March 21, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Monday, March 21, 2016

CUBA LIBRE

Obama arrives in Havana for historic visit to former Cold War foe President Barack Obama, right, arrives with first lady Michelle Obama as they exit Air Force One at the airport in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016. Obama’s trip is a crowning moment in his and Cuban President Raul Castro’s ambitious effort to restore normal relations between their countries.

Associated Press

A2 UP

Monday 21 March 2016

FRONT

Senate Republican leader: No lame-duck hearing of court pick WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate’s Republican majority leader on Sunday ruled out the idea of considering confirmation of President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, even in a postelection lame-duck session, Sen. Mitch McConnell signaled no retreat or surrender from his firm stand to keep the court shorthanded through at least January, scuttling the suggestion from at least one Republican colleague worried that a new Democrat in the White House — Hillary Clinton is the party’s front-runner — might nominate someone more liberal than Obama’s pick, federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland.

“I can’t imagine that a Republican majority Senate, even if it were soon to be a minority, would want to confirm a judge that would move the court dramatically to the left,” McConnell said in one of his Sunday TV news show appearances. “That’s not going to happen.”

Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, won Republican votes for his current seat and is seen as a centrist whose nomination to the ninemember Supreme Court could box in Obama’s opponents, shaken by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative bulwark.

McConnell hasn’t budged from his insistence, beginning just hours after Scalia’s death last month,

In this March 17, 2016, photo, Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, sits during a meeting with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Associated Press

that the Senate would not confirm an Obama nominee in an election year, let alone hold hearings.

He even ruled out meeting the president’s pick, a standard courtesy. Democrats are using the issue against vulnerable Republicans facing re-election, hoping for leverage to retake the Senate after the November election.

So far, though, just one Republican senator, Mark Kirk of Illinois, has broken with his party leaders and called for a vote on Garland. A growing number of Republicans are willing to meet with Garland, includ-

ing Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona. He floated the idea of considering the Garland’s nomination in the postelection session because “between him and somebody that a President Clinton might nominate, I think the choice is clear.”

To that argument, McConnell gave no ground: “Whether it’s before the election or after the election, the principle is the American people are choosing their next president and their next president should pick this Supreme Court nominee.”

And while expressing confidence in Kirk’s re-election

prospects, McConnell said that he, as majority leader, sets the Senate’s schedule “and most of my members are very comfortable” with his position. In the eyes of the Senate’s Democratic leader, McConnell is inflicting political pain on his Republican colleagues. “He’s marching these men, women over a cliff. I don’t think they’re going to go,” said Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who is not running for reelection. With Kirk’s stand, “that facade is breaking as we speak,” Reid contended. The president’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said the Obama White

House would stand by Garland “from now until he is confirmed and he is sitting on the Supreme Court.”

“Getting the Senate working again would mean giving this person meetings, a hearing, a vote in committee and a vote on the floor,” he said. “There’s enough politicization in Washington. Let’s get on with our business.”

McConnell appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” ABC’s “This Week,” ‘’Fox News Sunday” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

McDonough was on ABC and Fox, while Reid was interviewed on NBC.

U.S. NEWS A3

Monday 21 March 2016

Obama arrives in Cuba for what he calls a “historic visit”

JULIE PACE MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — Stepping into history, President Barack Obama opened an extraordinary visit to Cuba on Sunday, eager to push decades of acrimony deeper into the past and forge irreversible ties with America’s former adversary. “It is wonderful to be here,” he said.

Obama’s whirlwind trip is a crowning moment in his and Cuban President Raul Castro’s ambitious effort to restore normal relations between their countries.

While deep differences persist, the economic and political relationship has changed rapidly in the 15 months since the leaders vowed a new beginning.

Wielding an umbrella on a rainy Havana afternoon, the president stepped off of Air Force One and was greeted by top Cuban officials — but not Raul Castro. The Cuban leader frequently greets major world figures upon their arrival at Jose Marti International Airport, but was absent on the tarmac.

Instead, he planned to greet Obama on Monday at Palace of the Revolution. Obama’s first stop was a Havana hotel, where he greeted U.S. Embassy staff and their families and noted the momentous nature of his visit — the first by a sitting U.S. president since 1928, when Calvin Coolidge arrived in a battleship. “This is a historic visit, and it’s an historic opportunity to engage with the Cuban people,” said Obama, joined by first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha. Dozens of U.S. lawmakers and business leaders arrived separately for Obama’s visit.

After greeting embassy staff, Obama and his family toured Old Havana by foot, including the Havana Cathedral. For more than 50 years, Cuba was an unimaginable destination for a U.S. president, as well as most American citizens.

The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro’s revolution sparked fears of

communism spreading to the Western Hemisphere.

Domestic politics in both countries contributed to the continued estrangement well after the Cold War ended. He wanted to come to Cuba with all his heart,” 79-year-old Odilia Collazo said in Spanish as she watched Obama’s arrival live on state television.

“Let God will that this is good for all Cubans.

It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves.” Ahead of Obama’s arrival, counter-protesters and police broke up an antigovernment demonstration by the Ladies in White group, whose members were taken into custody by female police officers in a scene that plays out in Havana each Sunday.

They’re typically detained briefly and then released.

Obama’s visit was highly anticipated in Cuba, where workers furiously cleaned up the streets in Old Havana and gave buildings a fresh coat of paint. American flags were raised alongside the Cuban colors in parts of the capital, an improbable image for those who have lived through a half-century of bitterness between the two countries. Many Cubans were staying home in order to avoid extensive closures of main boulevards. The city’s seaside Malecon promenade was largely deserted Sunday morning except for a few cars, joggers, fishermen and pelicans. The president’s schedule in Cuba is jam-packed, including an event with U.S. and Cuban entrepreneurs. But much of Obama’s visit was about appealing directly to the Cuban people and celebrating the island’s vibrant culture. “I don’t think that the Cuban people are going to be bewitched by North American culture,” Gustavo Machin, Cuba’s deputy director of U.S. affairs, told The Associated Press. “We don’t fear ties with the United States.” A highlight of Obama’s visit comes Tuesday when he joins Castro and a crowd of baseball-crazed Cubans

for a game between the beloved national team and Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays. The president also planned a speech at the Grand Theater of Havana laying out his vision for greater freedoms and more economic opportunity in Cuba. Two years after taking power in 2008, Castro launched economic and social reforms that appear slowmoving to many Cubans and foreigners, but are lasting and widespread within Cuban society. The changes have allowed hundreds of thousands of people to work in the private sector and have relaxed limits on cellphones, Internet and Cubans’ comfort with discussing their country’s problems in public, for example.

President Barack Obama holds an umbrella as he walks with first lady Michelle Obama upon landing at the airport in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Associated Press

A4 U.S.

Monday 21 March 2016

NEWS

Trump’s immigration stance resonates at tense rallies RYAN VANVELZER JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press TUCSON, Arizona (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign in Arizona is centered on his hard line against illegal immigration, a stand that supporters embraced in a series of tense rallies ahead of Tuesday’s presidential primary in the border state.

“Illegal immigration is gonna stop,” Trump said Saturday night in Tucson. “It’s dangerous,” he said. “Terrible.”

Both in Phoenix and Tucson, Trump was introduced by former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who pushed tough immigration laws in office, and Joe Arpaio, the Maricopa County sheriff who made his name by chasing down people who are in the country illegally. The county includes Phoenix and nearly two-thirds of Arizona’s population.

Protesters showed up at every event. In Phoenix, they blocked the main road into his outdoor rally for several hours before it started. In Tucson, they interrupted him and some were tossed from the event.

Police said Sunday that about half a dozen people were arrested at the Arizona rallies, including two on misdemeanor charges of assault. It was not clear how many were protesters or Trump supporters.

Trump was campaigning in Arizona ahead of Tuesday’s primary in which the winner will take all 58 delegates at stake.

Trump’s main rivals, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, are desperately trying to prevent the real estate mogul from accumulating the 1,237

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally Saturday, March 19, 2016, in Fountain Hills, Ariz.

Associated Press

delegates needed to secure the nomination at the party’s national convention in July. They are hoping for a contested convention in which delegates would be free to turn from Trump if he fails to win a majority on the first ballot. Trump has won 678 delegates in contests held thus far, according to a count by The Associated Press. Cruz is in second place with 423 delegates, and Kasich is in third with 143.

His rivals hope to offset a likely Trump win in Arizona on Tuesday with a strong showing in the Utah caucuses. Limited polling shows Cruz leading in the state where Mormons account for two-thirds of the state’s

3 million residents. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and the Mormon faith’s most visible member, said he intends to vote for Cruz in the caucuses, but stopped short of endorsing the Texas senator, an uncompromising conservative.

However, Utah’s delegates will be distributed proportionally based on the percentage of votes — unless a candidate gets more than 50 percent, which would give that person all 40 delegates.

In Arizona, Trump treated the latest protests with a mix of pacifist rhetoric and a mocking tone. “We love our protesters, don’t we?” he asked. As security re-

moved one or more, he said: “We want to do it with love,” then added bitingly, “Get ‘em outta here.”

In Tucson, one protester carried a sign with an image of a Confederate flag over an image of Trump; another wore a Ku Klux Klan-style white sheet.. A man in the crowd attacked the protester with the Confederate sign, kicking and punching him before being arrested. The protesters were led out by security.

“It was a tough thing to watch,” Trump said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” adding, “But why would a protester walk into a room with a Ku Klux Klan outfit on?”

Trump made clear, though, “We don’t condone violence.”

The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, told ABC television that “as far as everyone getting involved in the crowds, leave it to the professionals” in law enforcement.

As the rally attendees later streamed out of the hall, protesters hurled two water bottles at them and called them racists.

Arizona Democrats also vote on Tuesday, and contender Bernie Sanders campaigned Saturday at the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales.

Standing in front of a tall, steel fence that divides the two countries, the Vermont senator promised to keep immigrant families together by taking more steps than President Barack Obama has done to protect many from deportation. Sanders called Arpaio a bully and he bemoaned the “divisive, bigoted and xenophobic comments of peo-

ple like Donald Trump.”

Late Saturday he held his fourth Arizona rally in the past five days, this time just outside of downtown Phoenix. Sanders is hoping for a win in Tuesday’s Arizona primary to propel him through the next month when several states more favorable for him are due to vote.Sanders is looking to rebound from his defeat last Tuesday in five state contests to Hillary Clinton, which gave the former secretary of state a nearly insurmountable lead of more than 300 pledged delegates.

Clinton planned rallies in Arizona on Monday.

Earlier Saturday, tempers flared at Trump’s large gathering in Phoenix, but without the violence that marred his event in Chicago a week before that ended up being cancelled.

For hours, about two dozen protesters parked their cars in the middle of the main road to the event, unfurling banners reading “Dump Trump” and “Must Stop Trump,” and chanting “Trump is hate.” Traffic was backed up for miles, with drivers honking in fury.

The road was eventually cleared and protesters marched down the highway to the rally site, weaving between Trump supporters who booed and jeered them.

Trump supporter Geroy Morgan, 62, made it to the rally but was furious at the demonstrators, some of whom still stood around after the event ended.

“We come here, the silent majority, to express our opinions,” Morgan said.

“They don’t have any permits or rights.”q

U.S. NEWS A5

Monday 21 March 2016

Judge dismisses bulk of criminal charges against FedEx Corp.

SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge dismissed the bulk of criminal charges against FedEx Corp. in a case alleging it knowingly shipped illegal prescription drugs.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer said Friday the government named the wrong defendant in an agreement that gave it more time to file charges. As a result, the charges were filed past the statute of limitations.

Breyer denied the government’s request to substitute the correct defendant and tossed out more than a dozen of the 18 counts against parent company FedEx Corp. and subsidiary, FedEx Corporate Services, Inc. “FedEx’s corporate structure is clearly described on numerous public websites — including sec.gov

— which the government could have used to check its work in drafting the tolling agreement that underpins this novel prosecution,” Breyer said. “But the government did not check its work.”

Prosecutors have also charged a second FedEx subsidiary, and that case appears to be unaffected

by Breyer’s decision. Additionally, FedEx Corp. and FedEx Corporate Services, Inc. still face charges of money laundering and a count of conspiring to distribute controlled substances.

An email to prosecutors on Saturday was not immediately returned. They argued that FedEx had a duty to correct the mistake, and suggested its attorneys engaged in gamesmanship by only revealing the error after the statute of limitations lapsed, according to Breyer’s ruling.

Skyslide airlifted to downtown Los Angeles skyscraper LOS ANGELES (AP) — The latest Los Angeles thrill ride has arrived — a glass slide that will jut from a skyscraper 1,000 feet above the ground.

A helicopter on Saturday brought the Skyslide to the 69th floor of the downtown U.S. Bank Tower. At 72 stories, it is the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

When it opens on June 25, the transparent, 45-footlong slide will carry visitors from floors 70 to 69 as they peer down through 1 ¼-inch-thick glass.

“The Skyslide boasts a safe, thrilling experience unlike any other in the world,” said a statement from Lucy Rumantir, head of U.S. operations for building owner OUE Limited of Singapore. “Guests of all ages will have the opportunity to transform their view of Los Angeles as they glide down, gazing at unparalleled views of the city.”

Skyslide is part of a $50 million renovation that will also

put an open-air observation deck and bar on the tower’s top floors. The slide ends at the observation deck.

On a clear day, the tower provides panoramic views that extend to Catalina Island 22 miles off the Pacific Coast and over the Santa Monica Mountains to the city’s sprawling San Fernando Valley.

The slide will cost $8 and admission to the observation deck will be $25. Tickets are being sold online.

The attraction arrives in the midst of efforts reinvigorate downtown. Recent years have seen newly fashionable apartments, a spruceup park, new upscale hotels, The Broad museum, the LA Live entertainment district and trendy bars and restaurants.

Skyslide also continues a trend of creating attractions designed for people who seem eager to laugh in the face of acrophobia.

In this Jan. 5, 2016 file photo, a FedEx truck drives in front of the San Francisco skyline.

Associated Press

Prosecutors have accused FedEx of conspiring with online pharmacies to ship powerful sleep aids, sedatives, painkillers and other drugs to customers it knew lacked valid prescriptions.

FedEx spokeswoman Melissa Charbonneau said in a statement on Saturday that none of its entities is guilty of “anything more than attempting to assist the government in doing

its job of enforcing the law, and we will demonstrate this at trial.” It’s not uncommon in a major prosecution with multiple counts to lose some of them, and the conspiracy count still allows the government to prove bad conduct by FedEx Corp., said Rory Little, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

A6 U.S.

Monday 21 March 2016

NEWS

Tiny Vermont brings food industry to its knees on GMO labels LISA RATHKE Associated Press MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — General Mills’ announcement on Friday that it will start labeling products that contain genetically modified ingredients to comply with a Vermont law shows food companies might be throwing in the towel, even as they hold out hope Congress will find a national solution.

Tiny Vermont is the first state to require such labeling, effective July 1. Its fellow New England states of Maine and Connecticut have passed laws that require such labeling if other nearby states put one into effect. The U.S. Senate voted 48-49 Wednesday against a bill that would have blocked such state laws.

The food industry is holding out hope that Congress will prevent states from requiring such labeling. Some companies say they plan to follow Vermont’s law, while others are considering pulling their products from the small state. The Grocery Manufacturers Association has called for a national solution instead of what it says is a patchwork of confusing and costly state labeling laws. It has also challenged Vermont’s law in federal court, asking that the law be blocked until the case is resolved.

That request was denied and is on appeal.

General Mills’ “announcement is the latest example

In this Dec. 15, 2007 file photo, a box of General Mills’ Cheerios is seen on a shelf at a Shaw’s Supermarket in Gloucester, Mass. Associated Press

of how Vermont’s looming labeling mandate is a serious problem for businesses,” the association said in a statement. “Food companies are being forced to make decisions on how to comply and having to spend millions of dollars.

One small state’s law is setting labeling standards for consumers across the country.” Nestle supports the mandatory informed disclosure of the presence of GMO ingredients in food and beverages and believes it’s best done by a uniform national approach, but will abide by state laws if they come into effect, according to spokeswoman Edie Burge. Food giant General Mills Inc. said Friday it will start nationwide

labeling on products that contain genetically modified ingredients, saying it’s not practical to do so for just one state. Campbell Soup Co. is also printing new national labels in preparation for Vermont’s law, although it opposes state-by-state labeling requirements. “This shows that the United States has the capacity to join the 64 other countries that already requireGMO labeling,” Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said Friday. “I urge other companies to follow the lead of General Mills and extend this right to their customers nationwide as well.” Other companies are weighing their options.

Herr Foods Inc., a midsize snack food company

based in Philadelphia, is considering pulling its products from Vermont if the law takes effect, said Daryl Thomas, senior vice president for sales and marketing. “Just the logistics, the expense are horrendous,” he said. “You’d have to duplicate that if any state went along with its own regulations and then multiple it again, again, and again times however many other states chose to have their own requirements,” he said. In addition, he said, ensuring the differently labeled products are sorted and distributed correctly would be difficult and costly, he said. The food industry argues those costs will be passed to the consumer, and some indepen-

dent Vermont retailers are worried how it could affect their bottom line. “As a retailer, there’s all sorts of ways that this could backfire on us as a state, and a small independent guy like myself if I’ve got nothing on my shelves or I’ve got limited (supply) and my competitors have no problem with the staying power, we’re done,” said Ray Bouffard, owner of Georgia Market in Georgia, Vermont. The Food and Drug Administration says GMOs, which can include food made from seeds that were engineered in laboratories to have certain traits, are safe, but labeling advocates say not enough research has been done and they have a right to know what’s in their food. They also say the use of GMOs has led to big increases in herbicide use.

A 2014 Associated PressGfK poll found that 66 percent of Americans supported labeling of genetically modified food. Leaders of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee said they are committed to finding a compromise. U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, chairman of committee, has already put forth a compromise that “will ensure consumer access to biotech information and affordable food while protecting farmers and manufacturers,” spokeswoman Sarah Little said Friday.

A8 U.S.

Monday 21 March 2016

NEWS

Paris attacks suspect reported to be planning new acts LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The top suspect in last year’s Paris attacks told investigators after he was captured that he was planning new operations from Brussels and possibly had access to several weapons, Belgium’s foreign minister said Sunday.

Salah Abdeslam had claimed that “he was ready to restart something from Brussels, and it’s maybe the reality,” Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said.

Reynders gave credence to the suspect’s claim because “we found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons in the first investigations, and we have seen a new network of people around him in Brussels.”

Abdeslam, captured Friday in a police raid in Brussels, was charged Saturday with “terrorist murder” by Belgian authorities. He is a top suspect in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.

Abdeslam was wounded during the raid, and a senior Belgian police official said that he was shot in the leg as he ran toward officers outside an apartment in the Molenbeek neighborhood.

The head of Belgium’s

special federal police unit, Roland Pacolet, told broadcaster RTL that one hypothesis being studied by police was that the suspect wanted to commit suicide.

“When someone comes out running toward the police, we have to ask ourselves some questions.

What did he have in mind?

What was he going to do?

Either he wanted to get killed by the police, or he wanted to blow himself up near the police,” Pacolet said.

He said that Abdeslam was unarmed.

Speaking to security experts at a German Marshall Fund conference in Brussels, the foreign minister said “we have found more than 30 people involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris, but we are sure that there are others.”

Reynders urged European intelligence, law enforcement, and border authorities to exchange more information to help track the suspects down.

Interpol also has called on European countries to be vigilant at their borders, saying Abdeslam’s accomplices may try to flee after his capture.

The international police

In this framegrab taken from VTM, something appears to drop from inside the trouser leg of Salah Abdeslam, centre, as he is arrested by police and bundled into a police vehicle during a raid in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium, Friday March 18, 2016.

Associated Press

agency recommended closer checks at borders, especially for stolen passports. Many of the Nov. 13 attackers and accomplices traveled on falsified or stolen documents Abdeslam’s Belgian lawyer, meanwhile, threatened to launch legal action Monday against a French prosecutor, accusing him of breaching the confidentiality of the investigation into the deadly rampage in Paris.

Sven Mary told Belgian

public broadcaster RTBF that part of the press conference given on Saturday by Paris prosecutor Francois Molins “is a violation. It’s a fault, and I cannot let it go unchallenged.”

Molins said Abdeslam, 26, told Belgian officials he had “wanted to blow himself up at the Stade de France” as a suicide bomber, but that he backed out at the last minute.

France is seeking Abdeslam’s extradition for trial there, but Mary said

he would fight any attempt to hand over his client and that investigators have much to learn from the suspect, who was born in Belgium but has French and Moroccan nationality.

“Salah is of great importance to this investigation. I would even say that he is worth gold.

He is cooperating, he is communicating, he is not insisting on his right to silence. I think it would be worthwhile now to give things a bit of time ... for investigators to be able to talk to him,” Mary said.

In response, an official in the Paris prosecutor’s office said French law allows prosecutors to speak about elements of an investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss this issue publicly.

Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens was cautious about how the legal proceedings will unfold against the suspect, but said the kind of extradition procedure being used would limit the possibilities for Abdeslam to appeal.

“It could take two months, two and a half months, and we will not be certain of the result before then,” q

WORLD NEWS 9

Monday 21 March 2016

Russia: Black boxes from plane crash site are badly damaged

VLADIMIR KONDRASHOV Associated Press ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) — Aviation experts on Sunday began examining the black boxes from the FlyDubai flight that crashed amid high winds at an airport in southern Russia, killing all 62 aboard.

FlyDubai’s Boeing 737-800 from Dubai nosedived and exploded in a giant fireball before dawn Saturday after trying to land for a second time in strong winds in the Russian city of Rostovon-Don. FlyDubai confirmed all 62 people on the plane were killed. Most of the passengers were Russian.

Several planes had trouble landing at the airport at the time of the crash.

The Inter-State Aviation Committee said in a statement that the plane’s data and voice recorders had been heavily damaged in the crash.

But Sergei Zaiko, deputy chairman of the committee, was quoted by Russian news agencies late Sunday as saying that the quality of material on the data recorder was high.

The black boxes were being viewed in Moscow by experts from Russia, the United Arab Emirates and France, the aviation commission said. The Americanmade Boeing plane had French-made engines.

At Rostov-on-Don, hundreds of people flocked Sunday to the airport, the region’s largest, to lay flowers and leave candles and toys in memory of the

dead. The city is 950 kilometers (600 miles) south of Moscow near the Ukrainian border.

Closed-circuit TV footage showed the plane going down at a steep angle and exploding. The powerful explosion left a big crater in the runway.

The airport remained closed, but workers on Sunday afternoon were repairing the damage to the runway, and plans are to reopen on Monday morning, the airport said in a statement.

FlyDubai’s chief executive, Ghaith al-Ghaith, said on Sunday the plane had enough fuel to maintain its holding pattern, which reportedly went on for two hours. He expressed confidence in Russian authorities and said the carrier intends to resume flights to the airport once it reopens.

He reiterated that the Rostov-on-Don airport was open Saturday despite the high winds and was “good enough to operate” at the time of the crash, and that it was up to Russian authorities to make that determination.

Some of the crash victims were from rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine where fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government troops has killed more than 9,100 people in nearly two years. The war has turned the region’s main airport of Donetsk into a wasteland, and many locals have been using the airport in Rostov-on-Don, across the

border.

Self-proclaimed rebel authorities in Donetsk said Sunday that two residents had been killed in the crash, while the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported that a family of three from the rebel-controlled town of Sverdlovsk in Ukraine was among the victims.

Russian Investigative Committee employees, center, and police officers investigate the wreckage of a crashed plane at the Rostov-on-Don airport, about 950 kilometers (600 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, Sunday, March 20, 2016. Associated Press

Iran says U.S. continues animosity despite nuclear deal

In this picture released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader on Sunday, March 20, 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a message for the Iranian New Year, Iran.

Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Supreme Leader said Sunday that Washington has continued its animosity toward Tehran, despite a friendly message by President Barack Obama marking Persian New Year.

State TV broadcast Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s New Year’s speech on Sunday live from the northern city

of Mashhad. He said of the U.S., “From one hand they send a New Year message and on the other hand they have kept economic sanctions,” against Iran. “This is enmity.”

Khamenei has final say on all state matters in Iran. He said many international companies continue to avoid working with Iran out fear of the U.S. Obama on Saturday, in his annual video message marking the Persian New Year, said a landmark nuclear deal Iran reached with world powers last year makes it possible for Iran to rejoin the global economy, increase trade and investment, and create jobs and opportunities for Iranians to sell their goods around the world.

“The United States is severely working not to allow the deal’s results to become beneficial for the Islamic Republic,” said Khamenei.

He said despite the deal “They have threatened us through other sanctions.”

He said the U.S. has not fulfilled all of its commitments under the deal. “Banking transactions are still fac-

ing problems. The return of Iran’s capital from abroad has faced problems. When we investigated, it was found out that they fear from the U.S.” He also said there is no guarantee that the next U.S. administration will honor all the commitments made by Obama’s administration.

Khamenei dismissed the recent controversy over Iran’s continued testing of ballistic missiles. Earlier this month, the country’s Revolutionary Guard test-fired two missiles emblazoned with the phrase “Israel must be wiped out” in Hebrew.

After the launches, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Iran to “act with moderation,” and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations called them, “provocative and destabilizing.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said the recent tests could trigger additional sanctions.

“What an outcry they raised over our missile issue saying, why did you test fire? Why did you launch the military exercise,” Khamenei said.

A10 WORLD

Monday 21 March 2016

NEWS

Rift in Britain’s Spain bus crash kills 13 exchange students; 34 injured ruling Conservative HAROLD HECKLE Associated Press MADRID (AP) — A bus carrying university exchange students back from Spain’s largest fireworks festival crashed Sunday on a main highway in the northeastern, killing at least 13 passengers and injuring 34 others, officials said.

The passengers included Spaniards and foreign nationals from around 20 countries, authorities said.

The bus, which was carrying 57 passengers, appeared to have hit a guardrail of the AP7 highway before cartwheeling across the road, slamming through a divider and landing on its side, said Jordi Jane, spokesman for Spain’s northeastern Catalonia province.

The students, part of the Erasmus exchange program, had traveled to the eastern city of Valencia to take part in the renowned Fallas fireworks festival and were returning when the bus crashed, Jane said. Most were studying at two universities in Barcelona.

The crash took place near Freginals, halfway between Valencia and Barcelona.

Initially, Jane said 14 had

Party deepens

Emergency services personnel stand at the scene of a bus accident crashed on the AP7 highway that links Spain with France along the Mediterranean coast near Freginals halfway between Valencia and Barcelona early Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Associated Press

died in the crash, but Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz later confirmed the death toll was 13. He said 28 passengers received medical treatment in local hospitals and others received first aid at the crash site.

The regional government of Catalonia said in a statement in the early evening that “according to the latest data, the ill-fated bus had students from Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Italy, Peru, Bulgaria, Poland, Ireland, Japan, Ukraine, Holland, Belgium,

France, Palestine, Turkey, Greece.”

It added that two countries — New Zealand and Finland — were still pending confirmation.

The statement said autopsies had been completed on nine of the 13 dead and a judge would release the bodies to families once full identification was complete in all cases.

Poland’s Foreign Ministry said one Polish man was hospitalized after the bus crash and Swiss authorities said one young Swiss woman was injured, but had been discharged from a hospital.

Iain Duncan Smith leaves BBC Broadcasting House after giving his first interview since resigning from his role in government, in London, Sunday March 20, 2016.

Associated Press

DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The rift within Britain’s government deepened Sunday, as a prominent minister who resigned over plans to cut benefits for the disabled said the ruling party risks dividing the country if it doesn’t spread the pain of economic austerity across all segments of society.

Iain Duncan Smith told the BBC that Prime Minister David Cameron’s government has become too focused on cutting welfare for working age people as it seeks to balance the budget without looking for

savings in other areas, such as state pensions. Duncan Smith, who resigned late Friday, said he decided to leave after the latest benefit cuts were “juxtaposed” with tax breaks for the better off.

“The truth is, yes, we need to get the deficit down, but we need to make sure we widen the scope of where we look to get that deficit down,” he said. “Because otherwise it just looks like we see (welfare) as a pot of money — that it doesn’t matter because they don’t vote for us.”

Duncan Smith’s resignation as work and pensions secretary laid bare escalating tensions within the Conservatives before a June 23 referendum on whether Britain should remain part of the European Union.

Duncan Smith, a former party leader nicknamed the “quiet man” of British politics, is a leading advocate of leaving the EU, while Cameron supports continued membership.

Britain’s famously vigorous press swung into action Sunday, trying to explain Duncan Smith’s departure and asking whether Treasury chief George Osborne had gone too far with his cost-cutting program.

WORLD NEWS A11

Monday 21 March 2016

AP Exclusive: Drug lord gains weight, reads books in prison

BY MARK STEVENSON E. EDUARDO CASTILLO Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is getting some self-help advice and gaining a bit of weight in prison under his new, tighter-security regime, but Mexico’s formerly most wanted man is apparently not doing so well in the love department.

Guzman, who tunneled out of the same prison last July, now has two guards standing outside his cell watching him every minute of the day. There is a dog whose only job is to test his food before he eats it to make sure it’s not poisoned. He no longer has a television, but gets free reading material.

Since he was recaptured in January, Guzman has read the classic “Don Quijote,” and has now started a Spanish-language translation of “The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?” by Rick Warren, a California-based evangelical pastor. The self-help book contains quotes that might pertain to Guzman, like “A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.”

And “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”

The description of his postescape prison life comes from a federal official who was not authorized to be quoted by name under official policy. The official and a colleague granted the exclusive interview to The Associated Press following

a spate of complaints by Guzman’s lawyers and relatives who said his health was suffering in prison and that he couldn’t sleep.

Before he escaped, Guzman was allowed a fourhour conjugal visit every nine days. In addition, the officials said, he was supplied with Viagra.

But Guzman hasn’t been given Viagra since he was recaptured and returned to the prison on Jan. 8. Nor has he received any conjugal visits. He only applied for permission to renew them this week.

The officials said Guzman has gained a small amount of weight and lowered his blood pressure since he was taken back to the Altiplano prison west of Mexico City.

He is under constant observation from a ceilingmounted camera which — unlike the one in the cell from which he escaped — has no blind spots.

Guzman’s associates tunneled him out of prison through the thin concrete floor of his shower stall last July in a spot which surveillance cameras were not designed to reach.

The floors of the prison’s top-security cells have since been reinforced with a 16-inch (40-centimeter) bed of concrete with a double layer of rebar.

During his most recent time on the run, Guzman met with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, purportedly to discuss a project to document his life in a movie.

But Del Castillo said in interview with ABC aired Friday

In this Jan. 8, 2016, file photo, Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by army soldiers to a waiting helicopter, at a federal hangar in Mexico City.

Associated Press

that Guzman may have just been infatuated with her, or the drug-trafficking character she played in a TV series, Teresa Mendoza.

“He probably had a crush on Teresa Mendoza,” Del Castillo told Diane Sawyer.

“I think he was never interested in the movie.”

Prosecutors later said her contacts with Guzman, and the October 2015 meeting with Guzman and American actor Sean Penn in a remote area of northeastern Mexico, helped lead them to eventually recapturing the drug lord.

A chain of leaked emails between Guzman and Del Castillo suggest authorities were monitoring their text conversations.

Del Castillo said she didn’t know she was under surveillance.

“No, to be honest I didn’t think about it,” she said.

“I thought he (Guzman) knew what he was doing by texting.”q

A12 WORLD

Monday 21 March 2016

NEWS

Migrants keep arriving in Greece despite deal to return them DEMETRIS NELLAS DOMINIQUE SOGUEL Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of mostly Syrian asylum-seekers continued to arrive in Greece by sea Sunday despite the start of an international agreement to send migrants back to Turkey.

While the deal between the European Union and Turkey is officially in effect, the process for deporting migrants has yet to be worked out. Greek and Turkish officials are set to hold discussions on Monday. And Greece is still awaiting the arrival of 2,300 European experts, including translators, to help carry out the agreement.

In the meantime, the EU said any new arrivals in Greece from now on will be subject to possible deportation.

At least 875 new refugees — mostly Syrians, along with Iraqis and Afghans — landed on four of Greece’s Aegean islands close to the Turkish coast between Saturday evening and daybreak Sunday. Two Syrian men were found dead of undetermined causes aboard a boat arriving on the island of Lesbos, and two girls were found drowned east of Rhodes, officials said.

The EU-Turkey plan, agreed to on Friday, aims to halt smuggling by sending migrants who do not qualify

Volunteers help migrants and refugees on a dingy as they arrive on the shore of the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Associated Press

for asylum back to Turkey.

As part of the deal, European nations will then accept refugees directly from Turkey, starting April 4. The hope is to discourage asylum-seekers from trying to make the dangerous trip across the Aegean Sea on their own in flimsy boats.

Turkey is also required to step up efforts to crack down on illegal migration.

The deal puts Ankara on the fast track to get $6.6 billion in aid to deal with refugees on its territory. It could also lead to unprecedented visa concessions for

Turks to visit Europe and a re-energizing of the country’s EU membership bid.

Turkey, which is already hosting 2.7 million refugees from war-torn Syria, has been a primary departure point for Europe, while Greece has borne the brunt of arrivals. More than 1 million migrants have arrived in Europe over the past year.

Giorgos Kyritsis, a spokesman for the Greek government’s Refugee Crisis Coordination Center, said none of the 2,300 experts promised by the EU has arrived

yet.

The EU-Turkey deal “is in force. Its practical implementation remains to be seen,” Kyritsis said, adding that Greece had done its part to prepare the temporary camps where the migrants will be processed.

Those who arrived in Greece up until Sunday morning will be subject to the old rules, which say that for every Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian will be resettled in an EU country, Kyritsis said.

A Turkish news agency reported Sunday that 320

would-be migrants to Greece had been intercepted in a coastal Turkish town. The private Dogan agency said the migrants were caught in the town of Dikili, a main crossing point to Lesbos.

Amid all this, Greece is still relocating migrants from its islands to temporary refugee camps on the mainland. A ferry carrying 1,169 migrants arrived Sunday at the port of Elefsina, west of Athens. Another ferry carrying some 1,300 migrants was on its way to Elefsina from Lesbos.

The arriving refugees were put on buses headed for a camp near the northwestern city of Ioannina. The camp will contain 420 tents that can house eight to 10 people each.

“I don’t want (to) go back to Turkey, because I would be back to the work and the hard life. Difficult life. I wish (to) continue my race to Europe to see my family and continue my studies,” Syrian refugee Amdelsher Abdel Hannan said as he was getting on a ferry to take him from Lesbos to the Greek mainland.

On the Greek border town of Idomeni, where about 10,000 migrants who were refused entry into Macedonia are stranded, the mayor criticized what he said are plans to make the sprawling, muddy, makeshift encampment permanent.

LOCAL A13

Monday 21 March 2016

Paris attacks suspect reported to be planning new acts LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The top suspect in last year’s Paris attacks told investigators after he was captured that he was planning new operations from Brussels and possibly had access to several weapons, Belgium’s foreign minister said Sunday.

Salah Abdeslam had claimed that “he was ready to restart something from Brussels, and it’s maybe the reality,” Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said.

Reynders gave credence to the suspect’s claim because “we found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons in the first investigations, and we have seen a new network of people around him in Brussels.”

Abdeslam, captured Friday in a police raid in Brussels, was charged Saturday with “terrorist murder” by Belgian authorities. He is a top suspect in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.

Abdeslam was wounded during the raid, and a senior Belgian police official said that he was shot in the leg as he ran toward officers outside an apartment in the Molenbeek neighborhood.

The head of Belgium’s special federal police unit, Roland Pacolet, told broadcaster RTL that one hypothesis being studied by police was that the suspect wanted to commit suicide.

“When someone comes out running toward the police, we have to ask ourselves some questions.

What did he have in mind?

What was he going to do?

Either he wanted to get killed by the police, or he wanted to blow himself up near the police,” Pacolet said.

He said that Abdeslam was unarmed.

Speaking to security experts

In this framegrab taken from VTM, something appears to drop from inside the trouser leg of Salah Abdeslam, centre, as he is arrested by police and bundled into a police vehicle during a raid in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium, Friday March 18, 2016.

Associated Press

at a German Marshall Fund conference in Brussels, the foreign minister said “we have found more than 30 people involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris, but we are sure that there are others.” Reynders urged European intelligence, law enforcement, and border authorities to exchange more information to help track the suspects down.

Interpol also has called on European countries to be vigilant at their borders, saying Abdeslam’s accomplices may try to flee after his capture. The international police agency recommended closer checks at borders, especially for stolen passports. Many of the Nov. 13 attackers and accomplices traveled on falsified or stolen documents Abdeslam’s Belgian lawyer, meanwhile, threatened to launch legal action Monday against a French pros-

ecutor, accusing him of breaching the confidentiality of the investigation into the deadly rampage in Paris.

Sven Mary told Belgian public broadcaster RTBF that part of the press conference given on Saturday

by Paris prosecutor Francois Molins “is a violation.

It’s a fault, and I cannot let it go unchallenged.”

Molins said Abdeslam, 26, told Belgian officials he had “wanted to blow himself up at the Stade de France” as a suicide bomber, but that he backed out at the last minute.

France is seeking Abdeslam’s extradition for trial there, but Mary said he would fight any attempt to hand over his client and that investigators have much to learn from the suspect, who was born in Belgium but has French and Moroccan nationality.

“Salah is of great impor-

tance to this investigation.

I would even say that he is worth gold. He is cooperating, he is communicating, he is not insisting on his right to silence. I think it would be worthwhile now to give things a bit of time ... for investigators to be able to talk to him,” Mary said.

In response, an official in the Paris prosecutor’s office said French law allows prosecutors to speak about elements of an investigation.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss this issue publicly.

Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens was cautious about how the legal proceedings will unfold against the suspect, but said the kind of extradition procedure being used would limit the possibilities for Abdeslam to appeal.

“It could take two months, two and a half months, and we will not be certain of the

result before then,” Geens said on RTL television.

The next official step in the legal process comes Wednesday when Abdeslam faces court in Brussels. The suspect, who could be one of the rare jihadis to face trial and possibly speak during proceedings, awoke Sunday after his first night in a prison just outside the city of Bruges, western Belgium.

The prison has a special section for high-profile prisoners, with specially trained guards. Cells have double doors and any furniture or equipment is attached to the floor.

Abdeslam was shot in the leg Friday along with a suspected accomplice when they were captured during an anti-terror raid in Brussels. He was found at an apartment a mere 500 meters (yards) from his parents’ home, where he grew up.q

A14 LOCAL

Monday 21 March 2016

Group of loyal visitors honored at the Tamarijn Recently Jonathan Boekhoudt from Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure to present Mr. David Payette and Mrs. Nancy Bartlett together with Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Mary Smith the Distinguished Visitor Certificate. The honorary symbol is presented in the name of Minister of Tourism as a token of ap-

Group of loyal visitors honored at the Casa del Mar

Recently Priscilla and David MacPhee, Richard and Cynthia Klein, Dan and Wendy Quirk were presented with the Goodwill Ambassador Certificate commemorating 20

consecutive years’ visits to Aruba.

The ceremony was conducted by Jonathan Boekhoudt with Aruba Tourism Authority and was held at the Casa del Mar witnessed

by Mr. Bob Curtis General manager and staff.

All the honorees love the island especially for the Casa del Mar, beach and the people.

preciation for 10 consecutive years’ visits to Aruba.

The ceremony was held at the Tamarijn Aruba. David and Nancy are from Massachusetts and Thomas and Mary are from Wisconsin. Present during the ceremony was Mr. Francis Ridderstap Leisure Services Manager and Iris from the concierge desk.

John and Dorothy Armeno honored at the La Cabana

Recently Jonathan Boekhoudt from Aruba Tourism Authority had the great honor to present a John and Dorothy Armeno with the Goodwill Ambassador Certificate. The honorary title is presented in the name of the Minister of Tourism to loyal visitors with 20 = con-

secutive years visits. John and Dorothy hail from New Jersey and are proud owners who have been coming to consecutively to Aruba since 1994.

Their top reasons for Aruba are safety, weather, friendly people, La Cabana and great restaurants.

LOCAL A15

Monday 21 March 2016

Anna and Scott Wilkinson will be back for Tango Restaurant’s excellent crepes Anna and Scott Wilkinson from Arizona, USA, have just discovered Tango Argentine Grill in the Arawak Garden although they have been coming to the island for five years. But now that they have discovered this gem, they will be back for more, as they loved the ambiance, the outdoor seating, the live music and the food.

What did they order?

The tenderloin churrasco and the skirt steak, excellent choices! For dessert this great couple ordered the Tango Crepe: it brought tears to their eyes…Anna and Scott have been married for 22 years - they hope to be coming to Aruba for many years to come.

The Arawak Garden is a cozy plaza, filled with wonderful restaurants, kiosks and a piano bar called Sopranos.

There is nightly live music.

Find the Garden across from the Occidental Resort and tryTango Argentine Grill for yourself, following in Anna and Scott’s footsteps.

Bon provecho!q

SPORTS A17

Monday 21 March 2016

Colorado Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez sits in the dugout during the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels in Scottsdale, Ariz., Thursday, March 17, 2016.

Associated Press

O HAPPY DAY

Interview? For Latino players, MLB teams provide translators ERIC NUNEZ AP Sports Writer GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Having just finished his spring training routine, top Dodgers pitching prospect Julio Urias was approached for an interview by an English-speaking reporter. Befuddled, the 19-year-old lefty from Mexico looked around, searching for the right words in a foreign language.

After a scramble in the clubhouse, the Dodgers brought in Jaime Jarrin, the team’s Hall of Fame Spanish broadcaster from Ecuador, to handle the designated translator duties.

“No doubt about it, it’s a bit awkward,” the usually outspoken Urias told The Associated Press. “You cannot express yourself with an American the same way you do with a Latino.”

Such episodes are common in major league clubhouses, and especially in spring training, where young, Spanish-speaking players from Latin America who are still adapting to the United States often struggle with English.

Continued from page 21

Jason Day, of Australia, celebrates after sinking a putt for par on the 18th green to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Associated Press Page 19

A18 SPORTS

Monday 21 March 2016

Djokovic, Azarenka roll to easy title wins at Indian Wells BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka rolled to easy victories in the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday, with the top-ranked Serb collecting his record fifth title and Azarenka winning for the second time to get back into the world’s top 10.

Djokovic beat Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-0 to improve his match record to 22-1 this year. It was the Serb’s third consecutive title in the California desert, breaking a tie with four-time champion Roger Federer, who lost to Djokovic the past two years in the final and skipped this year because of a knee injury.

“I’m just glad to be able to raise the level of my game as the tournament progresses, and that’s something that I have been doing in the last two years particularly on the big events,” Djokovic said.

Azarenka defeated errorprone Serena Williams 6-4, 6-4. Azarenka’s victory and Williams’ return to the final for the first time since 2001, when a hostile crowd triggered her 14-year boycott, was overshadowed by comments from tournament director Raymond Moore. Earlier Sunday, he criticized the WTA Tour and its players, saying they “ride on the coattails of the men” while describing the women as “physically attractive and competi-

Serena Williams, left, jokes as Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, right, poses with the trophy after a finals match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. Azarenka won, 6-4, 6-4.

Associated Press

tively attractive.” Williams objected, saying, “Those remarks are very much mistaken and very, very, very inaccurate.” Azarenka also expressed disappointment.

Djokovic and Azarenka each earned $1.02 million.

Djokovic needed an hour, 17 minutes to dispatch Raonic, whose big serve got broken five times. The 25-year-old Canadian served just four aces and had 27 unforced errors. His first serve averaged 128 mph — much faster than Djokovic’s 111 mph — but he connected on only 55 percent. The Serb landed 68 percent of his first serves

and was never broken.

“He’s the best returner probably of all time,” Raonic said. Raonic was bothered by an injury shortly after the match began, although afterward he wasn’t sure what was wrong. He was playing his first event since a thigh injury in the Australian Open semis in January. “I don’t think it affected my effort,” he said. “I thought he played much better than I did.” Clearly the crowd favorite, Williams gave fans little to cheer about on an unseasonable 91-degree (32 C) day while making 33 unforced errors.

After getting broken to trail

3-0 in the second set, Williams returned to her seat and smashed her racket.

Trailing 5-1, Williams won three straight games and held two break points on Azarenka’s serve in the last game. But Williams ended the match with three straight errors. “Just unexpected nerves maybe. I definitely didn’t expect to be on that stage again,” said Williams, who was back at Indian Wells after ending her 14-year boycott last year. It was Azarenka’s first victory over the top-ranked Williams since the Cincinnati final in August 2013. She will move up seven spots to No. 8 in the rankings released Monday, her first time back in the top 10 since August 2014.

Azarenka, who won here in 2012, hit just 10 winners and had 20 unforced errors in the 2-hour match. She connected on 60 percent of her first serves and broke Williams’ serve three times.

Williams converted just 1 of

12 break chances. “I have to go for it,” Azarenka said.

“She’s not a type of player that if you’re going to play safe she’s going to give it to you or she’s going to miss. You really have to go out there and take away because there is nothing coming easy.” The crowd, including Queen Latifah, was eager to support Williams. One fan held up a sign reading, “Go Serena.

We straight outta Compton,” in a nod to the ganginfested Los Angeles suburb where the Williams sisters learned to play tennis.

Williams was bidding to become the first woman to win three titles at Indian Wells, where she won in 1999 and 2001. After getting booed heavily while beating Kim Clijsters for her last title here, she vowed never to return. That year the Williams sisters were supposed to meet in a semifinal, but Venus withdrew shortly before the match with a knee injury.

The crowd reacted harshly and their father Richard said he heard racial taunts.

“Obviously the last time I was there was probably the worst moment of my whole career. Not probably. Sure,” Williams said.

“To be back out there, which I never thought I would be, was really different and special. I was overwhelmed with emotions and nerves.” Williams’ low-key persona was in direct contrast to her usual fist-pumping and screams of “Come on!” She hit just 22 winners. Azarenka and Williams met for the 21st time in their careers, with Williams owning a 17-4 edge. The only player she has faced more in her career is her older sister, who watched grim-faced from a box after losing early in her return to Indian Wells for the first time since 2001.

SPORTS A19

Monday 21 March 2016

Jason Day’s wild ride ends with a Bay Hill victory DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Arnold Palmer was watching him. Tiger Woods was texting him.

Jason Day, his ball in a bunker on the 18th hole, was only thinking about how to navigate nearly 100 feet in two shots to get the par he needed to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.

Out of sorts with his swing all afternoon, Day delivered his best at the end.

The bunker shot came out just as he pictured, and Day made the 4-foot par putt to close with a 2-under 70 and outlast Kevin Chappell for his first win of the year.

“I was able to walk up there and have a special moment with the King,” Day said. “That’s something I always wanted to do.”

He never imagined having to work this hard.

There was a four-man sprint over the final two hours at Bay Hill, and it was all about who made the fewest mistakes. Day got his out of the way early. He lost a two-shot lead on the front nine, recovered with a 9-iron out of the rough and over a bunker to a foot on the ninth hole for birdie, and then produced two clutch shots at the end.

Day was one shot behind Chappell, who was in trouble on the 18th hole, when he hit 5-iron to 12 feet on the par-3 17th and made birdie. Chappell made his lone bogey of the back nine on the final hole and shot 69, and then could only wait to see if Day could beat him.

“I had a chance to win, and that’s all I can ask for,” Chappell said after his fourth runner-up finish on the PGA Tour, and second this season.

From a reasonable lie in the right rough on the 18th, Day took the water out of play and went into the front left bunker. With water behind him, Day blasted the ball far enough to let it roll out to just 4 feet behind the

hole.

“I knew it was a good shot,” he said. “It was exactly what I wanted to do.”

Day, who finished at 17-under 271, became the first wire-to-wire winner (no ties) at Bay Hill since Fred Couples in 1992. His eighth career PGA Tour victory moved him to No. 2 in the world and gave him a chance to overtake Jordan Spieth next week at the Dell Match Play.

And with the Masters looming, Day joins a long list of players who are on their games. Adam Scott won the first two events in Florida. Charl Schwartzel won last week. Day’s victory meant for the first time since 1993 the Florida swing was won by major champions.

Day was most satisfied by winning without his best stuff. He said he never felt comfortable over any shot, and it showed in his face as he looked on with uncertainty at so many shots.

He was patient enough to wait for his chance, and he seized it with the 5-iron on No. 17 and the bunker shot on the 18th.

“It’s one of those tournaments that the biggest guys usually win,” Day said.

One of those big guys was Woods, an eight-time winner at Bay Hill and now somewhat of a mentor to Day. He said they talk occasionally and text frequently, and he received a text from Woods on Sunday morning with a typical message: “Just be yourself and stay in your world.”

It was a heartache for Chappell, dealing with a sinus ailment he picked up from his young son that drained his energy. Chappell took the lead for the last time at 17 under with a two-putt birdie on the par5 16th, followed by a par save from a tough shot in the bunker on No. 17. His tee shot on the 18th went right and buried into deep grass, leaving him no option but to lay up.

Chappell hit wedge to 25 feet and before he took hit

the par putt, he heard the cheer behind him as Day made his birdie.

“Being honest, kind of had me rattled a little bit,” Chappell said.

He left his par putt well short and made bogey, signed his card and watched a TV monitor for Day’s bunker shot.

“It’s obviously those things — one of many — why he’s been the No. 1 player in the world, and why I’m the 150th player in the world,” Chappell said.

“You just can’t bogey the last when you’re in contention, and hats off to Jason.

He played well, real clutch down the stretch. And I’ll learn from this and get better.”

Jason Day, of Australia, poses with the championship trophy after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, March 20, 2016. Day finished the tournament with a score of 17-under 271.

Associated Press

20 SPORTS

Monday 21 March 2016

DeRozan, Scola lead Raptors over Magic 105-100

Toronto Raptors DeMar DeRozan, right, goes to the basket against Orlando Magic Evan Fournier during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Toronto, Sunday March 20, 2016.

Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — DeMar DeRozan had 25 points, Luis Scola added 20 more and the Toronto Raptors beat the Orlando Magic 105-100 on Sunday.

The Raptors moved just one game back of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Evan Fournier and Victor Oladipo each had 21 points for Orlando, which lost its seventh straight game in Toronto and has now lost 13 of the last 14 meetings with the Raptors. Having trailed since the 8:22 mark of the second quarter, the Raptors got back in front on a jump shot from Jason Thompson with 5:58 to play.

A 3-pointer from Fournier with 1:11 remaining cut the lead to 97-96, but DeRozan responded with a floating jumper with 53.9 left on the clock and added the free throw after being fouled by Ersan Ilyasova to open up a four-point edge.

Terrence Ross then tacked on a pair of successful free throws, and while Brandon Jennings’ jump shot with 33.8 seconds to play made things uncomfortable for Toronto, he missed the resulting free throw and the Raptors held on for the victory, their fourth in a row.

For once, Toronto struggled at the free-throw line, leaving 16 points on the board by converting 64.4 percent of its attempts. The Raptors exploded out of the gate with a 10-2 run, anchored by a nine-point contribution from DeRozan, but Fournier responded with nine of his own as the Magic cut a 10-point Toronto lead to five after the first quarter, 30-25.

The Magic came all the way back in the second quarter, benefiting from nine points from Oladipo and 18 points from their bench as they took their first lead of the game with 3:38 remaining before car-

rying a 55-53 advantage into the second half.

Orlando made it hold up through the third quarter, shooting 11 for 22 from the floor in that period and withstanding a nine-point run from Scola to take an 82-80 edge into the final 12 minutes. TIP-INS Magic: Nikola Vucevic (groin) missed Sunday’s contest. ... While the backcourt pairing of DeRozan and Kyle Lowry capture many of the Toronto headlines, for Orlando coach Scott Skiles, a reserve player has held most of his attention. “The guy that’s really hurt us has been Cory Joseph, especially in London, he kept penetrating but not only penetrating but getting all the way to the rim,” he said. Joseph has scored a season-high 19 points in both previous games against Orlando this season but was rested on Sunday.

SPORTS A21

Monday 21 March 2016

Interview

Continued from page 17 With that in mind, for the first time Major League Baseball instructed its 30 teams this season to hire full-time Spanish interpreters for their Latino players.

For years, teams employed personal translators for their Japanese or Korean imports. But they rarely had translators on their staff for the dozens of players mainly from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico and Puerto Rico, instead relying on veteran Latino players, coaches or someone like Jarrin to help out with interviews.

Not anymore.

Reporting directly to the team’s public relations director or general manager, the bilingual employee has to be available year-round for media interviews before and after games, including road trips, according to a memo sent by MLB and the players’ union to all teams before spring training. The initiative would be

subsidized by the penalties teams pay when exceeding the international signing bonus limit. The amount available for each club to cover the new positions in 2016 will be $65,000.

This way, nothing gets lost in translation.

“It’s awesome, a welcome change,” Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez said.

“I was blessed because I learned English quickly, but for others it’s not easy.”

In his ninth season in the majors, the 30-year-old slugger from Venezuela was one of the veterans who usually helped teammates with interviews. Now he will relieved of those duties.

“I was the Rockies translator!” Gonzalez joked. “And I didn’t get paid anything!”

Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan applauded the new initiative.

“That’s one of the biggest regrets I’ve ever had: I don’t speak Spanish. That’s not good,” Ryan said.

And how tough is it for a Latino player to deal with a different language?

Take, for example, Yor-

dano Ventura, the 24-old righty who has pitched for the Kansas City Royals in the past two World Series.

As a starting pitcher in the postseason, Ventura had to sit in front of the cameras for news conferences on live broadcasts. The Dominican had an array of translators at hand, all makedo by the day, including catching coach Pedro Grifol, infielder Christian Colon and Jeremy Guthrie, a pitcher born in Roseburg, Oregon, who learned Spanish when he served for two years as Mormon missionary in Spain.

The new program forbids teams from employing coaches or trainers to fill the position.

Ventura also recalled his trepidation at the 2012 AllStar Futures Game in Kansas City, an experience similar to what Urias had to deal with in the Dodgers clubhouse in 2016.

“There was no one around to help me until a reporter showed up,” he said. “I knew a few basic words, so it was very frustrating

In this photo taken Monday, March 14, 2016, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urias, center, watches from the dugout during the team’s spring training baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Phoenix.

Associated Press

and complicated. You’re just trying to be able to respond well.”

In contrast, players from Japan and other Asian countries usually have personal translators as part of their contracts. When Ichiro Suzuki, Masahiro Tanaka and Hiroki Kuroda were part of the New York Yankees in the 2014 season, all three Japanese players had their own translators.

But Latin American players,

who frequently are signed as teenagers from their native countries, only have baseball academies as their resource to learn English.

Jose Quintana, a starting pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, mentioned his predicament with the language barrier after he left Colombia at age 17. Navigating between classes while trying to jumpstart his career was a challenge.q

A22

Monday 21 March 2016

SPORTS

Teenager Cunningham steals the show at the world indoors ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — High school senior Vashti Cunningham, daughter of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham, became the youngest high jump champion ever at the world indoor track and field championships on Sunday.

The gold-medal winning clearance of 6 feet, 5 inches is the latest honor in the stunning rise of the 18-yearold Cunningham, who set the American high school record in the event at the U.S. indoor championship last weekend.

Randall Cunningham,

who is also his daughter’s coach, leapt to his feet when she was pronounced the winner — along with the rest of the crowd at the Portland Convention Center.

The United States finished the event with a record 23 medals, including 13 golds, in a championship that didn’t include Russia, which was absent because of pending doping charges.

Other American gold medalists on the final day of the championship included Matthew Centrowitz in the 1,500 meters and Marquis Dendy in the long jump.

The U.S. also won both the

United States’ Vashti Cunningham clears the bar during women’s high jump final during the World Indoor Athletics Championships, Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Portland, Ore. Cunningham won the event.

Associated Press

men’s and women’s 4x400 relay.

Just like the week before at nationals, Cunningham stole the show. Ruth Beitia of Spain, who is 18 years older than Cunningham, claimed the silver and Kamila Licwinko of Poland finished third.

Afterward, Cunningham announced she is leaning toward going pro instead of college. She’ll now try to make the U.S. team for the Olympics this summer in Brazil.

But first she has to graduate from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.

“I’m excited on the inside but keeping it calm on the outside,” she said.

Centrowitz celebrated his victory by pointing to the USA emblazoned across his jersey. He became the first American man to win the 1,500 with a final-lap surge that pulled him in front of silver medalist Jakup Holusa of the Czech Republic.

New Zealand’s Nicholas Willis poured it on down the stretch to finish with the

bronze.

Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia, who holds the indoor world record in the 3,000 meters, fell to the back of a conservative pack at the start of Sunday’s final, but pulled out in front about halfway through and defended her title easily in 8:47.43. Fellow Ethiopian Meseret Defar, coming off an extended break for the birth of her daughter, was second, and American Shannon Rowbury was third.

Rowbury, an Olympian who trains in Portland, won the U.S. indoor championship last week, moving up from her usual 1,500.

“The end of the race was tough, but the crowd carried me through to the finish,” Rowbury said.

On the men’s side, Ethiopian teenager Yomif Kejelcha won the gold in 7:57.21, but American Ryan Hill had a thrilling surge to move up from fifth on the final lap to finish with the silver. Kenya’s Augustine Kiprono Choge took the bronze.

TECHNOLOGY A23

Monday 21 March 2016

Apple’s latest product event isn’t causing a big stir BRANDON BAILEY AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It wouldn’t be an Apple event without some hoopla. But the company’s upcoming product announcement on Monday doesn’t seem to be stirring much passion.

Apple has invited tech reporters and analysts to its Silicon Valley headquarters, where CEO Tim Cook is expected to unveil some new additions to its current family of iPhone and iPad devices. So far, however, there have been no hints of any dramatic announcements, such as last year’s highly anticipated Apple Watch debut, or major initiatives like the company’s long-rumored but yet-tomaterialize streaming TV service.

Apple could use a shot in the arm. IPhone sales are levelling off, after surging last year to record levels that made Apple the world’s biggest company by stock market value.

And many are wondering if Cook can come up with another big hit.

And the very next day, Apple is set to square off in court against the FBI over its demand that the company help it unlock a mass shooter’s encrypted iPhone. While that dispute has drawn heated rhetoric, most Apple watchers say it’s unlikely to play a major role at Monday’s product launch.

“There’s been a lot less noise” around Monday’s event, compared with similar gatherings in the past, said Gartner tech analyst Brian Blau. Even so, he cautioned against ruling out any surprises. “Apple is such a secretive company.

They do keep things under wraps as long as possible.”

While Apple has been

In this Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015, file photo, Apple CEO Tim Cook waves during the Apple event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

Associated Press

mum about its plans, several analysts expect the company will introduce an upgrade to its older, fourinch iPhone 5S — aimed at consumers who haven’t sprung for the biggerscreen iPhone 6 models that Apple introduced two years ago. The new phone may come with features like Apple Pay and the company’s fastest processor, which have previously been offered only on versions of the iPhone 6.

Analysts and tech blogs say Apple also may unveil a new model of the iPad Pro, which the company introduced last year with several features — like a detachable keyboard and stylus — designed for business users.

A four-inch iPhone isn’t likely to see the kind of blockbuster demand that Apple enjoyed with its largescreen iPhone 6 and 6S models, according to several financial analysts, but it could help Apple boost overall sales and draw some additional users into

the market for Apple’s online services, including Apple Music, Apple Pay and the highly profitable mobile App Store.

“We think the numbers will be modest,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani. So does Steven Milunovich of UBS,

who believes Apple could sell 12 million of the new phones this year. By comparison, Milunovich estimates Apple has sold 265 million of the larger iPhone 6 models over the last two years.

Much of that surge came from Apple’s 2014 move to offer a bigger, 4.7-inch screen with the iPhone 6 and an even-larger 5.5inch screen with the 6 Plus.

Last year’s iPhone 6S and 6S Plus also had those larger screens, but otherwise weren’t dramatically different.

Still, some analysts say the new phone could help Apple as it struggles to match last year’s sales. While shoppers bought a record 74.8 million iPhones in the final three months of 2015, Apple has signaled demand in the current threemonth period will fall short of the 61 million iPhones sold in the January-March quarter last year.

YouTube now on T-Mobile’s ‘Binge On’ after earlier spat TALI ARBEL AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) — T-Mobile and YouTube have come to terms after a public spat over the phone company’s “Binge On” video streaming service. As a result, most T-Mobile customers can, starting Thursday, watch YouTube videos without using up their cellphone data. T-Mobile in November had started letting customers stream video from a couple dozen providers, including Netflix, Hulu and HBO, without using up their phone data. YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet, didn’t like that T-Mobile then delivered all video in DVD-level quality, which is worse than HD — even

video from companies that hadn’t joined Binge On. YouTube, as well as others including digital-rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, criticized this as throttling, which the government’s net neutrality rules don’t permit. T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in avideo posted online that that charge was “a game of semantics” because customers could opt out and stream higher quality video if they wanted. Customers would use up more data if they did that. Proponents of net neutrality, the concept that Internet service providers should treat all traffic equally, are concerned about efforts by TMobile and other ISPs, in-

cluding Verizon, AT&T and Comcast, to exempt some video or other online activities from data caps. They worry that could lead to some Internet companies paying cable and phone businesses for better access to consumers, hurting other Internet companies that can’t afford to pay.

(T-Mobile doesn’t charge video companies to participate in Binge On, however.) T-Mobile has changed its service to appease YouTube. Now T-Mobile allows video providers to manage video streams themselves, which YouTube is doing.

That helps YouTube make sure that video doesn’t take a long time to load for viewers.

A24 BUSINESS

Monday 21 March 2016

Chinese planner promises foreign companies access to markets JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — China’s top planner tried to reassure foreign companies they are welcome in its slowing, state-dominated economy in a speech Sunday aimed at dispelling growing anxiety Beijing is squeezing them out of promising industries.

Speaking to an audience that included executives of top global companies at a government-organized conference, Xu Shaoshi pledged to “promote two-way opening up and liberalization.”

Xu promised foreign companies equal treatment with local enterprises as Beijing carries out a sweeping overhaul aimed at promoting self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption and making state companies that dominate a range of industries more competitive and efficient.

“We are ready to share

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, left, shakes hands with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger after the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Associated Press

these growth opportunities with you,” said Xu, chairman of the Cabinet’s National Reform and Development Commission.

The China Development Forum 2016 is being closely watched by global companies because it comes at

the start of the ruling Communist Party’s latest fiveyear development plan that runs through 2020. Executives are eager to learn details of how the party might carry out pledges to make the economy more competitive, open more industries to private and possibly foreign competitors and to shrink bloated, money-losing industries including coal, steel and cement.

The guest list for the weekend conference at a government guesthouse in the Chinese capital included executives of U.S., European and Asian banks, manufacturers, Internet and other companies.

The ruling party’s plan promises to give the private sector a bigger eco-

nomic role, but business groups say regulators are trying to shield Chinese rivals from competition or compel foreign companies to hand overtechnology in exchange for market access.

Business groups say Beijing has yet to carry out most of the reforms promised in a separate 2013 plan that called for giving market forces a “decisive role” in the economy. They point to limits on foreign ownership in an array of industries and say in some areas such as information security technology for banks regulators are reducing or blocking market access.

“The big question is whether foreign companies will be able to access that growth,” John Frisbie, presi-

dent of the U.S.-China Business Council, said in an interview last week.

Companies are getting “mixed signals” from Chinese regulators, said Frisbie. “That uncertainty is weakening business confidence.”

Meanwhile, Chinese leaders also are trying to restore faith in their ability as economic managers following a stock market collapse and currency turmoil. Senior officials including Premier Li Keqiang have spent the past month making an unusually prominent series of statements that the economy is on track and trying to dispel fears Beijing might weaken its yuan to boost exports.

On Sunday, Xu announced no new initiatives but promised to make “markets more open, more efficient and more sustainable.”

Xu promised to reduce “regional and industrial monopolies,” a reference to repeated promises to cut back the dominance of state companies in industries including banking, energy and telecoms that reform advocates complain are a drag on the economy.Reform advocates complain the ruling party is dragging its feet on carrying out promises to open more industries to private competition. The party has given itself until 2018 to show the first results from its overhaul of state industry but reformers say with growth falling steadily, they need to act faster.

Last year’s economic growth fell to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent and forecasters including the International Monetary Fund say it will decline further. This year’s official target is 6.5 to 7 percent, but the IMF and others say it is more likely to fall as low as 6.3 percent.Beijing wants to promote “new growth drivers” and encourage “mass innovation” in areas such as clean energy, medical technology and artificial intelligence, Xu said. He promised to “lower the threshold” for entrepreneurs to get into promising new fields.q

BUSINESS A25

Monday 21 March 2016

Online lodging service Airbnb opens Cuba listings to world MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — Online lodging service Airbnb is allowing travelers from around the world to book stays in private homes in Cuba after the San Francisco-based company received a special authorization from the Obama administration, Airbnb announced Sunday.

Airbnb was the first major American company to enter Cuba after Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro declared detente on Dec. 17, 2014. The service handles online listing, booking and payments for

people looking to stay in private homes instead of hotels. Cuba has become its fastest-growing market, with about 4,000 homes added over the last year.

Airbnb had only been allowed to let U.S. travelers use its services in Cuba under a relatively limited Obama administration exception to the half-century old US trade embargo on the island. The expansion of that license gives Airbnb the ability to become a one-stop shop for travelers seeking lodging in private homes, which have seen a flood of demand from travelers seeking an alternative

to state-run hotels. Airbnb’s new authorization was announced on the morning of an historic three-day trip

by Obama to Cuba and a day after Starwood Hotels announced that it had signed a deal to run three Cuban hotels, becoming the first U.S. hotel company in Cuba since Fidel Castro took power in 1959 and took over the island’s hotels. Airbnb said world travelers could begin booking in Cuba in April 2, the anniversary of the country’s start of operations on the island.

Also on Sunday, Marriott International Inc. said it

Sherwin-Williams buying rival Valspar for $11.3 billion CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Sherwin-Williams, which has long claimed to “cover the Earth” with its paints, is buying rival Valspar for about $9 billion in a move that it says will expand its reach in Asia and Europe.

Sherwin-Williams said Sunday that it is paying $113 a share in cash, a 35 percent premium to the closing price of Valspar’s stock Friday. It valued the deal at $11.3 billion including the assumption of about $2 billion in Valspar debt.

The combined company would employ 58,000 people and would have had revenue of $15.6 billion last year. John Morikis, president and CEO of SherwinWilliams Co., said the deal will enable the companies to save $280 million annually within two years by cutting administrative expenses and raw-material costs. The savings should reach $320 million in the long-run, he said. Last year, just 16 percent of SherwinWilliams’ sales were from outside the U.S. The Valspar purchase would push that figure to 24 percent, the company said in a presentation to investors. Valspar also sells coatings to packaging companies, and to

In this Oct. 20, 2010, file photo, cans of paint are seen at a Sherwin Williams store in Brunswick, Maine. Paint company SherwinWilliams is buying rival Valspar for $11.3 billion in a move that it says will expand its reach in Asia and Europe. Associated Press

manufacturers of industrial appliances and heating and air conditioning equipment. Sherwin-Williams will remain headquartered in Cleveland, but said the combined companies will maintain a “significant presence” in Minneapolis, where Valspar Corp. is based.

Sherwin-Williams manufacturers and sells paints and coatings under its own name and brand names such as Minwax, Dutch Boy and Thompson’s Water Seal. It operates more than 4,100 of its own stores and sells in big homeimprovement chains like Lowe’s and Home Depot.

Morikis was just named Sherwin-Williams’ CEO in October, but has been with the company since 1984.

The company has had fewer than 10 CEOs since it was founded in 1866. Valspar, which was founded in 1806, makes primers, stains and varnishes that it sells directly to manufacturers of appliances, construction equipment, furniture and other goods. It also sells auto paints under the De Beer and Matrix brands.

Sherwin-Williams said it is borrowing funds from Citigroup Global Markets to help finance the deal.

The acquisition is subject to antitrust review and is expected to close by the end of the first quarter in 2017.

The government sometimes requires companies to sell parts of their businesses as a condition of winning antitrust approval.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Chief of Latin American Operations Jorge Giannattasio speaks to reporters, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, March 19, 2016. Starwood says it has signed a deal to renovate and run three Cuban hotels, returning U.S. chains to the island more than 50 years after American hotels were taken over by Fidel Castro’s socialist revolution.

Associated Press

had gained Treasury Department authorization to pursue a deal in Cuba. The hotel company, which is based in Bethesda, Maryland, said it is in talks with potential partners on the island. Its CEO, Arne Sorenson, is in Cuba with Obama’s delegation.

All hotels in Cuba are now owned by government agencies and many are known for poor service and decrepit infrastructure. Foreign hotel chains operate some of the island’s larger and more luxurious hotels, which are running at full capacity thanks to a post-detente boom in tourism that saw visitor numbers surge nearly 20 percent last year.

One of the first openings in Cuba’s centrally planned economy came when the government allowed fami-

lies to rent rooms in their homes for a few dollars a night, starting in the 1990s.

That has become a fullblown private hospitality industry, with many Cubans using capital from relatives abroad and even foreign investors to transform crumbling homes into the equivalents of small boutique hotels.

Many websites allow foreigners to book Cuban private homes, known as “casas particulares,” but none has emerged as a dominant player. Many travelers still find it hard to guarantee bookings and make electronic or credit card payments. Airbnb is promoting its service as a solution to those problems in Cuba.

Gas prices jump by 17 cents over past 2 weeks, to $2.02 CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of gasoline has jumped by 17 cents over the past two weeks, to $2.02 a gallon for regular grade.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the hike is due to growing demand for gasoline across the nation and higher crude oil prices.

Lundberg says the increase

is part of a trend that has seen the price spike nearly a quarter over four weeks.

In the Lower 48 states, the highest average price of regular gasoline was $2.72 per gallon in Los Angeles.

The lowest was $1.66 in Newark, New Jersey.

The U.S. average diesel price is $2.15 per gallon, up about 9 cents from two weeks ago.

A26 COMICS

Monday 21 March 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Saturday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Monday 21 March 2016

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A28 SCIENCE

Monday 21 March 2016

Tomb radar: King Tut’s burial chamber shows hidden rooms BRIAN ROHAN Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Radar scans of King Tutankhamun’s burial chamber have revealed two hidden rooms, a tantalizing discovery that could resolve a mystery as old as the pyramids: What was the fate of Egypt’s beautiful Queen Nefertiti?

At a packed Cairo news conference Thursday to announce the find in King Tut’s tomb in Luxor, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh elDamaty declined to comment on whether any royal treasure or more mummies might be inside the rooms.

But he said the unexplored chambers could hold some kind of organic or metal objects.

Most experts say that while the scans might reveal another tomb behind the false walls, it’s unlikely to be crammed with solid gold and a royal mummy like Nefertiti, whose 3,300-yearold bust on display in Berlin is one of the most famous symbols of ancient Egypt and classical beauty.

“Quite often, people have done these sorts of scans, and when actually investigated, things have turned out to be nothing like predicted,” said Aidan Dodson, an archaeologist at the University of Bristol in England. “If they are chambers, most likely they’d be filled with more funeral objects of Tutankhamun, possibly including some gilded

In this Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015 file photo, one of Egypt’s famed King Tutankhamun’s golden sarcophagus is displayed at his tomb in a glass case at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

Associated Press

statuettes of gods, or perhaps even the mummy of a young child who predeceased Tut.” Still, the discovery has ignited massive interest, and el-Damaty cast the discovery as potentially huge. He said the radar scans of the chamber, taken last year and analyzed in Japan, will be repeated at the end of the month.

“It means a rediscovery of Tutankhamun ... for Egypt it is a very big discovery, it could be the discovery of the century,” el-Damaty said. “It is very important for Egyptian history and for all the world.”

The discovery could also renew excitement in Egypt’s antiquities and help reinvigorate its flagging tourism industry, which has been hit hard in recent years by political violence, an in-

surgency in the northern Sinai Peninsula, and persistent attacks since the military’s 2013 overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president.

The contents of the newly found rooms could shine a light on one of ancient Egypt’s most turbulent times, and one prominent researcher has theorized that the remains of Nefertiti could be inside.

British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves speculates that Tutankhamun, who died at age 19, may have been rushed into an outer chamber of what was originally Nefertiti’s tomb. The queen was one of the wives of Tutankhamun’s father, the Pharaoh Akhenaten.

El-Damaty said it was too early to tell what the metal and organic matter could be, saying only that he

thinks the chambers could contain the tomb of a member of Tutankhamun’s family, possibly a woman.

Luxor, in southern Egypt, served as the Pharaonic capital and is home to sprawling temples and several highly decorated ancient tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

The discovery in 1922 of King Tut’s nearly intact tomb by Howard Carter yielded unprecedented treasures, including the boy king’s sarcophagus and iconic golden burial mask.

Reeves reached his theory after high-resolution images discovered what he said were straight lines in Tut’s tomb. These lines, previously hidden by the color and texture of the stones, indicate the presence of a sealed chamber, he said.

The images were broadcast live on national television in September.

At the Cairo news conference, el-Damaty showed the results of radar scans that revealed anomalies in the walls of the tomb, indicating a possible hidden door and rooms behind false walls that were covered up and painted over with hieroglyphics.

Tut’s tomb, the most intact one ever discovered in Egypt, was packed with well-preserved artifacts when it was discovered, but the fact that it was relatively small for the Valley of the Kings is boosting theo-

ries that there is more to be discovered.

For many, Tut embodies ancient Egypt’s glory, because his tomb was packed with the glittering wealth of the rich 18th Dynasty, from 1569 to 1315 B.C. Nefertiti was the primary wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, who unsuccessfully tried to switch Egypt to an early form of monotheism.

Akhenaten was succeeded by a pharaoh referred to as Smenkhare, and then Tut, who was proven by genetic testing to have been Akhenaten’s son.

Many Egyptologists cite strong DNA evidence to argue that Nefertiti’s mummy is, in fact, one that already was found more than 100 years ago and is in Cairo’s Egyptian Museum.

Reeves believes that Smenkhare and Nefertiti are the same person, with the queen simply changing her name during her rule.

El-Damaty believes that if anyone is buried in the new antechambers it is likely Kia, believed by some to be the mother of Tutankhamun.

Tut, Nefertiti and Akhenaten’s family ruled Egypt during one of its most turbulent times, which ended with a military takeover by Egypt’s top general, Horemheb.

The family’s names were later erased from official records.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Leonardo DiCaprio says China can be ‘climate change hero’ LOUISE WATT Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Leonardo DiCaprio praised China’s work to combat climate change on a trip to Beijing on Sunday, and said he believes the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases could be “the hero of

the environmental movement.”

The actor and environmentalist, who called for action to combat climate change during his Oscar acceptance speech last month, praised China’s shift toward renewable forms of energy to lower carbon

emissions.

“As we all know, the United States and China are the two biggest contributors, and I think that China has made radical movements forward as far as alternative energy and ways to be sustainable,” he said at a news conference.

“I really think that China can be the hero of the environmental movement, they can be the hero of the climate change movement,” he said. “They have an opportunity to change the world and I have all the confidence in the world that that is their intention.”

DiCaprio was in Beijing to

Monday 21 March 2016

promote “The Revenant,” which won him his first Oscar, for best actor, at this year’s ceremony. The movie was released in mainland China on Friday and has already earned 100 million yuan ($15 million) at the Chinese box office, according to an announcement at Sunday’s news conference.

DiCaprio, who has made several trips to China in the past, is one of China’s most popular Hollywood actors, mainly because of his performance in “Titanic,” one of his few films that have been shown in mainland Chinese cinemas. He is af-

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio speaks during a news conference of the movie “The Revenant” at a hotel in Beijing, Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Associated Press

fectionately called Xiao Li, or Little Lee, by Chinese.

China is the world’s largest coal user and producer, but has also become a leading investor in renewable forms of energy, such as solar and wind power.

A30 PEOPLE

Monday 21 March 2016

& ARTS

Prince says he’s writing a memoir, performs for NYC audience MESFIN FEKADU AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Prince announced he’s writing his memoir, told the audience he was leaving to change clothes and came back to perform songs for the feverish New York City crowd.

Prince said on Friday that his book — with the working title “The Beautiful Ones” — will be released next year by publishing house Spiegel & Grau.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to go home and change real quick and come back and party with y’all,” Prince said.

And he did.

He returned to the dark room to perform for the audience, which included Harry Belafonte, Trevor Noah, R&B singer Maxwell, journalists and music industry players. Now in another ensemble, Prince performed on piano from the second level of the venue, as the crowd looked up

In this Nov. 22, 2015 file photo, Prince presents the award for favorite album - soul/R&B at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

and sang along to songs like “When Doves Cry,” ‘’If I Was Your Girlfriend,” ‘’Let’s Work,” ‘’Hot Thing” and “All the Critics Love U In New York.” “New York, do you want to play with me?” yelled Prince, who was get-

ting help from a DJ when performing. “You know how many hits we got? You know how long we gon’ be here? It’s time to jam!”

Dancers also were on the second level with Prince, and at one point he put

his leg over the railing and stuck his microphone out to the crowd.

Before his performance, the pop icon said Spiegel & Grau made him “an offer I can’t refuse.”

He added that the book

will start with his first memory.

“This is my first (book). My brother Dan is helping me with it. He’s a good critic and that’s what I need.

He’s not a ‘yes’ man at all and he’s really helping me get through this,” Prince told the audience.

“We’re starting from the beginning from my first memory, and hopefully we can go all the way up to the Super Bowl,” he said.

At one point Prince asked the crowd: “You all still read books right?”

The audience roared loudly. According to a press release about the memoir released Friday, “Prince will take readers on an unconventional and poetic journey through his life and creative work.” It says the book will include stories about Prince’s music and “the family that shaped him and the people, places, and ideas that fired his creative imagination.”

Oranjestad-Benjamin Petrocchi a true native Aruban started the newest export product of Aruba, locally produced hand rolled cigars called “Aruhiba”. These cigars are produced and cultivated in Aruba. Petrocchi always had interest in the cigar business and has also sold Premium Cuban cigars, and now he is growing his own tobacco crops.

After many attempt and trips to Santo Domingo and Cuba, he started his own production and cultivation of Aruhiba Cigars in Aruba. The whole process took him 10 years to perfect.

Petrocchi dedication to the cigars is important for the molding and process of making a perfect cigar which takes a long time. Their handmade cigar box is specially designed with their “Aruhiba” logo.Petrocchi considers Aruhiba as a promotion for Aruba trough its fine cigars .The company sells Aruhiba to the international market as well.

Visit their retail store located in front of the Historic Dutch Windmill in front of Riu Hotel, with purchase of $20 and up you receive a free “Aruhiba” cigars or ask for their gift box of cigars get 1 FREE for only $37.We are open from Monday to Saturday from 9 till 6.30 pm and on Saturdays from 10 to 4 pm. Aruhiba cigars are now available at the gift stores in your resort and at well-known cigar stores. For their complete selection and attractive by the box prices visit our retail stores. Tours are also available to the Tobacco Farm, where our cigars are grown and rolled.

Make an Aruba Tour including a stop at Aruhiba Factory call 739-2000. Winner of the best of Aruba.

The best local product Cigars in tubes Arubian design.

For a group or private tour call 586-7833/593-6177 or send us a email to aruhibacigars@gmail.com www.aruhibacigars.com

PEOPLE & ARTS A31

Monday 21 March 2016

‘Zootopia’ tramples ‘Allegiant,’ a ‘Divergent’ series low LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Zootopia” continues to run wild over its rivals in its third weekend in theaters, stomping all over the launch of “Allegiant,” the third film in the “Divergent” series. The animated Disney film featuring the voices of Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin earned $38 million this weekend to take first place once again, according to comScore estimates Sunday.

It’s now earned $201.8 million domestically.

It stole the thunder from “The Divergent Series: Allegiant,” starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James, which opened in second place with an estimated $29.1 million from 3,740 locations.

It’s a new low for the YA series based on Veronica Roth’s novels, which both opened north of $50 million, but not unexpected.

Lionsgate broke up Roth’s final book into two movies, the second of which, “Ascendant,” launches next year. And, like “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games,” it’s not unusual for Part 1 of a 2-film finale to fall short of some of its predecessors.

“It’s had mixed results in general, but it’s also had great results so I can’t really fault a studio for going with that strategy,” said Paul Dergarabedian, comScore’s senior media analyst. “It’s like skipping ahead in a book. I think it’s a strategy that may want to be reconsidered. But there are other factors — is the movie good? What are the conditions of the marketplace?”

Dergarabedian also noted that fickleness of the teen audience might be playing into the big drop from the previous films.

“They’re chasing an audience that is very difficult to pin down,” he said. “What

This image released by Disney shows Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, left, Nick Wilde, voiced by Jason Bateman, second left, in a scene from the animated film, “Zootopia.”

Associated Press

might be cool to them one day isn’t cool the next.”

But while the future of drawn out YA franchises might be looking as bleak as the dystopias they portray, one genre that does seem to produce nearconsistent hits is that of the faith-based film. The latest entry, Sony’s “Miracles From Heaven,” took third place this weekend with

an impressive $15 million.

The film, starring Jennifer Garner and Queen Latifah, opened Wednesday.

It’s earned $18.6 million to date, and cost only $13 million to produce. Audiences, who were 65 percent female and 75 percent over the age of 25, gave the film an A+ CinemaScore, which bodes well for its longevity going into the

Easter holiday weekend. It’s no secret that there have been a slew of faith-based breakout hits, but not many of them have mainstream Hollywood stars on the level of Garner and Latifah.

“These films are a home run in terms of having modest budgets and an audience, but star power does make a difference,” Dergarabedian said.