February 22, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Monday, February 22, 2016

Michigan Mourns

A makeshift memorial is seen near where people were shot near car dealership Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in Kalamazoo, Mich. According to police a man drove around Kalamazoo fatally shooting several people at multiple locations on Saturday. Authorities identified the shooter as Jason Dalton.

(Andraya Croft/Detroit Free Press via AP) Page 3

Kalamazoo in Shock After Gunman Kills 6 in Rampage

A2 UP

FRONT IS bombings rock Syria as world powers seek truce Monday 22 February 2016

BASSEM MROUE DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs killed nearly 130 people on Sunday, highlighting the threat posed by the extremists as the country’s warring factions fight for the northern city of Aleppo and world powers chase an elusive cease-fire.

The blasts came as Secretary of State John Kerry said that a “provisional agreement” has been reached on a cessation of hostilities that could begin in the next few days. But he acknowledged that it’s not finalized and all parties might not automatically comply.

A series of blast ripped through the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of Damascus, killing at least 83 people and wounding more than 170, the official SANA news agency said. The Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on local Syrian activists, said the blasts killed 62.

SANA said the bombs went off near schools during the afternoon rush hour.

The neighborhood is home to one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines, which his heavily guarded by Lebanon’s

Secretary of State John Kerry gestures during a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh (unseen) in Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. John Kerry said Sunday that a “provisional agreement” has been reached on a Syrian cease-fire that could begin in the next few days, but he acknowledged that it’s not finalized and all parties might not automatically comply.

(AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Hezbollah movement and other Shiite militiamen from Iraq and elsewhere. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the blasts were caused by a car bomb and two suicide bombers.

The bombings in the central city of Homs killed at least 46 people and wounded dozens, according to Syria’sForeign Ministry. The Observatory said 57 people, including 11 wom-

en, were killed by two car bombs set off in a mostly Alawite neighborhood. Syrian President Bashar Assad hails from the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Syrian TV footage from Homs showed streets filled with debris and mangled cars, and the charred body of a man being taken away on a stretcher. Footage from Sayyida Zeinab

showing people running in narrow streets as others carried the wounded, including several children.

“He’s alive, he’s alive,” a man shouted as he tried to administer CPR to an unconscious man. The TV later called on citizens to donate blood.

The Islamic State group claimed both attacks. The extremists are dug in on the outskirts of the two cit-

ies and have repeatedly targeted Shiites, who they view as apostates deserving of death.

The deadly blasts may strengthen the government’s argument that it should press ahead with a major offensive in the north of the country, where troops backed by Russian airstrikes are close to sealing off Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city and commercial hub. Syrian insurgents, including Westernbacked rebels, seized several neighborhoods in 2012.

The heavy fighting near Aleppo led to collapse of peace talks earlier this month. World powers later agreed on a “cessation of hostilities” to begin within a week, but the deadline passed with no letup in the fighting.

Kerry has since reached out to his Russian counterpart, and during a visit to Jordan on Sunday, said they had struck a “provisional agreement” and must now reach out to the opposing sides on the ground. Russia is a key ally of Assad’s government, while the U.S. backs some of the rebels fighting to overthrow him.

Kerry declined to go into the details of the agreement, saying it “is not yet done.” q

Greece: Macedonia has closed borders to Afghan migrants C. KANTOURIS K. TESTORIDES Associated Press IDOMENI, Greece (AP) — Macedonia closed its border to Afghan migrants early Sunday, Greek police said, slowing the admission of refugees to a trickle and leaving a growing bottleneck of people stuck at their shared border.

A Macedonian police spokeswoman denied there was any new prohibition regarding Afghans, blaming the problem on Serbia, the next nation along the Balkans migration route into Western Europe. By early afternoon, about 1,000 migrants were waiting at the Greek border camp in Idomeni — and at a gas station only 17

A Greek policeman checks documents of a man at the borderline with Macedonia near the northern Greek village of Idomeni, on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Macedonia has closed its southern border with Greece to Afghan migrants, allowing only Iraqis and Syrians, Greek police report.

(AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

kilometers (11 miles) away, 80 buses with 4,000 more migrants were waiting to

take them to the border.

Greek police said Macedonia refused to let Afghans

through because Serbia made the same decision and officials feared the migrants would get stuck in Macedonia.

“The authorities of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia informed us that, beginning at dawn Sunday, they no longer accept Afghan refugees because the same problem exists at their border with Serbia,” Petros Tanos, spokesman for Greek police’s Central Macedonia division, told The Associated Press.

Despite the reports, about 500 migrants of all nationalities made the trek on foot from the gas station to the border Sunday. “I can no longer wait,” said 17-yearold Ali Nowroz, one of the

trekkers from the Afghan city of Jaghori Zeba. “We have spent three nights in the cold, we are hungry.

They told me that the borders have been closed to us. However, when I started from Afghanistan I knew borders were open for us.

I am going to the Idomeni border crossing to find out and ask why they have closed it.” Since dawn Sunday, only 150 refugees from Iraq and Syria were allowed into Macedonia, on top of 310 allowed in Saturday. At the border Sunday, two Macedonian and two Czech policemen were thoroughly inspecting the documents of Iraqi and Syrian migrants and would only let them pass if they had passports or ID cards.q

U.S. NEWS A3

Monday 22 February 2016

Gunman kills 6 at apartment complex, dealership, restaurant

This image provided by the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office shows Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo County. Dalton was arrested early Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 following a massive manhunt after several victims were shot at random.

(Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

JEFF KAROUB Associated Press KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A gunman who seemed to choose his victims at random opened fire outside an apartment complex, a car dealership and a restaurant in Michigan, killing six people in a rampage that lasted nearly seven hours, police said.

Authorities identified the shooter as Jason Dalton, a 45-year-old Uber driver and former insurance adjuster who police said had no criminal record. They could not say what motivated him to target victims with no apparent connection to him or to each other in the Saturday night shootings.

“How do you go and tell the families of these victims that they weren’t targeted for any reason other than they were there to be a target?” Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said Sunday at a news conference.

Dalton, who was arrested in Kalamazoo following a massive manhunt, was expected to be arraigned Monday on murder charges.

Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas described a terrifying series of attacks that began about 6 p.m. Saturday outside the Meadows apartment com-

plex on the eastern edge of Kalamazoo County, where a woman was shot multiple times. She was expected to survive.

A little more than four hours later and 15 miles away, a father and his 17-year-old son were fatally shot while looking at cars at the dealership.

Fifteen minutes after that, five people were gunned down in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant, Matyas said. Four of them died.

“These are random murders,” Matyas said.

Dalton was arrested without incident about 12:40 a.m. Sunday after a deputy spotted his vehicle driving through downtown Kalamazoo after leaving a bar parking lot, authorities said.

Matyas declined to disclose anything found in the vehicle except for a semiautomatic handgun.

By midday, authorities were investigating a Facebook post that indicated the suspect was driving for Uber during the manhunt and had taken at least one fare, Getting said.

A spokeswoman for Uber confirmed that Dalton had driven for the company in the past, but she declined to say whether he was driving Saturday night.

Uber prohibits both passengers and drivers from pos-

sessing guns of any kind in a vehicle. Anyone found to be in violation of the policy may be prohibited from using or driving for the service.

A man who knows Dalton said he was a married father of two who never showed any signs of violence.

Gary Pardo Jr., whose parents live across the street from Dalton in Kalamazoo Township, described him as a family man who seemed fixated on cars and often worked on them.

“He would go a month without mowing his lawn but was very meticulous with his cars,” Pardo said, explaining that Dalton, at times, owned a Chevrolet Camaro and two Hummer SUVs.

Progressive Insurance confirmed that he once worked for the company before leaving in 2011.

Dalton was an insurance adjuster who did autobody estimates and once taught an auto-body repair class at an area community college, said James Block, who has lived next door to him for 17 years.

“He loved to do things outside with his kids” like taking them for rides on his lawn tractor, Block said.

Dalton’s wife and children were unhurt, authorities said. The suspect was in contact with more than one person during the rampage, authorities said, but they would not elaborate.

Prosecutors said they did not expect to charge anyone else.

Authorities were interviewing Dalton and reviewing his phone. They did not know if the handgun belonged to him, Getting said. “This is every community’s nightmare — when you have someone going around just randomly killing people, no rhyme, no reason,” Getting said.

Tammy George said the woman who was shot outside the apartment building is her next-door neighbor. She and her family heard the gunfire, ran outside and saw the woman on the ground.

Four bullets flew into a closet of George’s home, she said. Her son, James, was playing video games with two friends a few feet away from where the bullets pierced the wall.q

A4 U.S.

Monday 22 February 2016

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Donald Trump takes control of Republican race NANCY BENAC Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is looking ever more in control of the race for the Republican presidential nomination after a resounding victory in the South Carolina primary, leaving Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz playing tug-ofwar over who’s the strongest anti-Trump candidate.

In the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton blunted concerns about her viability with a clear victory over Bernie Sanders in Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, the first state to test the Democrats’ appeal among a racially diverse group of voters.

Trump’s victory in South Carolina on Saturday was vindication for political

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a South Carolina Republican primary night event in Spartanburg, S.C., Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. Trump claimed a big victory in South Carolina’s Republican primary Saturday, deepening his hold on the party’s presidential field as the contest moved into the South.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

mavericks whose hunger for an outsider has defined

this year’s campaign. But those fortunes didn’t ex-

tend to Sanders this weekend. After winning the second contest in New Hampshire, the self-described democratic socialist came up in short in Nevada, where Clinton collected the majority of delegates and told gleeful supporters that “this one is for you.”

For Republican Jeb Bush, it was the end of the line for a political dynasty as he failed to follow his father and brother into the White House. With donors ready to bolt, the former Florida governor, who had entered the race as the front-runner last year and outspent his rivals, dropped out of the race after failing to break into the top three in the first three nominating contests.

The Republican candidates were fanning out Sunday to Nevada, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia and beyond as the race spreads out and speeds up after the kickoff trio of contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Nevada’s Republican caucuses are Tuesday, and then a dozen states vote in the March 1 Super Tuesday bonanza.

Trump opted against his trademark braggadocio in assessing the state of the race on Sunday.

Asked on CBS if the race was his to lose, the billionaire businessman said, “I don’t want to say it’s mine.

Certainly I’m leading, there’s no question about that, but we’ve got a long way to go.”

Trump acknowledged that he probably needs to act more presidential. The real estate mogul told “Fox News Sunday,” ‘’I think I’ll be very presidential at the appropriate time. Right now, I’m fighting for my life.”

Nearly half of Republican voters in South Carolina said Trump is the candidate they trust most to handle the economy, more than double the proportion who said so of any other candidate, according to exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research.

Rubio, who placed second in South Carolina based on complete but unofficial returns, argued that his policy specifics trump Trump’s big talk.

“If you’re running for president of the United States, you can’t just tell people you’re going to make America great again,” the Florida senator said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Cruz, who was edged out by Rubio in the South Carolina vote, stressed his conservative credentials and said he was the lone “strong conservative in this race who can win.

We see conservatives continuing to unite behind our campaign,” the Texas senator told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The Democrats next compete Saturday in South Carolina with Clinton expected to win by a large margin.

A large majority of black voters supported Clinton in Nevada, according to entrance polls, an outcome that bodes well for her in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday a few days later when primaries are held in several southern states where African-Americans make up a large segment of the Democratic electorate.

Clinton celebrated her Nevada triumph but acknowledged she has work to do in persuading voters that she has their best interests at heart.q

U.S. NEWS A5

Monday 22 February 2016

Search continues after small plane crash off Long Island MICHAEL BALSAMO VERENA DOBNIK Associated Press PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. (AP) — Fighting frigid water temperatures and racing against the clock, officers grabbed anything they could to try to rescue three men who were aboard a small plane that crashlanded in the Long Island Sound, less than a mile off the New York shoreline. The search continued Sunday for one person who was still missing.

It was around 11 p.m. Saturday when the Piper PA28 landed in Port Jefferson Harbor, about 60 miles east of New York City, authorities said. It was pitch black when officers responding to a 911 call made their ways to the shoreline.

“When we came up, we heard them yelling,” said Suffolk County Police Officer Matthew Merced, who helped rescue the men.

“We decided the only way we could get to them is to take the kayaks out there and see if we could support them so they could survive.”

And that’s what they did. The officers commandeered kayaks from houses along the shore and began paddling out into the harbor, using their flashlights to guide them toward the voices crying for help.

Four people were aboard the plane. Three made it to the shore.

The 25-year-old student

Suffolk County Police Officer Matthew Merced, center, recounts how he and fellow officers helped rescue three men from a downed aircraft during a news conference, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in Port Jefferson, N.Y. The single engine craft crashed into Port Jefferson Harbor on Saturday night.

(AP Photo/Mike Balsamo)

pilot, Austricio Ramirez of the Bronx, was flying at the time the plane ran into engine trouble and he turned controls over to the 36-year-old instructor pilot, Nelson Gomez, of Queens. All four men exited the plane into the water. Ramirez, Gomez, and a third person, Wady Perez, 25, of Queens, were rescued by Suffolk County police.

One of the men was wearing a lifejacket and was losing consciousness when officers reached him, police said. An officer used his duty belt to hold another afloat atop a kayak and the third made it nearly to the shoreline when an officer threw him an inflatable ring to grab ahold of.

“If it weren’t for the bold actions of the Suffolk County police officers stand-

Mom: Police did not let me speak to my son during deadly standoff JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — The mother of a man who shot four Mississippi state troopers and was killed by police says police, who spent six hours negotiating with her son, refused to let her talk to him.

Katherine Hudson of Iuka tells The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that she thinks family members could have convinced Charles Lee Lambert to leave without bloodshed if they’d been allowed into his house.

Department of Public

Safety spokesman Warren Strain said the officers are trained, and their first goal is keeping people alive.

He did not immediately respond to emailed and phoned queries Sunday by The Associated Press.

He said Saturday that officers had exhausted negotiations when they stormed the house early Saturday near Iuka, in northern Mississippi. One officer died and three others were wounded in the shootout that followed.q

ing behind me . we don’t think the three individuals would have survived,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini said at a

news conference at the scene Sunday afternoon The three were treated and released at Stony Brook University Hospital.

The fourth, Gerson SalmonNegron, 23, of Queens, remained missing on Sunday.

“It is an active search and rescue operation,” Sini said.

“This is a tough situation, but we haven’t given up trying to locate this person.”

Coast Guard officials said the search for Salmon-Negron went on for 18 hours through the night, covering 90 square miles before the agency pulled its personnel from the search just after 10 a.m. Two police department boats and a dive team continued searching the harbor Sunday afternoon.q

A6 U.S.

Monday 22 February 2016

NEWS

Supreme Court scuffle triggers constitutional clash

The front of the U.S. Supreme Court is seen at dawn in Washington. Republican opposition to letting President Barack Obama replace Antonin Scalia quickly sparked a constitutional clash over the president’s right to fill Supreme Court vacancies.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

JOSH LEDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It only took one man’s death to give Congress an opening to extend its dysfunction to the rest of government.

Republican opposition to letting President Barack Obama replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia quickly sparked a constitutional clash over the president’s right to fill Supreme Court vacancies. Democrats, who have their own history of boxing out Republicans over court nominees, are up in arms, but begrudgingly concede that Obama’s pick is unlikely to be confirmed.

So as both parties prepare for political brawling, the eight remaining justices could spend the next year hearing critical cases alongside an empty seat, unable to break a tie in the event of a 4-4 split.

The standoff raises a scenario that Washington long has dreaded: that bitter partisanship in Congress, mixed with the tactics of obstruction, would eventually jeopardize the basic ability to function of another branch of government.

“If Republicans do what they suggest, I think we’re headed not only for a constitutional crisis but also for big problems for the leg-

islative process,” said Jim Manley, a former aide to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. “This is the natural reaction to the continued Senate breakdown we’ve seen for years.”

Supreme Court nominees have been rejected before. Yet Democrats accuse Republicans of taking obstructionism to a new level by insisting Obama not even name a nominee with 11 months left in his term — and refusing to hold a confirmation vote if he does. Though the Constitution is clear that it is the president who nominates, Republicans say the Founding Fathers never required

the Senate to give a vote.

With a vast majority of Americans already disillusioned by Congress, the White House hopes the Republican gambit will backfire.

“It’s a little bit like saying, God forbid something happen to the president and the vice president, ‘We’re not going to fill the presidency for another year and a half,’” saud Vice President Joe Biden, who attended Scalia’s funeral Mass on Saturday.

Republicans are unimpressed by those appeals to the Constitution. After all, many of the leading cases now before the Supreme Court question Obama’s unilateral actions. Opponents argue Obama exceeded his legal authority with climate change and immigration policies that he tried, but failed, to persuade Congress to enact.

“There is a significant portion of the country that watches the pretty egregious constitutional liberties the president has taken over the years and views with a sense of humor his newfound respect for the document,” said Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The prospect of a protracted Supreme Court vacancy sounded alarms for those who worry that congressional gridlock will ultimately grind government to a halt. Three years ago,

a quarrel over Obama’s health care law led to a partial 16-day government shutdown. Obama has faced repeated nail-biting moments in which it appeared Congress might allow the U.S. to default on its debt or refuse to fund the government.

Obama acknowledges that he and his party aren’t blameless. The White House says Obama regrets that when he was a senator, he supported using a procedural maneuver to block a vote on Samuel Alito’s nomination to the high court. Alito was confirmed anyway.

Less than three years ago, when Democrats ran the Senate, they changed practices so that the minority party couldn’t use Senate rules to block presidential nominees for key appellate judgeships. The change, which did not apply to Supreme Court picks, was accomplished without a single Republican vote.

Infuriated Republicans warned that Democrats would lose Senate control sometime and regret that they had trampled on the minority’s rights.

Obama and his aides have said he will nominate a qualified candidate who can win Republican support. But to overcome procedural roadblocks, Obama would have to peel away 14 Republicans, and that feat looks impossible now.q

U.S. NEWS A7

Monday 22 February 2016

American Living:

Fallen US WWII hero’s Army dog tag found on Pacific island

This photo shows World War II Pfc. Thomas E. Davis’ Army dog tag that was found in a farm field in Saipan in early 2014. Davis earned one of the nation’s highest military honors after surviving the bloody fighting on Saipan only to die during the even bloodier battle for Okinawa nearly a year later.

(Genevieve Cabrera via AP)

CHRIS CAROLA Associated Press ALBANY, New York (AP) — Dorothy Hollingsworth was just 7 when her brother Tom left the family farm in Indiana to join the Army a few months before the United States entered World War II. She never saw him again.

Now, more than 70 years after Pfc. Thomas E. Davis was killed in one of the war’s last major battles, a tangible reminder of her beloved sibling has been found on the Pacific island of Saipan — one of his Army dog tags.

“He was a great guy,” said Hollingsworth, 82, who lives outside Dayton, Ohio, noting that some of her earliest memories are of the tall, thin sibling 17 years her senior who always sat next to her at the dinner table. “He was always laughing and singing and whistling.”

Cultural historian Genevieve Cabrera told The Associated Press in an email that she found the discolored metal tag sticking out of the soil of a farm field on Saipan in early 2014. It was embossed with Davis’ name, serial number, hometown and other infor-

mation.

Cabrera recently gave the tag to members of Kuentai, a Japan-based organization that has found the remains of five U.S. 27th Infantry Division soldiers on Saipan. The group notified the AP this month about the dog tag’s discovery in the hope that his relatives could be found. The AP tracked down members of the soldier’s family with the help of Anthony Barger, the archivist for the Putnam County Public Library.

Kuentai representatives said they’ll arrange to meet the Davis family in the U.S. to hand over the tag.

While it is relatively common to find canteens, weapons and even unexploded shells from the 100,000 Americans and Japanese who fought for 25 days on the 46-squaremile (119-square-kilometer) island, dog tags remain a rare find, Cabrera said. The tags, attached to a chain worn around the neck, were the only item of military-issued gear a soldier wore daily that included potentially life-saving information such as blood type and when a tetanus shot

was administered.

A year before Davis died in the battle for Okinawa in April 1945, he earned one of the nation’s highest military honors after surviving the bloody fighting on Saipan.

According to wartime records kept at the New York State Military Museum, home to many of the 27th Division’s documents, Davis earned the Silver Star on Saipan in June 1944 for risking his own life to rescue a wounded comrade “at a time when the American front was undergoing brutal Japanese artillery and mortar fire.”

Davis went into the Army in September 1941, three months before the Japa-

nese attack on Pearl Harbor drew the U.S. into World War II. He served in the 165th Infantry Regiment of the 27th Infantry Division, a New York National Guard unit mobilized into active service in 1940.

Davis was with the 27th when it took part in the Okinawa invasion, which began on April 1, 1945. Three weeks later, he was shot by a Japanese sniper while again helping a wounded soldier, according to what Hollingsworth says military officials told the family. Davis died April 30, two months shy of his 28th birthday.

Four years later, his body was brought back for reburial in his hometown.

Davis was born and raised on his family’s farm in Roachdale in Putnam County, Indiana, 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Indianapolis. His mother died when he was a young boy, and his father remarried.

Davis had six siblings: an older brother, Harold, three half brothers and two half sisters, including Hollingsworth. The brothers have died. His other half-sister, Hazel Priest, 81, lives in Victoria, Texas, and several nieces and nephews live in Texas, Ohio and Indiana.

Hollingsworth said Tom Davis, of Victoria, a 57-yearold machinist who was named after his uncle, will likely get the dog tag.

A8

Monday 22 February 2016

WORLD NEWS

London’s Boris Johnson backs Britain leaving 28-nation EU

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A new battle for Britain erupted Sunday, with London Mayor Boris Johnson saying he would join the campaign to encourage Britain to

leave the European Union.

The move posed a direct challenge to Prime Minister David Cameron, who has launched a major push to keep his country within the 28-nation bloc.

The popular, raffish Johnson immediately becomes the most prominent Conservative Party politician to break ranks with fellow Conservative Cameron’s vision of the best course for

Britain in a June 23 referendum on EUmembership.

The referendum has divided Cameron’s Conservative Party — while most in his Cabinet back his wish to stay, several Cabinet members oppose his stance and are campaigning for the country to break free of EUbureaucracy — a so-called “Brexit.” The decision of Johnson, a twoterm mayor who has been touted as a possible future prime minister, deals a blow to Cameron’s hopes of a united front ahead of what is expected to be a hard-fought referendum.b “The last thing I wanted was to go against David Cameron or the government, but after a great deal of heartache I don’t think there is anything else I can do,” Johnson told reporters outside his London home. “I will be advocating vote “leave” ... because I want a better deal for the people of this country to save them money

YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — About 1,000 nationalists rallied Sunday in central Kiev to demand the ouster of the Ukrainian government, which came to power two years ago following months of protests.

The low turnout reflected public weariness with street protests, rather than sup-

port for the beleaguered government, which survived a no-confidence vote in parliament last week.

The demonstrators set up six tents on Independence Square, known as Maidan, and lit fires in trash bins to symbolize the fires that were kept burning to warm the protesters in the winter of 2014.

They clashed with police when they stopped a truck delivering a stage for the evening rally, but no one was hurt.

Others came Sunday to Maidan to place flowers and light candles in memory of those who died during the protests that culminated with the Russia-friendly president fleeing on Feb. 21, 2014. The day before,

more than 50 people had died from sniper fire.

Although many Kiev residents are disappointed with the current government, few support another revolution.

“The country needs reforms and a better standard of living, but not new revolutions. We’re tired of them,” said 46-year-old businessman Andrei Pogonyailo.q

London Mayor Boris Johnson, centre, is surrounded by photographers and members of the public as he returns to his home after making a statement in London, Sunday Feb. 21, 2016. Johnson said Sunday he is joining a campaign to encourage Britain to leave the European Union.

(AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Ukrainian nationalists rally for government ouster

and to take back control.”

So far, no country has ever left the EU, and several European countries outside the bloc are still working to reform their economies and governance systems so they can join. Cameron made a firm commitment three years ago to give voters a simple “in or out” referendum if he was reelected in 2015. He was acting to quell divisions within his own party, which has long had a strong vein of anti-Europe sentiment.

Cameron has seen Justice Secretary Michael Gove and several junior ministers defect to the “leave” campaign, but none with the political heft of Johnson. Two other highly touted possible future Conservative leaders — Treasury Chief George Osborne and Home Secretary Theresa May — have cast their lot with Cameron and will back the “stay” campaign.

Johnson’s decision was not a complete surprise because the 51-year-old former journalist has for several decades criticized the growing EU bureaucracy, first in his newspaper and magazine columns and later from Parliament and city hall. Striking likely campaign themes, Johnson criticized EU courts for taking too active a role in British affairs and said the entire European project was in danger of spinning out of “proper democratic control.” q

WORLD NEWS 9

Monday 22 February 2016

Saudi prince says offer of troops reflects unease over Syria AYA BATRAWY Associated Press ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A prominent Saudi prince said Sunday that the kingdom’s offer to send troops to Syria to fight extremist groups reflects growing unease over the ability of U.S.-led airstrikes alone to defeat the Islamic State group and end the Syrian civil war.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, speaking at a luncheon in Abu Dhabi attended by a handful of journalists, said the kingdom does not expect the U.S.-led coalition battling the IS group, of which Saudi Arabia is a member, will succeed unless there is a ground intervention.

Saudi Arabia has made clear that its willingness to send special forces to Syria is contingent on the U.S.

Former director of the Saudi Arabia General Intelligence Directorate, Prince Turki Bin Faisal Al Saud attends a press conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. The prominent Saudi prince said Sunday that Muslim countries need to take the lead in fighting terrorism and that a recently announced Islamic counterterrorism alliance of 34 nations should have been created sooner.

(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

leading the ground effort.

“The world community has the capability, economic, political, military and otherwise, to put a stop to the killing,” he said.

“I think it is high time that people said enough is enough, but simply saying it is not going to do it. There has to be concrete action on the ground to put a stop to the killing.”

He added that he has not seen any indication from Saudi leaders that if Saudi troops were deployed to Syria, they would also fight Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Riyadh is one of the main supporters of Syrian rebels battling to overthrow Assad. Its regional rival Iran is one of Assad’s main backers. q

Lebanese minister resigns over Hezbollah domination

BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi resigned from the Cabinet Sunday, saying the militant Hezbollah group dominates the government and is harming Beirut’s relations with Arab countries.

The resignation of Rifi, a longtime critic of the Shiite Hezbollah, comes two days

after Saudi Arabia halted deals worth $4 billion aimed at equipping and supporting Lebanese security forces. The move came after Lebanon failed to back the Sunni kingdom in its spat with Shiite powerhouse Iran, the leading backer of Hezbollah.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council backed the Saudi decision, raising

concerns it could have repercussions for thousands of Lebanese living in Gulf countries.

Lebanon has a sectarian divide that reflects the wider regional split between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and has long been a battlefield for the region’s proxy wars.

The Saudi decision came after Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil de-

clined to support Saudi resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers. Bassil is the president of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, a key ally of Hezbollah.

“He (Bassil) dared to offend the kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the request of Hezbollah,” Rifi said in a statement announcing his

resignation. “The practices of Hezbollah’s statelet and its allies are not acceptable and staying in the government means approving them.”

Hezbollah was the only Lebanese faction to remain armed after the country’s 1975-1990 civil war and is widely seen as more powerful than the Lebanese military.q

A10 WORLD

Monday 22 February 2016

NEWS

Fiji scrambles to restore power as ferocious cyclone kills at least 6 NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Most of Fiji was without electricity Sunday and residents were told to stay inside for a second straight night as officials scrambled to restore services and assess damage in the wake of a ferocious cyclone that left at least six people dead and destroyed homes.

Winds from Cyclone Winston, which tore through the Pacific Island chain over the weekend, reached 285 kilometers (177 miles) per hour, making it the strongest storm in the Southern Hemisphere since recordkeeping began, according to the Weather Underground website.

Although the weather calmed Sunday, a curfew was extended through

early Monday and police were empowered to make arrests without a warrant to ensure order.

In a televised address to the nation Sunday, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said many people had been left without power, fresh water or communications.

“The damage has been widespread, homes have been destroyed, many lowlying areas have flooded, and many people have been left stunned and confused about what to do,” he said.

He said that the police and military had been brought in to help with rescue operations and the general cleanup, and that government agencies were working overtime to clear roads and restore power.

“This is a time of sorrow, but

Road workers remove a fallen tree blocking a road near Lami, Fiji, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, after cyclone Winston ripped through the country. Officials in Fiji are assessing damage in the wake of the ferocious cyclone that tore through the Pacific island chain.

(Jonacani Lalakobau/Fiji Times via AP)

it will also be a time of action,” Bainimarama said.

“We will stand united in the face of this disaster.”

Officials were trying to establish communications and road access to the hardest-hit areas, and said they would not know the

full extent of the damage and injuries until then.

George Dregaso of Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office said that two people on Ovalau Island died when the house they were sheltering in collapsed on them, and that

another man was killed on Koro Island, although it wasn’t clear how.

Authorities also said three people on the main island of Viti Levu were killed in the storm, but didn’t have more details.

Tourism Minister Faiyaz Siddiq Koya said that all tourists in Fiji were safe and that there was no significant damage to the majority of hotels on the main island.

Fiji is a popular tourist destination, known for its beach resorts and scuba diving.

Cyclone Winston hit Fiji on Saturday and moved westward overnight along the northern coast of Viti Levu.

Fiji’s capital, Suva, located in the southern part of the main island, was not directly in the cyclone’s path and avoided the worst of its destructive power.q

Most suspects freed in Indonesia raid as tough law pending

NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police on Sunday released most of the men detained while attending military-style training at a suspect jihadi camp, as officials lamented weaknesses in the current anti-terrorism legisla-

tion that is due to be significantly strengthened following last month’s deadly attacks in Jakarta.

The elite anti-terrorism squad early Saturday detained 38 men at a suspected militant camp on the remote slopes of Mount Sumbing in Central Java province, said provincial

police spokesman Col. Liliek Darmanto.

Police seized air rifles, knives, and jihadi books and flags in the raid.

However, they were released early Sunday after 24-hour questioning as police were unable to prove a string of terrorism-related allegations, he said.

“This is the weakness of our laws,” said Saud Usman Nasution, head of the antiterrorism agency. “We cannot arrest before they have committed a crime even though we can detect a radical network.”

His agency has been pushing the government to strengthen the anti-terror-

ism law. It gained momentum following the Jan. 14 suicide and gun attacks in Jakarta, which left eight people dead, including four of the attackers.

In response to the attacks, Indonesia’s government submitted a new anti-terrorism law to parliament this past week.q

WORLD NEWS A11

Monday 22 February 2016

Bolivia votes on whether Evo Morales can run for fourth term CARLOS VALDEZ Associated Press LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — An influence-peddling scandal involving a former lover and a deadly incident of political violence dogged President Evo Morales as Bolivians voted Sunday on whether he should be allowed to run for another

gineering Co. Ltd, which has obtained nearly $500 million in mostly no-bid state contracts.

Morales denied any impropriety, and said he last saw the woman in 2007 when a child they conceived died under circumstances that neither has explained.

The case deepened doubts

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales, left, casts his ballot at a polling station in Villa 14 de Septiembre, in the Chapare region, Bolivia, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Bolivians are voting in a referendum on whether to amend the constitution so that President Morales can run in 2019 for a fourth consecutive term.

(AP Photo/Nicanor Vasquez)

term.

The voters were deciding whether to amend the constitution so that Morales, in office for a decade, can run for re-election in 2019.

The current limit is two terms and the change would allow presidents to run for reelection twice.

Pre-election polls indicated voters were about evenly split — with some 15 percent undecided — on whether to give Bolivia’s first indigenous president another shot at governing.

Then the bombshell hit.

An opposition-aligned journalist revealed two weeks ago that an ex-lover of Morales in 2013 was named sales manager of a Chinese company, CAMC En-

about the integrity of Morales’ governing Movement Toward Socialism, which has been dogged by scandal.

Adding to Morales’ woes were last week’s asphyxiation deaths of six municipal officials in El Alto, the teeming city adjacent La Paz run since last year by an opposition mayor.

Pro-Morales forces are accused of setting the fire that provoked the deaths, sacking the building where the slain officials worked and torching documents that allegedly incriminate the previous mayor in payroll corruption.

Both developments threatened to eclipse Morales’ achievements in cutting

poverty, spreading Bolivia’s natural resource wealth and empowering its indigenous majority during a decade in office.

Eusebio Condori, a 60-yearold retired schoolteacher, said he voted “no” because the scandal and the deaths “confirm that this government doesn’t have a plan for Bolivia, only for itself.”

A 31-year-old mother of three, Maria Espinoza, said she voted “no” because she believes in term limits.

She echoed the complaint of others that too many jobs depend on political patronage.

“I hope for change in the country,” she said.

Alejandro Perez, a 30-yearold independent lawyer, said he voted “yes” because “we’ve got to ensure continuity.”

“Evo Morales is the only person who can fight the economic crisis,” said Perez, adding that no one in the opposition is capable.

South America’s left has recently been sullied by scandal but Morales had personally remained unscathed.

His ruling circles have been discredited, however, by the skimming of millions from the governmentmanaged Fondo Indigena, which runs agricultural and public works in the countryside.

Morales presided over Bolivia’s biggest economic boom while prices for raw materials soared just as he took office, constructing airports, highways and the pride of La Paz, an Austrianbuilt aerial tramway system, and putting a Chinese-built satellite into space. In 2014,

Colombia reporting 7 rebels dead in clash BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos says government forces have killed seven members of the country’s second-largest rebel movement even as officials move toward ending the country’s long guerrilla struggle.

Santos says the operation

occurred in the Arauca region east of Bogota. It follows a series of attacks by the National Liberation Army on electricity installations and police.

Santos says his government is close to a final peace deal with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and it’s been try-

ing to start similar talks with the smaller group known as the ELN, believed to have about 1,500 fighters.

Santos said Saturday that the “peace train is leaving that guerrilla force behind.” He called on the ELN to free a soldier and a civilian it’s been holding.q

he won re-election with 60 percent of the vote.

But that boom is over.

Bolivia’s revenues from

natural gas and minerals, making up three-fourths of its exports, were down 32 percent last year.q

A12 WORLD

Monday 22 February 2016

NEWS

Haiti leader insists interim government to last 120 days DAVID McFADDEN Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s provisional president said this weekend he’s committed to meeting deadlines that will ensure his caretaker government lasts for no more than 120 days to comply with a recently negotiated accord.

The comments by President Jocelerme Privert came at his first press conference as Haiti’s interim leader. A majority of lawmakers chose the former Senate chief last weekend to lead a short-term caretaker government, filling a void left by the end of ex-President Michel Martelly’s tenure.

Martelly departed office on schedule Feb. 7 with no elected leader to take his place. Violent oppo-

sition protests and deep suspicions of electoral fraud favoring his chosen successor, Jovenel Moise, derailed a scheduled runoff vote last month. It was postponed for the first time in December.

A last-minute accord reached early this month by lawmakers and Martelly called for a postponed runoff to be held April 24, with a newly elected president installed on May 14. It said the provisional president would be elected for a term of no more than 120 days.

While various political figures have asserted that the transitional government should last for a longer period of time, Privert told reporters this weekend that he was “going to do

Haiti’s provisional President Jocelerme Privert arrives at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Privert will lead the country until the postponed presidential election runoff set for April, with the newly elected president to be installed in May. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

whatever it takes for the calendar of 120 days to be respected.”

Kenneth Merten, the U.S. State Department’s special coordinator for Haiti, said in a press briefing this week that the success of the accord hammered out by the country’s political leaders depended on the interim government’s commitment to fulfilling terms of the deal on the timeline they established.

Merten said previous interim administrations in Haiti did not have good track records when it came to moving the country forward.

“If you look back at transitional governments in Haiti in the past, I think we have seen these periods as times when work at addressing the chronic challenges that Haiti faces doesn’t really progress very well,” Merten said.

Privert, in fact, was jailed for two years on charges that were eventually dropped under Haiti’s last interim government, which lasted for two years following a violent 2004 rebellion that ousted ex-President JeanBertrand Aristide from power for a second time.

Privert also named six candidates vying to be the

next prime minister this weekend. They have been proposed by political factions and civil society. He says he is trying to smooth deep divisions to ensure a prime minister is chosen with as much consensus as possible.

The proposed candidates include Mirlande Manigat, a former first lady and presidential hopeful in 2010, Edgard Leblanc Fils, a former Senate president who was beaten by Privert in the parliamentary vote to be provisional leader, and Fritz Jean, an economist who once was governor of Haiti’s central bank.q

Guyana: state involved in historian’s death BERT WILKINSON Associated Press GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A commission of inquiry into the June 1980 killing of a Guyanese historian has found that the state played a role in his death and high officials including then-Prime Minister Forbes Burnham would have

known about the plot.

Walter Rodney was killed when a bomb concealed in a two-way radio set exploded in his lap. The author of the acclaimed book “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” was 38.

The then-opposition Working People’s Alliance (WPA) that he helped

found blamed agents of the state for handing him the device.

The Associated Press saw a copy of the three-member commission’s 155-page report that was delivered to the government last week.

It has not been made public.q

LOCAL A13

Monday 22 February 2016

Gold Coast Vacation Villas Earn Booking.com’s Guest Review Award 2015

MALMOK - Gold Coast Vacation Villas received a Guest Review Award from Booking.com just recently, which proves that guests clearly love the way the property conducts its business and appreciate the way they are treated there, while on vacation in one of the condos, townhouses and luxury villas available for rent.

Gold Coast Residence widely recognized as Aruba’s premier masterplanned neighborhood, with more than 200 private homes completed and occupied, now features over 80 condos, townhouses and luxury villas in its rental pool, hosting transient visitors on vacation.

The residence boasts a multinational environment, where permanent residents and transient visitors share a vibrant community, in a vacation village atmosphere.

Booking.com, one of the world’s most popular booking engines lists Gold Coast Vacation Villas among its Aruba offerings. The continuous efforts made by property staffers and the consistency in managing and providing exceptionally high-quality accommodation and amenities, earned it this important international recognition, especially

since it combines with professional and personalized service.

Booking.com honors toprated lodging businesses, as reviewed by travelers on the website. To qualify for the award Gold Coast Vacation Villas had to maintain an average rating of 8.0 or higher, out of a possible 10, by December 31st at 09:00AM CET. The criteria also include the volume of reviews and how

recently they have been submitted. The accolade is extended to qualifying businesses worldwide, and Gold Coast Vacation Villas would like to thank all wonderful guests who were motivated to comment and rate the residence on line, making the award possible.

As a community, Gold Coast Residence also enjoys many local Arubans some retired, some raising families who live on

the property full time. They freely mix and mingle with second-home owners, who are repeat visitors to the island. While owners get a handsome return on their real estate investment, the properly benefits from that bustling activity and unlike many other master planned communities without per-

with anywhere from 500 up to 1,200 individuals calling the lushly landscaped complex, home.

Gold Coast Residence will proudly display the award icon on social media, and on its website.

Booking.com delivers real guests, real experiences and real reviews, which

manent populations, Gold Coast Residence exudes a genuine village ambiance,

can be relied on while looking for a place to stay on vacation, in Aruba.q

A14 LOCAL

Monday 22 February 2016

Mexico Will Be the Site of ECLAC’s Most Important Gathering --Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu and ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, signed an accord regarding the organization’s thirty-sixth session, which will be held on May 23-27.

ORANJESTAD - The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will hold its most important biannual meeting in Mexico City

from May 23 to May 27, 2016, where officials will present to its 45 member countries a report on recent activities and will offer governments a reflection upon development strategies in the context of the commitments contained in the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, and ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena,

signed the accord in early February through which Mexico became the site for the Thirty-sixth session of this United Nations organization. “For our country it is very important to host ECLAC’s session and receive representatives from throughout the region to discuss issues of development and equality, especially of gender,” Ruiz Massieu affirmed.

Bárcena indicated that

in this session participants will debate the region’s economic, social and environmental development based on a position document written by ECLAC, in light of the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. This document continues along the same path as the “trilogy of equality” presented by the Commission in its three previous meetings (2010, 2012 and 2014).

“We keep equality at the center of our proposals and with a gender approach in which the role of Latin American and Caribbean women is made more visible in the agenda of the SDGs,” said the United Nations official. “As a Mexican woman, it is an honor that this meeting be held in my country.”

The Executive Secretary also met with President Enrique Peña Nieto, whom she thanked for the invitation that Mexico’s government made to ECLAC to host the session. She also expressed her appreciation to him, since he will be the person to kick off the work of this regional UN commission’s highest governing body. During her visit Bárcena met as well with the most senior authorities of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), accompanied on both occasions by Antonio Prado, ECLAC’s Deputy Executive Secretary, and the Director of the Subregional Headquarters in Mexico, Hugo Beteta. At the UNAM, Rector Enrique Graue and Secretary-General Leonardo Lomelí agreed to jointly publish with ECLAC a series of studies about

Latin American development, while also drafting a joint proposal for a possible oceanographic expedition between the Antarctic and the whale sanctuary in the Gulf of California in the framework of Pacific Alliance cooperation.

Both sides also proposed reinforcing academic exchanges and scholarships for Latin American students. Bárcena also met with Julio Santaella, President of the INEGI, and with Vice Presidents Félix Vélez and Rolando Ocampo.

The Institute currently presides the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC (SCA-ECLAC) and will participate actively in the upcoming session. The officials agreed that the INEGI will present its experiences regarding South-South cooperation, the Caribbean and Central America, gender statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the relationship between statistics and geography in its studies. The complete program of ECLAC’s thirtysixth session, along with general information on the meeting, will be available soon on the gathering’s special Web site, which can be accessed through www.cepal.org. Journalists who want to get accredited to cover the meeting can also do so through this site.q

LOCAL A15

Monday 22 February 2016

Susan Nelson Honored at the Divi Phoenix Beach Resort!

PALM BEACH - Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a very loyal visitor as a Goodwill Ambassador at the Divi Phoenix Beach Resort.

The symbolic honorary title is presented in the name of the Minister of Tourism as a token of appreciation to guests who visit Aruba for 20-to-34 consecutive years.

The honoree was Mrs. Susan Nelson of New Jersey.

Susan and her family are loyal members of the Divi Phoenix and they love Aruba very much because of the friendly people, the climate, beaches, restaurants, relaxation and being on Aruba and staying at the Divi Phoenix is like being home for them. The certificate was presented by Mr. Jonathan Boekhoudt representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with family and friends of the honoree, and Daniel Ras from the Activities Department of the Divi Phoenix.q

A16 LOCAL

Monday 22 February 2016

Caribbean Calling for Challenge Family!

ORANJESTAD - Challenge Family announced recently its newest addition to the global series of long distance triathlons on the spectacular Caribbean island of Aruba.

Set over the half distance, CHALLENGEARUBA will take place on 23 October on the ‘Happy Island’ of Aruba with its crystal clear blue waters, pearly white beaches and balmy Caribbean climate – the perfect combination for a race in paradise!

The CHALLENGEARUBA course stands out not just for its beauty but for its speed, variety and quality.

The 1.9km swim is a single lap course in the clear warm Caribbean sea in front of the famous Palm Beach. The undulating 90km bike course is over four laps along the coastline, passing through some of the island’s most popular beaches before heading to the famous lighthouse of Aruba.

The run-course is entirely along the white beaches of Aruba. Three laps which alternate between the boulevard (The Strip) and the path on the beach in front of the exclusive hotels of Aruba that join the Palm Beach Area. The finish line

will be situated on the boulevard at The Hyatt Regency Resort.

A sprint distance race will also be available for athletes who would rather keep it short and sweet.

The sprint consists of a 750m swim, followed by a 22,5km

letes to the island. “As the Minister of Tourism, and on behalf of our One Happy Island, I would like to welcome you to Aruba for the inaugural race of Challenge Aruba.

Our commitment is to provide you with safety, beau-

cycle and finally a 7km run.

Otmar E Oduber, Minister of Tourism said he was looking forward to welcoming ath-

tiful scenery, and warm support in a unique and breathtaking atmosphere.

I look forward to cheer you

on as you make your way to becoming one of the first ever finishers of what promises to be a beautiful race!”

Marcus Altmann, global operations for CHALLENGEFAMILY, said CHALLENGEARUBA was a great addition to the series, especially for North American athletes.

“Racing in paradise is always a hard opportunity to turn down,” he said. “The convenience of getting to Aruba from the North American mainland makes this a perfect race to escape the autumn weather and get some sun before winter hits. A great way to close out the season.”

Operating under the mot-

to “Your Challenge is Our Challenge” the CHALLENGEARUBA team aims to provide participants and their families with a complete holiday that goes beyond hosting the best triathlon event. As well as the half and sprint distance races, there is an extensive and varied program of additional activities to ensure that triathletes and their companions get the most out of their stay.

Festivities will kick-off in the best way Aruba knows, an

exotic beach party! Enjoy an extensive buffet with a variety of dishes while listening to a local-band adding a Caribbean flair on the moonlit beach.

Sticking with the beachtheme, post-race will be a lavish beach and pool award party at the prestigious Hyatt Resort.

And in the build-up to CHALLENGEARUBA athletes can benefit from a number of clinics and seminars from triathlon icons Marc Herremans and Tim DeBoom as ambassadors of the race.

There’s plenty to do pre and post-race as well, making CHALLENGEARUBA the perfect ‘race-cation’ destination. For total relaxation, alabaster beaches and gentle seas are good for the soul. Or rock your world with wet ‘n wild adventures, deep sea diving, windsurfing, kitesurfing, even parasailing and sky diving! Tee off on a championship golf course, saddle up on horseback, take a tour, or hike through Arikok National Park and discover the island’s fascinating natural wonders, from rock formations to natural bridges. Shop ‘til you drop, enjoy glittering nightlife and fabulous restaurants. Broaden your cultural horizons with visits to museums and art galleries, and don’t miss the weekly Bon Bini and Caribbean festivals.

The inaugural CHALLENGEARUBA will take place on 23 October 2016.

For entries and further information, visit www.challenge-aruba.com.q

SPORTS A17

Monday 22 February 2016

COMING UP LANE Bubba Watson holds up his trophy after winning the Northern Trust Open golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles.

Associated Press

Watson rallies for another win at Riviera

DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bubba Watson ended his big week in L.A. as the star of his own show Sunday at Riviera.

Two shots behind with four holes to play, Watson made birdie on two of his last three holes to overtake Jason Kokrak and hold off Adam Scott for a one-shot victory in the Northern Trust Open.

Watson, who closed with a 3-under 68, won at Riviera for the second time in three years and moved back to No. 4 in the world.

He was among a halfdozen players who still had a chance over the back nine under warm sunshine.

Watson took advantage of some late mistakes by Kokrak, who was going for his first PGA Tour victory, and his two birdies were enough to turn back the late heroics of Scott, who chipped in for birdie on the 18th for a 67.

That group of contenders did not include Rory McIlroy.

Continued on Page 19

Denny Hamlin wins Daytona 500 Denny Hamlin raises the trophy in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016.

Associated Press Page20

A18 SPORTS

Monday 22 February 2016

NBA Capsules

Anthony Davis erupts for 59 points, 20 rebounds The Associated Press AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (AP) — Anthony Davis scored a team-record 59 points and added 20 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Detroit Pistons 111-106 on Sunday.

The previous club record was 50 points by Jamal Mashburn exactly 13 years earlier against the Grizzlies.

Davis went 24 of 34 from the floor and made his only two 3-pointers. He added nine free throws in 10 tries.

Davis also broke the scoring record for the Palace of Auburn Hills, set by LeBron James with 48 points in an Eastern Conference finals game on June 1, 2007. The star center joined Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Webber as the only NBA players with 50 points and 20 rebounds in a game since 1983.

Jrue Holiday added 20 points for the Pelicans. He was the only other player to score in double figures for New Orleans.

Reggie Jackson led the Pistons with 34 points.

CAVALIERS 115, THUNDER 92

New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis, center, is congratulated by teammate Jrue Holiday after an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in Auburn Hills, Mich. The Pelicans won 111-106.

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Kevin Love scored 29 points to help the streaking Cavaliers to the road win.

Love shot 9 of 18 from the

field and 11 for 12 at the free-throw line to match his second-best scoring performance of the season.

LeBron James had 25

points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for Cleveland, which earned its fifth straight victory. Tristan Thompson had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Kevin Durant scored 26 points and Russell Westbrook had 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds for Oklahoma City, which lost its second straight at home coming out of the All-Star break. It was the Thunder’s most lopsided defeat of the season.

SPURS 118, SUNS 111 PHOENIX (AP) — Patty Mills had 21 points, matching his career high with six 3-pointers, and the Spurs pulled away for the victory.

Tony Parker scored 22 for San Antonio, including a spinning drive that made it a seven-point game with 1:03 to play. LaMarcus Aldridge added 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The Spurs played without ailing All-Star Kawhi Leonard, who was sidelined by tightness in his left calf.

Alex Len had a career-high 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Suns, who

lost their 11th in a row and 26th in the last 28 games.

The Spurs improved to 47-9, a franchise-best through 56 games.

CELTICS 121, NUGGETS 101 DENVER (AP) — Isaiah Thomas had 22 points and 12 assists, leading Boston to the road win.

Avery Bradley had 20 points for the Celtics, who beat the Nuggets for a fourth time in a row. Evan Turner scored 17 points, and Jared Sullinger had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Denver had 24 turnovers in its third loss in four games.

Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 23 points and 13 rebounds, and fellow rookie Emmanuel Mudiay added 18 points.

Denver trailed by 15 at halftime, but it opened the third with a 13-3 run to close to 67-62 with 8:51 left in the quarter. The rally fizzled when the Celtics turned up their transition game, highlighted by a breakaway dunk by Jae Crowder following a Nuggets turnover that put Boston up by 12.q

Horan and Heath score in 2-0 U.S. win over Canada ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Lindsey Horan and Tobin Heath scored in the second half and the United States defeated Canada 2-0 Sunday in the final match at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament.

Both teams had already claimed the region’s two spots in the Rio Olympics this summer with semifinal victories. Alex Morgan scored three goals in a 5-0 U.S. victory Friday over Trinidad and Tobago, while Christine Sinclair scored twice in Canada’s 3-1 win over Costa Rica.

The United States has won the past three gold medals and four overall since women’s soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996.

Canada, the bronze medalists in the 2012 London Games, will be making its third straight trip to the

Olympics.

The U.S. went with the same lineup it used for the semifinals, starting 17-year-old Mallory Pugh, who is headed to UCLA in the fall. It was the third start of the tournament for Pugh, the youngest player to start for the U.S. in a qualifier.

Canada coach John Herdman rested several of his usual starters, including Sinclair, Diana Matheson, Sophie Schmidt, and goalkeeper Erin McLeod.

Matheson, Schmidt and Sinclair all came in as subs in the second half. Melissa Tancredi wore the captain’s armband.

Sinclair has been nursing a calf injury throughout the tournament, but nonetheless surpassed Mia Hamm for second on the career scoring list during the tournament. Sinclair sits at 161 goals, behind Abby Wambach’s 184.

Carli Lloyd’s headers in the 13th and 23rd minutes were off and the Canadians were surprisingly adept at stopping the U.S. attack in the first half.

The match was physical, as goalkeeper Hope Solo had predicted: Co-captain Lloyd endured a kick to the back and was pulled to the ground with about five minutes to go before the break.

Horan’s teammate on the Portland Thorns, Heath, added a goal in the 61st minute on an assist from Pugh.

The U.S. team looks very different — and younger — than the group that won the Women’s World Cup last summer in Canada.

Several players, including vets Wambach and Lauren Holiday, retired from the team at the end of the year. q

United States’ Lindsey Horan (9) heads the ball past Canada goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe (18) to score a goal during the second half of the CONCACAF Olympic women’s soccer qualifying championship final Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in Houston. The U.S. won 2-0.

Associated Press

SPORTS A19

Monday 22 February 2016

Watson Continued from Page 17

In his Riviera debut, McIlroy made eagle on the par-5 first hole to tie for the lead.

He didn’t make a birdie until the 18th, giving him a 75 to tie for 20th.

Watson, Scott, Kokrak and K.J. Choi were tied for the lead through 11 holes remaining and all of them dropped shots to fall out of the lead.

“For me to come back ... and pull one out in a tough way means a lot,” Watson said.

He finished at 15-under 269 for his ninth career victory on the PGA Tour.

Kokrak had the lead to himself when Choi made bogey on No. 12, Scott missed 5-foot par putts on the 14th and 15th holes, and Watson went long of the 13th hole and watched his 20foot par putt spin out of the cup. Kokrak was firing at dangerous flags and pulling off the shots, stretching his lead to two shots with a daring approach to 4 feet on the 13th.

But one shot changed the dynamics of the final hour.

From the middle of the 15th fairway, Kokrak went long on one of the more difficult greens at Riviera and badly missed an 8-foot par putt as his lead shrunk to one. Watson stuffed his tee shot into 5 feet for birdie on the 16th, and Kokrak did well not to lose the lead by making a bending, 6-foot putt to save par from a bunker. “You’ve got to eliminate the mental mistakes,” Kokrak said. “Hitting it in the middle of the green on 15 is just ... I had a two-shot lead at the time.”

The decisive moment was on the par-5 17th, where Watson hit his tee shot so hard that both feet came off the ground. He reached the green with an iron and two-putted for

birdie from about 40 feet.

Kokrak hooked his tee shot into the trees, hit his second into a bunker and had to make a 6-foot par putt, falling one week.

Ahead of them, Scott stayed alive with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th to get within one shot, and then the former Masters champion chipped in from 25 feet behind the green on the 18th, the ball slamming into the pin. That momentarily put him in a tie for the lead until Watson made his birdie on the 17th. Once Watson hit his approach to 15 feet, Scott knew his chances were over.

“A guy like Bubba, he’s very tough to beat,” Scott said. “He’s proving tough to beat from that position.

He’s wearing the course out on the toughest day.”

Kokrak had a putt from about the same distance to tie for the lead, but the ball slid by the left side of the cup and he settled for a 68. Two putts later, Watson was waving to the crowd and headed to another trophy presentation.

What a week for Watson.

He took his 3-year-old son to hang out with Justin Bieber. He made a cameo appearance in a “Girl Meets World” episode (they even gave him a line), and he dashed out of Riviera to hang out with his pals at the Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State Warriors game Saturday night. Best of all was winning another tournament.

Dustin Johnson also was in the mix for much of the day, making too many bogeys to hold him back.

He closed with a 69 and finished fourth, two shots behind. Marc Leishman of Australia, one shot behind for much of the back nine, failed to save par from a bunker on the 16th and closed with a 69 to join Choi three shots behind.q

Bubba Watson tees off on the second hole in the fourth round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles.

Associated Press

20 SPORTS

Monday 22 February 2016

Hamlin uses daring move to give Joe Gibbs a Daytona 500 win JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — When he was in second grade, Denny Hamlin wrote a letter to himself wishing for a Daytona 500 victory.

His childlike cursive stated he wanted to win the race in 1998. Hamlin had to wait considerably longer, just not as long as team owner Joe Gibbs.

With a Hail Mary move Sunday, Hamlin ended Gibbs’ 23-year drought at the Daytona 500. It gave Hamlin his first Daytona 500 victory in 10 tries, and Toyota its first in “The Great American Race.”

“You couldn’t have written a better ending,” Hamlin said. “It’s the pinnacle of my career, for sure.”

Hamlin pulled out of line with a lap to go and chased down teammate Matt Kenseth. He staved off Kenseth’s block, and wedged between Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. Hamlin stayed in the gas for a door-to-door dash to the checkered flag that ended in a photo finish with Truex.

He beat Truex by 0.010 seconds, the closest finish in the history of the race.

“I don’t know where that came from, I don’t know what happened, I can’t even figure out what I did,” Hamlin said. “It all just came together. But this wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for Toyotas sticking together all race long.”

Gibbs, who in November celebrated with Kyle Busch the team’s first Sprint Cup title in a decade, won the race for the first time since

Denny Hamlin (11) beats out Martin Truex Jr. (78) at the finish line to win the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla. Associated Press

Dale Jarrett in 1993.

Gibbs had made it clear that he had no use for the victories his drivers collected in the exhibition races leading into Sunday’s season-opener — Hamlin and Busch each won one race in the buildup to the opener. But the three-time Super Bowl-winning coach was focused only on the 500 and his four drivers brainstormed on the best way to get a win.

“The thrill in football, you can’t get any more excited than that, winning a Super Bowl. It’s the same thrill over here,” Gibbs said.

“Most people never get to have a dream in life.

I’ve had two from an occupational standpoint. I’m

probably one of the most blessed guys in the world.”

Hamlin, Kenseth, Busch and Carl Edwards stuck close together for most of the race, and they got assistance from Truex, who became a de facto JGR teammate this year when Furniture Row Racing moved to Toyota.

Kenseth led Truex until the final lap when Hamlin finally jumped out of line.

Starting a second line on the outside, Hamlin got a push from Kevin Harvick that allowed him to catch Kenseth. Kenseth tried to throw a block but Hamlin wedged into the middle between Kenseth and Truex, and Kenseth had to save his car from wrecking.

“The last thing I wanted to do was wreck off turn four with my Toyota teammates and none of us win,” Hamlin said. “We had talked about a plan overnight to just work together, work together and I’ve never seen it executed so flawlessly.

“I said with two to go that we have to get the team victory no matter what it takes and I essentially was trying to go up there and block (Harvick) to keep him from getting to those guys.”

But the push from Harvick was so strong, Hamlin was

able to race for the win.

Truex wasn’t sure what he could have done differently.

“It hurts a little bit,” Truex said. “I think the only thing I should have done different was been a little more aggressive coming to the line, holding Denny up the race track. That last split second when he pulled off my door, that was it. It gave him that couple inches to beat me to the line.

“It’s hard to make those decisions. Live and learn. I think if I get in that position again, I’ll do it a little bit differently.”

Toyotas swept the podium as Truex was second, and Busch third. Edwards was fifth as Toyota took four of the top five spots. It comes three months after Busch gave Toyota its first championship.

“This was our 10th try at the Daytona 500,” said David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development, who called the win the biggest in Toyota history — trumping even the 2003 Indianapolis 500 victory.

“When we came into the sport, we struggled. We were not ready. We didn’t know. And so it’s taken time for us to collectively build an organization of winning

races and competing for championships.”

Kenseth faded to 14th.

“They don’t get much more crushing than that,” Kenseth said. “If I can’t win, I want my teammate to win. There’s a million things you could do differently, but I did what I thought I should do at the time to try to win. We finished terrible, but that was the move I thought I had to make to try to preserve the win.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., seeking his third Daytona 500 victory, came up empty as he tried to force his way through the field late in the race.

Earnhardt was using the high line to inch closer to the front, and when he tried to get a side draft from another car, he spun through the fourth turn. His Chevrolet hit an interior wall and then ricocheted into the grass, where Earnhardt found himself stuck.

“Caught me by surprise there,” Earnhardt said. “We were making some ground on the leaders a little bit so that was looking pretty good because the outside line really hadn’t been doing anything all day. Just busted my butt there. Driver mistake.”q

SPORTS A21

Monday 22 February 2016

Shortstop Alexei Ramirez reports to Padres spring training BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — New Padres shortstop Alexei Ramirez reported to spring training on Sunday, ready to anchor San Diego’s infield at age 34.

Ramirez signed a $4 million, one-year contract with a mutual option for 2017. He spent the previous eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox, who declined a $10 million team option.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity here,” Ramirez said through an interpreter.

Although his offensive numbers fell off last year, the Padres point out he played at least 154 games in each of the last six seasons and they liked his second-half play.

“Even though he struggled

in the first half of the year, he came back and had a good second half,” general manager A.J. Preller said. “He still has a youthful body and he’s still motivated to play shortstop.”

Preller and manager Andy Green said Ramirez had offers from other teams, possibly for more money, to be more of a utility player.

“He wanted to play everyday shortstop, so we thought it was a pretty good fit,” Preller said.

“It’s very much the preparation you do and taking care of yourself in the offseason,” Ramirez said.

“That’s what I’ve done every year. That’s what maintains my strength and health throughout the entire season.”

In this Sept. 26, 2015, file photo, Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez, left, tags out New York Yankees’ Didi Gregorius who was attempting to steal second base during the fifth inning of a baseball game in New York. Ramirez and the San Diego Padres have finalized a $4 million, oneyear contract under the deal announced Friday, Jan. 22, 2016.

Associated Press

AP source: Gallardo, Orioles reach $35 million, 3-year deal BEN WALKER AP Baseball Writer The Baltimore Orioles filled a big hole in their rotation, reaching agreement with free agent Yovani Gallardo on a three-year, $35 million contract Saturday.

The deal came on the second day of workouts for Baltimore pitchers and catchers at spring training in Sarasota, Florida.

Gallardo takes the spot that opened when WeiYin Chen became a free agent and signed with Miami.

Gallardo went 13-11 with a 3.42 ERA for Texas last season. The right-hander turns 30 later this month.

A person familiar with the deal confirmed the terms to The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract hadn’t been

In this Sept. 1, 2015, file photo, Texas Rangers starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo throws against the San Diego Padres during a baseball game in San Diego.

Associated Press

announced.

Other media outlets reported the agreement earlier in the day.

The Orioles will forfeit their first-round pick in the June draft, the 14th choice overall. Texas had made a qualifying offer of $15.8

million to Gallardo that he turned down.

Gallardo has pitched at least 180 innings in each of the last seven seasons. An All-Star in 2010 with Milwaukee, he is 102-75 with a 3.66 ERA in his nine-year major league career.q

An All-Star in 2014, Ramirez saw his numbers drop to.249 at the plate with 10 homers and 62 RBIs last season. He’s a career .273 hitter with 109 homers and 542 RBIs. “That’s just how baseball works,” he said. “Sometimes you’ll have ups and downs, and you have to prepare yourself for the changes that happen.

That’s what happened.

Something changed in the middle of the season.”

Said Green: “His second half finish was right in line with what he’s done throughout his career. It was a very good finish.

“Say whatever you want about an aging curve, he’s still very athletic,” the rookie skipper added. “He’s played 150-plus games for every year of his career, so he’s durable. We’re going to lean heavily on him to anchor our infield.”

San Diego had been looking to upgrade at shortstop, where super-utility player Alexi Amarista

made 78 starts and Clint Barmes made 51.

Green met with Ramirez at the winter meetings in December.

“There was a hunger in him to prove himself,” Green said. “What stood out to me more than anything is I asked him in the middle of it: ‘Are you willing to be coached? Like if I have something for you, like if I’ve seen something, you want to know what I know about you?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ In that moment everybody’s going to answer politically correct because you’re trying to get a job on a team.

“But the first time I saw him after that, when we had signed him, he came up to me and said, ‘What do you have for me? What do you want to teach me,’” Green said. “I said, ‘I don’t have anything for you right now, but I guarantee you we will have stuff for you.’ I just wanted to check who he was, his pulse, if he was hungry to learn.”q

A22

Monday 22 February 2016

SPORTS

Nick Kyrgios beats Cilic at Open 13 to win 1st title MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Big-serving Nick Kyrgios won his first career title with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over fourth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia in the Open 13 final on Sunday.

Kyrgios closed out the match with his 17th ace to cap a dream week for the 20-year-old Australian, who didn’t lose a set and was unbroken in 47 games.

Ranked 41st, he beat two top-10 players in No. 10 Richard Gasquet and No. 8 Tomas Berdych.

It was only Kyrgios’ second tournament of the year. He lost to Berdych in the third round of the Australian Open in January and was forced to withdraw from Rotterdam last week with an elbow injury.

“I didn’t really expect to

win this title this week after having a couple of weeks off,” said Kyrgios, who lost his only previous final on outdoor clay last year in Estoril, Portugal. “But from the first round I started playing really well and just gained confidence as I kept winning matches.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia holds his trophy after defeating Marin Cilic of Croatia, during their final match, at the Open 13 Provence tennis tournament, in Marseille, southern France, Sunday Feb. 21, 2016.

Associated Press

“I think I served really, really well again. I was serving really well all week. I didn’t get broken once. That was the main thing that was good. And I was able to put pressure on my opponents’ serves a lot when I was going through my service games really quickly.”

The popular Krygios ended his victory speech with a few words of French, declaring to his fans “I really like cheese.”

Kyrgios had Cilic under

pressure from the start and converted his eighth break point to go 3-1 up in the first set and never looked back, securing a second break in the seventh game before serving out the set to love.

Cilic fought back in the second set and almost leveled the match in the 10th game but Kyrgios saved the only break point he faced in the contest with a 201 kph (125 mph) ace.

“I felt I was getting much closer in that second set,” Cilic said.

“I felt also that he was becoming a bit more frustrated, which was good for me.

I had a chance at the end of the second set to get the break, but he managed to play well ... I didn’t adjust well enough on the balls that were coming back.”q

Djokovic back from vacation to face Robredo in Dubai

Novak Djokovic of Serbia wipes sweat from his face during his fourth round match against Gilles Simon of France at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016.

Associated Press

SANDRA HARWITT Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After taking a three-week vacation from tennis after winning his sixth Australian Open title, Novak Djokovic is ready to get

back on court Monday at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Having won his first two tournaments of the year — the Qatar Open and his 11th Grand Slam title in Australia — the top-ranked Serb has

been focusing on his family.

“I’ve played a lot of tennis from the beginning of preparation through the finals of the Australian Open, more or less every day,” Djokovic said Sunday. “I think it was necessary for me to just cool off a little bit and do something else.

“Thankfully, I’m a father and husband, and that’s already a lot of work and a lot of pleasure,” he said.

“And the few weeks (off) felt like it was even more and I’m eager to come back.”

Djokovic is a four-time champion in Dubai, but lost the last two years to Roger Federer in the final and semifinals.

Federer recently under-

went arthroscopic knee surgery and won’t be defending his Dubai title this week.

Djokovic will play Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo in the first round.

On the other side of the draw, second-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland is returning to Dubai after an eight-year absence.

Wawrinka has only played here twice before — in 2006 and 2008 — and lost in the first round on both occasions.

“It’s been many years since I played here and I wanted to change things in my calendar, to feel like I’m going to new tournaments,” Wawrinka said.

Wawrinka beat Djokovic on the way to both of his Grand Slams - in the 2015 French Open final and the 2014 Australian Open quarterfinals — but knows the challenge ahead.

“He’s dominating the tennis, for sure, and he’s playing a different level from the rest of the players,” Wawrinka said. “But we’ve had some tough battles in Grand Slams when I was playing my best tennis. My game, the power I have from the backhand, the baseline, and the forehand, makes me feel like I have a game I can trust to beat him.”

Wawrinka plays Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in the first round on Tuesday.q

TECHNOLOGY A23

Monday 22 February 2016

Camera boost, virtual reality in new Samsung, LG gadgets ANICK JESDANUN JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — To revive interest in smartphones, Samsung and LG are improving their cameras and embracing the nascent world of virtual reality.

And Samsung is being backed by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who said Sunday the companies are teaming up to push VR in mobile phones and social networking.

“Together this is by far the best mobile VR experience you can offer,” Zuckerberg said at Samsung’s unveiling of their new flagship phones in Barcelona.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge promise better photos under low-light conditions, in part with sensors that capture more light. The main camera on LG’s upcoming G5 smartphone will have two lenses — one for standard shots and another with a wider angle so you can capture more of what’s in front of you without having to step back.

Both companies will also release several camerarelated accessories. Samsung, which unveiled a virtual-reality device for consumers last fall, will now make a 360-degree camera for everyday folks to capture and share VR images. The company will also make smartphone cases with a hole to screw in special lenses, such as wide angle and fisheye views.

LG will have its own VR headset — a lighter version of Samsung’s Gear VR — as well as a smartphone attachment that functions as a camera grip with physical buttons to take shots and control video recording. The attachment is

A man holds the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge during the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2016 event on the eve of this week’s Mobile World Congress wireless show, in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016.

Associated Press

part of LG’s new modular approach to design; you’ll be able to pop out the phone’s bottom and swap in new hardware features.

The announcements at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, come as worldwide smartphone growth has slowed, particularly for high-end devices such as Samsung’s S and LG’s G series. Many consumers have turned to lower-cost Android devices that sport features considered top of the line just a few years ago.

“Today we stand at that beginning of new era,” said Samsung president of mobile communications business, DJ Koh. “Here at the beginning of 2016 who doesn’t take smartphones for granted? Having seen everything the smartphone can deliver, at Samsung we have other ideas.”

To underscore Samsung’s emphasis on VR, Zuckerberg made an appearance at the Samsung event to announce a partnership between the two companies to push their VR products. “(VR) is now mainly used for gaming, but that is quickly changing,” Zuckerberg said. “That is why Facebook is investing so much in VR, so we can deliver these social experiences. And that is why we are working with Samsung.”

Analysts said VR was critical for the industry to get customers to part with old phones that they are still happy with and buy new ones. “All the smartphone makers are now competing with themselves from two-to-three years ago, their problem is that phones from two-to-three years ago are still in use,” Ian Fogg, head of mobile anal-

ysis at IHS Technology, told The Associated Press. “VR is essential. It is a smartphone industry initiative to drive consumers to upgrade.”

Phone makers used to guarantee upgrades by making phones bigger and bigger — but phones can’t get much bigger for one-handed use. In fact, the new LG phone is shrinking to 5.3 inches, from 5.5 inches last year. Samsung’s Edge is getting bigger, at 5.5 inches, but because the sides curve, the phone won’t be much wider. The main S7 model is staying constant at 5.1 inches.

With size out of the equation, phone makers have to innovate elsewhere.

That’s been crucial for Samsung, in particular, as its chief rival, Apple, largely matched Samsung on size, while boosting the iPhone camera’s resolution to 12 megapixels from 8. The

iPhone has also gotten better at low-light shots, even surpassing some stand-alone, point-andshoot cameras.

Realizing that the megapixel count alone doesn’t necessarily translate to quality images, Samsung is reducing resolution in the new phones to 12 megapixels from 18. That allows individual pixels on the sensors to be larger, thus capturing more light. The new cameras also allow the camera’s aperture to open wider, letting in more light. Together, the shutter needs to stay open for a shorter time, reducing the blurring that sometimes mars indoor and night shots. Samsung also says its new phones will have a faster focus, which it says will improve performance at low light.And for the selfie camera, Samsung is turning the screen into a flash, similar to what Apple introduced last fall.

Samsung is restoring the ability to add storage, but the battery won’t be replaceable by users. Instead, Samsung is increasing the battery capacity in both models, though the Edge’s larger screen and other new features in both models, including an always-on mode, will sip away power.

The new phones will start shipping March 11, with advance orders to begin this week. In some markets, including the U.S., Samsung is including a Gear VR headset for free to those who order ahead of time.

Prices will vary by carrier and region. In the U.S., AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are offering the regular version for $650 to $695 and the Edge version for about $100 more. Verizon hasn’t announced prices yet.q

A24 BUSINESS

Monday 22 February 2016

Investor Playbook:

What a recession could possibly do to your money

STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — If we are indeed in the midst of a recession — and we won’t know we’re in one until well after it’s begun — stocks likely still have a long way to go down.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has dropped 14 percent since peaking last summer, and it joined markets around the world in another slide on Thursday.

Worries are high that the sharp slowdown in China’s growth, falling U.S. corporate profits and other downward pressures will pull the economy back into a recession.

If a garden-variety one is on the way, the stock market’s drop isn’t even halfway done.

Stocks have lost an average of 33 percent from top to bottom around past recessions, going back to 1929, according to a review by strategists at Credit Suisse. Investors are scared enough that they’re already pulling pages from the recession playbook.

They’re moving into types of stocks and other investments that have typically held up best during past downturns and avoiding those that tend to get hit the worst.

The temptation to sell everything and get out of stocks can be costly, though. Following every past recession, stocks have eventually gone on to recover their losses — and then climb higher.

Every downturn is different, but a look at the numbers gives investors a sense of at least what’s possible.

Here’s what they show: — How bad are recessions for stocks usually?

in turn means they can’t possibly provide as strong a cushion as in past recessions.

Gold, meanwhile, is up this year but has been on a general downward trend since the summer of 2011.

Gold tends to do best when worries about inflation are spiking. Many central banks around the world now see the opposite — a sustained cycle of falling prices, or deflation — as the bigger threat.

A trader works at the New York Stock Exchange. If we are indeed in the midst of a recession, stocks likely still have a long way to go down. Every downturn is different, but a look at the numbers gives investors a sense of at least what’s possible.

(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Bad, but not as bad as the last one.

A drop of more than 20 percent should be expected, and most recessions have seen the S&P 500 fall at least that much. Including the 19.9 percent drop around the 1990-91 recession, it’s happened in 10 of the last 14.

The last recession was far more painful for investors, with its 57 percent plunge.

But that occurred when investors were questioning whether the financial system would even continue to exist, and it was far from typical. You have to go back to the Great Depression to find a bigger drop for stocks.

— Which stocks tend to do worst?

Size matters. The smaller the company, the more its stock tends to fall during a recession. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks has done worse than the S&P 500 index of large-cap stocks in each of the past five recessions.

A similar scenario is playing

out now. The Russell 2000 has lost 26 percent since peaking in June, nearly double the S&P 500’s drop.

— Which stocks tend to hold up best?

Even when the economy’s shrinking, people still buy food and diapers.

Because profits tend to stay steadier for companies that sell everyday items to consumers, so do their stock prices. That’s why investors lump them with health care and telecom stocks into a category known as “defensive” stocks.

They still fall during recessions, but not as much as the rest of the market.

Procter & Gamble and other makers of consumer staples fell 31 percent around the Great Recession, roughly half the broad market’s loss.

—What about other “safer” investments?

Bonds are a traditional comfort blanket for investors during downturns because they are less volatile than stocks, and they

generate regular income for investors. During the last recession, bonds helped to limit losses for investors with balanced portfolios, and then helped them get back to even long before stock-only investors did.

The average intermediateterm bond mutual fund has returned 1.3 percent this year, through Wednesday.

Another traditional landing spot for jittery investors, gold, has also climbed this year.

— Why might the playbook not work as well this time?

Investors scarred by the Great Recession have piled into relatively safe stocks in recent years, even while the economy was growing, in search of steadier returns. All that demand means they’re trading at higher prices relative to their earnings, and more expensive valuations mean these stocks may not offer as much protection as in past downturns.

As for bonds, their low yields mean they’re not producing as much income. That

— Why not sell stocks and just get out of the way?

It’s scary to watch the stock market plummet, but longterm investors have always eventually been made whole.

Someone with terrible timing who bought an S&P 500 index fund on Oct. 9, 2007, when stocks peaked before the financial crisis, got back to even by August 2012, aided by dividends.

That meant a wait of about five years.

Plus, much of stocks’ longterm returns can come from just a handful of really big days, and it’s impossible to predict when they’ll occur. Miss them, and owning stocks gets much less lucrative. Two thirds of the S&P 500’s gain over the last decade has come from just five days.

“This is the whole point of why equities generate the best returns of any major asset class over long periods of time,” says David Lefkowitz, senior equity strategist at UBS Wealth Management Americas.

“They have higher volatility.

If you can live with the higher volatility, you should be in a position to earn higher returns. I fully expect that stocks ultimately will reach new highs.”q

BUSINESS A25

Monday 22 February 2016

China’s top securities regulator steps down amid turmoil DIDI TANG Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China’s top securities regulator Xiao Gang will step down following months of turmoil in Chinese stock markets that battered faith in Beijing’s economic management.

The departure of Xiao, a legal expert with decades of experience in the finance industry, may help assuage

public anger at the dramatic boom and bust, but doesn’t address the market’s underlying problems.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday that Xiao would be replaced by Liu Shiyu, chairman of the Agriculture Bank of China and a former deputy governor of China’s central bank.

Fueled by cheer-leading in

the state press after officials said Chinese stocks should rise, the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets vaulted from late 2014, reaching a peak in June last year, then crumbled in several waves of panic selling that sent shockwaves around the world.

Officials prolonged the turmoil with draconian measures such as ban-

ning major shareholders in publicly-traded companies from selling any shares and ordering state funds to buy. The bust hurt millions of neophyte Chinese investors who piled into the market when it was near its peak.

Analysts say Beijing’s moves on stocks, as well as its halting steps to ease currency controls, show the tension between the ruling Com-

munist Party’s desire for market-oriented reform and its overriding objective of retaining absolute political control.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2,860.02 on Friday, which is a decline of about 45 percent from its peak in June of about 5,178 and barely higher than late 2014, when the market started rising.q

Yahoo board hires investment banks to mull possible sale

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer delivers an address in San Francisco. Yahoo’s board has hired three investment banking firms to evaluate potential bids for its Internet operations.

(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

MICHAEL LIEDTKE Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo’s board has hired three investment banking firms to evaluate potential bids for its Internet operations in the clearest sign yet that CEO Marissa Mayer may not have much more

time to turn around the struggling company.

The move announced this weekend comes 2 1/2 weeks after Yahoo disclosed it would consider “strategic alternatives” while Mayer cuts costs through mass layoffs, office closures and a purge of un-

profitable products.

Mayer believes the overhaul will boost profits and sharpen Yahoo’s focus on mobile apps and other services most likely to revive the company’s revenue growth after years of decline.

Some Yahoo shareholders

frustrated with a steep drop in the company’s stock price have been pushing for a sale of the Internet operations instead.

The board has now responded to that pressure by hiring investment bankers Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and PJT Partners to set up a process for meeting with companies interested in buying all or parts of Yahoo’sbusiness. A special committee of Yahoo’s directors will discuss the options with the bankers and the company’s legal advisers, Cravath, Swaine & Moore. While the board mulls those alternatives, Mayer will continue to pursue a turnaround plan that includes jettisoning 15 percent of Yahoo’s workforce.

“We believe that pursuing these complementary paths is in the best interests of our shareholders and will maximize value,” Yahoo Chairman Maynard Webb said in a statement.

Mayer also is trying to spin off Yahoo’s Internet operations into a newly cre-

ated company while leaving behind prized stakes in Alibaba Group, a rapidly growing Internet company in China, and Yahoo Japan. The proposed spinoff might not be completed until next year, if Yahoo’s Internet business isn’t sold before then.

Yahoo Inc. didn’t identify any of the potential bidders that it might meet. Verizon Communications has publicly said it might be interested in buying parts of the company after paying $4.4 billion last year to snap up another fading Internet company, AOL Inc. Analysts believe Yahoo’s other likely suitors may include AT&T, Comcast and various private equity firms that specialize in snapping up troubled companies with well-known brands such as Yahoo.

Virtually all of Yahoo’s current market value of $28 billion is tied to its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.

The holdings in Alibaba alone are valued at $26 billion.q

Feds: Witnesses fear retaliation from ex-pharma CEO Shkreli MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Several witnesses in a securities fraud case against pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli are concerned he will retaliate if they testify against him, U.S. prosecutors say in a court filing.

Federal prosecutors in New York are asking a judge delay a civil lawsuit that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought against Shkreli until

after his criminal case plays out. They fear that if Shkreli is allowed to take depositions in the civil case, he will have access to information that isn’t normally disclosed until the late stages of a criminal case.

“Here, there is evidence that defendant Shkreli has taken steps to intimidate or threaten individuals in the past,” prosecutors wrote in filings Thursday.

Several of the witnesses told prosecutors they were wor-

ried Shkreli would retaliate against them if they testified because they “have been threatened” by Shkreli over past disputes, prosecutors said. One of the witnesses, who wasn’t identified in court papers, also told prosecutors that Shkreli reached out to them after he learned he was under investigation and “suggested that the witness agree to a false version of certain events,” authorities said.

Shkreli’s attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said the allegations against his client are “preposterous.”

“While his ‘keen intellect’ can at times be intimidating to mere mortals, nothing else about Martin Shkreli is intimidating at all,” he said.

Shkreli, 32, gained notoriety last year after a drug company he founded, Turing Pharmaceuticals, spent $55 million for the U.S. rights to sell a life-saving medi-

cine called Daraprim and promptly raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill.

The former hedge fund manager was arrested in December after prosecutors said he lost investors’ money through bad trades and then looted Retrophin, another pharmaceutical company where he was CEO, for $11 million to pay back his disgruntled clients. Shkreli has pleaded not guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy charges.q

A26 COMICS

Monday 22 February 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Saturday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Monday 22 February 2016

Classifieds FOR SALE Townhouse Orlando, Fl. 1862 Sq. Ft. 2 stories, Year 2014 City of Medic Lake Nona 32827 E-mail: gustavorf28@gmail.com 204361 _________________________

DOCTOR ON DUTY Oranjestad

Dr. Mungra Tel. 585-2239 San Nicolas Dr. Linden v/d Tel: 584-6427

TIMESHARE FOR SALE

RENAISSANCE Week room price wk 38 room 529 $4,750 wk 40 room 336 $3,750 wk 40 room 105 $5,000 wk 42 room 338 $4,000 wk 43 room 329 $3,250 wk 49 room 144 $5,500 wk 50 room 546 $6,000 wk 49 room 2571 $3,750 wk 48 room 517 $3,750 wk 48 or 49 room 119 $4,750 wk 48 or 49 room 551 $5,500 wk 49 or 50 room 203 $5,500 wk 21 or 22 room 347 $4,000 wk 1or2 room 517 $9,500 each Contact Brian Cell: 593-0200 vr.realty@mac.com

EMERGENCIA

911

POLICE

100

ORANJESTAD NOORD STA. CRUZ SAN NICOLAS POLICE TIPLINE FIRE DEPT. FIRE DEPT. HOSPITAL DENTAL CLINIC AMBULANCE CENTRO MEDICO

527-3140 527-3200 527-2900 584-5000 11141 115 582-1108 527-4000 587-9850 582-1234 523-8833

204343 ____________________________

FOR SALE PHARMACY Renaissance Suites Oranjestad: Eagle Tel: 587-9011 week 4 (fri-fri) Pool, lagoon, San Nicolas: Centro Medico Tel: 584-5794 ocean view 3rd floor private island US$11,000 INFORMATION 118 e-mail: jazbi@aol.com TAXI-TAS 587-5900 mbre51@aol.com PROF. TAXI 588-0035 204613 TAXI D.T.S. 587-2300 __________________________

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FOR SALE by owner Marriott Surf Club 2 br O.V. lock off unit Gold season price $16.000 Marriott Ocean Club 2 Br O.V. Gold season 5 floor lock off unit Price $16.000 567-6024 / 587-2633 martem1@aol.com USA 718-748-0395

204627 ___________________________

FOR SALE Occidental Grand

one bed deluxe fixed week 9 Non Mandatory AI. This is an old contract so all the great original benefits are included. $15,000 email at macalh@aol.com or 610 724 6323 204619 _____________________________

FOR SALE Casa del Mar Resort hard to find week 7+8 school vacation, last two weeks in february great ocean view room 1403 easy to rent $52,000 (sleeps 6 large unit) e-mail: jazbi@aol.com mbre51@aol.com 204612 __________________________ DIVI PHOENIX Week 38 Studio ocean view room 904 tower 35 weeks remaining $3500 Divi Golf & Beach week 11 1 B 2 bath $6500 FSBO Ritchey5652@comcast.net 204614 __________________________

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Bloodbank Aruba Tel: 587-0002

A28 SCIENCE

Monday 22 February 2016

El Nino weakens a tad, but U.S. won’t feel that for months SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Meteorologists see signs that the super El Nino is weakening ever so slightly, but they caution months will pass before people in the Americas will feel it.

The World Meteorological Organization said Thursday that El Nino has passed its peak based on specific temperature, wind, and atmospheric pressure conditions.

That’s technically true, but Michelle L’Heureux, lead El Nino forecaster for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center, said there’s a few months lag time before the changes affect the Americas.

El Nino is the occasional but natural warming of the central tropical Pacific which, along with changes in the atmosphere, alters weather patterns worldwide.

It often brings more rain to California and parts of the U.S. West and South, raises temperatures globally a bit, and causes droughts elsewhere in the world.

In December and January, El Nino measurements showed it tied 1997-1998 for the strongest since records started being kept in 1950.

“It’s still strong, but it has reached a peak value and it’s starting its decline,” said

These images provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center shows the three-month outlook for outlook temperature probability, left, and the three-month outlook for precipitation probability.

Associated Press

University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado. “It’s still there; it’s not like we don’t have El Nino anymore. We can still expect (El Nino) like conditions in March and April and even into May, as well.”

Mike Halpert, deputy director of the climate prediction center, said this El Nino hasn’t brought droughtstruck California as much moisture as previous strong El Ninos, but there are still two months to go to get

significant rainfall.

With El Nino still kicking, NOAA forecast a spring that’s wetter than normal throughout the U.S. South, much of the West and part of the East.

Only the Great Lakes re-

gion and Pacific Northwest are forecast to be dry.

It also predicts warmer than usual weather along the entire West Coast and most of the country north of Colorado, Missouri and Tennessee, with only Texas, parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico cooler than normal.

The International Research Institute at Columbia University forecast that once this El Nino fades, there’s a 50 percent chance it will be followed directly

by El Nino’s flip side, a La Nina. La Nina often means droughts in parts of the U.S. Great Plains and Southwest with more rain in the Northwest. La Ninas often mean warmer winters in the U.S. Southeast and cooler winters in the Northwest.q

Record number of astronaut wannabes apply to NASA _ 18,300 MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space travel never looked so good.

NASA announced Friday it received a record number of applicants — some 18,300 — for its next astronaut class. That’s more than double the previous record of 8,000 for the first space shuttle astronaut class in 1978. This time, NASA hit social media hard to promote the openings.

The odds of getting picked are small; only eight to 14 Americans will be chosen.

NASA expects it will take 1½ years to whittle down the list. Candidates need to be U.S. citizens with a bachelor’s degree in science, math or engineering.

In this Sunday, March 1, 2015 image made from video provided

by NASA, astronaut Terry Virts installs an antenna and boom during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.

Associated Press

Like the eight-member Class of 2013, the future astronauts will train to fly to the International Space Station on capsules under development by SpaceX and Boeing, as well as on NASA’s Orion spacecraft intended for deep-space exploration. NASA aims to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Monday 22 February 2016

‘Deadpool’ dominates again with $55M in 2nd week

JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Marvel’s R-rated antihero smash “Deadpool” continued to dominate movie theaters over the weekend, earning an estimated $55 million and trouncing a trio of newcomers.

After pulling in a massive $152.2 million in its President’s Day weekend fourday debut, the comic book adaptation from 20th Century Fox starring Ryan Reynolds as a foul-mouthed mercenary again topped the North American box office. Having already grossed $235.4 million domestically, “Deadpool” — made for just $58 million — is poised to become one of the most successful R-rated movies ever.

Globally, the film — now certain to spawn a franchise of its own — has made $491.1 million thus far.

Among new releases, the

faith-based drama “Risen” debuted with $11.8 million.

The film, in which Joseph Fiennes plays a Roman soldier investigating the death and resurrection of Jesus, was made for about $20 million by Sony’s Affirm label, which targets evangelical Christian moviegoers.

A24’s critically acclaimed Puritan thriller “The Witch” opened with $8.7 million, marking the biggest opening of the indie label behind the Oscar-nominated drama “Room.” A24 celebrated Robert Eggers’ directorial debut — an austere 1600s horror film, rigorously authentic to the period — as not only the company’s biggest weekend in its three-year history, but one that put “The Witch” on course to be “the most successful film of all time with a goat in a starring role.”

It may have been too art house for some hor-

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

Associated Press

ror fans, though, as “The Witch” received a poor Cminus CinemaScore from audiences.

The Jesse Owens biopic from Focus Features, “Race,” struggled to find its footing with $7.3 million.

Directed by Stephen Hop-

kins, “Race” stars Stephan James as the Olympic sprinter.

Edging out the three debuts was Fox’s “Kung Fu Panda 3,” which made $12.5 million in its fourth weekend.

The animated sequel, which has made $117.1 mil-

lion in total, will lose its nearexclusive window of family moviegoing next weekend when Disney’s “Zootopia” opens. That film has already begun its overseas rollout, where it made $31.2 million from 22 territories over the weekend.q

A30 PEOPLE

Monday 22 February 2016

& ARTS Police unions criticize Beyonce’s video, call for boycott

In this Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016 file photo, Beyonce performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 50 football game in Santa Clara, Calif.

Associated Press

TAMARA LUSH Associated Press TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Police unions are criticizing Beyonce in the wake of her Super Bowl halftime act and new video, calling for a boycott because they think her work contains “anti-police” messages.

Unions in Miami, Tampa and Nashville, Tennessee, are either calling for officers to boycott her music or urging them not volunteer to work at her shows.

Javier Ortiz, president of the Miami union, said this week that “Beyoncé used this year’s Super Bowl to divide Americans by promoting the Black Panthers and her anti-police message shows how she does not support law enforcement.”

The Super Bowl halftime show — seen by an estimated 112 million people — drew praise from her fans and consternation from critics.

It was a display of unapologetic blackness and political activism. Beyonce’s

dancers donned berets, sported Afros and wore all black, similar to the style of the Black Panther party that was founded 50 years ago in the Bay area — the location of the Super Bowl. At one point during their routine, the dancers formed an “X’’ on the field, which some people took as a tribute to slain black activist Malcolm X. Tampa Police Benevolent Association President Vincent Gericitano posted a statement on the group’s website saying it was “disgusted” with the Super Bowl show and “equally disgusted” with her new music video.

The video for “Formation” invokes the Hurricane Katrina tragedy in New Orleans and includes a shot of the singer lying atop a police cruiser overtaken by floodwater. It also references the Black Lives Matter movement with police standing in riot gear and the words “stop shooting us” spray-painted on a

wall.

The tour kicks off with a sold-out show in Miami on April 27. She plays Tampa two days later.

Tampa Police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said there is no indication that officers are not taking the extra-duty, voluntary shifts to provide security for the concert.

“This has been blown way out of proportion,” she said.

Tampa Police even tweeted a GIF of Beyonce on Thursday with the statement: “What?! @TampaPD officers have been in #formation for days signing up to keep the #Beehive safe! #Truth #Fact” Miami Police spokesman Lt. Freddie Cruz said the extraduty shifts for the concert will be “open for officers to sign up. Whether they sign up, it’s up to them.”

In Nashville, that chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police asked members to not volunteer for Beyonce’s concert there in May.q

U.S. cop put on leave for role in racially charged video

ST. JOSEPH, Missouri (AP) — A white Missouri police officer has been placed on unpaid leave after he appeared in a racially charged music video wearing his uniform and carrying a sign reading “cop lives matter.”

St. Joseph patrolman Zackary Craft also is seen reaching for his gun in the video for “Before This Bomb Blows Up (Racism Goes Both Ways)” by Josh Smith, a white rapper who performs as J.Smitty.

The video also shows Smith spitting on a picture of the civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton and breaking pictures of President Barack Obama, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and hooded KKK members. He then burns

the images.

Police spokesman Capt.

Jeff Wilson said the department “in no way condones the video.” He said Craft is on leave pending a hearing.

Smith said that Craft, whom he described as a friend, knew the video was “supposed to make cops look good” but didn’t know “quite how far it was going to go.”

“I feel really bad for him,” Smith said. “I hope this all ends well for him and that he is able to keep his job and move on.” He said he took down the video when Craft was suspended last week but reposted it Thursday with Craft’s face blurred.

Craft’s attorney, Morgan

Roach, said Craft allowed himself to be filmed “without knowing the words, content, or context” and was “appalled” when he saw the video.

“He whole-heartedly rejects the song, the music video, and the misguided message in its entirety,” Roach said.

The August 2014 shooting death of unarmed, black 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white officer during a confrontation in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson helped fuel the national “Black Lives Matter” movement. The Justice Department later cleared the officer, concluding that evidence backed his claim that he shot Brown in selfdefense after Brown tried to grab his gun.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A31 ‘Risen’ star Fiennes proud to be part of religious legacy

Monday 22 February 2016

‘Kill Bill’ actress Lucy Liu honored at Harvard CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Actress Lucy Liu has been honored at Harvard for her humanitarian work.

The “Kill Bill” and “Charlie’s Angels” actress, currently starring in the CBS series “Elementary,” was named 2016 artist of the year by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.

She received the award Saturday evening in a presentation at the Cultural Rhythms Festival at Sanders Theater in Cambridge.

Born to immigrant parents in the New York City borough of Queens, Liu is a UNICEF Ambassador and has been a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign. Harvard says she’s “worked tirelessly to raise

In this Jan. 26, 2016 file photo, Lucy Liu participates in AOL’s BUILD Speaker Series at AOL Studios in New York.

Associated Press

awareness of the plight of women and children in some of the world’s most impoverished countries.”

Previous Harvard Foundation winners have included Eva Longoria, Andy Garcia, Matt Damon, Denzel Washington and Salma Hayek.q

Lock of John Lennon’s hair fetches $35,000 at auction This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 shows a box containing a lock of John Lennon’s hair that was snipped as he prepared for a film role.

Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) — A lock of John Lennon’s hair that was snipped as he prepared for a film role has sold for $35,000.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions said Saturday that the 4-inch (10-centimeter) lock of hair was purchased

by Paul Fraser, a United Kingdom-based memorabilia collector.

A German hairdresser kept a tuft of Lennon’s hair after giving him a trim before the Beatle started filming

“How I Won the War,” a dark comedy released in 1967. The movie follows the World War II misadventures of British troops led by an inept commander.

The hair was one of several Beatles-related items on auction. A photograph of the iconic band signed by all four members went for $42,500. And a sealed copy of the band’s “butcher” cover for the “Yesterday and Today” album went for $125,000.q

JOHN CARUCCI Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — With his new role as a Roman tribune in “Risen,” Joseph Fiennes joins Charlton Heston, Richard Burton and Max von Sydow in the long list of actors who have starred in biblical films.

Films like “Ben-Hur,” ‘’The Robe” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” have perennial appeal during the Easter season, so Fiennes now belongs to a special club. “It’s great to be a part of that legacy,” Fiennes recently told The Associated Press. Over the years, many films have dealt with the life of Jesus Christ and the crucifixion, but not many go beyond the resurrection. “Risen” plays more like a detective story as Fiennes’ character heads up an investigation into the disappearance of the body of Christ.

“I loved ‘The Robe’ — and this isn’t too dissimilar — with Richard Burton as a Roman that has contact with the robe of Christ,” Fiennes said. His character in “Risen” is part of the death squad that oversees the crucifixion of Christ.

“He goes through a series of interrogations because he’s been charged by Pontius Pilate to find the body

This image provided by Columbia Pictures, shows Tom Felton, left, as Lucius and Joseph Fiennes as Clavius in Columbia Pictures’ “Risen.” The movie opens in U.S. theaters nationwide Feb. 19, 2016.

Associated Press

of Christ because they are aware that followers of Christ would steal the body and promote the myth that he is resurrected, so they have to find the body.”

But he feels “Risen,” also picks up the plot of a more recent film. “’The Passion of the Christ,’ phenomenal film, left us at the cross, and this is where we pick up from.

There’s great value in the equation, the final equation — the resurrection,” Fiennes said. Fiennes cites actors Robert Powell and Ted Neeley as some of his favorites who have played Jesus. Powell starred in the

Franco Zeffirelli film “Jesus of Nazareth,” and Neeley had the title role in the film version of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Yet, Fiennes thinks Cliff Curtis, who plays the Jesus role in “Risen” has the edge over the others.

“He looks authentically Middle Eastern, so we’ve moved away from the very typical blond-haired and blue-eyed Christ, and I think that’s a great departure,” said Fiennes, who himself has been caught up in a casting controversy after landing the role of Michael Jackson for an upcoming TV film. q

Alfie Boe to be next hero in Broadway’s ‘Finding Neverland’ MARK KENNEDY AP Drama Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Opera and theater star Alfie Boe will go from prisoner to playwright when he trades in “Les Miserables” for “Finding Neverland” late next month on Broadway.

The British tenor, who has been playing Jean Valjean, will start as “Peter Pan” creator J.M. Barrie on March 29 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, replacing Tony Yazbeck in the role, who finishes his run two nights earlier.

Classically trained at the Royal Opera House, Boe was spotted by super-producer Cameron Mackintosh and invited to the “Les Miserables” anniversary concert in London in 2010 in front of 28,000 people.

Boe delivered a stunning version of the song “Bring Him Home.” He would go on to sing for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert, the Olympics and a symphonically reimagined The Who’s “Quadrophenia.”

“Finding Neverland” is adapted from the 2004

In this Oct. 2, 2013 file photo, English tenor Alfie Boe arrives for the Classic BRIT Awards in London.

Associated Press

whimsical film of the same name about a widow whose four young sons inspired M. Barrie to write the children’s classic.q