February 15, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Monday, February 15, 2016

WHITE HOUSE WEST

Obama turns California estate into a center of international diplomacy President Barack Obama walks from Marine One to board Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, in Los Angeles. Associated Press Page 3

A2 UP

Monday 15 February 2016

FRONT

Supreme Court vacancy is tangible test for 2016 candidates JULIE PACE AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — The stakes in the U.S. presidential election just got higher.

The unexpected death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — and the immediate declaration from Republicans that the next president should nominate his replacement — adds even more weight to the decision voters will make in November’s general election.

The court now is divided between four liberal and four typically conservative justices, putting the ideological tilt up for grabs. Scalia, a hero to conservatives during his nearly 30 years on the Supreme Court, was found dead Saturday at a resort ranch in West Texas.

For months, the candidates have espoused theoretical, sometimes vague, policy proposals. Now, the prospect of President Barack Obama’s successor nominating a Supreme Court justice immediately after taking office offers a more tangible way for voters to evaluate the contenders.

Candidates in both parties moved quickly to reframe the election as a referendum on the high court’s future. With the “Two branches of government hang in the balance, not just the presidency, but the Supreme Court,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said in the latest Republican presidential debate, held in South Carolina just hours after word filtered out Saturday about Scalia’s death in Texas. “If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidate, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty, every one of those hangs in the balance.” The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton painted a similarly stark scenario.

“If any of us needed a reminder of just how important it is to take back the United States Senate and hold onto the White House, just look at the Supreme

President Barack Obama speaks to reporters about the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia at Omni Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage, CA. Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. Obama declared Saturday night that he would seek to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Scalia, charging into a heated and likely prolonged election-year fight with Republicans in Congress.

Obama said a nomination was “bigger than any one party.”

Associated Press

Court,” Clinton said.

Clinton has said she would have “a bunch of litmus tests” for potential nominees, including a belief that the Citizens United ruling clearing the way for super political action committees and unlimited campaign contributions should be overturned. She also said the court’s makeup is crucial to preserving abortion rights and the legality of gay marriage nationwide.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is challenging Clinton for the Democratic nomination, has raised opposition to Citizens United as a requirement for any Supreme Court nominees.

Obama pledged to nominate a replacement in “due time,” even after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that responsibility should fall to the winner of the 2016 election.

Obama could try to ram a nominee through the Senate this year, taking a high court vacancy off the next president’s immediate todo list. Even if that were to happen, a confirmation

vote probably would be months away, leaving the Supreme Court in the center of the campaign during the nomination process.

With three other justices over the age of 75, the next president could have other vacancies during his or her tenure, even if Obama fills Scalia’s seat.

It’s unclear how the new focus on the Supreme Court might affect voters’ decisions in an election that has seen surprising and unconventional candidates such as billionaire businessman Donald Trump and Sanders challenge their parties’ establishments.

Previous political thunderbolts that were supposed to push voters toward more traditional candidates, such as last fall’s terrorist attacks in Paris and California, passed without any negative impact on Trump and Sanders. In fact, Sanders has strengthened since then, with the economicfocused Vermont senator handily defeating Clinton in the New Hampshire primary and finishing a close

second in the Iowa caucuses.

Trying to counter Sanders’ momentum, Clinton has urged voters to consider which candidate is most electable in November.

With the balance of the Supreme Court now potentially on the line, Clinton and her allies are certain to increase their warnings about the risk of sending a self-declared democratic socialist to face a Republican in the fall.

“For any Democrat thinking about casting a protest vote for Sen. Sanders, this should serve as a wake-up call for what’s exactly at stake,” said Jim Manley, a former aide to top Democratic senators.

Among Republicans, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are casting themselves as candidates who could appeal to swing voters in the general election and put Republicans in position to guide the next court nominations. But that could open them up to questions

from Republican primary voters about the ideological purity of their judicial choices.

Cruz is using the potential vacancy to build on his long-standing argument that Republicans should select a nominee with the most conservative credentials. An uncompromising conservative since arriving in the Senate, Cruz vowed to put “principled constitutionalists” on the Supreme Court. He contends Trump could not be trusted to do the same.

“Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals,” said Cruz, noting the billionaire’s past support for Democratic politicians.

During Saturday’s debate, Kasich bemoaned that Washington and presidential candidates had “run so fast into politics” following Scalia’s death.

But if anything, the speed at which politics did take over portends a furious fight to come over which candidate gets to put his or her imprint on the court.q

U.S. NEWS A3

Monday 15 February 2016

Obama uses California’s Sunnylands as Western White House mit with Xi Jinping, who only months earlier had been installed as China’s newest leader. China will not be represented at Sunnylands because it is not a member of ASEAN. Obama returned to Sunnylands in February 2014 to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan, an important Middle Eastern ally.

Rhodes said the gathering of Southeast Asian leaders would be another “notie” summit, like Obama’s meetings with Xi and Abdullah.

Obama’s use of Sunnyl-

President Barack Obama walks across the tarmac from Marine One before boarding Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

DARLENE SUPERVILL Associated Press RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.

(AP) — The guest list at Sunnylands reads like a roster of the rich and famous, from years past to today: Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Queen Elizabeth II, to name a few.

President Barack Obama will add more names to the VIP record Monday when he turns the 200-acre California desert estate into a center of international diplomacy and welcomes Southeast Asian leaders for a two-day summit about economic and regional security issues.

In years past, Obama has flown to the annual summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Last fall in Malaysia, he invited the 10 member countries to meet on U.S. soil for the first time, part of his effort to sharpen the U.S. policy focus on the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.

While leaders from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philip-

pines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia will be seeing Sunnylands for the first time, Obama has increasingly used the estate’s tranquil setting as a place to conduct U.S. foreign policy.

An added lure for an avid golfer like Obama is Sunnylands’ nine-hole course.

It’s considered one of the country’s best.

Ben Rhodes, the president’s deputy national security adviser, said Obama enjoys having more freeflowing talks with fellow leaders “out of the bubble” of Washington.

Sunnylands “lends itself to kind of a stepped-back, broader strategic set of discussions in a very peaceful setting in which the leaders can get to know one another and really try to dig in over an extended period of time in a way that you couldn’t in a one-hour meeting here at the White House,” Rhodes said.

Obama first visited Sunnylands in June 2013 for an unusual but informal sum-

ands is reminiscent of how then-President George W. Bush used his Texas ranch while he was in office.

The former president took advantage of the ranch’s informal setting and regularly invited foreign counterparts to Crawford for talks. Bush spent so much time in central Texas that the ranch was dubbed the “Western White House.”

Bush added an even more personal touch by driving some of the leaders around the sprawling property in his white pickup truck.

Walter and Leonore An-

nenberg, the late philanthropists who built Sunnylands, long hoped the property they used as a winter home would become the “Camp David of the West.”

Annenberg was a diplomat who entertained royalty, presidents and celebrities at Sunnylands. He and his wife willed the property to a family trust in hopes that presidents and other highranking U.S. government officials would use it to foster international diplomacy, said Janice Lyle, director of the Sunnylands Center & Gardens.q

A4 U.S.

Monday 15 February 2016

NEWS

George W. Bush: From South Carolina cameo to starring role

In this Nov. 6, 2006, file photo, President George W. Bush jokes with his brother Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in Pensacola, Fla., where the president was drumming up support for local Republican candidates. Jeb Bush is summoning his brother, former President George W. Bush, to campaign for him in South Carolina. It’s not without risks, but the Bush family has long, deep political ties in the state, and the former Florida governor has little choice if he wants to join his father and brother as Oval Office occupants.

Associated Press

BILL BARROW SERGIO BUSTOS Associated Press GREENVILLE, South Carolina (AP) — George W. Bush won a bruising South Carolina presidential primary on his way to the Oval Office, as his father did before him.

Now it’s his brother’s turn, and for Jeb Bush, the most consequential foreign policy decisions of his brother’s time in office are suddenly front-and-center of his bid to keep alive his campaign

for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination — thanks to businessman Donald Trump.

The former president had already announced plans to campaign for his younger brother on Monday in South Carolina, marking his most direct entry into the 2016 race to date.

Then Trump, the Republican front-runner, used the final debate before the state’s Feb. 20 primary as an opportunity to excoriate George W. Bush’s performance as commanderin-chief.

The former president, Trump said, ignored “the advice of his CIA” and “destabilized the Middle East” by invading Iraq on dubious claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

“I want to tell you: they lied,” Trump said. “They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none.”

Trump didn’t let up as Bush tried to defend his brother, dismissing his suggestion that George W. Bush built a “security apparatus to keep us safe” after the 9/11 attacks.

“The World Trade Center came down during your brother’s reign, remember that,” Trump said, adding: “That’s not keeping us safe.”

The onslaught — which Jeb Bush called Trump enjoying “blood sport” — was the latest example of the

billionaire businessman’s penchant for mocking his rival as a weak, privileged tool of the Republican Party establishment, special interests and well-heeled donors.

But the exchange also highlighted the former Florida governor’s embrace of his family name and history as he jockeys with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to emerge from South Carolina as the clear challenger to Trump, who won the New Hampshire primary, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the victor in Iowa’s caucuses.

The approach tacks away from Bush’s months-long insistence that he’s running as “my own man,” but could be a perfect fit for South Carolina. Noted South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who ended his Republican presidential campaign in December and endorsed Jeb Bush in January, said: “The Bush name is golden in my state.”

George W. Bush retains wide appeal among Republicans, from evangelicals to chamber of commerce business leaders and retired members of the military. All are prominent in South Carolina, with Bush campaign aide Brett Foster going so far as to say that George W. Bush is “the most popular Republican alive.”

Continued on Page 27

U.S. NEWS A5

Monday 15 February 2016

Debut edition of Spider-Man comic headed to auction FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press CALVERTON, New York (AP) — Walter Yakoboski scraped together nearly every penny he made as a cook in 1979 to begin buying a small collection of rare comic books for $10,000, hoping his boyhood passion could one day pay off as an investment.

That day may soon be here.

Yakoboski’s copy of “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15 from 1962 — which introduced the world to Spider-Man — could fetch $400,000 or more when it goes up for auction later this month.

“This is the first time I really sold anything,” said the 60-year-old Yakoboski, who wants to use the proceeds to buy his late father’s 17acre (7-hectare) vegetable farm in Calverton on eastern Long Island.

He insisted that the fact that he was recently laid off as a supermarket baker after more than 27 years is not the reason he’s selling now.

“I have had it for 36 years and it’s just time,” said Yakoboski, who is also is selling a 1963 Spider-Man, as well as two “Fantastic Four” editions and a “Justice League of America,” which combined could bring an additional $75,000.

But the crown jewel is the “Amazing Fantasy” issue, which Yacoboski originally purchased individually for $1,200 in 1980. Its cover, featuring a price of 12 cents, shows Spider-Man clutching a villain in one arm and swinging from his web with the other.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko co-created the web-slinger and his alter ego, the educationally gifted but awkward Peter Parker, whose life changed forever when

he was bitten by a radioactive spider. It paved the way for Spider-Man adventures on television and the big screen.

Lon Allen, managing director of the comics department at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions — which is conducting the sale Thursday — said there are probably 4,000 to 5,000 copies of “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15 in circulation. But Yakoboski’s copy is in nearly mint condition.

“It was graded 9.4 on a scale of 1 to 10, that’s what makes it super desirable and really special,” Allen said. “Whoever buys this comic will be joining an elite club.”

Allen said a private collector reportedly paid $1.1 million for a near-mint copy of “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15 in 2011, but estimated the $400,000 or more Yakoboski’s edition may fetch could be a record for a public auction of the comic book.

Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of New York-based Metropolis Collectibles, said the $1.1 million sale — which he was involved with — involved a comic book graded higher at 9.6.

“This book will do great; it’s an incredibly important book,” said Zurzolo. “When you have a sale like this there is a residual effect on the entire market, so that also makes it very exciting. It’s definitely a special book.”

Yakoboski admits he never thought about such a payday when he began reading comic books as a child, sometimes sneaking away from trips to the library to visit a nearby comic books store.

The collecting of rare editions continued as an adult and Yakoboski says his mother thought it was

a crazy way to spend his hard-earned money. His most cherished copies were stashed in a bank safety deposit box — he still has 38 prized editions left — while lesser comics fill cabinets in his Middle Island, New York, home.q Heritage Auctions’ Allen credits Yakoboski for having a good eye for what might become valuable.

He said while others sought to buy entire collections, Yakoboski targeted what he thought were the highest quality and rarest comics.

“The best stuff always outpaces the market, and he bought the best stuff,” Allen said. “That was genius.”q

This undated photo provided

by Heritage Auctions shows the comic book “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15, by Marvel Comics. This comic book will be going up for sale at an auction by Heritage on Feb. 18, 2016. A similar comic book with a higher rating bought by Walter Yakoboski in 1980 for $1,200 could fetch $400,000 or more at the upcoming auction.

Associated Press

A6 U.S.

Monday 15 February 2016

NEWS

Northeast wakes up to record cold for Valentine’s Day VERENA DOBNIK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — For much of the northeast United States, Valentine’s Day was the coldest on record, with people bundling up for the not-so-warm embrace of teeth-chattering temperatures.

From New York and Boston to Providence, Rhode Island and Hartford, Connecticut, temperatures on Sunday morning dipped to as low as minus-40 Fahrenheit minus-40 Celsius — on Mount Washington inNew Hampshire.

The National Weather Service said the temperature in New York City’s Central Park fell to minus-1, a record low for the date. The last time it was below zero in Central Park was in January 1994.

“I’m dumb enough to do this,” exclaimed John Male before starting a 12-mile (19-kilometer) park run on Sunday morning with two companions.

“I just always come out and I just decided not to do anything differently” — except to wear a furry tiger hat with two tails over his normal headgear, in addition to four layers of clothing.

Officials said the cold weather was dangerous and could be fatal to those spending too much time outdoors — especially

People are bundled up as they walk in cold weather, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York. Bitter temperatures and biting winds had much of the northeastern United States bundling up this weekend.

Associated Press

the homeless.

Outreach teams brought 105 people into New York shelters, and 288 showed up at hospitals and health facilities including more than 20 who were brought in for care needed immediately, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference inside a lower Manhattan sub-

way station.

Boston reached minus-9 F (minus-23 C), breaking the record set in 1934 of minus-3 F (minus-18.5). It reached minus-16 F (minus-26.5 C) in Worcester, Massachusetts, breaking the 1979 record of 11 below zero F (24 below zero C). Providence hit minus-9 F (minus-23 C) and Hartford minus-12 (mi-

nus-24.5 C), also breaking records from 1979.

In Montpelier, Vermont, the overnight temperature hit minus-19 F (minus-28.5 C), tying a record set in 2003.

And South Lincoln, Vermont, recorded 27 below zero F (33 below zero C).

Temperatures were so low in some spots, utilities were knocked out. A frozen

regulator left about 400 customers in Connecticut without natural gas service and officials believe extreme cold in Vermont broke a utility pole, knocking out service to about 1,500.

The cold kept many people inside. In a New Jersey bagel shop that’s usually brimming with customers on Sunday mornings, Joe Weir was among a small handful of people who sat drinking coffee.

“I just came from a church service, and it definitely wasn’t as packed as it usually is,” the 60-year-old Toms River man said. “We have a lot of elderly parishioners, and when the weather gets bad or real cold like this, a lot them choose to stay in and watch a Mass on TV instead of going to church. Can’t say I blame them.”

Temperatures were expected to climb before a winter storm already bringing snow to the Midwest moves into the region.

The storm was expected to bring 5 inches (12.5 centimeters) of snow to parts of Kentucky and up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) to parts of Tennessee before turning to rain.

West Virginia could see up to 9 inches (22.5 centimeters) of snow from the storm before it heads into the warming northeast.q

U.S. NEWS A7

Monday 15 February 2016

Navy considers electric gun for a Zumwaltclass destroyer

DAVID SHARP Associated Press BATH, Maine (AP) — Development of a futuristic weapon depicted in video games and science fiction is going well enough that a Navy admiral wants to skip an atsea prototype in favor of installing an operational unit aboard a destroyer planned to go into service in 2018.

The Navy has been testing an electromagnetic railgun and could have an operational unit ready to go on one of the new Zumwalt-class destroyers under construction at Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Adm. Pete Fanta, the Navy’s director of surface warfare, has floated the idea of foregoing the current plan to put a prototype on another vessel this year and instead put it directly on the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, though no final decision has been made.

“The Zumwalt-class is one of a number of options being explored for the electromagnetic railgun,” said Lt. Cmdr.

Hayley Sims, a Navy spokeswoman. “Due to the size, weight and power requirements, some platforms will be better suited for the technology

than others.”

Railguns use electricity instead of gunpowder to accelerate a projectile at six or seven times the speed of sound — creating enough kinetic energy to destroy targets.

It’s advanced technology that holds the possibility of providing an effective weapon at pennies on the dollars compared to smart bombs and missiles.

There has been talk since the inception of the Zumwalt program that the massive destroyers would be a likely candidate for the weapon because of its power plant.

The USS Johnson will be the third and final destroyer in the Zumwalt class.

The 600-foot (180-meter)long warship uses marine turbines similar to those that propel the Boeing 777 to help produce up to 78 megawatts of electricity for use in propulsion, weapons and sensors.

That’s more than enough power for the railgun.

If it’s placed on the warship, the system could replace one of the forward turrets housing a 155mm gun that fires rocket-propelled projectiles.

For now, however, the official plan remains for the railgun prototype to be tested aboard a joint high speed vessel this year. q

Police: Highway crash sent 73 people to the hospital FREDERICKSBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) — More than 70 people were treated following a huge pileup on a central Pennsylvania interstate highway that killed three people, authorities said Sunday.

Trooper Justin Summa of the state police barracks in Lebanon County said Saturday’s crash on Interstate 78 during a snow squall involved 64 vehicles, including a dozen commercial vehicles such as tractor-trailers and box trucks.

There were also “numerous secondary crashes” behind that as traffic backed up, he said.

Kenneth J. Lesko, 50, of Bethpage, New York; Francisca V. Pear, 54, of Bridgewater, New Jersey; and Alfred Dean Kinnick, 57, of Limestone, Tennessee, were all pronounced dead at the scene of Saturday morning’s crash on Interstate 78, state police in Lebanon County said Sunday.

The crash shortly before 9:30 a.m. Saturday occurred in what drivers reported as whiteout conditions, with very low visibility and a lot of drifting snow, Summa said.

“People were saying they couldn’t see past the front bumpers of their cars,” Summa said Sunday.

Vehicles pile up after a fatal crash near Fredericksburg, Pa., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. The pileup left tractor-trailers, box trucks and cars tangled together across several lanes of traffic and into the snow-covered median.

Associated Press

The major crash along one stretch of I-78 in Bethel Township involved 64 vehicles, including a dozen commercial vehicles such as tractor-trailers and box trucks, but there were also “numerous secondary crashes” behind that as traffic backed up, Summa said.

A total of 73 people were taken by four medical helicopters and by ambulance for treatment at 11 hospitals.

At least one remained in critical condition Sunday, but Penn State Hershey Medical Center said two others taken to the hospital with critical injuries had improved and most of the 13 people brought to the hospital had been discharged.

The interstate highway reopened Sunday morning

following the pileup, which left vehicles tangled together across three traffic lanes and into the snowcovered median about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.

Police said more than 70 people were taken to a warming shelter operated by the American Red Cross at a firehouse in the area.

The center closed Saturday night after stranded motorists were given an opportunity to get rental vehicles or hotels.

Among those caught in the pile up was the Penn StateLehigh Valley men’s basketball team.

They were heading to a game in New Kensington when their chartered bus was hit by a tractor-trailer.

The school reported no serious injuries.q

A8 U.S.

Monday 15 February 2016

NEWS

Israeli leader defends gas extraction deal in Supreme Court JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unprecedented appearance at the Supreme Court Sunday to defend a deal signed in December with U.S. and Israeli developers drilling offshore gas deposits.

Israel’s Channel 10 TV reported Netanyahu as telling the court that if Israel were to alter its deal investors could turn away and buy gas from Israel’s enemies instead.

Netanyahu said he chose to speak in court because of the strategic importance of the gas deal, which he says will allow Israel to develop ties with Jordan, Egypt and Turkey and significantly boost its economy.

Resource-poor Israel announced the discovery of sizeable offshore natural

gas deposits about five years ago.

A partnership between Noble Energy and Delek Group, which is led by billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva, is the main developer at Israel’s two larger gas fields, Tamar and the heftier Leviathan.

After the country’s antitrust commissioner determined the gas companies’ ownership constituted a monopoly, a government committee reached a deal with the firms to introduce competition.

Opponents later challenged the deal in court because they said it favored the developers over the Israeli public.

Opposition lawmaker Shelly Yachimovich, a leading opponent of the deal, tweeted that Netanyahu’s speech was full of

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits with a stack of papers as he waits for the Supreme Court to convene in Jerusalem, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016.

Associated Press

“exaggerations, clichés and general statements without one fact behind them.”

Israeli courts spokeswoman Shirley Koren said Netanyahu’s appearance before the Supreme Court marked the first ever for a sitting prime minister.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of using highhanded tactics to bypass opponents of the deal. In January, Israel’s economy minister resigned rather than overrule the antitrust commissioner who opposed the gas deal and later resigned in protest over it.

About 50 people protested outside the court Sunday.

One wore a cape, a scepter and a mask of Netanyahu’s face, while another held a sign that read “selling the state.”q

WORLD NEWS 9

Monday 15 February 2016

Israel: 5 Palestinians killed while attacking Israelis DANIEL ESTRIN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Five Palestinians were killed and another critically wounded while attempting to attack Israelis in four separate incidents in the West Bank and Jerusalem on Sunday, according to the Israeli police and military. No Israelis were injured in the attacks.

Late Sunday, two Palestinians were fatally shot after they opened fire with automatic weapons on Israeli security forces near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.

Earlier Sunday, the military said two Palestinians were throwing rocks at passing vehicles near the West Bank city of Jenin, and when security forces arrived the Palestinians opened fire at them. The soldiers fired back and killed the two Palestinians, the military said, adding that no soldiers were wounded in the exchange.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the victims as Nihad Waked and Fouad Waked, both 15 years old.

They were from the same extended family in the West Bank village of al-Araka, near Jenin, but were not close relatives.

Later, at a West Bank security checkpoint on the outskirts of Jerusalem, a Palestinian gripping a knife ran at Israeli paramilitary border police officers, and an officer shot and killed him, Israeli police said. No Israeli were injured. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the Palestinian as 17-year-old Naim Safi of Abadiya village near Bethlehem.

In the evening, a 21-yearold Palestinian woman tried to stab a border police officer at a checkpoint

in the West Bank city of Hebron, according to police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

Security forces shot her, wounding her critically. No Israelis were injured.

In the last five months, Palestinian stabbings, shootings and vehicular assaults have killed 27 Israelis. At least 162 Palestinians, the majority of whom Israel says were attackers, have been killed by Israeli fire.

Israel says the ongoing violence is fueled by a campaign of incitement by Palestinian leaders that is compounded on social media sites that glorify attacks. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at nearly five decades of Israeli rule and dwindling hopes for gaining independence.

Also Sunday, a watchdog group said Israel began building 1,800 new settlement homes in the West Bank in 2015.

Peace Now, a dovish Israeli group that tracks settlement construction, said most of the building has taken place in isolated settlements in areas of the West Bank that Israel would likely evacuate in the event of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War and built settlements there. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but nearly 600,000 Israeli settlers remain in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The Palestinians claim these areas as parts of a future state, a position that has wide global support.

They view Israeli settlement construction as a major obstacle to resolving the conflict.q

Palestinian mourners cry over the body of Nihad Waked, 15, who was shot dead by Israeli troops with Fouad Waked, 15, during their funeral in the village of Aeraqh near the West Bank city of Jenin, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016. The Israeli army said the two were throwing rocks at passing vehicles near the West Bank city of Jenin, and when Israeli forces arrived at the scene, one of the Palestinians opened fire at them, soldiers fired back and killed the two Palestinians.

Associated Press

A10 WORLD

Monday 15 February 2016

NEWS

Love in the time of militias: Valentine’s Day in Iraq SUSANNAH GEORGE Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Baghdad is plastered with Valentine hearts and roses, and newly engaged Nour and Ahmed are out and about, enjoying a rare lull in violence in the Iraqi capital but wondering how long it will last.

Despite recent setbacks, the Islamic State group is still dug in some 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Baghdad. And powerful Shiite militias now control security in many parts of the city, providing increased protection but raising concerns as the well-armed fighters often operate outside the government’s control.

It’s an improvement from over a year ago, when the two met while working at the same magazine.

After chatting on Facebook, they started meeting with friends in the evening and on weekends.

“Of course during the times of bad security I would never have invited her to meet me at a restaurant,” Ahmed said.

“I would be too worried about her,” he added with a smile, taking her hand.

The two asked that their full names not be published, fearing for their security.

Neither is very religious, but Nour comes from a Shiite family and Ahmed from a Sunni one. Such relationships were common before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion,

Yasmin Talib makes a heart sign as she celebrates Valentine’s Day at al-Zawra Park in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016.

Associated Press

but have grown rarer since then, particularly after the fierce sectarian fighting that convulsed the country in 2006 and 2007.

They say they haven’t encountered any problems yet on account of their unlikely romance, but they worry about the increasing power of religious figures in Iraqi life, including the Shiite militias, many of which trace their roots back to the days of sectarian unrest.

The militias, many of which are trained and armed by Iran, were reconstituted in the summer of 2014 after the army crumbled in the face of the IS group’s lightening advance across

northern and western Iraq.

They have played a key role in securing the capital and prying back land from the extremists, but rights groups say they have also carried out revenge attacks on Sunnis.

In Baghdad, the groups have been accused of kidnapping for ransom and carrying out religiously motivated attacks on nightclubs and liquor stores.

Nour and Ahmed say they worry most about the sheer number of armed groups in Iraq, and how little control the government appears to have over many of them.

“The future? It’s just black, black, black,” Nour said.

“There is no future in Iraq.”

Nour covers her hair in public with a headscarf, but also wears stylish Westernstyle clothing and enjoys going out to movies and restaurants, all things she fears she would have to give up as religious leaders and militias grow more powerful.

Muhanad al-Akabi, a spokesman for the Popular Mobilization Forces, an officially sanctioned umbrella group that includes most of the militias, said Iraqi civilians have no reason to fear them.

“We are a formal institution, we belong to the government,” he said.

He acknowledges that his fighters have “made mis-

takes” in the past, but attributes them to the growing pains of any new fighting force, saying “it happens everywhere, with every military.” He said civilians will have less to worry about as the force gains experience.

He and other Iraqi officials are more worried about IS, which is still able to smuggle bombs into Baghdad and may again resort to stepped up attacks on civilians to compensate for its battlefield losses.

Earlier this month, security officials said work had begun on a “wall” around Baghdad that they hoped would reduce militant attacks and allow them to take down checkpoints within the city that snarl traffic. Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the wall would be a combination of tightened checkpoints, trenches and blast walls along a 280-kilometer (175-mile) perimeter around the city.

Ahmed fears that while a wall might keep out some religious extremists, it will lock in others.

“Already, compared to our parents, we have so little freedom,” he said, referring to the freewheeling 1970s in Iraq, before the decades of war and sanctions.

“If these religious men stay in control, I think our freedom will just be less and less.”q

WORLD NEWS A11

Monday 15 February 2016

Haiti lawmakers elect Senate chief as provisional president ble together plans for a short-term provisional government and a roadmap to hold the postponed presidential and legislative runoffs. As Senate chief, Privert was a central figure in those talks.

Privert faces an uphill battle in bringing the troubled country and its perennially feuding politicians together. In recent days, some demonstrators took to the capital’s streets to protest against his inclusion as a candidate for provisional president, while others marched to support him.

The elevation to interim leader is a dramatic transformation for Privert, who was jailed for over two years at the start of Haiti’s last provisional government in 2004. Charges that A demonstrator chants in favor of Senate President Jocelerme Privert during a march in Port-auPrince, Haiti, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016.

Associated Press

DAVID McFADDEN Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Lawmakers chose the Senate chief on Sunday to lead a caretaker government that will fill the void left by the end of President Michel Martelly’s term last week and perhaps ease tensions that suspended elections and pushed deeply polarized Haiti into political crisis.

In the early hours of Sunday, Jocelerme Privert was elected as provisional president and sworn in after a plodding session by Haiti’s bicameral legislature. He was formally installed in the afternoon before a crowd of Haitian officials and foreign diplomats.

The veteran politician was one of three candidates vying to lead an interim government that is supposed to last only 120 days.

His new position will be

that of a powerbroker who hopefully carries enough weight to quickly smooth political divisions that have left Haiti without a president chosen by voters or a completed Parliament due to suspended elections.

Prime Minister Evans Paul remains in office for now, but Privert and lawmakers are expected to choose a No. 2 official in coming days.

During a speech to lawmakers hours before their final vote, Privert promised that if selected he would lead a caretaker administration that would “foster confidence within all sectors of society,” ensure stability and see that suspended elections are held “as soon as possible.”

He submitted his resignation letter from the Senate to start his new post.

An initial vote by legislators gave Privert just two votes

more than Edgard Leblanc, a former Senate president who was being backed by Martelly’s political faction.

But after closed-door negotiations, Privert became interim president after 3 a.m. in a second round of voting that gave him a clear majority of handwritten votes from senators and lower house deputies.

Martelly, who was barred

by Haiti’s constitution from seeking a consecutive term as president, left office a week ago without a new elected leader in place. A runoff presidential election was delayed for a second time last month amid violent opposition protests and deep public suspicions about possible vote-rigging in favor of his chosen successor.

Less than 24 hours before Martelly was set to step down Feb. 7, top Haitian leaders managed to cob-

were eventually dismissed alleged the former Cabinet minister orchestrated a massacre of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s opponents during the buildup to an armed rebellion that ousted Aristide. Privert always maintained he was a political prisoner and had no involvement in any killings.

Privert recently told The Associated Press that a new electoral council will be created soon to ensure that the postponed runoff voting is fair and transparent. The accord on the interim government says the vote should be held April 24, but Privert has stressed that the next council is responsible for confirming the date and all other electoral matters.q

A12 WORLD

Monday 15 February 2016

NEWS

Pope condemns drug trade’s ‘dealers of death’ in Mexico NICOLE WINFIELD JACOBO GARCIA Associated Press ECATEPEC, Mexico (AP) — Pope Francis condemned the drug trade’s “dealers of death” and urged Mexicans to shun the devil’s lust for money as he led a huge open-air Mass for more than 300,000 people Sunday in this violence-riddled city.

“Let us get it into our heads: With the devil, there is no dialogue,” the pope said at the biggest scheduled event of his five-day visit to Mexico.

Francis brought a message of encouragement on the second full day of his trip to residents of Ecatepec, a poverty-stricken Mexico City suburb of some 1.6 million people where drug violence, kidnappings and gangland-style killings, particularly of women, are a fact of life.

“He’s coming to Ecatepec because we need him here,” said Ignacia Godinez, a 56-year-old homemaker. “Kidnappings, robberies and drugs have all increased, and he is bringing comfort. His message will reach those who need it so that people know we, the good people, outnumber the bad.” In a clear reference to the drug lords who hold sway in the city’s sprawling expanses of cinderblock slums, Francis focused his homily on the danger posed by the devil.

“Only the power of the word of God can defeat him,” the pope said.

In a final prayer, he urged Mexicans to make their country into a land of opportunity “where there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream, no need to be exploited in order to work, no need to make

Pope Francis walks with the pastoral staff as he celebrates a mass in Ecatepec, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016.

Associated Press

the despair and poverty of many the opportunism of a few, a land that will not have to mourn men and women, young people and children who are destroyed at the hands of the dealers of death.”

The faithful lined the pope’s motorcade route to the huge field where the Mass took place, tossing flower petals as he passed by and cheering with pom-poms in the yellow and white of the Vatican flag.

Vendors sold T-shirts, plates with Francis’ image on them, pins, bandanas and cardboard-cutout figures of the pope.

An estimated 100,000 people have been killed and 27,000 have disappeared in gangland violence since President Enrique Pena Nieto’s predecessor launched an offensive against drug cartels shortly after taking office in late 2006.

At least 1,554 women have

vanished in Mexico State since 2005, according to the National Observatory on Femicide, and last year the government issued an alert over the killings of women in Ecatepec and other parts of the state.

Nevertheless, women who came to see Francis said they felt safe, thanks in part to the huge security presence. The government assigned more than 10,000 police, soldiers and members of the presidential guard to protect the motorcade and Mass.

“I’m protected by my faith and the joy of seeing the pope up close,” said Graciela Elizalde, 35, who arrived at the field Saturday evening and spent the night on the street, “and the thugs know that we the good people have come out to take the streets.”

She added: “The pope is not going to change things, but at least he will

touch the hearts of those who do harm and are trying to destroy the country.

He is the ‘messenger of peace’ because that’s exactly what Mexico needs, not just Ecatepec.”

However, Maria de la Luz Estrada, coordinator of the National Observatory on Femicide, said she was disappointed that Francis didn’t directly condemn violence against women or offer support to families of victims, saying that at the very least he could have made reference to discrimination against women.

“I still feel that he owes us these words,” she said.

Conchita Tellez, 65, from the border city of Mexicali, held out hope that Francis can help ease the troubled soul of the country.

“The pope comes to Mexico at a very ugly moment,” Tellez said, “and he comes to pray for us and for all those who lost hope

and have submerged the country in blood and violence.”

Francis’ grueling schedule seemed to be taking a toll on him on Saturday, when the 79-year-old pontiff appeared to nod off at an evening Mass and also lost his balance and fell into a chair set up for him. He appeared much livelier Sunday, beaming and waving at the crowds along his route.

As Francis drove down a main boulevard before adoring faithful in central Mexico City, dozens of emotional nuns rushed the metal barricades to salute the popemobile and a group of lay missionaries, mostly teenagers, sang the traditional Mexican folk song “Cielito Lindo.”

At his last stop, a pediatric hospital, one girl performed a heartfelt rendition of “Ave Maria” for the pope. Another presented Francis with a handmade Valentine’s Day card with a big heart on the front.

“You made this?” Francis asked as he accepted it.

“Gracias.”

The pope bent down and kissed dozens of sick kids, playfully mussing the hair of the older ones. Some posed for selfies with the pope. Several rose from their wheelchairs to embrace him. Francis also played doctor to one little boy, administering medicine from a dropper.

The pope makes a point of stopping at children’s hospitals during his foreign trips, both to visit with the kids and to thank the staff for caring for them. While parts of the encounters are televised, Francis also visits bedridden patients in private for more personal encounters.q

LOCAL A13

Monday 15 February 2016

Federico Cabello Introduces His Latest Book “Aruba Point to Point”

PALM BEACH - As a wildlife and nature photographer and a son of the Caribbean, artist Federico Cabello has published a number of successful books of photography on both the raw natural beauty of the Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela, and the pristine dive sites of Bonaire in the Leeward Antilles.

Cabello is now delighted to

introduce this photographic celebration of the stunning island of Aruba, entitled “Aruba Point to Point.”

The artist tells us, “This is my sixth coffee table book, and the second in the “Point to Point” series, which is dedicated to capturing the stunning landscapes and intricate details of various locations in the Caribbean. The series

began with “Bonaire Point to Point,” which explores each of Bonaire’s 90 official dive sites, both above

and below the waves.”

“Now I turn to Aruba,” he continues, “slipping beyond a dynamic tourist in-

dustry to discover its wild and undeveloped beauty.

Starting at the extreme north of the island, at California Lighthouse, I travel south along pristine beaches of white sand and calm, translucent seas, passing hotels, sailboats and shipwrecks as I go. At the southern tip, it is hard not to wish that the island would never end.”

“Then back up the rocky East coast, where time and the eternal embrace of the waves have opened secret bays and stunning beaches in the shelter of rock walls.”

“From beach to beach, point to point, cave to cliff to boat to bird, Aruba truly is… One Happy Island,” he concludes.

Federico is currently working on a new book and a series of artistic photographs entitled: Drawing with Water and Wind.

Artist Information: Federico Cabello www.federicocabello. com Amazon: goo.gl/p1Ifl1q

A14 LOCAL

Monday 15 February 2016

More a brand than a souvenir....

Meet the local guys behind Aruba Rocks!

ORANJESTAD - Aruban designer Calvin Maduro and branding expert Jaymir Janga launched a musthave product line of shirts, caps, tumblers and stickers named Aruba Rocks!

Calvin explains “We wanted to differentiate ourselves from other merchandise on the market by presenting a changing design concept with local motif that visitors could enjoy every vacation” Their cool designs launched in April of 2013 depict the shoco (burrowing owl, Aruba’s national bird) donkey, pelican, marlin and goat in a whimsical colorful manner. All animals sport colorful Rayban-style shades and a mohawk hairstyle.

Since Aruba is known to be the Caribbean destination with the highest return guest rate, fresh designs of

the multi colored, crackled prints are continuously introduced creating a dynamic product line for our rocking friends.

According to Jaymir, “Our aspiration is to combine locally branded products

with a worthy cause that will benefit the entire community. In order to aid in reducing trash and marine debris, we started selling Aruba Rocks reusable and recyclable tumblers to many resorts and beach

bars particularly for beachgoers, to reduce waste from disposable plastic and styrofoam cups.”

Aruba Rocks recently opened their first official store in Paseo Herencia mall where all their designed items are displayed.

When you buy an Aruba Rocks product you help protect Aruba’s valuable natural resources and maintain the attractiveness of Aruba’s beaches. This will allow all who consider

Aruba their home-awayfrom-home to contribute to the protection of the island’s environment in a really effortless manner.

Aruba Rocks have found a way to express their passion for their island and design while contributing to the protection of the island’s environment.

For more information you can follow them on Facebook.com/arubarocks365 and on Instagram @ arubarocks365q

LOCAL A15

Monday 15 February 2016

Loyal visitors honored at the Divi Phoenix Beach Resort Divi Phoenix is their home away from home. The certificates were presented by Mr. Ernest Giel representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with Mr. Gerrit Griffith GM and Staff members of the Divi Phoenix Beach Resort.q

Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a group of loyal and friendly Visitors of Aruba, at the Divi Phoenix Beach Resort, as Ambassadors of Goodwill.

The symbolic honorary title is presented in the name

of the Minister of Tourism as a token of appreciation to guests who visit Aruba for 20 to 34 consecutive years.

The honorees were Mr. Richard and Mrs. Mary Bart from Haydenville Ma, Mr. Ron

and Mrs. Becky Schmolke from Coon Rapids MN, Mrs. Kathleen Peterson and Mrs. Sheila Taraska from Norwich Vermont. All the honorees are loyal members of the Divi Phoenix and they

love Aruba very much because of the friendly people, the climate, beaches, restaurants, Casinos and Aruba feels like a second home, the people are like a family to them and the

A16 LOCAL

Monday 15 February 2016

Patricia Lehman honored at the Tropicana Recently Jonathan Boekhoudt with Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure to present Patricia Lehman with the “Goodwill Ambassador Certificate” The honorary title is given in the name of Aruba Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism to loyal Aruba visitors with 20+ consecutive years visits. Patricia hails from Wisconsin and love the island especially for the friendly people, weather and good restaurants. The ceremony was held at the Trop Casino in the presence of the Hotel GM Richard, Casino GM Wilfred and GM Executive Assistant Jacky. (attached pictures Ocean Club 1) Group of loyal visitors hon-

ored at the Marriott Ocean Club Recently a group of loyal visitors were honored at the Marriot Ocean Club.

The ceremony was conducted by Jonathan Boekhoudt with Aruba Tourism Authority in the presence of Hotel GM Erwin and his Executive Assistant Lisette.

The honorees in this case were James and Ann Marie Girard together with Francis and Paula Nugent.

They were all presented with the ‘Distinguished Visitor Certificate” The honorary title is presented in the name of Aruba Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism to visitors with 10+ consecutive years visits. The Girard’s hail from Pennsylvania and the Nugent’s from Massachusetts. The honorees love Aruba especially for

the beaches. (attached pictures Ocean Club 2 & 3) Loyal Ambassadors honored at the Marriott Ocean Club Recently a group of loyal Aruba ambassadors were honored at the Marriott Ocean Club.

Anthony and Antoinette Lifrieri who have been coming to Aruba for over 30 years were presented with the “Goodwill Ambassador Certificate” Leigh and Linda Surkis 40 consecutive years were presented with the ‘Emerald Ambassador Certificate” Both honorary titles are presented in the name of Aruba Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism to ambassadors who have converted Aruba into their “home away from home” The ceremony

was conducted by Jonathan Boekhoudt in front of the honorees families, friends and Marriott staff.

Both couples hail from New York and consider Aruba to be their favorite vacation destination period!q

SPORTS A17

Monday 15 February 2016

Kinkaid has first NHL shutout, Devils beat Kings 1-0

By DENIS P. GORMAN Associated Press View gallery’’It’s been a long time coming,’’ Kinkaid said after he made 28 saves for his first NHL shutout in leading the New Jersey Devils to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

David Schlemko scored the lone goal, and New Jersey won its third straight.

The Devils leapfrogged the idle New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division. ‘’You can’t say it’s a fluke at this point in the season,’’ forward Lee Stempniak said. ‘’We’ve worked extremely hard.’’

The Kings, who got 18 saves from Jhonas Enroth, have split the first four outings of their seven-game trip, their longest of the season.

New Jersey broke through on Schlemko’s power-play goal 5:19 into the first period. Four seconds after Vinny Lecavalier was assessed a minor penalty for hooking Reid Boucher, Travis Zajac won an offensive zone faceoff back to Schlemko, who fired a shot that beat a screened Enroth.

Related Stories Kinkaid blanks Kings, Devils move into playoff position NBC Sports Pearson’s overtime goal powers Kings to 5-4 win over Rangers The Associated Press Kings-Devils Preview The Associated Press David Schlemko’s powerplay goal leads Devils over Rangers The Associated Press Tavares, Greiss lead Islanders to 5-2 win over Kings The Associated Press ‘’I had a clear lane,’’ Schlemko said. ‘’I tried to get the puck on net.’’

Continued on page 21

A-OKEI

Nishikori captures fourth Memphis title in a row

Kei Nishikori of Japan holds his guitar trophy after beating Taylor Fritz of the United States in the singles championship at the Memphis Open tennis tournament Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, in Memphis, Tenn.

Nishikori won 6-4, 6-4.

Associated Press Page 19

A18 SPORTS

Monday 15 February 2016

Taylor rallies to win Pebble Beach for 1st win in a decade DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Vaughn Taylor doesn’t know how he lost his game.

Even more mystifying was the way it returned.

His goal Sunday when he teed off in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, trailing Phil Mickelson by six shots, was to finish in the top 10 so he wouldn’t have to rush down to Los Angeles and try to qualify for the next PGA Tour event.

It had been more than a decade since he won.

It had been three years since he had a full PGA Tour card. And just 10 days ago, Taylor was throwing up in his hotel room in Bogota, Colombia, so sick that he withdrew from a Web.com Tour event and flew to Pebble Beach as an alternate. The one-time Ryder Cup player only had a carry bag with him to save money on baggage fees.

Taylor ran off four straight birdies on the back nine at Pebble Beach to close with a 7-under 65, and he wasn’t sure it was enough when Mickelson stood over a 5-foot birdie putt to force a playoff. And then Taylor got one last surprise.

Mickelson missed.

“Just absolutely amazing,” Taylor said. “Didn’t know if it would ever happen again, to be honest. Just lost a lot of confidence, lost a good bit of my game. I just kept working, grinding and kept at it. And I can’t believe it actually happened today.”

Neither could Mickelson.

Lefty was going for his record-tying fifth victory at Pebble Beach, and the 43rd title of his Hall of Fame career. He had a twoshot lead to start the final round, lost the lead after five holes, rallied with a birdie on the 17th hole and

Vaughn Taylor, left, poses with his trophy and Clint Eastwood, right, on the 18th green of the Pebble Beach Golf Links after winning the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, in Pebble Beach, Calif. Taylor won the tournament by one stroke over Phil Mickelson.

Associated Press

then delivered two good shots to within 60 feet of the hole, just short of the green on the par-5 18th.

“It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t make that one,” Mickelson said after his 72.

Taylor had never given up on his career, though he was starting to rule out another victory, and he never imagined returning home to Augusta, Georgia, to play in the Masters. He is the first player this year to qualify by winning.

“Playing in the Masters is my Super Bowl,” Taylor said.

Taylor was No. 447 in the

world and had never won a tournament against the best players. His previous two victories were the Reno-Tahoe Open (2004 and 2005), which is held opposite a World Golf Championship. He had a scare two years ago when his aluminum fishing boat capsized in a strong current, leading to a few moment of panic with cold water up his chin and a park ranger guiding him to shore.

He finished at 17-under 270 and earned $1.26 million, which is about $165,000 more than he made the last three years combined.

Jonas Blixt, the first player to catch Mickelson, made bogey on the par-5 14th to fall back and closed with four pars for a 69 to finish third.

Hiroshi Iwata of Japan, who played with Mickelson in the final group, was one shot behind until he missed the 16th green and made bogey. He closed with a 72 to tie for fourth with Freddie Jacobson (71).

Taylor didn’t look like much of a threat when he went out in 34, but he poured it on the back nine. He hit his approach to 3 feet on the 13th and to 12 feet on the dangerous par-5 14th.

Coming out of the rough on the 15th, his ball hit the golf ball of Matt Jones and settled 2 feet away for a third straight birdie.

The real blow came at the 16th, a 30-foot birdie putt on one of the toughest greens at Pebble. He rammed it hard enough and watched it break back into the cup, and Taylor ran around the green to celebrate.

“I’ve had that putt before.

It’s a hard putt,” Taylor said.

“I wasn’t even thinking about making that putt. I knew it broke a lot, and it’s a little uphill at the end. It’s really easy to leave that putt short. I just flushed it. It was kind of going in from the start.”

He missed two good birdie chances on the last two holes, but still wound up a winner.

Taylor didn’t even realize he was in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am — he still has limited status as a past PGA Tour winner — until Monday when he was learned Cal Pettersen had withdrawn. That no longer is a problem. He’s in the Masters and PGA Championship, and he gets to set his own schedule for the next two years.

Jordan Spieth, the world’s No. 1 player, closed with a 66 and tied for 21st, ending his streak of seven straight top 10s dating to September. Mickelson at least left Pebble believing he was closer to ending the longest victory drought of his pro career that dates to the 2013 British Open.

“It’s certainly disappointing, but it makes me more determined to get back to work and get this thing right,” he said. “I know that I’m close to being where I want to be. But if I was there, I would have been able to finish it off.”q

SPORTS A19

Monday 15 February 2016

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Nishikori beats American for 4th straight Memphis title TERESA M. WALKER AP Sports Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Kei Nishikori had practiced against teenager Taylor Fritz a few times over the past couple years without beating the American even once.

Until Sunday, when it mattered.

Nishikori won his fourth straight Memphis Open title Sunday, beating Fritz 6-4, 6-4. The Japanese player joined Jimmy Connors as the only four-time winners of the event and became the fourth active player to win an event four times, joining Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“I was little bit nervous today ...,” Nishikori said. “I tried to get another tactic again to make him work.

And yeah, happy to win today.” Nishikori made the 6-foot-4 Fritz chase the ball as much as possible, placing many shots just out of the teenager’s reach.

“It’s not easy to hit a winner against him, especially with this slow court,” Nishikori said. “So I have to finish really strong, finish the points really strong with using my legs and everything so it wasn’t easy. And also he was hitting many good serves. It was tough to play obviously.”

Ranked No. 7 in the world, Nishikori won his 11th career title and first since Washington last August. He picked up the $109,950 check with his 17th straight match win in Memphis. Nishikori hasn’t lost at The Racquet Club in the main draw since the first round in 2009.

The 18-year-old Fritz already was the youngest American since Michael

Chang won Wembley in 1989 at the age of 17 to reach an ATP Tour final and was trying to join Chang as a winner in just his third career ATP event. An American teen hadn’t reached an ATP final since Andy Roddick in 2002 in Montreal, and a teen hadn’t won on tour since Marin Cilic in New Haven in 2008.

Fritz came into the year just hoping to crack the top 100. He will rank around No. 103 on Monday, a big jump from 937 a year ago.

“I definitely didn’t expect to get to the finals so quickly starting on the ATP level, but it’s a great accomplishment to get here,” Fritz said. “I’m really happy despite losing the finals because I had a great week and I have to be happy with the result. So I have a lot of confidence moving forward, and I hope I can keep these kind of results going.”

At 26 and a winner of 54 matches each of the past two years, Nishikori used his experience, touch and speed to finish off Fritz in an hour, 19 minutes. Fritz served up nine aces with his big serve, but Nishikori was much more effective winning 31 of 38 points on his first serve.

Fritz said he felt he figured out his serve in the second set of his semifinal victory Saturday, and he opened the final winning each point on his first five first serves needing only two aces. Nishikori won only two points off his own serve in being broken. Fritz then jumped out 40-0 in taking a 3-0 lead.

Nishikori held serve and then broke Fritz when the teen double-faulted at 30-

40. Nishikori had another chance to break Fritz in the seventh game, but the teenager fought off three break points to hold serve and go up 4-3. Nishikori held serve, then broke Fritz after the teen had game point at 40-15. Nishikori served out winning the set in 36 minutes.q

Kei Nishikori, of Japan, plays his guitar trophy after defeating Taylor Fritz in the singles championship at the Memphis Open tennis tournament Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, in Memphis, Tenn. Nishikori won 6-4, 6-4.

Associated Press

20 SPORTS

Monday 15 February 2016

The 2003 draft class still going All-Star strong TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer TORONTO (AP) — On the night that he entered the NBA in 2003, someone asked LeBron James to assess the potential of the draft class that he was headlining as the No. 1 pick.

James answered quickly.

“You’ll see,’” James said.

People did see, of course.

And when it comes to the stars in that class, they’re still seeing.

This All-Star weekend has been a celebration of all things Kobe Bryant, whose career ends when his 20th season concludes with

The exploits of the 2003 group are well-chronicled.

Wade won his first NBA championship in 2006 for Miami, then added more titles in 2012 and 2013 with Bosh and James as Heat teammates. Wade and James are 12-time All-Stars, Bosh is an 11-time selection and Anthony is a nine-time pick. James has four MVP awards and will be generally considered the best player of his era — if not any era.

In this Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016 file photo, Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, right, steals the ball from New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis in the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, in Cleveland.

Associated Press

scoring milestone.

In this Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016 file photo, Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala (9) defends New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Associated Press

the Los Angeles Lakers in a couple months. But his presence in Toronto also left some of the other veterans — like that 2003 draft foursome of James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade — taking stock of their own careers as well.

And while they’re all still playing at an extremely high level, what they’ve already accomplished merits including them in the debate of which draft class was the best. Only four drafts in the last 40 years produced at least three 20,000-point scorers, and the 2003 group is on target to get there in a few weeks when Wade reaches that

sure,” said James, who led the Cleveland Cavaliers to last season’s NBA Finals and has them back atop the Eastern Conference standings this season. “You just look at our resumes, the things that we’ve done in our class, we’ve got multiple champions, we’ve got MVPs, we have All-Stars, we have everything that you can ask for.”

The sense of nostalgia is kicking in, without question.

Wade has savored this All-

“There’s a lot of great draft classes, man,” said Wade, citing 1984 and 1996 in particular. “We’ve got a good draft class. We’ve got some good players, some Hall of Fame players in our draft class. But it’s hard to compete against the past and what those players have done, especially when you’re doing it still. You don’t get that until it’s all done and everybody sees the full body of work.”

With Bryant, the body of work is easy: five championships, 18 All-Star nods, No. 3 on the all-time scoring list.

But he’ll be gone soon, and other longtime stars like Tim

Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce probably almost certainly aren’t more than a couple years from their final games either.

So as strange as this seems to the players themselves, the 2003 group is on the verge of becoming the NBA’s elder statesmen.

“Look at Kobe’s generation with Kobe, Duncan, Dirk and KG to name a few,” James said. “We’re the next generation that comes after that, meaning myself, Chris Paul, D-Wade, Chris Bosh, Melo. They paved the way for us. You’ve got Kobe retiring, Timmy D is always on the fence of what he may do, KG as well.

“It’s like ‘Wow, we’re the next wave,’” James added. “It’ll be us next.”

In this Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016 file photo, Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade, right, dribbles the ball while Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul, left, defends him during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

They may be the best class ever.

James thinks so, for certain.

“I’m definitely biased for

In this Friday, Dec. 18, 2015 file photo, Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh (1) drives to the basket as Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan, left, defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Miami.

Associated Press

Star weekend more than he has in previous years.

Bosh stuck around even after pulling out of the game with an injury, just to remain part of the festivities. Anthony’s phone has plenty of new videos he took to chronicle the weekend, including his son dunking during the All-Star Saturday Night event.

“Every other guy in other classes, they can argue the same thing,” Bosh said, when asked if the 2003 class is the best. “You can talk about hardware and championships and MVPs and things of that nature.

Having LeBron helps. Having Dwyane helps. Two of the greatest players ever to play this game. From top to bottom, it was a complete draft.”q

SPORTS A21

Monday 15 February 2016

of 10 consecutive home wins. Sunday’s victory - two nights after Elliott had 29 saves in a 5-3 win over the Panthers - also gave the

Tampa Bay Lightning center Vladislav Namestnikov (90), of Russia, is sent into the boards on a check by St. Louis Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson (6) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, in Tampa, Fla. Associated Press

NHL

Continued from page 17 It was Schlemko’s seventh goal of the season. The game then settled into the expected defensive battle. The Devils and Kings are among the NHL’s leaders for fewest goals allowed.

Both teams cut off the middle of the ice, forcing each other to play on the outside. The few shot attempts Kinkaid and Enroth faced were mostly from the perimeter. ‘’Both teams checked really well,’’ Kings coach Darryl Sutter said.

The toughest saves of the game came in the third period. Kinkaid made a pad stop on a shot from the slot with two Kings at the top of the crease. Then Enroth matched Kinkaid with pad stops on Stempniak later in the period.

Blues 2, Lightning 1 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Robby Fabbri and Patrik Ber-

glund scored on breakaways and Brian Elliottstopped 37 shots as the St. Louis Blues held on for a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night.

Elliott was superb until Nikita Kucherov scored in the final minute for Tampa Bay, which lost for the third time in four games and had a nine-game home winning streak stopped.

Fabbri scored his 13th goal, beating Ben Bishop with a perfectly-placed shot less than a minute into the second period. Berglund made it 2-0 at 17:41 of the third, scoring unassisted when his shot caromed off Bishop’s pads before glancing off Berglund’s skate into the net. Officials initially ruled no goal, but overturned the decision after instant replay determined the Blues center did not intentionally kick the puck.

Kucherov scored his team-

leading 23rd goal for the Lightning with 52 seconds remaining.

The Blues were outshot 2314 through two periods, yet led 1-0 after Fabbri skated in alone on Bishop and lifted a shot over the goaltender’s left shoulder, giving the rookie goals in consecutive games and a career-best four-game point streak. Paul Stastnyassisted and now has 14 points in 13 career games against the Lightning.

The Blues won the first meeting 2-0 in St. Louis on Oct. 27 and the Lightning looked like it might be blanked again when Elliott stopped Braydon Coburnfrom point-blank range with 14 minutes left, Kucherov two minutes later and finally Alex Killorn wioth just over nine minutes left.

Nevertheless, the St. Louis goalie improved to 6-2-1 in his career against Tampa Bay, which was trying to try a franchise record

Blues a sweep of their quick Florida road swing.

Bishop finished with 19 saves.q

A22

Monday 15 February 2016

SPORTS

Natasha Hastings breaks US women’s 300 indoor record GETHIN COOLBAUGH Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Natasha Hastings broke the U.S. women’s 300-meter indoor record in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Sunday, finishing in 36.25 seconds at the Reggie Lewis Center.

Hastings, a member of the winning U.S. 1,600 relay team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, topped the mark of 36.33 set by Allyson Felix in 2007 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“I really did not come into this race with any expectations,” Hastings said. “I didn’t even have a time in mind. I just wanted to go out and execute a sound race.”

Olympic pole vault champion Jenn Suhr won the meet for the eighth time in nine tries, clearing 15 feet, 9 3/4 inches (4.82 meters).

The American failed in an attempt to push her world indoor record to 16-7 1/2 (5.07 meters).

“My first attempt, I felt really good,” Suhr said. “I went up the pole and I was like, ‘Man, I got this.’ And I just didn’t have the legs. ... That let me know that I

just didn’t have the pop today.”

Suhr broke her own world indoor record Jan. 30 with a vault of 16-5 (5.03 meters).

American Kurt Roberts won the shot put with a worldleading mark of 70-9 1/4 (21.57 meters). Roberts is recovering from a back injury that limited him last year.

“It sets me up for the bigger picture, which is Rio,” Roberts said.

American Boris Berian won the 600 with an event-record and world-leading time of 1:15.51. It was the second-best finish ever for an American man.

Two-time Olympic champion Meseret Defar of Ethiopia pulled away to win the women’s 3,000 in a world-leading 8:30.83.

Abbey D’Agostino, a seven-time NCAA champion who grew up in nearby Topsfield, placed a distant second behind Defar at 8:56.77.Nick Willis of New Zealand ran a worldleading 3:53.27 to win the mile, and Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum won the women’s 1,500 with a world-leading mark of 4:01.86.q

In this June, 11, 2015, file photo, Olympic champion Jenn Suhr runs down the ramp during the Grand Prix Pole Vault & IAAFNestle Kids Event in Herald Square in New York.

Associated Press

Men’s winner Weldon Kirui, right, and women’s winner Nataliya Lehonkova pose for pictures after the Los Angeles Marathon, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, in Santa Monica, Calif.

Associated Press

TIM LIOTTA Associated Press SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Maybe off-the-rack running shoes were what Weldon Kirui of Kenya needed all along.

Second in 2012 and fourth in 2013, Kirui pulled away

late and won the Los Angeles Marathon on a foggy Sunday in his third try.

After flying from Nairobi through Amsterdam, Kirui arrived Wednesday in Los Angeles, only to find his luggage containing all his gear had been lost by the

Kirui, Lehonkova prevail in the fog in Los Angeles airlines. His bags arrived a day later, but Kirui already liked his new shoes better.

“The new shoes were very comfortable,” said the 27-year-old Kirui, who raced shoulder-to-shoulder with Willie Koitile until making his surge over the final mile, winning in a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes, 7 seconds.

“Two days ago I used them.

They were very nice.”

Kenyan men swept the top three spots.

“The pace was very slow,” Kirui said. “We were talking to each other, saying, ‘Let’s go faster.’”

Nataliya Lehonkova of Ukraine led almost the entire way and won the wom-

en’s race in 2:30:40.

“I was trying to run my best time,” Lehonkova said. “I did a lot of speed work and a lot of long runs every week.”

Kirui and Lehonkova won over a course starting at Dodger Stadium downtown, winding through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills before finishing near the Santa Monica Pier.

Kirui and Koitile pulled away as a pair with four miles remaining. Koitile was second in 2:13:24 after an injury flared up late.

“I just didn’t have enough energy,” he said. “I have a pain in my leg after 20 miles. It was very difficult.”

Defending champion Dan-

iel Limo finished third in 2:13:52.

“My body was resisting, and I was not able to keep up,” Limo said. “Everyone came here in great shape.

I was in a tough position to defend.”

Serkalem Abrha of Ethiopia finished second to Lehonkova in 2:32:24, with Julia Budniak of Poland third at 2:44:44. The 33-year-old Lehonkova pulled away from Abrha with five miles to go.

The elite field started early under cool, ideal conditions in an effort to complete the race before temperatures got too hot.

Kirui and Lehonkova each earned $100,000.q

TECHNOLOGY A23

Monday 15 February 2016

Disappearing act: Twitter reports flatlining user growth

MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter set out to build a virtual town square bustling with billions of people. But it’s starting to look more like a novelty stand as the masses flock to other services that strike a more personal chord.

The San Francisco company showed no user growth at all in a fourth-quarter report released Thursday, the clearest signal yet that the one-time trendsetter is struggling to remain relevant. That leaves it with 320 million monthly users — roughly one-fifth the size of Facebook.

CEO Jack Dorsey is working hard to reconfigure the decade-old service. That’s trickier than it sounds, since he also needs to avoid alienating a core of devoted users who depend on it to tweet their thoughts and track issues that matter to them.

Dorsey took a step in that direction Wednesday, announcing plans to tweak Twitter’s timeline to highlight tweets that the service will appeal the most to each user, instead of only presenting them in reverse chronological order. He also has hinted that Twitter may lift its long-standing

140-character limit on the length of each tweet.

“We have some really weird rules ... that just nobody understands,” Dorsey told analysts on a conference call, mentioning Twitter’s arcane punctuation requirements for replying to messages. “We need to fix things.”

Dorsey added that he expects the new timeline formula will attract more users.

“It does improve the experience fundamentally,” he said.

Flatlining user growth also suggests that Twitter’s previous effort to make the service more accessible — Moments, a tool that compiles tweets about major events in a graphic, online magazine style — hasn’t done much to get people excited since its October debut.

By one measure, Twitter’s user numbers actually declined in the fourth quarter.

Excluding people who only receive Twitter alerts as text messages, the company said its monthly active users dropped from 307 million in the third quarter to 305 million in the fourth quarter.

Dorsey, however, said those numbers “bounced back” to third-quarter levels in January. Chief Finan-

In this Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, file photo, the Twitter logo appears on a phone post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Twitter Inc. reports financial results Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016.

Associated Press

cial Officer Anthony Noto said the company is seeing more new users as well as “resurrected” users who had previously enrolled and went inactive for a time.

Twitter lost another $90 million during the final three months of last year, preserving its profitless history. Revenue rose 48 percent from the previous year to $710 million, providing some measure of hope that the service can still be turned into a viable of business.

That lackluster performance has hammered Twitter’s stock, now down more than 50 percent since Dorsey returned as CEO last summer. The shares shed another 52 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $14.46 in extended trading after the fourthquarter numbers came out.

Perceptions of Twitter are souring on both Main Street and Wall Street, according to Marcus Messner, an associate journalism professor and social media specialist at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“Twitter is looking kind of old now that there are younger, sexier platforms out there,” Messner said.

“When you think of Twitter, it is not where you want to be if you want to be an innovative user of social media.”

Instead, people — especially teenagers — are gravitating to Snapchat and two other services owned by Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Even Facebook, two years older than Twitter and seen as an old-fogey hangout by teens and young adults, continues to attract far more new users — and keeps people coming back to find out what’s going on with their friends and family.

WhatsApp now has more than 1 billion monthly users while Instagram has more than 400 million, including 100 million added during the first nine months of last year. Snapchat, another photo- and video-sharing service, has about 100 million daily users. Twitter,

meanwhile, added 28 million users during all of 2015.

Twitter’s biggest problem stems from its inability to make most of its users feel personally connected to what’s being shared on the service, according to Gartner Inc. analyst Jennifer Polk. “It’s really a very shallow, superficial interaction on Twitter,” she says.

In contrast, users on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are regularly interacting with people they care about. That makes them more likely to share information about themselves, which in turn can help those services sell targeted ads designed to pique an individual’s interest.

Polk thinks Twitter has to act fast to avoid a vicious downward spiral: “If Twitter keeps falling further behind in this race, they are going to lose engagement with their existing users, and then they are going to lose insights into those people and they are going to lose advertisers, too.”q

A24 BUSINESS

Monday 15 February 2016

Japan’s economy contracts in latest setback for Abe recovery ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy contracted at a 1.4 percent annual pace in the last quarter as weak consumer demand and slower exports battered the recovery.

The preliminary data, which may be revised, were slightly worse than expected and were a setback from the 1.3 percent expansion in the previous quarter. The economy shrank 0.4 percent in October-December from the previous quarter.

Despite the lackluster report, Tokyo’s main share index, the Nikkei 225, jumped 4.4 percent to 15,615.84 in early trading Monday, helped by a weakening in the Japanese yen.

The latest contraction, the second in 2015, adds to worries that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strategy for reviving the economy through inflation fueled by massive monetary easing is not delivering as promised.

The slowdown in China, one of Japan’s biggest export markets, has been a further hindrance.

In this Nov. 17, 2015, file photo, a shopper walks past a clothing shop display at a shopping street of Ginza area in Tokyo.

Associated Press

Japan’s central bank has already resorted to imposing negative interest rates on some bank deposits it holds to help spur more lending, though cash-rich companies appear gener-

ally uninterested in borrowing.

Growth also has been stunted by slow increases in wages, which leave households less inclined to spend.

Companies are still draw-

ing down excess capacity built up during decades of fast growth, and have held back on domestic investments, viewing their shrinking and aging home market as less attractive

than other faster growing economies in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Consumer demand fell more than expected in the last quarter, dipping to a four-year low, offsetting moderate growth in business investment, said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics.

He expects consumer demand to perk up in coming months, in anticipation of a sales tax hike, to 10 percent from 8 percent, in April 2017.

“However, this should be short-lived, as activity will almost certainly slump once the tax has been raised,” Thieliant said. “The upshot is that the Bank of Japan still has plenty of work to do to boost price pressures.”

Despite the zigzags in growth last year, the economy eked out a 0.4 percent expansion in 2015, better than the flat-lining of 2014. But that pace of growth falls far short of the expansion needed to achieve Abe’s goal of a 600 trillion yen ($5.3 trillion) economy by 2020.

With the Japanese currency at a level of about 113.5 yen to the dollar, and some economists forecasting it could rise further as investors seek refuge from financial market volatility in a traditional “safe haven,” corporate profits will likely grow less than in recent years, adding to pressures on growth.

Abe has been maneuvering ahead of an election for the upper house of Japan’s parliament this summer. One possible tactic to reassure voters and boost support for his ruling Liberal Democrats would be to postpone, for a second time, the tax hike meant to help mend tattered public finances.q

BUSINESS A25

Monday 15 February 2016

Main Street holds up as Wall Street struggles, for a change

STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is hurting, and Main Street doesn’t care. It’s got burgers and cars to buy.

Big losses in stock markets around the world this year have the wingtip-set fretting, but regular consumers across the United States are confident enough to open their wallets and spend more. It’s an aboutface from the early years of the economic recovery, which began in 2009, when stocks and big banks were soaring but many on Main Street felt like they were getting left behind.

“It’s almost like a stock market is a different animal,” says Earl Stewart, who owns a Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach, Florida, far from the roiling markets in New York, Frankfurt and Shanghai. “We’re not seeing any of the negativity.”

The stock market’s malaise hasn’t affected his customers, at least not yet. Sales for the past year have been the best since 2007, and he had record profits in 2015.

The divergence underway between Main Street and Wall Street highlights the difference between the U.S. stock market and the economy. The stock market’s worries are centered on things like the strength of foreign economies, such as how much China’s sharp slowdown will hurt exporters and businesses in other countries. Low oil prices are crushing the shares of big energy companies and the big banks that lend to them — but leaving consumers with more money to spend after they fill up their car with cheap gasoline.

These forces have dragged the Standard & Poor’s 500 index down 12.5 percent from its peak in May. Foreign stocks have lost double that. Hedge funds, which cater to the wealthiest and biggest investors, are also struggling. They lost money in January and got off to their worst start of a year since 2008, according to Hedge Fund Research.

Economists say the split trends between Main Street and Wall Street can

continue, but only up to a point. If profits fall sharply enough, for example, it could push CEOs to once again cut swaths of jobs in order to shore up their earnings. If stock prices fall deep enough, the panic in the headlines could traumatize consumers whether or not they have a 401(k), and spending could slow.

For now, though, Main Street continues to trend upward. Only 13 percent of the U.S. economy depends on exports, and the rest of it — which is mostly consumer spending — is still growing, albeit slowly.

“Down here, as a small business owner, you don’t feel connected to Wall Street at all,” says Jon Sears, a coowner of four bars and restaurants in Columbia, South Carolina. “When I talk to people in Columbia, I can’t think of a conversation I’ve had about the stock market in the past two or three weeks.”

His business depends instead on the nearby University of South Carolina.

Revenue growth at his locations has held up this year, at his cheapest bar and his more upscale restaurant that serves local, organic foods.

Retailers around the country are seeing something similar. Shoppers bought more autos, clothes and other items last month, even though the S&P 500 in that span had its worst week in more than four years. U.S. retail sales rose 0.2 percent during the month, beating analyst expectations.

Consumer sentiment did show a dip in early February. But confidence still remains near its average for last year and well above where it was for every other year of the recent bull market.

Among the reasons that Main Street is feeling relatively confident while Wall Street stumbles: — The job market is getting better.

Employers continue to add jobs, particularly in the retail and health care industries, and the unemployment rate is at an eightyear low. Job growth did slow last month, but econo-

mists say that just balances out the big surge in hiring at the end of last year, and they’re still forecasting more gains.

Even more importantly, wages are trending higher.

That means workers are feeling more secure in their jobs and in their finances.

Just over 3 million workers quit their jobs in December, the highest number in nearly a decade. That’s an optimistic sign because people generally quit when they have a higher-paying job offer in hand.

— Bills are getting a bit easier to pay.

The plunging prices of gasoline, natural gas, heating oil and other commodities are getting lots of attention, but prices are low across the economy. Prices for meat, poultry, fish and eggs also fell in December from a year earlier. So did prices for clothes and airfares.

There is a fear that the economy may get too much of a good thing. If prices fall too sharply, it could lead to a vicious cycle in which customers wait longer to make purchases, which forces businesses to cut jobs.

— Home values are rising.

“More people care still care about the value of their homes than the value of their stocks,” says Diane Swonk, an independent economist.

That’s because for many Americans, their home is their biggest if not only investment. And that investment is doing well, regardless of the stock market’s struggles. Home prices nationwide are nearly back to peak levels from before the Great Recession, and they’re already at a record in San Francisco and several other cities.

It may just be Main Street’s time in the sun, says Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management. He says economic recoveries have long been split into two phases.

“The first half of an economic cycle is when markets tend to best, and that’s when Wall Street gains on Main Street,” Doll says. q

In this Feb. 1, 2016, file photo, specialist Michael Gagliano, foreground, works with traders at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Associated Press

A26 COMICS

Monday 15 February 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Saturday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Monday 15 February 2016

George W. Bush Continued from Page 4

The attack on George W. Bush carries risk for Trump, given the Bush family’s long social and political ties in South Carolina and the state’s hawkish national security bent, bolstered by more than a half-dozen military installations and a sizable population of veterans who choose to retire in the state.

Trump has repeatedly defied predictions that his comments might threaten his perch atop the field.

And as he jousted Saturday with Trump, Jeb Bush said, “this is not about my family or his family.”

But the Bush family does have a history in the state that’s hard to overlook.

In 2000, George W. Bush beat John McCain in a nasty contest, marred by rumors that McCain had an illegitimate black child.

McCain adopted a child from Bangladesh. Exit polls showed George W. Bush won nearly every demographic group.

George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, won twice here, beating Bob Dole in 1988 and demolishing Pat Buchanan in 1992.

One of the elder Bush’s top strategists, Lee Atwater, hailed from South Carolina and remains a legend in Republican campaign annals. Last week, Jeb Bush touted the endorsement of Iris Campbell, the widow of former South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell, a national co-chairman of previous Bush presidential campaigns.

Yet even as he defended his brother’s presidency at Saturday’s debate, Jeb Bush found a way to distance himself from George W. Bush’s business affairs and to criticize Trump at the same time. The issue: eminent domain.

Before entering politics, George W. Bush was partowner of the Texas Rangers, and their home city of Arlington, Texas, used eminent domain to take private land and build a stadium for the team.

Trump has defended such uses of eminent domain as a way to foster economic development.q

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A28 SCIENCE

Monday 15 February 2016

Where did El Nino go? Heat, dry spell stoke drought worry

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER ASSOCIATED PRESS SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -Where did El Nino go?

Winter has suddenly switched off the rain and flipped on heat up to 95 degrees in California, raising jitters that the strong El Nino might not be the drought-buster the crispy state had hoped.

“Forget El Nino, this is El No-no!” YouTube celebrity Hannah Hart tweeted.

Heat records have fallen across the West in recent days, from Oregon to Phoenix to Los Angeles, where surfers hit the beaches and golfers strolled fairways.

Much of California marked its 10th straight day on Friday without measurable precipitation. The blue skies were increasingly unwelcome in a state that just logged its four driest years on record. California has

“been awesome. It’s been great. But it’s not going to last,” he said. “It’s still winter.”

Californians are particularly concerned about whether the warm stretch is melting the above-average snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.

The snow generally provides about a third of the state’s water when it thaws in the spring.

Two beach goers play horse shoes in the sand, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, in Seal Beach, Calif. Ten days with record heat and no rain have Californians worrying about the drought again.

Associated Press

been looking for a robust and rainy El Nino to bring it out of mandatory water cutbacks.

“It’s nice to have the weather, but we hope to have the rain,” Tia Gavin of Santa Rosa said as she showed out-of-town visitors around the adobe central plaza of the wine country town of Sonoma. Strollers in shorts surveyed restaurant windows and lolled on blankets on green grass under the sun.

The dry spell came after El Nino dropped near-normal rain and snow earlier this winter.

“If you just looked at the precipitation, you wouldn’t think that there was an El Nino going on,” said Sam Iacobellis, a climate re-

searcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. He has been taking note of early blooming flowers as he drove to work this week.

Strong El Ninos such as the one this year typically bring strong rain, Iacobellis said.

However, there have been few modern El Ninos on the scale of this one, making comparisons trickier, he said.

National Weather Service forecasters were quick to offer soothing messages of drizzle yet to come.

“No need to be concerned,” forecaster Steve Anderson said.

The balmy weather has

There again, not to worry, forecaster Travis Wilson said.

Parts of the Sierras broke heat records on at least two days this month, but nights have all fallen below freezing, keeping the precious new snow intact, he explained.

The heat is expected to peak around Monday, with more record highs possible all the way to Washington state and in parts of Arizona. More seasonal weather patterns were expected to bring some rain back to California midweek.

Californians are adjusting in the meantime. Bryan Stranahan had to do something unusual for this time of year when he went out Friday to run errands in Los Angeles.

“I normally don’t have to look for a shady parking spot until August or September,” the New York native said.

“I’m not complaining,” he added.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Monday 15 February 2016

Big ‘Deadpool’ debut annihilates ‘Fifty Shades’ record, more LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The R-rated “Deadpool” has taken the box office by storm, annihilating records with an eye-popping $135 million from its first three days in theaters, according to comScore estimates Sunday.

The Fox film, which stars Ryan Reynolds as the foulmouthed superhero, easily trounced last year’s record-setting $85.2 million February debut of the erotic drama “Fifty Shades of Grey.” It also became the biggest R-rated opening ever, surpassing “The Matrix Reloaded,” which opened to $91.8 million in May of 2003.

Analysts are predicting that the Tim Miller-directed film, which cost a mere $58 million to produce, could go on to make $150 million by the end of the holiday weekend. As recently as Thursday, “Deadpool” was expected to pull in only $80 million across the three days, but the Marvel comic, often a best-seller, proved its popular appeal and then some — and it didn’t have to compromise with a PG13 rating either.

“This movie is the very definition of an expectationbuster. Nobody saw this coming.” said Paul Dergarabedian, comScore’s senior media analyst. “It doesn’t feel like a cookiecutter superhero movie. It feels like something unique.

You’ve got to sometimes take risks and go against conventional wisdom to come out a winner.”

IMAX screens accounted for an estimated $16.8 million of “Deadpool’s” total.

The film, notably, was not released in 3D. The debut is also a bit of

a superhero redemption story for Reynolds whose costly “Green Lantern” adaptation disappointed audiences and at the box office in 2011.

Coming in a distant second was last weekend’s No. 1 film “Kung Fu Panda 3” with $19.7 million, which fell only 7 percent. The DreamWorks Animation film has earned $93.9 million in just three weeks in theaters.

In third place, the R-rated Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson rom-com “How to Be Single” didn’t make any big waves with its $18.8 million out of the gates. The Warner Bros. film cost $38 million to produce and provided some counter programming to the hyper violent “Deadpool.”

The dismally reviewed Ben Stiller comedy “Zoolander 2,” meanwhile, debuted in fourth place to only $15.7 million. The Paramount film, which Stiller directed, cost around $50 million to make.

The first film, “Zoolander,” opened in 2001, just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, to a meek $15.5 million and went on to gross only $45.2 million in North America.

It found a second life on home video, though and has become a quotable cultural staple. Audiences seem less enthusiastic this time around, though.

Dergarabedian thinks that both “How to Be Single” and “Zoolander 2” could see a healthy uptick from the Valentine’s Day crowd Sunday.

But overall, the box office is healthy, up an estimated 3.2 percent from last year and it’s all thanks to the snarky, fourth-wall-busting “Deadpool” and its historic debut.

“These are summer numbers,” Dergarabedian said.

“It’s summer in February.”q

This image released by Twentieth Century Fox shows Ryan Reyonlds in a scene from the film, “Deadpool.”

Associated Press

A30 PEOPLE

Monday 15 February 2016

& ARTS

Munn, Segel help film academy honor inventors, engineers SANDY COHEN AP Entertainment Writer BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Subjects like rapid prototyping, 3-D texture painting and the intricacies of digital media review systems became comic material Saturday for Olivia Munn and Jason Segel, hosts of the film academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards.

Or at least they tried their best.

With enthusiastic explanations laden with hightech lingo, the two actors brought levity to the annual ceremony honoring the inventors, engineers and technicians behind advances in filmmaking technology. Segel called them “the magicians who can bring (creative) visions to life.”

Representing the “science” part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the work of the 11 groups recognized during the untelevised dinner

From left: Motion Picture Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, actors Olivia Munn and Jason Segel and Motion Picture Academy CEO Dawn Hudson are seen at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation at The Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016 in Beverly Hills, CA. Associated Press

celebration at the Beverly Wilshire hotel is highly specialized — mostly tools for viewing, sharing and manipulating digital media — but it has contributed to countless hit films.

Here’s a look at some of the films that benefited from the inventions recognized

at the Sci-Tech Awards.

— “The Avengers”: The Marvel superhero smash is one of many action films to make use of the Aircover Inflatables Airwall, a giant, inflatable panel that becomes an instant greenscreen for special effects.

— “Guardians of the Gal-

axy”: The many artists on this film used Sony Pictures Imageworks Itview, a media review system, to share working footage globally.

— “Kung Fu Panda”: Hit DreamWorks Animation franchises such as “Shrek” and “Kung Fu Panda” benefited from a proprietary media playback system recognized Saturday.

— “Django Unchained”: Quentin Tarantino’s film relied on the Rhythm & Hues Global DRR System, another media-review platform.

— “Saving Private Ryan”: Shaky scenes in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 film relied on the award-winning optical system called the Image Shaker.

—”Avatar”: The academy also recognized the design and engineering of the MARI 3-D texture painting system, a super high-resolution drawing and painting program developed for “Avatar.”

— “Star Wars: The Force

Awakens”: The Industrial Light and Magic Geometry Tracker, a tracking system that links an actor’s performance with animation, was used to create Lupita Nyong’o’s character, Maz Kanata.

— “Anomalisa”: This stopmotion film, nominated for best animated feature Oscar, makes use of Laika’s rapid prototyping techniques, which use 3-D printers with color-uniform results to create interchangeable faces and expressions for the puppets used in stopmotion animation.

Other honorees were Dolby Laboratories’ PRM Series Reference Color Monitors and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, which received a special award in honor of its 100th anniversary.

Portions of the Sci-Tech Awards will be included in the Feb. 28 Academy Awards telecast.q

PEOPLE & ARTS

A31

Monday 15 February 2016

Producer says Grammys doesn’t have Oscars diversity issue

Clockwise: In a Wednesday, June 26, 2013 file photo, Grammy winning singer-songwriter Natalie Cole poses for a portrait in promotion of her new album “Natalie Cole en Espanol,” in New York. In this May 8, 2004 file photo, David Bowie performs at Chastain Park Amphitheatre in Atlanta. In this May 2, 2012 file photo, Glenn Frey of the Eagles performs at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park in Atlanta.In this Sept. 14, 1995 file photo, Ralph Johnson, from left, Phillip Bailey, Maurice White and Verdine White, of Earth, Wind & Fire are honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

MESFIN FEKADU AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A veteran Grammys executive producer says his awards show does not have a diversity issue like the Oscars and that it is not fair to compare the two programs.

Ahead of Monday’s show, news outlets reported that the Grammys could be under fire since it planned to pay tribute to white performers such as David Bowie and The Eagles’ Glenn Frey with live performances, though the legacy of black acts such as Natalie Cole and Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire recently passed and were not receiving the same treatment.

Ken Ehrlich said he first thought of booking a performer to honor Cole, but then he watched her 1992

Grammys performance of her singing in sync with her father, Nat King Cole, who appeared in video. It was the same year she won album of the year for “Unforgettable... with Love,” which paid tribute to her father with reworked versions of some of his bestknown songs.

Ehrlich called the video of the performance “unbelievably touching” and said it will be played at the end of the “In Memorium” section of the awards show.

Natalie Cole died on Dec. 31. Earth, Wind & Fire — who were set to receive a lifetime achievement award before White passed — will accept the honor on live TV, speak about White’s legacy and present one of the top awards, record of the year, Ehrlich said. White died on Feb. 4 and Ehrlich

added that there will also be a surprise with Earth, Wind & Fire.

B.B. King, who died last year, will also be honored with a performance tribute

by Bonnie Raitt, Gary Clark Jr. and Chris Stapleton, Ehrlich said.

The producer said though the Oscars have received a backlash for a second straight year of all-white acting nominees, the Grammys are not even comparable.

“The fact of the matter is popular music is, it came from New Orleans, it came from Memphis, it came from Kansas City, it came from the Islands, it came from Africa, and the music we listen to today, not just hip-hop, not just R&B, but all music has been influenced and been shaped

by African-American cul-

ture, so I don’t think the same rules apply,” he said. “There wouldn’t be a Grammys show today if it weren’t for the great African-American artists who built the culture and wrote the music and we try to reflect that every year. I don’t think it’s fair to level criticism, the same kind of criticism against us that the Oscars are experiencing.”

Ehrlich added that the music and movie industries are like apples and oranges: “They might be the same shape, they might get to you in the same form, but they’re entirely different art forms and they come from entirely different places.” Other performers at the Grammys, airing from Staples Center in Los Angeles, will include Adele, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, the Weeknd, Carrie Underwood and Kendrick Lamar, who is the top nominee with 11. Members of the Eagles and Jackson Browne will perform to honor Frey, who died on Jan. 18. And Lady Gaga, who Ehrlich booked to perform on the show before Bowie died, said the pop star asked to sing in tribute to the icon when died on Jan. 10. “She (said) to me, ‘I would really love to do a David Bowie segment and (I said) to her, ‘Of course.q