February 19, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Friday, February 19, 2016

Bully Pulpit

Pope, Trump Square Off In Odd Exchange Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop in Greenville, S.C. Thrusting himself into the heated American presidential campaign, Pope Francis declared Thursday that Donald Trump is “not Christian” if he wants to address illegal immigration only by building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump fired back ferociously, saying it was “disgraceful” for a religious leader to question a person’s faith.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Page 3

A2 UP

Friday 19 February 2016

FRONT

Cheered in Havana, Obama’s Cuba trip spurs GOP skepticism JOSH LEDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s plans for a history-making trip to Cuba drew hopeful cheers in Havana on Thursday but equally emphatic condemnation from many U.S. lawmakers and Republican presidential candidates, who accused the president of rewarding a “dictatorial regime.”

Jeb Bush called the plans “appalling.” Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, born in Havana, deemed Obama’s March 21-22 visit “absolutely shameful.” New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez — a member of Obama’s party — accused him of ceding U.S. leverage to the communist nation 90 miles south of Florida.

President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The president said Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, he’ll raise human rights issues and other U.S. concerns with Cuban President Raul Castro during a history-making visit to the communist island nation.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

“The president is again prioritizing short-term eco-

nomic interests over longterm and enduring Ameri-

can values,” said Menendez, another Cuban-American. He likened Obama’s rapprochement with Cuba to his nuclear deal with Iran.

Not so, said Obama, who pledged to press President Raul Castro on human rights and other thorny issues during their sit-down in the Cuban capital. The White House said pointedly that it had put Castro’s government on notice that Obama would also meet with dissidents and activists —a precondition the president had laid out for a visit.

“We still have differences with the Cuban government that I will raise directly,” Obama said as he announced the visit on Twitter.

The trip will mark a watershed moment in U.S.-Cuba relations, making Obama the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on the island in nearly seven decades.

The U.S. was estranged from the communist nation for over half a century until Obama and Castro moved toward detente more than a year ago.

Since then, the nations have reopened embassies in Washington and Havana and moved to restore commercial flights, with a presidential visit seen as a key next step.

Yosvany Martinez, a 36-year-old government parking attendant in Havana, said he’d seen

changes in his country since the thaw in relations: more tourism and happier people. But Cubans are still struggling economically, he said.

“This visit for me and for all Cubans will be an open door to what we need, which is that they finally lift the blockade, which is what hurts us,” Martinez said.

Obama hopes to persuade Congress to lift the trade embargo — Havana’s biggest request of the U.S. Although short-term prospects have seemed unlikely, some Republicans have suggested Congress could pass legislation repealing sanctions by year’s end.

Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca, in Washington for business talks, told The Associated Press that Obama’s visit will be good news for his country.

Though Obama sees the re-launch with Cuba as a major achievement of his foreign policy, he’s had to strike a careful balance to defend engaging with a communist government that still is seen as stifling political opposition and restricting free speech.

The White House pointed to Cuba’s recent release of long-term political prisoners, expansion of Internet hotspots and easing of restrictions on private business. On the economic front, the two nations signed a deal this week on commercial air traffic, and the U.S. approved its first factory in Cuba since 1959, when Fidel Castro took power and nationalized billions in American property.

Still, Obama’s advisers said the U.S. isn’t satisfied with Cuba’s human rights approach, citing a rise in short-term detentions as one example.

Obama has argued that the long U.S. effort to put an economic squeeze on Cuba has failed to advance U.S. interests. Engaging the former Cold War foe offers better prospects for reform, Obama and supporters of the policy change maintain.q

U.S. NEWS A3

Friday 19 February 2016

Pope vs. Trump: ‘Not Christian’ to only build border walls NICOLE WINFIELD JULIE PACE Associated Press ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Thrusting himself into the heated American presidential campaign, Pope Francis declared Thursday that Donald Trump is “not Christian” if he wants to address illegal immigration only by building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump fired back ferociously, saying it was “disgraceful” for a religious leader to question a person’s faith.

The rare back-and-forth between pontiff and presidential candidate was the latest astonishing development in an American election already roiled

by Trump’s free-wheeling rhetoric and controversial policy proposals, particularly on immigration. It also underscored the popular pope’s willingness to needle U.S. politicians on hotbutton issues.

Francis’ comments came hours after he concluded a visit to Mexico, where he prayed at the border for people who died trying to reach the U.S. While speaking to reporters on the papal plane, he was asked what he thought of Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the entire length of the border and expel millions of people in the U.S. illegally.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” he said. While Francis said he would “give the benefit of the doubt” because he had not heard Trump’s border plans independently, he added, “I say only that this man is not a Christian if he has said things like that.”

“For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful,” he said at a campaign stop in South Carolina, which holds a key primary on Saturday.

“I am proud to be a Christian, and as president I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened.”

Trump also raised the prospect of the Islamic State extremist group attacking

the Vatican, saying that if that happened, “the pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president because this would not have happened.”

Francis, the first pope from Latin America, urged Congress during his visit to Washington last year to respond to immigrants “in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal.”

He irked Republicans on the same trip with his forceful call for international action to address climate change.

Immigration is among the most contentious issues in American politics. Republicans have moved toward hardline positions that emphasize law enforcement and border security, blocking comprehensive legislation in 2013 that would have included a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally.

Hispanics, an increasingly large voting bloc in U.S. presidential elections, have flocked to Democrats in recent years. President Barack Obama won more than 70 percent in the 2012 election, leading some Republican leaders to conclude the party must increase its appeal to them.

However, the current GOP presidential primary has been dominated by increasingly tough rhetoric.

Trump has insisted that Mexico will pay for his proposed border wall and has said some Mexicans entering the U.S. illegally are murderers and rapists.

While Trump’s words have been among the most inflammatory, some of his rivals have staked out similar enforcement positions.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are among those who have explicitly called for construction of a wall.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, one of the few GOP candidates proposing a path to legal status for people already in the U.S. illegally, said Thursday he supports “walls and fencing where it’s appropriate.” q

Pope Francis arrives to pay a visit to the St. Mary Major Basilica Rome, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016.

Pope Francis landed in Rome Thursday after a week-long trip to Mexico.

(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A4 U.S.

Friday 19 February 2016

NEWS

White House slaps new sanctions against North Korea

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pauses outside the Senate chamber to speak with reporters as he arrives for a vote to impose more stringent sanctions on North Korea, at the Capitol in Washington. Walking to vote at left is Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama slapped North Korea with more stringent sanctions Thursday for defying the world and pushing forward with its nuclear weapons program, weeks after it

launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space and conducted its fourth underground nuclear test.

Both actions led to worldwide condemnation of the reclusive country and fueled fears that it continues to move toward building an atomic arsenal.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers, many of whom argue Obama hasn’t been tough enough with North Korea, overwhelmingly approved the bill last week and sent it to the White House. The House voted 408-2, following a unanimous vote by

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials asked Russia to avoid bombing broad areas of northern Syria,

where several dozen U.S. special operation forces have been working with Syrians fighting the Islamic State group, the Pentagon

disclosed on Thursday.

The request, which had not been revealed previously, goes beyond what the Pentagon calls its “memo-

the Senate.

Obama signed the legislation away from the news media and issued no statement. Up until Wednesday, the administration had said it didn’t oppose the bill but declined to say whether Obama would sign it into law.

The expanded sanctions are being imposed as the U.S. and China are in delicate negotiations over a United Nations Security Council resolution on new sanctions.

China, North Korea’s most important ally, has raised concerns about measures that could devastate North Korea’s economy.

The new measures are intended to deny North Korea the money it needs to develop miniaturized warheads and the long-range missiles required to deliver them.

The legislation also authorizes $50 million over the next five years to transmit radio broadcasts into North

Korea, purchase communications equipment and support humanitarian assistance programs.

“This is an authoritarian regime.

It’s provocative. It has repeatedly violated U.N. resolutions, tested and produced nuclear weapons, and now they are trying to perfect their missile launch system,” Obama told “CBS This Morning” after North Korea launched the longrange rocket, Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said he hoped the U.N. Security Council and China, in particular, will “take notice of this strong showing of U.S. leadership” and work to put in place similar measures.

“Let’s stand together with a single voice and one clear message: Any provocation will be met with consequences that will shake the Kim regime to its foundations,” Menendez said. q

US asked Russia not to bomb near US commandos in Syria randum of understanding” with the Russians to avoid inadvertent military air collisions over Syria.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the Russians were not told exactly where the U.S. special operations troops are operating but were asked to avoid certain broad areas as a safety measure. He said the Russians have honored the U.S. request.

“We’ve told them these are areas that we have coalition forces in — gen-

eral areas where we have coalition forces,” Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown told reporters at the Pentagon in an interview from his headquarters in Qatar.

“We don’t want them to strike there because all it’s going to do is escalate things. And I don’t think the Russians want to escalate against the coalition.”

Brown is commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, responsible for U.S. air operations across the greater Middle East.q

U.S. NEWS A5

Friday 19 February 2016

FBI searches home of San Bernardino shooter’s brother GILLIAN FLACCUS AMANDA LEE MYERS Associated Press CORONA, California (AP) — FBI agents on Thursday searched the California home belonging to a family member of the husbandand-wife killers who massacred 14 people in the San Bernardino terror attack, but the relative was not arrested and has not been named a suspect.

Syed Rizwan Farook’s brother, Syed Raheel Farook, is a military veteran who earned medals for fighting global terrorism. The search warrant is sealed, and FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller would not disclose any information other than to confirm a search was conducted at a home in the city of Corona in an ongoing investigation.

To serve a search warrant, authorities must have probable cause a crime was committed and items connected to the crime are likely to be found at the location.

Messages left for attorneys representing the Farook family were not immediately returned.

Stacy Mozer, who lives around the corner from the home, said he watched as agents carried away armloads of boxes filled with manila envelopes, a computer tower and stacks of paper. At least a dozen agents were present.

He described Raheel Farook and wife Tatiana as ideal neighbors. The couple drove another neighbor to doctor’s appointments last year when she had cancer surgery, treated her to meals out and fetched her prescriptions for her, even paying for them, he said.

The couple frequently strolled with their 1-yearold daughter around the community of town homes and took her to the pool.

“I would find it very hard to believe that they would be involved in any way,” he said. “I do know that if you have a family member, you don’t have control of their lives, and I don’t think they had control of their brother’s life.”

Mozer said the family’s home was searched twice after the December shooting, and authorities broke down the door on an ear-

FBI and Homeland Security investigators carry a computer tower and manila envelopes from the Corona, Calif., home of Syed Raheel Farook while executing a search warrant at the home on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. FBI agents on Thursday were searching the California townhome of the brother of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terror attack.

(Stan Lim /The Press-Enterprise via AP)

lier occasion.

Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire Dec. 2 at a meeting of his San Bernardino County co-workers. They died hours later in a shootout with police. The 14 people killed marked

the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

Farook’s family has said it had no inkling about the plot.

Raheel Farook was a Navy information system technician from 2003 to 2007,

military records show. He was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and received the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other awards.q

Court gunman’s son, daughter sentenced to life in prison RANDALL CHASE Associated Press WILMINGTON, Delaware (AP) — A man whose exwife was gunned down by his father at a courthouse in the U.S. after a bitter custody battle was sentenced along with sister Thursday to life in prison on federal cyberstalking charges.

In sentencing David Matusiewicz and Amy Gonzalez, the judge described the stalking and shooting of Christine Belford as a “crime of malice” that struck at the heart of the state of Delaware’s judicial

system and tore the fabric of the community.

Judge Gerald McHugh Jr. also said the killing of Belford by Thomas Matusiewicz robbed her three daughters of their mother and their “childhood innocence.” David Matusiewicz, 48, declined to speak before being sentenced but submitted a written statement to the court. He showed no emotion when he was sentenced.

Gonzalez, 43, tearfully apologized to everyone affected by the shooting deaths of Belford and her friend,

Laura Beth Mulford at the New Castle County Courthouse in February 2013.

Mulford had accompanied Belford there for a child support hearing involving the three daughters Belford had with David Matusiewicz. “I cry for them every day, and I pray for them every single day,” Gonzalez said.

Lenore Matusiewicz, 70, the widow of Thomas Matusiewicz and mother of David and Amy, was sentenced to life in prison last week as she lay in a hospital bed in Philadelphia. Family mem-

bers have said Lenore Matusiewicz is dying and has only a few months to live.

All three were convicted of conspiracy and of cyberstalking resulting in death, a crime for which prosecutors said there had been no previous conviction.

Prosecutors said the Matusiewicz family engaged in a three-year campaign of tormenting and stalking Belford in an effort to regain custody of the children for David, accusing Belford in online postings, emails and letters of sexually abusing her oldest

daughter, an allegation that was never proven and which the daughter denied in sworn testimony. David’s parental rights had been terminated in 2011 after he and his mother kidnapped his daughters in 2007 and took them to Central America, where they spent 18 months before being tracked down.

“They left permanent scars in this community,” said David Weiss, acting U.S. attorney for the case. He said severe punishment for the defendants was “absolutely warranted.”q

A6 U.S.

Friday 19 February 2016

NEWS

American Living:

Colorado debates organic labels for marijuana KRISTEN WYATT Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Marijuana has attracted many labels in its time. On Friday, Colorado lawmakers debate whether the state should give the drug one more often associated with purple carrots than purple haze — certified organic.

Colorado starts work Friday on becoming the first state to regulate organic labels in its pot industry, with other legal weed states watching to see whether they too should step in to help consumers wondering what’s on their weed. Organic standards are regulated federally, and pot remains illegal at the federal level, meaning there’s nothing stopping commercial pot growers from calling their wares organic.

“Consumers have a right to know what they’re putting in their body,” said Colorado Rep. Jonathan Singer, a Democrat sponsoring the bill to create the statesanctioned labels. The bill has its first hearing Friday in the state House Public Health Care and Human Services Committee. The measure doesn’t specify what growers would have to do to get the certification, it instead directs the state’s agricultural department to get a third party to draft the regulations. The bill also doesn’t say which

pesticides would be off-limits for organic growers.

Consumer confusion over organic marijuana peaked in Colorado earlier this year, when Denver health authorities seized thou-

the Cannabis Consumers Coalition. “We don’t want to wait for someone to get sick. You need to know that when something says organic, it’s organic.”

Colorado is likely just the

even mention organic certification is California, which last year adopted a regulation requiring organic certification for marijuana products by 2020, if permitted under federal law.

Employees trim away leaves from marijuana plants to be packaged and sold at a dispensary in Denver. Marijuana shops are full of products claiming to be organic, but those labels mean little because organic standards are regulated federally, meaning there’s nobody checking those claims. That could be changing. Colorado lawmakers start work Friday, Feb. 19, 2016 on becoming the first state to verify organic labels in the pot industry.

(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

sands of marijuana plants from growers suspected of using off-limits chemicals on their plants.

Most of the plants were ultimately released, but some were sold with names that suggested the products were natural or organic.

“That misleads people,” said Larisa Bolivar, head of

first state to tighten the rules for advertising marijuana products as organic, said Chris Lindsey, legislative analyst for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project.

“This is not exactly a movement, but it’s not too much of a stretch to say we’re headed that way,” he said.

The only other pot state to

So far federal authorities that have weighed in on state marijuana experiments haven’t mentioned accurate labeling standards, though a 2013 memo from the Department of Justice warned states that federal authorities want “strong and effective” regulations.q

Oregon weighs landmark minimum wage proposal KRISTENA HANSEN Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon is trailblazing a national debate with a proposal that would not only make the state’s minimum wage for all workers the highest in the U.S., but would do so through a unique tiered system based on geography.

As the federal minimum wage has sat unchanged since the start of the Great Recession, more than a dozen states have raised the rate within their borders in recent years. Another dozen or so are consider-

ing taking up the issue this year, either through legislative action or ballot initiative, as issues of wage inequality and middle-class incomes have climbed to the forefront of presidential campaigns by Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton.

Oregon is weighing a new approach. State lawmakers are set to vote Thursday on an unprecedented three-tiered system that sets different rates by region.

The proposal would start a series of gradual increases

over six years: Oregon’s current $9.25 an hour minimum - already one of the highest in the nation - would jump to $14.75 in metro Portland, $13.50 in smaller cities such as Salem and Eugene, and $12.50 in rural communities by 2022.

Those minimums would dethrone Massachusetts where the statewide rate will climb to $11 an hour next year - from the top spot, according to D.C.based Economic Policy Institute, which has been tracking wage increases across the nation.

States have taken various approaches to raising their own minimum wages.

Some target government employees or certain industries, as seen recently in New York for fast-food workers, while some states allow local jurisdictions to set their own rates above the state threshold, which prompted recent hikes in cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles.

Oregon is unique because it would be the first state without a one-size-fits-all statewide minimum for all workers. q

Iowan researches to pay students to eat GMO bananas DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University researchers are moving ahead with a long-delayed project in which a dozen students will be paid to eat genetically modified bananas.

The Des Moines Register reports that the bananas were developed by scientists at Queensland University of Technology in Australia and have a gene that’s supposed to help people living in Africa make vitamin A. “In Uganda and other African countries, vitamin A deficiency is a major contributor to deaths in childhood from infectious diseases,” Wendy White, a food-science professor who is leading the university’s trial, wrote in a statement released by the university in 2014. “Wouldn’t it be great if these bananas could prevent preschool kids from dying from diarrhea, malaria or measles?”

White sent an email to students in the summer of 2014 seeking 12 female volunteers to eat an equivalent of three bananas each, one of which would be the genetically modified type. The participants would eat a diet, including the bananas, for four days during each of three study periods, then have their blood tested. They would be paid $900 each.

The trial has been criticized because natural-food proponents say genetically modified foods can be dangerous. The experiment’s proponents say the gene came from a different type of banana and is completely safe to eat.

Earlier this week, activists delivered petitions calling on the project’s halt to university officials and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is funding the project. The activists said more than 57,000 people signed the petition.

“ISU students are being asked to be the first to consume a product of unknown safety,” the activists said in a prepared statement.q

U.S. NEWS A7

Friday 19 February 2016

US Financial Front:

Good service, atmosphere keeps indie retailers in the game JOYCE ROSENBERG AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — When people line up at a coffee shop for their morning brew or crowd a bookstore to meet a famous author, don’t assume they’re patronizing a national chain.

Many independent stores have been able to survive, thrive and even launch in spite of competition from big box retailers like WalMart, Barnes & Noble and Home Depot. Indies are doing this by becoming more a part of the fabric in the communities they serve, offering more personalized service and unique ambience than the bigger guys.

For instance, at FoxTale Book Shoppe in Woodstock, Georgia, the strategy is building relationships with customers and the community. The staff spends time chatting with customers about books, knows customers’ tastes and recommends books.

It also holds writing classes and events like parties for authors, especially those who live in the Atlanta area. While many bookstores hold meet-the-author events, FoxTale periodically rents a theater across the street, turning it into a bigger event.

The store also has an eclectic look. It is decorated with antiques and a bicycle suspended from the ceiling in the children’s room. It’s intimate; at 1,500 square feet, it’s less than a tenth the size of a nearby Barnes & Noble. As a result of its small-bookstore feel and personalized services, sales at FoxTale have increased between 15 percent and 25 percent a year since it opened in 2007 — despite Barnes & Noble’s proximity, co-owner Ellen Ward says.

“We aren’t so much selling the book as we are selling the experience,” she says.

The success of indies is something perhaps experts couldn’t imagine a few decades ago. In the 1980s, when big box stores began proliferating, and after Amazon.com went online in the 1990s, independents began disappearing. The Census Bureau counted nearly 990,000 retail establishments with under 20 employees in 1992 and just 608,000 in 2013.

In some areas, soaring rents accelerated the trend. Economics professor Carlena Cochi Ficano of Hartwick College in New York estimated in 2012 that on average, between 4.4 and 14.2 retailers closed within 15 months of a WalMart store opening nearby.

Meanwhile, at most, an average of 3.5 small retailers opened during that time.

But in recent years, shoppers have veered away from big box retailers, and many stores have closed.

Indie bookstores have benefited from the demise of Borders’ 640 stores and the closing of more than 150 stores owned by Barnes & Nobles in recent years. There were 2,227 independent U.S. bookstores last year, up from 1,651 in 2009, says the American Booksellers Association, a trade group. And there may be more opportunities for indies: Published reports have said Sports Authority, which has been struggling to make its debt payments, may close 200 of its 450 stores Indie retailers that survive are able to provide a personal touch that a big box retailer cannot because they must comply with corporate procedures, can’t offer says

Ellen Ward, owner of FoxTale Book Shoppe poses for a photograph behind the counter in Woodstock, Ga. Sales at FoxTale Book Shoppe have increased between 15 percent and 25 percent a year since it opened in 2007 despite nearby big box competitors, including a Barnes & Noble that opened in 1995, says Ward.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Edward Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University. For example, a shopper might look for a dress at a department store, not find anything suitable and hear from a staffer, “that’s all we have.”

“A boutique owner might say, ‘I know a place where I can get it, or I have a vendor who can get you something,’” Fox says.

Personalized service is critical to Kiddles Sport’s longevity. The Lake Forest, Illinois, sporting goods retailer, which has been in Aric Shlifka’s family for nearly 50 years, doesn’t have room for as many different baseball gloves, athletic shoes and other items as stores like Dick’s or Sports Authority.

So as its competition grew, it began selling custom merchandise like uniforms for local teams. It also began providing services like analyzing customers’ gait to be sure they bought the right shoe for the activity

they planned to engage in. Because Kiddles is wellknown in Lake Forest and nearby communities, podiatrists and physical therapists recommend patients buy shoes at the store.

“People trust us to help them choose the right bike or shoe,” says Shlifka, who adds that the services his store provides have helped revenue increase between 2 percent and 4 percent annually in recent years.

Many independents have survived by offering unique merchandise.

In Portland, Oregon, Nancy Fedelem’s two pet food stores stock brands not likely to show up in chains like Petco and PetSmart or supermarkets. Her first store, Salty’s Pet Supply, is 11 years old and Fang & Feather is 4. Her revenue has risen an average 15 percent a year.

Fedelem’s inventory and the staff’s knowledge of what’s in the food appeals to people who want spe-

cial products. They’re also ready to help customers whose pets are more exotic than cats, dogs, guinea pigs and birds.

“We’ve had people walk in with snakes, lizards, pigs and sheep,” Fedelem says.

Independents can also flourish even when the big corporate competitor operates small stores — Starbucks has more than 12,500 U.S. stores and plans more, but indie coffeehouses thrive. In New York, Steven Leven and his partners are opening their fifth New York coffeehouse.

Their first, 71 Irving, has been in the Gramercy Park neighborhood for 20 years and grown despite the presence of two Starbucks within a five-block radius.

Leven says his coffeehouses cater to what customers want. The company roasts its own coffee. The menu of breakfast pastries, sandwiches and salads changes according to customer requests.q

A8

Friday 19 February 2016

WORLD NEWS

Cameron faces off with 27 EU leaders in ‘battle for Britain’ JILL LAWLESS RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron faced

pean cooperation.

“It’s the EU in question, not just one country in the EU,” Hollande said as he arrived. “I want Britain to stay

much resonance as its relationship with the EU. “The question of Britain’s place in Europe has been allowed to fester for too

off Thursday against the 27 other European Union leaders, telling them to grant his country a new deal to settle the festering issue of their relationship or face a possible divorce as soon as this summer.

Cameron said he was “battling for Britain” at a Brussels summit — and for a less intrusive EU that would benefit other countries, too. But French President Francois Hollande struck a cautionary note, warning that no individual leader should be allowed to stop closer Euro-

in the EU. But I hope most of all that Europe can advance, can be stronger.”

Cameron is seeking changes to the U.K.-EU relationship that will let him urge Britons to vote “yes” to continued membership in a referendum that could come as early as June.

He told his fellow leaders that he needed a substantial deal that would be “credible for the British people.” The British referendum on EU membership is bound to be hard-fought, since few issues in Britain have as

long,” Cameron said, arguing that this was a chance to settle the issue for a generation.

But Britain also warned it would walk away if the deal was not good enough.

“If we can get a good deal, I will take that deal.

But I will not take a deal that doesn’t meet what we need,” Cameron said.

A British official said the 28 leaders’ first discussion session Thursday ended without a breakthrough.

“I don’t think there was any sense that gaps in key issues

had narrowed,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.

“There’s a lot of hard work to do overnight.”

Talks among diplomats and lawyers to nail down the final details of a U.K. deal were expected to go into the early hours Friday before a hoped-for agreement.

Britain, which has one of the strongest economies in Europe, has been a magnet for hundreds of thousands of workers from eastern EU nations who are seeking higher-paying jobs. Britain has no power to stop immigration from other EU nations, leading some in Britain to say that immigrants are taking their jobs. TheEU immigrants can also claim unemployment, child care and other benefits in Britain, which Cameron’s government says is straining the country’s social services budget.

Since none of the 27 other leaders wants to see Britain leave, there is broad consensus, if not agreement, on a deal which Cameron says he needs to win the referendum.

It would give Britain more powers to limit benefit payments to workers from other EU countries for several years — something Britain says will slow the pace of immigration. The draft deal also offers guarantees to countries, including Britain, that do not use the shared euro currency, and makes tweaks aimed at boosting

LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top migration official told Austria Tuesday that its plan to cap the number of people who can apply for asylum is unlawful, but Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann refused to back down.

As EU leaders sought to end their fragmented response to Europe’s biggest refugee emergency since World War II at a summit meeting, the legal fight with EU Migration Commis-

sioner Dimitris Avramopoulos took center stage.

“Legal opinions will be answered by lawyers. Politically I say: we’ll stick to it,” Faymann said as he arrived at the summit in Brussels.

More than 1 million people entered the EU in 2015 fleeing conflict or poverty, and some 84,000 have entered so far this year.

Overwhelmed by the numbers and frustrated by their inability to agree on an effective European response, some EU countries have begun tightening border

controls or putting up fences without warning their neighbors.

In the latest in a series of uncoordinated and unilateral measures by nations, Austria announced on Wednesday that it would allow no more than 80 people a day to apply for asylum at its southern border points, as of Friday.

But Avramopoulos said in a letter Thursday that “Austria has a legal obligation to accept any asylum application that is made on its territory or at its border.”

The letter to Austrian Interior Minister Johanna MiklLeitner, seen by The Associated Press, said a ceiling on asylum-seekers “would be plainly incompatible with Austria’s obligations” under EU and international law.

Mikl-Leitner has said that a maximum 3,200 people a day would be allowed to enter Austria “who are seeking international protection in a neighboring country. ” That is an allusion to Germany which, along with

British Prime Minister David Cameron, centre, speaks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, right, and European Council President Donald Tusk during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. European Union leaders are holding a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to hammer out a deal designed to keep Britain in the 28-nation bloc.

(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

competitiveness and giving national parliaments more power.

But differences remain on key details, including Britain’s wish to be exempted from the EU’s longstanding aim of “ever closer union.”

One European official said a main source of tension was the length of time Britain’s limit on welfare benefits would last, with the Czech Republic opposing the U.K.’s aim of seven years. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, since the discussions were not public.

The lingering disputes belie the fact that the other member states cherish Britain as an economic and diplomatic giant in a struggling EU. “I’m going into this debate with the position that we would like to do everything to create the conditions so that Great Britain can remain part of the European Union,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

But continuing differences remain. Cameron argues for a “live and let live” union in which some countries move ever closer together while others remain semi-detached. T hat grates against the wishes of France, Germany and others who believe strongly in an “ever closer union” among as many members as possible.

Britain has long been a half-hearted member of the EU, staying out of both the euro currency and the passport-free Schengen travel zone.q

Sweden, has been the preferred destination for most migrants.

But Avramopoulos also warned that Austria should not be allowing people to travel through the country if their aim is to apply for asylum elsewhere.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz told the leaders that “the problem is that everyone sees the situation from their individual standpoint and waits for the other to move first in implementing those necessary solutions,” q

EU warns Austria that asylum seeker caps are unlawful

WORLD NEWS 9

Friday 19 February 2016

Turkey blames Kurdish militants for Ankara car bombing SUZAN FRASER Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Thursday blamed Kurdish militants at home and in neighboring Syria for a deadly bombing in Ankara and it stepped up pressure on the U.S. to sever ties with the Syrian Kurdish militia that has been a key force against the Islamic State group in the complex Syrian conflict.

The blast at rush hour Wednesday killed 28 people and wounded dozens more in a car bombing that targeted buses of military personnel. Ankara’s second bombing in four months came as Turkey grappled with an array of serious issues, including renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels, threats from Islamic State militants and the Syria refugee crisis.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a Syrian national with links to Syrian Kurdish militias carried out the attack in concert with Turkey’s own outlawed Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency. He also blamed the government of President Bashar Assad for allegedly supporting the Syrian Kurdish militia.

Turkish leaders vowed to retaliate for the Ankara attack, and the military said its warplanes conducted cross-border raids within hours against PKK positions in the Haftanin region of northern Iraq, striking about 60-70 rebels, including senior leaders. The report could not be independently verified.

Turkey had been pressing the U.S. in recent weeks to cut off its support to the Kurdish Syrian militias that

Ankara regards as terrorists because of their affiliation with the PKK. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Washington to choose between Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish group as its partner.

The U.S. already lists the PKK as a terrorist group. But in the complicated tangle

of friends and foes in the Middle East, Washington relies heavily on the Syrian Democratic Union Party, or PYD, and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, in fighting extremists from the Islamic State group. The U.S. has rejected Turkish pressure to brand those Kurdish groups

as terrorists. Turkey also wants the United States to stop providing weapons to the Syrian Kurdish militias, arguing that the arms end up with the PKK. Turkish leaders pushed that effort further Thursday.

“Those who directly or indirectly back an organization that is the enemy of Turkey

risk losing the title of being a friend of Turkey,” Davutoglu said in an apparent reference to Washington.

“It is out of the question for us to excuse a terror organization that threatens the capital of our country.”

Erdogan said the bombing would serve to make Turkey’s friends “better understand how strong are the links between PYD and YPG in Syria’s north with the PKK in Turkey.” The ambassadors of the U.S., Russia, Britain, China and France — the five permanent U.N. Security Council members — were invited separately to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry and briefed on the Ankara bombing, a ministry official said. Ambassadors to Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the head of the European Union delegation, also were invited.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn’t authorized to talk publicly on the issue.

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the attack blamed on the Kurdish militias places the U.S. in a difficult position. q

ADAM SCHRECK Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates threw its support on Thursday behind a plan by major oil producers to freeze output levels in an attempt to halt a slide in crude prices that has pushed them to their lowest point in more than a decade.

Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela an-

nounced their willingness to cap output at last month’s levels at a surprise meeting in Qatar this week — but only if other major oil producers join them.

OPEC member Kuwait has since said it supports the proposal, and Iran has offered at least tentative backing.

The support from the Emirates, a close Saudi ally, does not come as a major surprise but is still significant.

The seven-state federation is OPEC’s third-largest oil producer.

Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed al-Mazrouei said in a statement to state news agency WAM that the Emirates supports any proposal to freeze output through consensus with OPEC and Russia, which is not part of the oil-producing bloc.

“We believe that freezing production levels by members of OPEC and Russia will

have a positive impact on balancing future demand based on the current oversupply,” he said.

He was also quoted as saying he believes current conditions will prompt producing countries to cap existing output, if not cut supply. The UAE, he said, “is always open for cooperation with everyone in order to serve the higher interests of the producers and the balance of the market.q

Members of Turkish forces secure the scene of an explosion on the road linking the cities of Diyarbakir and Bingol, in southeastern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. Six soldiers were killed after PKK rebels detonated a bomb on the road as their vehicle was passing by, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.The deaths come a day after a suicide bombing claimed the lives of at least 28 people and wounded dozens of others.

(AP Photo/Mahmut Bozarslan)

UAE backs oil producers’ output freeze plan

A10 WORLD

Friday 19 February 2016

NEWS

Protests against India student leader’s arrest spread NIRMALA GEORGE Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — A protest that rocked a New Delhi university this week spread across India on Thursday,

hearing Wednesday, renewing allegations that the Hindu nationalist governing party is intolerant.

He was arrested last Friday over his participation

Indian.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and other Hindu groups accuse left-wing student groups of anti-na-

Indian students wave an Indian flag and shout slogans during a protest at the Jawaharlal Nehru University against the arrest of a student union leader in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016.

Scenes of protest that rocked a New Delhi university this week spread across the country Thursday, with students and teachers from cities including Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai joining demands for the release of a student leader arrested on sedition charges.

(AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)

with students and teachers in at least 10 cities demanding the release of a student leader arrested on sedition charges and accused of being anti-Indian.

The protesters were outraged by nationally televised scenes of Kanhaiya Kumar, the student union president at Jawaharlal Nehru University, being kicked and punched while he was escorted to a court

in events where anti-India slogans were allegedly shouted. A New Delhi court has ordered him to stay in custody for two weeks. The court will hear his bail plea on Friday.

The demands for the student’s freedom in the Indian capital were met by mobs of Hindu nationalists, including many lawyers, attacking students and accusing them of being anti-

tionalism because of their criticism of the 2013 execution of a Kashmiri separatist convicted of an attack on Parliament.

Kumar’s treatment and attacks on teachers who supported him have triggered allegations that the Modi government and the BJP are cracking down on political dissent in the name of patriotism.

Soon after the protests be-

gan, India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted that anyone shouting anti-India slogans “will not be tolerated or spared.”

The violence by lawyers occurred despite the Supreme Court ordering the police to ensure security in the court and has drawn wide criticism of the lawyers and police.

“Such a deliberate obstruction of justice amounts to constitutional contempt and cannot go unpunished,” said Maja Daruwala of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

The Bar Council of India said it had appointed a three-member panel to investigate the violence by lawyers.

“We are going to take a strong action against them,” Council president Manan Kumar Mishra said.

“We are going to punish the lawyers if they are found guilty,” he said before apologizing on behalf of the lawyer community.

On Thursday, students in at least 10 Indian cities marched through the streets and denounced Kumar’s arrest.

In New Delhi, thousands of students, professors and journalists gathered in the center of the city. They carried flowers as a sign of peace, Indian flags and placards saying, “Free Speech under attack” and “Just because I don’t agree, doesn’t mean I am an anti-national.”q

Seoul claims North Korea is preparing attacks HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered preparations for launching “terror” attacks on South Koreans, a top Seoul official said Thursday, as worries about the North grow after its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

In televised remarks, senior South Korean presidential official Kim Sung-woo said North Korea’s spy agency has begun work to implement Kim Jong Un’s order to “muster anti-South terror

capabilities that can pose a direct threat to our lives and security.”

He said the possibility of North Korean attacks “is increasing more than ever” and asked for quick passage of an anti-terror bill in parliament.

North Korea has a history of attacks on South Korea, such as the 2010 shelling on an island that killed four South Koreans and the 1987 bombing of a South Korean passenger plane that killed all 115 people on board.

But it is impossible to independently confirm claims

about any such attack preparations. The South Korean presidential official did not say where the latest information came from.

Earlier Thursday, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service briefed ruling Saenuri Party members on a similar assessment on North Korea’s attack preparations, according to one of the party officials who attended the private meeting.

During the briefing, the NIS, citing studies on past North Korean provocations and other unspecified assessments, said the attacks

could target anti-Pyongyang activists, defectors and government officials in South Korea, the party official said requesting anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to media publicly.

Attacks on subways, shopping malls and other public places could also happen, he said.

The official quoted the NIS as saying North Korea could launch poisoning attacks on the activists and defectors, or lure them to China where they would be kidnapped.q

AP: Egypt buries B. Boutros-Ghali with top honors CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Thursday laid to rest its veteran diplomat Boutros Boutros-Ghali, holding a funeral procession with top honors in the capital, Cairo, followed by a service at the nation’s largest Coptic cathedral for the man who was the first U.N. chief from Africa.

Egyptian President AbdelFattah el-Sissi led the procession, walking at the front of the cortege as a horse-drawn hearse carried Boutros-Ghali’s flagdraped coffin. The head of Egypt’s Coptic Church attended the service in Cairo, along with senior dignitaries.

Eulogizing Boutros-Ghali, the Coptic patriarch, Pope Tawadros II, said Egypt was bidding “farewell to this fine example in Egyptian life and in Egyptian history.”

UNESCO chief Irina Bokova, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby as well as his predecessor Amr Moussa and other Egyptian ministers and officials attended the service at the Coptic Cathedral in the Abbassia district in Cairo.

Boutros-Ghali, who died on Tuesday at the age of 93, helped negotiate Egypt’s landmark peace deal with Israel but then clashed with the United States when he served a single term as U.N. secretary-general.

The scion of a prominent Egyptian Christian political family, he was the first U.N. chief from the African continent, stepping into the post in 1992 at a time of dramatic world changes, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a unipolar era dominated by the United States.

His five years at the world body’s helm remain controversial. He worked to establish the U.N.’s independence, particularly from the United States, at a time when the United Nations was increasingly called on to step into crises with peacekeeping forces, with limited resources.q

WORLD NEWS A11

Friday 19 February 2016

Venezuela taking tiny steps toward fixing economy HANNAH DREIER Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has announced long-awaited economic reforms, but analysts say they’ll barely have any effect in rescuing the economy.

The socialist president raised gasoline prices and devalued one of the oil country’s multiple exchange rates Wednesday.

He assured supporters the steps don’t amount to a dramatic austerity scheme.

Analysts agree. They say the modest adjustments have no hope of bringing in the money Venezuela needs to save its crashing economy.

“Whatever Maduro does now, it’s going to be too little, too late,” said Bruce Magid, dean of the international business school at Brandeis University, who previously worked as a banker in Caracas.

Even a recovery in the price of oil would probably not be enough to save the economy at this point, he said. “It buys him more time.

But it doesn’t do anything to address the underlying structural problems, which is the country has stopped producing and exporting anything,” he said.

Underlining the gravity of the situation, the Central Bank said Thursday said inflation hit 181 percent last year, and the economy shrank by nearly 6 percent.

The International Monetary Fund predicts inflation will top 700 percent by the end of the year.

Venezuela has been spending more than $12 billion a year to subsidize gasoline. The hike could save the state oil company the equivalent of more than 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product this

year, according to the Caracas-based consultancy Ecoanalítica.

But analysts say a much steeper hike is needed to chip away at the country’s budget deficit of around 25 percent of gross domestic product. The new scheme means drivers will pay dimes instead of pennies to fill a gas tank, and the fixed price will continue to be eroded by raging inflation.

Maduro also changed the strongest of Venezuela’s exchange rates, lowering it from 6.3 bolivars per dollar to 10. That rate is supposed to be available only for vital imports like food and medicine.

The weakest of the official rates, which trades at 200 bolivars to the dollar, is still just a fifth of the black market rate, leaving the door open to arbitrage and corruption.

The newly ascendant opposition says the problem is that the government itself cannot stop stealing.

Opposition leader Jesus Torrealba said the measures would do nothing to stop the opportunities for rampant theft created by Venezuela’s byzantine currency scheme.

“This crisis is the result of years and years of looting the public coffers,” he told reporters. “These new measures do nothing to rectify the obscene chasm between exchange rates.”

Gas price increased conjure the specter of violence in Venezuela because of a days-long Caracas riot in 1989 that followed the announcement of austerity measures including a gas hike.

On Thursday, however, motorists were calmly waiting to buy what continues to be the world’s cheapest gas.

“These announcements

A motorcyclist pays about two Bolivars (3 cents of a dollar) after filling his scooter’s tank at a gas station in Caracas, Venezuela.

Venezuela’s government is raising gasoline prices sixtyfold, the first increase of any kind in more than 17 years as the country struggles with an economic collapse. Yet drivers will still be able to fill their tanks for pennies.

(AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

did nothing to alleviate my sense of desperation and sadness,” 50-year-old María Quintero said. “We don’t care if we have to

pay 10 bolivars for gas; it’s the always waiting in lines and getting up at 4 in the morning to buy a little bit of rice.”

The Maduro administration says it is looking for ways to work out distortions at home while aggressively pushing other oil countries to drive up oil prices. On Wednesday, Maduro said the country had made progress toward reaching an agreement with key allies to freeze production.

But with $10 billion in bond payments coming due this year, analysts say there are few paths for Venezuela to avoid default.

“Maduro did not explain how the state is going to pay its debt, pay for primary materials, and guarantee food for the people,” said Luis Vicente León, president of the local polling firm Datanalisis. “It’s just impossible that these measures will be able to resolve a problem of this scale.”q

A12 WORLD

Friday 19 February 2016

NEWS

Colombian media’s airing of secret sex tape stirs debate JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The broadcast of a secretly shot video in which a prominent Colombian politician discusses sexual encounters with other men is prompting a fierce debate about homophobia and journalistic ethics in this conservative South American country.

President Juan Manuel

Santos and other figures have sharply criticized radio station La FM for broadcasting an eight-minute excerpt of a video recording in which former Sen. Carlos Ferro and a police captain discuss sex in crude details and trade kisses while driving together in a car in Bogota.

On Wednesday, Gen. Rodolfo Palomino resigned as head of the police over

allegations of misconduct that included a subaltern’s accusation that the chief, high-ranking officers and even members of congress abused their positions to demand sexual favors with young cadets. In announcing an administrative investigation into the allegations, Inspector General Alejandro Ordonez cited the hidden-camera video as evidence in the case.

Palomino’s name is never mentioned in the recording and there is no apparent discussion of the alleged male prostitution ring inside the police force, which Colombian media have dubbed the “Community of the Ring.” Ferro, who resigned as deputy Interior minister as soon as the video went viral Tuesday, has denied any wrongdoing or abuse of his politi-

cal position. In an interview Wednesday with Blu Radio, Ferro sidestepped questions about the video’s content but blasted La FM’s star anchor, Vicky Davila, saying she irresponsibly aired a private conversation that he had no idea was being recorded and is now part of judicial investigation. He also accused the captain behind the recording of laying a trap.q

World Bank sees modest economic drag from Zika JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The spread of Zika will have a modest drag on economies in Latin America, with tourism-dependent Caribbean nations most at risk, the World Bank said Thursday. It made $150 million immediately available to help fight the virus.

The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency in response to the Zika outbreak and the U.S. is urging pregnant women to avoid travel to the 26 nations and territories in the Americas where Zika is present because researchers have identified possible links between the virus and rare birth defects.

But despite the scare, the World Bank says the im-

Students joke around, reacting to a city worker arriving to spray insecticide to kill mosquitoes at the end of their school day in Cucuta, on Colombia’s northeastern border with Venezuela. The city worker didn’t start spraying until all the children had left.

Norte de Santander is the state with highest cases of Zika virus cases in the country.

(AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

pact from the epidemic is likely to be small.

In a report, it estimates that lost revenue will total only $3.6 billion, or about

0.6 percent of the region’s gross domestic product.

That would come from reduced travel to the region and sick employees missing

work, while anti-mosquito efforts will strain already tight national budgets.

In smaller island-states, the impact could reach as high as 1.6 percent of GDP, the multilateral lender said.

Bahamas, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda are among the nations most at risk, it said.

The forecast assumes the regional and international response to the virus is swift and well-coordinated.

“Our analysis underscores the importance of urgent action to halt the spread of the Zika virus and to protect the health and well-being of people in the affected countries,” Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, said in a statement.

While a number of countries have reported a rash of business conference

and wedding cancellations, hotels were booked full and the mood as festive as ever during this month’s Carnival celebration in Brazil, the epicenter of the epidemic. Caribbean nations are similarly unfazed about economic losses, with officials on Tuesday forecasting tourist arrivals to the region would increase about 5 percent this year from nearly 29 million visitors in 2015. Kim, who in 2014 harshly criticized the world’s response to the West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, said additional support is available if countries needed. The $150 million funding available now is based on current country demands for financing and follows consultations with several governments across the region. q

US health officials seek more funding for Puerto Rico DANICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. health officials said Thursday that they are pushing for Puerto Rico to receive equal treatment under federal health care programs, hoping that will help the island during a deep economic crisis.

The U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services said Congress needs to increase federal investment, eliminate a Medicaid funding cap and expand eligibility for Puerto Ricans in the U.S. territory.

“Legislative action is desperately needed ... especially with Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program,” said Katie Martin, counselor to

the department’s secretary.

Federal health care plans serve nearly 70 percent of the population in Puerto Rico, where Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements are far lower than those on the U.S. mainland.

Local government officials have said these and other

inequalities are sinking the island’s health care system.

In addition, the Medicaid matching rate is 55 percent, much lower than that of U.S. states and current eligibility is 50 percent of the federal poverty level instead of 100 percent.

Local government officials have said these and other

inequalities are sinking the island’s health care system.

Federal health officials said U.S. Congress should approve legislation soon so that Puerto Rico is treated more like a U.S. state.

“The (Medicaid) cap is not in place in the rest of the country,” Martin said.

“It’s time to end it in Puerto Rico.”q

LOCAL A13

Friday 19 February 2016

From Tonight Until March 4th:

Top US Standup Comedians From ‘The Tonight Show,’ ‘America’s Got Talent’ & ‘Letterman Show’ Performing at the Aruba Marriott Resort!

-Top American standup comics perform in Ray Ellin’s phenomenal show at the Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino - Pre-purchase tickets at www.ArubaComedy.com!

PALM BEACH - Last week, “Aruba Ray’s Comedy” was named to USA Today’s 10 Best, and rightfully so.

The creation of New York comedian Ray Ellin, “Aruba Ray’s Comedy” features some of the funniest American standup comedians in a terrific 90-minute show.

Advance tickets are suggested, and are available at www.ArubaComedy. com. This wonderful show

is a great way to spend a night out. The comedians are truly some of the best from the United States, and perform in a relaxed, intimate setting at the Marriott.

In addition, there is also an option to purchase a fourhour premium open bar, and each attendee receives free slot cash for the Stellaris Casino.

Anyone can attend - however the show is suggested for a mature audience.

Comedians appearing include Chuck Nice, Dan Naturman, Joe Vega, Marina Franklin, Ted Alexandro, and Brian McFadden.

Ray Ellin hosts and produc-

es the shows. Considered by his peers to be the best host in NYC, Ray is known as “Aruba Ray” because of his passion for Aruba. Ray has been coming to Aruba every month for four years, and produces and hosts these incredible comedy shows on the island. He is a popular comedian in New York, and has brought his talent and colleagues to Aruba. Ray has appeared on many television programs; he is the host of the new Gong Show Live, a resurrection of the classic 70’s television show. He also hosted the popular talk show Late Net, and hosted the television shows The

Movie Loft, Brain Fuel, and New York Now. He also produced and directed the very successful film The Latin Legends of Comedy, distributed by 20th Century Fox. Ray co-created and is co-starring in the new television show Cellar.

The shows are at 830pm, every night, from now until March 4th, in the Amsterdam Ballroom at the Marriott Resort, down the hall from the casino. Doors open at 8pm.

It is suggested to arrive early - seating is first come first serve. The showroom is intimate - it is suggested you purchase tickets in advance at www.ArubaCom-

edy.com. You can also purchase tickets (subject to availability!) at the Amsterdam Ballroom showroom door starting at 730pm. The tickets are $36. And each Comedy Ticket gives every audience member free slot cash for the Stellaris Casino at the Marriott (ID required!). And each Comedy Ticket will also provide a 20% discount to the Aruba La Vista buffet.

And… there is NO drink minimum! The show is amazing, and a great way to spend the night out.

For more information call the Aruba Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino at 5206606, or call 749-4363.q

A14 LOCAL

Friday 19 February 2016

Loyal Guests Honored at La Cabana!

Happy Birthday To You Marcy!

From the team at Salt & Pepper PALM BEACH - Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a group of loyal and friendly visitors of Aruba, as Distinguished Visitors and Goodwill Ambassadors at La Cabana Beach Resort. The symbolic honorary title is presented in the name of the Minister of Tourism as a token of appreciation to guests who visit Aruba for 10-to-19 and

20-to-34 consecutive years.

The Distinguished Visitor honorees were Mr. Devin McCarthy and Ms. Gianna La Calandra of New York, and the Goodwill Ambassador honorees were Mr. Charles and Mrs. Theresa Cote of Virginia.

Devin, Gianna, Charles and Theresa are all loyal members of La Cabana, and they love Aruba for the climate, beaches, sun-

set, safety and restaurants, but most of all they love the friendly Aruban people and staying at La Cabana is like being home for them and their families. The certificates were presented by Mr. Jonathan Boekhoudt representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with friends, family and Sharine Charles from Owner Service Department. q

PALM BEACH - Marcy and her husband Jeff are much-loved at Salt & Pepper: they show up at regular intervals and always bring lots of laughter and joy to the restaurant in the Arawak Garden. This time, Marcy had also brought some good friends with her to celebrate with an elaborate breakfast. Jeff and Marcy have been coming to Aruba for the past 15 years.

Happy Birthday, Marcy from the Salt & Pepper crew; you know they love you both and hope that you will celebrate many more birthdays with them.

Salt & Pepper is located in the Arawak Garden: a cozy plaza filled with restaurants, kiosks and a piano bar.

There is nightly live music at the Garden, which you can find across from the Occidental Resort.q

LOCAL A15

Friday 19 February 2016

Charles and Alice Honored by the Aruba Tourism Authority

EAGLE BEACH - Recently Jonathan Boekhoudt with Aruba Tourism Authority had the great honor to present Charles and Alice Gatecliff with the “Goodwill Ambassador Certificate.” The honorary title is presented in the name of Ministry of Tourism to loyal Aruba visitors who have been coming to the island for 20 consecutive years.

The Gatecliff’s love Aruba especially for the weather and lovely people. The ceremony was held at the Costa Linda in the presence of Gloria, Lina and Miriam from the Owners Relations department.q

A16 LOCAL

Friday 19 February 2016

Dean and Krystyna Honored at the Divi Village Resort

DRUIF BEACH - Dean and Krystyna Wyman were recently honored at the Divi Village by Jonathan Boekhoudt with the Aruba Tourism Authority. The couple was presented with the “Distinguished Visitor Certificate” The honorary title was presented to the Wyman’s to commemorate 10 consecutive years visiting Aruba.

Dean and Krystyna hail from New Hampshire and are in love with Aruba especially for the beautiful beaches, warm sunny weather, top notch restaurants and friendly people. q

SPORTS A17

Friday 19 February 2016

Watson takes early lead at Riviera; McIlroy 1 behind DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bubba Watson has no beef with Riviera.

Two years after he won the Northern Trust Open with a 64-64 weekend, Watson got off to a solid start Thursday with seven birdies for a 5-under 66 that gave him a share of the lead with Chez Reavie and Luke List among the early starters.

Rory McIlroy, in his American debut for 2016 and his first time at Riviera, opened with a 67, along with Illinois senior Charlie Danielson.

“I just want to let everyone know that I love the golf course and I love the community,” Watson said with a grin. That was a reference to the abuse he took two weeks ago at the Phoenix Open when he said he didn’t like the changes made to golf course and was booed heavily on the 16th.

That’s not the case at Riviera, where the course seems to be as big of a star as the players.

“It’s all about hitting the right trajectories, hitting the right line and hopefully on certain pins, hitting the fairway so you can produce a little bit of spin,” Watson said. “It’s just a traditional, old-school golf course that’s got a lot of history.”

It helped that rain arrived Wednesday afternoon and was steady through the night, stopping right about the time the tournament began. It still was enough to allow the greens to hold a little bit more than usual.

Continued on page 21

LITTLE BIG MAN

NASCAR’s next big thing Truck series driver Rico Abreu answers questions from members of the media during NASCAR media day at Daytona International Speedway, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla. Associated Press Page 20

A18 SPORTS

Friday 19 February 2016

With Rio schedule change, Allyson Felix seeks 200-400 double RACHEL COHEN AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — If all goes according to plan, Allyson Felix will run a semifinal of the 400 meters around 8:45 p.m. on Aug. 14. About 13 hours later, she’ll race in the preliminaries of the 200, then she’ll have another 13 hours or so before the 400 final.

It’s better than the original schedule for the Rio Olympics, which had the 200 prelims and 400 final in the same evening session to essentially make doubling up on the two events unworkable. International track and field officials agreed last month to move up the 200 prelims to give the 30-year-old American star a chance to compete in both.

It still isn’t exactly going to be easy.

“Just happy for the opportunity to go for it, even though it’s going to be really challenging,” Felix said Thursday.

She hopes that someday the 200 and 400 rounds will never overlap, as is the case for the 100 and 200. At the 2012 London Games, the shorter double was the one Felix tried. She won gold in the 200, her signature event; even with a personal best in the 100, she was just fifth.

“With the 1-2 double, my

In this Aug. 28, 2015, file photo, women’s 400-meter gold medalist Allyson Felix celebrates on the podium at the World Athletics Championships at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing.

Associated Press

start is not great; that’s always posed a huge challenge for me,” said Felix, who has also won three relay Olympic gold medals.

“I’ve always known that I have potential in the 400, and it’s been in the back of my mind. I’m 30 years old

— if I’m going to do it, it’s going to have to be now.”

And now that she finally earned that elusive Olympic gold medal in the 200.

Felix had to settle for silver in 2004 and 2008 despite winning three straight world titles in the event. If not for

that victory in London, Felix probably wouldn’t be trying the 200-400 double.

“That 200 gold was something I had wanted for so long, and it was such a rocky, up and down road to get there,” she said.

“Once I did get it, I was able to say, ‘Hey, I want to challenge myself more and not set limits for myself, see what I can do.’ I’ve always been that type of competitor. I just want to know. I want to see what I could handle.”

Felix attempted the longer double at the 2011 world championships and won silver in the 400. But in the 200 final, the fatigue showed and she faded to third, snapping the streak of three straight world titles.

At last year’s worlds, she ran just the 400 because of the schedule — and won.

The 400 may be her newest challenge, but a first Olympic gold medal in it isn’t Felix’s main goal.

“The 200 is my baby; that’s the race that I love,” she said. “The 400 — we have a love-hate relationship. I would love to defend my title in the 200. But I’m embracing the 400 more (than before).”

Practices now seek to replicate the demands of the overlapping schedule in Rio. There are a lot of intense back-to-back days

of workouts. She’ll be doing late-night and early-morning sessions to mimic the turnaround at the Olympics.

Felix is racing the 60 at Saturday’s Millrose Games to work on that not-so-great start.

It will be her last indoor meet of the season as she plans to skip the world indoor championships.

She came to track and field late, so she doesn’t have many memories of Michael Johnson’s recordsetting 200-400 double at the 1996 Atlanta Games that captivated American fans at a U.S. Olympics. Felix is seeking to become the third woman to accomplish the feat.

She had always planned to enter both the 200 and 400 at this summer’s U.S. trials, where the Americans’ depth makes a spot in Rio no guarantee even for an athlete as gifted as Felix.

But when she got a call from her brother saying the IAAF was going to change the order of events, the chance to make history felt that much more tangible.

“It’s awesome to know that if I am able to make it, it’s going to be a little better schedule,” Felix said. “It’s motivating to know that it is real.

“I just have to do my part.”q

U.S. Olympic team expects Krzyzewski to be the coach in Rio BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo expects Mike Krzyzewski to lead the Americans this summer, and the coach says he has “every intention” of being in Brazil.

Krzyzewski plans to have left knee replacement surgery following the completion of Duke’s season, and Colangelo told NBA TV during All-Star weekend in Toronto that he was “thinking about what ifs” if Coach K’s health prevented him from returning.

But Colangelo said Thursday in a statement that “at no time” have he and Krzyzewski discussed him

not coaching this summer.

“I was aware that Coach planned to have knee replacement surgery immediately after Duke’s season was completed, but at no time have Coach and I ever discussed him not coaching the USA National Team this summer,” Colangelo said.

“I remain 100 percent convinced that there is no better coach to lead the U.S. as it looks to successfully defend its Olympic gold medal in Rio and represent the United States in a manner all Americans will be proud of.”

Krzyzewski, 69, has been the U.S. coach since 2005, leading the Americans to

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski speaks with an official during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016. Duke won 74-73.

Associated Press

consecutive Olympic gold medals and two straight world championships.

He missed a game earlier this month after feeling ill and was briefly hospital-

ized at Duke University Hospital but rejoined the 20th-ranked Blue Devils the next day and has been with them since, including for their victory over No. 5 North Carolina on Wednesday.

“Our medical team here at Duke and I expect a full recovery following the rehabilitation process, and I have every intention of coaching the United States National Team in Rio at the 2016 Olympics,” Krzyzewski said.Duke, depending on its success in the NCAA Tournament, will have its season end anywhere from March 17 to April 4.

The Olympics are scheduled to start Aug. 5.q

SPORTS A19

Friday 19 February 2016

NBA deadline day

Green, Morris traded, but no major moves

BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer Jeff Green joined the Los Angeles Clippers and Markieff Morris moved to Washington in a largely tepid end to the NBA’s trade deadline day.

There were no deals involving Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Pau Gasol, Al Horford, or any other AllStar caliber player whose named was floated in recent days.

Major moves will wait for the summer, when a soaring salary cap and a strong free agent class could provide the fireworks that never materialized Thursday.

Washington and most of the other teams battling for a spot at the bottom of the Eastern Conference race may have improved, though the New York Knicks couldn’t come up with anything.

Houston, Cleveland, Chicago and Atlanta all made trades, though mostly minor ones. Teams interested in their top players not only had to weigh giving up assets versus signing them in the summer, but also whether they wanted to acquire a player who could be a free agent and command a huge salary when the cap increases to around $90 million in July.

Veteran players can earn 25 percent or more of the cap as their first-year salary.

Green went from Memphis to the Clippers, giving them another versatile forward while Blake Griffin is sidelined. Morris, unhappy this season in Phoenix, joins a disappointing Washington team that is 10th in the East. __ A look at some of the key deals: CLIPPERS GO GREEN: Coach Doc Rivers brings in another of his former Boston Celtics and ships out Lance Stephenson, who disappointed in Los

Angeles just as he did in Charlotte. The Grizzlies also acquired a future firstround pick.

MORRIS MOVES ON: The Wizards gave up a firstround draft pick and forwards Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair for Morris.

Despite his outbursts in Phoenix this season after the Suns traded his twin brother, Marcus, to Detroit, Morris was the Suns’ thirdbest scorer and should benefit from playing with the backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal.

FRYE’S THEIR GUY: Cleveland dealt seldomused Anderson Varejao to Portland and brought in Channing Frye from Orlando, giving them another perimetershooting big forward like Kevin Love to help spread the floor for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

HAWKS ON POINT: Instead of trading point guard Jeff Teague, who was involved in a number of potential trade talks, Atlanta brought in a new potential backup in a three-time trade. They sent Shelvin Mack to Utah and Justin Holliday to Chicago, which also got a secondround pick from the Jazz.

D-MO IN MOTOWN: Detroit made its second deal of the week, acquiring forward/ center Donatas Motiejunas and guard Marcus Thornton from Houston for center Joel Anthony and a protected 2016 first-round draft pick. Motiejunas, a Lithuanian nicknamed D-Mo, joins Tobias Harris, acquired earlier from Orlando, in bolstering the Pistons’ frontcourt.

THUNDER STRIKE: With D.J. Augustin’s playing time as backup point guard reduced following the emergence of rookie Cameron Payne, Oklahoma City sent him and Steve Novak to Denver for Foye, a veteran who can play both guard positions.q

In this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 file photo, Memphis Grizzlies forward Jeff Green (32) drives against Milwaukee Bucks guard Khris Middleton; and In this Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015 file photo, Los Angeles Clippers forward Lance Stephenson (1) in the first quarter during a game against the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix. The Memphis Grizzlies have traded forward Jeff Green to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for guard Lance Stephenson, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016.

Associated Press

20 SPORTS

Friday 19 February 2016

NASCAR’s next big thing could be 4-foot-4 Rico Abreu DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Rico Abreu crashed a Dale Earnhardt Jr. interview to snap a selfie with NASCAR’s most popular driver.

His caption on Snapchat: “YES!!!!!! OMG Dale Earnhardt Jr.!!!!!”

Abreu was a bustling burst of energy this week at Daytona 500 media day, crashing Q&As, and pulling up seats to chat up writers.

On the red carpet, Abreu was a favorite — even as journalists had to take a knee to talk to him. On his director’s chair seat, Abreu charmed the media, his feet dangling with room to spare above the ground.

Yes, NASCAR’s next big thing might be all of 4-foot4 of Truck Series driver Rico Abreu.

“I’m uniquely different and it’s great,” Abreu said.

Abreu has been great already over a brief racing career that has produced wins at marquee races at every level he’s competed.

His victory burnouts are a reason to race to YouTube if you haven’t hit a Midwest dirt track lately.

But the days of 100 races

a year mucking it up in the dirt appear over. Abreu has made the next step on the national level and makes his NASCAR debut driving the No. 98 Toyota of ThorSport Racing Friday night at the Trucks opener at Daytona International Speedway. The only compensation for his size is the configuration inside the truck.

The pedals are off the dashboard bar, moving closer to Abreu, and his seat is moved up about 6 inches.

The steering wheel is closer to his body because of his short arms. “(NASCAR) has approved it all and said it was fine,” Abreu said. “It’s comfortable and safe.”

Abreu was born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder of bone growth that results in abnormally short stature.

His success as much as his size has made him a fan favorite and a popular personality in the garage.

Chip Ganassi, a team owner in NASCAR, IndyCar and sports cars, sent his second-ever tweet to Abreu: “There’s a name you’ll be hearing more of.

Stay Tuned!”

Ganassi Sprint Cup driver Kyle Larson is close friends with Abreu and they began their racing careers in California. “It’s cool when you grow up with him and now you are doing about the same thing,” Larson said.

The 24-year-old Abreu said he didn’t experience much teasing growing up in California about his size. He played football and baseball as a kid and wrestled until middle school. When his friends kept growing during the teen years, Abreu fell in love racing custom go-karts built by his father.

“My parents always pushed me to do things,” he said.

“If I knew I wasn’t capable of doing it, I accepted it.

But if someone told me I wasn’t capable, I sure as hell don’t accept that.”

Abreu, who said he has been victimized by cyberbullying about his size, visits elementary schools preaching acceptance and telling kids to always chase their dreams.

“That’s the best feeling of it all, the accomplishments,” he said. Oh, he’s racked up accomplishments.

Carli Lloyd leads 4 Americans on international women’s team The Associated Press Midfielder Carli Lloyd is among four Americans chosen for the first Women’s World XI. Lloyd’s hat trick led the U.S. past Japan in last year’s World Cup final.

She is joined on the team

by American goalkeeper Hope Solo and defenders Meghan Klingenberg and Julie Johnston.

The international All-Star squad was announced Thursday by FIFPro, soccer’s world players’ union.

Players from 33 nationalities in 20 countries voted.

Other selections include defenders Kadeisha Buchanan (Canada) and Wendie Renard (France); midfielders Amandine Henry (France) and Aya Miyama (Japan); and forwards Eugenie Le Som-

The United States’ Carli Lloyd, right, scores past Ireland goalkeeper Emma Byrne during the first half in a women’s international friendly soccer game Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, in San Diego.

Associated Press

mer (France), Anja Mittag (Germany) and Celia Sasic (Germany).

Lloyd was voted FIFA Women’s Player of the Year last month and earned the

Golden Boot as top player at the World Cup. Buchanan, who attends the University of West Virginia, was voted Best Young Player at the World Cup.q

Driver Rico Abreu walks through the garage area before practice for Friday’s NASCAR Truck Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. NASCAR’s next big thing might be all of 4-foot-4 of Truck Series driver Abreu. He’ll compete Friday in the series opener Associated Press

Abreu is the 2014 USAC Midget national champion and a two-time defending Chili Bowl champion. He earned his first career stock car victory last July, racing to the win at Columbus Motor Speedway in Ohio.

He said fans often stop him before and after races to say what an inspiration he is.

Abreu will ditch the dirt for asphalt Friday night in a field that includes two-time

series champion Matt Crafton.

Trucks are only a start for the pint-sized power who wants to reach new heights in motorsports.

“Growing up, I never knew any of this was possible,” Abreu said. “It’s great to have the confidence to know that all of this can happen. I’d like to run the Indy 500. I’d like to run the Daytona 500. I’d like to run the Rolex 24 Hours.”q

SPORTS A21

Friday 19 February 2016

NHL Roundup

Panarin hat trick leads Blackhawks to victory at Rangers

NEW YORK (AP) — Chicago’s rookie sensation Artemi Panarin scored his first hat trick to lead the Blackhawks to a come-from-behind 5-3 victory at the New York Rangers on Wednesday and a return to the top of the NHL Central Division.

Andrew Desjardins and Andrew Shaw also scored and Corey Crawford made 31 saves to help Chicago hand New York its first regulation loss at home in 11 games.

The Blackhawks, who scored a season-high four power-play goals Monday, got three more against New York. The Rangers were miffed by a controversial late penalty that led to Panarin’s go-ahead goal with 3 minutes to play.

He also added an emptynet tally.

Kevin Hayes, Derick Brassard and Dan Boyle scored for New York, which rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead early in the third period.

Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh returned after missing four games with a concussion.

AVALANCHE 3, CANADIENS 2 DENVER (AP) — Jarome Iginla broke a tie with 2:03 left with his second goal of

Riviera

Continued from page 17 Reavie and List both were bogey-free, with List making birdies on all of the par 5s. Reavie was five shots out of the lead going into the final round at Pebble Beach last week until closing with a 77, though he saw enough from his game to not let that bother him.

McIlroy has no history at all at Riviera. He came over from Florida for the first time because of all he had heard about the golf course, and he hasn’t been disappointed. McIlroy played the 307-yard 10th hole close to perfec-

Chicago Blackhawks left wing Artemi Panarin (72) gets tripped up after scoring an empty-net goal against the New York Rangers during the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, in New York. The Blackhawks defeated the Rangers 5-3.

Associated Press

the game in Colorado’s victory over Montreal.

Iginla also had a powerplay goal in the second period after having a goal waved off for goaltender interference. He has 17 goals this season to push his career total to 606.

tion, with a tee shot left of the green and a pitch to 5 feet. He followed with a birdie before settling into a steady diet of pars, with one mistake from a tee shot into a deep bunker on the 15th hole.

The morning groups were helped slightly by the rain, however.

Riviera’s strength in recent years has been the firm, fast conditions. Balls that took big bounces on the poa annua greens were at least holding and spinning back.

“I hit the ball pretty well from tee-to-green,” McIlroy said. “Put myself out of position a couple of times, but with the way the con-

Erik Johnson also added a short-handed goal for the Avalanche.

Andrei Markov and Lars Eller scored for the Canadiens.

WILD 5, FLAMES 3 CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Jason Pominville had a

ditions of the golf course were, it didn’t punish you as bad as if it would have been as firm as it was the last couple of days.”

Jordan Spieth, the world’s No. 1 player, played in the afternoon and already was 3 over at the turn.

Charles Howell III, another past champion at Riviera, was in the group at 67.

Charl Schwartzel, coming off a victory last week in South Africa, had a 68.

The surprise was Danielson, who won the collegiate qualifier on Monday and made his PGA Tour debut.

He opened birdie-birdie, followed with a pair of bogeys and then settled into his round and made a pair

goal and an assist to help Minnesota beat Calgary.

The Wild have won their first two games under interim coach John Torchetti after a 1-11-2 stretch that cost coach Mike Yeo his job.

Jason Zucker, Mikko Koivu

and Charlie Coyle, into an empty net, also scored for Minnesota. Nino Neiderreiter had two assists, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 25 shots Deryk Engelland, David Jones and Mikeal Backlund scored for Calgary.q

In this Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016 file photo, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland follows his ball on the 11th hole during 1st round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Associated Press

of late birdies to reach 67.

“I just went out and tried to enjoy the day,” Danielson said. “I had no idea if

I would shoot 80 or 66, so I just went out with no expectations and it worked out.”

A22

Friday 19 February 2016

SPORTS

David Ferrer of Spain returns the ball to Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, at the Rio Open tennis tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016.

Associated Press.

Top seeds Nadal and Ferrer reach quarterfinals in Rio STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Even the King of Clay Rafael Nadal needs victories to boost his confidence, which has waned recently as his dominance has slipped on the slippery red surface. “Winning is the important thing, which gives you confidence and lets you relax,” Nadal said after joining fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the quarterfinals of the Rio Open, the third claycourt tournament in the month-long swing around Latin America. Nadal and Ferrer — the top two seeded players — both beat countrymen on Thursday to reach the last eight. Nadal beat Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 7-5 and Ferrer defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Nadal has won 14 of 15 matches against Almagro.

Nadal was knocked out in the semifinals last week in Buenos Aires, which he linked partly to stomach

problems and the stifling heat in the Argentine summer.

“I’m feeling better physically,” Nadal said. “Last week I had a little problem with my stomach during the whole week, and with the humidity — it was unbelievable. I felt so bad physically.

Here I’m feeling much better because the stomach is much better. That’s the key on the improvement of my game, and victory helps.”

Nadal will face Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, while Ferrer meets young Austrian Dominic Thiem in the last eight, a matchup of one of the most consistent players on clay against a 22-year-old viewed as a star of the next generation.

Thiem defeated Nadal last week in the semifinals in Buenos Aires en route to winning there. Ferrer has won 26 ATP singles titles — five last season.

“He’s a very great player,” Ferrer said of Thiem. “He’s young. He’s playing with

confidence. He’s going to be a top player, for sure. I like his game and tomorrow is going to be tough I know. I’ll have to play my best tennis for a win.”

Constant downpours the first three days forced schedulers to compress the schedule on Thursday and put Ferrer in action during the afternoon with suffocating humidity and temperatures around 35C (95F). “These are extreme conditions, and it’s very difficult to play in conditions like this,” Ferrer said.

In other key men’s matches in the combined ATP-WTA event, Federico Delbonis defeated Paolo Lorenzio 6-3, 6-0 and Dolgopolov won over Inigo Cervantes 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

On the women’s side, second-seeded Johanna Larsson was upset 6-4, 6-4

by Brazilian qualifier Paula Goncalves. No. 3 Danka Kovinic defeated Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-2, 6-3 and No. 6 Lara Arruabarrena beat Ana Bogdan 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.q

Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic returns the ball to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during the quarter finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016.

Associated Press

Strycova, Garcia reach semifinals; Svitolina meets Errani SANDRA HARWITT Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic advanced to the Dubai TennisChampionships semifinals by outlasting former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Thursday.

The 47th-ranked Strycova lost the three previous times she played against the 17th-ranked Ivanovic.

“I believed in myself,” said Strycova. “I was 5-3 down (in the tiebreaker) and I was playing a little bit like didn’t believe that I can do it.

“I played very well the last four balls. That gave me so much confidence for the second set.”

Strycova will play Caroline Garcia of France, who reached the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Andrea Petkovic of Germany.

Strycova holds a 3-1 career edge over Garcia and won their last encounter in straight sets at the Australian Open last month.

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine

advanced to her first semifinal of the season with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 win over American CoCo Vandeweghe.

The 21st-ranked Svitolina is playing her first tournament with former world No. 1 Justine Henin, a seventime Grand Slam champion, joining her team as a coaching consultant. Her day-to-day coach remains Iain Hughes.

“My coach, he’s more (the) technical part, and she’s more mental, I think,” said Svitolina. “For me, for now, they complete all the things which I need.”

Svitolina will play Sara Errani of Italy, who defeated Madison Brengle of the United States 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Brengle, leading 4-1 in the third set, called her coach, former French player Julie Coin, to the court during the changeover. Brengle fell apart from that point on, losing the next five games and the match.

“It was a really strange match,” Errani said. “I could’ve lost easily.”q

TECHNOLOGY A23

Friday 19 February 2016

Covertly, Israel prepares to fight boycott activists online DANIEL ESTRIN Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is using its world-leading expertise in cyber security to take on the growing threat of the global proPalestinian movement to boycott Israel.

The Israeli government recently allotted nearly $26 million in this year’s budget to combat what it sees as worldwide efforts to “delegitimize” the Jewish state’s right to exist. Some of the funds are earmarked for Israeli tech companies, many of them headed by former military intelligence officers, for digital initiatives aimed at gathering intelligence on activist groups and countering their efforts.

“I want to create a community of fighters,” said Sima Vaknin-Gil, the director general of Israel’s Ministry for Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, to Israeli tech developers at a forum last month dedicated to the topic.

Initiatives are largely being kept covert. Participants at the invite-only forum, held on the sidelines of a cyber technology conference, repeatedly stood up to remind people that journalists were in the room.

Among the government officials involved in the efforts are some of Israel’s top secret-keepers, including Sima Shine, a former top official in the Mossad spy agency, and VakninGil, who recently retired as the chief military censor responsible for gag orders on state secrets.

Israel has established itself as a world leader in cyber technology innovation, fueled by graduates of prestigious and secretive military and security intelligence units.

These units are widely thought to be behind some of the world’s most advanced cyber-attacks, including the Stuxnet virus that attacked Iran’s nuclear energy equipment last decade.

Each year, these units churn out a talent pool of Israelis who translate their skills to the corporate world. Now

Israel is looking to harness their technological prowess for the fight to protect Israel’s international image.

Vaknin-Gil said her ministry is encouraging initiatives to expose the funding and curb the activities of antiIsrael activists, as well as campaigns to “flood the Internet” with content that puts a positive face on Israel. She said some of these actions will not be publicly identified with the government, but that the ministry will not fund unethical or illegal digital initiatives.

Established about 10 years ago, the pro-Palestinian “BDS” campaign is a coalition of organizations that advocate boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Inspired by the anti-apartheid movement, BDS organizers say they are using nonviolent means to promote the Palestinian struggle for independence.

The movement has grown into a global network of thousands of volunteers, from campus activists to church groups to liberal Jews disillusioned by Israeli policies. They lobby corporations, artists and academic institutions to sever ties with Israel.

The movement has made inroads. U.S. and British academic unions have endorsed boycotts, student governments at universities have made divestment proposals, and some famous musicians have refused to perform in Israel. The BDS movement also claims responsibility for pressuring some large companies to stop or modify operations in Israel. In its latest push, it has urged top Hollywood actors to reject a government-paid trip to Israel being offered to leading Oscar nominees.

Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement, said “quite a few web pages” that BDS websites linked to have mysteriously disappeared from the Internet.

“We assume Israel’s cyber sabotage is ongoing, but we are quite pleased that its detrimental impact on the global BDS movement has been dismal so far,” he

In this April 20, 2015, file photo, an Egyptian man shouts anti-Israeli slogans in front of banners with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) logo during the launch of the Egyptian campaign that urges boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and Israeli-made goods, at the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate in Cairo, Egypt.

Associated Press

said.

Israel says the movement is rooted in anti-Semitism and seeks not to change Israeli policies, but ultimately to put an end to the Jewish state.

Many online activists driving anti-Israeli campaigns on social media are techsavvy, second- and thirdgeneration Muslims in Europe and the U.S. who have grievances against the West and also lead online campaigns against European and U.S. governments, said Elad Ratson, who tracks the issue for Israel’s Foreign Ministry and spoke at last month’s cybersecurity forum.

He said they often create code that allows activists to blast thousands of messages from social media accounts — creating the illusion that many protesters are sharing the same antiIsrael or anti-West message online.

Israeli officials lobby Facebook to remove pages it says incite violence against Israelis, and there has been talk of advancing legislation to restrict Facebook in Israel. A Facebook representative met with Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan in Israel last week about the matter.

Ratson said social media giants are beginning to close inciting users’ accounts.

Twitter said in a statement this month that since mid2015, it has closed more than 125,000 accounts that were “threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS,” the Islamic State group. But he said Islamist activists are simply moving to “Darknet” sites not visible on the open internet.

Some Israeli tech companies are starting to build sly algorithms to restrict these online activists’ circle of influence on the “Darknet,” so activists think their message is reaching others when in fact it is being contained, Ratson said.

Other Israeli companies work on forensic intelligence gathering, such as detecting digital or semantic signatures buried in activists’ coding so they are able to track and restrict their online activity.

Firewall Israel, a non-profit initiative sponsored by the Reut Institute, an Israeli think tank, is building an online platform to help pro-Israel activists around the world communicate about antiIsrael activism in their communities. At a recent event the initiative held at Cam-

pus Tel Aviv, a Googlesponsored event space for entrepreneurs, an Israeli web expert taught young activists how to mine the internet for BDS activities.

“Delegitimizers are engaged in a Disneyland of hate,” Igal Ram of Firewall Israel told seminar participants. “We want to act against the people who run the Disneyland ... and the useful idiots who help.”

Inspiration, an Israeli intelligence analysis company founded by Ronen Cohen and Haim Pinto, former military intelligence officers, launched a technological initiative some months ago to collect intelligence on BDS organizations in Europe, particularly Scandinavian countries, the U.S., and South America, Cohen said. He said the initiative aims to dismantle the infrastructure of groups he said were responsible for incitement and anti-Semitism against Israel. He declined to give specifics.

“It’s no different than an operation, which you sometimes read about in the newspaper, in Syria or Lebanon,” Cohen said. “It’s the kind of thing that, if you want to do it in the future ... you can’t work in the open.”q

A24 BUSINESS

Friday 19 February 2016

Stocks slip as 3-day rally ends; Wal-Mart sinks retailers MARLEY JAY AP Markets Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks slipped Thursday as a three-day rally ran out of steam. A surge in oil prices also slowed down, and consumer stocks fell after Wal-Mart reported disappointing sales and cut its projections for the year.

The losses were small but spread across many industries. Energy stocks fell the most, followed by banks.

Those stocks had made big gains over the last three days as the market rallied.

Wal-Mart’s weak results put pressure on other retailers as well as supermarket chains.

The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 40.40 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,413.43.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 8.99 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,917.83. The Nasdaq composite index slid 46.53 points, or 1 percent, to 4,487.54.

Wal-Mart’s profit fell compared to last year and its sales were weaker than

analysts expected. The retailer now says its net sales this year will be about the same as in 2015. It’s struggling with competition from online giant Amazon and other retailers and is also paying its employees more, which has reduced its profits. In January the company said it would close 269 stores. Wal-Mart is the first major retailer to report its quarterly results. Competitors including Target, JC Penney and Macy’s will follow next week. Retail consultant Walter Loeb said he thinks most of those competitors will also report disappointing results.

“There are many, many retailers who have not been proactive in keeping their expenses in check,” he said, adding that weakening sales growth makes that a bigger problem. Loeb said consumers are spending cautiously because they are worried about job security and aren’t sure if the U.S. economy will keep growing.

J.C. Penney lost 20 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $7.63 and Costco fell $2.26, or 1.5 percent, to $148.65.

Wal-Mart’s struggles also affected supermarkets, as

percent over the last week.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, lost 22 cents to close at $34.28 a barrel in London.

With oil prices trading

According to an Energy Information Administration report, oil inventories grew by 2.1 million barrels and gasoline stockpiles increased by 3 million barrels.

Independent analyst Jim Ritterbusch said people are driving a bit more because the price of gas has plunged, but it’s not a big change, so it’s not helping improve prices.

“It looks like gasoline demand is still soft,” he said.

“You can only buy and sell so many SUVs.” While oil companies have shut down hundreds of oil drilling rigs, it will be months before oil production really slows down because drillTrader Sal Suarino works on the floor of the New York Stock Ex- ing operations have bechange. Stocks slipped Thursday as a three-day rally ran out of come much more efficient, steam.

Ritterbusch said.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew) The S&P 500 jumped more than 5 percent over the the company noted that around 13-year lows, at past three days, with banks meat and dairy prices are least six OPEC nations have and consumer stocks makdown. Kroger fell $1.35, or backed a plan that would ing the biggest gains. That 3.5 percent, to $38.06. stop oil production from in- rally erased about half of Oil prices fluctuated after creasing any further. That the index’s losses since the a big rally over the last few would help address a giant beginning of the year. days. Investors are hoping supply glut. Iran, which has Financial stocks had made that a round of internation- not agreed to the deal and the largest gains during the al talks will lead to a deal has said it wants to keep three-day rally, as the S&P that addresses a glut in oil increasing its production, 500’s financial stock index production, but the U.S. said it supports any mea- jumped more than 7 percent over the three days government reported that sure to raise oil prices. energy stockpiles are still Investors saw that as a ending on Wednesday. growing. good sign, but the deal JPMorgan Chase retreated U.S. crude added 11 cents won’t go into effect un- 96 cents, or 1.6 percent, to to close at $30.77 a bar- less all 13 OPEC members $57.81 and Bank of Amerirel in New York. The price agree to it. Meanwhile, ca fell 32 cents, or 2.5 perof U.S. oil has climbed 17 stockpiles keep growing. cent, to $12.24.q

Amid turmoil:

Yahoo CEO tries to reassure mobile partners

MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer found herself in an awkward situation Thursday at the struggling Internet company’s annual conference for the makers of mobile apps.

She had to persuade an auditorium full of programmers and advertising partners that Yahoo will grow into an increasingly important player in the mobile market. This while the company is dramatically shrinking to appease restless shareholders threatening to overthrow management unless things get better.

Just before Mayer’s appearance, Yahoo tried to underscore its long-term commitment to mobile by projecting this statement on a huge screen hanging above the stage: “Imagine what the next seven years will bring.” It’s not even clear that Yahoo will exist in its current form seven months from now, given that some of its shareholders want the company to sell its Internet operations after 3 1/2 years of declining revenue under Mayer’s leadership. Mayer and the rest of Yahoo’s board is exploring “strategic alternatives” that could include a sale while the Sunnyvale,

California, company sheds 15 percent of its workforce and closes unprofitable services. Even though she is deviating from an original turnaround plan, Mayer has steadfastly insisted that Yahoo Inc. will still have a bright future after her latest overhaul.

Mayer touched upon that theme Thursday as she emphasized that that Yahoo is still investing heavily in mobile devices despite the massive cutbacks in other areas of the company.

“There is incredible potential here,” she assured the mobile developers. “Together, we can build the future of mobile.”q

BUSINESS A25

Friday 19 February 2016

Wal-Mart’s 4 Q results test investor patience A. D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart is spending billions of dollars to pay its hourly workers more and spruce up its stores and online services.

But its fourth-quarter results show that it’ll take time to fix its business.

The world’s largest retailer’s adjusted fourth-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates. But profit fell 8 percent as the company faces higher costs.

Wal-Mart also reported a revenue shortfall for the quarter and lowered its annual sales forecast because of the negative impact of a strong U.S. dollar and the company’s move to close some stores globally. And even though Wal-Mart reported its sixth straight increase in sales at established stores in the U.S., that pace marked a slowdown from the thirdquarter. Even online sales have been losing steam.

During the fourth-quarter, global e-commerce rose 8 percent, well below the 20 percent pace just a few years ago.

The results sent Wal-Mart shares down more than 4 percent.

“Overall, the results were somewhat underwhelming, and suggest the road to improvement for Wal-Mart is going be drawn out,” Michael Lasser, analyst at UBS, wrote in a report published Thursday.

Wal-Mart faces pressure

on all fronts. Its low-income shoppers remain cautious.

Wal-Mart also faces increasing competition from online leader Amazon.

changes that it says will help it stay competitive in a changing retail landscape.

It’s spending $2.7 billion on higher wages and other

Reusable shopping bags are offered for sale at a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles. On Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, Wal-Mart reported financial results.

com, dollar stores and traditional grocers like Kroger, all of which are pushing lower prices and convenience.

Wal-Mart says shoppers are benefiting from lower gas prices, but it’s now battling deflation in key areas like meat and dairy products.

And delays in tax refund checks from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service hurtbusiness late in the fourth quarter.

Wal-Mart is making lots of

investments for its hourly workers over a two-year period.

It has also stepped up its investment online and in the stores. It’s better stocking shelves and is improving the fresh areas of its stores, which are crucial to driving traffic. And it’s expanding online grocery shopping to more than 150 locations across more than 20 markets in the U.S. But those moves have squeezed profits. Annual

Apple Pay e-payment launches in China BEIJING (AP) — Apple Inc. on Thursday launched its smartphone-based payment system in China, where the electronic payments market is already dominated by an arm of ecommerce giant Alibaba.

Apple said Apple Pay could be used with cards from 19 banks and “numerous merchants.” The merchants include supermarket Carrefour, fast food outlets McDonald’s and KFC, and convenience store 7-Eleven, according to a news release Wednesday from China UnionPay, the country’s state-owned

profits this year are expected to fall as much as 12 percent.

The company is also pruning its global foot print.

Last month, Wal-Mart an-

credit card processor with which Apple is working.

Apple’s electronic payment system started in the United States in October 2014 and has since spread to Britain, Canada and Australia. Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain are coming this year.

Apple Pay is a late arrival in a Chinese electronic payments market that offers smartphone users not just online shopping but also the option to order taxis, send money to friends, pay bills and invest in wealth management funds.

The market is dominated

by Alipay, an arm of the ecommerce giant Alibaba Group. WeChat Payment, operated by social networking and gaming company Tencent Holdings Ltd, is also popular.

Apple’s system will allow UnionPay cardholders to make payments at retail stores via Apple iPhones and Apple Watches. The service also enables in-app payments on iPhones and iPads.

Apple has declined to say how the company and UnionPay would divide the costs and revenues of their venture.q

nounced it was closing 269 stores, including 154 in the U.S. The closings are part of the company’s overall review of its operations

to make it more nimble to better compete with rivals.

Wal-Mart said revenue at stores opened at least a year for its Wal-Mart U.S. division rose 0.6 percent, its sixth straight increase, but that pace slowed from 1.5 percent increase in the third quarter. Customer counts are up for the fifth straight quarterly period.

During the holiday season, Wal-Mart made a concerted effort to pull back on temporary promotions and focus on its “everyday low prices,” its bedrock price strategy.

“We are seeing momentum in our Wal-Mart U.S. business,” said Doug McMillon, president and CEO of WalMart in a statement. But he added, “We’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, earned $4.57 billion, or $1.43 per share in the three-month period ended Jan. 31. That compares with $4.97 billion, or $1.53 per share, in the year ago period.

On an adjusted basis, the figure was $1.49, higher than the $1.46 per share estimated by FactSet. q

A26 COMICS

Friday 19 February 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

Friday 19 February 2016

Apple could bypass iPhone security, experts say _ but won’t BREE FOWLER AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Faced with a federal judge’s order to help investigators break into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, Apple may well argue that the request places an unreasonable burden on the company.

In fact, experts say that complying with the government’s request wouldn’t be particularly challenging for Apple. But doing so might set a dangerous precedent that could threaten the data security of the millions of iPhone users around the world.

The phone in question was used by Syed Farook, who along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people in a December attack.

Investigators don’t know if the phone contains important evidence about the attack or the couple’s communications — and because its contents are encrypted, they won’t unless they can get the passcode to unlock it. The phone was issued by Farook’s employer, the county of San Bernardino.

Investigators can’t just try random passcodes until they hit on the right one, either. The phone has apparently enabled an Apple security feature — a sort of self-destruct option that would render the phone’s data unreadable after 10 incorrect passcode attempts.

The judge’s order requires Apple to create a unique software package — one Apple CEO Tim Cook described as “a new version of the iPhone operating system” — that would allow investigators to bypass the self-destruct system.

The same software would also let the government enter passcodes electronically, eliminating both the tedium of manual entry and the enforced delays the iPhone system imposes after a few wrong guesses.

Apple opposes the order,

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Associated Press island US$11,000 e-mail: jazbi@aol.com mbre51@aol.com arguing that such software bet may be to argue that __________________________ 204613 would amount to a security “backdoor” that would ultimately make iPhone users across the globe more vulnerable to information or identity theft. Both the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have pledged to support Apple, saying that the government’s request endangers security and privacy.

From a technical perspective, making such software shouldn’t be difficult for Apple, experts say. But once created, it would be nearly impossible to contain, says Ajay Arora, CEO and co-founder of Vera, a startup that provides companies with encryption services.

“Imagine if that got into the wrong hands,” he says.

“What they’re asking for is a God key — and once you get that, there’s no going back.”

The demands being made of Apple border on the bizarre, says Lee Tien, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group. “Asking a technology company to make its security less secure is a crazy, stupid thing to do,” he says. “It’s like asking water not to be wet.”

The government’s best

its request doesn’t actually create a backdoor, even if that’s how Apple characterizes the request, says Robert Cattanach, a former Justice Department attorney. But Apple is probably right to worry that a government win in this case will lead to broader requests down the road.

“If the court rules in favor of the government, then I think the stage has been set for the next step, which is, ‘Thanks for removing the auto-wipe. Now you need to help us defeat the code’,” Cattanach says.

“If you’re the government, you’re going to ask for that.”q

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A28 SCIENCE

Friday 19 February 2016

Scientists: Puffins might spend the winter off New Jersey PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Researchers say they’ve found an answer to the long-standing question of where Maine’s Atlantic puffins spend the winter: far off New Jersey and New York.

Puffins are the colorful seabirds of the auk family that are graceful in the water and awkward on land and air. The birds spend the spring breeding season and summer in coastal areas before heading out to open ocean waters in the autumn and winter.

The National Audubon Society has described the exact winter locations of Maine’s puffins as “long a mystery” to scientists. But the organization said Tuesday that locators recovered from 19 puffins in recent years show the birds spent a chunk of the winter several states away from Maine.

The area most frequented by puffins in the winter was about 200 miles southeast of Cape Cod, said Stephen Kress, the director of the Audubon Seabird Restoration Program. Kress said the

In this Aug. 1, 2014, file photo, Atlantic puffins congregate near their burrows on Eastern Egg Rock, a small island off the coast of Maine. Scientists say they have cracked the code about where Maine’s beloved, colorful Atlantic puffins go in the winter. The answer is somewhat surprising: they float out in offshore waters off the New Jersey coast.

Associated Press

data showed puffins winter over underwater canyons and sea mountains in the Atlantic.

Audubon said its findings represent the first time the winter grounds of Mainebreeding Atlantic puffins have been mapped. It’s an important discovery because puffins are a threatened species and data about their movements are needed to inform conservation efforts, Kress said.

“Potential threats of commercial fishing, offshore wind and climate change

have prompted the need for information on the nonbreeding movements and wintering locations of seabirds that nest in the Gulf of Maine,” he said.

Atlantic puffins have a large total population estimated at more than 10 million, but the International Union for Conservation of Nature says that population is declining.

The bird is a favorite with

birdwatchers and tour groups and has been the subject of vigorous conservation efforts in localized areas, including Maine, where there are about 1,000 pairs of puffins. Puffins nearly disappeared from the Maine coast because of hunting and egg collecting in the 19th century but have rebounded in the last four decades thanks to restoration efforts, Kress said.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29 Gillian Jacobs in ‘Love’ with her new Netflix series Friday 19 February 2016

ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Gillian Jacobs admits to warning her mother about the explicit content in her new Netflix series “Love.” She didn’t have to do that when she was on network TV. “The content is more adult.

My mom is telling me she’s telling all of her friends and family and co-workers to watch the show,” explained Jacobs in a recent interview.

“I keep being like, ‘But, you know, you know that there’s some, you know, some adult content in here.’

She’s like, ‘They know, they know.’ I’m like, ‘OK, but there’s some scenes in there I don’t know if I want your co-workers to see.”

“Love” follows Jacob’s Mickey and Paul Rust’s character, Gus, two mismatched misfits who embark on a relationship. The first season is available on

college, aired for five seasons on NBC and one on Yahoo but seemed always on the chopping block.

“Love” has already been picked up for a second season before Season One is out.

In this Feb. 4, 2016 photo, Gillian Jacobs poses for a portrait in promotion of her upcoming Netflix series “Love” in New York. The show premieres on Friday, Feb. 19.

Associated Press

Netflix on Friday.

This new gig also has Jacobs feeling like she got invited to a party with the popular kids in high school.

“I went to a Netflix party

recently, and I was sitting there looking around and I was like, ‘I feel like I am at the cool kids table, like what is this?’ and it was all these actors from all their

shows at one restaurant together and I was like, ‘This feels like a mural.’ It is kind of surreal.”

Her last TV show, “Community,” set at a community

“I mean it couldn’t be more of a 180 from ‘Community,’” said Jacobs. “To have an immediate two season pick-up on Netflix? I know, the whole thing has felt like a dream.”

But could there be another revival of “Community”?

The phrase “six seasons and a movie” was a running joke on the show, poking fun at its unstable existence.

Jacobs is open to — but not certain — of a “Community” film.

“There’s no script for that but I think my informal poll shows the cast would like to do the movie. We all still love and miss each other and talk all the time.”q

A30 PEOPLE

Friday 19 February 2016

& ARTS Sean Hayes takes on heavenly stage role in ‘An Act of God’ LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean Hayes, who played sidekick Jack in TV’s “Will & Grace,” is the ultimate top banana on stage in “An This image released by Polk & Co. shows Sean Hayes portraying God in a scene from “An Act of God.” Associated Press

Act of God.” Hayes has the title role in the West Coast production of the play, a cheeky take on the Almighty and what he really thinks of his imperfect human charges.

“It’s smart, funny, poignant,” Hayes said of the play by David Javerbaum, the former head writer for “The Daily Show” who adapted it from his book, “The Last Testament: A

Memoir by God.” Hayes also said yes to the part because it tested him, as did his 2010-11 Broadway role in the musical “Promises, Promises.”

“I enjoy great challenges, because it’s too easy to not challenge yourself.

It’s too easy to just sit on the couch,” said Hayes, who’s also a busy producer (“Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows,” which honors the director and airs Sunday on NBC, is among his projects).

“An Act of God” is essentially a one-man show that puts the critically praised Hayes center stage for 90 minutes, with occasional support from a pair of angels.

“The memorization, the interpretation, the freshness

that you have to discover every night to do it” are demanding, Hayes said, adding, “and I love it.”

He endorses the approach of “An Act of God,” which played on Broadway in 2015 with Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory.”

“Any time you can provoke thought or curiosity from exploring certain aspects of religion, especially in a comical way, it’s very needed and entertaining and rewarding,” Hayes said.

He was raised Catholic, he said, “but I’m currently not.” Does he believe in God? “I believe in people and the goodness of people,” he replied. He also believes people can have faith outside of organized religion. q

Kendall and Kylie Jenner mobile game debuts at No. 1

In this Nov. 22, 2015 file photo, Kendall Jenner, left, and Kylie Jenner arrive at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

DERRIK J. LANG AP Entertainment Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Move over, Kim Kardashian.

Kendall and Kylie Jenner’s mobile game strutted to the top spot on Apple’s app store when the Glu Mobile title premiered Wednesday. The game starring the Kardashian half-sisters is a spin-off of the popular “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” game released in 2014.

“There does seem to be a unique affinity for fans of the Kardashian-Jenners to

like narrative role-playing games,” said Glu President and CEO Niccolo de Masi during an interview at the D.I.C.E. Summit.

While the Jenner sisters’ game maintains the same cartoony aesthetic of the Kardashian game, the fashion-focused “Kendall & Kylie” is intended to be played in portrait mode on smartphones and tablets instead of landscape mode like “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.”

The games are currently

rewarding gamers who play both titles in a special “krossover” event. De Masi is optimistic that “Kendall & Kylie” will achieve similar success as “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood,” which reportedly earned $200 million last year.

“I think it could do anywhere from half or double to what Kim achieved,” said de Masi, who presented a talk Wednesday morning about celebrity social media followers at the Academy of Interactive Arts and Science’s 15th annual D.I.C.E. Summit.

Despite the Kardashians’ mobile triumph, Katy Perry didn’t similarly blast off last year with her Glu game, “Katy Perry Pop.” It failed to crack the Top 100 apps on Apple’s charts. De Masi said Perry’s game wasn’t as fruitful because it was marred with technical glitches and didn’t feature enough of Perry’s music.

“We’re talking to her team about how we could evolve this game but also how we could reboot it,” de Masi said.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A31 Bringing legendary Olympian Jesse Owens to life in ‘Race’

Friday 19 February 2016

‘Blade Runner’ sequel slated for January 2018 NEW YORK (AP) — The longawaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” now has a release date.

AlconEntertainment announced Thursday that it will be land in theaters on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in January 2018.

“Sicario” director Denis Villeneuve is taking over for Scott in the sequel to his 1982 science-fiction classic. It will star Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, reprising his role as Rick Deckard.

Alcon, which is producing the film, said it takes place several decades after the conclusion to the original “Blade Runner.”

Roger Deakins, who has previously worked with Vil-

In this Jan. 10, 2016 file photo, Harrison Ford arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Ford will reprise his role as Rick Deckard in the sequel to “Blade Runner,” expected in January of 2018.

Associated Press

leneuve on “Prisoners” and “Sicario,” will serve as cinematographer.

The Warner Bros. release will begin shooting in July.q

Newsman Stefan Holt joining dad Lester Holt at NBC’s 30 Rock NEW YORK (AP) — It’s about to be a family affair at 30 Rock for NBC News anchor Lester Holt and his son, Stefan Holt, who soon will be anchoring a weekday newscast on the network’s New York station, it was announced Tuesday.

Holt, 29, will start at WNBC in April, co-anchoring a newly launched afternoon newscast aired from 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the storied NBC headquarters from where “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” originates.

Stefan Holt comes from NBC-owned Chicago outlet WMAQ, where he has been a reporter and an-

This May 19, 2014 photo provided by WMAQ shows Stefan Holt at WMAQ in Chicago.

Associated Press

chor for five years. Before that, he spent three years at the ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Lester Holt joined NBC News in 2000 after 14 years in Chicago anchoring for CBS-owned WBBM. He took over “Nightly News” anchor duties from Brian Williams last year.q

LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stephan James is the first to acknowledge that he didn’t know much about track and field legend Jesse Owens.

The 22-year-old had to, he says, scratch his head to remember when he first heard someone was planning to make a biopic about Owens.

Not that a young Canadian actor should necessarily know details about Owens at the drop of a hat.

It’s been 36 years since his death and 80 years since Owens ventured to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin amid calls for a boycott and became a gold medal cog in the wheel of Hitler’s claims to Aryan supremacy. There, as the Nazis introduced themselves on the world stage, Owens made history by winning four gold medals in track and field — a record that would stand for 48 years.

James actually found out he got the role while he was playing another pivotal figure from American history — the civil rights leader and eventual congressman John Lewis in Ava DuVernay’s “Selma.”

“He brought such sensitivity to the scenes,” recalled producer Kate Garwood, who looked at hundreds of candidates around the world to find their perfect Jesse Owens.

Knowing he’d soon have to trade his 1960s styles for some leather cleats and a dirt track, James got to work quickly, using every free day he had to go to Georgia Tech and start the process of transforming into the “fastest man alive.”

“I grew up on basketball.

I was athletic but never track and field. Sprinting was a whole other beast,” James said. “Not only did I have to learn how to run fast, but I had to learn to run like Jesse.

His style was so particular ... his start, his mechanics, his stride, how his face looked.

In this Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 photo, actor Stephan James poses for a portrait at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. James portrays track and field legend Jesse Owens in the upcoming film, “Race,” in theaters Friday, Feb. 19. The story stays uncommonly focused for a biopic, focusing on a two year stretch beginning with Owens’ start at Ohio State University and ending with the 1936 Olympics.

Associated Press

There are people the world over who are Jesse enthusiasts. You can’t fake that.”

By the end of training, James said he was able to run the 100-meter in just over 12 seconds. Owensbroke the world record when he ran it in 10.2 seconds in 1936.

The story in “Race,” out Friday, stays uncommonly focused for a biopic, concentrating on a two-year stretch beginning with Owens’ start at Ohio State University and ending with the 1936 Olympics.

Within this milieu, director Stephen Hopkins is able to explore a variety of facets lead-up to the event, including the microcosm of Owens’ training alongside Coach Larry Snyder (played here by Jason Sudeikis) and ascent to prominence in the United States,

the racism he experienced daily, the brewing international tensions, the plight of the Jewish athletes on the American team, and the struggles of professional women as embodied by Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten).

But Owens is the center.

James had the added benefit of having the support of Owens’ daughters to rely on for any questions he had about their father at the time.

One of the biggest trials Owens faced during this time revolved around the question of whether he should go to Berlin at all, or stay at home in protest of the intolerant regime. In one scene in the film, NAACP leadership visits Owens and asks him to stay.q

A32 FEATURE

Friday 19 February 2016

How to catch up on Oscar nominated flicks online _ sort of ANICK JESDANUN AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The good news for those trying to catch up on Oscarnominated flicks: A little more than half are available for streaming online.

The bad news: Nearly half aren’t.

The somewhat-less-bad, but still-not-good news: Apart from documentaries, few of the nominees are available through all-youcan-watch subscriptions such as Netflix and HBO Now. That means you’ll have to pay a fair bit to rent or buy individual movies — typically $4 or $5 to rent and $10 to $15 to buy (even more for high-definition quality). True, there are also cheaper and less legal ways to watch, but we aren’t going there.

Five of the eight best-picture nominees are available online. Add the acting categories, and you can watch nine of the 15 nominees. In all, you can watch 30 of the 57 nominated full-length movies and shorts. An additional two, including best-picture nominee “Brooklyn,” are due out before the Feb. 28 awards show.

Here’s your viewing guide: ___ BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTING “Mad Max: Fury Road” is the only best-picture nominee available through a subscription service, HBO Now. If you have a cable subscription with HBO, you can catch it on HBO Go. You can buy, but not rent, “Mad Max” through iTunes, Google Play or Amazon.

“Spotlight” and “Room” are available only as a purchase for now, though iTunes says you can start renting either next Tuesday. “Bridges of Spies” and “The Martian” are available to buy or rent.

“Brooklyn” is coming next Tuesday, though a rental option might not be available right away.

For “The Big Short” and “The Revenant,” you still need to head to the theater. Although major services are taking advance orders, none say when it

This file photo released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Tom Hardy, as Max Rockatansky, in a scene from, “Mad Max:Fury Road.” “Mad Max: Fury Road” is the only best-picture nominee available through a subscription service, HBO Now. If you have a cable subscription with HBO, you can catch it on HBO Go. Associated Press

able online.

“Amy” is available to Amazon Prime subscribers, while “Cartel Land,” ‘’What Happened, Miss Simone?” and “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” are available on Netflix. “Amy” and “Cartel Land” are also available for rent or purchase. The other two were produced by Netflix, so you won’t find them elsewhere.

“The Look of Silence” is available to rent or buy through leading services. ___ FULL-LENGTH CARTOONS “Inside Out” and “Shaun The Sheep Movie” are the only ones available to rent or buy.

“Anomalisa” isn’t expected online until March 15.

“Anomalisa” and “Boy and the World” are still playing in theaters — at least in a few major U.S. cities. “When

need to visit a theater for “The Big Short” and “The Revenant.” ___ ACTING CATEGORIES Except for “Mad Max,” the best-picture nominees have contenders for one or more acting categories as well.

None of the eight remaining movies with acting nominees are available through a subscription service.

“Creed” and “The Danish Girl” are available for purchase; iTunes says “The Danish Girl” can also be rented starting Tuesday.

“Trumbo” is available to buy or rent — get the 2015 drama starring Bryan Cranston, not the 2007 documentary. “Steve Jobs” is also available to buy or rent through several leading services, including iTunes — the service the real Jobs founded as Apple’s CEO. “Carol” will be released online on March 4 — too late for your Oscar pools. You can advance-order “Joy” and “The Hateful Eight,” but there’s no firm release date listed. You’ll also need to find “45 Years” in theaters. ___ SCREENPLAY NOMINEES “Ex Machina” is available with an Amazon Prime

Marnie Was There” is no longer in theaters, though you can buy a DVD or Bluray disc. (A side note: Most movies released online are also available on disc, but that’s so old-school). ___ THE 15 SHORTS Netflix — and only Netflix — has “World of Tomorrow,” nominated for animated short, and “Chau, Beyond The Lines” and “Last Day of Freedom,” both nominated for documentary short. “Ave Maria,” nominated for live action short, is available for purchase on iTunes.q

This file image released by Focus Features shows Eddie Redmayne in a scene from “The Danish Girl.” The good news for those trying to catch up on Oscar-nominated flicks: A little more than half are available for streaming online. “Creed” and “The Danish Girl” are available for purchase; iTunes says “The Danish Girl” can also be rented starting Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016.

Associated Press

will be available. Don’t be duped if you see “The Revenant” on Amazon — it’s an unrelated 2009 movie with the same name.

All five nominees for best directing overlap with best picture, so if you manage all eight, you’re good to go. Once again, you’ll

In this file image released by Universal Pictures, Michael Fassbender stars as Steve Jobs in a scene from the film, “Steve Jobs.” The good news for those trying to catch up on Oscarnominated flicks: A little more than half are available for streaming online. The bad news: Nearly half aren’t. “Steve Jobs” is available to buy or rent through several leading services, including iTunes, the service Jobs founded as Apple’s CEO. Associated Press

subscription and for rent or purchase through most leading services.

“Room” and “Spotlight” require a purchase, at least until next week, while “Bridges of Spies,” ‘’Inside Out,” ‘’Straight Outta Compton” and “The Martian” can be rented or bought (to rent “Inside Out,” go to Amazon).

“Brooklyn” is coming next Tuesday. That means theatrical visits for “Carol” and “The Big Short.” ___ FULL-LENGTH DOCUMENTARIES All five nominees are avail-