September 12, 2019

Thursday

September 12, 2019 T: 582-7800 | F: 582-7044 www.arubatoday.com

Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper

Creative Islander

Page 13

Tentative opioids settlement falls short of nationwide deal

By G.MULVIHILL/D.COLLINS Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A tentative settlement announced Wednesday over the role Purdue Pharma played in the nation’s opioid addiction crisis falls short of the far-reaching national settlement the OxyContin maker had been seeking for months, with litigation sure to con-

tinue against the company and the family that owns it.

The agreement with about half the states and attorneys representing roughly 2,000 local governments would have Purdue file for a structured bankruptcy and pay as much as $12 billion over time, with about $3 billion coming from the Sackler family.

Continued on Page 4

Narcotics detective Ben Hill, with the Barberton Police Department, shows two bags of medications that are are stored in their headquarters and slated for destruction, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, in Barberton, Ohio.

Associated Press

A2 U.s.

Thursday 12 September 2019

news

Supreme Court allows broad enforcement of asylum limits

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing nationwide enforcement of a new Trump administration rule that prevents most Central American immigrants from seeking asylum in the United States.

The justices’ order late Wednesday temporarily undoes a lower-court ruling that had blocked the new asylum policy in some states along the southern border. The policy is meant to deny asylum to anyone who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. without seeking protection there.

Most people crossing the southern border are Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty. They

In this Oct. 10, 2017, file photo, the Supreme Court in Washington is seen at sunset.

Associated Press

are largely ineligible under the new rule, as are asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and South America who arrive regularly at the southern border.

The shift reverses decades of U.S. policy. The adminis-

tration has said that it wants to close the gap between an initial asylum screening that most people pass and a final decision on asylum that most people do not win.

“BIG United States Supreme

Court WIN for the Border on Asylum!” Trump tweeted.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the highcourt’s order. “Once again, the Executive Branch has issued a rule that seeks to upend longstanding practices regarding refugees who seek shelter from persecution,” Sotomayor wrote.

The legal challenge to the new policy has a brief but somewhat convoluted history. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco blocked the new policy from taking effect in late July. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed Tigar’s order so that it applied only in Arizona and California, states that are within the

9th Circuit. That left the administration free to enforce the policy on asylum seekers arriving in New Mexico and Texas. Tigar issued a new order on Monday that reimposed a nationwide hold on asylum policy. The 9th Circuit again narrowed his order on Tuesday.

The high-court action allows the administration to impose the new policy everywhere while the court case against it continues.

Lee Gelernt, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who is representing immigrant advocacy groups in the case, said: “This is just a temporary step, and we’re hopeful we’ll prevail at the end of the day. The lives of thousands of families are at stake.”q

U.S. NEWS A3

Thursday 12 September 2019

18 years later, America vows to ‘never forget’ 9/11

By KAREN MATTHEWS and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — People who were too young on 9/11 to even remember their lost loved ones, and others for whom the grief is still raw, paid tribute with wreath-layings and the solemn roll call of the dead Wednesday as America marked the 18th anniversary of the worst terror attack on U.S. soil.

“As long as the city will gift us this moment, I will be here,” Margie Miller, who lost her husband, Joel, said as she attended the ground zero anniversary ceremony, as she has every year. “I want people to remember.”

President Donald Trump laid a wreath at the Pentagon, telling victims’ relatives there: “This is your anniversary of personal and permanent loss.”

“It’s the day that has replayed in your memory a thousand times over. The last kiss. The last phone call.

The last time hearing those precious words, ‘I love you,’” the president said.

Near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the third site where planes crashed on Sept.

11, 2001, Vice President Mike Pence credited the crew and passengers who fought back against the hijackers with protecting him and others in the U.S. Capitol that day.

“I will always believe that I and many others in our nation’s capital were able to go home that day and hug our families because of the courage and selflessness of

your families,” said Pence, who was an Indiana congressman at the time. Officials concluded the attackers had been aiming the plane toward Washington. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when terroristpiloted planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania.

For families like Mary Ann Marino’s, “18 years has not lessened our loss,” she told those gathered at ground zero after she read part of the long list of victims’ names. She lost her son, firefighter Kenneth Marino.

Parboti Parbhu choked up as she spoke from the podium about her slain sister, Hardai. Even after nearly two decades, “There’s no easy way to say goodbye,” she said. By now, the heritage of grief has been handed down to a new generation, including children and young adults who knew their lost relatives barely or not at all.

Jacob Campbell was 10 months old when his mother, Jill Maurer-Campbell, died on 9/11.

“It’s interesting growing up in a generation that doesn’t really remember it.

I feel a connection that no one I go to school with can really understand,” Campbell, a University of Michigan sophomore, said as he attended the ceremony.

Like the families, the nation is still grappling with the aftermath of Sept. 11. The effects are visible from airport security checkpoints to Afghanistan, where the post-9/11 U.S. invasion has

become America’s longest war. The aim was to dislodge Afghanistan’s thenruling Taliban militants for harboring al-Qaida leader and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Earlier this week, Trump called off a secret meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghan government leaders and declared the peace talks “dead.” As the Sept. 11 anniversary began in Afghanistan, a rocket exploded at the U.S. Embassy just after midnight, with no injuries reported.q

A man holds a photo of a victim during a ceremony marking the 18th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, at the National September 11 Memorial, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, in New York.

Associated Press

A4 up

Thursday 12 September 2019

front

Tentative opioids settlement falls short of nationwide deal Continued from Front

That number involves future profits and the value of drugs currently in development. In addition, the family would have to give up its ownership of the company and contribute another $1.5 billion by selling another of its pharmaceutical companies, Mundipharma.

Several attorneys general said the agreement was a better way to ensure compensation from Purdue and the Sacklers than taking their chances if Purdue files for bankruptcy on its own.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the deal “was the quickest and surest way to get immediate relief for Arizona and for the communities that have been harmed by the opioid crisis and the actions of the Sackler family.”

But even advocates of the deal cautioned that it’s not yet complete.

“I don’t think there’s a settlement,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost whose state was among those supporting it. “There is a proposal that’s been accepted by a majority of attorneys general, but there are quite a few significant states that have not joined at this point.”

“There’s still a lot of telephone calls going on. I think we see the outlines of a thing that might be, but it’s not yet,” Yost said in an interview.

Opioid addiction has contributed to the deaths of some 400,000 Americans over the past two decades, hitting many rural communities particularly hard.

The lawsuits against Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue paint it as a partic-

ular villain in the crisis. They say the company’s aggressive marketing of OxyContin downplayed addiction risks and led to more widespread opioid prescribing, even though only a sliver of the opioid painkillers sold in the U.S. were its products.

The tentative agreement and expected bankruptcy filing would remove Purdue from the first federal trial over the opioids epidemic, scheduled to begin next month in Ohio.

In a statement after Wednesday’s announcement, the company said that it “continues to work with all plaintiffs on reaching a comprehensive resolution to its opioid litigation that will deliver billions of dollars and vital opioid overdose rescue medicines to communities across the country impacted by the opioid crisis.”

Even with Wednesday’s development, many states have not signed on. Several state attorneys general vowed to continue their legal battles against the Sacklers and the company in bankruptcy court.

Roughly 20 states have sued members of the Sackler family in state courts.

Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin were among the states saying they were not part of the agreement.

“Our position remains firm and unchanged and nothing for us has changed today,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement.

“The scope and scale of the pain, death and destruction that Purdue and the Sacklers have caused

Medications that are are stored in the police headquarters that are and slated for destruction, are shown in a locked storage area, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, in Barberton, Ohio.

Associated Press

far exceeds anything that has been offered thus far,” Tong said. “Connecticut’s focus is on the victims and their families, and holding Purdue and the Sacklers accountable for the crisis they have caused.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro called the tentative deal “a slap in the face to everyone who has had to bury a loved one due to this family’s destruction and greed.”

He said he intends to continue fighting the Sacklers, who he said did not have to acknowledge any wrongdoing in their agreement.

“The amount of money that’s being offered in this settlement doesn’t even scratch the surface for what’s needed,” Hampton said. “We want to see Purdue have their day in court.

We know more money will come if this case goes to trial.”

Wednesday’s announcement came just days after a group of attorneys general negotiating directly with Purdue and the Sacklers said they had reached an impasse in talks. At the

time, several attorneys general said they were not confident Purdue would pay the amount promised and wanted more assurance that the money would come through.

In the latest settlement agreement, New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the Sacklers of “attempting to evade responsibility and lowball the millions of victims of the opioid crisis.”

On Wednesday, the Sackler family said in a statement that it “supports working toward a global resolution that directs resources to the patients, families and communities across the country who are suffering and need assistance.”

“This is the most effective way to address the urgency of the current public health crisis, and to fund real solutions, not endless litigation,” it said.q

U.S. NEWS A5

Thursday 12 September 2019

Chinese businesswoman convicted in Mar-a-Lago trespass case

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Yujing Zhang’s desire to meet President Donald Trump and his family turned the Chinese businesswoman into an American felon.

A 10-woman, two-man federal jury convicted Zhang on Wednesday of trespassing at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in March and lying to Secret Service agents. The 33-year-old Shanghai consultant faces up to six years in prison when District Judge Roy Altman sentences her Nov. 22. Zhang, who acted as her own attorney after firing her public defenders in June, showed no reaction when the verdict was read.

She then spoke calmly with federal marshals, discussing what would happen with her legal papers. She smiled at her standby public defenders and was led back to jail.

Prosecutors and Zhang’s standby attorneys declined to comment. Jury forewoman Shelly Hoffman said only, “You heard our verdict.”

Zhang’s troubles began in February when she paid $20,000 to “Charles,” a man she knew only online, to attend a ChineseAmerican friendship event at Mar-a-Lago on March 30. It included a promised photo with the president or a member of his family, evidence showed.

Such meet-and-greets are common during events at Mar-a-Lago, the exclusive club Trump has run since 1995 on the grounds of a 1920s mansion built by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post.

Zhang’s former public defenders believe “Charles”

is Charles Lee, a Chinese national who ran the United Nations Chinese Friendship Association. It is not affiliated with the U.N. He was photographed at least twice with Cindy Yang, a Republican donor and former Florida massage parlor owner who organized Mara-Lago events.

By mid-March, texts the Secret Service found on Zhang’s cellphone showed Charles told Zhang the event had been canceled.

For the same price she could attend an event with Bill and Hillary Clinton or one with investor Warren Buffett, although a photo with Buffett would cost $40,000 more, testimony showed.

Photos with celebrities like the Trumps, the Clintons or Buffett are sometimes used

by Chinese business owners for promotion.

Zhang demanded a refund, the text showed. Prosecutors said that showed she understood the event was off. Still, Zhang flew to the United States on March 28. A limo driver testified that on March 29 he took to Mar-a-Lago a woman prosecutors said was Zhang. The woman told Willy Isidore she planned to visit the club, but he told her that was impossible unless she had an invitation.

The next day, a taxi dropped Zhang off at the Secret Service screening area across from Mar-aLago. The president and his family were at the club that weekend, although he was playing golf at his nearby course and Zhang was never near him.

Agent Krystle Kerr testified Zhang said she was there to visit the pool. Mar-a-Lago managers thought she might be the daughter of

Weekly special on Cars $169.00 We Deliver & Pick Up the car for FREE Ask for our Daily specials www.yessrentalcar.com

a member named Zhang and admitted her. Receptionist Ariela Grumaz testified she immediately spotted Zhang as an outsider.

Grumaz said she knows the 500 members and most of their guests and Zhang was taking photos in the lobby, which is prohibited. She also said Zhang was wearing a long, gray evening dress at 1 p.m., which seemed odd.

Grumaz said she stopped Zhang as she tried to walk past her into another room.

Zhang told her she was there for the U.N. event, but Grumaz knew no such event was scheduled.

Grumaz alerted the Secret Service. Agent Sam Ivanovich testified Zhang told him she was there for a Chinese-American event and showed him an invitation in Mandarin, which he

In this April 15, 2019, file court sketch, Yujing Zhang, left, a Chinese woman charged with lying to illegally enter President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, listens to a hearing before Magistrate Judge William Matthewman in West Palm Beach, Fla. Associated Press

doesn’t speak. He said a search showed Zhang was carrying four cellphones, a laptop and an external hard drive. She told agents she feared they would be stolen if she left them in her hotel room. However, when agents searched her room, they discovered in the open more electronics

gear — including a device to detect hidden cameras — $8,000 in cash and numerous credit and debit cards. She faced no espionage charges, however.

Ivanovich said Zhang lied again, saying she never told Kerr she was there to visit the pool. She carried no swimsuit.q

A6 U.S.

Thursday 12 September 2019

NEWS

450 miles of border wall by next year? In Arizona, it starts

By ASTRID GALVAN Associated Press YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — On a dirt road past rows of date trees, just feet from a dry section of Colorado River, a small construction crew is putting up a towering border wall that the government hopes will reduce — for good — the flow of immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Cicadas buzz and heavy equipment rumbles and beeps before it lowers 30-foot-tall (48-kilometertall) sections of fence into the dirt. “Ahí está!”

— “There it is!” — a Spanish-speaking member of the crew says as the men straighten the sections into the ground. Nearby, workers pull dates from palm trees, not far from the cotton fields that cars pass on the drive to the border.

South of Yuma, Arizona, the tall brown bollards rising against a cloudless desert sky will replace much shorter barriers that are meant to keep out cars, but not people. This 5-mile (8-kilometer) section of fencing is where President Donald Trump’s most salient campaign promise — to build a wall along the entire southern border — is taking shape.

The president and his administration said this week that they plan on building between 450 and 500 miles (724 and 806 kilometers) of fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,218-kilometer) border by the end of 2020, an ambitious undertaking funded by billions of defense dollars that had been earmarked for things like military base schools, target ranges and maintenance

A government contractor walks beside a completed section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 in Yuma, Ariz.

Associated Press

facilities. Two other Pentagon-funded construction projects in New Mexico and Arizona are underway, but some are skeptical that so many miles of wall can be built in such a short amount of time. The government is up against last-minute construction hiccups, funding issues and legal challenges from environmentalists and property owners whose land sits on the border.

The Trump administration says the wall — along with more surveillance technology, agents and lighting — is key to keeping out people who cross illegally.

Critics say a wall is useless when most of those apprehended turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents in the hope they can be eventually released while their cases play out in immigration court.

In Yuma, the defense-funded section of tall fencing

is replacing shorter barriers that U.S. officials say are less efficient.

It comes amid a steep increase since last year in the number of migrant families who cross the border illegally in the Yuma area, often turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents. Many are fleeing extreme poverty and violence, and some are seeking asylum.

So far this year, Border Patrol agents in the Yuma sector have apprehended over 51,000 family units.

That’s compared with just over 14,500 the year before — about a 250% increase.

The Yuma sector is the third busiest along the southern border, with officials building a temporary, 500-person tent facility in the parking lot of the Border Patrol’s Yuma headquarters in June.

It spent just under $15 million for the setup and services

for four months, including meals, laundry and security, but officials are evaluating whether to keep it running past next month as the number of arrivals in Yuma and across the southern border have fallen sharply in recent months.

The drop is largely due to the Mexican government’s efforts to stop migrants from heading north after Trump threatened tariffs earlier this year to force Mexico to act.

The number of people apprehended along the southern border fell by 61 percent between this year’s high point in May and the end of August. In Yuma, it fell by 86 percent, according to government figures. Most people apprehended are either traveling as families or are unaccompanied children.

“Historically this has been a huge crossing point for

both vehicles as well as family units and unaccompanied alien children during the crisis that we’ve seen in the past couple of months,” Border Patrol spokesman Jose Garibay said. “They’ve just been pouring over the border due to the fact that we’ve only ever had vehicle bollards and barriers that by design only stop vehicles.”

Victor Manjarrez Jr., a former Border Patrol chief who’s now a professor at the University of Texas, El Paso, was an agent when the government put up the first stretch of barriers along the southern border — in San Diego. He’s seen barriers evolve from easily collapsible landing mats installed by agents and the National Guard to the sophisticated, multibilliondollar projects now being done by private contractors. Manjarrez says tall border fencing is crucial in some areas and less helpful in others, like remote stretches of desert where shorter barriers and more technology like ground sensors would suffice.

“One form doesn’t fit in all areas, and so the fence itself is not the one solution.

It’s a combination of many things,” Manjarrez said.

The ease of construction varies by place and depends on things like water, Manjarrez said, adding that just because a plot of land is flat “doesn’t mean it’s not complex.”

He said building 450 to 500 miles (724 and 806 kilometers) of fence by the end of next year would be tough if that figure doesn’t include sections of the wall that have been built recently.q

U.S. NEWS A7

Thursday 12 September 2019

Governor: Missouri in ‘crisis’ with violence in large cities

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri is in a “crisis” with violent crime in its largest cities, Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday.

Parson met with St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and about a dozen other area leaders to address violence in the city. The officials didn’t release a new crimefighting plan, but Parson said one will be announced soon, possibly later this month.

It was the second time Parson came to St. Louis in the past week to discuss the crime problem. Last week, he met with about two dozen faith leaders along with Krewson. He also met last week in Jefferson City with the Legislative Black Caucus to discuss crime. St. Louis has already seen 138 homicides in 2019 and is on pace to top last year’s total of 186. Eleven of this year’s victims were children, and two other child deaths are being investigated as “suspicious.” All 13 children were black. Homicides are also on the rise in Kansas City, which has recorded 103 homicides so far this year.

That’s on pace to top the 138 killings totaled in 2018. Both cities have among the nation’s highest homicide rates. Parson, a Republican, called the cities’ violent crime rate a “crisis” after meeting with the leaders. But he remained noncommittal on whether he would support changes in Missouri’s gun laws, instead saying the matter needs to be addressed by the full Legislature next year.q

In this Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 photo, debris litters the ground at Advance Auto Parts following severe weather in Sioux Falls, S.D. Associated Press

Tornado hits South Dakota hospital: ‘All are safe and sound’

By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press When the warning sounded shortly before midnight that a tornado could be approaching, the clock turned into a stopwatch for staff members working the night shift at a behavioral health center at a Sioux Falls hospital.

“We had 10 minutes to wake up 102 residents, get them to the center of the building,” said David Flicek, the president and CEO of Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center in South Dakota’s largest city. “And all are safe and sound.”

Although a significant tornado had not struck Sioux Falls for 25 years, the Avera Health System hospitals have kept up regular preparedness training. This work paid off when one of three EF-2 tornadoes pummeled the hospital campus. The twister with wind speeds of up to 130 mph also roared over the system’s heart hospital after a man was brought in having a heart attack. Doctors and nurses continued operating on the man — and saved his life — as the storm blew on, according to the CEO of Avera Heart Hospital, Nick Gibbs.

“We talk at our hospital about doing drills. I’ve got to tell you our staff was courageous,” said Flicek.

Natasha Sundet, a 46-yearold nurse manager at the behavioral health center, arrived at the hospital shortly after the patients had been moved and said she hardly recognized the hospital and grounds.

“There are big chunks of metal hanging from the building; broken glass everywhere; tree limbs and trash; cars that have been picked up and moved with their windows blown out,” Sundet said. “When I walked into the building there was water pouring in through the ceiling. I have never seen anything like it.”

Of the 102 patients who were moved, 39 of them were adolescents, Sundet said.

“We had children ranging from 4 to 17 who were huddled with their blankets and really just frightened and in shock,” she said.

The National Weather Service has determined that three EF-2 tornadoes struck the city overnight, lead meteorologist Todd Heitkamp said Wednesday.

Dozens of buildings were damaged or destroyed, trees torn up and power lines downed. But no one has been reported killed or even seriously injured in the devastation of the storm.

Flicek said seven people suffered minor injuries from falling debris at the hospital campus and another was

hurt outside. Noting that Sioux Falls hasn’t experienced a tornado since October 1996, Heitkamp said even the weather service staff ducked for cover as the storm rolled in.

On top of it all, there was a snafu with the city’s outdoor siren warning system.

Most of the sirens sounded in southeastern Sioux Falls, where the most serious damage occurred, but they were not activated in the rest of the city. Mayor Paul TenHaken cited a “miscommunication” among staff and vowed it would never happen again.

“I’m owning it. It’s my team. It’s my administration,” he said. At least 37 buildings collapsed or were damaged by the storm, and residents have been asked to stay away from the hardest-hit areas, Fire Chief Brad Goodroad said at a news conference early Wednesday.

Other damaged businesses included an Advanced Auto Parts store where a wall collapsed. Kohl’s and Best Buy lost part of their roofs and Pizza Ranch suffered heavy damage.

The Red Cross opened a shelter at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds’ armory for people displaced by the storm. The city of about 190,000 people lies about 240 miles (390 kilometers) southwest of Minneapolis.q

A8 WORLD

Thursday 12 September 2019

NEWS

UK court rules Johnson’s suspension of Parliament unlawful

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament less than two months before Britain is due to leave the European Union was unlawful, a Scottish court ruled Wednesday — though it said Britain’s top court must make the final decision.

Judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh said the government’s action was illegal “because it had the purpose of stymieing Parliament.”

The judges said the suspension was “null and of no effect,” but referred the matter to Britain’s Supreme Court for resolution. A hearing there is due to begin Tuesday.

After the ruling, opposition politicians urged the government to scrap the suspension and recall lawmakers to Parliament.

A group of about 70 opposition lawmakers challenged the government’s decision to prorogue, or formally shut down, Parliament, for five weeks until Oct. 14 — just over two weeks before Britain is due to leave the EU. Johnson claims he took the action so that he can

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Pimlico Primary school in London, Tuesday July 10, 2018, with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to meet staff and students.

Associated Press

start afresh on his domestic agenda at a new session of Parliament next month. But the suspension also gives him a respite from rebellious lawmakers as he plots his next move to break the political deadlock and lead Britain out of the EU by Oct. 31.

Opponents argue that Johnson is trying to evade democratic scrutiny.

Last week, a court in Edinburgh rejected the lawmakers’ challenge, saying

it was a matter for politicians, not the courts, to decide.

But that was overturned Wednesday on appeal.

Jolyon Maugham, a lawyer who is part of the claim, said he believed “that the effect of the decision is that Parliament is no longer prorogued.”

It was unclear what that means in practice. Catherine Haddon, a senior fellow at independent think-tank the Institute for

Government, tweeted that the ruling “does not (yet) change the prorogation itself. Though of course will add to pressure.”

Labour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said the court’s ruling was “very rare and it’s very strong.”

He said the government should immediately recall Parliament.

The British government said it was disappointed by the decision and confirmed it would appeal to the Su-

preme Court. In a statement, the government said it “needs to bring forward a strong domestic legislative agenda. Proroguing Parliament is the legal and necessary way of delivering this.”

It noted that another challenge to the suspension, brought by transparency campaigner Gina Miller, was rejected at the High Court in London last week.

The court ruling deepens Britain’s political deadlock, with Brexit due in about 50 days.

Johnson says the country must leave the EU on Oct. 31, with or without a divorce deal to smooth the way. But many lawmakers fear a no-deal Brexit would be economically devastating, and are determined to stop him.

Johnson says he wants to strike a new deal with the bloc after the agreement made by his predecessor Theresa May was rejected three times by Britain’s Parliament. But EU officials say the U.K. has made no concrete proposals.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that “it’s my firm conviction that we still have a chance to achieve this in an orderly way.”q

Massive rally for Catalonia’s secession in Barcelona

By JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards who support the secession of Catalonia gathered in Barcelona on the region’s main holiday Wednesday, just weeks before a highly anticipated verdict in a case against 12 leaders of the separatist movement.

Supporters of Catalan secession came from all parts of the wealthy northeastern region to its main city.

Many carried flags or wore T-shirts supporting Catalan independence as they met for the rally in a large public square.

The Sept. 11 holiday memorializes the fall of Barcelona in the Spanish War of Succession in 1714. Since 2012,

Protesters hold esteladas or independence flags as they take part in a demonstration during the Catalan National Day in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019.

Associated Press

it has become the date of massive rallies for the region’s secessionist movement.

The Barcelona police said

that around 600,000 people turned out for the event.

Polls and the most recent election results show that the region’s 7.5 million resi-

dents are roughly equally split between those in favor and those against breaking with the rest of Spain.

Spain’s caretaker prime

minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has tried to thaw tensions with Catalonia since taking power last year, wrote on Twitter that “Today should be a day for all Catalans. For the path of dialogue within the Constitution, harmonious coexistence, respect and understanding.”

This year’s rally comes while a dozen leaders of Catalonia’s 2017 failed attempt to secede await a verdict from the Supreme Court on charges that include rebellion.

They face spending several years behind bars if found guilty, and a heavy punishment would most likely spark public protests in Catalonia.

The verdict is expected this month or next.q

WORLD NEWS A9

Thursday 12 September 2019

Europe eyes stimulus plan, but ultra-low rates raise doubts

By DAVID McHUGH MARTIN CRUTSINGER Associated Press FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank appears to be preparing a new shot of stimulus to try to energize the economy. But the move is sure to renew a nagging question: Can central banks do much good when rates are already ultra-low?

Analysts say the bank is likely to cut a key interest rate further below zero on Thursday and could take other steps, including restarting a bond-buying program to pump newly created money into the economy.

That could help the economy by making money cheaper to borrow, a policy that U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed the U.S. Federal Reserve to emulate . Yet some officials question how much good another large blast of stimulus will do.

The possible stimulus has raised uncertainty about exactly how big a package might be decided at the gathering of the ECB's 25-member governing council. It will be President Mario Draghi's next-to-last meeting after an eightyear term as head of the monetary authority for the 19 countries that use the euro.

Draghi gave clear hints in a June speech and after the bank's last meeting, on July 25, that more action was on the way to counter the slowdown in economic growth, which has been blamed in large part on the U.S.-China trade dispute.

Analysts think the ECB will at least cut the rate on deposits that it takes from commercial banks from a current minus 0.4% to minus 0.5% or even minus 0.6%. The unusual negative rate — in effect a penalty

Incoming President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde speaks to the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019.

Associated Press

aimed at pushing banks to lend spare cash rather than let it pile up overnight at the central bank — suggests how stretched monetary policy has become in the wake of the Great Recession.

Beyond that, the ECB's governing council could extend its current promise not to raise rates before mid2020.

And it could decide to resume bond purchases that were stopped in December before economic data took a turn for the worse.

Florian Hense, an analyst from Berenberg Bank, said the ECB could purchase 30 billion euros ($33 billion) in government and corporate bonds a month for at least 12 months.

The bank purchased 2.6 trillion in bonds ($2.9 trillion) over almost four years, a step that drives up bond prices and drives down interest yields, since prices and yields move in opposite direction. Anticipation of more purchases has driven government bond yields

across Europe below zero , meaning governments get paid to borrow and investors are willing to pay for a safe place to stash their money.

The Fed is also moving in the direction of more stimulus, though Trump would like it to cut rates faster and has praised the ECB's negative rates. The Fed cut its key policy rate in July for the first time in a decade, to a new range of 2% to 2.25%.

Markets believe there is a near certainty the Fed will cut rates for a second time at its next meeting Sept. 1718.

Trump on Wednesday tweeted about the benefits in his view of negative interest rates, calling the U.S. Federal Reserve "Boneheads" for not pushing U.S. rates down to "ZERO or less."

There are doubts, however, about how much monetary policy can do.

Among the big issues hurting business confidence are political standoffs such as the trade war and Britain's uncertain exit from the

European Union. Credit is already cheap and abundant for governments and companies with good credit ratings.

And low rates can have side effects, such as eroding bank profits and inflating the prices of riskier assets such as stocks.

ECB governing council member Klaas Knot, head of the Dutch central bank, has said the economy isn't weak enough to warrant bond purchases. Another member, Sabine Lautenschlaeger of Germany, has said she opposes re-starting bond purchases.

Private economists took strong issue with Trump's contention that negative rates would be good for the United States.

"Negative interest rates are totally destructive to savings and investment," said economist David Jones, the author of four books on the Federal Reserve. "Money is flowing out of countries that have negative rates."

Jones said rates that are near zero or actually neg-

ative in many European countries and Japan are a big reason that U.S. longterm rates are so low, as foreign investors search for better returns in the United States.

As central banks are stretched, the discussion has turned to government spending policy as a way to support growth.

Draghi's designated successor, Christine Lagarde, said during her nomination hearing last month that fiscal policies "need to be available to stabilize our economies through downturns and avoid overburdening monetary policies."

She urged governments to make pro-business reforms and spend on growthfriendly investment where possible.

"I'm not a fairy," she said, adding that "central banks are not the only game in town."

Lagarde, who resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund effective Friday after being nominated for the ECB presidency

by European governments, will take over from Draghi on Nov. 1.

Draghi has also urged governments that are in good financial shape to spend more on projects that would help growth, but has largely been ignored.

Germany, the eurozone's biggest member, continues to run budget surpluses despite urging from the IMF to spend more on infrastructure such as extending high-speed internet to all areas of the country.

The eurozone economy grew a modest 0.2% in the second quarter while Germany shrank 0.1% and could fall into a technical recession, defined as two quarters of contraction, if it drops again in the third quarter.q

A10 WORLD

Thursday 12 September 2019

NEWS

Iran urges US to ‘put warmongers aside’ after Bolton firing

By NASSER KARIMI Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president urged the U.S. on Wednesday to “put warmongers aside” as tensions roil the Persian Gulf amid an escalating crisis between Washington and Tehran in the wake of the collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.

Hassan Rouhani’s remarks signaled approval of President Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of John Bolton as national security adviser, a man routinely pilloried by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as part of a “B Team” that targeted Iran.

Bolton had for years been critical of Tehran and once promised before an Iranian exile group that they’d be celebrating the overthrow of Iran’s government this year.

Bolton’s departure also comes amid speculation about Trump potentially meeting Rouhani during the upcoming U.N. General Assembly this month in New York. Whether such a meeting materializes, however, remains in question, though Iranian comments Wednesday seemed to suggest Tehran would be willing to pin hostilities on the departing Bolton rather than Trump himself.

Rouhani spoke after a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, a day that saw all major newspapers in Iran cover Bolton’s departure.

In this photo released by the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019.

Associated Press

The pro-reform Shargh daily newspaper had one large headline that read: “Bolton: A scapegoat for Iran?”

“Americans have to realize that warmongering and warmongers are not to their benefit,” the Iranian president said in televised remarks. “They should not only abandon warmongering but also abandon their maximum pressure policy.”

Ali Rabiei, a government spokesman, said after the meeting that Bolton’s dismissal may help the U.S. have a “less biased” attitude toward Iran.

Though he stressed the dismissal was an internal U.S. issue, Rabiei called Bolton

“the symbol of America’s hawkish policies and its animosity toward Iran.”

For his part, Zarif again used Twitter to write about what he calls the #B_Team, which included Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, all hawks on Iran.

Zarif said “the world — minus 3 or 2 panicked cohorts — was breathing a sigh of relief” after Bolton’s ouster.

“Thirst for war — maximum pressure — should go with the warmonger-in-chief,” Zarif wrote.

Hard-liners, however, urged

caution.

Gen. Mohsen Rezaee, a commander in the powerful Revolutionary Guard and its former chief, said in a tweet: “We will not be deceived by the sacrificing of Bolton.”

Bolton was critical of any potential talks between Trump and leaders of Iran and had persuaded Trump to keep U.S. forces in Syria to counter the Iranian influence in the region.

Last year, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that lifted sanction on Iran in exchange for caps on Iran’s nuclear program. The U.S. administration later also intensified sanctions on Iran,

slashing its sales of crude oil abroad and sending the country’s economy into freefall.

In response, Iran has in recent months crept past the limits the nuclear deal imposed on uranium enrichment and its uranium stockpile. And over the weekend, Tehran announced it would use advanced centrifuges prohibited under the deal.

Rouhani has called the use of faster centrifuges Iran’s “third step” away from the nuclear deal. On Wednesday, he said that “if necessary, we will take other steps in future.”

For his part, Bolton was a longtime hard-liner on Iran who favored regime change and took money for speaking engagements from an Iranian exile group reviled by Tehran called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK. Bolton famously wrote in 2015, before Iran’s nuclear deal was struck, an op-ed in The New York Times headlined: “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran.”

“The declared policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran,” Bolton told a cheering crowd of MEK supporters in March 2018. “The behaviors and the objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore, the only solution is to change the regime itself. And that’s why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran!”q

Czech leader wants to revoke Kosovo’s recognition

Czech Republic’s president Milos Zeman listens to his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic during a meeting at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019.

Associated Press

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The Czech president on Wednesday kept up his denigration of Kosovo, suggesting that his government revoke its recognition of Serbia’s former province as an independent nation — an idea promptly dismissed by the Czech Republic’s foreign minister.

Czech President Milos Zeman spoke on the second day of a two-day official visit to Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo’s independence.

During a news conference with Serbian President Aleksadar Vucic, Zeman said while he cannot revoke Kosovo’s recognition on his own, he plans to raise the issue.

“I’m not a dictator,” Zeman said.

“But ... I will ask the question of whether it (reversal) can be done.”

Zeman, who is known for his frequent offensive statements and diplomatic gaffes, said Tuesday that he likes Serbia and its people but dislikes Kosovo, which has a predominantly

ethnic Albanian population. Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said Wednesday there was no reason for the government to reconsider its decision on Kosovo’s independence but said he was willing to speak with Zeman on the subject.

More than 100 countries have recognized Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, including 23 European Union member nations and the United States.

Serbia refuses to do so, along with Russia and China.q

WORLD NEWS A11

Thursday 12 September 2019

Indonesian province shuts schools due to forest fire haze

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities shut most schools in parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra island to protect children from a thick, noxious haze as deliberately set fires burned through peatland forests, officials said Wednesday.

Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency said more than 3,600 fires have been detected on Sumatra and Borneo islands by weather satellites, leading to very poor air quality in six provinces with a combined population of more than 23 million. Nearly every year, Indonesian forest fires spread health-damaging haze across the country and into neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

Authorities have deployed more than 9,000 people to fight the fires, which have razed more than 162,000 hectares (400,000 acres) of land in the provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

Firefighters spray water to extinguish brush fires in Kampar, Riau province, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019.

Associated Press

Riau provincial secretary Ahmad Syah Harofie said air pollution hit hazardous levels in the provincial capital, Pekanbaru, and was very unhealthy in many other areas. Several thousand schools in the capital and three other cities and

districts have been closed since Tuesday.

He said nearly 300,000 people in the province have suffered respiratory illnesses since January, when it and the five other provinces declared states of emergency due to the forest fires.

The fires burned parts of the Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau, home to about 140 endangered wild elephants, according to Edward Sanger, the local disaster agency spokesman.

Thousands of Muslims, many wearing face masks to pro-

test themselves from the smoke, joined mass prayers for rain in Pekanbaru.

Authorities in Jambi, another province on Sumatra island, also ordered several thousand schools to close.

About 8,000 people have suffered respiratory problems in the past week alone, according to Jambi’s health office.

Poor visibility caused delays at several airports on Wednesday.

The Disaster Mitigation Agency said satellites have detected about 5,062 hotspots nationwide on Wednesday morning, with the largest number in Central Kalimantan on Borneo island. It said 37 helicopters have dropped nearly 240 million liters (63 million gallons) of water as part of the firefighting efforts.

The haze is an annual problem for Southeast Asia. Record Indonesian forest fires in 2015 spread haze across a swath of Southeast Asia, and according to a study

by Harvard and Columbia universities, hastened 100,000 deaths.q

Thai high court affirms guilt of 2009 Pattaya rioters

By NANNAPAT PUROD Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed the prison sentences of 12 members of the “Red Shirt” political movement convicted in connection with rioting that disrupted an important regional conference in 2009.

The 12 had received four-year prison sentences for their actions on April 11, 2009, when supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra seeking to force out a

government of their opponents stormed a hotel in the resort city of Pattaya hosting the summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The ASEAN leaders were forced to flee, some by helicopter, and the summit was postponed.

The defendants were convicted on charges of sedition, illegal assembly, damaging property and trespassing.

Wednesday’s ruling reversed the conviction of a 13th defendant.q

In this April 11, 2009, file photo, anti-government leader Arisman Pongruangrong is cheered as he and others march through the 14th ASEAN Convention Center in Pattaya, Thailand.

Associated Press

A12 WORLD

Thursday 12 September 2019

NEWS

FEMA officials, contractor accused of hurricane relief fraud Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal authorities said Tuesday they have arrested two former officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the former president of a major disaster relief contractor, accusing them of bribery and fraud in the efforts to restore electricity to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Puerto Rico said that the then-president of Cobra Acquisitions LLC, Donald Keith Ellison, gave FEMA’s deputy regional director airline flights, hotel accommodations, personal security services and the use of a credit card.

In return, Ahsha Nateef Tribble “used any opportunity she had to benefit Cobra,” said U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez, including accelerating payments to the company and pressuring local power authority officials to award it contracts.

Ellison also gave a job to a friend of Tribble, Jovanda R. Patterson, who had been FEMA deputy chief of staff in Puerto Rico before resigning in July 2018 to work for Cobra Energy LLC, according to the indictment. Cobra Acquisitions and Cobra Energy are subsidiaries of Oklahoma City-

In this Oct. 5, 2017 file photo, Department of Homeland Security personnel deliver supplies to Santa Ana community residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Guayama, Puerto Rico.

Associated Press

based Mammoth Energy Services Inc. Tribble was FEMA’s primary leader in trying to restore electric power after Hurricane Maria destroyed the power grid in 2017. Cobra was given contracts worth about $1.8 billion.

Authorities said Tribble was arrested Monday in Florida while Ellison was detained in Oklahoma. Ellison made an appearance in Oklahoma City on Tuesday before a federal magistrate, who released him on a $500,000 unsecured bond

and ordered him to report to Puerto Rico by Sept. 24, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Troester said. Ellison did not enter a plea to the charges, Troester said.

Ellison’s attorney, Bill Leone, said the government is trying to criminalize a friendship between Ellison and Tribble when there was nothing wrong with their relationship.

“He has done nothing wrong,” Leone said of Ellison. “There’s just absolutely nothing to prohibit that.”

Leone said the work per-

formed by Cobra was scrutinized and monitored by officials from many federal and state agencies. “We are delighted that we are about to have our day in court,” he said.

Mammoth Energy Services released a statement Tuesday saying: “Mammoth is aware of and has been cooperating with the government’s investigation into Ms. Tribble and Mr. Ellison and will continue to do so.”

“These defendants were supposed to come to Puerto Rico to help during the

recovery after the devastation suffered from Hurricane Maria,” Rodríguez said. “Instead, they decided to take advantage of the precarious conditions of our electric power grid and engaged in a bribery and honest services wire fraud scheme in order to enrich themselves illegally.”

Rodríguez said that after an explosion at a power plant knocked out power to several towns in February 2018, Tribble pressured power authority officials to use Cobra rather than their own workforce. “She even told them that if they did not use Cobra, FEMA would not reimburse them,” the prosecutor added.

Patterson, meanwhile, was accused of defrauding Cobra by telling the company her salary with FEMA was far larger than it was, and she was offered $160,000 a year to work for Cobra, Rodríguez said.

She allegedly was in the midst of negotiating the job with Cobra when she also participated for FEMA in part of Cobra’s vendor bid process for work in Puerto Rico.

According to prosecutors, Tribble avoided using her FEMA email and cell phone, instead opting for private accounts and even a disposable prepaid cell number.q

Colombia threatens to denounce Cuba as sponsor of terrorism

Colombia’s President Ivan Duque waves upon his arrival for a meeting with leaders of several South American nations that share the Amazon, in Leticia, on Colombia’s Amazon river border with Brazil and Peru, Friday, Sept. 6, 2019.

Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia threatened Tues-

day to denounce Cuba at the United Nations unless it immediately turns over two

guerrilla commanders believed to be living on the communist island.

The demand came in a letter sent to the Cuban Embassy in Bogota.

President Ivan Duque first pressed Cuba to arrest two National Liberation Army leaders after the group claimed responsibility for a car bombing in January that killed 22 people at a Bogota police academy.

But now the Duque government warns that it could denounce Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly because of the threat of an alliance between the ELN and a rearmed faction of the Revo-

lutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. “As a result of the new circumstances . Colombia demands the Republic of Cuba immediately hand over to our judicial authorities all of the members of the ELN that are in Cuban territory,” the letter said.

The new pressure being exerted by Colombia threatens to further isolate Cuba in the region at a time it is already reeling from U.S. sanctions aimed at cutting off its support for Venezuela, which Duque has also threatened to denounce to the United Nations.

The FARC’s former chief negotiator, Luciano Marin, appeared in a video last

month surrounded by heavily armed guerrillas saying he intended to rearm, accusing Colombia’s government of failing to live up to its commitments under a peace accord signed in 2016.

Marin said he would seek an alliance with ELN rebels who have been steadily filling the void in rural areas once dominated by the FARC. Colombia claims that the video was shot in Venezuela and that President Nicolas Maduro is providing safe haven to hundreds of Colombian rebels who are planning attacks from the neighboring country*s territory.q

A13

Thursday 12 September 2019

Heritage, an enabler of Sustainable Development MAASTRICHT — For a long time this column has been an advocate for both cultural and heritage preservation, especially when related to intangible and tangible cultural heritage issues. It was recently in the news that the famous “Forno di Kalki” in Rancho will get renovated after much lobbying and perseverance from those in the Aruban cultural sector. It has been a protected landmark for some time but has been experiencing on and off vandalism, which in return does not help the situation and the intentions of the foundations to preserve this heritage site. Another good example of effort being made to preserve Aruba’s cultural heritage is the beautiful and serene “Ser’i Noka” (1963), which is located in Santa Cruz and is Aruba’s oldest open air theatre (amphitheater). Compared to other countries in the Caribbean, Aruba has been slowly making progress in solidifying the developments on this issue. However, it seems like time is running out and Aruba is still wandering behind international standards and procedures. It is important nonetheless to understand what cultural heritage actually is and why it is important for the future.

According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2019) there are three categories considered heritage, which are: cultural heritage, natural heritage, and heritage in an event of armed conflict. First the term cultural heritage encompasses several main categories of heritage, which are divided in tangible and intangible heritage. Tangible cultural heritage includes: movable cultural heritage (paintings, sculptures, coins, manuscripts etc.), immovable cultural heritage (monuments, archaeological sites etc.), and underwater cultural heritage (shipwrecks, underwater ruins and cities). While, intangible cultural heritage includes: oral traditions, performing arts, rituals. Second, the term natural heritage consists out of natural sites with cultural aspects such as cultural landscapes, physical, biological or geological formations.

Cultural Heritage and the SDGs Cultural heritage is recognized as being of historical, social, and anthropological value and is considered as an enabler of sustainable development. As a result, it is included in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11 and 8. Specifically, SDG 11.4 emphasizes the protection and safeguarding of heritage, and SDG 8.9 aims to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products (Xiao et. al, 2018). This is also a great example of how the creative industries influences other stable economies, such as Tourism. Form previous research on SDG 11.4, it was quite remarkable that Aruba lacks sustainable national cultural policies and protective legislation on cultural heritage. Also, the UN has stipulated that culture would be the core of implementation

and realization of the 17 sustainable development goals. In other words: culture would become the heart of the SDGs. This is perfect on paper, but is resulting to be much more difficult to translate into effective cultural policies or the involvement of culture in other policy areas, such as the economy, education and social welfare of communities.

It is not a secret that urban areas rich in cultural heritage and with a vibrant creative sector are more attractive for businesses, which is exactly what Aruba is looking for.

Thus, promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth through employment in culture and creativity encourages decent work. The economies of some cities draw significantly on intangible heritage such as crafts, music, dance, visual arts, traditional cuisine, and theatre that are often an integral aspect of historic urban areas (UNESCO, 2019). Further, cities are kept unique and can be preserved for identity

formation of the future generations, when the tangible heritage of a country is respected and valued.

Moving Forward It remains positive that Aruba is continuing the road towards establishing sustainability within the cultural sector, however, effective policy making and legislative measurements remain a challenge.

Aruba will lose most of its heritage if stakeholders don’t roll up their sleeves and take initiative. Culture is the core of a countries existence, and if the government could realize how much more they can accomplish by including cultural development in their policies, we as Aruba can secure so much more for the future generations. Aruba has yet to realize a list of its cultural tangible and intangible heritage for protection as the World Heritage List of the UN prescribes.

Continued on Page 14

A14 LOCAL

Thursday 12 September 2019

Heritage, an enabler of Sustainable Development Continued from Page 13

The SGD framework for the 2030 Agenda, in spite of all the references to culture, has not adequately recognized culture’s significant contribution to the implementation of the 17 SDGs. The precise role and impact of culture on sustainable development needs to be systematically researched, measured, and operationalized in order for societies that developing countries can get ahead of the challenges. As the implementation of the SDGs moves forward, further work is necessary to build a systematic and measurable evidence base to demonstrate each of the contributions of culture to sustainable development in all sectors. The inclusion of culture in policy remains imperative for our society, even though it is being disregarded and underestimated by government officials, the private sector and community. The time has come (a long time ago actually) that Aruba solidifies its future steps and make sure implementation is carried out effectively and evaluated consistently. Now is the time for action, before it is too late.q

Biography – Currently, Thaïs Franken is a 23-year-old Aruban student at the University of Maastricht (UM).

She is studying a Master of Science in Public Policy and Human Development in collaboration with the Unites Nations University (UNU). Back home, on the beautiful island of Aruba she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Organization, Governance & Management (OGM) at the University of Aruba (UA). She successfully graduated and defended her thesis titled “Placing Culture and Creativity at the Heart of the Aruban Sustainable Development” on July 6th 2018. Thaïs is very passionate about topics such as sustainability, innovation, culture and creativity. Next to her academic interests, she enjoys reading, writing, dancing and cooking.

Aruba to Me ORANJESTAD – We would like to portrait you! By inviting you to send us your favorite vacation picture while enjoying our Happy Island. Complete the sentence: Aruba to me is ……. Send your picture with that text (including your name and where you are from) to: news@arubatoday.com and we will publish your vacation memory. Isn’t that a special way to keep your best moments alive? Please do note: By submitting photos, text or any other materials, you give permission to the Aruba Today Newspaper, Caribbean Speed Printers and any of its affiliated companies to use said materials, as well as names, likeness, etc. for promotional purposes without compensation.

Last but not least: check out our website and Facebook page! Thank you for supporting our free newspaper, we strive to make you a happy reader every day again.

Have a look at Monica Albisu. She has been coming to the island for 30 consecutive years and has been honored as a Goodwill Ambassador.

She wrote:

“Aruba to me is….. Paradise!

The first time I came to the Island was on a cruise ship. I fell in love immediately and since then I have been coming every year. I remember when I came for the first time the Concord Hotel stood out at the coast. Later Aruba was inhabited and filled with beautiful hotels. Aruba knew first class businesses and had a different community compared to rest of the Caribbean.

I saw Aruba grew gradually with happiness. I am a plastic art-painting artist and I had the opportunity to showcase my work at the Westin Hotel and at Costa Linda Beach Resort.

I enjoy every single thing about this island. Specially the weather and its people. I am fully satisfied and happy each time that I arrive and stay in this beautiful place. That is why this year for the first time I had the pleasure of bringing my grandchildren to enjoy this beautiful paradise, ARUBA!q

LOCAL A15

Thursday 12 September 2019

Bohemian Restaurant: Tonight live Violinist Angela A garden full of strong trees and dressed up in New York-style industrial-look elements creates a cosmopolitan vibe while at the same time the tropical breeze and outside dining connect to the Caribbean.

Waiters with French barrettes and pant suspenders service you with a happy and loose style with on the background the sounds of underground chill music varied with French classics.

ONLY French owned Restaurant The French are famous for their culinary art.

Bohemain is the ONLY French owned restaurant on Aruba and offers you Grande gastronomy in a hip decor. French classics like Coq-au-Vin, Beef tartare, Escargot, Duck Foie Gras Terrine, Bouillabaisse Fish Soup, Tuna-Tartare, Quinoa-Salad, Rib-Eye Butter Maître-D, Crème Brulee, Chocolate Lava Cake and Pineapple Carpaccio are on the menu. Mediterranean inspired dishPALM BEACH — Avant-garde from France, nonconformist in style and ethnic in cuisine. That is what the new kid in town is about. Bohemian Restaurant is different, unconventional and a rebel with a cause. The cause is to make you feel king in this hidden garden with outstanding dishes that connect you to the European liaisons of Aruba. TONIGHT has an extra magic: the live Violinist Angela performs! From traditional French and Italian famous melodies to more upbeat pop and rock and roll. A taste for everyone.

es like Ras el Hanout Fish Kebbab, Honey and Rosemary Lamb Shank, Moroccan Lamb sausages, Mediterranean Sea Bass and Grilled Local Catch are other finger licking options. Directly imported wines from wineries in Europe make up for a perfect pairing. You are welcome to enjoy the Happy Hours and Daily Early Birds from 5 to 7 PM. Bon appetite!

Free Parking available at the parking lot in front of Barcelo Resort. q Make your reservations through their website: https://bohemianaruba.com.

Call them at 00 297 280 8448.

Facebook: Bohemian.

A16 LOCAL

Thursday 12 September 2019

Tuscany Residence Aruba:

Standing Out with 100 % European Materials & Standards

NOORD — “Quality convinces”, says Bas de Groot, Managing Director of Tuscany Residence Aruba. “We differ from traditional building, come on over and see for yourself.” At an A-location, designed in an European style with high-quality materials, on property land and with buying possibilities from condos to townhouses to villas, Tuscany Residence is your dream come true. And the safest investment.

Within 2.000 feet of the Palm Beach area, which is the place to be in the island, and a 15-minute drive to Oranjestad, we find Tuscany Residence. The residence (total project contains +/- 180 units) offers 8 luxurious Townhouses in beautiful Dutch design up to 2.098ft Property land and a total 1.582ft living space. 36 Condos located in three buildings are a wonderful vacation escape or a great investment, it is up to you. What about 8 amazing 2-Layer & 3-Layer Villas with 50m2 pool, stunning Dutch architecture and allure? The landscaping in front of the houses is taken care of, keeping the value of the project intact. There is 24-hours security by camera’s and a night guard.

Quality Lays Beneath Tuscany Residence Aruba chose for European quality products to provide owners with the best durable purchase and low maintenance costs. “Windows and doors are from Mexim, originally a Belgium product, the concrete comes from The Netherlands, the bathrooms are delivered by Banjolux and the kitchen provided by Eurokitchen.

All these suppliers are known for their high quality service and products and have their representative companies on the island too. We go 100 % for European standards meaning you will have a guarantee of a long-term relationship that is durable, eco-friendly and trustworthy,” Bas explains. It is not only what the eye meets when you consider an important purchase like real estate, it is essential to know what lays beneath. “And very important to mention that this is property land, one of the last opportunities to achieve that in this area. Even better within a residence that keeps your value up, you never know what your surroundings will be like when purchasing outside of a residence.”

Unique Details The design of the residences town houses, condos and villas is modern but warm with exceptional details like the stick-out window panes. “These provide shadow on the windows, preventing the strong heat of the sun coming in while maintaining the light flow.” Lots of windows and sliding doors make the light come in and because of the use of poured concrete walls the isolation is at its best. “Everyone is welcome to see the materials and construction themselves, we can show everything here at our location. You may even pick your land.” October 1st will be the delivery of the townhouses and community pool. In November four more town houses will be ready and the first villas are already in construction, aimed to be accomplished in March 2020. From the eight town houses six have already been sold, the condominiums go very well too and the villas are in demand, says Bas. “Prices will go up in the future, so now is the time to buy while we still have our pre construction prices running.”

Are you looking for a safe, quiet, residential area where you will meet a mix of local and foreign owners? Do you feel for a warm community with amenities like wellness, gym, restaurants, pools and this all within a structure where the residence takes care of your property management while you are not here? Can the highest European quality and solid working structure take away your preoccupations while you are home? Than meet us, we are here to convince you with quality!q

Tuscany Residence Aruba Salina Cerca 131, Noord, Aruba info@tuscanyresidencearuba.com www.tuscanyresidencearuba.com Facebook Tuscany Residence Aruba Tel (+297) 280 4664 or (+297) 733 2424

A17

Thursday 12 September 2019

ABOVE PAR France’s Rudy Gobert reacts during a quarterfinal match against United States for the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Dongguan in southern China’s Guangdong province on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019.

France defeated United States 89-79.

Associated Press

McIlroy wins 3rd PGA Tour player of the year

A shocker: U.S. beaten

by France 89-79 in World Cup quarters

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer DONGGUAN, China (AP) — No gold.

No medal. No more winning streak.

The U.S. reign atop international basketball has ended — this time, thwarted by France at the World Cup. For the first time since 2006, the U.S. sent NBA players to a major international tournament and won’t win gold. Evan Fournier scored 22 points, Rudy Gobert had 21 points and 16 rebounds and France beat the U.S. 89-79 in the World Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday, rallying from a sevenpoint fourth-quarter deficit to pull off the upset.

“Any loss hurts,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said.

Continued on Page 23

This is a July 19, 2019, file photo showing Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy smiling on the first green during the second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

Associated Press Page 18

A18 SPORTS

Thursday 12 September 2019

McIlroy tops Koepka for PGA Tour player of the year

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland lines up a putt during the final round the final round of the European Masters golf tournament in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, September 1, 2019.

Associated Press

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Rory McIlroy is the PGA Tour player of the year, and even he was a little surprised.

In a vote of the players, who presumably gave as much weight to the whole season as the four biggest weeks, McIlroy won the Jack Nicklaus Award over Brooks Koepka. It was the third time McIlroy won the award, and the first time without having won a major.”I’m at a loss for words,” McIlroy said Wednesday.

Moments earlier, McIlroy was sitting down with Nicklaus at The Bear’s Club in South Florida to receive the Byron Nelson Trophy for having the lowest adjusted scoring average when a bronze of the Nicklaus Award was placed on the table. McIlroy looked at it and said, “I’ve already got two of those,” he said.

“Well, you’ve got three

now,” Nicklaus told him.

McIlroy won three times, including The Players Championship and the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup and its $15 million prize.

He also had a tour-best 14 top 10s and finished out of the top 20 only four times in the 19 tournaments he played.

“I couldn’t be more proud to win this award for the third time,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, very ... somewhat surprised, but honored that my fellow players thought enough of my year to award me this honor again.”

Koepka, who won the PGA of America’s player of the year based on points, was seen as the favorite for the tour’s award.

He won three times, same as McIlroy, led the FedEx Cup in the regular season and won the money title by nearly $2 million over McIlroy. What stood out the most in Koepka’s season,

however, were the majors.

He won the PGA Championship, joining Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners since the PGA switched to stroke play in 1958. Koepka was runnerup at the Masters and the U.S. Open, and he tied for fourth in the British Open, nine shots behind.

Nicklaus (1973), Woods (2005) and Jordan Spieth (2015) are the only other players to have finished in the top four in every major for the year.

“Brooks had an incredible year — an incredible two, three years, whatever it is,” McIlroy said.

“He’s the No. 1 player in the world golf ranking. ... I think this speaks volumes of what PGA Tour players feel is important.

I think players don’t just feel that four weeks a year is important. It’s more than that.

We play a lot more. Why do we play 25 times a year if only four weeks are impor-

tant?

“I think that’s a huge vote of confidence from the players that we play for more than maybe what the narrative suggests.”

Koepka, who beat McIlroy in the final group for a World Golf Championship among his three titles, was thought to be a shoo-in for his second straight Jack Nicklaus Award until the Tour Championship.

McIlroy thought he would still have a chance if won the FedEx Cup, and then he posted four rounds in the 60s to win, beating Koepka in the final group at East Lake. McIlroy joined Woods as the only players to win the FedEx Cup twice since it began in 2007.

“I know it’s going to sting because he most likely will win player of the year,” McIlroy said.

The sting turned into surprise.

Majors have become the strongest gauge in golf,

linda.reijnders@cspnv.com

mostly because of the 18 won by Nicklaus that set the standard of greatness in the sport.

This is the 10th time — and first since Woods in 2013 — that the Nicklaus Award went to a player who did not win a major. The award began in 1990.

McIlroy said the award validated his decision to focus strictly on the PGA Tour. He said at the start of the year at Kapalua, which he had not previously played, that his emphasis would be in America. He did not play in Europe until July.

The one disappointment was his performance in the majors. He didn’t seriously contend in any of them and missed the cut at Royal Portrush in the first time in 68 years the British Open was held in his native Northern Ireland.

The rest of the year made up for it. Was it his best year? McIlroy won two majors in 2014, finished among the top 10 in 16 of the 24 events he played worldwide and ended the year with a big lead at No. 1 in the world.

“Look, every year’s different. I’ve already had a year like 2014. I might have a year like that again,” McIlroy said. “I’m happier with where my game is now. I feel like I’m a better play now than I was in 2014, and that gives me a lot going forward.”

The PGA Tour does not release the vote totals, so there is only an assumption it was close. There hasn’t been this much debate about the award since 2003, when Woods won over Vijay Singh.

McIlroy also was curious about his margin of victory.

“I inquired, and they are keeping tight-lipped on that,” McIlroy said.

Sungjae Im of South Korea was voted PGA Tour rookie of the year. He was the only rookie to reach the Tour Championship, and while he didn’t win, he began the PGA Tour’s postseason at No. 23 in the FedEx Cup. Im is the first player to win the rookie award without winning a tournament since Rickie Fowler in 2010.q

SPORTS A19

Thursday 12 September 2019

Column: Fury faces the great unknown against Sweden’s Wallin

By TIM DAHLBERG AP Sports Columnist LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tyson Fury shouldn’t have too much trouble in the ring this weekend against an opponent whose biggest claim to fame is that he’s arguably the best heavyweight fighter in Sweden.

He might have more trouble convincing Mexican fans that he’s really one of them. Fury is giving it his best shot this week, channeling his inner showman to embrace all things Mexican as he promotes his fight Saturday night with Otto Wallin.

He’s visited a local taqueria, worn a Mexican wrestling mask and even tried a few phrases in Spanish that he’s been working on.

It’s all done with tongue planted firmly in cheek — yet with a purpose. The big Englishman is calling attention to the fact he’s the main attraction on Mexican Independence Day weekend in this boxing city, a spot reserved in recent years for Canelo Alvarez, who couldn’t come to terms on a fight of his own.

“I’m even going to fight like a Mexican in this fight, all guts and heart going forward,” Fury said. “I am a chameleon. I can adapt to any situation.”

Fury shouldn’t have to adapt much against Wallin in what is basically a fight to keep Fury active — and in the public eye — as he

Tyson Fury attends an open workout Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, in Las Vegas. Fury is scheduled to face Otto Wallin in a heavyweight boxing match Saturday.

Associated Press

prepares for a scheduled February rematch with heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. It’s his second straight fight in Las Vegas under new promoter Top Rank as he continues to make the case he is the true heavyweight champion of the world in a field crowded with title holders.

It’s also a fight he couldn’t have imagined not that long ago as he struggled with mental illness and drugs and alcohol.

“Two years ago I thought my life was over. I thought I’d never end up anywhere but a padded room,” Fury said. “And now I’ve gone

from very depressed and down and out to be the lineal champion of the world fighting in Las Vegas two times. It’s fantastic for me.”

It’s good for the heavyweight division, too, because Fury is at heart a promoter himself. Get him on the phone and it’s tough to get a question in as he offers his view on life, the heavyweight division and any man who would dare want to get in the ring with him. Watch him at Wednesday’s prefight news conference and he seems to be the happiest man in the room.

Still, Fury-Wallin isn’t the

fight that fans want to see.

Most don’t even know who Wallin is, even as he attempts to pull the biggest Swedish heavyweight upset since Ingemar Johansson shocked Floyd Patterson to win the heavyweight title in 1959.

That includes Fury, who hasn’t taken a lot of time to study his latest opponent, who is unbeaten in 20 fights but hasn’t faced anyone of note. “I don’t know anything about him,” Fury (280-1) said. “I know he’s a tall southpaw, unbeaten and looking to become the lineal champion of the world.

They’re all just men with

boxing gloves on doing the same thing — trying to throw punches at my face and trying to cash in on my lottery ticket.”

Fury’s story is a remarkable one, and a cautionary tale to any fighter. He dethroned Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to claim the heavyweight title but gave up his titles without a defense and was out of the ring for more than two years while battling severe depression and substance abuse problems.

But it was his fight with Wilder in December that really resonated with boxing fans.

Fury controlled the fight most of the way, only to be knocked flat on the canvas in the 12th round before somehow finding a way to get up and finish the round strong.

Neither fighter was happy with the ensuing draw — but afterward the irrepressible Fury led reporters in a singing session. He would later sign with Bob Arum’s Top Rank and is firmly in the mix of what is becoming a fascinating heavyweight division.

The second fight with Wilder looms, and so do possible fights with Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr., who fight in a title rematch Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia.

“I’m not concerned about any of them,” Wilder said.

“I’ve never met a man I couldn’t beat, and this is no exception.”q

Ex-NFL player, doctor are arrested in Georgia opioid case

By JEFF MARTIN Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A former NFL football player and a Georgia doctor face charges of illegally distributing prescription drugs, including opioids.

Former New Orleans Saints player Sedrick Hodge sold oxycodone pills in Cartersville, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Hodge, 40, is accused of illegal distribution of controlled substances, among other charges.

Dr. Victor Hanson, 86, faces 14 counts of illegal drug dis-

tribution involving prescriptions that included powerful opioid painkillers, prosecutors said.

Two other suspects also face charges.

Hanson lives in the Atlanta suburb of Brookhaven and operated a weight loss clinic in nearby Sandy Springs.

He issued “numerous illegitimate prescriptions for drugs, including powerful opioid painkillers,” U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak said in a statement Wednesday.

“While Hanson prescribed these drugs without a legitimate medical purpose, Sedrick Hodge and other

associates allegedly sold these drugs in communities like Cartersville,” Pak said.

The doctor accepted only cash or checks for the drugs, and Hodge then sold them on the street for cash, prosecutors wrote in the indictment. The drugs included oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam and others, prosecutors said.

Lawyers for Hodge didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to calls and emails requesting comment. It wasn’t known whether the others have lawyers yet.q

In this Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005 file photo, running back Ronnie Brown (23) runs against New Orleans Saints linebacker Sedrick Hodge (52) gives chase during the fourth quarter, in Baton Rouge, La. Associated Press

A20 SPORTS

Thursday 12 September 2019

Patriots’ Brown faces rape accusations by former trainer

By JAY COHEN AP Sports Writer New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown has been accused of rape by a former trainer.

Britney Taylor says Brown sexually assaulted her on three occasions, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Southern District of Florida.

Brown has denied the allegations. Darren Heitner, a lawyer representing Brown, told The Associated Press his client plans to countersue.

“He will pursue all legal remedies to not only clear his name, but to also protect other professional athletes against false accusations,” Heitner said in a statement.

Heitner said Brown and Taylor had “a consensual personal relationship.”

The New York Times first reported about the lawsuit.

The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come

New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown (1) works out near wide receiver Gunner Olszewski, left, during an NFL football practice, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019, in Foxborough, Mass.

Associated Press

forward publicly, but Taylor was identified in the federal lawsuit and was quoted in a statement provided by her lawyer, David Haas.

“As a rape victim of Antonio Brown, deciding to speak out has been an incredibly difficult decision,” Taylor said. “I have found strength in my faith, my family, and from the accounts of other survivors of sexual assault.

Speaking out removes the shame that I have felt for the past year and places it on the person responsible for my rape.”

A spokesman for the NFL declined to comment, but the Patriots said the league told the team it will launch an investigation.

“We are aware of the civil lawsuit that was filed earlier today against Antonio

Brown, as well as the response by Antonio’s representatives,” the Patriots said in a statement. “We take these allegations very seriously. Under no circumstance does this organization condone sexual violence or assault. The league has informed us that they will be investigating. We will have no further comment while that investigation takes place.”

The 31-year-old Brown, a Miami native, was released

by Oakland last week after clashing with the team throughout training camp.

He agreed to a contract with New England on Saturday but has yet to play for the Patriots.

Brown and Taylor met through a Fellowship of Christian Athletes group at Central Michigan University, according to the lawsuit.

Taylor said Brown reached out to her via Facebook in June 2017 and asked the former gymnast for help with improving his strength

and flexibility.

According to the lawsuit, Taylor was sexually assaulted by Brown on separate training trips to Pittsburgh and Florida that same month. The suit includes what it says are text messages from Brown bragging about the second assault.

Taylor says in the suit she then cut off ties with Brown.

But she agreed to work with him again after she says he apologized and agreed to provide hotel accommodations for each training trip.

According to the lawsuit, Taylor and Brown were in Miami in May 2018 when he raped her in a bedroom at his home. Taylor says she shouted “no” and “stop,” but Brown refused.

Heitner said in his statement Taylor invited herself to join Brown and his friends on a night out on the town, and then came on to Brown before they engaged in consensual sex at his residence.q

SPORTS A21

Thursday 12 September 2019

Yelich breaks kneecap, out for season; Brewers top Marlins

By Associated Press MIAMI – Christian Yelich broke his right kneecap on a foul ball and will miss the rest of the regular season, an injury that overshadowed Milwaukee’s win over Miami.

The Brewers didn’t say whether the reigning NL MVP might be able to return for the playoffs that begin Oct. 1 if they make it that far. Yelich will return to Milwaukee on Wednesday for further evaluation.

Milwaukee, which won its fifth in a row, began the day two games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second NL wild-card spot.

Yelich fouled a ball off his leg in the first inning. He was down on the ground for several minutes before limping off the field.

Pinch-hitter Tyler Austin lifted a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning. Yasmani Grandal led off with a single against Adam Conley (2-9), Grisham doubled and Austin put the Brewers ahead.

Junior Guerra (9-5) got the win. Drew Pomeranz pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save.

Starlin Castro homered for Miami. Hernan Perez hit his 19th of the season for Miami.

Mets 3, Diamondbacks 2 NEW YORK – Zack Wheeler pitched one-run ball over

seven innings, Justin Wilson navigated four difficult outs for his first save since April and New York beat Arizona. New York has taken the first two games in this key four-game set between NL playoff contenders. Arizona had won 11 of 14 and opened the day 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild card.

Todd Frazier drove a pair of run-scoring doubles for the Mets, who began the day four games behind the Cubs.

Diamondbacks rookie Zac Gallen (3-5) pitched threerun ball over six innings.

Eduardo Escobar homered off reliever Brad Brach and drove in two for Arizona. He has 112 RBIs. Wheeler (11-7) struck out seven and allowed seven hits and two walks.

Phillies 6, Braves 5 PHILADELPHIA – Corey Dickerson homered twice to help Philadelphia’s wildcard push and the Phillies hit five home runs overall in a win over Atlanta.

The Phillies entered three games behind the Cubs for the second wild-card spot in the NL. J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper and Dickerson all homered in the first inning, Scott Kingery hit an inside-thepark homer and Dickerson tacked an insurance run

with a solo shot late to help the Phillies win for the third time in four games.

Blake Parker (3-2) pitched two scoreless innings of the relief for the win. Hector Neris worked a scoreless ninth for his 25th save.

Max Fried (16-5) took the loss for Atlanta, which got run-scoring hits from Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson and Francisco Cervelli. Johan Camargo added a solo homer.

Giants 5, Pirates 4 SAN FRANCISCO – Cap on backward and with confident head shakes and fist pumps, Johnny Cueto dazzled over five shutout innings in his long-awaited season debut, pitchng San Francisco past Pittsburgh.

The charismatic right-hander, far fitter and stronger than before he got hurt, returned to the mound for the first time in more than 13 months following Tommy John surgery. Cueto allowed one hit, struck out four and walked one. He had been scheduled to throw about 70 pitches and wound up at 69.

Stephen Vogt hit a tworun homer and drove in four runs. His two-run single in the first off rookie Mitch Keller (1-4) staked Cueto to a quick lead and Brandon Crawford added an RBI single as four of the first five batters got hits.

Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich (22) lies on the ground after an injury during an at-bat, as Miami Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro, rear, home plate umpire Kerwin Danley and a bat boy stand next to him during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, in Miami.

Associated Press

Rockies 2, Cardinals 1 DENVER – Nolan Arenado hit a 482-foot two-homer that bounced out of Coors Field in the first inning, Chi Chi Gonzalez got his first big league win in four years and Colorado slowed St. Louis’ playoff push.

St. Louis had won 23 of 30 coming in to open a fourgame lead in the NL Cen-

tral over the second-place Chicago Cubs.

Gonzalez (1-6) allowed one run and four hits in six innings. Jairo Diaz got six outs and finished a six-hitter for second save.

Michael Wacha (6-7) allowed five hits in four innings and is winless in seven starts and two relief appearances since July 19.q

Pirates’ Crick has finger surgery after clubhouse fight

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Baseball Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pirates right-hander Kyle Crick required season-ending surgery on the index finger of his pitching hand after he was injured in a clubhouse fight with fellow reliever Felipe Vázquez.

Crick said punches were thrown and that the first punch was thrown by Vázquez, who declined to speak to reporters after Pittsburgh’s 5-4 loss to the Giants.

“One of those clubhouse altercations. A lot of bickering back and forth. Punches were thrown,” Crick

said. “You kind of have to at some point stand up for yourself and start throwing back. It’s one of those deals where it’s unfortunate. It’s two losers in this deal. Nobody can win fighting a teammate. It’s just an unfortunate deal.”

Both players were fined undisclosed amounts by the Pirates for violating their contracts. The altercation occurred before Monday’s game against the Giants.

Crick had surgery Tuesday to repair the extensor tendon, performed by Dr. Scott Hanson in San Francisco.

The club expects Crick to be ready for spring training.

“The behavior exhibited by these two players last night is unacceptable, inconsistent with the standards expected of a major league player and will not be tolerated by the organization,” general manager Neal Huntington said.

The Pirates held a team meeting before Tuesday’s game. Crick went 3-7 with a 4.96 ERA over 52 appearances and 49 innings this season.

“In a way I think a scuffle like that can hasten the process of moving forward because we kind of got it out of the way,” Crick said.q

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle stands behind second base and watches the team take batting practice before a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, in Pittsburgh.

Associated Press

A22

Thursday 12 September 2019

sports

L.A. beats O’s 7-3, clinch 7th straight NL West title

By Associated Press BALTIMORE – The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their seventh consecutive NL West title in fitting fashion, using two home runs by Corey Seager and a masterful pitching performance

by Walker Buehler to beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 on Tuesday night.

After the final out, the first team to clinch a playoff spot this season gathered at the mound for a subdued celebration that included a wardrobe change for a pending champagne celebration in the clubhouse.

Los Angeles, coming off consecutive World Series losses to Houston and Boston and seeking its first title since 1988, will likely begin the postseason at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 3 against the NL wild-card team.

This is the earliest that Los Angeles (94-52) has ever clinched the division, both in terms of date and games. The 1977 team did it in Game 151, and the 2013 club clinched on Sept.

19.

Though an Arizona loss to the New York Mets would have clinched it for the Dodgers, Los Angeles emphatically took care of business on its own. Seager homered with two on to cap a four-run first inning against Ty Blach (1-3) and added a two-run drive in the third for a 6-0 lead.

Gavin Lux hit his first career homer in the fifth to increase the Dodgers’ NL record for long balls in a season to 258.

Buehler (13-3) limited lastplace Baltimore to four hits over seven shutout innings.

He struck out 11.

Tigers 12, Yankees 11 DETROIT – Jordy Mercer capped a comeback from a six-run deficit with a game-ending single off Chance Adams in the ninth inning, and Detroit overcame six home runs by New York.

Brett Gardner and Didi Gregorius each homered twice, and Gleyber Torres and Edwin Encarnacion also went deep for the Yankees, whose 276 homers tied Minnesota for the major league lead.

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielders A.J. Pollock, Cody Bellinger and Enrique Hernandez, from left, celebrate after the Dodgers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 in a baseball game Tuesday, Sept.

10, 2019, in Baltimore.

Associated Press

New York led 6-0 in the second inning. But the Tigers tied the score with six runs in the third, aided by an error

by Torres at second base.

Grayson Greiner doubled with one out in the ninth off Chance Adams (1-1) and Mercer’s single to the gap in right-center scored pinch-runner Willi Castro.

Tigers closer Jimenez (3-8) pitched a perfect ninth.

Indians 8, Angels 0 ANAHEIM, Calif. – Rookie Zach Plesac pitched a fourhitter for his first complete game in the majors and Cleveland kept pace in the playoff race, blanking Los Angeles.

Francisco Lindor and Jordan Luplow homered as the Indians stayed a halfgame behind Oakland for the second AL wild-card spot. Cleveland trails wildcard leader Tampa Bay by two games.

The Indians have won four of five. The Angels, again playing without star Mike Trout, have dropped three in a row – the loss ensured the Angels will miss the postseason for the fifth straight year.

Plesac (8-6) bounced back after suffering consecutive losses for the first time in his career. The right-hander, who had allowed 10 earned runs in his last two starts, struck out five and walked two while throwing 114 pitches.

Plesac’s previous high in in-

nings was seven on five occasions. It was the sixth time in 19 starts he has thrown over 100 pitches.

Lindor hit his 30th homer, a solo drive off Trevor Cahill in the seventh. He joined Alex Rodriguez as the only shortstops in major league history to have three or more seasons of at least 30 home runs before turning 26.

Rays 5, Rangers 3 (11) ARLINGTON, Texas – Austin Meadows tied the game with a two-run homer in the eighth, and Tampa Bay scored twice in the 11th after two Texas errors on the same play and stretched their winning streak to six games.

The Rays (87-59) won for the 11th time in 12 games to stay 1 1/2 games ahead of Oakland for the top AL wild-card spot. The A’s won 21-7 at AL West-leading Houston, a night after a 15-0 loss.

Tampa Bay had two on with two outs in the 11th against Emmanuel Clase (2-3) when the rookie reliever bobbled a slow roller

by Kean Wong and had his desperate throw bounce away from the first baseman. Second baseman Rougned Odor picked it up and made a high errant throw into left field with a runner diving back into second base, and Nate Lowe scored the tiebreaking run from third. Guillermo Heredia followed with an

RBI single. Joey Wendle led off the Rays eighth with a triple off just-entered reliever Rafael Montero, and Meadows followed with his 29th homer to tie the game at 3-3.

Wendle’s RBI single in the fifth was the only run Tampa Bay got in seven innings off Rangers starter Lance Lynn.

Emilo Pagan (4-2) struck out two in a perfect 10th before Peter Fairbanks worked the 11th for his first career save.

Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 3 TORONTO – Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run home run, Cavan Biggio and Reese McGuire added solo shots and Toronto snapped a sevengame losing streak with a win over Boston.

Biggio walked twice and scored twice, and McGuire had two hits.

Mookie Betts homered for the Red Sox, who have lost four straight.

Justin Shafer (2-1) pitched 1 1/3 innings as Toronto won for the first time since Aug. 31. Ken Giles finished in the ninth for his 19th save in 20 opportunities. Josh Taylor (1-2) took the loss.

Twins 5, Nationals 0 MINNEAPOLIS – Jose Berrios surrendered two singles over seven innings in his best start in six weeks, Mitch Garver hit the tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh, and Minnesota beat Washington.

Berrios (12-8) struck out four

and walked one. Anibal Sanchez (8-8) was almost as sharp for the Nationals, finishing with four hits and one walk allowed, along with five strikeouts.

The American League Central-leading Twins took a five-game lead on Cleveland into the night.

The Indians, who have six more losses than the Twins, played at the Los Angeles Angels.

The Nationals entered 9 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East, but they were in the first wild card spot, 4 1/2 games above the cut, ahead of Milwaukee. The Chicago Cubs have the second spot.

White Sox 7, Royals 3 CHICAGO – Rookie Eloy Jimenez hit his first career grand slam, Yoan Moncada launched a two-run homer and Chicago beat Kansas City.

Adam Engel added a solo shot for as the White Sox won their second straight, but just their fourth in 14 games.

Adalberto Mondesi, Alex Gordon and Ryan O’Hearn went deep for the Royals.

Ivan Nova (10-12) allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings, snapping his three-game losing streak. The righthander yielded six hits, while walking none and striking out five.

Jakob Junis (9-13) permitted five runs in five-plus innings in losing for the third time in four decisions.

Athletics 21, Astros 7 HOUSTON – Matt Olson and Sean Murphy each homered twice, and Oakland tagged Wade Miley for seven runs in the first inning and scored a season-high 21 runs in a rout of Houston.

After being blanked in a lopsided loss on Monday, Oakland recovered to win its seventh of nine and remained ahead of Cleveland for the second AL wild-card spot.

The Astros were coming off a 21-1 win over Seattle on Sunday and a 15-0 thrashing of Oakland on Monday in which they hit seven homers. It was the first time the Athletics had been shut out since May 9.q

SPORTS A23

Thursday 12 September 2019

Gilbert wins another Vuelta stage as Roglic’s lead cut GUADALAJARA, Spain (AP) — Mastering strong winds that pushed riders to speeds of 75 kph (46 mph), veteran Philippe Gilbert won his second Spanish Vuelta stage on Wednesday, while Primoz Roglic lost a few seconds from his overall lead after a charge

by Nairo Quintana.

Gilbert beat Sam Bennett in the final sprint of the 219.6-kilometer (136.4-mile) 17th stage, the longest of the three-week race that ends Sunday in Madrid.

Remi Cavagna, Gilbert’s teammate with Deceuninck-Quick Step, finished third in one of the fastest Vuelta stages due to the winds that took riders to an average speed of about 50 kph (31 mph).

“It was crazy from the gun,” said Gilbert, a 37-year-old Belgian who had also won the 12th stage. “It was really fast.

At some point we were doing, even on the flat, 75 kph (46 mph). In 17 years as a pro, I don’t think I’ve ever done that. It was really, really crazy.”

Roglic, who has worn the overall leader’s red jersey since the 10th stage, saw Quintana reduce his lead to 2 minutes, 24 seconds.

The former ski jumper from Slovenia was nearly three minutes ahead of the pack after Monday’s 16th stage.

Quintana’s Movistar teammate, Alejandro Valverde, dropped from second to third overall as he failed to keep up with Quintana on Wednesday.

“It was a hard day. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have been where I was, I should have been in the front,” Roglic said.

“The team saved me with a big effort. We’re still in a really good position. It was a hard day for everyone. We lost a battle today, but not the war. We’ll see in Madrid, but things are still looking really good for us.”

Quintana was among the riders who broke away early and held on at the front.

“We will give everything we have until the end,” the 29-year-old Colombian said. “The team helped me the entire day. The strategy was very good. We are still in the fight.”

Riders were coming off the race’s last rest day on Tuesday.

They face a tough mountain stage of 177.5 kilometers (110.3 miles) on Thursday with four Category 1 climbs.q

United States’ coach Gregg Popovich looks on during a quarterfinal match against France for the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Dongguan in southern China’s Guangdong province on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. France defeated United States 89-79.

Associated Press

World Cup quarters Continued from Page 17

“And in this situation, it hurts more. But life goes on. This is very important and we would have loved to have won ... but we’re all grown, we all have families and lives and life goes on.”

The U.S. had won 58 consecutive tournament games in FIBA and Olympic competition, starting with the bronze-medal game at the 2006 world championships and continuing through every FIBA Americas, World Cup and Olympics event since. It was bidding to become the first nation to win three consecutive World Cups, after winning three straight Olympic golds in that span.

The best the Americans can do now in China is finish fifth, and they’re assured of their worst finish in a big tournament with NBA players since placing sixth at the 2002 world championships.

They’re going home with a berth in the 2020 Olympics secured but no medal.

Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points for the U.S., all of them coming in the first three quarters. The Americans came up scoreless on six consecutive possessions down the stretch, the drought that allowed the French to take control of a back-and-forth game for the final time.

“Just got to take it like a man at this point,” U.S

guard Kemba Walker said.

“We lost. There’s nothing we can do. We competed.

We’ve been competing since day one that we got to training camp. But we gave it everything we’ve got. I know we’re Team USA and things of that nature and they’ve been winning for a lot of years, but you know, we didn’t get a chance to pull it off.”

Nando De Colo scored 18 for France. The French held the U.S. to 4 for 15 shooting in the fourth quarter — and benefited from the Americans going 4 for 11 from the foul line in the final 10 minutes.

“We came here to win gold,” Gobert said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. A lot of people counted us out, but we got the win.”

Gobert said beating the Americans wasn’t the goal — winning gold is.

“It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win in the end,” Gobert said.

France was up 10 early in the second half. The U.S. went on a 31-14 run over the next 10 minutes to go up by seven. And then the French responded with a 15-2 run over the next five minutes, going up 82-76 on a long jumper by Frank Ntilikina with 2:05 left.

Mitchell had a chance to get the U.S. within two with about a minute left, driving against Gobert — but the

Utah center read what the Utah guard was going to do perfectly, swatting the try away.

France had been 0-9 against the U.S. in major international play, most of those outcomes one-sided affairs. But the last meeting between the nations was only a 100-97 U.S. win at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics three years ago, and France returned three players — Gobert, De Colo and Batum — who got minutes in that game.

None of the U.S. players who played that afternoon in Rio is on this year’s World Cup team.

France outrebounded the U.S. 21-12 in the first half, Gobert found his way to the line 10 times in the game’s first 20 minutes and the Americans went into the break trailing 45-39. The U.S. had trailed for 8:25 in their first five games combined — and trailed for 11:24 in the first half alone on Wednesday.

Fournier’s layup with 7:33 left in the third gave France a 53-43 lead, and that’s when Mitchell got going.

He had 14 points in the third quarter, and his dunk with 2:40 left pulled the U.S. into a 60-60 tie. Marcus Smart made three free throws after getting fouled by Gobert to put the U.S. back on top, and the Americans took a 66-63 lead into the fourth.q

A24 TECHNOLOGY

Thursday 12 September 2019

Apple takes on Netflix with a $5-a-month streaming service

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple is finally taking on Netflix with its own streaming television service and, uncharacteristically for the company, offering it at a bargain price — $5 a month beginning on Nov. 1.

Walt Disney Co. is launching its own assault on Netflix the same month, for just $7.

It may be sheer coincidence that the cost of paying for both Apple and Disney subscriptions will still be a dollar less than Netflix’s main plan, priced at $13 a month. But the intent to disrupt Netflix’s huge lead in the streaming business couldn’t be clearer.

Apple delivered the news Tuesday while also unveiling three new iPhones that won’t look much different than last year’s models other than boasting an additional camera for taking pictures from extra-wide angles.

The aggressive pricing is unusual for Apple, which typically charges a premium for products and services to burnish its brand.

Most analysts expected Apple to charge $8 to $10 per month for the service, which will be called Apple TV Plus.

But Apple is entering a market that Netflix practically created in 2007 — around the same time as the first iPhone came out. And Netflix has amassed more than 150 million subscribers, meaning that Apple needed to make a splash.

“You have to expect

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces new products at an event Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, in Cupertino, Calif.

Associated Press

they’re going to do something, considering how hyper competitive the streaming video space is,” said Tim Hanlon, CEO of Vertere Group.

Apple CEO Tim Cook did not have much new to say about the TV service beyond its pricing and debut date, although he did show a trailer for a new Jason Momoa-led series called “See.” Netflix declined to comment. In the past, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has depicted the increased competition as a positive for everyone, allowing consumers to create their own entertainment bundles instead of accepting bundles put together at higher prices by cable and satellite TV services.

Like Netflix and similar services from Amazon and Hulu, Apple has been spending billions of dollars for original programs. The most anticipated so far seems to be “The Morning Show,” a comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carrell. The service will launch with nine original shows and films, with more expected each month. It will only carry Apple’s original programming and will be available in 100 countries at launch.

Since it began focusing on exclusive shows and movies six years ago, Netflix has built a huge library of original programming and now spends upward of $10 billion annually on its lineup.

Apple also announced a

new videogame subscription service that will cost $5 a month when it rolls out Sept. 19.

Called Apple Arcade, the service will allow subscribers to play more than 100 games selected by Apple that are exclusive to the service.

Disney, one of the most hallowed brands in entertainment, is also muscling its way into the market with a streaming service featuring its treasured vault of films and original programming.

That means both Apple and Disney will be undercutting the industry leaders. Besides Netflix, there is Amazon at $9 per month and Hulu at $6 per month.

The price war is unfolding as Netflix tries to bounce back from a rough spring

in which it suffered its first quarterly drop in U.S. subscribers since 2011. Apple’s pricing tactics caught investors’ attention. Netflix’s stock fell 2% on Tuesday.

Each new entry into the crowded video subscription market stretches the limits of just how many monthly plans viewers are willing to pay for.

The Apple streaming service will, at least for now, offer fewer viewing options than Netflix or Disney but also at a significantly lower price.

Apple’s pricing shows it is serious, and the company will probably take a loss “as it plays catch-up,” said Colin Gillis, director of research at Chatham Road Partners.

Hoping to propel its streaming service to a fast start while also boosting iPhone sales, Apple will give a year of free TV access to anyone who buys an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Mac. The new iPhones were accompanied by an unexpected price cut for the cheapest model, which underscored the company’s efforts to counteract the deepest slump in sales for its flagship product since the phone was unveiled 12 years ago.

IPhone shipments are down 25% so far this year, according to the research firm IDC, putting pressure on Apple to generate revenue from services such as music, video streaming, games and its App Store. Revenue from services rose 14% to nearly $23 billion during the first half of this year.q

Senator proposes help for workers replaced by automation

In this March 3, 2019 file photo, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, speaks to reporters during the Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast in Selma, Ala. Associated Press

By JOHN SEEWER TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Democrat Sherrod Brown is pushing his party’s 2020 hopefuls to talk more about “pro-worker” issues, saying it’s a sure way to beat President Donald Trump next year.

The U.S. senator from Ohio, who earlier this year decided against a White House run, is trying to kickstart the conversation with a proposal that would force companies to help workers whose jobs are replaced by automation.

The legislation, which Brown plans to introduce this week, calls for employers to

retrain workers and pay them severance when their jobs are eliminated by new technology.

Brown has spent the last few weeks touting the plan, but he said there’s little chance of getting it through the Republican-controlled Senate and the Trump administration.

What he wants is to get people talking about how workers are being treated in a fast-evolving economy with the hope of turning his idea into law if Democrats take control in Washington in next year’s election.q

BUSINESS A25

Thursday 12 September 2019

College students, make the most of your summer earnings

By LAURA MCMULLEN Associated Press What you do with your paychecks in college can affect your financial life long after you toss your graduation cap. By saving money and repaying debt now, you’re doing Future You a huge favor.

Of course, you need to take care of Present You, too. Set aside what you’ve budgeted for this year’s expenses that aren’t covered by financial aid or family contributions. And give yourself a high-five for making money in the first place.

If you have money left over or come into extra cash — thanks for the birthday check, Grandma! — here are a few ideas of what to do next. Keep in mind that everyone’s financial situation is different, so some tips may be more relevant to you than others.

BUILD AN EMERGENCY FUND Stash some of your earnings in a high-yield savings account that should be tapped only to cover unexpected expenses, like a car repair. (In a high-yield savings account, your money will earn more interest than in a traditional account — and you’ll still be able to easily withdraw or transfer money when you have to pay for that new transmission.)

If you’ve earned a lot and can drop $500 into the account, you’re off to a solid start. Or if it’s more realistic to gradually build

In this April 9, 2019, file photo, pedestrians walk on the campus at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

Associated Press

those savings — say, by automatically transferring $10 a month to it from your checking account — you’ll still be in better shape than if you had no fund at all.

Without an emergency fund, you’d likely have to borrow money to cover curveballs, says Lynn Ballou, certified financial planner and senior vice president and partner with EP Wealth Advisors in Lafayette, California. “Those who end up in financial trouble at whatever point in life are those that have no emergency savings,” she says.

PAY DOWN HIGH-INTEREST DEBT Pay some of your extra earnings toward high-

interest debts, like those that may come from credit cards or personal loans.

You’ll save money on interest, and you’ll be headed toward a healthier credit score. Plus, as Ballou puts it, you don’t want to start your adult life digging out of a financial hole.

If you don’t have these kinds of debts, consider beginning to pay off student loans if you’re able, says Erin Lowry , author of “Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together.” As long as you’re enrolled in school, there’s no penalty for starting to pay your loans and then stopping. So it’s OK to pay a little bit every month

or a single lump sum after a fruitful summer gig, Lowry says.

START SAVING FOR POSTCOLLEGE LIFE If you’re contributing to an emergency fund and still have money to save, keep it in a separate account.

These savings will be useful after college. “When you graduate, you’ll probably need money immediately,” Lowry says. “There’s a lot of adult things that you suddenly have to do.”

For housing alone, these “adult things” could be paying a security deposit and first month’s rent, and perhaps a moving truck, renters insurance, furniture and utilities. Other expens-

es may include a car and a professional wardrobe.

To get a sense of how much to save, Lowry recommends researching the cost of living wherever you plan to live. (Make an educated guess if you’re not sure yet.)

SPEND A BIT ON YOURSELF Saving is important, but so is living life. As Lowry puts it: “Money is a tool that’s meant to be used, and you can’t constantly focus on the future.”

You’re about as free as you’re ever going to be if you don’t have kids, pets, mortgage payments or a salaried job. So Ballou suggests using this time and some of your earnings to travel.

“You’ll never ever get an employer who will tell you, ‘You know what, I think you deserve a gap year,’” she says.

Certified financial planner Marguerita Cheng recommends using or saving up extra earnings for experiences, rather than things.

“Instead of buying the latest and greatest iPhone ... maybe you save that to go on a nice trip with your friends after you graduate,” says Cheng, who is the CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

If traveling is too expensive for you, spend some of your income on going out with friends, Lowry says, and otherwise “investing in the experiences of being in college.”q

A26 COMICS

Thursday 12 September 2019

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Yesterday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Thursday 12 September 2019

HEALTH

San Francisco's iconic cable cars to shut down for repairs Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco's iconic cable cars will stop running for 10 days starting Friday while they undergo the final repairs in a three-year restoration project of the gearboxes that propel the world-famous system up the city's notoriously steep hills. Shuttle buses will run along the three cable car routes where historic cars typically travel at a steady 9.5 miles (15 kilometers) per hour, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said Wednesday.

The agency says it needs to get the manually operated cable cars off the streets to rehabilitate the gearboxes that power the system that started in the 1890s.

The gearboxes spin the 30foot (9-meter) tall wheels that pull the 12 miles (19 kilometers) of steel cables under San Francisco to lift the city's 40 cable cars up steep hills. The shutdown is

sure to disappoint some of the tourists visiting the city next week. Long lines typically snake around several sites where riders can hope on, despite each car's capacity of 60 people. The city says 7.5 million passengers ride the cable cars each year.

The work is part of a $6 million upgrade project that started in 2017 to repair the four heavy equipment gearboxes that have been in service since 1984. The fourth gearbox controls the Hyde Line, the master cable that controls all cable cars going in and out of the cable car barn. Without it operating, cable cars can't enter or return from service.

San Francisco's cable cars were named a National Historic Landmark in 1964 by the U.S. Interior Department's National Park Service. The cost is $6 for each ride or $14 for an all-day pass. Seniors and the disabled pay $3.q

dOCTOR ON DUTY

Halley Time Travel Aruba Divi Phoenix Studio Week # 35 and 36 2 sd floor on the beach front villas 31 weeks remain each $4500 each studio wk # 37 room #832 30 weeks remain $6K Renaissance Suites 1 BR WK # 35 3rd Floor Overlook Pool/Ocean View $3500 1 BR Deluxe WK # 9 3rd floor Ocean Front $ 13 K Marriott Ocean Club Gold Season 1 BR Ocean View $ 5 K 2 BR Ocean View $ 8 K 1 BR Ocean Front $12K 2 BR Ocean Front $14K Marriott Surf Club 2 BR Garden View $ 7 K 2 BR Ocean View $ 8 K 2 BR Ocean Side $9 K 2 BR Ocean Front $12 K Call: 630 1307 Johnnypaesch@gmail.com arubaresalesrealty@hotmail.com

facebookpage:resales&realty

FOR SALE Divi Studio wk 35 8/31 Dutch Village rm 128 buy $2,650 Divi Golf wk 35 8/31, unit 4201, start $2,650 e-mail: rmwjmw@aol.com or call 508-651-0016 _________________________________211687

Oranjestad Hospital 7:00 pm / 10:00pm Tel. 527 4000

San Nicolas

IMSAN 24 Hours Tel.524 8833

Women in Difficulties

PHARMACY ON DUTY

Oranjestad: Dakota Tel. 588 7364 San Nicolas: San Nicolas Tel. 584 5712 Women in Difficulties

OTHER

Dental Clinic 587 9850 Blood Bank Aruba 587 0002 Urgent Care 586 0448 Walk-In Doctor’s Clinic +297 588 0539 Women in Difficulties

EMERGENCY Police Oranjestad Noord Sta. Cruz San Nicolas Police Tipline Ambulancia Fire Dept.

Red Cross

100 527 3140 527 3200 527 2900 584 5000 11141 911 115 582 2219

TAXI SERVICES

Taxi Tas 587 5900 Prof. Taxi 588 0035 Taxi D.T.S. 587 2300 Taxi Serv. Aruba 583 3232 A1 Taxi Serv.

280 2828 Women in Difficulties

TRAVEL INFO

Aruba Airport 524 2424 American Airlines 582 2700 Avianca 588 0059 Jet Blue 588 2244 582 7896 Surinam Women in Difficulties

CRUISES

September 12 Carnival Horizon September 17 Celebrity Equinox Women in Difficulties

AID FOUNDATIONS FAVI- Visually Impaired Tel. 582 5051 Alcoholics Anonymous Tel. 736 2952 Narcotics Anonymous Tel. 583 8989 Women in Difficulties Tel. 583 5400 Centre for Diabetes Tel. 524 8888 Child Abuse Prevention Tel. 582 4433 Quota Club Tel. 525 2672 Women in Difficulties

General Info

Phone Directory Tel. 118

A28 SCIENCE

Thursday 12 September 2019

In this Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019 file photo, a researcher works at the Avantea laboratory inseminating eggs from the last two remaining female of northern white rhinos with frozen sperm from two rhino bulls of the same species, in Cremona, Italy.

Associated Press

Scientists succeed in creating northern white rhino embryos

By GIADA ZAMPANO and ANDREA FOA Associated Press CREMONA, Italy (AP) — Scientists announced Wednesday they have succeeded in creating two embryos of the nearextinct northern white rhino as part of an international effort to save the species, which is down to just two animals worldwide, both of them female.

The embryos, created in the lab with eggs taken from the females and frozen sperm from dead males, are now stored in liquid nitrogen, to be transferred into a surrogate mother — a southern white rhino — in the near future.

“Today we achieved an important milestone on a rocky road which allows us to plan the future steps in the rescue program of the northern white rhino,” said Thomas Hildebrandt of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany.

The institute is part of an international consortium of scientists and conservationists that has been planning and developing the procedure for years.

The ultimate goal is to create a herd of at least five animals that could be returned to their natural habitat in Africa. That could take decades.

Decades of poaching have taken a heavy toll on the northern white rhino and other rhino species.

The animals are killed for their horns, which have long been used as carving material and prized in traditional Chinese medicine for their supposed healing properties.

The last male northern white rhino was a 45-yearold named Sudan, who gained fame in 2017 when he was listed as “The Most Eligible Bachelor in the World” on the Tinder dating app as part of fundraising effort. Sudan, named for the country where he was born in the wild, was euthanized in 2018 because of age-related ills.

The creation of the embryos was achieved at Cremona’s Avantea Laboratories. Cesare Galli and his team extracted five immature egg cells from each of the remaining females, Najin and Fatu, who live at a conservancy in Kenya.q

In this Feb. 20, 2014 file photo, a liquid nicotine solution is poured into a vaping device at a store in New York.

Associated Press

What we know so far about the U.S. vaping illness outbreak

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer U.S. health officials are investigating what might be causing hundreds of serious breathing illnesses in people who use e-cigarettes and other vaping devices.

They have identified about 450 possible cases in 33 states, including six deaths.

A look at what we know so far about the outbreak as the investigation continues: WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? Patients are coming into hospitals with cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue and vomiting.

HOW SERIOUS ARE THESE ILLNESSES? Many of the reports involve severe, life-threatening illnesses in previously healthy people.

Many patients received oxygen. Some needed to be put on breathing machines before they recovered. Antibiotics didn’t work, and it’s not clear yet whether steroid drugs helped.

WHAT VAPING PRODUCTS ARE INVOLVED? No single device, ingredient or additive has been identified. Most of the patients say they vaped products containing THC, the high-producing ingredient in marijuana. Others say they vaped only nicotine and others say they vaped both THC and nicotine.

IS THERE A COMMON THREAD?

Doctors believe this isn’t caused by a germ. Instead, they suspect chemical exposure. And vape juice contains many possible culprits.

Immune cells containing oily droplets have been found in the lungs of some patients. These large cells, called macrophages, are the cleanup crew of the immune system. University of Utah doctors think this could be a marker for vaping injury. They wrote up their findings about six patients in the New England Journal of Medicine.

WHAT ELSE IS IN VAPE LIQUIDS? Most e-cigarettes contain colorless, flavorless chemicals such as propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, which create an inhalable vapor when heated.

The chemicals are considered safe as food additives but their long-term effects when inhaled have not been studied.

Researchers have found cancer-causing chemicals in e-cigarette vapor, such as formaldehyde.

However, it’s not yet clear whether those chemicals are present in high enough amounts to cause harm.

E-cigarette vapor contains tiny particles that carry flavorings.

Some early-stage laboratory and animal studies suggest these flavor particles

can damage the lungs, airways and blood vessels, but more research is needed to better understand how human bodies react to them.

Much less is known about the contents of THC oils and how those chemicals behave when heated.

“I wouldn’t rule anything out at this point because we know so little,” said Dr. David Christiani of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

IS THIS BRAND NEW? There have been occasional reports of similar illnesses, including one from 2000 that was tied to inhaling homemade marijuanainfused oil vapor. The large number of cases is new and alarming to public health officials.

WHO IS INVESTIGATING AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING? State and federal health officials are testing products and analyzing cases for clues.

New York is issuing subpoenas to three companies that sell vaping additives made from vitamin E acetate. The state wants to know more about the ingredients, the quality of the raw materials, any safety testing performed, sales of the products during the past three years and what other additives the companies sell.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Thursday 12 September 2019

Smartphone, Matchbox cars among Toy Hall of Fame finalists

In this Aug. 13, 2019 photo provided by the National Toy Hall of Fame are the 2019 finalists, from left to right, Jenga, Magic the Gathering, My Little Pony, Coloring Book, Matchbox Cars, Top, Nerf Blaster, Risk, Masters of the Universe, Care Bears, Smartphone, and Fisher-Price Corn Popper.

Associated Press

By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The smartphone is being considered for induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame this year in recognition of its impact on how people play and interact.

The other finalists announced Wednesday are: Care Bears, the coloring book, Fisher-Price Corn Popper, Jenga, Magic the Gathering, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox cars, My Little Pony, Nerf Blaster, Risk, and the top.

The smartphone earned a place among the 12 finalists because of its status as a platform for countless mobile games and playful interactions, including sending GIFs and altering photos, hall of fame officials said.

The winners will be inducted Nov. 7. Last year’s honorees were the Magic 8 Ball, pinball and Uno. “These 12 toys represent the wide scope of play — from the simple, traditional spinning top that has been played with since pre-history to the ultra-modern smartphone which has dramatically changed how people of all ages play and connect,” said Christopher Bensch, vice president for collections.

Anyone can nominate a toy for consideration by the hall of fame, located inside The Strong museum in Rochester. The winners are selected with input from historians, educators and

other experts who make up a national selection committee, as well as fans who can vote for their favorite online.

To make it into the hall, toys have to be innovative, widely recognized, shown to be more than a passing fad and foster learning, creativity or discovery through play. Sixty-eight toys currently occupy the National Toy Hall of Fame.

More about this year’s finalists from the hall of fame: Care Bears: Funshine Bear and friends were created in the 1980s as a line of greeting card characters for the American Greetings Corp. but grew to star in television shows and games. In 2015, Netflix launched an animated series around them.

The coloring book: No longer just for kids, a new genre of coloring books featuring more complex designs has caught on with adults.

Fisher-Price Corn Popper: Toddlers have been pushing the wheeled toy along since 1957, watching and listening to the bright balls inside pop.

Jenga: The game in which players stack blocks and then try to remove them without toppling the tower was created by Englishwoman Leslie Scott based on wooden blocks from her childhood in Africa.

Magic the Gathering: The collectible card game was so popular when Wizards of the Coast released it in 1993 that the firm couldn’t

keep up with demand. The fantasy-themed game requires both chance and skill.

Masters of the Universe: Mattel’s action figures, including He-Man and SheRa, were featured in a cartoon series from 1983 to 1985 and have been on toothbrushes, sleeping bags and other merchandise.

Matchbox cars: The toy cars debuted in 1952 and, by 1960, were selling at a rate of more than 100 million a year in the United States.

If inducted, they would join competitor Hot Wheels, which already have a place in the National Toy Hall of Fame.

My Little Pony: Introduced in the 1980s and reintroduced in 2003, the small pastel ponies outsold even Barbie for several years at the peak of their popularity.

Nerf Blaster: Kids use the toy guns to fire off soft foam darts, missiles and disks.

Risk: The strategy board game challenges players to control armies and conquer the world.

It was based on the French game La Conquête du Monde and was introduced in the United States in 1959.

Top: The spinning top has been a childhood staple of cultures the world over, and depictions of it can be seen in art and pottery throughout human history.q

Author doles out clues in the character-driven ‘The Nanny’

By OLINE H. COGDILL Associated Press “The Nanny” (William Morrow), by Gilly Macmillan Classism, fragile memories and a family torn apart by misunderstandings and jealousy haunt an aristocratic British family in “The Nanny,” Gilly Macmillan’s enthralling fifth novel. Sophisticated plotting and believable characters elevate “The Nanny” as a solid family drama.

Macmillan proves the truth in the adage that the rich are different from you and me while showing family dynamics often are an equalizer.

Granted, most people aren’t raised by nannies nor do they live in sprawling mansions in the British countryside as do the Holts. But family problems are universal.

Jocelyn Holt spent 20 years distancing herself from her parents, Lord and Lady Holt, and their estate, Lake Hall. She moved to California, married and eventually had a daughter, Ruby, who is now 10 years old.

Jocelyn — who calls herself Jo — hasn’t been in England for years, even missing the funeral of her father, Alexander, whom she loved, because that would mean seeing her mother, Virginia, whom she loathes. Jo remembers a childhood of neglect and disgust from her mother, but being loved and cherished by her nanny, Hannah. Jo and Ruby are forced to move back to Lake Hall following the death of her husband Chris. Jo believes she has no other options — all of their money was tied up in Chris’ failing business and she isn’t an American citizen. Jo and Virginia resume their fractious relationship. Jo barely hides her contempt for her mother and resents that Ruby and Virginia quickly bond. But one of

This cover image released

by William Morrow shows “The Nanny,” a novel by Gilly Macmillan.

Associated Press

Virginia’s great regrets is that she never had the kind of relationship that she yearned to have with Jo. A skull discovered on the estate’s island has Jo wondering if it belongs to Hannah and if her parents murdered her nanny. When the longlost Hannah eventually shows up, Jo is thrilled, hoping to re-establish a loving relationship with her beloved nanny; Virginia and Ruby feel differently about Hannah.

The mystery of what happened to Hannah — and the hints of violence — drive the plot, but the real strength of “The Nanny” is the mother-daughter relationship and how feelings can be manipulated. Macmillan perceptively alternates between the memories of Virginia and Jo and their present situation, allowing the reader to have both empathy and irritation with both as their contrasting relationship emerges. Lady and Lord Holt believed themselves to be respected, even loved, by the villagers.

But many residents, and the detective investigating the skull, despise the aristocrats, assuming the wealthy suffer no consequences for their actions.

Macmillan wisely doles out clues leading to a surprising finale in the character-driven “The Nanny.”q

A30 PEOPLE

Thursday 12 September 2019

& ARTS

In 'Hustlers,' Jennifer Lopez steals money, and the show

By JAKE COYLE Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — "Hustlers" is, in itself, a hustle.

It looks like a flashy, glamorous movie about strippers — all sparkle and skin and high-heels. And it is that. But the fleshy, dazzling surface of "Hustlers," written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, cloaks an empowering feminist tale about a sisterhood of women who turn the tables on

a male-controlled industry.

"People go into the movie expecting something because stripper is a word that has so many connotations and preconceived notions," says Scafaria.

"That's the hustle. Hopefully we're subverting expectations but subverting them in a way that has some nuance to it."

"Hustlers," opening in theaters this week following its well-received premiere

Lorene Scafaria, left, writer/director of the film "Hustlers," poses with cast member Jennifer Lopez during the Toronto International Film Festival, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019, in Toronto.

Associated Press

at the Toronto International Film Festival, stars Jennifer Lopez as Ramona, a veteran stripper in New York who takes a young dancer (Constance Wu) under her wing. Ramona organizes a scam to drug Wall Street guys and max out their credit cards. It's loosely based on a true story, chronicled in a 2015 New York magazine article, and set in the years after the 2008 financial crisis — when far greater, whitecollar swindles went largely unprosecuted.

The transactional world of strip clubs — so commonly depicted from a male viewpoint in movies — has seldom been viewed through a female gaze like it is in "Hustlers." It's a microcosm, Lopez says, of America.

"It's all a strip club," says Lopez. "You have people tossing the money and people doing the dance.

"This film says something about the inequality that we've been yelling and screaming about for a while now and kind of making some headway," she adds. "And I hate saying that so broadly because I love men and there are so many great, supportive beautiful men in the world.

But there is this thing that exists that we can't deny."

"Hustlers" might be Lopez's most radiant and regal screen performance, too, since Steven Soderbergh's 1998 film "Out of Sight." As

Ramona, she's the matriarchal ringleader of an improvised family of strippers-turned-hustlers. (Cardi B makes her big-screen debut, alongside a cast including Lili Reinhart and Keke Palmer.)

Lopez is, like Ramona, an entrepreneur from the Bronx. She instantly identified with the role, even if the stripping scenes gave her pause.

"It was scary. I saw the script and it wasn't like boobs everywhere. That wasn't (Scafaria's) thing," says Lopez. "But I also knew I was playing a stripper and I'm a mom and what does that all mean? But I felt good about how Lorene wanted to tell the story and that it was something I could be proud of it."

Scafaria, the 41-year-old writer of "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist," observed how much training Lopez put into the part. As experienced a dancer as she is, pole-dancing was something else entirely. Lopez' resplendent entrance in the movie is a stage dance set to Fiona Apple's "Criminal" while being showered with bills.

"It was like acrobatics. I had to start lifting more weights.

I had to change my body," says Lopez. "I told her, 'I have to change my body if I do this.'"

"And I was like, 'Please don't. I don't know what we're talking about,'" re-

torts Scafaria, laughing.

In just the past two years, Lopez has released new Spanish-language tracks, launched a cosmetic line, got engaged to former baseball player Alex Rodriguez and recently concluded a 38-concert tour. Time Magazine has ranked her among the 100 most influential people in the world. "Second Act," released in 2018, proved movie audiences still love her. It grossed $72.2 million worldwide. She's also a producer on "Hustlers."

"People think 'Oh, she's not a serious recording artist.'

Or, 'she's not really a serious actress,' or 'She's not really a serious entrepreneur.'

No, I'm very serious about all of them. That's why I've spent most of my life doing as many of those things as possible," says Lopez. "Because I do all those things, I don't get the credit at times — which is fine, I don't care.

I love what I do. I have the most amazing life. I feel good about my life. I feel good about where I am.

"But I've had to kind of give myself that pat on my back: 'You're doing good,'" she says. "Once I started doing that, my whole life changed."

"Hustlers," however, already has a lot of people heaping praise on Lopez. Scafaria says the part of Ramona "fits her like a glove — even if it's not a glove she's tried on in the same way."q

PEOPLE & ARTS A31

Thursday 12 September 2019

Naeem Khan launches his fashion collection at home

This Aug. 27, 2019 photo shows portrait shows R&B singer Johnny Gill posing for a portrait in Los Angeles to promote his eighth studio album “Game Changer II.” Associated Press

A new album and fresh hits for ‘Game Changer’ Johnny Gill

Designer Naeem Khan takes a bow after his collection was modeled during Fashion Week, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, in New York.

Associated Press

By BROOKE LEFFERTS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Naeem Khan brought it home with his new spring-summer 2020 collection, launching his runway show in the chic lobby and courtyard of his New York City apartment building.

The longtime designer set up shop Tuesday on the ground floor of the ultramodern Zaha Hadid Building on Manhattan’s west side.

Lucite chairs lined the entryway and outside space of the building — a modern metallic and glass structure with serpentine lines and rounded balconies towering over a courtyard.

Hadid, who was a close friend of Khan’s, designed the building before her death in 2016.

Khan said the space Hadid created inspired the collection, calling it salon-like and intimate.

“Lots of separates, lots of coats, jackets, of course glamour, because I’m known for that, but it’s like fluid, it’s light, it’s airy.

The pajamas are so chic.

It’s like, tunics mixed with pants.

Really glamour at its most relaxed form,” Khan told The Associated Press at the show.

A parade of models strutting in impossibly high sti-

letto heels entered into the building’s courtyard, with the evening breeze helping to increase the dramatic effect of the loose, flowing designs.

Most wore slicked back updo’s with intricate fishtail buns, accentuated by huge gold hoop earrings with bejeweled parrots and seahorses.

The first several looks were animal print pajama pantsuits, dresses and jumpsuits with matching thin billowing jackets. While some prints were in the fabric, many were embellished with sequins, creating glittering texture.

Vibrant colors were also part of the collection and seen in silk pajamas with giant flowers.

One knockout look was a bright, fuchsia satin halter sheath that poured down to the floor, with a stream of fabric down the back. Several designs honored Khan’s Indian heritage, including a pink Sari-inspired dress with a dramatic train of ombre’ effects of pink and orange chiffon, and a long green tunic dress with a decorative panel of beading.

There were glitzy widelegged pants with matching tunics covered in monochromatic sequins of black, bright yellow and aquamarine.

A metallic gold threetiered backless dress shimmered, capturing the evening light as the sun set. Khan has been in the fashion industry for 30 years and has dressed many A-list celebrities.

He said glamour has changed and young people want to look beautiful but less “stuffy” so he is changing with the time.

Celebrities seated in the front row included Ryan Seacrest, reality star Kaitlynn Carter and Miss Universe Catriona Gray.

Seacrest said he always tries to make time for Khan’s shows and he may have had extra incentive to attend.

“Amazing, stunning, glitz, glamour...I’m really in awe of what he did.

And one of the models especially was incredible, my dear friend,” Seacrest said with a smile, referring to model Shayna Taylor, who walked in the show and whom he has dated in the past. Gray said the Hadid building added to the mood.

“I loved the drama of this venue and paired with the music, it was operatic and there was a tribal feeling there also... there were sequins, there was chiffon, it was very feminine and romantic,” Gray said.q

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Johnny Gill might be considered an old-school crooner these days, but age has only been a number for the R&B veteran who is still making his presence felt.

Gill’s “Soul of a Woman” topped Billboard’s adult R&B songs chart in June and “Perfect” featuring New Edition bandmate Ralph Tresvant recently reached No. 22. The songs are lead singles for his eighth studio album “Game Changer II,” which arrives Friday.

“Sometimes being an O.G., you don’t get celebrated.

You get penalized,” he said. “Some are like ‘He’s too old.’

So to find yourself still having a place in this game, where you can still compete and make great music, it’s an indication to allow people to know that it’s being played all over the world. It’s being accepted by our peers. It’s a blessing.”

Gill found fame with the five-member New Edition group after Bobby Brown’s departure in the late 1980s, recording three studio albums with them. He also teamed with Gerald Levert and Keith Sweat to form R&B super group LSG who had the 1997 hit “My Body.”

As a solo artist, Gill proved he could thrive on his own with the upbeat 90s dance track “Rub You the Right Way” and the smooth ballad “My, My, My.” Despite his achievements, Gill said he didn’t enjoy big career milestones as much as he should. The singer said he learned over time to relish in his accomplishments better.

“I never really took it all in,” he said “What I’ve learned now over the years of doing this is to be in the moment, stay in the moment and embrace it. You can walk from that recognizing and realizing that you have something you can cherish, hold on and take with you.”

With his new project, Gill said he wants to offer different melodies other than his traditional R&B flavor. The 11-track album includes slow ballads and up-tempo tracks, reggae tunes along with some Latin energy from Carlos Santana and Sheila E. The album is a sequel to Gill’s 2014 offering, “Game Changer,” which included “This One’s For Me and You,” an adult R&B chart-topper in 2016 with New Edition.

Tresvant credits Gill for pushing through with another “strong project.” He said that was evident when Gill met the deadline to turn in “Perfect.”

It was a song Gill initially wanted an “all-star” lineup on that would have included Charlie Wilson, Keith Sweat and Tresvant. But Gill was unable to get Wilson and Sweat’s verses in on time, so he submitted the track with just him and Tresvant.

In hindsight, it worked out.

Tresvant said it’s another example of Gill taking authority of his career.q

A32 FEATURE

Thursday 12 September 2019

A new look at Frank Lloyd Wright’s textiles, home goods

By KATHERINE ROTH Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A small but important exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores a little-known facet of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s creations: his line of wallpapers, printed and woven textiles, and other home goods designed for the public.

“Frank Lloyd Wright Textiles: The Taliesin Line, 1955-60” remains on view through Apr. 5, 2020. It reveals how, in 1954, Wright entered into his first commercial venture, designing a line of affordable home products aimed at the average consumer.

The designs were based on Wright’s architectural designs and inspired by his buildings.

The line was named Taliesin, after his homes and studios in Wisconsin and Arizona, and was available only through authorized dealers.

Wright entered into the venture at the urging of his friend Elizabeth Gordon, editor of House Beautiful magazine.

“The intention was that this was a way for his aesthetic to reach a much larger audience,” says Amelia Peck, curator of decorative arts in the Met’s American Wing, and supervising curator of the Antonia Ratti Textile Center there.

In addition to designing affordable wallpapers and textiles for F. Schumacher and Co., Wright agreed to design furniture

This photo provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art shows the Frank Lloyd Wright Room located in The American Wing at the museum in New York.

Associated Press

(for Heritage-Hendredon), paints (Martin-Senour), rugs (Karastan) and home accent pieces, made by Minic Accessories.

“Wright didn’t trust interior decorators. He called them ‘inferior desecrators,’” says Peck, adding that another goal of the Wrightapproved wallpapers and textiles for upholstery and drapery was to help people get his aesthetic right.

To publicize the Taliesin Line of products, the November 1955 issue of House Beautiful was devoted to Wright’s work, presenting the entire collection. Ultimately, though, only the textiles, wallpaper, paint and furniture were produced.

While Wright’s paints and

furniture did not meet with much success, the wallpapers and textiles did. Many remained in production for a decade, with some updated versions rereleased in 1986 and again as recently as 2017.

The exhibit features an enormous original sample book, one of only 100 copies of “Schumacher’s Taliesin Line of Decorative Fabrics and Wallpapers Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright” (1955). The works were a collaboration between Wright, his apprentices and Schumacher, but Wright had final approval, Peck says.

The exhibit also features examples of some of Wright’s wallpapers, and printed

This photo provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art shows an installation view of “Frank Lloyd Wright Textiles: The Taliesin Line, 1955–60,” which runs through April 2020 at the museum in New York.

Associated Press

and woven fabrics.

While the Japanese influence evident in many of the pieces is no surprise, given Wright’s travels to Asia and the way he incorporated Asian elements in his architectural designs, some of the colors will come as a surprise. Far from the muted neutrals popular today, many of the hues are vivid, such as dazzling shades of turquoise. Even more surprising, some of the woven upholstery fabrics are interwoven with Lurex, adding a less than understated bit of sparkle.

“You don’t think of Wright as a sparkly sort of guy, but he approved it,” she says.

Other fabrics are surprisingly forward-looking. Although designed in the late ‘50s, some of Wright’s

patterns seem more reminiscent of the ‘60s, featuring bright curvy patterns in dazzling colors.

The installation also features two Minic vases (which Wright referred to as “weed holders”) in mahogany with metal lining.

Some of the textiles are still available from Schumacher, which released anniversary editions of some, although the colors now available tend to be more muted, Peck says.

All of the pages of the Taliesin Line sample book have been newly photographed and can be viewed on the museum’s website, along with all 29 pieces of Wright fabric that are in the Met’s collection.

To put the textiles in context, visitors are encouraged to combine a visit to the textile installation with a visit to a separate installation of Wright’s architectural drawings, “Frank Lloyd Wright: Designs for Francis and Mary Little,” on view through Nov. 12. It features drawings and letters exploring Wright’s working relationship with the Littles, for whom he built a house in Peoria, Illinois, and another in Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota.

The museum also features “Living Room from Francis W. Little House, 1912-14,” a permanent installation that was originally the living room of the Littles’ summer home in a suburb of Minneapolis. The room reveals the extent to which Wright’s architecture and decor are interconnected.q

This photo provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art shows an installation view of “Frank Lloyd Wright Textiles: The Taliesin Line, 1955–60,” which runs through April 2020 at the museum in New York.

Associated Press