March 17, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Thursday, March 17, 2016

Obama Makes Supreme Court Pick

K. HENNESSEY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama nominated appeals court judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, thrusting a respected moderate jurist and former prosecutor into the center of an election-year clash over the future of the nation’s highest court.

Obama cast the 63-yearold Garland as “a serious man and an exemplary

judge” deserving of a full hearing and a Senate confirmation vote, despite Republican vows to deny him both. Standing in the White House Rose Garden with Garland, Obama argued the integrity of the court was at stake and appealed to the Senate to “play it straight” in filling the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

“It’s supposed to be above politics,” Obama said of the high court. “It has to

be. And it should stay that way.”

Republican leaders, however, held to their refusal to consider any nominee, saying the seat should be filled by the next president after this year’s election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke with Garland by phone but did not change his position that “the American people will have a voice.

Continued on Page 4

Federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland, with President Barack Obama as he is introduced as Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2016.

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

A2 UP

Thursday 17 March 2016

FRONT

Kerry to miss deadline on Islamic State genocide question MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry will miss this week’s congressional deadline for deciding whether atrocities by the Islamic State against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria should be designated genocide, the State Department said Wednesday.

Department spokesman Mark Toner said Kerry is taking a “measured” approach and while his decision will come “soon” it will not meet Thursday’s deadline. Other officials said they expected the determination could be made next week. “He recognizes the seriousness of the atrocities committed by this terrorist group as well as the importance of this issue to its victims and survivors,” Toner told reporters. “Given the scope and the breadth of the analysis he’s contemplating, he will not have a final decision

Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to reporters at the State Department in Washington. The Obama administration is nearing a decision on whether to formally declare that Islamic State group atrocities against religious minorities, including Christians, constitute “genocide.” Kerry is leaning toward making the determination and could do so as early as next week, when a congressional deadline for action has been set, according to several administration officials.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

completed by the congressionally-mandated deadline tomorrow. However, this issue is clearly of the utmost importance to him

as well as Congress, and we expect him to reach a decision very soon.”

Congress had set a March 17 deadline for the deter-

mination. Earlier this week, the House passed a nonbinding resolution by a vote of 393-0 condemning Islamic State group actions

Canada to seek UN Security Council seat for 2021-22 DAVE BRYAN Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that Canada will seek a two-year term on the U.N. Security Council starting in 2021, citing the country’s resettling of Syrian refugees and a desire to take part

in peacekeeping efforts as evidence of a renewed commitment to engagement in world affairs.

Trudeau, who took office in November, said Canada’s ideals align with many of those dear to the U.N., including human rights, gender equality and diversity. Canada last held a seat on the Security

Council in 2000.

“It’s time for Canada to step up once again,” Trudeau said. Canada will compete with Ireland and Norway for two available seats on the council.

Trudeau’s announcement at the U.N. in front of about 300 diplomats, staffers and others came after U.N.

Secretary-General Ban Kimoon’s visit to Canada and meeting with Trudeau last month.

Canada has served six times on the Security Council since the late 1940s. In 2010 it lost a seat to Portugal, a defeat blamed on a lackluster attempt by the Conservative government then in charge.

as genocide.

Reaction to the delay from lawmakers was swift.

“This is heartbreaking.

There has been ample time for analysis. The evidence of ISIS genocide against Christians, Yezidis, and others is horrifyingly clear,” said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who authored the bill. “I cannot understand the hesitation by the State Department.”

“There’s absolutely no reason for further delay,” said Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. An executive branch determination of genocide by the Islamic State would mark only the second time a U.S. administration has reached that conclusion while a conflict is ongoing. The first was in 2004, when Secretary of State Colin Powell determined that atrocities being committed in Sudan’s Darfur region constituted genocide. Powell reached that determination amid much lobbying from human rights groups but only after State Department lawyers advised him that it would not — contrary to legal advice offered to previous administrations — obligate the United States to take action to stop it.

In that case, the lawyers decided that the 1948 U.N. Convention against genocide did not require states to prevent genocide from taking place outside of their territory.

U.S. NEWS A3

Thursday 17 March 2016

Trump: Time to rally around me _ or expect voter riots

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters at his primary election night event at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, March 15, 2016. At right is his son Eric Trump and at left is campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

JULIE PACE STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders spent Wednesday wavering between grudging acceptance and deep denial about Donald Trump’s likely ascent to the party’s presidential nomination.

An emboldened Trump warned that if the party tried to block him, “You’d have riots.”

With at least three more states in his win column, Trump is now the only candidate with a path to clinching the Republican nomination before the party’s convention in July. But he still must do better in upcoming contests to get the necessary 1,237 delegates, leaving some opponents with a sliver of hope he can still be stopped.

In the U.S. primary system, voters in each state determine how many delegates each candidate receives and the delegates then vote for the nominees at the conventions where each party selects its candidate.

“I still think it’s a very realistic chance that nobody’s going to have a majority of the delegates,” said Henry Barbour, a senior Republi-

can National Committee member who worked on Marco Rubio’s delegate strategy until the Florida senator exited the race Tuesday.

Barbour said Trump “doesn’t deserve to be president,” but also said he could ultimately support the billionaire if he “can convince me that he’s presidential material.”

Trump cautioned that his supporters would revolt if he falls just short in the delegate count and loses in a rules fight.

“If you just disenfranchise these people, I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before,” Trump said on CNN’s “New Day.” Despite the deep concerns about Trump within the Republican Party, there was little tangible action Wednesday that indicated a way to stop the real estate mogul’s march toward the general election.

There was no rush among party leaders or donors to coalesce around Ted Cruz, the only candidate in the race with even a longshot chance of overtaking Trump in the delegate count. A small group of conservatives moved for-

ward with plans to meet Thursday to discuss the prospect of rallying behind a third-party option, but no candidate had been identified to lead that effort.

Meanwhile, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton set her sights on a November showdown with Trump.

Her sweep of Tuesday’s five primary contests was a harsh blow to rival Bernie Sanders, giving Clinton

what her campaign manager described as an “insurmountable lead” in the delegate count.

“We are confident that for the first time in our nation’s history, the Democratic Party will nominate a woman as their presidential nominee,” Robby Mook wrote in a memo to supporters.

Clinton has at least 1,599 delegates to Sanders’ 844.

It takes 2,383 to win the

Democratic nomination.

Trump urged Republicans to view the party’s nominating contest with the same sense of clarity.

During a round of calls to morning television shows, he said some of the same Republican senators who publicly criticize him have called him privately to say they want to “become involved” in his campaign eventually. q

A4 U.S.

Thursday 17 March 2016

NEWS The Aruba Today Newspaper announces that in honor of Aruba’s National Flag and Anthem Day, we will not be in circulation Friday, March 18th. We will be back on newsstands everywhere bright and early to serve our readers and advertisers first thing in the morning, Saturday, March 19th.

There will be fun, exciting, cultural and educational events and activities all across the island Friday in celebration of Aruba’s National Flag and Anthem Day, so get out there and enjoy Aruba’s pride! Pabien Aruba, from the Aruba Today – the ONLY English Newspaper on Aruba!

Obama nominates Garland to high court, challenging GOP Continued from front

” He said he would not be holding “a perfunctory meeting but he wished Judge Garland well,” a spokesman said.

Others in the GOP ranks were less wedded to the no-hearing, no-vote, noteven-a-meeting stance — a sign that Republicans are aware the strategy could leave them branded as obstructionist.

Unlike McConnell, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said he is open to meeting with Garland in the coming weeks, as did five other Republican senators — Rob Portman of Ohio, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, James

Inhofe of Oklahoma and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. Others vowed to give his record a close look. The judge will begin visiting with Democratic senators on Thursday at the Capitol, before the Senate breaks for a two-week recess.

Scheduling courtesy meetings is a long way from securing a full hearing, much less winning the 60 votes needed for confirmation.

Still, the White House seized the comments as evidence Garland’s weighty resume and bipartisan credentials were putting pressure on Republicans.

Garland, 63, is the chief judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a court whose influence

Federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland, left, accompanied by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, steps to the microphone as he is introduced as Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court during an announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2016.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

over federal policy and national security matters has made it a proving ground for potential justices.

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Garland has clerked for two appointees of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower — the liberal Justice William Brennan Jr. as well as Judge Henry J. Friendly, for whom Chief Justice John Roberts also clerked. As a federal prosecutor, he made his reputation overseeing the investigation and prosecutions in the Oklahoma City bombing case in 1995, as well as the case against Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. When confirmed to the D.C. Circuit in 1997, Garland won backing from a majority in both parties, including seven current Republicans senators. As a replacement for Scalia, Garland would undoubtedly shift the court away from its conservative tilt.

U.S. NEWS A5

Thursday 17 March 2016

Subway safety shutdown makes for a very long day in capital neighborhoods. But the system has become less reliable and ridership has suffered.

Wiedefeld, who took over in November after running the Baltimore-Washington airport, acknowledged in a public letter this month that the agency must “improve safety and security, deliver more reliable service, and continue reforms to get our financial house in order.”

The White House is visible as morning traffic builds along 16th Street Northwest, in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2016.

The Metro subway system that serves the nation’s capital and its Virginia and Maryland suburbs shut down for a full-day for an emergency safety inspection of its third-rail power cables.

Making for unusual commute, as the lack of service is forcing some people on the roads, while others are staying home or teleworking.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

BEN NUCKOLS JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An unprecedented 29-hour safety shutdown of subways in the nation’s capital inconvenienced hundreds of thousands of people on Wednesday, but despite predictions of “Metromageddon” or “Metropocalypse,” it was hardly the end of the world.

Many riders shrugged it off, saying it’s what they’ve come to expect from the aging, troubled Metro system.

One popular Twitter feed about the system, @unsuckdcmetro, was running a poll on whether the shutdown would solve “Metro’s flaming cables problem.”

Thousands voted, with more than three quarters saying no.

“Metro sucks,” said Bob Jones, 26, of Arlington, Virginia as he waited for a bus. The subways are “always slow, always crowded,” he complained.

The nation’s second-busi-

est rail system stopped its trains at midnight Tuesday for a system-wide inspection of its third-rail power cables after an electrical fire on Monday.

With inspections nearly complete as of 5 p.m.

Wednesday, Metro’s general manager, Paul Wiedefeld, said at a news conference that the system would reopen as planned on Thursday at 5 a.m. Inspections of 600 cables found 26 areas of concern requiring replacement or repair, Wiedefeld said, including three he called “show-stoppers.” Many of the issues have already been fixed and others will be before the system reopens, or officials will modify service as a result, he said. The next step, he acknowledged, was to understand why the problems had occurred.

Riders take more than 700,000 trips on Metro trains every day because it’s still a quick way to get downtown from Maryland, Virginia and the city’s outer

The system has closed for days for weather, but this was believed to be the first shutdown for mechanical reasons.

Wiedefeld said in closing the system that “while the risk to the public is very low, I cannot rule out a potential life and safety issue here.”

On Wednesday evening, he said he recognized the hardship that the shutdown meant for the region but

reiterated that it was necessary.

Delayed trains, closed escalators and other annoyances have become frequent, but the Metro has had deadly accidents as well, including a 2009 collision between two trains that killed nine people. Another passenger died last year, when malfunctioning electrical equipment filled a train with smoke.

A6 U.S.

Thursday 17 March 2016

NEWS

American Living:

Some businesses to let workers enjoy March Madness

JOYCE ROSENBERG AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — March Madness is taking over at small companies that are letting employees watch the NCAA basketball tournament while they work.

Staffers at the marketing company Phelps will be able to keep an eye on the games at their desks or on conference room TVs. CEO Joe Phelps says his 86 employees are hard workers, often staying late or completing projects on weekends, so he’s fine if they work a little less hard during when games are on during office hours.

“If you hire the right people in the beginning who are motivated and productive, then we’re past the time of measuring and having everyone with their nose to the grindstone all the time,” says Phelps, whose company is based in Playa Vista, California.

March Madness can be a distraction at many companies, especially during daytime games. The games are streamed online, and many people continually check scores on their smartphones. Productivity can slip, with an estimated $1.9 billion in wages paid to staffers who aren’t working because they’re preoccupied with games, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a company that helps laid-off people find jobs. And if everyone’s watching a game at the same time, it can slow a company’s computer network.

But many small businesses have found it’s better to let staffers watch the games, and that output doesn’t really suffer. They

find that a little slack makes for a better workplace.

And because the decision will likely be made by the owner, and not layers of executives as in a big corporation, the boss can just say, go for it!

na-based The Bookkeeper.

Like other bosses, Barbee acknowledges that his staffers work hard and are responsible, and that he can trust them to get their work done. But he also believes that because The

fans fill in, predicting which teams will win at every level of the tournament. The more accurate fans’ predictions are, the more likely they’ll win money if they’re participating in a pool.

Owners who want to forbid

Joe Silverman, right, poses in the lobby of his New York computer repair shop while employee Alex Lokshin watches the company’s big-screen TV. Silverman realized last year he was losing productivity to the NCAA college basketball tournament, as the 20 staffers of his computer repair company kept checking their phones for scores during the games. His solution was to allow them to have the games on the big-screen TV he had installed for customers, but to let them know they do need to focus on their tasks at hand. Silverman keeps an eye on the games, too.

(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Craig Barbee turns the NCAA into a party for the five staffers of his Raleigh, North Carolina, bookkeeping company. The first day, there’s a barbecue with burgers and hot dogs, everyone brings in a side dish, and it’s OK to stop working for a while.

“We normally watch the first half of the initial game together, and we leave a large TV on in the conference room so people can saunter in and out throughout the day to check scores,” says Barbee, owner of Raleigh, North Caroli-

Bookkeeper is located near schools that often make NCAA appearances — and Duke and three branches of the University of North Carolina are in this tourney — he can’t expect anyone to ignore the games.

“College basketball is huge here,” he says.

Many workers are interested because they’re part of pools that bet on the games. The American Gaming Association, an industry group, estimates that 40 million people complete 70 million brackets, the printed or online forms

employees to watch games even on their phones are going to have a hard time enforcing an outright ban, says Eric Cormier, a human resources specialist with Insperity, a Houston-based company that provides HR services.

“If you can’t beat them, join them. You’re not going to stop people from watching just as you’re not going to stop people from clicking on the Internet,” Cormier says.

Moreover, trying to clamp down on workers is likely to be a morale buster, Corm-

ier says, suggesting bosses instead use the tournament or events like the Super Bowl and World Cup soccer games to build camaraderie and a positive atmosphere.

“Try to embrace it and create opportunities around it as a way to get people to be closer — people who wouldn’t normally mix together,” he says.

Some companies aim for middle ground to get work done and still allow workers to see the games. At SchooLinks, which operates a college application website, CEO Katie Fang will invite the seven staffers to watch the last quarter of televised games together.

“Our team will be able to focus on their work knowing they’ll get to watch the good part,” says Katie Fang, CEO of the Austin, Texas-based company. She also plans to take everyone out to a bar to watch Friday afternoon games.

Joe Silverman realized last year he was losing productivity to the tournament as the 20 staffers of his computer repair company kept checking their phones for scores. His solution was to allow them to have the games on the big-screen TV he had installed for customers — and to let them know they do need to focus on their tasks at hand.

“When there is work to perform, they know to listen to it in the background,” says Silverman, owner of New York Computer Help, located in Manhattan.

He’ll keep an eye on the games too.

“I’ll watch when it comes to the end of the half and the end of the game,” he says.

U.S. NEWS A7

Thursday 17 March 2016

US Financial Front:

American new home construction jumps in February Applications for building permits, a gauge of future activity, fell 3.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.17 million units after a flat reading in January and a drop in December.

A “Sold” sign sits in front of a house under the final stages of construction in Plano, Texas. On Wednesday, March 16, 2016, the Commerce Department reported on U.S. home construction in February.

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes rose in February to the highest level in five months, but applications for new construction were weak for a third month. Housing starts rose 5.2 percent

last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.18 million units, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Construction had fallen in January in December, declines that had been blamed in part on winter weather.

AP Business Writer U.S. homebuilders remain optimistic that the housing market will improve, but their expectations for sales over the next six months have dimmed just as the spring home-selling season gets under way. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Tuesday held steady at 58 this month.

Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good rather than poor. The index

had been in the low 60s for eight months until February.

Builders’ view of current sales conditions held steady, while a measure of traffic by prospective buyers increased. But builders’ outlook for sales over the next six months declined to the lowest level in 12 months. The latest readings come as the annual spring buying season ramps up.

Typically, the season sets the pattern for residential hiring and construction for much of the rest of the year.

US builder sentiment holding steady

The decline in building permits, unless reversed, could signal future trouble in an industry that was a bright spot for the economy last year. But Bricklin Dwyer, an economist with BNP

Paribas, said the slump in building permit applications should only translate into a brief construction slowdown given the solid fundamentals supporting housing.

A8 U.S.

Thursday 17 March 2016

NEWS

Hunt on for 2 in Belgian raid linked to Paris attacks JOHN DAHLBURG LORI HINNANT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian investigators were hunting Wednesday for two suspects who fled an apartment linked to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, one day after a police sniper killed a gunman holed up inside and authorities found a stock of ammunition and an Islamic State flag, officials said.

Four officers were wounded in Tuesday’s joint French-Belgian raid in a Brussels neighborhood after unexpectedly coming under fire in an apartment they believed was empty.

Prosecutors on Wednesday released without charges two men they held in the wake of the raid, leaving the hunt on for two suspects who have not been identified.

Spokesman for the Belgian Federal Prosecutors Office, Thierry Werts, right, and Belgian Federal Prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt address the media during a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, March 16, 2016. Belgian investigators were hunting Wednesday for two suspects who fled an apartment linked to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, after a police sniper killed a third man and uncovered weapons, ammunition and an Islamic State flag, officials said Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

The dead man was identified as an Algerian man living illegally in Belgium,

Mohamed Belkaid, whose only contact with authorities appeared to be a two-

year-old theft charge, said Thierry Werts, a Belgian prosecutor.

Workers tear down migrant camp in Calais, France

CALAIS, France (AP) — A destruction crew on Wednesday tore down the last of more than 1,000 tents and huts in a large swath of a makeshift migrant camp in the French port city of Calais, a job marked by fiery protests, an ongoing hunger strike and several arrests.

The prefecture, or state authority, which ordered the dismantling of the southern sector of the camp — a veritable village on 7.5 hectares (18.5 acres) of land — said workers guarded by police finished pulling down the flimsy dwellings at 2 p.m. Wednesday, less than three weeks after

the job began.

Violence marked the start of the operation on Feb. 29 as riot police went after protesting migrants standing on the roofs of their huts or burning them before they were taken down.

A group of protesting Iranian migrants sewed their mouths shut and went on a

hunger strike. Nearly 4,000 migrants — most hoping to sneak across the English Channel to Britain — live in the migrant camp. Authorities put the population of the southern sector at 1,000, but associations working there say it served as a temporary home to several thousand.

UK unveils billions in budget cuts and a sugary drink tax DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Treasury chief unveiled a budget Wednesday that included billions in cuts and an eye-catching levy on sugary drinks, underscoring his claim that this was a plan for the next generation.

George Osborne warned of “a dangerous cocktail of risks” as he delivered a spending plan in which Britain acts “now so we don’t pay later.” He offered 3.5 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) in cuts by 2020 to achieve his target of balancing the books in the face of weaker global economic growth and repeatedly insisted he was focused on the future.

He announced changes in the school system and pledged taxes on sugarladen sodas to cut obesity in the young, a cause championed by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

“In this budget we choose the long term,” he said.

“We choose to put the next generation first.”

But he was forced to acknowledge that debt would rise as a proportion of gross domestic product, missing his own target.

WORLD NEWS 9

Thursday 17 March 2016

Kurds plan to declare a federal region in northern Syria been an ardent supporter of the Kurds in the region, helping them in navigating the delicate rivalries in Iraq after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that the U.S. opposes declarations of autonomous federal zones

Kurdish female fighters of the YPG, carry their weapons as they walk in the frontline of Kery Sabee village, northeast Syria. A spokesman for a powerful Syrian Kurdish political party said on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 that his faction is planning to declare a federal region in northern Syria, a model it hopes can be applied to the entire country.

(KPP via AP)

ZEINA KARAM PHILIP ISSA Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian Kurds are preparing a plan to declare a federal region in the area they control across northern Syria, saying Wednesday it is a model for a more decentralized government in which all ethnic groups would be represented.

Although the idea might seem like a way forward after five years of civil war, it faces big obstacles: It was promptly dismissed by the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the rebels who oppose him, both fearing it would lead to a partition of the country.

Turkey also opposes it, wary of the growing Kurdish influence in the border region of northern Syria and its effect on its own Kurdish minority.

But Ahmad Araj, a Kurdish official in northern Syria, insisted that a federal system containing such a region,

which would effectively combine three Kurdishled autonomous areas, is in fact meant to preserve national unity and prevent Syria from breaking up along sectarian lines.

“After all the blood that has been spilled, Syrians will not accept anything less than decentralization,” Araj said.

By making the announcement as U.N.-sponsored peace negotiations take place in Geneva, Syria’s main Kurdish faction was trying to become a major player in whatever central government emerges from the war. The faction has been excluded from the talks.

The idea of a federal region appears to have gained some traction lately as world and regional powers grapple with ways to end the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week said such a federal system is one possible option if the Syrian people agree to it. The U.S. also has

prior to a negotiated political resolution in Syria.

“We’re focused on advancing a negotiated political transition toward an inclusive government that is capable of serving the interests of all the Syrian people,” Toner said. “We’ve also been very clear that we’re committed to the

unity and territorial integrity of Syria.”

However, if a resolution is reached by the Syrian people and their representative, and if it includes a federal system that allows for limited or semi-autonomy for different regions, Toner said Washington would not oppose it.

A10 WORLD

Thursday 17 March 2016

NEWS

North Korea sentences US tourist to 15 years in pr

American student Otto Warmbier, center, is escorted at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, March 16, 2016. North Korea’s highest court sentenced Warmbier, a 21-yearold University of Virginia undergraduate student, from Wyoming, Ohio, to 15 years in prison with hard labor on Wednesday for subversion. He allegedly attempted to steal a propaganda banner from a restricted area of his hotel at the request of an acquaintance who wanted to hang it in her church.

JON CHOL JIN ERIC TALMADGE Associated Press PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea’s highest court sentenced an American tourist to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion on Wednesday, weeks after authorities presented him to media and he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner.

Otto Warmbier, 21, a University of Virginia undergraduate, was convicted and sentenced in a onehour trial in North Korea’s Supreme Court.

The U.S. government condemned the sentence and accused North Korea of using such American detainees as political pawns.

The court held that Warmbier had committed a crime “pursuant to the U.S. government’s hostile policy toward (the North), in a bid to impair the unity of its people after entering it as a tourist.”

North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies to overthrow its government to enable the U.S.-backed South Korean government to take control of the Ko-

rean Peninsula.

Tensions are particularly high following North Korea’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch, and massive joint military exercises now underway between the U.S. and South Korea that the North sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday imposed new U.S. sanctions on North Korea in response to what the White House called “illicit” nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said

Warmbier’s sentence was “unduly harsh” and urged North Korea to pardon him and release him on humanitarian grounds.

“Despite official claims that U.S. citizens arrested in the DPRK are not used for political purposes, it’s increasingly clear from its very public treatment of these cases that the DPRK does exactly that,” Toner told reporters, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Warmbier’s family in Wyoming, Ohio, could not be reached for comment.

Susanna Max, a spokeswoman for Wyoming City Schools, said last month that the district, where Otto Warmbier attended school, had been in touch with the family. She said Wednesday that the district continues “to respect their privacy” and declines to comment. The University of Virginia also declined to comment.

Before the trial, Warmbier had said he tried to steal a propaganda banner as a trophy for an acquaintance who wanted to hang it in her church. That would be grounds in North Korea for a subversion charge.

He identified the church as Friendship United Methodist Church. Meshach Kanyion, pastor of the church in Wyoming, declined to comment Wednesday.

Ohio Gov. and Republican

presidential hopeful John Kasich said in a statement that Warmbier’s was detention “completely unjustified” and that the sentence was “an affront to concepts of justice.”

Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said he had met with North Korean diplomats to the U.N. in New York on Tuesday to request Warmbier’s release after the student’s parents and Kasich asked him to intervene. Richardson said he was neither encouraged nor discouraged by the meeting with the diplomats, who told him they would relay his request to Pyongyang.

Richardson said based on past experience, North Korea could release Warmbier after sentencing, but current U.S.-North Korean tensions could hurt those prospects.

“My concern now is that the U.S.-North Korean relationship is in a very low, negative ebb, and I hope that does not affect a humanitarian negotiation for the release of Otto,” Richardson told The Associated Press.

Trials for foreigners facing similar charges in North Korea are generally short and punishments severe.

Warmbier was arrested as he tried to leave the country in early January. He was in North Korea with a New Year’s tour group.

WORLD NEWS A11

Thursday 17 March 2016

AP Interview: Argentine leader says outraged by corruption P. PRENGAMAN P. HAVEN Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s president said Wednesday he is outraged by corruption that seeped into all facets of society during his predecessor’s administration and believes next week’s visit

by Barack Obama will be a new chapter that could lead to billions of dollars in investment.

President Mauricio Macri assumed power in December after campaigning on promises to crack down on graft, open up Latin America’s third-largest economy and reverse many of the populist policies of his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, the former Buenos Aires mayor and son of one of the country’s richest businessmen said he was particularly perturbed by rampant corruption at all levels.

“I feel the same as the majority of Argentines: rage, disenchantment and helplessness,” Macri said, reflecting on a video this week that allegedly showed the son of a businessman with close ties to the former president

counting what appear to be tightly wrapped stacks of dollars, euros and Argentine pesos at an illegal exchange house. “There will not be a repeat of this kind of embarrassing corruption, these abuses of power.”

Macri cast the two-day visit by the U.S. president as an opportunity to show the world that Argentina is cleaning up its act and hopes to open its doors to billions in investment. The last state visit by an American president was by Bill Clinton in 1997.

Such a trip would have been unthinkable under Fernandez, who during her eight years in office aligned herself with socialist leaders in Cuba and Venezuela while often being outwardly antagonistic toward the United States. Unlike several other Latin American leaders, Macri sidestepped questions about the U.S. election and the controversial candidacy of leading Republican candidate Donald Trump. Macri said he knew both Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton personally and would be able to work with either should they reach the White House.

Hours before the interview,

Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press at the Olivos’ presidential residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, March 16, 2016.

Argentina’s president says he is outraged by corruption that seeped into all facets of society during his predecessor’s administration and believes that the upcoming visit of U.S. President Barack Obama will lead to billions in investment.

the lower chamber of Argentina’s Congress approved a negotiated deal on repaying bonds held by a group of creditors in the United States, a step toward ending a long-standing fight that made Argentina a financial pariah and kept it on the margins of international credit markets. The legal battle had its origins in Argentina’s financial collapse in 2001-2002, when it defaulted on $100 billion in debt.

Creditors led by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer refused to accept bond swaps with lower values. Instead, they took Argentina to court in New York and won. While Fernandez branded the group “vultures” and refused to negotiate, Macri made reaching an agreement one of his top priorities.

“It’s the first step. It’s as important as opening the door,” Macri said. “We need to stop arguing about

things that don’t help Argentina grow.”

In the weeks since assuming power, Macri’s administration has rewritten much of the country’s social contract. It lifted export taxes on the agricultural sector, effectively freeing up one of the world’s breadbaskets, and it lowered import taxes, devalued the Argentine peso, cut energy and other subsidies, and fired thousands of public workers.

Gunmen kill colleague of slain Honduran environmentalist TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Unidentified gunmen killed a colleague of environmentalist leader Berta Caceres, who was slain almost two weeks ago in similar circumstances, Honduran authorities said Wednesday.

Two men shot Nelson Garcia to death Tuesday after he returned home from helping evicted Indians move their belongings. Po-

lice had removed the Indians from land they were squatting on not far from Garcia’s home in the hamlet of Rio Chiquito, 120 miles (200 kilometers) north of Tegucigalpa.

A police statement called the killing an “isolated” act of violence unrelated to the slaying of Caceres.

But the organization that both Caceres and Garcia belonged to described

Garcia’s death as part of “the government’s constant harassment” of Indian groups. Both activists were Lenca Indians and belonged to the Indian Council of People’s Organizations of Honduras.

The council said in a statement that “repression, intimidation and threats against colleagues who are fighting to recover lands to plant and preserve

nature have worsened in recent days.”

There are about 400,000 Lencas in Honduras and neighboring El Salvador.

Caceres won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her role in fighting a dam project on a river that the Lencas consider sacred.

The Dutch development bank, known as FMO, announced Wednesday that

it is suspending its operations in Honduras because of the killings. The bank finances about $86 million worth of projects in Honduras.

“Given the current situation, with ongoing violence, FMO decided to suspend all activities in Honduras, effective immediately,” the bank wrote in a statement.

“This means that we will not engage in new projects

A12 WORLD

Thursday 17 March 2016

NEWS

Cuba reports first case of Zika transmission M. WEISSENSTEIN Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — Cuban officials announced Tuesday night that they have detected the first case of the Zika virus transmitted inside the country, ending Cuba’s status as one of the last nations in the hemisphere without domestic cases of the disease that has been linked to birth defects.

State media said a 21-yearold Havana woman who had

An army truck fumigates to kill mosquitos in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Authorities are fumigating in an attempt to prevent the spread of zika, chikungunya and dengue.

(AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)

not traveled outside Cuba was diagnosed with the virus after suffering headaches, fatigue and other symptoms.

On Monday, her blood tested positive for Zika. She remains hospitalized.

Cuba had previously reported a handful of cases of the disease in people who had traveled to countries with outbreaks of the mosquitoborne virus, particularly Venezuela, and appeared to have contracted it there.

Genocide trial set in Guatemala for ex-dictator Montt GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A Guatemalan court convened Wednesday for a fourth attempt to try former dictator Efrain Rios Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the Central American nation’s long and bloody civil war.

No sooner was the tribunal called to order than attorneys filed motions that could delay the trial again.

Defense lawyers sought to block the proceeding from beginning, while attorneys for victims argued that it should be split into two separate trials.

Judge Maria Eugenia Castellanos admonished lawyers on both sides for “resorting to formalities.”

Rios Montt, an 89-yearold ex-general who seized power in a coup and was de-facto president from 1982-83, is accused in the killings of nearly 2,000 indigenous Ixil Guatemalans by soldiers under his regime.

His former intelligence chief, Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, is a co-defendant.

Rios Montt was convicted at a previous trial in 2013 and given an 80-year prison sentence, but that was swiftly overturned on procedural grounds and a new trial ordered. Last year the case was postponed twice more by legal appeals.

The ex-general has been declared unfit for a regular trial due to dementia, so the special closed-door proceeding that opened Wednesday in the capital can determine his guilt or innocence but would not result in punishment for Rios Montt if he is convicted.

Victims’ lawyers want Rodriguez to be tried separately, arguing that his health situation is different from Rios Montt’s.

Rodriguez arrived in court leaning on a cane and said he would prove his innocence.

“The only thing I want is for this to be over soon so I can rejoin my family,” he said.

LOCAL A13

Thursday 17 March 2016

Divi Resorts Celebrates Women’s Day with Associates PALM BEACH - Management of the Grape Holding N.V., Divi Resorts and Divi IMPACT Foundation honored the ladies working at all the Grape Holding N.V. (Divi & Tamarijn All Inclusive) and the Divi Resorts (Divi & Dutch Village, Divi Aruba Golf N.V., Divi Phoenix N.V., Dal Time N.V. and Divi Aruba Sales Consultants N.V.) Properties.

The event program started with a presentation from Enrita Werleman from BOB Foundation with an explanation about cancer and BOB’s work in the prevention of this disease.

Consuela Cameron from Mary Joan Foundation followed with a small presentation regarding their services and assistance during the sickness and also shared a success story from one of their survivors.

Maggy’s together with L’Oreal Cosmetics concluded this great event with a make-up tutorial by the popular Make Up Artist Angelo Trimon.

Management of Grape Holding N.V. and Divi Resorts together with Divi IMPACT Foundation wishes all the ladies of Aruba all the best on their day and hopes that its employees had a great time!

A14 LOCAL

Thursday 17 March 2016

Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino invites you: ‘BLUE goes GREEN’ to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

ORANJESTAD: - Every year on the 17th of March, Irish community celebrates St. Patrick’s Day wherever they might be at that moment around the world.

What started as a religious celebration honoring Saint Patrick of Ireland became an international celebra-

a great night! Blue Bar located at the pool area of Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino will celebrate this day honoring Saint Patrick with their “Blue goes Green”. Only on this day Blue Bar will have ‘Irish cocktails’. Live entertainment with DJ Mista Tee will

tion accompanied by festive parades, dancing, music and a lot of beer-drinking, all these in the color green. Even if you’re not Irish, people tend to celebrate this day as well due to its contagious festive spirit. The celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is recognized by wearing either green or shamrocks. St Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.

Renaissance Aruba Resort celebrates this day, annually with its guest. Just for one day, ‘Blue Bar goes Green’.

On the 17th of March, Blue Bar will celebrate this day with all guests and locals who want to join and have

start at 5:30 PM; dance the night away while enjoying the popular ‘Irish Flag-shot’, the ‘Cucumber Cooler’ and the ‘Misty Mint’. Just for St. Patrick’s Day, Aruba’s Balashi Beer will be GREEN. Aruba and Ireland unites for this special day; join the fun and celebration on St. Patrick’s Day.q

LOCAL A15

Thursday 17 March 2016

Celebrate Flag & Anthem Day with Aruba Aloe & Bon Jabon HATO - Since 1890, Aruba Aloe has been continuing Aruba’s age-old tradition of Aloe cultivation.

Today, its state-of-the-art factory turns out some of the world’s best Aloebased health and beauty products, but despite its successful evolution, the company stays faithful to its traditional island roots, still harvesting the 100% pure Aloevera gel it uses for its products from the 125-year-old Aloe fields surrounding its factory facility.

This March 18, Aruba Aloe invites the entire community to celebrate the island’s rich Aloe tradition and culture at its Flag and Anthem Day Celebration from 8 am to 3 pm. The celebration will take place at Aruba Aloe’s factory and museum facility in Hato. Free guided tours of the factory and museum will be conducted throughout the day. The tour of the museum highlights the history of Aloe cul-

tivation on Aruba, while the factory tour takes visitors through the entire manufacturing process, from the hand-cutting of the Aloe leaves to the packaging of the final products.

During the celebration, special Aloe smoothies will be given out and Aruban music will entertain guests.

Also, guests who make a purchase of only AWG 20,or more will receive a free Fruity Soap from the new Bon Jabon brand. This promotion will be honored at the factory’s flagship store and all Aruba Aloe stores that are open March 18 (all stores except the Main Street store and the Bon Jabon store). Bon Jabon is Aruba Aloe’s new soap brand, offering a wide variety of handmade bar soaps, liquid soaps, sugar scrubs, and bath salts. Visiting the Bon Jabon store is an experience—visitors are invited to try any of the products at the two in-store

sinks. The store is located on the same premises as the Bon Jabon factory, where all the products are made.

A glass wall in the store enables visitors to watch the factory employees at work making the soap products.

The Bon Jabon factory

building is located on Main Street across from Bon Bini Bazaar and also houses Aruba Aloe’s Main Street retail store.

Aruba Aloe welcomes the community to make the celebration at its factory and museum part of their

Flag and Anthem Day festivities.

Marketing manager Jessica Posner shares, “Aruba Aloe is proud to celebrate Flag and Anthem Day, and we invite everyone to stop by, even if it’s just for a refreshing Aloe smoothie!”

A16 LOCAL

Thursday 17 March 2016

Centrale Bank van Aruba Debuts New Commemorative Coin!

ORANJESTAD - The Centrale Bank van Aruba informs that the silver 5 Florin commemorative coin “30 Years of Status Aparte and 40 years Flag and Anthem Aruba” are now obtainable at the CBA. On January 1, 1986 Aruba obtained the Status Aparte. Since then Aruba is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Aruban flag and anthem “Aruba Dushi Tera” were officially introduced on March 18, 1976. The Aruban anthem was composed by

the Aruban musicians Juan Chabaya Lampe (Padu del Caribe), Hubert Booi and RufoWever.

The Aruban flag has four colors: blue, yellow, red and white. The symbols on the flag are a red star and two yellow stripes. To commemorate this special occasion the CBA is issuing this commemorative coin reflecting the cultural treasures of our beloved country Aruba.

Specifications: Metal: Silver Diameter: 38 mm

Weight: 25 gram Quality: Proof Denomination: 5 Florin Price: Afl.145.00 For additional information, contact the Cash and Vault Department of the CBA, telephone 525-2139.

For purchase: Cashier at the CBA at J.E. Irausquin Boulevard 8, from 8:30am to 11:45am and from 1:15pm to 3:30pm.

SPORTS A17

Thursday 17 March 2016

Injured US skier Lindsey Vonn celebrates with the crystal globe winning the overall women’s downhill World Cup in the finish area during the women’s downhill at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 16, 2016.

Associated Press

RATED PG 13

Vonn wins downhill, Gut takes overall World Cup title DANIELLA MATAR Associated Press ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Lara Gut made her overall World Cup title official on Wednesday, and Lindsey Vonn flew in to collect her eighth crystal globe in the downhill.

Although Gut’s title — the first for a Swiss woman in 21 years — was effectively sealed last weekend at nearby Lenzerheide, it became a mathematical certainty in front of more home fans at the World Cup finals in St. Moritz.

Mirjam Puchner won Wednesday’s race, taking advantage of the snowy conditions on the Engianda course to claim her first World Cup downhill victory. The Austrian beat Fabienne Suter of Switzerland by 0.13 seconds, with Elena Curtoni of Italy third, 0.17 behind.

Continued on page 21

Pacers use strong 4th to beat Celtics Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13) drives on Boston Celtics guard Evan Turner (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Associated Press

A18 SPORTS

Thursday 17 March 2016

Serena Williams returns to Kateryna Bondarenko, of the Ukraine, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Tuesday, March 15, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif.

Associated Press

Djokovic, Williams roll in straight sets at Indian Wells

BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Defending champion Novak Djokovic continued his dominance of Philipp Kohlschreiber, winning 7-5, 7-5 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday.

Rafael Nadal survived a wild tiebreaker to beat Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 7-6 (9), while two-time champion Serena Williams fired seven aces in a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko in the fourth round.

Djokovic, seeking his fifth title in the desert, beat Kohlschreiber for the eighth time in nine career matches against the German, who had 29 unforced errors. Djokovic had triple match point leading 5-3, 40-love when he missed an easy overhead. He was up a break in the first set when he also dropped serve.

“I cannot allow myself any more to react that way in those particular circumstances,” he said. “It does stay (in your mind). But it’s not the first time that it happens to me, so I think that kind of experience helps.”

Nadal, a three-time Indian Wells winner, saved five set points in the tiebreaker and finally closed it out on his second match point when Verdasco’s backhand sailed beyond the baseline.

“Feel lucky to win the tiebreak, and at the same time I think at the end of the tiebreak I played well with not many mistakes and going for the points,” Nadal said.

Verdasco has had the upper hand against his fellow Spaniard and doubles partner in the last few years, having won three of their previous four matches, including a five-setter in the first round of the Australian Open in January after Nadal beat him 13 straight times to start the rivalry.

Verdasco owned triple set point, but frittered away his advantage with consecutive errant forehands and could only stab in the air as Nadal’s crosscourt backhand whizzed by to tie it 6-all.

Verdasco’s backhand error set up Nadal’s first match point and his first serve was called out, but he successfully challenged it and the review showed it ticked the line, tying it 7-all.

It was tied twice more before Verdasco’s double fault gave Nadal a second match point and it ended on another error. Verdasco’s 19 winners were just one more than Nadal. He averaged 115 mph on his first serve to 108 for Nadal.

“Normally he serve better than me,” Nadal said. “In this kind of match I have more to lose than him, so he’s able to play very aggressive. He has amazing shots. He arrives to the tiebreak and you know you’re in trouble.”

Nadal advanced to the fourth round against Alexander Zverev, who beat 16th-seeded Gilles Simon, 6-2, 6-2. No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori edged Steve Johnson, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6) and next plays another American, John Isner, who beat Adrian Mannarino, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Williams hit 26 winners offset by 22 unforced errors to go with seven aces in her second Indian Wells appearance since 2001. She has yet to drop a set in three matches.

Five of the top 10 women’s seeds women have been knocked out, seemingly clearing the way for Williams to win her third career title here and first since 2001.

“So far I think my consistency has been well; being aggressive has been well; everything that I’ve wanted to do I’ve kind of been doing,” she said.

Williams will play defending champion Simona Halep in the quarterfinals, a year after she withdrew before their semifinal match with a knee injury. Halep beat Williams at the 2014 WTA Tour finals.

“I like how she’s aggressive.

She’s a fighter,” Williams said. “She killed me at one point, so I definitely have to be ready.”

Halep advanced when Barbora Strycova retired because of illness trailing 6-3, 1-0. Also retiring was No. 9 Roberta Vinci, who trailed Magdalena Rybarilova 6-2, 2-0 when she quit with a left ankle injury.

SPORTS A19

Thursday 17 March 2016

Pacers finish strong, beat Celtics 103-98 The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Paul George had 25 points as the Indiana Pacers finished with a strong fourth quarter to beat the Boston Celtics 103-98 Tuesday night.

Monta Ellis added 16 points with six assists, and Jordan Hill scored 15 for Indiana.

Isaiah Thomas had 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds for Boston.

The score was tied at 77 with about 7 minutes remaining before the Pacers put together a 15-4 run that gave them enough breathing room to withstand a late Boston surge.

Avery Bradley’s jumper pulled the Celtics to 84-81 with about 4 1/2 minutes to go, but they got no closer after that.

SPURS 108, CLIPPERS 87 SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Kawhi Leonard had 20 points to help San Antonio wear down the shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers and match the second-longest home winning streak to open a season in NBA history.

San Antonio won its 33rd straight home game this season, tying Orlando’s start to the 1995-1996 season. Chicago holds the record at 37 games in ‘95-96 on the way to a record 72 wins overall.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 17 points and reserve guards Patty Mills and Manu Ginobili added 15 and 13, respectively, for the Spurs (57-10).

Los Angeles (42-24), still playing without Blake Griffin, lost its second straight.

The Clippers’ reserves, who were without the injured Paul Pierce, were outscored 51-20 by the Spurs’ bench.

RAPTORS 107, BUCKS 89 MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kyle Lowry scored 25 points as Toronto, despite resting leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, had no trouble with Milwaukee.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 18 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in 35 minutes for the Bucks, just missing a triple-double.

DeRozan, who averages 23.8 points per game, was

in uniform but didn’t play after starting each of the team’s first 65 games and playing 39 minutes in a loss to Chicago on Monday night.

Raptors rookie Norman Powell, starting for DeRozan despite averaging only 7 minutes per game, had a season-high 17 points in 34 minutes.

MAGIC 116, NUGGETS 110 ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — Evan Fournier scored 30 points and Jason Smith had 25 points and 13 rebounds off the bench to help Orlando beat Denver.

Victor Oladipo scored 23 for the Magic, who led by 18 in the third quarter before fending off Denver’s second-half rally. Brandon Jennings added 12 points and 11 assists in his first start for Orlando.

The Nuggets had six players in double figures, led by Gary Harris with 18 points, but didn’t have enough energy or firepower to complete the comeback.

NETS 131, 76ERS 114 NEW YORK (AP) — Bojan Bogdanovic scored a career-best 44 points to help Brooklyn set a season high for points against Philadelphia.

Sean Kilpatrick had 19 points, Brook Lopez added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Thaddeus Young finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Nets.

Isaiah Canaan led the 76ers with 20 points. Nerlens Noel, Ish Smith and Nik Stauskas each had 18.

Bogdanovic’s previous career high was 28 points against Orlando last April 15. His total was the most for a Nets player since Deron Williams scored 57 on March 4, 2012. The team moved to Brooklyn the following season.

Philadelphia has lost 15 of 16 games. The only victory during that stretch came against the Nets at home.

KINGS 106, LAKERS 98 Darren Collison had 22 points in his ninth start of the season, DeMarcus Cousins also scored 22 and the Sacramento Kings completed a four-game season sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers with a 106-98 victory.

Indiana Pacers forward Myles Turner (33) shoots around Boston Celtics forward Amir Johnson (90) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Associated Press

20 SPORTS

Thursday 17 March 2016

NHL Capsules

Ovechkin scores as Capitals clinch playoff berth The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored in overtime as the Washington Capitals picked up their 50th win of the season and became the first NHL team to clinch a playoff spot, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 Tuesday night.

Ovechkin scored his seventh game-winner of the season 1:38 into overtime after the Capitals clinched a playoff spot by picking up a point.

It’s their eighth playoff appearance in nine seasons and one that has been inevitable for a long time as they’ve skated away from the rest of the field.

A shot by Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8), from Russia, bounces off the shoulder of Carolina Hurricanes goalie Eddie Lack (31), from Sweden, in the overtime period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, March 15, 2016, in Washington. The Capitals won 2-1 in overtime.

Associated Press

Justin Williams also scored for Washington, which got 25 saves from Braden Holtby.

Hurricanes goaltender Eddie Lack stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced. Jordan Staal scored for Carolina, which had its dim playoff hopes take another hit.

PENGUINS 2, ISLANDERS 1, SO PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang scored the only goal of the shootout with a pretty backhand past New York Islanders rookie goalie Jean-Francois Berube to lift the Penguins.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and John Tavares in the shootout as Pittsburgh strengthened its hold on the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Fleury finished with 25 saves for the Penguins. Chris Kunitz scored his 14th goal of the season in the 800th game of his career. Sidney Crosby picked up the secondary assist to extend his points streak to nine games.

Berube made 33 stops in his third NHL start, including several in the extra period.

Okposo’s score at 14:35 of the third sent the game to overtime, but the Islanders couldn’t pick up the additional point when they failed to solve Fleury in the shootout.

SHARKS 3, BRUINS 2 SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Joonas Donskoi scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 13:23 remaining after an offensive zone penalty by Boston’s Jimmy Hayes and the San Jose Sharks beat the Bruins.

Brent Burns helped set up Donskoi’s goal and scored one of his own, tying Sandis Ozolinsh’s franchise records for goals and points in a season by a defensemen.

Melker Karlsson also scored as San Jose won consecutive home games for the first time in two months to move within one point of Anaheim for second place in the Pacific Division.

James Reimer made 21 saves on his 28th birthday for his first home win with San Jose.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, LIGHTNING 1 TORONTO (AP) — Ben Smith and Connor Carrick scored their first goals of the season to help Toronto beat Tampa Bay. With the win, the Leafs have won back-to-back games and picked up points in four of their past five.

Zach Hyman and P.A. Parenteau added empty-net goals while Jonathan Bernier made 26 saves for his ninth win of the season.

Brian Boyle scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots in the loss.

FLYERS 4, RED WINGS 3 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Michael Raffl scored two goals to lift Philadelphia to a key win in its playoff push.

The Flyers have 78 points and pulled within one point of the Red Wings for the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff berth.

The Flyers dominated the Red Wings early and outshot Detroit 23-3 in the first period. They held on after Detroit’s Tomas Tatar scored with 3:46 left in the game to make it 4-3.

Raffle and Wayne Simmonds both scored in the first to give the Flyers a lead they would never relinquish.

With 14 games left this season, the Flyers need every point possible to reach the playoffs.

It’s crunch time: Philadelphia also plays Pittsburgh three times and is at Detroit on April 6. The Flyers are only four points behind the Penguins.

PANTHERS 4, CANADIENS 1 MONTREAL (AP) — Vincent Trochek scored a goal and set up one by Jiri Hudler as Florida beat injury-riddled Montreal.

Nick Bjugstad and Aleksander Barkov also scored for Florida, which has won three of its past four games to stay in the tight battle for first place in the Atlantic Division with Tampa Bay and Boston.

Alex Galchenyuk, with his 12th goal in 10 games, scored for Montreal, which lost a second in a row at home.

SPORTS A21

Thursday 17 March 2016

Vonn

Continued from page 17 Gut finished 13th.

Vonn clinched the downhill title before her crash in a super-G in Andorra last month and was in St. Moritz to pick up her 20th crystal globe.

“I feel like I had a really great year,” Vonn said.

“Nine wins and to be able to still take home one globe at least even though I had to end my season early it means a lot because you work so hard and I was so close, I was leading four titles when I got hurt so to still have at least one, that was huge so I’m pretty excited about it.”

Gut is only 19 points behind Vonn in the super-G standings, with the final race coming Thursday.

“I don’t think super-G will hold but weirder things have happened in skiing,” Vonn said. “I’ll be at the finish tomorrow and maybe a miracle will happen.”

Puchner’s previous best fin-

ish was eighth in the downhill in Val d’Isere in December. “It’s incredible,” the Austrian said. “My goal for today was 10th place so to end up first is amazing. I’m really looking forward to the world championships next year here now.”

Daniela Merighetti of Italy crashed in what was her last event before retiring, landing badly after a jump.

The race was halted briefly while she received treatment but she managed to ski down the rest of the course before being taken immediately to first aid.

With her downhill title, Vonn broke the mark of 19 crystal globes held by Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden. It was one of several records she broke this season and she is now only 10 behind Stenmark’s all-time mark of 86 victories.

“Season-long titles are really difficult to get and Stenmark obviously is a legend and to have anything more than he’s accomplished is pretty unbelievable,” Vonn said. “I’m very

Lindsey Vonn of the US and Peter Fill of Italy pose after winning the overall downhill World Cup, in the finish area at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 16, 2016.

Associated Press

proud of that.

“Whether I get it (the alltime win record) next year or the following year, it’s

really irrelevant,” Vonn added. “My goals are the world championships and the Olympics. I think the

Olympics is probably the biggest goal, but to break Stenmark’s record would be amazing.”

A22

Thursday 17 March 2016

SPORTS

Blacks playing men’s hoops, football lag behind in degrees ERRIN HAINES WHACK Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Young black men playing basketball and football for the country’s top college teams are graduating at lower rates than black male students at the same schools — despite having financial and academic support that removes common hurdles preventing many undergraduates from earning a degree, a new report has found.

While 58 percent of black male undergraduates at the 65 schools in the Power 5 conferences got degrees within six years, 54 percent of black male student-athletes at the same schools graduated, according to an analysis of the 20142015 academic year by University of Pennsylvania researcher Shaun Harper.

Harper said the graduation gap represents a wide, systemic issue worse than isolated scandals seen on individual campuses.

“It happens just about everywhere,” said Harper, director of Penn’s Center for Race and Equity in Education. “Generations of young black men and their parents and families are repeatedly duped by a system that lies to them about what their life chances are and what their athletic outcomes are likely to be.”

Just as the attention of the sports world shifts to March Madness, the home page for the NCAA’s website features data on how few student-athletes are drafted to play professional sports, promoting its efforts to educate college players. The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments begin this week.

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida also published a study this

In this Aug. 6, 2011, file photo, University of Alabama students receive their diplomas during the morning commencement ceremony for spring and summer graduates at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Associated Press

week on graduation rates for black men’s basketball players at NCAA Tournament schools. The 68 teams this year had a graduation rate for black athletes of 75 percent, compared with 69 percent for the teams last year. The same schools had graduation rates of 93 percent for white men each year, the study said.

Richard Lapchick, the institute’s director, told The Associated Press that problems with K-12 education are part of the disparity between black and white athletes.

“In urban areas ... the ability for a student to be fully prepared for college by the time of their senior year of high school is seriously compromised,” Lapchick said. “It’s not just an answer of the colleges. It’s how we look at American education in general.”

Lapchick’s report notes 11 teams in the 2016 men’s field have graduation rates of 100 percent: Butler, Holy Cross, Duke, Middle Tennessee, Dayton, Iowa, Kansas, Notre Dame, Texas, Villanova and Weber State.

According to estimated data from the NCAA, only 1.2 percent of college men’s basketball players are drafted by the NBA and only 1.6 percent of college football players are drafted by the NFL. “Although there is a great deal of interest in basketball this time of year, we think it is important to remind fans of what our mission is — to provide student-athletes educational opportunities that will last a lifetime,” Bob Williams, NCAA senior vice president of communications, said in a statement to the AP. The NCAA also said gradu-

ation rates rose 13 percentage points in football and 15 percentage points in basketball for black student-athletes at all Division I programs between 1995 and 2005.

A recent NCAA report on graduation data shows the graduation rate for black male players at all Division I basketball programs was 72 percent for the class that started in 2008. For football, the rate was 69 percent.

On its website, the NCAA says graduation rates are higher than ever, and 15 percent of student-athletes say they wouldn’t be in college without sports.

But the numbers don’t hold up when looking at the NCAA’s main revenuegenerating sports at elite programs.

“When coaches are looking for the best athletic talent, that’s what they’re looking for,” Harper said.

“They’re not really concerned with academic talent.”

Harry Swayne, who played football at Rutgers University for four years before a 14year NFL career from 1987 to 2001, said he saw the

shift in mentality from the idea of college as a path to education to a pipeline to a professional sports career.

“Statistically, more than likely, they won’t make it,” Swayne said. “We don’t want to talk them out of their dreams; we just want to give them some reality, too. We want to introduce them to some other possibilities for when football is over, because it is coming to an end sooner than they think and sooner than they’re ready for.”

Harper said the solution is less likely to come from colleges than parents whose children are being recruited. He encouraged families to ask coaches about their overall student-athlete experience before committing to schools.

“Sometimes, young men get so excited about the prospect of playing for a particular place and coach,” Harper said.

“We’re going to have to see more student activism, where black players say, ‘You’re going to graduate me, or I’m not going to play for you.’”q

TECHNOLOGY A23

Thursday 17 March 2016

Google reveals 77 percent of its online traffic is encrypted MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is disclosing how much of the traffic to its search engine and other services is being protected from hackers as part of its push to encrypt all online activity.

Encryption shields 77 percent of the requests sent from around the world to Google’s data centers, up from 52 percent at the end of 2013, according to company statistics released Tuesday.

The numbers cover all Google services expect its YouTube video site, which has more than 1 billion users. Google plans to add YouTube to its encryption breakdown by the end of this year.Encryption is a security measure that scrambles transmitted information so it’s unintelligible if it’s intercepted by a third party.

Google began emphasizing the need to encrypt people’s online activities after confidential documents leaked in 2013 by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. government had been vacuuming up personal data transferred over the Internet. The surveillance programs exploited gaping holes in unencrypted websites.

While rolling out more encryption on its services, Google has been trying to use the clout of its influential search engine to prod other websites to strengthen their security.

In August 2014, Google revised its secret formula for ranking websites in

its search order to boost those that automatically encrypted their services.

The change meant websites risked being demoted in Google’s search results and losing visitors if they didn’t embrace encryption. Google is highlighting its own progress on digital security while the FBI and Apple Inc. are locked in a court battle over access to an encrypted iPhone used by one of the two extremist killers behind the mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, in December.

Google joined several other major technology companies to back Apple in its refusal to honor a court order to unlock the iPhone, arguing that it would require special software that could be exploited by hackers and governments to pry their way into other encrypted devices.

In its encryption crusade, Google’s is trying to make it nearly impossible for government spies and other snoops from deciphering personal information seized while in transit over the Internet.“Our aim with this project is to hold ourselves accountable and encourage others to encrypt so we can make the web even safer for everyone,” Google encryption “evangelists” Rutledge Chin Feman and Tim Willis wrote in a blog post .

The statistics show that Google’s Gmail service is completely encrypted as long as the correspondence remains confined to Gmail. Mail exchanges between Gmail and other email services aren’t necessarily encrypted.

In this March 23, 2010, file photo, the Google logo is seen at the Google headquarters in Brussels. Google is disclosing how much of the traffic to its search engine and other services is being protected from hackers as part of its push to encrypt all online activity. Encryption shields 77 percent of the requests sent from around the world to Google’s data centers, up from 52 percent at the end of 2013, according to company statistics released Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Associated Press Google’s next most frequently encrypted services are maps (83 percent of traffic) and advertising (77 percent, up from just 9 percent at the end of 2013). Encryption frequency falls off for Google’s

news service (60 percent) and finance (58 percent).

Google, owned by Alphabet Inc., says it’s still trying to overcome some of the technical problems that have made it more difficult to encrypt some of its

services. Some older devices are also unable to handle modern encryption standards, according to Google.Nearly 96 percent of Google’s unencrypted traffic comes from mobile devices.

A24 BUSINESS

Thursday 17 March 2016

Stocks end modestly higher after Fed holds rates steady MARLEY JAY AP Markets Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and forecast it will raise rates more gradually than it had envisioned late last year.

The market had been lower before the Fed released its statement, which highlighted strength in hiring and housing, but weakness in exports and concerns over slower global economic growth. The Fed now expects to raise interest rates two times this year instead of four.

Jeremy Zirin, chief equity strategist for UBS Wealth Management Americas, said the Fed and the markets now seem to have the same view on interest rate increases, and that means the market may be a little less volatile than it has been recently. “It probably eases investors’ minds that we’re unlikely to see a rate hike in April, and it probably takes June off the table,” he said.

Lower rates help boost economic growth by reducing borrowing costs and reducing the risk associated with expanding businesses or starting new ones. Lower rates also make stocks look more attractive to investors.

Stocks are now on track for their fifth straight week of gains and the Dow Jones industrial average and

The Washington news conference of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is shown on a television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, March 16, 2016. The Fed is keeping short-term interest rates unchanged at a range between 0.25 percent and 0.5 percent, citing the risks posed by global economic and financial turmoil.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at their highest levels since the first trading day of the year.

The Dow gained 74.23 points Wednesday, or 0.4 percent, to 17,325.76. The S&P 500 index rose 11.29 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,027.22. The Nasdaq composite index rose 35.30 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,763.97.

Oil prices rose nearly 6 percent and pushed energy shares sharply higher. Crude jumped after a group of major energy producing nations said they will hold more talks next month about a freeze

in oil output levels. A deal — which is far from a sure thing — could help relieve a global glut that has depressed oil prices. In the U.S., oil inventories grew, but not as much as investors expected.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose $2.12 to $38.46 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the

benchmark for international oils, rose $1.59, or 4.1 percent, to $40.33 a barrel.

Energy companies were the top-performing sector on the market. Devon Energy gained $2.13, or 8.8 percent, to $26.22 Southwestern Energy rose 67 cents, or 9.3 percent, to $7.90 and Oneok added $1.79, or 6.5

percent, to $29.51.

After the Fed’s decision, bond prices rose sharply and the yield on the 10year Treasury note fell to 1.91 percent from 1.97 percent. The euro jumped to $1.1217 from $1.1107 late Tuesday. The dollar fell to 112.55 yen from 113.10 yen.

Mining and materials companies and technology stocks, which would all benefit from a weaker dollar, also traded higher. Newmont Mining rose $1.18, or 4.5 percent, to $27.55 and Alcoa added 58 cents, or 6.3 percent, to $9.74. Apple edged up $1.39, or 1.3 percent, to $105.97 and Microsoft gained 76 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $54.35.

Metals prices were little changed on the day, as they closed earlier in the afternoon. Gold lost $1.20 to $1,229.80 an ounce. Silver decreased 4 cents to $15.22 an ounce. Copper was unchanged at $2.23 a pound.

Peabody Energy, the largest coal mining company in the U.S., is plunging after it said it is delaying an interest payment and may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

EU stock exchanges agree to $30B merger DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The London Stock Exchange and Germany’s Deutsche Boerse say they are merging in an all-stock deal that will leave the German side with a majority in a company worth about $30 billion.

The exchange operators are calling it a merger of equals that will accelerate their growth and offer customers more products and services — and said the deal is going ahead even if Britain votes to leave the European Union.

They expect to complete the combination by the first quarter of 2017. The two companies together are worth about $30 billion based on their stock market value Wednesday.

The deal makes sense even if British voters decide to

leave the European Union in a referendum June 23, the two sides said, but conceded there are risks to its business from a potential British exit. It said the tie-up would benefit from European Union efforts to create a single capital market and expand the cross-border use of stock and bond markets to finance companies, a project known as capital markets union. They said that a vote to leave would put the capital markets union project at risk.

The companies “believe that the merger is well positioned to serve global customers irrespective of the outcome of the vote” although the outcome “might well affect the volume or nature of the business carried out by the combined group.”

The owner of the New York Stock Exchange said

March 1 that it was considering a competing bid for the London exchange.

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., which owns the NYSE, had no comment on the proposed LSE-Deutsche Boerse deal. Another U.S. rival, CME Group Inc., also declined to comment.

In the merger deal, a U.K.based holding company will be set up to acquire the London Stock Exchange Group PLC and Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse AG. When the deal is done, Deutsche Boerse shareholders will hold 54.4 percent of the holding company and Deutsche Bank CEO Karsten Kengeter will be chief executive. LSE chief executive Xavier Rolet is to step down on completion of the deal and serve as an advisor for up to one year.

BUSINESS A25

Thursday 17 March 2016

FedEx rides online shopping to beat Wall Street forecasts

A Federal Express delivery truck driver returns to his truck after delivering a package to a business, in Springfield, Ill. FedEx reported financial earnings Wednesday, March 16, 2016.

(AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

DAVID KOENIG AP Business Writer DALLAS (AP) — FedEx rode the growth in online shopping to beat Wall Street expectations for the holiday season, although profit fell 19 percent because of legal bills and acquisition costs.

The package delivery company said Wednesday that peak-season demand was better than expected.

FedEx raised its profit forecast for its current fiscal year and its shares jumped

more than 6 percent in after-hours trading.

FedEx Corp. has prospered from online shopping by delivering packages to consumers who increasingly shop on their computers or phones rather than in stores.

The company appears likely to face growing competition from one of its retail customers, however.

Amazon.com Inc. recently reached an agreement to lease up to 20 Boeing 767 aircraft to carry packages

around the country, creating its own air-freight operation where it now uses carriers like FedEx and UPS. Amazon is already building a ground network of warehouses and delivery trucks.

In January, Amazon’s chief financial officer said the traditional carriers can no longer handle all of the online retailer’s peak-season shipping needs. He said that measures such as putting Amazon trucks on the road were meant to supplement the use of delivery compa-

nies but not replace them.

On a conference call with analysts, FedEx executives downplayed the threat of Amazon becoming a delivery rival.

Chairman and CEO Fred Smith said FedEx, UPS and the Postal Service “will remain the primary carriers for e-commerce shipments in the U.S. for the foreseeable future.” FedEx estimates that those three deliver more than 95 percent of online-shopping orders in the U.S. Executive Vice President Mike Glenn added that while Amazon’s plans have “grabbed headlines, the reality is it would be a daunting task requiring tens of billions of dollars in capital and years to build” a network to rival FedEx’s. He added that no single shipping customer accounts for more than 3 percent of FedEx revenue.

For the quarter ended Feb. 29, FedEx earned net income of $507 million, or $1.84 per share, down from $628 million, or $2.18 per share, a year earlier. The results were hurt by legal expenses — mostly on lawsuits by drivers who were classified as independent contractors instead of employees — and costs relat-

ed to the pending acquisition of Dutch delivery firm TNT Express.

Excluding those costs, FedEx said it would have earned $2.51 per share.

Analysts, who usually exclude non-repeating costs from their forecasts, had expected FedEx to earn $2.35 per share, according to a FactSet survey of 24 analysts and $2.33 per share by 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue rose 8 percent to $12.65 billion, also topping expectations. The 17 analysts surveyed by FactSet had predicted $12.36 billion.

Sales in FedEx’s ground business jumped 30 percent to $4.41 billion, helped by the growth in online shopping.

FedEx blamed lower fuel surcharges for a 1 percent revenue decline, to $6.56 billion, in its express unit.

The Memphis, Tennesseebased company raised its forecast range for earnings during the full fiscal year that ends this spring. It predicted profit excluding special items to be between $10.70 and $10.90 per share, compared with the prior prediction of $10.40 to $10.90, and analysts’ forecast of $10.55 per share.

Peabody Energy warns it may file for bankruptcy protection NEW YORK (AP) — The largest American coal miner, Peabody Energy, is delaying an interest payment due this week and warned that it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Shares of Peabody Energy Corp. dropped more than 47 percent in midday Wednesday. Its shares have fallen more than 97 percent over the past year.

A slowing global economy and toughening environmental standards have slammed the coal industry, which is already beset by bankruptcies, shuttered mines and layoffs.

Peabody makes most of its money by selling its coal to utility companies that use it to generate electricity. But

many utilities have shifted to using natural gas, which costs less than coal and produces less pollution. In fact, electricity generation from coal fell 13 percent last year compared to the previous year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. U.S. coal production also fell to its lowest level in nearly three decades last year, the EIA said.

Within the last year, coal companies Alpha Natural Resources, Arch Coal and Patriot Coal have all filed for bankruptcy protection.

St. Louis-based Peabody said Wednesday that it didn’t pay more than $70 million in interest payments that were due Tuesday.

If the company doesn’t

make the payment in 30 days, it would default and it said there’s “substantial doubt” it would be able to go on. The company made the announcement in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Peabody said it has talked with its debt holders on ways to improve its finances, but if that doesn’t work it may need to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

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

When Arch Coal filed for bankruptcy protection in January, for example, it said its mines would remain open and its employees would not be affected.

Peabody had about 7,600 employees at the end of last year and has ownership stakes in 26 mines in the U.S.

and Australia. Its U.S. mines are in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico and Wyoming.

A26 COMICS

Thursday 17 March 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Yesterday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Thursday 17 March 2016

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A28 SCIENCE

Thursday 17 March 2016

Fossil find sheds light on how evolution produced T. rex MALCOLM RITTER AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) How did evolution produce a monstrous killer like T. rex? A fossil find in Central Asia is giving scientists a glimpse of the process.

T. rex and other tyrannosaurs were huge, dominant predators, but they evolved from much smaller ancestors. The new discovery from Uzbekistan indicates that this supersizing happened quickly, and only after the appearance of some anatomical features that may have helped the monster tyrannosaurs hunt so effectively.

The finding was reported Monday by Hans-Dieter Sues of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, Stephen Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and others in a paper released by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

THE DISCOVERY They report finding bones of a previously unknown member of the evolutionary branch that led to the huge tyrannosaurs. This earlier dinosaur lived about 90 million years ago, south of what is now the Aral Sea. It looked roughly like a T. rex, but was only about 10 to 12 feet long and weighed only about 600 pounds at most, Sues said. T. rex grew about four times as long and weighed more than 20 times as much.

Hans-Dieter Sues, chair of the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, shows where the new dinosaur, Timurlengia euotica, falls into the dinosaur family tree during a news conference in Washington, Monday,

Associated Press March 14, 2016.

GOOD TIMING The discovery helps fill in a frustrating gap in the tyrannosaur fossil record. Before that gap, which began some 100 million years ago, the ancestral creatures were only about as big as a horse. Right after the gap, at about 80 million years ago, tyrannosaurs were multi-ton behemoths like T. rex. The new finding shows the forerunners were still relatively small even just 90

million years ago. So the size boom happened pretty quickly.

STANDARD EQUIPMENT The inner ears of the newfound beast already had tyrannosaur features associated with good agility and hearing low-pitched sounds, which might have helped it detect prey or other animals at a distance. But the creature lacked the massive, bonesnapping teeth and large

sinuses found in T. rex.

THE NAME The creature was dubbed Timurlengia euotica (TEE’mer-len-GEE’-uh yoo-OHtih-kuh). The name honors the ancient Central Asian ruler Tamerlane and the large inner ears of the beast. The fossils include a braincase and bones from the neck, back, tail, feet and hands. The creature wasn’t a direct ancestor of T. rex, but it indicates what

such ancestors looked like, Brusatte said.

THE PAYOFF The discovery helps scientists understand how “the (anatomical) parts got put together ... on the path to T-rex-hood,” said Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. of the University of Maryland, who didn’t participate in the study. And suggests where to dig for more fossils to investigate the transition, he said.q ___

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Thursday 17 March 2016

CNN’s Bill Weir off to explore the world again DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Weir’s globe-trotting series “The Wonder List” begins its second season Sunday night on CNN — Donald Trump willing.

The season has already been put off for a couple of weeks due to CNN’s wall-to-wall presidential campaign coverage.

“I’m praying to the news gods that they will leave us alone,” Weir said. During the first scheduled episode Sunday at 10 p.m. EDT, Weir

visits Cuba to examine the island nation at the time of a new openness in its relationship with the United States.

Subsequent episodes will show Weir in Iceland, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, Botswana and Namibia in Africa, and along the Colorado River and in the Grand Canyon.

The series features some stunning photography, and Weir said his director is especially fond of attaching cameras to drones for

Memoir by father of Scientology leader scheduled for May

This photo provided by courtesy of St. Martin’s Press shows the cover of the book, “Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me,” by author Ron Miscavige. The memoir will be released May 3, 2016.

Associated Press

HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A muchanticipated memoir by the estranged father of Scientology leader David Miscavige is coming out this spring.

St. Martin’s Press told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Ron Miscavige’s book is called “Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me.” It will be released May 3. The elder Miscavige was with the church for more than 40 years before leav-

ing in 2012. The publisher says his book will provide “a riveting insider’s look at life within the world of Scientology.”

“Ruthless,” which was first announced last year, is expected to be the latest in a wave of unflattering works about the church, including the book and documentary “Going Clear” and “Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape,” a memoir by David Miscavige’s niece, Jenna Miscavige.q

bird’s eye views. But Weir likes to have a better reason for visiting an area than pictures; Iceland was booked because he was intrigued by a news report revealing the country has the world’s highest rate of unwed parents.

“I want it to be more than just a travelogue,” he said.

Weir, who has already received a commitment for a third season, carries a small notebook where the inside cover has a handwritten list of potential future destinations. With each trip, he learns how small the world can seem.

In Bhutan, a remote country tucked between India

In this Oct. 20, 2015 file photo, Bill Weir attends the 11th Annual New York Television Festival “CNN Presents: “An Original Take on the Stories of Now” in New York. Weir’s globe-trotting series “The Wonder List” begins its second season Sunday night on CNN. Associated Press

and China, he was asked about Trump’s campaign and learned that one of the most popular television shows is WWE wrestling.

“We’ve got this one hour where we can look at the world with wonder and curiosity instead of fear and suspicion,” he said.q

A30 PEOPLE

Thursday 17 March 2016

& ARTS

In ‘Midnight Special,’ Nichols lights sci-fi with sincerity

This March 6, 2016 photo shows director Jeff Nichols posing for a portrait in New York to promote his film, “Midnight Special.”

Associated Press

JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Jeff Nichols’ “Midnight Special” — a sci-fi mystery that plays out in a clandestine, nocturnal chase from Texas to Florida — began with an idea of light in the writer-director’s mind, and a desire to recapture the cryptic thrill of science-fiction films like “Starman” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

But it wasn’t until after Nichols, the 37-year-old writerdirector of “Mud” and “Take Shelter,” was driving to his writing office in Austin, Texas, one day when he knew what “Midnight Special” would be about.

That was when he heard the news of Sandy Hook.

“This movie, it’s a silly scifi chase movie, but at its heart is me trying to deal with that: Pulling over to the side of the road and hearing about children being shot and picturing my son being afraid in his final moments and just being devastated,” says Nichols. “Does the movie reach those heights? Probably not. Is it good that it doesn’t? Maybe. But this is what I was feeling.”

“Midnight Special,” which Warner Bros. will release Friday, is the first studio film for Nichols whose films — personal tales rooted in classically American moviemaking — have made the Arkansas native one of the most exciting voices in independent film. “Midnight Special” finds him developing his command of special effects in a bigger budget production than he’s done in the past, yet remaining a steadfastly sincere storyteller.

“The thing that Jeff possesses in spades is if you carved his heart out, I’m sure it would be heavier than most people,” says Joel Edgerton, a co-star in the film. “He feels things very deeply. His films are infused with an emotion that generally trends toward family and love and protection and care. Even if there’s violence, it’s because it’s

spurred on by the lack of those things.”

In “Midnight Special,” Michael Shannon (who has appeared in every movie

by Nichols, beginning with his debut, “Shotgun Stories”) stars as the father to 8-year-old Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), a boy who possesses a mysterious special power. Alton, who wears goggles to cover eyes that can illuminate in searing beams of light, has attracted the pursuit of the government (Adam Driver plays a sensitive NSA agent) and the religious sect from which his father is trying to rescue him.

The film, patient but explosive, metes out exposition slowly and leaves some questions unanswered.

It opens with a Chevelle throttling through the night, headlights off, with the father and his accomplice (Edgerton) driving with night-vision goggles. Their mission is vague and uncertain, but Shannon’s father is compelled by a faith in his son and a determination to shepherd Alton where he needs to go.

“That’s parenthood,” Nichols, who has a 5-year-old son with his wife, said in an interview over lunch in Greenwich Village. “Just because you believe in something doesn’t mean you understand it. In fact, usually you don’t.”

“Midnight Special” is a kind of companion to Nichols’ “Take Shelter” (2011), which grew out of his anxiety in becoming a parent. Shannon played a paranoid father who sees literal storm clouds on the horizon.

“Fear has been the basis of all of my movies, almost,’” says Nichols. “’Shotgun Stories’ was about the fear of losing my brother. ‘Take Shelter’ was the fear of the entire world falling apart and the fear of becoming a parent. ‘Midnight Special’ was the fear of losing my child. But fear in and of itself is not a story. It’s a catalyst that creates something.”

“Mud,” a Mark Twain-

esque coming-of-age tale set along the Mississippi and co-starring Matthew McConaughey, was very well received and selected for the Cannes Film Festival.

But it struggled to find a distributor and wasn’t much promoted. Nichols grants that the experience “shook my confidence.”

But “Mud” inspired the interest of Warner Bros., which gave Nichols final cut on “Midnight Special.”

Speaking positively about his studio experience, Nichols feels emboldened to try a $100 million film, should the right opportunity present itself.

“The reason I’m more interested in it now is: I know what to ask for,” says Nichols, whose crew is populated by regular collaborators like cinematographer Adam Stone, editor Julie Monroe and production designer Chad Keith. “I know what I need to make a film my way.”

Nichols next film, currently being edited, is “Loving,” about the interracial couple Richard (Edgerton) and Mildred Loving (Ruth Negga) whose marriage made them criminals in Virginia in the 1950s. Focus Features will release it in November, placing it the heart of awards season.

“Jeff’s very comfortable around me, but sometimes being comfortable is not the best thing for art,” says Shannon, who has a small part in “Loving.” ‘’It’s not such a bad thing for him to work with somebody like Ruth. It’s a different kind of story for him and it’s good for him to branch out.”

For the ever-progressing filmmaker, “Loving” may be yet another evolution.

At the film’s mention, Nichols cups his hands over this reporter’s voice recorder and whispers: “It’s the best movie I’ve ever made.”

“It’s very quiet. It’s very silent. It’s very painful. It’s very beautiful,” he says. “In a time where the political debates around marriage equality and around race are so heated, this film just cuts through it. It’s just about these two people.”

PEOPLE & ARTS A31

Thursday 17 March 2016

Ex-’Chuck’ star Zachary Levi takes the long way to Broadway MARK KENNEDY AP Drama Writer NEW YORK (AP) — To one day get to Broadway, Zachary Levi made the calculated choice to not initially go to Broadway.

The southern California native grew up as a passionate fan of theater, but knew he had to play a long game to make those dreams happen.

First up, he had to become a TV star.

“I knew that people who win Tony Awards have a hard time getting arrested in Hollywood, but if you could get on some schmucko sitcom in L.A., Broadway comes a-knocking, saying, ‘Hey, come and be in our show,’” Levi said, laughing.

Broadway has indeed come knocking for the former star of “Chuck” and “Heroes Reborn,” who is starring in a revival of “She Loves Me,” considered by many to be one the most charming musicals ever written. The show opens Thursday at the Roundabout Theatre.

Levi, who made his Broadway debut in 2013 in a small summer show, now finds himself among a Broadway All-Star team: Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski, Gavin Creel, Byron Jennings, Michael McGrath and Peter Bartlett.

The 6-foot-4 Levi hopes he doesn’t stand out for the wrong reasons. “I don’t want people walking away going, ‘You know, for a Hollywood guy, not bad.’

I would hope that people walk away going, ‘I didn’t even think about it.’”

Levi plays a clerk of a perfume store who exchanges love letters with a pen pal only to discover she works alongside him. The story has been adapted into the films “The Shop Around the Corner” with James Stewart and “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks.

Levi, an actor with a self-effacing manner, solid moral compass, flawless comic timing and leading-man looks, is a worthy successor to Stewart and Hanks.

“They’re major influences,”

he said.

“I’ve always kind of found myself fitting into the Everyman role. As much as I’d like to feel like I can compete with the Brad Pitts of the world, that’s like Adonis-y, leading-man stuff and I’m just a little goofier than that, I guess.”

Tony-nominated director Scott Ellis said Levi belongs alongside his veteran and celebrated cast mates — calling him a rare find — a leading man who is also funny.

“He brings a beautiful, beautiful soulfulness, humor, truth to this role,” Ellis said. “He has stepped up in a major way. No one is going to be able to walk away after seeing him and not go, ‘That’s a guy who’s not only a terrific actor but that’s someone who can carry a musical.’ And there are not a lot of them out there.”

As a kid, Levi loved to tell jokes and do impressions.

He adored TV sitcoms, computer games and animation. “I joke that half of my acting influences are cartoons,” he said.

Theater became an important outlet. “If you’re a spazzy kid who likes to crack wise and sing and dance around like an idiot, that’s your home,” he said.

In middle school, he did a production of “Grease” and later a regional production of “Marvin’s Room,” which got him noticed by a retired manager, who got him an agent.

He did the TV show “Less Than Perfect” for four years.

Broadway came calling in 2007 with an offer to audition for the musical “Young Frankenstein.”

He flew across the country and performed in front of director Susan Stroman and Mel Brooks. “I start stomping my foot in time to the music so they can’t see me shaking,” he recalled. Though he forgot some lines — he rates the audition a C-plus — he got the job. Then “Chuck” was picked up and he had to do that instead.

Broadway came again after “Chuck” ended in

E- In this June 6, 2015, file photo, Zachary Levi participates in AOL’s BUILD Speaker Series to discuss his company and website “The Nerd Machine” at AOL Studios in New York. Levi, is starring in a revival of “She Loves Me,” considered by many to be the most charming musical ever written.

Associated Press

2012 — and Levi took it.

He starred opposite Krysta Rodriguez in the charming musical “First Date.” One critic said he was a “strikingly adept stage comedian.” Another praised his “vitality and off-kilter humor.” At the stage door, Levi brought out a stereo and he and Rodriguez

turned signing autographs into a dance party.

For his latest foray, Levi took over when Josh Radnor of “How I Met Your Mother” had to back out of “She Loves Me.” Levi, whose film credits include “Thor: The Dark World,” took the job because of the cast, songs and Ellis, even though he

insisted after his last time he wouldn’t return in a musical.

“There are so many things I still want to do,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been really, really blessed that I’ve been able to check off so many boxes and maybe that will be my legacy ... to do a little bit of everything.”q

Angelina Jolie, in Lebanon, says world has failed refugees BEIRUT (AP) — Angelina Jolie, the Hollywood actress and special envoy for the U.N.’s refugee agency, said Tuesday that the international community must address the root causes of the global refugee crisis.

“We cannot manage the world through aid relief in the place of diplomacy and political solutions,” she said under the pouring rain at a press conference in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have sought refuge in the Bekaa. Lebanon hosts well over a million Syrian refugees, who now account for nearly a fifth of its population.

Jolie said she had hoped to be in Syria helping victims return to their homes on the fifth anniversary of

the uprising against President Bashar Assad. She said it’s “tragic and shameful that we seem to be so far from that point.” There are now more people displaced through conflict around the globe than during World War II, according to the U.N. The war in Syria between Assad’s government, rebels and foreign jihadis has drawn in world powers and generated what the U.N. says is the largest humanitarian catastrophe in a generation.

Half of Syria’s prewar population of some 23 million has been displaced, with around 5 million having fled their homeland, mainly to neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.

The international relief organization OXFAM warned

Tuesday that Lebanese municipalities are running out of space to bury deceased refugees.

“We should never forget that for all the focus on the refugee situation in Europe at this time, the greatest pressure is still being felt in the Middle East and North Africa, as it has for each of the last five years,” Jolie said. After a tidal wave of refugees poured into Europe last year, some countries began erecting political and physical barriers to migration, which have left tens of thousands of refugees stuck in squalid conditions in the Balkans this spring.

Jolie called on such countries to adhere to their international obligations to aid refugees.q