slightly higher on Monday, snapping a three-day losing streak.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

streak.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Dow Jones industrial average each eked out a tiny gain, while the Nasdaq composite ended slightly lower.

Consumer staples stocks were among the biggest gainers. Oil and gas companies were hit by another plunge the price of crude oil, which tumbled 5.3 percent to a 12-year low.

Chevron lost 1.7 percent and Exxon Mobil fell 1 percent.

The latest downturn in oil comes at a time when investors are increasingly un-

“Investors have one eye on China, and all that’s going on there, and the other eye on oil,” said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank. “Those two things are keeping investors on pins and needles right now.”

The Dow added 52.12 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,398.57. The S&P 500 index rose 1.64 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,923.67. The Nasdaq fell 5.64 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,637.99.

All of the major stock indexes are down sharply for the year.

The three indexes hinted

peared headed for a lower close until the final minutes of regular trading, when the Dow and S&P 500 index shifted back into positive territory.

Monday’s market action is a slight reprieve from an otherwise rough year so far for investors.

Last week, U.S. stocks posted their worst week in more than four years. It was also the market’s worst-ever opening week of a year.

A weakening of China’s currency and steep drops in its stock market have stoked worries over the outlook for the world’s second-

largest economy.

That doesn’t bode well for the next round of company earnings, which kicks into gear this week.

Many companies’ quarterly results will likely reflect the impact of China’s softening economy and lower oil prices, said Jason Pride, director of investment strategy at Glenmede.

“The No. 1 most-mentioned item in third-quarter reports was weakness in China,” Pride said. “We’d be surprised if China and oil are not central to the earnings narrative as well.”

Alcoa delivered its report card after the close of regular trading on Monday. The earnings were better than analysts had expected.

Several banks, including Citigroup, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan are scheduled to report results toward the end of the week.

On Monday, Benchmark U.S. crude dropped $1.75, or 5.3 percent, to $31.41 a barrel in New York. The last time it was lower was Dec. 5, 2003, when it closed at $30.73 a barrel. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, fell $2, or 6 percent, to $31.55 a barrel in London.

Several energy and mining companies slumped as crude oil and other commodity prices fell.

Freeport-McMoRan sank $1.10, or 20.3 percent, to $4.31, making it the biggest decliner in the S&P 500 index. Consol Energy also slumped, losing 69 cents, or 9 percent, to $7. NRG Energy shed $1.11, or 9.8 percent, to $10.23.

Chevron slid $1.36, or 1.7 percent, to $80.77, while Exxon Mobil lost $1, or 1.3 percent, to $73.69. q

Arch Coal files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection NEW YORK (AP) — Arch Coal, which has been hurt by the weakening demand for coal, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday. The coal industry is struggling as electric power companies shift to using natural gas, which costs less than coal and produces less pollution.

Other coal companies

have filed for bankruptcy protection recently, including Alpha Natural Resources Inc. and Patriot Coal Corp. Arch Coal warned late last year that it may file for bankruptcy protection.

Filling for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection allows companies to reorganize their debt while they keep theirbusiness operating.

Arch Coal Inc. said its mines will remain open and its employees should not be affected by the bankruptcy process. It said employees will continue to be paid and their benefits, including health care and retirement plans, will also continue.

The company said it reached a deal with its lenders to reduce its debt

by more than $4.5 billion.

In filings with a bankruptcy court, the St. Louis-based company says it has $6.5 billion in debt and $5.8 billion in assets. Arch Coal operates mines in Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. Its coal is used to make steel or generate power. q

Regulators to give written reason for lower oilfield fines JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota regulators announced Monday that written justification will be provided if fines and other sanctions are lowered against companies that violate the state’s oil and gas laws.

It’s a major policy shift that comes amid public criticism for easing penalties as much as 90 percent against companies involved in spills and other oilfield violations.

Regulators said it promotes cooperation and ensures sites are cleaned up.

Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms told reporters following a closed door meeting with the state Industrial Commission that he is to provide the documentation on all future cases.

“Part of the direction that we received was if a consent agreement is reached, that it clearly spell out any work that the offending party has performed in correcting the violation and preventing future violations, as well as anything that they’re doing or have done or are expected to do to receive any suspension of a penalty,” Helms said.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission, a three-member all-Republican panel led by Gov. Jack Dalrymple, oversees the Helms’ agency, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry.

The agency in the past has orally updated the commission quarterly on proposed sanctions or ongoing negotiations, with little detail made public.

The commission met more than an hour-and-a half Monday discussing six cases against companies, where the total of the six cases was more than $600,000.

Two of the complaints are against Houston-based Oasis Petroleum Inc. but Helms said the “root cause” of the sanctions against the company is “very different.q

BUSINESS A25

Tuesday 12 January 2016

A breakdown of the S&P 500 index’s sectors through 2015 MARLEY JAY AP Markets Writer NEW YORK (AP) — While the Standard & Poor’s index finished 2015 around where it started, the index was sharply divided between winners and losers. Four of the index’s 10 sectors rose, while energy and five others lost ground.

CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY: Up 8.4 percent. These stocks had by far the best year on the market. The sector was driven higher by big gains from Netflix and Amazon, the only S&P 500 stocks that doubled in value this year. Starbucks, Cablevision and Expedia all did well. The S&P’s consumer discretionary index has risen for seven years in a row.

Shire in $32B deal for US-based Baxalta LINDA A. JOHNSON AP Business Writer TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Irish drugmaker Shire PLC’s second attempt to buy Baxalta looks more likely to succeed, with Baxalta’s board backing the sweetened offer of $32 billion in cash and stock. If the deal goes through, the combined company would be one of the world’s top 20 drugmakers by revenue and a leader in the sizzling niche

$13 billion in sales from that category, and a total exceeding $20 billion annually, by 2020.

Shire said it will give Baxalta shareholders $18 in cash and a portion of a Shire share for each Baxalta share, for a per-share price of $45.57 based on Friday’s closing price of Shire’s U.S.traded stock. Shares in both companies dropped on the news.

The companies said their

Rare disease medicines these days come with skyhigh list prices: $100,000 up to nearly a half-million dollars for a year or a course of treatment. While insurance companies have won deep discounts, it’s been difficult for them to refuse to cover treatments because for nearly all rare disorders, there are no cheaper alternatives — if any treatment is available.

The Shire and Baxalta

HEALTH CARE: Up 5.2 percent. Health care stocks rose thanks to gains in drug companies, such as the macular degeneration drug maker Regeneron, and Botox maker Allergan, which combined with Actavis early in the year. A wave of consolidation lifted health insurers.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Up 4.3 percent. Video game makers Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts surged, while Google parent Alphabet and chip designer Nvidia also made significant gains. Facebook hit an all-time high and Microsoft reached its highest price since 2000 as it transitioned to new leadership.

CONSUMER STAPLES: Up 3.8 percent. Even though shares of Wal-Mart had their worst year in four decades, consumer staple stocks edged higher on gains from Spam maker Hormel, Monster Beverage and Corona distributor Constellation Brands. The $54 billion combination of Kraft and Heinz also helped the sector.

TELECOM: Down 1.7 percent. Shares of Frontier Communications and CenturyLink tumbled this year, countering a small gain from telecom giant AT&T and a 10-percent jump for Level 3 Communications.

FINANCIALS: Down 3.5 percent. Financial stocks slipped as losses from Goldman Sachs, Berkshire Hathaway and student loan processor Navient canceled out gains from E-Trade Financial and property and casualty insurer Chubb. Investors expected the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year, but it waited until December to do so. Higher interest rates mean banks can make more money on loans.

INDUSTRIALS: Down 4.7 percent. The strong dollar and a slowing global economy, particularly in China, hit industrial stocks. Engine maker Cummins, railroad operator Union Pacific, machinery maker Caterpillar and truck maker Paccar all pulled the sector lower.

UTILITIES: Down 8.4 percent. Utility stocks are seen as stable investments that pay steady dividends, and the utilities sector had risen five out of the last six years.

With interest rates about to start rising, investors sold utility stocks this year.

MATERIALS: Down 10.4 percent. The prices of gold, silver and copper slid to six-year lows in 2015 as the global economy cooled. That battered stocks of mining and metals companies like Freeport-McMoRan and Alcoa as well as glass container maker OwensIllinois and fertilizer maker Mosaic.q

Irish drugmaker Shire PLC’s second attempt to buy Baxalta looks more likely to succeed, with Baxalta’s board backing the sweetened offer of $32 billion in cash and stock.

(AP Photo/Aaron Harris)

of rare disease medicines.

Treatments for rare diseases — those affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans — are a hot, very lucrative research area, with drugmakers testing hundreds in clinical trials. The surge is driven by a combination of tax breaks, the lure of ultra-high drug prices, scientific advances such as the mapping of the human genome and advocacy groups for patients raising money to entice small drug developers to research treatments for their condition.

Meanwhile, there’s an ongoing wave of drugmakers combining to increase revenue, quickly boost profit by trimming overlapping jobs and other expenses, and narrow their focus to diseases where they have the most expertise.

Shire and Baxalta Inc. said during a Monday conference call that their combined company will draw 65 percent of total revenue from rare disease treatments. They expect about

combined hemophilia franchise will provide a foundation for a broader hematology and oncology business. The new company also would have strengths in diseases of the eye and gastrointestinal and endocrine systems.

Shire’s lead product is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Vyvanse.

Baxalta’s portfolio includes hemophilia treatment Advate, and it’s developing treatments for sickle cell anemia, cancer and psoriasis.

Just a week ago, Baxalta agreed to pay Danish biotech company Symphogen A/S up to $1.6 billion for rights to jointly develop six experimental cancer medicines.

“The bigger picture for Shire is the need to diversify away from an uneven pipeline of products towards a new emphasis on rare diseases and biotech,” wrote Joe Stelzer, managing partner at UK deal adviser Cavendish Corporate Finance.

boards have agreed to the deal, which they expect to close year around mid-year and save more than $500 million annually.

However, shareholders and some regulators must approve it.

Baxalta spun off last July from Deerfield, Illinoisbased drugmaker Baxter International Inc. Shire promptly made an initial run at Bannockburn, Illinois-based Baxalta, which then rejected that $30 billion all-stock bid as too low.

Shire said its latest offer — which includes an infusion of cash — represents a premium of nearly 38 percent to Baxalta’s share price before Shire announced its previous bid. Baxalta shareholders would end up with about 34 percent of the combined company.

The companies said they will maintain the tax-free status of Baxalta’s spinoff from Baxter. They expect an adjusted tax rate for the combined company of 16 percent to 17 percent by 2017. q

A26 COMICS

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Yesterday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Tuesday 12 January 2016

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A28 SCIENCE

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Wild December pushes US weather in 2015 to near records

Houses are surrounded by floodwater in Arnold, Mo. Federal weather officials said December’s wild El Nino pushed 2015 in the U.S. to near-record levels for heat, moisture and downright extreme conditions, federal weather officials said.

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — December’s wild El Nino

pushed 2015 in the United States to near-record levels for heat, moisture and downright extreme con-

ditions, U.S. government weather officials said this weekend.

The year that just ended

was the second warmest and third wettest in 121 years of record-keeping for the lower 48 states, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.

The 54.4 degree (12.4 Celsius) average last year was second only to 2012.

“The combination of El Nino plus climate change clearly has brought the U.S. some weirdly memorable, highly unusual, and quite troubling weather,” said climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University. “As for the influence of climate change, it’s just the beginning.”

These are just U.S. statistics.

Globally, it’s almost certain to be hottest on record with exact figures coming out later this month, and the U.S. near-record is emblematic of that, said Deke Arndt, NOAA’s climate monitoring chief.

“We live in a warming

Great white shark dies after 3 days in Japan aquarium YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A great white shark has died after barely three days in a rare case of captivity in a Japanese aquarium.

The 3.5 meter (11.5-foot) shark, which was accidentally caught in a net in southwestern Japan on Tuesday, died this weekend, according to Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.

The cause of death was under investigation.

Keeping a great white shark in captivity is extremely difficult as it needs to keep swimming constantly to get oxygen and maintain its body temperature.

An official for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, Asia, criti-

cized keeping the shark in captivity as “cruel and wrong.”

“The cause of death is clear: captivity. The shark never had to die like this,” said Jason Baker, PETA’s vice president of international campaigns.

Aquarium researcher Keiichi Sato said the aquarium abides by Japanese and international laws and believes its efforts contribute to education and science.

“Many visitors had asked us to exhibit the great white shark,” he said in a telephone interview from Okinawa.

The aquarium had announced the rare successful exhibition of the species earlier this week.

The captured shark, a male, was relatively small,

A great white shark swims in a water tank specially for ferocious sharks at the aquarium in Motobu, Okinawa, southwestern Japan. The 3.5-meter (11.5-foot) shark died after barely three days in a rare case of captivity in the Japanese aquarium.

(Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium via AP)

and had appeared to be doing well, swimming with several other sharks, but suddenly weakened and sank to the bottom of the

tank. Efforts to give it oxygen in a separate special tank failed. It had refused to eat any food since being caught.q

world and a warming world is bringing more big heat and more big rain events to the United States,” Arndt said during a NOAA press conference.

For much of the spring and summer, climate change was the big factor pushing U.S. temperatures above normal. But in November and December, El Nino took over and supercharged the global warming effect while turning on the heavy rains, said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at DuPage College outside Chicago.

El Nino is the natural warming of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide. It occurs every two to seven years or so with one of its most noticeable affects being heavy downpours in California.

Going into December, it was just the fifth warmest and ninth wettest year in the United States. Then a record-setting December pushed everything up a few notches.

At 38.6 degrees (3.6 Celsius) — 6 degrees warmer than the 20th century average — December was nearly a full degree warmer than the record set in 1939. And the 3.93 inches of precipitation in December surpassed the old record by more than a sixth of an inch.

This was the first time that a month was both the warmest and wettest on record, said NOAA climate scientist Jake Crouch.

Last year, the U.S. lurched from one extreme to another. Going into December, the U.S. was flirting with a record low number of tornado deaths. Then a series of nasty tornadoes killed 24 people in four days, making it the second deadliest December for tornadoes on record.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29 Sean Penn: Nothing to hide over drug lord interview Tuesday 12 January 2016

MARIA VERZA FRANK BAJAK Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Actor Sean Penn said Monday he has “nothin’ to hide” about his clandestine visit to Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, dismissing criticism over his interview with the fugitive who was captured two days ago.

In a brief email exchange with The Associated Press, Penn was asked about im-

advance of publication, though he said in the article that Guzman requested no changes.

Mexican officials have said that Guzman’s contacts with Penn and del Castillo helped them track down the fugitive and they raided his hideout a few days after they met. Guzman evaded authorities then, but was finally captured Friday in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa.

A Mexican federal law en-

Castillo arriving at an airport, then at a hotel, and greeting the men who apparently took them to a small airstrip, from which they flew to the jungle camp to meet Guzman.

The newspaper said the photos are part of a Mexican government intelligence file that it obtained.

It is not clear which may have been frame grabs from surveillance videos, The account says agents were aware of and follow-

Sean Penn speaks during a forum with young entrepreneurs in Lima, Peru. Penn said Monday he has “nothin’ to hide” about his clandestine visit to Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, dismissing criticism over his interview with the fugitive who was captured two days ago.

(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

ages published by local news media that indicate Mexican authorities were closely monitoring him and actress Kate del Castillo ahead of their October visit with Guzman.

“I’ve got nothin’ to hide,” he wrote.

Penn shrugged off a suggestion that he was “taking hits” for agreeing to submit the story to Guzman prior to publication of the story by Rolling Stone magazine.

“No, you’re reading hits,” he said. There are quite a few envious journalists, the AP reporter commented.

“True dat,” Penn replied.

Guzman was captured Friday, more than three months after meeting Penn on Oct. 2 meeting and six months after escaping from prison.

Penn did not respond directly to questions on whether it was appropriate for him to submit his story to Guzman for approval in

forcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to comment on the issue, told the Associated Press the Penn interview led authorities to Guzman in the area of Tamazula, a rural part of Durango state.

Penn wrote in the article of elaborate security precautions, including switching phones. But as he flew to Mexico for the meeting, he wrote “I see no spying eyes, but I assume they are there.”

He may not have known how close those eyes were.

They were apparently already following del Castillo based on contacts with Guzman lawyers.

The Mexican newspaper El Universal published 10 photographs Monday that appeared to show Penn being monitored as he arrived in Mexico.

The photographs that appear to show Penn and del

ing del Castillo’s contacts with Guzman’s lawyers since at least June. Del Castillo has not commented.

Mexico has begun the process of extraditing Guzman to the United States, but that process will probably take “one year or longer,” the head of Mexico’s extradition office, Manuel Merino, told Radio Formula on Monday. He said the process had lasted as long as six years, in one case because of legal challenges.

In the meantime, Guzman was being held at the same prison from which he escaped through a tunnel in July. But a Mexican security official said he is being held in a different cell. The official was not authorized to be quoted by name.

Both his original cell and the mile-long tunnel he had built have been “made unusable,” the official said, without specifying how.

The prison is now ringed by

soldiers, marines and federal police. Some of the soldiers are riding in armored personnel carriers.

Guzman’s powerful Sinaloa cartel smuggles multi-ton shipments of cocaine and marijuana as well as manufacturing and transporting methamphetamines and heroin, mostly to the U.S. He is wanted in various U.S. states and his July escape deeply embarrassed the government of President

Enrique Pena Nieto and strained ties between the countries.

Guzman’s attorney Juan Pablo Badillo has said the defense has already filed six motions to challenge extradition requests.

Badillo said that his client shouldn’t be extradited to the U.S. because “our country must respect national sovereignty, the sovereignty of its institutions to impart justice.”q

A30 PEOPLE

Tuesday 12 January 2016

& ARTS

‘The Martian’ flies high at Golden Globes JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer “The Martian” rocketed to best film comedy at the 73rd annual Golden Globes, where even its director, Ridley Scott, wondered whether his science fiction epic about a stranded astronaut quite belonged in the category.

“Comedy?” Scott wondered, taking the podium, answering with a skeptical wave of his hand.

Sylvester Stallone scored a

terrorism, the Gervais-led Globes, evidenced little of seriousness that marks most award shows, or the teary-eyed acceptances speeches. Instead, the Globes had a particularly unraveled atmosphere that included Jonah Hill dressed as the bear from “The Revenant,” copious discussion of “Transparent” star Jeffrey Tambor’s male anatomy by Gervais, and much buzzing about Sean Penn’s escapade with

of the captive mother-son drama “Room.” A gleeful Larson concluded: “I’m sorry for anyone I forgot.

I’ll write you a thank-you card.”

Lawrence, who spent much of the night with her new friend and collaborator Amy Schumer (herself a nominee for “Trainwreck”), scored her third Globe for a David O. Russell-directed film. After winning for “Silver Linings Playbook” and “American Hustle,” she

Matt Damon poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a motion picture - musical or comedy for “The Martian” at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

knockout 29 years after the first “Rocky,” Jennifer Lawrence notched her third Golden Globe and Matt Damon landed both best actor for his stranded astronaut in “The Martian” and withering jabs from host Ricky Gervais at the Beverly Hills, California, ceremony.

Leonardo DiCaprio won for best actor in a film drama.

Nominated for the same character that earned him his only other Golden Globe nod, Stallone took best supporting actor for the “Rocky” sequel-reboot “Creed.” The crowd greeted him with a standing ovation.

“I want to thank my imaginary friend Rocky Balboa for being the best friend I ever had,” said Stallone.

Though security was especially tight to guard against

Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Gervais greeted the crowd (which he labeled “pillpopping sexual deviant scum”) with a predictably astringent opening, setting the tone for a muchbleeped night that was at turns irreverent and frivolous. In his fourth time hosting, Gervais’ act dominated the evening, often drawing loud laughs from the Beverly Hilton hotel audience, but also the expected criticism. In a particularly awkward encounter, he and Mel Gibson stood arm-in-arm after exchanging insults.

“I love seeing Ricky once every three years because it reminds me to get a colonoscopy,” said Gibson.

Best actress went to Brie Larson, the breakout star

made it three for “Joy.” Damon had to suffer being introduced by Gervais as “the only person who Ben Affleck hasn’t been unfaithful to,” but he later won best actor in a comedy for Ridley Scott’s sci-fi hit “The Martian.” Damon said the film’s success was an unlikely pleasure: “I have made a lot of movies that people just didn’t go see.” (“The Martian” also won best film comedy.)

Scott was also pegged by many for best director, too, but that honor went to Alejandro Inarritu for the frontier thriller “The Revenant,” fresh off a $37 million debut that nearly topple the box-office behemoth “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” — which didn’t screen in time for the Hollywood Foreign Press to consider.q

Hamm, Henson, ‘Mozart in the Jungle’ lead Globes TV honors DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer Golden Globes voters showed sentiment in giving Jon Hamm a farewell award for leading “Mad Men,” but also fulfilled a traditional role in highlighting lesser-known work on television.

Amazon Prime’s “Mozart in the Jungle” won the Globe for best comedy or musical and earned an actor award for Gael Garcia Bernal, while USA’s “Mr. Robot” won best drama and a supporting actor award for veteran Christian Slater. Amazon and USA were the only two content services to win more than once on Sunday.

AMC’s “Mad Men” ended its run with a memorable scene, ad man Draper supposedly getting the idea for a Coke commercial that was a landmark in the 1970s. Hamm, in accepting his second Golden Globe for his role, joked that he appreciated writers not taking his suggestion to end the series with music from the British band Chumbawamba.

“Thank you so much to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for supporting our show for as long as you did — all the way to the end,” he said.

It almost felt like a lifetime achievement award, because elsewhere the Globe voters were attracted to whatever was shiny and new.

Taraji P. Henson came prepared, handing out cookies to audience members as she came to the stage to accept a best actress award. The reference is to her character’s name in Fox’s music business soap, “Empire.” Like many honorees, she plowed through the music that not-so-subtly reminds them to wrap up their speeches.

“I waited 20 years for this,” she said. “You’re gonna wait.”

Pop music star Lady Gaga oozed Hollywood glamour with a gown that was some distance away from her wild concert stage get-ups. Gaga, who won a Globe for playing the Countess in “American Horror Story: Hotel,” noted that she wanted to be an actress before a singer.

“This is one of the greatest moments of my life,” Gaga said.

Rachel Bloom burst into tears upon learning that she had won best comedy actress for the freshman series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” on the CW. The quasi-musical has won critical plaudits but has struggled to find an audience. She recalled how after another network rejected the pilot, six other networks in a single day turned down a chance to acquire it.

“We knew it was good and Mark Pedowitz of the CW picked it out and he’s the one that saved us,” Bloom said. A year earlier, the CW’s Gina Rodriguez won the same award for “Jane the Virgin,” which airs back-to-back with “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” on Mondays.

The USA network had to have the happiest executives on Sunday. It has been trying to make the turn from blander programming to edgier fare, and the critically acclaimed “Mr. Robot” is taking the lead in that effort. Only series star Roni Malek fell short in his effort at a trophy, losing to Hamm.

Bernal is the star of “Mozart in the Jungle,” about backstage battles in New York City’s classical music world. The actor winner portrays the conductor Rodrigo De Souza.

Jeffrey Tambor of “Transparent” was considered such a favorite by insiders that fellow nominee Aziz Ansari pretended to read a book, “How to Lose to Jeffrey Tambor With Dignity” as he was introduced.

“This is incredible,” Bernal said. q

PEOPLE & ARTS A31

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Legendary musician David Bowie dies of cancer at 69 MESFIN FEKADU AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — David Bowie, the chameleon-like star who transformed the sound — and the look — of rock with his audacious creativity and his sexually ambiguous makeup and costumes, died of cancer Sunday. He was 69 and had just released a new album.

Bowie, whose hits included “Space Oddity,” ‘’Fame,” ‘’Heroes” and “Let’s Dance,” died surrounded by family, representative Steve Martin said early Monday. The singer had fought cancer for 18 months.

Long before alter egos and wild outfits became commonplace in pop, Bowie turned the music world upside down with the release of the 1972 album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” which introduced one of music’s most famous personas. “Ziggy Stardust” was a concept album that imagined a rock star from outer space trying to make his way in the music world.

The persona — the redheaded, eyeliner wearing Stardust — would become an enduring part of Bowie’s legacy, and a touchstone for the way entertainers packaged themselves for years to come.

Bowie turned 69 on Friday, the same day as he released a new album called “Blackstar.”

“While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief,” said a statement issued via his social media accounts. No more details were provided.

Born David Jones in London, the singer came of age in the glam rock era of the early 1970s. He had a striking androgynous look in his early days and was known for changing his appearance and sounds.

After “Ziggy Stardust,” the stuttering rock sound of “Changes” gave way to the disco soul of “Fame,” co-written with John Lennon, to a droning collaboration with Brian Eno in Ber-

lin that produced “Heroes.”

He had some of his biggest successes in the early 1980s with the bombastic “Let’s Dance,” and a massive American tour. Another one of his definitive songs was “Under Pressure,” which he recorded with Queen; Vanilla Ice would years later infamously use the song’s hook for his smash hit “Ice Ice Baby.”

“My entire career, I’ve only really worked with the same subject matter,” Bowie told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview.

“The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety — all of the high points of one’s life.”

Bowie lived in West Berlin in the late 1970s and Mayor Michael Mueller said Monday that “Heroes” became “the hymn of our then-divided city and its longing for freedom.”

Germany’s Foreign Ministry added Bowie was “now among heroes” and thanked him for “helping to bring down the wall.”

Bowie’s performance of “Heroes” was also a highlight at a concert for rescue workers after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

“What I’m most proud of is that I can’t help but notice that I’ve affected the vocabulary of pop music.

For me, frankly, as an artist, that’s the most satisfying thing for the ego,” Bowie said. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, but he didn’t attend the ceremony.

Madonna, another artist who knew something about changing styles to stay ahead of the curve, accepted for him and recounted how a Bowie concert changed her life when she attended it as a teenager. David Byrne, of the art rockers Talking Heads, inducted Bowie and said he gave rock music a necessary shot in the arm.

“Like all rock ‘n’ roll, it was visionary, it was tasteless, it was glamorous, it was perverse, it was fun, it was

crass, it was sexy and it was confusing,” Byrne said.

Bowie kept a low profile in recent years after reportedly suffering a heart attack in the 2000s. He made

in heaven.”

On the iTunes albums chart, which updates frequently throughout the day to reflect digital purchases from users, Bowie’s “Blackstar”

In this 1980 photo, David Bowie listens during a news conference after a rehearsal at the Booth Theater in New York. Bowie was appearing in the Broadway production of “The Elephant Man.” Bowie, the innovative and iconic singer whose illustrious career lasted five decades, died Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, after battling cancer for 18 months. He was 69.

(AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, FIle)

a moody album three years ago called “The Next Day” — his first recording in a decade, made in secret in New York City. “Blackstar,” which earned positive reviews from critics, represented yet another stylistic shift, as he gathered jazz players to join him.

“David always did it his way and his way was the least obvious way,” said Tony Visconti, Bowie’s longtime producer. “He was a true genius who proved it over and over again through groundbreaking albums.”

Bowie released a music video on Friday for the new song “Lazarus,” which shows a frail Bowie lying in bed and singing the track’s lyrics. The song begins with the line: “Look up here, I’m

peaked at No. 1 on Monday. “Best of Bowie” was No. 2, pushing Adele’s “25” to No. 3. And two other Bowie albums reached the Top 10.

His music has also been electrifying audiences this winter in New York in the sold-out new off-Broadway musical “Lazarus,” led by Michael C. Hall of “Dexter” fame and inspired by the 1963 science-fiction novel “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” Tributes poured in for the singer after the announcement of his death.

British astronaut Tim Peake tweeted about his sadness from outer space aboard the International Space Station, saying “his music was an inspiration to many.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted that Bowie’s death is “a huge loss.” He wrote he had grown up listening to and watching Bowie and called the singer a “master of reinvention” and a pop genius who kept on getting it right.

The Rolling Stones wrote they were “shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the death of our dear friend David Bowie. As well as being a wonderful and kind man, he was an extraordinary artist, and a true original.”

Singer Mick Jagger, in a statement, said Bowie was his inspiration and “a true original.”

“He was wonderfully shameless in his work we had so many good times together,” Jagger said. “He was my friend. I will never forget him.”

Former Beatle Paul McCartney has also paid tribute, calling Bowie “a great star.”

“His music played a very strong part in British musical history and I’m proud to think of the huge influence he has had on people all around the world,” McCartney wrote on his website. Bowie felt uneasy about some of his greatest material, once embarking on a “greatest hits” tour saying it would be the last time performing much of his old material. He later relented, however.

“I’m not a natural performer,” he said in the 2002 interview. “I don’t enjoy performing terribly much. Never have. I can do it and, if my mind’s on the situation, do it quite well. But five or six shows in, I’m dying to get off the road and go back into the studio.”

Bowie was married twice, to the actress and model Mary Angela “Angie” Barnett from 1970-80, and to international supermodel Iman since 1992. He had two children — Duncan Jones and Alexandria Zahra Jones — one with each wife. The two-time Grammy Award winner was remembered by The Recording Academy as a “”Renaissance man and visionary artist.”q