January 23, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Saturday, January 23, 2016

Capitol Punishment

Monster Blizzard Starts Dumping Snow Across USÂ Madison Riley, left, and Katie Lantuh walk down Pennsylvania Avenue with the U.S. Capitol behind them, as the snow falls, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016 in Washington.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Page 4

A2 UP

Saturday 23 January 2016

FRONT The Aruba Today Newspaper announces that in honor of Betico Day, we will not be in circulation Monday, January 25th. We will be back on newsstands everywhere bright and early to serve our readers and advertisers first thing in the morning, Tuesday, January 26th. There will be events and activities all across the island this weekend in celebration of Betico Day, which honors the life and legacy of Aruban politician Gilberto Francois “Betico” Croes. Pabien Aruba, from the Aruba Today – the ONLY English Newspaper on Aruba!

Kerry says governmental corruption fuels extremism MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry took aim Friday at government corruption, saying it fuels crime, violent extremism and disillusionment with society that contributes to the global refugee crisis. He also said the Obama administration will seek a major boost in funding for refugee support this year and press for at least

10 new countries to offer resettlement programs.

Speaking Friday at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Kerry said the U.S. would redouble its commitment to fighting corruption as a national security priority that costs the global economy some $2.6 trillion a year and “complicates every single security, diplomatic, and social initiative we undertake.”

“We have to acknowledge

in all quarters of leadership that the plagues of violent extremism, greed, lust for power, and sectarian exploitation often find their nourishment where governments are fragile and leaders are incompetent or dishonest,” Kerry said in a keynote address to the forum.

He noted that graft and ineffective governance had either caused or contributed greatly to crises in US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a panel session at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016. Kerry took aim Friday at government corruption, saying it fuels crime, violent extremism and disillusionment with society that contributes to the global refugee crisis.

(Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, Ukraine, Libya and Yemen and thus had become an international, rather than purely domestic, problem.

“The fact is there is nothing, absolutely nothing, more demoralizing and disempowering to any citizen of any nation than the belief the system is rigged against them and that people in positions of power are — to use a diplomatic term of art — crooks who are stealing the future of their own people; and by the way, depositing their ill-gotten gains in ostensibly legitimate financial institutions around the world,” Kerry said. He said corruption is a social danger, a radicalizer used as a recruitment tool by extremist groups, and a destroyer of opportunity.

“The bottom line is that it’s everybody’s responsibility to condemn and expose corruption, to hold perpetrators accountable, and to replace a culture of corruption,” Kerry said.

“Never forget: the impact of corruption touches everyone,” he said. “We all pay for it. So we have to wage this fight collectively — not reluctantly, but

wholeheartedly by embracing standards that make corruption the exception, not the norm.”

On refugees, Kerry said the U.S. will encourage donors to increase financing for worldwide humanitarian appeals by 30 percent, from $10 billion to $13 billion a year. He said the U.S. will also push countries that currently accept refugees to double the number they resettle, increase the number of refugees in school by 1 million and the number of refugees legally allowed to work by 1 million. And, he said at least 10 more countries should begin accepting refugees or make major improvements to their policies. These calls will be a centerpiece of a refugee summit that President Barack Obama will host at the U.N. General Assembly this fall, Kerry said.

Iraq’s prime minister appealed Friday to Turkey to pull its troops out of Iraqi territory and instead provide training and equipment to fight the Islamic State group, which he and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted is losing ground.q

U.S. NEWS A3

Saturday 23 January 2016

US student held in North Korea, little information released

Small American flags have been placed in the trees in front of the Warmbier family home, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, in Wyoming, Ohio. North Korea on Friday announced the arrest of Otto Warmbier, a university student from Ohio, for what it called a “hostile act” orchestrated by the American government to undermine the authoritarian nation.

(AP Photo/Gary Landers)

DAN SEWELL Associated Press CINCINNATI (AP) — Officials in North Korea and the U.S. released little information Friday about a university student from Ohio who was detained for what the authoritarian nation called a “hostile act.”

Otto Warmbier is the second person from southwest Ohio to be detained in North Korea in less than two years. A Dayton-area man, Jeffrey Fowle, was held for nearly six months in 2014.

North Korea’s state media said the University of Virginia student entered the country under the guise of a tourist and plotted against North Korean unity with “the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation.”

The date of his arrest was unclear, as were any details of what he did.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, campaigning in New Hampshire as a Republican presidential candidate, called the arrest “inexcusable.” His Columbus office released a letter he sent to President Barack Obama, urging his Democratic administration to “make every effort to secure Mr. Warm-

bier’s immediate release and keep (his) family constantly apprised.” Kasich said North Korea should either provide evidence of alleged anti-state activities or immediately release Warmbier. The U.S. Department of State said it was “aware of media reports that a U.S. citizen was detained in North Korea.” A China-based tour company specializing in travel to North Korea, Young Pioneer Tours, confirmed that one of its customers, identified only as Otto, had been detained in Pyongyang, the North’s capital, but provided no other details.

Social media accounts for Warmbier show interests in finance, travel and rap music. Warmbier is majoring in economics with a minor in global sustainability and was on the dean’s list.

A professor at the university’s school of commerce, Jeremy Marcel, called Warmbier “a very intelligent, wonderful young man.” A Theta Chi fraternity brother, Miles Kirwin, added, “He’s an incredible guy.” Warmbier was a top student at his high school in a northern Cincinnati suburb and was described as

a skilled soccer player. Wyoming City Schools spokeswoman Susanna Max said Warmbier was the salutatorian of his 2013 graduating class in the highly rated public high school.

An attorney who represented Fowle in 2014 advised caution for those involved with the student.

“They (North Korea) kind of trickle information out, but what’s actually going on can be very different,” Lebanon attorney Timothy Tepe said, adding he learned North Korean authorities monitor reports and comments about de-

tainees. “You have to be careful what you say.”

Tepe said Fowle is “doing wonderful” and seems to have adjusted well to life at his home near Dayton.

Fowle, a married father of three, attends church regularly with his family and returned to a job in the city of Moraine’s street department, Tepe said.

Fowle said in 2014 he had left a Bible in a North Korean nightclub in hopes it would reach underground Christians.

North Korea’s announcement Friday comes amid a diplomatic push by Wash-

ington, Seoul and their allies to slap Pyongyang with tough sanctions for a recent nuclear test.

North Korea has occasionally announced the arrests of foreign detainees in times of tension with the outside world in an apparent attempt to wrest concessions or diplomatic maneuvering room. North Korea also regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies to overthrow its government to enable the U.S.-backed South Korean government to control the entire Korean Peninsula. q

A4 U.S.

Saturday 23 January 2016

NEWS

Monster blizzard dumping snow on eastern, southern US

Capitol Hill police officers stands outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, during the March for Life 2016, the annual rally on the anniversary of 1973 ‘Roe v. Wade’ U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. A massive blizzard began dumping snow on the southern and eastern United States on Friday, with mass flight cancelations, six states declaring states of emergency and more than two feet predicted for Washington alone.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

BEN NUCKOLS SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A massive blizzard began dumping snow on the southern and eastern United States on Friday, with mass flight cancelations, six states declaring states of

emergency and more than two feet (60 centimeters) predicted for Washington alone. At least seven people died in storm-related crashes.

The National Weather Service said the winter storm could rank near the top 10 to ever hit the region.

NWS meteorologist Paul Kocin compared it to “Snowmageddon,” the first of two storms that “wiped out” Washington in 2010, but he said the weekend timing could help limit deaths and damage.

“It does have the potential to be an extremely dan-

gerous storm that can affect more than 50 million people,” said Louis Uccellini, director of the weather service. The snowfall, expected to continue from late Friday into Sunday, could easily cause more than $1 billion in damage and paralyze the eastern third of the nation, he said.

So far, the snowstorm was looking just like the forecasts promised, NWS forecaster Daniel Petersen said Friday afternoon. Washington could get one of its top three storms in history, he said.

Uccellini said all the elements have come together to create a blizzard with brutally high winds, dangerous inland flooding, whiteout conditions and even the possibility of thunder snow, when lightning strikes through a snowstorm.

Snowfall as heavy as 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 centimeters) an hour could continue for 24 hours or more, Kocin said. In addition to Washington, 18 to 24 inches of snow was predicted for Philadelphia and 8 to 10 inches for New York.

A state of emergency was declared in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and parts of other states.

Blizzard warnings or watches were in effect along the storm’s path, from Arkansas through Tennessee and Kentucky to the mid-Atlantic states and as far north as New York.

As far south as Atlanta, people were urged to go home and stay there.

Schools and government offices were closed, thousands of flights were canceled and millions of people stocked up on supplies.

College basketball games and concerts in the region were postponed.

Flight tracking service FlightAware said airlines canceled more than 6,000 flights Friday and Saturday.

By Sunday afternoon, airlines hope to be back to full schedule.

Washington’s subway system said it will shut down entirely late Friday night and remain closed through Sunday. About 1,000 track workers will be deployed to keep New York City’s subway system moving and 79 trains will have “scraper shoes” to reduce the icing on the rails.

The federal government closed offices at noon Friday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama would hunker down at the White House.q

Airlines cancel thousands of flights as big storm advances SCOTT MAYEROWITZ AP Airlines Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Airlines canceled around 6,600 flights to, from or within the U.S. for Friday and Saturday, as a blizzard began covering much of the Eastern U.S. The bulk of Friday’s 3,000 cancelations are in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Another 3,600 flights were canceled for Saturday.

Those cancelations center on Philadelphia, Washington, and New York, with airlines essentially shutting down all flights into those cities.

By Sunday afternoon, however, the airlines hope to be back to a full schedule to handle the typical influx ofbusiness travelers heading out to start a week on the road.

Overall, the airlines have canceled about 13 percent of their scheduled flights in the U.S. for Friday and Saturday.

One bit of good news: Saturday is the slowest travel day of the week.

There are a little more than 22,000 flights scheduled to, from or within the U.S., according to FlightAware.

That’s about 5,000 fewer flights — and 400,000 fewer passengers — than on Thursday or Friday.q

U.S. NEWS A5

Saturday 23 January 2016

LIFE

is Beautiful

Coffee - Kitchen - Drinks

Trump, Republican leaders realizing they may need each other JULIE PACE STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump and some mainstream U.S. Republicans are engaged in a long-distance flirtation.

Both sides are coming to the realization that they’ll need each other if the billionaire businessman becomes the party’s presidential nominee.

The Republican establishment is no fonder of Trump than when he first roiled the campaign last summer with his controversial comments about immigrants and women. But with voting beginning in just over a week, his durability atop preference polls has pushed some donors, strategists and party elders to grudgingly accept the prospect of his winning the nomination.

“We’d better stop hoping for something else and accept the possibility that he’s our nominee and be prepared to rally around him if that’s the case,” said Fred Malek, a top Republican presidential fundraiser.

Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican nominee who represented Kansas in the House and Senate for decades, said of Trump: “He’s got this personality where I do believe he could work with Congress.”

Trump, too, has started to suggest that he’d look for ways to work with Republican leaders if he wins.

“I’m a dealmaker who will get things done,” he said Thursday during an event in Las Vegas. “There’s a point at which — let’s get to be a little establishment.

We got to get things done, folks, OK?” However, the establishment’s growing acceptance of Trump’s electoral prospects so far hasn’t manifested itself in tangible support for his campaign.

The real estate mogul has not been endorsed by any congressional lawmakers or governors, nor are there any indications of a big wave of major donors planning to get involved with his campaign, despite Trump’s assertion that he’s received “so many calls” from wealthy and influential Republicans.

If anything, the most visible signs of support for Trump’s campaign in recent days have come from those who see themselves as outside

Willie Robertson, right, welcomes Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to the stage during the Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel’s 16th annual Outdoor Sportsman Awards on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Las Vegas.

(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

the Republican establishment. Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and a favorite of the tea party insurgency, announced her support for him on Tuesday.

Much of the mainstream Republican reckoning with Trump is rooted in deep disdain for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the businessman’s closest rival. Cruz is seen as

more likely to try to upend the web of lobbyists, donors and other powerbrokers who have long wielded enormous influence in the Republican Party. q

Clinton faces challenge in Iowa reminiscent of 2008 KEN THOMAS LISA LERER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Recall this 2008 storyline: Hillary Clinton enters the U.S. presidential campaign as the Democratic frontrunner, runs into an inspirational candidate who generates big crowds and enthusiasm. And she winds up in a dogfight in the first voting state, Iowa.

Sound familiar? With 10 days left before Iowa’s lead-off caucuses, Clinton finds herself in a heated contest against insurgent rival Bernie Sanders reminiscent of her 2008 faceoff with then-Sen. Barack Obama.

The Vermont senator has soared to a nip-and-tuck race in Iowa and holds an advantage in New Hampshire, putting Clinton back on the brink

in her second presidential bid. On the Republican side, businessman Donald Trump currently leads most polls but is facing a strong challenge from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and others.

Clinton lost Iowa in 2008, a setback that she never fully recovered from against Obama, who went on to win the White House. This time she hopes a larger field organization in Iowa

and an escalation of her critiques of Sanders’ record and message might undercut his momentum.

Yet there may be a silver lining for Clinton’s 2016 campaign: Unlike Obama, Sanders is a self-described “democratic socialist” and has done little to expand his support beyond white liberal voters who populate the first two presidential contests.q

A6 U.S.

Saturday 23 January 2016

NEWS

GOP wants legal exemptions for gay marriage opponents KATHLEEN FOODY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Months after the Supreme Court effectively legalized samesex marriage, lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing bills that would give businesses and some public employees the right to refuse serving gay couples because of their religious beliefs.

The American Civil Liberties Union opposes such bills and says variations have been proposed in 22 states, mostly by Republicans. Top employers, including Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, Porsche and UPS, warn the proposals are unwelcoming and bad for business.

Even so, Georgia lawmakers have pressed on with a bill that would allow business owners to refuse products or services for samesex couples planning a wedding, and another that protects state employees who have religious objections to the marriages.

“I don’t think anyone really fundamentally wants to prohibit the free exercise of religion and the ability of people to raise their children and still be able to make a living just because they have a different belief system than someone who is their customer,” he said.

The odds of passage na-

tionwide vary dramatically. Several bills are filed in states with legislatures dominated by Democrats or with a Democratic governor’s veto standing in the way, such as Virginia.

have backing from top officials supported by conservative voters. In Kentucky — home to Kim Davis, the county clerk jailed when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex

bound to be challenged in court. How judges may rule depends on the specific issue.

Alexander Volokh, an Emory University law professor, said courts may rule against

State Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus, speaks on a bill he plans to introduce that provides religious exemptions in the wake of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Atlanta.

(AP Photo/David Goldman)

In Tennessee, lawmakers swiftly rejected a measure barring the state from abiding by the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision after legislative analysts projected it could jeopardize $8.5 billion in federal funding.

Elsewhere, the measures

couples because of her religious beliefs — lawmakers have proposed a bill allowing clerks to remove their name from licenses. The bill matches an executive order issued by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Legal experts said any bills that become law are

exemptions for public employees. But laws covering private businesses in states without specific civil rights protections for gay residents could stand, he said.

“Private individuals don’t have any constitutional duty to participate in gay marriage,” Volokh said.q

Town changing logo that was target of national jokes WHITESBORO, New York (AP) — A New York state village is changing its official logo after the image, which appears to show a white man throttling an Indian, was ridiculed on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”

Whitesboro Mayor Patrick O’Connor said Friday that village officials and members of the nearby Oneida Indian Nation will meet to

discuss the creation of a new image.

The announcement comes a day after “The Daily Show” aired a segment filmed on Jan. 11, when villagers voted to keep the traditional logo for its historic value. Among alternative designs put before voters were several provided by the comedy show, including a white man and

a Native American apparently dancing and a white settler and a Native American beating up a British soldier.

O’Connor said the logo shows a historic wrestling match that figured into good relations between early settlers and the Oneidas.

He said the new seal will preserve history with a

more modern and culturally appropriate drawing.

“This is but one of many important examples of communities taking welcome steps to be inclusive and promote our region’s commitment to civility,” said Oneida Nation CEO Ray Halbritter in a statement.

No timetable was given for making the change.q

Police to investigate cop who shot naked, unarmed black man KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press DECATUR, Georgia (AP) — Police said Friday they will investigate a white Atlanta-area officer who shot a naked, unarmed, mentally ill black veteran and has been indicted on felony murder and other charges.

Officer Robert Olsen fatally shot Anthony Hill on March 9 while responding to a call of a naked man behaving erratically outside an apartment complex. Olsen was indicted Thursday.

Tensions between police and minorities have risen across the U.S. after a series of shootings mostly involving white law enforcement officers and unarmed African-American males. Critics in Hill’s case, including his family, have focused more on his mental health and whether force should have been used because he was unarmed.

The family of the 27-yearold Hill says he was a U.S. Air Force veteran who struggled with mental health problems.

The DeKalb County Police Department will begin its own administrative investigation to determine what action, if any, it should take against Olsen, department spokesman Maj. Stephen Fore said in an email Friday.

Olsen was released Friday from jail on $110,200 bond, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Cynthia Williams said.

Olsen’s attorney, Don Samuel, said they are disappointed in the grand jury’s decision, but he noted the defense was not allowed to present any witnesses, experts or evidence and was not allowed to challenge any of the prosecution’s evidence.q

U.S. NEWS A7

Saturday 23 January 2016

US Financial Front:

Home purchases rebound; 2015 had most sales in 9 years fewer options and causing prices to rise.

The number of listings on the market fell 3.8 percent from a year ago. Many current homeowners are unable to sell their properties for enough of a profit to afford another home, causing them to stay on the sidelines. With available

An existing home for sale is shown in Roswell, Ga. The National Association of Realtors reported on December sales of existing homes, on Friday, Jan. 22, 2016.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

JOSH BOAK AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home sales rebounded in December after new regulations had delayed the completion of purchases in November. And total sales in 2015 were the most in nine years.

The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales of existing homes climbed 14.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million. Sales had previously plummeted as the industry adapted to new mortgage disclosure rules — a temporary downturn before delayed sales were finalized in December.

“This is a great way to cap off 2015,” said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Last month’s rebound concluded a year that produced the highest annual sales total since 2006.

Steady job growth and low mortgages drew more buyers into the market, causing both sales and prices to climb.

Americans bought roughly

5.26 million homes in 2015, a 6.5 percent increase over 2014. The median sales price rose 6.8 percent to $222,400. The Realtors forecast that sales will stay flat in 2016 and that the median price will rise more than 4 percent. A price increase that big would compound a problem for many wouldbe buyers: A rising proportion of homes are unaffordable. Home values rose last year at more than twice the pace of pay.

Despite greater demand, the housing market continues to recover slowly from the bursting of the housing bubble more than eight years ago. Sales remain well below their peak of 7.08 million in 2005, when adjustable-rate mortgages with no money down and other risky loans fueled a buying frenzy that eventually fizzled and triggered the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

More traditional buyers returned to the market last year as cash investors pulled back. But the number of listings shrank, giving those shopping for a home

homes in short supply, more would-be buyers are stuck renting. The share of homeowners has slipped to 63.7 percent from a high of 69.2 percent in 2004.

Demand has continued even though sales dipped to an annual rate of 4.76 million in November. That decline resulted in large

part from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s introduction of guidelines in October for informing homebuyers about interest rates and fees for their mortgages.

Once lenders and buyers sorted through the changes to the paperwork, sales growth resumed. q

A8

Saturday 23 January 2016

WORLD NEWS

Merkel and Davutoglu seek solutions to migrant crisis DAVID RISING Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish Prime Minister

hosts the world’s largest number of refugees, including more than 2.2 million from neighboring Syria, and has been struggling to

half the country and enabled the radical Islamic State group to seize a third of its territory. Peace talks planned for next week in

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Prime Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, right, gesture during a military welcome ceremony for a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016.

(AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Ahmet Davutoglu pledged Friday to continue to work intensively together to solve Europe’s migrant crisis — not only to stem the flow of people but to improve conditions in camps in Turkey and to try and bring about a peace deal in Syria.

Germany saw an unprecedented 1.1 million asylumseekers arrive last year, most of whom had come via Turkey from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Turkey, in the meantime,

keep up with the flood.

“The refugee crisis is not Germany’s crisis, it is not Europe’s crisis, it is not Turkey’s crisis,” Davutoglu said in a joint press conference with Merkel.

“It is a crisis that was born out of the crisis in Syria. If we cooperate we can bring this crisis under control. If we throw the issue at each other, solving this issue will become more difficult.”

Syria’s five-year civil war has killed a quarter of a million people, displaced

Geneva are meant to start a political process to end the conflict.

“I am deeply convinced that the question of illegal immigration can only be solved when we work together toward resolving the cause of the flood,” Merkel said.

Merkel has refused to put a cap on the number of migrants allowed into Germany, but is facing growing domestic pressure and has focused on working with Turkey to help slow the

flow of people coming to Europe.

She has also been urging other EU members to make good on their pledge of giving Turkey 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to improve conditions for the almost 3 million refugees living there.

She said more also needs to be done to combat the networks of smugglers bringing the refugees to Europe, and to provide education and health care for those who have sought refuge in Turkey and other countries neighboring Syria.

Heading into the meeting, Davutoglu told German news agency dpa that even 3 billion euros may not be enough because nobody knows how long the crisis will last. He suggested that the refugee crisis has already cost Turkey $10 billion.

“We’re not begging for money from the EU,” Davutoglu said.

“But if there is a serious commitment to sharing the burden, then we have to sit down and talk about all the details of the crisis.”

Davutoglu also praised Merkel for her open-door stance.

“Political leaders are remembered not just for their projects, for but the humanitarian stances they take in difficult times,” he said. “The step Mrs. Merkel took will go down in history.

The people of Syria will never forget this humanitarian stance.”q

Spain: Rajoy declines offer to form new government CIARAN GILES BARRY HATTON Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Spain’s incumbent conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy turned down an offer Friday by King Felipe VI to try to form a new government following last month’s inconclusive elections but said he would continue to seek support for his candidacy as premier.

More time is needed for negotiations, Rajoy said, but added it didn’t make sense for him to present himself at the moment because

the vast majority of deputies were certain to vote against him in Parliament.

“I haven’t given up on anything,” he said after meeting with Felipe at the end of a week of talks between the king and party leaders.

“I didn’t say ‘no’ to my investiture, I conveyed to him (the king) that I didn’t have enough support yet.”

Rajoy’s Popular Party won 123 seats in the Dec. 20 election, which was more than any other group but not enough to garner a majority in the 350-seat lower house of Parliament.

It was also way below the 186 seats it held following the previous general election in 2011.

Felipe could now call on opposition Socialist party leader Pedro Sanchez. The Socialists came second in the election with 90 seats and appear to have more chances of mustering support from other groups in Parliament. The palace said the king will begin fresh talks with party leaders next Wednesday in a bid to find a candidate. The nominated candidate must win a vote of confidence in Par-

liament. If no party leader manages to win Parliament support within two months of the first vote, fresh elections must be called.

For weeks, Rajoy has sought to head a minority government with the support of the Socialists and the center-right newcomer Ciudadanos, which got 40 seats. But the Socialists have said they intend to vote against him no matter what. In contrast, Sanchez earlier Friday received an offer by the radical leftist Podemos group to form a coalition government. q

Syria opposition sharply divided over peace talks BEIRUT (AP) — Two days before peace talks are scheduled to begin in Geneva, Syrian groups opposed to President Bashar Assad are still sharply divided on who should represent them at the talks, opposition officials said Friday as a new wave of air raids in eastern Syria killed at least 40 people. One senior Kurdish official denounced the negotiating team announced in Saudi Arabia last week as a “delegation of jihadis.”

Many in the opposition say Russia wants to add names to the delegation that opposition groups backed

by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar announced this week in Saudi. The U.N.backed talks between the Syrian government and opposition are scheduled for Monday although officials have said they might be delayed by few days.

Abdul-Basit Sieda of the Saudi-backed opposition said they reject Russia’s desire to add names to the opposition list. Another opposition official said Moscow wants to add to the delegation among others, Qadri Jamil, a former Syrian deputy prime minister, as well as Saleh Muslim, the co-president of the largest Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party or PYD. Turkey, which has its own large and restive Kurdish population, strongly opposes any PYD participation. The PYD’S military wing has been instrumental in the fight against the Islamic State group in northern Syria. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal details about the talks.

“The PYD wants to hijack the Kurdish cause in Syria,” said Sieda, himself a Kurd, but an opponent of the PYD. On Wednesday, senior opposition official, Riyad Hijab, announced the names of opposition negotiators saying they will be headed by army defector Asaad al-Zoubi and include Mohammad Alloush, a representative of an Islamic rebel group known as the Army of Islam.q

WORLD NEWS 9

Saturday 23 January 2016

Syria government thanks Russia for help in recapturing key town V. ISACHENKOV Associated Press SALMA, Syria (AP) — Pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad hang on nearly every building in the town of Salma, which government troops captured last week in one of their most significant advances since Russia intervened militarily on their side.

The Syrian government offensive has given Assad a stronger hand going into peace talks with the opposition that are planned for next week in Switzerland.

The Russian military on Friday took Moscow-based reporters to see the town in Latakia province, which had been out of government control for more than three years. Most of the buildings bore visible signs of fighting, with holes in concrete walls gaping open and windows blown out.

Government forces were able to capture the city “thanks to the support of the friendly Russian aviation,” Latakia Governor Ibrahim Khder al-Saalem said. “Our army will now press its offensive further.”

Since Russia launched its bombing campaign on Sept. 30, its warplanes have flown nearly 6,000 missions in support of the Syrian government troops. The airstrikes were ostensibly to target Islamic State militants and other extremists, but they also have helped Assad push back rebels on several fronts and capture dozens of villages in the north and west.

While Salma had been under rebel control since 2012, the government had continued to hold most of the rest of Latakia province, the heartland of Assad’s minority Ala-

wite sect. Salma, a town of 10,000, sits on hills overlooking the Mediterranean coast, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.

The governor said the militants who had held Salma burned 200 hectares (500 acres) of apple orchards and 300 hectares (750 acres) of forest around the city before retreating toward Turkey.

The border with Turkey, a key supporter of rebels in the area, is only 12 kilometers (seven miles) away.

On Friday, Syrian troops captured more areas from insurgents in Latakia province, including Kaluksi mountain and several other villages, according to the state-run SANA news agency.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy clashes in the mountains of Latakia province, saying that the Syrian army and pro-government forces were advancing in the area.

The hills around Salma were littered with blown-up tanks and other vehicles.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Russian planes had helped destroy military vehicles and bunkers placed in strategic positions, helping prepare the way for the Syrian army to capture the city.

He said the area had many ammunition depots, holding massive caches of explosives, which also were targeted by Russian warplanes.

Syria’s five-year civil war has killed a quarter of a million people, displaced half the country and enabled the radical Islamic State group to seize a third of Syria’s territory.q

People stand on a street in Salma, Syria, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016. Syrian government forces relying on Russian air cover have recently seized Salma, located in Syria’s province of Lattakia, from militants. The Syrian government offensive has given Assad a stronger hand going into peace talks with the opposition that are planned for next week in Switzerland.

(AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

A10 WORLD

Saturday 23 January 2016

NEWS

Internal army spat threatens to derail Libya peace process BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — New divisions have emerged in Libya’s eastern army after a military spokesman accused its top commander of corruption and treachery, calling into question the country’s ability to reach a lasting peace settlement following the recent announcement of a new unity government.

In an angry TV interview

late Thursday, spokesman Mohammed Hegazy accused General Khalifa Hifter of corruption. He said Hifter had seized funds and deposited them in his sons’ bank accounts in neighboring countries.

He also alleged that Hifter was a traitor, who had deliberately postponed victory in the city of Benghazi, where army units and loy-

alist militia have been battling Islamic militants for nearly two years.

He even accused Hifter of selling weapons to rival groups, including local al-Qaida affiliate Ansar al-Shariah. The U.S. has accused the group of killing its ambassador, Christopher Stevens, as well as three other Americans in a 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in

Benghazi. Saqr al-Joroushi, an aide to Hifter and Libya’s air force commander, said there was no truth to the spokesman’s allegations. He said the sons were entrusted by Hifter to use the funds to buy weapons, and added that Hifter had given the orders for a swift crackdown on any group found to have sold weapons to rival militias.

In a televised interview on Friday, Al-Joroushi also lashed out at Hegazy, saying he should have sent his reports to prosecutors rather than go public with his accusations. He said the spokesman holds no real position in the air force.

Libya’s eastern parliament, the House of Representatives, says it has launched an investigation into the claims.q

Dozens killed in Yemen airstrikes by Saudi-led coalition AHMED AL-HAJ JON GAMBRELL Associated Press SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Saudi-led military coalition carried out a series of airstrikes across Yemen Friday, killing dozens and striking an ambulance for a hospital supported by the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, according Yemeni officials, rebel media and a statement by the charity.

The intense wave of airstrikes came as the Qataribased Al-Jazeera network said three of its journalists had been kidnapped in southern Yemen.

The charity, also known by its French acronym MSF, said the ambulance driver was killed in an airstrike on the northern town of Dahyan on Thursday. Dahyan is part of Saada province, the stronghold of Shiite rebels who control much of the country including the capital, Sanaa. The rebels, known as Houthis, announced that airstrikes in Dahyan killed 26 people.

In Sanaa, officials said that 22 people were killed in

Smoke rises after a Saudi-led airstrike hit an army base in Sanaa, Yemen.

(AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

strikes that targeted the mountain of Nahdeen believed to house weapon caches. In Dhamar, Taiz, and Jawf, similar airstrikes targeted gatherings of Houthis and allied army units. In the port city of Hodeida, at least 10 civilians were killed when airstrikes targeted trucks carrying smuggled oil from the port, according to officials.

The officials all spoke on

condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Yemen’s civil war began when the Houthi rebels, allied with a former Yemeni president, overran the capital in September 2014.

In March 2015, a coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia began airstrikes and later, a ground operation to retake the country. More than 5,800 people have

been killed and over 80 percent of Yemen’s population is in dire need of food, water and other aid, according to the United Nations.

Meanwhile, three AlJazeera journalists working in the war-ravaged city of Taiz who went missing this week were most likely kidnapped, the satellite news network said.

Reporter Hamdi al-Bokari

and crew members Abdulaziz al-Sabri and Moneer al-Sabai were last seen Monday night in Taiz, a city in southern Yemen that has been the scene of heavy fighting for months now, the Qatari broadcaster said.

In a statement late Thursday night, Al-Jazeera’s acting Director-General Mostefa Souag called for the men’s immediate release.

“Our colleagues were simply doing their job of reporting the story and informing the world on what is taking place in Yemen,” Souag said. “It is tragic to see that in times of conflict, news organizations continue to be targeted. Journalists should have the freedom to do their work without the fear of intimidation, abduction or unlawful arrest.”

The network said al-Bokari, a Yemeni national, has worked for Al-Jazeera’s Arabic channel since 2006.

Al-Sabri is also a reporter for Al-Masdar newspaper, while al-Sabai works as a driver, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.q

Iraqi PM: 3 Americans were abducted by ‘criminal gangs’ S. GEORGE Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister said Friday that there appears to be no political motivation behind the recent abduction of three Americans in Baghdad, saying the men seem to have been taken by “criminal gangs.”

Speaking from Davos, Switzerland, where he is attend-

ing the World Economic Forum, Haider al-Abadi said that no ransom demand have been received and that authorities were looking for the men.

“I don’t believe there’s any political thing out of this because what political gain would anybody get,” alAbadi said.

“I think it’s mainly ... criminal gangs, unfortunately, but

we are going to find out.”

The Americans were abducted in Dora, a mixed neighborhood that is home to both Shiites and Sunnis, on Saturday. Baghdad authorities said the Americans were kidnapped from a “suspicious apartment,” and provided no other details. There has been no claim of responsibility. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

has confirmed only that an unspecified number of Americans are missing.

Separately, Iraqi and Western security officials claimed two powerful Shiite militias — Asaib Ahl alHaq and Saraya al-Salam — are the top suspects in the abduction.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not au-

thorized to talk to reporters.

If a Shiite militia does prove to be responsible for the abductions, it could fuel longstanding accusations that al-Abadi’s government is unable to control these state-sanctioned paramilitary squads — which have grown in strength as Iraqi security forces battle the Islamic State group.q

WORLD NEWS A11

Saturday 23 January 2016

Venezuela congress nixes Maduro request for emergency powers CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s oppositionled congress on Friday rejected President Nicolas Maduro’s request for emergency powers amid a plunging national economy, the depths of which were dramatized by an IMF estimate that inflation this year will top 700 percent.

Ruling party and opposition lawmakers accused each other of trying to run the country into the ground in the first major congressional debate Venezuela has seen in more than a decade. Critics of the socialist revolution kicked off by late President Hugo Chavez took control of congress last month for the first time in 17 years.

Maduro had proposed an economic emergency decree that would give him expanded authority for 60 days. In the past, when it was dominated by first Chavez’s and then Maduro’s allies, congress made a habit of approving these kinds of exceptional pow-

ers.The opposition argues that Maduro is responsible for raging inflation and chronic shortages dogging daily life here, and is promising to oust him within six months. The debate took place against the backdrop of more grim economic news as the International Monetary Fund predicted that inflation in Venezuela would more than double in 2016, reaching 720 percent. The South American nation already suffers from the world’s highest inflation and a crushing recession. The IMF estimates that prices rose 275 percent last year in Venezuela, while the economy contracted by 10 percent. Ahead of the final vote on his decree, Maduro announced he had approved a change that will allow the country’s small export sector to use a more favorable currency exchange rate. He scolded opposition activists for “turning their back on the country.” “They’re bent on the politics of sterile con-

Argentine president says debt talks slower than he expected BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine President Mauricio Macri said Friday that talks to reach a fair agreement with holders of the country’s unpaid bond debt may be slower than anticipated.

Macri said that “there are no concrete results” so far in efforts since he took office last month. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said he’d expected more progress.

Macri confirmed Argentina will make a proposal to the creditors involved in its 2001 default on Feb. 1. The staterun news agency Telam says the presentation was postponed from Jan. 25 at

the request of the holdout creditors. Argentina is renegotiating about $10 billion of unpaid debt owed to US hedge funds, which sued the country in New York court to receive payment in full. A solution with the holdout creditors would allow Argentina to return to the voluntary debt market, said Juan Luis Bour, a Buenos Aires-based economist.

Argentina has a growing fiscal deficit and needs to tap external sources to finance it, Bour said. Without access to foreign sources of funding, Argentina would have to fund the fiscal deficit through monetary expansion, spurring inflation.q

A man crosses a street with his bags of groceries outside of a supermarket, in Caracas, Venezuela, where people are lined up to buy price regulated toilet paper made available for sale by the government, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016.

(AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

frontation,” he said as state television began promoting the slogan “irresponsible opposition.”

Opposition leaders reject-

ed the decree as a trap intended to make them look intransigent and unwilling to fix the economy.

“We’re not closing any

doors.

On the contrary, today we opened the door to a serious discussion,” majority leader Julio Borges said. q

A12 WORLD

Saturday 23 January 2016

NEWS

Health officials probe tie between Zika, paralyzing syndrome MARCOS ALEMAN JENNY BARCHFIELD Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Health officials say they’re trying to determine if an unusual jump in cases of a rare nerve condition sometimes severe enough to cause paralysis is related to the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika

It’s thought to occur when someone’s immune system overreacts and attacks its own nervous system cells, often after various types of infections. Researchers have been suspicious of the virus since French Polynesia noted a jump in cases of Guillain-Barre and microcephaly, in which a child is born with a small head,

patients with Guillain-Barre.

“Zika was really bad here from February to July and then all but disappeared in August. In May, June and July, we had 24 patients come in with Guillain-Barre, and none since August,” he said, adding that in previous years he generally only saw two or three patients with the condition per year.

A health worker fumigates to prevent Dengue, Chikunguya and Zika virus, at El Angel cemetery, in Lima, Peru.

(AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

virus in at least two Latin American countries.

Fears the illness might be causing thousands of birth defects already has led authorities in Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador to take the drastic step of warning women against becoming pregnant. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday expanded its warning for pregnant women thinking of visiting 22 destinations, most in Latin America and the Caribbean.

But concern also has been rising about a potential link to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a nerve disorder than can affect anyone. It causes muscle weakness, tingling in the arms and legs and sometimes temporary paralysis. Most people recover fully, but severe cases that affect muscles used to breathe can be life-threatening.

that accompanied a wave of Zika cases, though the populations were far smaller than in the recent outbreaks The World Health Organization said Salvadoran authorities reported 46 cases of Guillain-Barre in just five weeks, from Dec. 1 to Jan. 6. The full-year average for the country is 169 cases. It said that of 22 patients on which there was information, at least 12 patients had experienced a rashfever illness in the 15 days before developing GuillainBarre. Brazilian officials too have said they’re investigating a link between Guillain-Barre and Zika.

Dr. Antonio Bandeira, an infectologist with the Couto Maia Hospital in the northeastern city of Salvador, said that during last year’s rainy season, when a Zika outbreak was at its peak, he had an unusual spate of

Nationwide, Guillain-Barre had been so rare that the Health Ministry doesn’t track the exact number of cases. Still, officials here acknowledge the rise.

“For sure, throughout the northeast we’ve quite a significant spike in cases of Guillain-Barre,” said Pedro Fernando Vasconcelos, director of the Instituto Evandro Chagas health research institute, in the Amazonian city of Belem.

“And that rise is closely associated to the rise in cases of Zika virus.”

Local transmission of the virus was first formally confirmed in the Americas only nine months ago in Brazil, where officials became alarmed by a sudden rise in cases of microcephaly.

Since the start of October, the country has recorded 3,893 cases of microcephaly, compared with 150 cases for all of 2014.

Haiti:

Presidential vote postponed again

DAVID McFADDEN Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A looming presidential election in Haiti that had already been postponed once and faced deep public skepticism was put on hold indefinitely Friday as the country’s leaders sought to negotiate a resolution to what could soon become a constitutional crisis in the impoverished country.

The Provisional Electoral Council decided to postpone Sunday’s election because there is “too much violence throughout the country,” Pierre-Louis Opont, president of the body that oversees elections, said at a news conference. The capital has been rocked in recent days by opposition protests calling for a halt to the vote.

In announcing its decision, the council did not set a new date for the election. It also did not say whether an interim government would take power after Feb. 7, when President Michel Martelly is required to leave office under the Constitution, or if he would remain in his post until a replacement is elected.

Martelly was scheduled to address the nation later Friday. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Opponents of the Martelly government have insisted that the first round of the presidential balloting on Oct. 25 was marred by massive fraud in favor of the president’s hand-picked successor, businessman Jovenel Moise. The runoff was originally scheduled for Dec. 27, then rescheduled for Sunday.

Jude Celestin, a businessman who was the other candidate in the race, said he would boycott the election, though his name remained on the ballot.

Neither candidate had an immediate response to the decision by the electoral council.

Protesters calling for a halt to Sunday’s election and a new vote have grown increasingly violent in recent days, prompting the council to conclude it was too risky to try to hold an election. Haiti has only a shaky handle on security even with the assistance of troops and police from a United Nations peacekeeping force that has been in the country since a 2004 uprising ousted then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Electoral Council offices across the country have been attacked and set on fire in recent days and election materials in a remote part of the country was hijacked by gunmen, Opont said.

Recent opposition-stoked protests in downtown Portau-Prince have ramped up the tension with rockthrowing partisans and burning street barricades.

There’s been growing concern that the flawed runoff might push the perennially volatile country of 10 million people to the edge of tumult, rolling back a decade of relative political stability and putting the brakes on foreign investment.

Elections are always a struggle in Haiti. It saw its first genuinely democratic election in 1990, closely followed by a coup d’etat. While there have been no shortage of opposition boycotts since then, this is the first time that a presidential candidate is boycotting a runoff after qualifying for it.

Celestin recently told The Associated Press that Haiti was “moving toward a selection, not an election.”

In an atmosphere weighted with uncertainty, Haiti’s Senate and various civil society, religious and business groups had called for a halt to Sunday’s runoff due to deep public suspicion of fraud and meddling by the U.S. and other foreign governments.

LOCAL A13

Saturday 23 January 2016

Featuring a New Route:

Donkey Walkathon 2016 Met with Much Enthusiasm!

BRINGAMOSA - The annual Donkey Walkathon was another big hit this past Saturday afternoon. It is always a great event for many people who love to take a brisk walk, but this year there was a difference: a brand new route.

In previous years the start was at Ayo Rock Formations and the walk took one through the countryside surrounding this extraordinary rocky place. This time, however, the new Donkey Sanctuary at Bringamosa was the starting point and its surroundings were explored. Everyone loved the new route, which was dotted with some seriously deceptive hills. A few athletic donkeys walked along and the 6-K walk was finished by all.

In the category Runners it was Mito Werleman who finished in 27 minutes, followed by Tjerk Prinssen and Nathan Winterdaal. The majority of the participants were not so fast and ran for fun, enjoying the magnificent surroundings.

At the finish there was a gift for everyone in the shape

the Donkey Sanctuary and its 130 donkeys.

And a tip to conclude:

of a magnetic donkey for the fridge and lovely fresh fruit, courtesy of SuperFood. It was a wonderful afternoon, which was greatly appreciated by the

200 participants. The police force and Red Cross took care of security and they did so very, very well indeed. The proceeds of this event will go entirely to

maybe you would live to visit the Aruban donkeys one day? Please do so!q

A14 LOCAL

Saturday 23 January 2016

At Moomba Beach, Aruba:

Dutch Soccer Celebrities Honor Coaching Course Graduates

MOOMBA BEACH - Dutch soccer celebrities Michael van Praag and Bert van Oostveen of KNVB (Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbal Bond) were on the island to give out the diplomas of soccer coaching courses to those who had successfully followed the courses TC1 and TC3. During a hap-

py hour there were flowers, applause and many cheerful faces at MooMba Beach, where everyone had gathered to congratulate the graduates.

Present were management of AVB (Arubaanse Voetbal Bond), the happy graduates and the KNVB celebs.q

LOCAL A15

Saturday 23 January 2016

Loyal Visitors Honored at the Marriott Surf Club Aruba EAGLE BEACH - Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a pair of loyal and friendly visitors of Aruba at the Marriott Surf Club as Distinguished Visitors.

The symbolic honorary title is presented in the name of the Minister of Tourism as a token of appreciation to guests who visit Aruba for 10-to-19 consecutive years.

The honorees were Mr. Edward Estok and Mr. Lawrence Jurcak of Ohio.

Edward and Lawrence are regular guests of the Marriott Surf Club and they love Aruba very much because of the friendly people, the weather, the beaches, the restaurants, the Casinos, and just about everything else! They say Aruba feels like a second home where the people are like family to them, and the Marriott Surf Club is truly their ‘home-away-from-home.’ The certificates were pre-

sented by Mr. Jonathan Boekhoudt representing

the Aruba Tourism Authority together with Mrs. Jenny

Boekhoudt, Executive Assistant to the General Man-

ager at the Marriott Surf Club.q

A16 LOCAL

Saturday 23 January 2016

With Aruba near the top:

Expedia Reports Rise in Caribbean Demand at CHTA

ORNAJESTAD - Paradise Island, The Bahamas – January 20, 2016 –The Expedia group, one of the world’s largest online travel companies, reported today at Caribbean Travel Marketplace (CHTA) an increase in travel demand of 20 percent year over year for the Caribbean via the company’s platforms during the third quarter of 2015 with significant growth reported across the entire region.

The company also reports that Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic remains the top producing market in the Caribbean with more than 15 percent growth year over year (yoy) in the third quarter of 2015 when compared to the same period in 2014. San Juan, Puerto Rico (nearly 15 percent growth); ARUBA (nearly 30 percent growth); and Montego Bay, Jamaica (more than 10 percent growth) follow as leading in-demand markets on all Expedia group platforms.

New data from Expedia

indicates that the United States remains the key feeder market for the Caribbean with a reported growth of nearly 20 percent to Caribbean destinations.

Other international markets reporting substantial year over year growth in the third quarter of 2015 include the United Kingdom, with nearly 45 percent growth, Canada, with nearly 10 percent growth, and France, with over 10 percent growth.

During the third quarter of 2015, the company saw large increases throughout some Eastern Caribbean destinations including Antigua, with nearly 50 percent growth. The Expedia group

also reports a significant year over year growth during the third quarter 2015 for Barbados, with over 50 percent increase in demand; and U.S. Virgin Islands (made up of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John), with nearly 25 percent growth.

Based on customer shopping behavior from Q4 2015, searches for travel to The Bahamas in 2016 are up over 70 percent compared to last year. The top three markets searching for Bahamas travel are the U.S. (up 80 percent yoy), Canada (up 70 percent yoy), and the UK (up 50 percent yoy).

Looking forward, shopping

data for 2016 looks promising with nearly 70 percent increase in shoppers for the Caribbean up in Q4 2015 compared to Q4 of last year. This is punctuated by the 300 percent shopping increase to Kingston, Jamaica; 150 percent shopping increase to Dominica; and 130 percent shopping increase to St. Barthelemy.

The Expedia group’s market management team is pleased to attend Caribbean Travel Marketplace, the destination’s most influential industry event organized by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), from January 21-23, 2016 in Paradise Island, The Bahamas. During the conference, the company’s market management team will discuss trends and new technology tools and marketing capabilities designed to provide increased visibility and incremental demand for hotel partners. Moreover, the team is expected to share recent successes

while also meeting with valued hotel partners and reinforcing the company’s commitment to the region.

“The Caribbean is an important, ever-growing market for Expedia group with more than 2,700 hotel partners currently in the region, and more than 1,000 new partnerships in 2015 alone,” said Demetrius Canton, Director of Lodging Partner Services for the Caribbean, the Expedia group.

“We continue to focus on how we can better support our hotel partners and provide them with the ability to generate revenue and drive demand.” By working with Expedia group, hotels in the Caribbean gain exposure from the more than 200 travel booking sites in more than 75 countries in 35 language, in addition to a myriad of mobile sites and apps, from brands such as Expedia®, Hotels. com®, Travelocity®, Orbitz®, Hotwire®, Egencia®, Expedia® Affiliate Network and others.q

SPORTS A17

Saturday 23 January 2016

At left, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning calls a play during a game in Denver. At right, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady points on the line of scrimmage during a game in Kansas City, Mo. Manning meets Brady for a 17th time this Sunday in the AFC Championship game - with a trip to Super Bowl 50 at stake.

(AP Photo/File)

NFL Preview:

Brady, Manning Matchup is Likely to be the Last

NEW YORK (AP) — The last time Tom Brady and the New England Patriots went to Denver, Peyton Manning watched the game on television from inside the locker room.

Not on Sunday, though.

The Broncos quarterback

will take his customary spot in the huddle.

Manning meets Brady for the 17th and likely last time, with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake.

Straight after their AFC title game will be the NFC’s, in which the Carolina Pan-

thers will host the Arizona Cardinals in what could be a high-scoring matchup.

The Panthers averaged more than 31 points this season, and the Cardinals were a close second at 30.5.

Manning didn’t suit up

against New England on Nov. 29 because of a foot injury. That game was a thriller, too, with Brock Osweiler leading the Broncos to a 30-24 overtime victory.

Manning’s foot is as healed as it’s going to get for now, and after the six-week lay-

off he’s well-rested and really come through in Denver’s past two games. But this is hardly the same Manning anymore. He doesn’t rely on his arm nearly as much as his ability to decipher schemes. He also Continued on page 18

A18 SPORTS

Saturday 23 January 2016

NFL Conference Championships on the line Sunday Continued from page 17 leans heavily on the running game, and Denver’s top-ranked defense.

While he has only a 5-11 record against Brady, they’re 2-2 in the playoffs, including a win by Manning two years ago in the same Mile High Stadium.

The quarterbacks deserve to be a focal point, but there’s a lot more to this matchup than them.

Brady is the master of these situations, in his 10th AFC Championship game, seeking an astounding seventh Super Bowl appearance. As he displayed in last week’s win over Kansas City, his ankle is little or no issue, and when given time — as a timid Chiefs defense afforded him — he’ll pick you apart.

He has the weapons now that wide receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, plus tight end Rob Gronkowski, are healthier. Because the running game is sub-par, Brady is going to throw often, leaving the onus to stop him on Broncos pass rushers DeMarcus Ware, Von Miller, and Derek Wolfe, plus whatever schemes coordinator Wade Phillips designs to pressure Brady.

What could change the flow of New England’s offense is if the oft-jumbled line can’t protect Brady.

Injuries have plagued that unit all season.

Where the Broncos could have an edge is in the run-

undermined by the absence of injured linebacker Jerod Mayo, and a back issue hurting their best linebacker, Jamie Collins. But Denver must try to lighten the burden on Manning, whose team will start 3

when the Cardinals were racked by injuries.

The Panthers are 1-2 in their previous three NFC title games, reaching the Super Bowl in 2003 before losing 32-29 on a late field goal to New England. Arizona won

Carolina Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart (28) runs against Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor (31) during the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game in Charlotte, N.C. The Panthers are favorites by a measly three points against the Cardinals this Sunday in the NFC Championship game - with a trip to Super Bowl 50 at stake.

(AP Photo/Bob Leverone)

ning game through C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman.

Unlike the Patriots, Denver always tries to establish the ground attack. Not that the Patriots are easy to run against, although they’re

1/2-point underdogs.

The Panthers are favorites by a measly three points against the Cardinals, in their first meeting since the Panthers won their firstround playoff a year ago

in its only other NFC Championship game in 2008 before losing to Pittsburgh 2723 in the Super Bowl.

Quarterback Cam Newton was involved in 45 touchdowns this season, and he

Seattle GM:

Marshawn Lynch may be leaning toward retirement SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch may be “leaning toward retirement,” general manager John Schneider said in a

pair of radio interviews Friday. Schneider said in separate interviews with KIRO-AM and KJR-AM that he believes Lynch is leaning toward calling it a career

after an injury-filled 2015 season.

Schneider first appeared on KIRO, the team’s flagship station, saying the team was going to give

Lynch time and leeway to decide what he wants to do, but added he was “under the impression,” Lynch was leaning toward retirement. q

must be accounted for first and foremost by Arizona.

Newton didn’t do much as a runner last week in the win over Seattle because he didn’t have to, as running back Jonathan Stewart set the tempo with his 59-yard burst on the first snap. But Newton can control a defense with his size, strength, speed, and savvy as both a passer and runner. The Cardinals need to keep Newton in the pocket while forcing him to throw before he wants to.

That means they will keep bringing the blitz.

Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer has had perhaps the best season of his 13-year career, and is in the conversation for league MVP. But he comes off a mediocre performance against Green Bay in which his decision-making came into question.

Perhaps he was nervous because he’d never won a playoff game.

Now that he has, Palmer might go back to being the passer who can withstand the heavy pass rush he will get from the Panthers. Few teams have as versatile or deep a front seven; Carolina had five sacks against Seattle.

When Palmer gets time, he’ll first look for venerable wideout Larry Fitzgerald, who had a sensational game against the Packers of eight catches for 176 yards and a touchdown.

Cornerback Josh Norman is likely to get most of the coverage assignments against Fitzgerald, and that will be a highlight matchup on Sunday.q

SPORTS A19

Saturday 23 January 2016

Freeney, coaxed off the couch, is still pressuring QBs BOB BAUM Associated Press TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Dwight Freeney said he was a week away from retiring from the NFL when Arizona coach Bruce Arians called to offer him a job.

Freeney said he was on an airplane that was about to take off.

“The door was closing,” he said. “The flight attendants were telling everyone to put away their cell phones.

I am looking at my phone seeing that it is B.A. I am telling her to hold on. She is telling me to get off the phone.

“It was great when he called me. I said, ‘Yeah, I am ready to get off the couch, let’s go man,’ and it has been a ride ever since.”

Since joining the Cardinals in mid-October, Freeney has shown he still can get to the quarterback.

The 35-year-old outside linebacker, in his 14th NFL season, has nine sacks in his

12 games with the team, including one last week in Arizona’s 26-20 overtime playoff win over Green Bay. It was Freeney’s 10th postseason sack.

Only seven players in NFL history have more. Without him, the Cardinals’ pass rush off the edge isn’t much, so he’s a critical component to the Cardinals’ hopes of beating Carolina on Sunday in the NFC championship game in what will be Freeney’s 18th postseason game.

“Dwight’s a pro’s pro,” defensive James Bettcher said. “The first day he’s here, he’s in there watching tape.

He’s prepping himself. He’s there early every morning.

He’s here late every day.”

Freeney matched his career best of three sacks in Arizona’s 38-8 rout of Green Bay in the next-tolast game of the regular season. On one sack he stripped the ball from Aaron Rodgers and the Cardinals’ Jerraud Powers returned it for a touchdown.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) is sacked

by Arizona Cardinals inside linebacker Dwight Freeney during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. Freeney said he was a week away from retiring from the NFL when Arizona coach Bruce Arians called to offer him a job.

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

For the effort, Freeney was selected the NFC defensive player of the week.

He earned five such honors in the AFC in his 11 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, who selected him 11th overall out of Syracuse in the 2002 draft.

He and Robert Mathis

combined to bring a ferocious pass rush for the Colts, helping the team win the Super Bowl in the 2006 season. Freeney and the Colts parted ways after the 2012 season, and he spent two years with the San Diego Chargers.

This season, he worked

on his golf game and contemplated calling it quits.

Freeney said he heard from “a bunch of teams” that wanted him.

“The thing is I didn’t want to go to a place where I was going to lose,” he said. “I have played long enough to know that I want to be in a place that has the right attitude and has the right pieces to win a championship.”

He found that place in the desert.

“I think this team has so many pieces,” Freeney said. “You have Bruce, who is a great coach and I have a great familiarity with him from Indianapolis — coach of the year last year. You have legends like (assistant head coach) Tom Moore.

I have known Tom Moore forever.”

He said the Arizona offense reminds him of the highpowered ones on the Colts’ best teams.q

20 SPORTS

Saturday 23 January 2016

Back in Cortina, Vonn has more records within reach

ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — When it comes to records and milestones, Cortina d’Ampezzo holds a special place in Lindsey Vonn’s sparkling career.

The resort known as the Queen of the Dolomites was where the skier then known as Lindsey Kildow recorded her first podium result 12 years ago at the age of 19.

Last year in Cortina, Vonn broke Annemarie MoserProell’s 35-year-old record of 62 World Cup wins across all disciplines So it’s fitting that Vonn could break another of Moser-Proell’s records in Saturday’s downhill on the Olympia delle Tofane course.

The American needs one more victory to break a tie of 36 downhill wins with the Austrian great and hold the mark by her-

Lindsey Vonn kisses the trophy after winning an alpine ski, women’s World Cup super-G, in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016. When it comes to records and milestones, Cortina d’Ampezzo holds a special place in Vonn’s sparkling career. Vonn could break another of Moser-Proell’s records in Saturday’s downhill on the Olympia delle Tofane course.

(AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

self in skiing’s marquee event.

“I’ve had so many great memories here,” Vonn said after leading Friday’s final training session. “It’s fun to be back here and I hope to make some more memories this year as well.”

Vonn was surprised when then-boyfriend Tiger Woods showed up wearing a mask during last year’s victory celebration. Having since split with the golfer, she’s not expecting any more masked visitors.

“No,” Vonn said with a big

laugh. “Not that I know of.”

Actually, with only one downhill on the schedule this weekend, Vonn isn’t even sure she’ll get the record here.

“But I feel like right now I’m skiing really well in downhill so if I don’t do it this weekend then hopefully I’ll do it in the next downhill,” she said, alluding to the next downhill race in GarmischPartenkirchen, Germany, in two weeks.

With one more win in Cortina — in either downhill or super-G — Vonn can also

match Renate Goetschl’s mark of 10 wins in the resort — although she’s still only halfway to her mark of 18 victories in Lake Louise, Alberta.

“She’s very comfortable with the hill. She knows it well and can ski it fast,” U.S. head coach Paul Kristofic said. “It’s still one of the more challenging downhills on the women’s circuit, so it requires full attention and good focus. So I wouldn’t say she’s on autopilot but she’s very focused on doing a good job.” q

Ogier goes into lead at Monte Carlo rally GAP, France (AP) — Defending world champion Sebastien Ogier claimed the Monte Carlo rally lead following a tense battle with overnight leader Kris Meeke throughout the second day of the race on Friday.

Ogier moved past his British rival after the morning special stages held on narrow French Alps roads but relinquished his lead after seven of the 16 stages.

Meeke posted the fastest time in Friday’s longest run to move back to the top with his Citroen DS 3 before Ogier hit back in the final stage to lead by 9.5 seconds overall.

“A great battle with Kris today,” said the Frenchman, who drives for Volkswagen.

“Some small mistakes here

and there, and now I think I have a slow puncture on the left rear. I’m happy though.

A good day.”

Andreas Mikkelsen was in third until a spin in the penultimate stage as Jari-Matti Latvala climbed to the provisional podium before Saturday’s stages - 1 minute, 8.1 seconds behind.

“There must be something in this stage that Seb knows,” Meeke said. “I think he lives about three kilometers from here, so I’m happy to give him this one. I have no answer to his time. Still a long way to go on this rally.”

Ogier, a three-time world champion, got off to a strong start to claim the first special stage of the day ahead of Meeke and

Latvala. Meeke was then 0.7 seconds faster than his French rival, who damaged the rear left suspension of his Volkswagen, to lead by 6.7 seconds after four stages.

Ogier recovered in the next stage to the Chaillol ski resort, using his driving skills on tricky roads to grab the lead by 1.55 seconds.

Robert Kubica and Hayden Paddon retired in the day’s opening stage after losing control of their cars on icy patches and hitting a tree.

“We did two corners on the ice and it felt quite okay,” Kubica said.

“Then we arrived at the right-hander and I was just a passenger.”

The opening race of the world rally championship finishes on Sunday.q

SPORTS A21

Saturday 23 January 2016

Another Federer milestone: Win No. 300 at a Grand Slam JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The countless records and accolades accumulated over a long and illustrious career don’t in any way diminish Roger Federer’s satisfaction when he sets yet another benchmark.

Federer became the first man to win 300 Grand Slam singles matches when he beat Grigor Dimitrov, a player formerly dubbed “baby Fed” for the likeness of their styles, in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday.

The 34-year-old Federer already tops many “most of” lists in men’s tennis — from the number of major titles won (17) to the number of consecutive Grand Slam tournaments contested (65). Yet he still gets a thrill from the numbers.

“It’s very exciting, I must tell you,” Federer told the crowd following his 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Dimitrov.

He compared the latest

milestone to his 1,000th win in tour-level matches, which he sealed 12 months ago in Brisbane. “It was a big deal for me.”

Federer is now 67 wins ahead of No. 2 and longretired Jimmy Connors in terms of Grand Slam singles wins, so the mark is safe for a while.

“It’s not something I ever aimed for but when it happens, it’s very special,” he said. “You look deeper into it, where it’s all happened and how. So it’s very nice.”

Federer’s next aim is to break a Grand Slam title drought that dates back to Wimbledon 2012. He reached two major finals in 2015, losing them both to Novak Djokovic, who has replaced him as the most dominant man in the draw.

He could meet Djokovic in the semifinals.

Djokovic took care of the man who ended Federer’s run in the third round here last year, the Swiss star’s worst run at the Australian Open since 2001.

The No. 1-ranked Djokovic

Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a forehand return to Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016.

(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

needed only 25 minutes to win the first set against No. 28-seeded Andreas Seppi but had a tougher time in the next two, saving two set points in the tiebreaker before winning 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (6). The five-time Australian

Open champion was playing at the same time as Serena Williams, a six-time Australian Open winner, so he shuffled over to Margaret Court Arena.

He noted how he liked the renovation — the No. 2

stadium has had a roof installed since his last outing there.

“I played a quality player who took out Federer last year here and who has been on the tour for many years,” Djokovic said. q

Spieth, McIlroy drop as Sullivan leads in Abu Dhabi

Andy Sullivan of England strikes the ball at the 14th fairway during the second round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016.

(AP Photo/Martin Dokoupil)

STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and other big names slid off the leaderboard at the weather-affected Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday, leaving

American amateur Bryson DeChambeau to chase clubhouse leader Andy Sullivan in the second round.

After fog delayed the start of play by nearly three hours, Sullivan shot a second straight 5-under 67 to move clear on 10-under

and make another strong impression in front of his playing partner, European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke.

Spieth and McIlroy were in the marquee afternoon group, but both played erratically and were 1 over

after 13 holes when play was suspended for the day because of darkness. Spieth was at 3 under and McIlroy at 5 under, with both struggling off the tee.

DeChambeau, the surprise first-round leader following a 64, was a shot behind Sullivan after playing nine holes in 1 under. Starting on No. 10, he made birdies on two of his first three holes but bogeyed No. 18 in the fading light.

Joost Luiten (68) and Rafael Cabrera-Bello (67) were in the clubhouse on 7-under 137, with the leaderboard shorn of the tournament’s leading players.

Henrik Stenson dropped three shots in 12 holes before play was suspended to fall to 4-under overall, and Branden Grace was on the same score after shooting 74.

The European Tour said the third round will be a twotee start, in three balls, to make up for the lost time Friday.

Sullivan, one of the stars of

the European Tour in 2015 with three victories, won three points from three matches for Europe in its big win over Asia in the EurAsia Cup in Malaysia last week.

Clarke captained the Europeans for that event, a test run for the Ryder Cup, and has been further impressed

by Sullivan’s play and attitude in Abu Dhabi — this time even closer up.

The 28-year-old Englishman started and finished his second round with three straight birdies.

“Darren knows what I can do, so I don’t think it was imperative (to play well here),” Sullivan said, “but it bodes well when you do.”

Clarke and Sullivan have been close friends since Sullivan turned professional in 2011 and the jokes have been flying between them this week. “He has completely taken the mick out of me for two days and I have told him that if he keeps this up, a pick (for the Ryder Cup) is out of the question,” Clarke said.q

A22

Saturday 23 January 2016

SPORTS

Prince Ali confident he can win FIFA presidency WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Prince Ali of Jordan is confident he can win the FIFA presidential election and turn around what he says is a critical situation facing football’s governing body.

Prince Ali, who is one of five candidates for the presidency vacated by Sepp Blatter, told reporters in New Zealand on Friday he believes he will win on Feb. 26 in Zurich and that he is the one person who can turn the organization around.

The 40-year-old Jordanian lost to Blatter by 133 votes to 73 in a presidential election in May, before Blatter was banned for eight years.

Prince Ali said “I am fully confident I will win this if things are conducted properly.

Across the world the weight has been lifted off of people’s shoulders.

People want to be proud of being part of this organization again and, without going into specifics on numbers, I’m building on what (votes) had last time around.”

Football New Zealand supported his candidacy in May and his visit on Friday was part of a worldwide tour to solicit support.

“FIFA is in a critical situation right now and we need to fix that,” Prince Ali said.

“We have one chance coming in February. I believe we have wasted a year and we need to get it right. FIFA’s reputation has suffered dramatically and that has affected everything. There is a real desire to get things back on track.

“We have a lot of good

people in football around the world, but you have to have a leadership that understands what needs to

up.

“A president of FIFA needs to be somebody who rolls up his sleeves, goes on the

World Cup entry for the winner of an Oceania qualifying competition, saying he would lobby to eliminate

FIFA vice president Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in London. Prince Ali is confident he can win the FIFA presidential election and turn around what he says is a critical situation facing football’s governing body.

(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

be done. I believe (I’m) the only one who can really come in and do this.”

His priorities would be to restore FIFA to its role as a “service organization” for players and fans and to implement a two-term limit for presidents and executive committee members.

“We have to come back to good practices to make it a modern organization which is relevant for the time we live, and to restore faith for all our stakeholders,” he said.

“At the end of the day FIFA is the umbrella for football across the globe and it would be a shame to let things go on the way they are. That is why I’m running as a candidate, to fix this

ground and works directly with national associations. I know I will. That’s the point, I’m my own man and I’m doing things exactly as they should be and hopefully when I win and I get that mandate that will be the impetus to really drive things the way they should be.”

Prince Ali was determined to establish a culture of full transparency within FIFA. “In terms of all aspects of the organization, whether it is our financial situation, salaries, the World Cup bids, we need to be really open because that is what the world deserves for the most popular sport,” he said.

He dangled the carrot to New Zealand of direct

the current system which requires a playoff against a team from another confederation.

“I’m totally against the idea of a half slot,” he said. “It’s a real challenge not just for Oceania but also for Asia, Conmebol and Concacaf as well.”

Prince Ali also supports an enlarged World Cup but would not make it an election issue.

“We have to look @ how things are conducted within FIFA in terms of how decisions are made,” he said. “(There is) room for enlarging the World Cup but that subject should not be brought up by a reform committee or during a FIFA presidential campaign.”q

UEFA approves goal-line technology for Euro 2016 NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Goal-line technology will make its UEFA debut at this year’s European Championship, and in the Champions League from next season.

UEFA said after an executive committee meeting Friday that it will give its referees more technical help at its top competitions. The

decision did not commit UEFA to choosing a goalline technology (GLT) provider.

FIFA used the GoalControl system at the 2014 World Cup. The German company and Britain’s Hawk-Eye system are widely used in European leagues.

UEFA will equip all 10 stadiums at Euro 2016 in France.

In the Champions League, the technology will be used in each match starting with the last qualifying stage — the 10-team playoff round in August — before the 32team group stage.

The second-tier Europa League could be equipped from the group stage onward in the 2017-18 season, UEFA said.

Although UEFA President Michel Platini has been a long-time opponent of GLT, he had shifted position for Euro 2016 in his home country before his ban by the FIFA ethics committee.

At Euro 2012, match officials did not award co-host Ukraine a goal when the ball crossed the line in a 1-0 loss against England.q

AP: FIFA candidate Infantino addresses members of UEFA GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA gave strong but not total support on Friday for its general secretary Gianni Infantino’s bid to become FIFA president, and delayed its own expected leadership election. Amid months of uncertainty for European soccer, leaders of the 54 member federations were summoned to UEFA for the first time since a crisis meeting in October after their president Michel Platini was suspended by FIFA. They heard Infantino explain his plans as wouldbe FIFA president and were told that an election to replace Platini is now unlikely to happen at a congress in May in Budapest, Hungary.

Instead, UEFA will wait out Platini’s appeals to overturn his eight-year ban from duty. “UEFA’s national associations also overwhelmingly expressed their support for Gianni and will officially announce their individual positions in due course,” European soccer’s governing body said in a statement. The other candidates to succeed Sepp Blatter in the Feb. 26 election in Zurich are: former FIFA vice president Prince Ali of Jordan; Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman of Bahrain; former FIFA official Jerome Champagne; and South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale. Infantino can count on a big majority of the 53 European federations with FIFA votes to support him having served as their top administrator since 2009. Still, Malta has said it will vote for Prince Ali of Jordan, who got votes from across Europe when he lost to Blatter 133-73 in May, and other UEFA members have publicly expressed doubts about their candidate. Infantino announced Friday that Russia’s federation — a long-time Blatter supporter led by sports minister and FIFA executive committee member Vitaly Mutko — has formally pledged support.q

TECHNOLOGY A23

Saturday 23 January 2016

Facebook’s sports product to launch during NFL championships BARRY WILNER Associated Press There’s a new stadium in town. Actually, in every town.

It’s on Facebook.

Facebook Sports Stadium will debut at the NFL’s conference championship games and then the Super Bowl. After that, the social media giant’s first sports product will cover most major events around the world.

With 1.55 billion users, an estimated 650 million of them sports fans, it seems a natural place to gather for the kind of passionate conversation that accompanies virtually every pass, tackle and kick.

“Sports is inherently social and has been since the beginning of time,” Facebook’s Dan Reed says. “Historically, to watch a sporting event, you root for or against, you’re watching it in the context of a physical stadium, and interaction is as essential as what is happening on the field.

“Now, we can have that same interaction happening on a global scale through Facebook.”

Last year, Facebook launched “Trending Super Bowl,” and more than 65 million people joined the conversation worldwide.

That went so well that the social media giant decided to work on its first fullfledged sports product.

“We see the passion in the interactions. If you enter into this experience during a game, you will see a range of emotions, trash talk, memes going around,” Reed said. “The same things happening in the stadium or a sports bar are happening on Facebook, and this allows people who are disconnected to interact as if they are watching together.”

Users can conduct conversations with each other, get real-time stats, a live game clock, sanctioned photos and videos, team information and read commentary from media members.

This image provided by Facebook shows Facebook Sports Stadium, which will be focused on most major sporting events around the world. Facebook Sports Stadium, which debuts at the NFL’s conference championship games and then the Super Bowl, features a live score and game clock at the very top of the page.

(Facebook via AP)

“We think this complements the sporting experience,” says product manager Steve Kafka. “It helps

people build followings and get a wider audience.

All the content already is on Facebook. They don’t

need to seek this out, we are taking folks connected with the game — from the league, the teams, journalists — and we put all that content and analysis in one place, and users can follow it during the game.”

Facebook Sports Stadium features a live score and game clock at the very top of the page. Under the scoreboard are four tabs: Matchup, Friends, Experts and Stats.

“Matchup” provides a quick summary of what’s happening in the game, with a scoring summary and the most recent plays.

Users can like, comment and share every play.

There also is a “Live” indicator at the top where videos are uploaded about the game.

“Friends” is a feed of what users’ Facebook friends are saying about the game. “Experts” features commentary from verified pages, including journalists, athletes and celebrities talking about the game.q

Virtual reality experience highlight of new Dali Museum show BETH J. HARPAZ AP Travel Editor Visitors to a new exhibition at The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, won’t just be looking at art.

Thanks to virtual reality, they’ll be exploring a Dali painting in a dreamy, three-dimensional world that turns art appreciation into an unforgettable, immersive experience.

The new exhibition, “Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination,” tells the story of the relationship between Salvador Dali, the surrealist artist, and Walt Disney, the great American animator and theme-park pioneer.

But the museum exhibition’s highlight comes after visitors have seen the DisneyDali show’s paintings, story sketches, correspondence, photos and other artifacts.

As visitors leave the exhibition area, they’ll be invited to don a headset to try the virtual reality experience.

Called “Dreams of Dali,” the VR experience takes viewers inside Dali’s 1935

painting “Archeological Reminiscence of Millet’s ‘Angelus.’” The painting depicts two towering stone figures along with tiny human figures in a bare landscape with a moody sky.

Users can move around inside the painting, using Oculus Rift headsets to navigate a trippy threedimensional environment that includes motifs from other Dali works like elephants, birds, ants and his “Lobster Telephone” sculpture.

Accompanied by a haunting piano soundtrack punctuated by bird cries, the VR visuals also include a crescent moon, a stone tunnel and even an image of rocker Alice Cooper, whom Dali featured in a hologram he created in 1973.

“You actually have a threedimensional feeling that you’re inside a painting,” said Jeff Goodby, whose firm Goodby Silverstein & Partners created the VR experience. “It’s not just like

Skift.com reporter Dan Peltier uses an Oculus Rift headset as he tries out a virtual reality experience presented by The Dali Museum at a preview in New York. The virtual reality experience is part of a new exhibition at the museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. The virtual reality experience takes users inside an immersive, three-dimensional landscape inspired by a Dali painting, “Archeological Reminiscence of Millet’s ‘Angelus.’”

(AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz)

you’re inside a sphere with things being projected.

It’s actually like there are objects closer and further away and you’re walking amidst them. It’s a vulnerable feeling you give yourself up to. It’s not like any-

thing you’ve ever felt before.” The VR experience was previewed in New York for the media 10 days before its opening Saturday at the Florida museum.

Disney and Dali met in the 1940s in Hollywood, ac-

cording to museum director Hank Hine. “Their sensibilities were very connected,” Hine said. “They wanted to take art off the palette, out of the canvas and into the world.”

The exhibition looks at the castle motif that became a symbol of Disney parks, along with Dali’s “Dream of Venus” pavilion from the 1939 World’s Fair, which some consider a precursor of contemporary installation art.

Disney and Dali also collaborated on a short animated movie, “Destino,” that was eventually completed by Disney Studios.

The six-minute movie, which can be found on YouTube, features a dancing girl with long dark hair, a sundial motif and a song with the line, “You came along out of a dream. ...

You are my destino.” Clips will be played within the gallery for the Disney-Dali exhibition and the full short will be shown at the museum’s theater.q

A24 BUSINESS

Saturday 23 January 2016

Energy stocks lead broad rally as price of oil soars MARLEY JAY AP Markets Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks made their biggest gain in more than a month on Friday as oil prices surged, lifting energy stocks. Tech stocks also

points before recouping some of its loss.

Much of the volatility has been driven by wild swings in the price of crude oil, which many investors see as a barometer for how well the global economy

day’s midday swoon.

“It’s going to continue to be a struggle,” he said.

“Everyone will be convinced we’re heading for recession, everyone will be convinced we’re in a bear market.”

U.S. stocks made their biggest gain in more than a month on Friday as oil prices surged, lifting energy stocks. Trader Gregory Rowe works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

climbed as Apple jumped the most since August.

Energy companies soared after the price of U.S. crude jumped 9 percent. Oil prices reached their lowest level in 12 years earlier this week, but they jumped the last two days.

The gain Friday, combined with a smaller increase the day before, gave the market its first weekly advance after three weeks of declines. It’s been a dismal start to the year so far, and on Wednesday the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled as much as 565

is doing. A sharp drop in oil prices over the last year and a half has decimated profits at oil companies, and many expect the damage to continue as global production of oil far outstrips demand.

As for market turbulence, many expect more of that, too.

Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist for Wells Capital Management, said he thinks the S&P 500 will slide to around 1,800 before a real recovery comes.

That’s below even the darkest moments from Wednes-

On Friday the Dow Jones industrial average rose 210.83 points, or 1.3 percent, to 16,093.51. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index had its best day since early December, gaining 37.91 points, or 2 percent, to 1,906.90. The Nasdaq composite index made its biggest gain since September, adding 119.12 points, or 2.7 percent, to 4,591.18.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 2 percent and the Nasdaq increased 2.3 percent.

European markets also rose

Friday on hopes for more economic stimulus from the region’s central bank.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index had its best day in four months as investors hoped the Bank of Japan will also step in.

In energy trading, U.S. crude rose $2.66 to $32.19 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, rose $2.93, or 10 percent, to $32.18 a barrel in London. U.S. oil climbed 21 percent over the last two days and it has recovered about half its losses from earlier in the year.

Among energy stocks, pipeline operator Kinder Morgan rose $1.46, or 10.5 percent, to $15.34 after it jumped 16 percent Thursday. Pipeline company Williams Cos. added $3.70, or 23.1 percent, to $19.74.

Devon Energy gained $1.45, or 6 percent, to $25.63.

Goldman Sachs analyst Jeffrey Currie said energy prices have fallen so far that the industry is making real cuts in production.

“We are now at a price level that is creating real fundamental change,” he said.

Apple, which has lost about a quarter of its value in the last six months, rose $5.12, or 5.3 percent, to $101.42.

Microsoft gained $1.81, or 4 percent, to $52.29. Facebook added $3.78, or 4 percent.

France’s CAC 40 added 3.1 percent and Germany’s DAX rose 2 percent.

Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 2.2 percent.q

Judge: Wal-Mart strikes protected under law NEW YORK (AP) — A National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled that WalMart Stores Inc. unlawfully disciplined workers who staged protests in May and June of 2013 and ordered the retailer to reinstate 16 former employees, as well as give them back pay.

Judge Geoffrey Carter ruled that the employee actions were protected under the National Labor Relations Act and that WalMart violated labor laws by

“disciplining or discharging several associates because they were absent from work while on strike.”

The judge also ordered Wal-Mart to hold a meeting in 29 stores throughout the country to inform employees of their right to strike, and to promise not to threaten or discipline employees for doing so.

The complaint was filed on behalf of the labor-backed group “Our Walmart,” which called it a huge vic-

tory.

The decision, posted on the labor board’s website late Thursday, arrived one day after the nation’s largest private employer announced raises for more than 1.2 million U.S. hourly workers, which is most of them. The Bentonville, Arkansas, retailer said in October that it would invest $2.7 billion in its workforce over two years.

In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, Wal-

Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg said that it disagreed with the judge’s findings and that it will pursue all of its options to defend the company.

It called its actions “legal and justified.”

“We are focused on providing our hard working associates more opportunity for success and career growth by raising wages, providing new training, education and expanded benefit options,” Lundberg wrote.q

In December, US rental home price growth slowed JOSH BOAK AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Home rental price growth turned tame in December — a sign that a burst of new apartment construction last year may be relieving cost pressures.

Real estate data firm Zillow said Friday that median rent rose a seasonally adjusted 3.3 percent from a year ago. The median rent nationwide has held steady at $1,381 a month since August, after having previously surged dramatically above the pace of wage growth. In several major markets, median rents barely budged over the past year. Rents edged up just 0.4 percent in Chicago, 1.8 percent in Philadelphia, and 1.6 in St. Louis.

Even hot markets such as Denver, Portland and San Jose have retreated from annual gains that just two months ago were in the double digits.

New construction has helped temper price growth in many of these markets. The government reported Wednesday that the completion of multifamily housing — which includes apartments — surged 20.6 percent last year to 308,300 buildings.

“Builders and landlords have been saying they need to give up a bunch more concessions now because more units are available,” said Svenja Gudell chief economist at Zillow, adding that apartment buildings in Denver and Washington are even offering free parking spaces to entice potential renters.

Rents had been appreciating at double the pace of incomes for much of 2015.

But they’re now starting to pull closer together. Average hourly earnings have risen 2.5 percent from a year ago to $25.24, the Labor Department said earlier this month.

In some cases, areas with less job growth have seen lower rental price increases. Annual job gains have averaged almost 2 percent nationally. q

BUSINESS A25

Saturday 23 January 2016

GE tops 4Q earnings though industrial revenue slips TOM MURPHY AP Business Writer General Electric topped Wall Street expectations for the fourth quarter and reaffirmed its target for 2016, but its shares slipped in afternoon trading as the company’s industrial revenue declined.

The industrial conglomerate on Friday reported earnings of 52 cents per share, excluding the financial operations it’s shedding, on $33.9 billion in revenue.

Wall Street had been look-

ing for per-share earnings of 49 cents and revenue of $35.91 billion, according to a survey by FactSet. Revenue from the company’s industrial segment slipped 1 percent to $31.4 billion. General Electric has refocused on its industrial roots, making massive turbines and other complicated equipment, while selling off its operations in its financial wing as well as its appliance division.

It recently sold its appliance unit to China’s Haier Group for $5.4 billion. It

booked an additional $175 million in profits this quarter on a breakup fee after its attempt to sell the unit to Electrolux in Sweden fell through.

Overall, GE recorded $6.28 billion in net income attributable to common shareholders, a 22 percent increase over the same quarter last year.

Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said in a printed statement from the company that GE “executed well in a slow-growth environment.”

He pointed out that orders

in the fourth quarter grew 1 percent, not counting acquisition gains, and GE’s backlog grew to $315 billion after an $11 billion deal in November to acquire the power and transmission division of French manufacturer Alstom.

“We believe in the strength of our business model and that there is enough growth out there to deliver in 2016,” Immelt said.

Revenue from GE’s energy management operating segment jumped 20 per-

cent to $2.38 billion in the quarter. But the conglomerate’s oil and gas operating segment dropped 16 percent to $4.36 billion and was down 14 percent for the year.

The company built up its oil and gas drilling services operations in recent years through acquisitions, and investors applauded the moves when oil prices and consumption were rising.

But an extended plunge has hurt the business and forced drillers to cut back on new exploration.q

Starbucks US sales jump 9 percent over holiday quarter SEATTLE (AP) — An alleged war on Christmas by Starbucks apparently didn’t dampen the chain’s holiday sales, but its outlook going forward fell short of Wall Street expectations.

The Seattle-based company says sales rose 9 percent in its flagship U.S. market and 8 percent globally during the final three months of the year. The increase at home and abroad was the result of a mix of higher customer traffic and increased spending.

Over the holidays, the company said $1.9 billion was loaded onto Starbucks gift cards. It said 1 in 6 American adults received a Starbucks gift card over the holidays, up from 1 in 7 a year ago, and 1 in 8 two years ago.

The strong results came despite an online backlash from some corners when Starbucks unveiled its minimalist red cups bearing

A man sits inside a Starbucks, in New York. Starbucks Corp. reported quarterly financial results, late Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016.

(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

only its logo for the holidays.

That was a change from past years, when the company’s holiday cups were decorated with reindeer,

snowflakes and Christmas ornaments.

Its performance overseas wasn’t as strong, slowing in the units encompassing

Asia and Europe. In the unit that includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Starbucks said sales rose 1 percent at established lo-

cations, down from 5 percent in the prior quarter.

The company noted there was a “dramatic decline in consumer and tourist activity across Western Europe” after the terrorist attacks in Paris in November.

“We have quite recently begun to see the effects of that region’s resilience and recovery,” the company said in an email.

For its Asia region, Starbucks said sales rose 5 percent, down from 6 percent the previous quarter. The company said it did not expect a material impact from the attacks this month in Indonesia that resulted in temporary store closures.

During a conference call with analysts Thursday, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz also expressed confidence in the company’s longterm investment in China, where it already has about 2,000 stores and plans to have 3,400 by 2019. q

Delta posts $980 million 4Q profit on lower fuel prices DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Cheaper jet fuel thanks to falling oil prices helped Delta Air Lines earn $980 million in the fourth quarter despite lower revenue than a year ago.

Delta forecast another decline in a key revenue measure through the first three months of 2016. That could add to investor concern that airlines are adding too

many flights while fuel is relatively cheap, which is pushing fares lower.

But Delta officials said bookings for this spring are ahead of last year’s pace because lower gasoline and heating bills mean that consumers have more money to spend.

“They seem to be willing to re-invest that into airline purchases but at slightly lower fares,” said Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s

executive vice president of revenue management.

“We see demand as very strong.”

Meanwhile, Delta and its Delta Connection affiliate saved nearly $2.8 billion, or nearly 65 percent, on fuel compared with late 2014.

The company now spends less on fuel than it does on labor — the cost of salaries and benefits rose 9 percent to become Delta’s largest single expense.

And fuel prices are still going down.

Delta expects to pay about $1.20 to $1.25 per gallon for fuel in the first quarter, an even better deal than the $1.85 it paid in the fourth quarter.

Atlanta-based Delta’s net income for the fourth quarter contrasted with a loss of $712 million a year earlier, when the airline took a $1.2 billion write-down in the value of fuel hedges, which

provide insurance against rising energy prices but cost money when oil prices fall.

Delta’s fuel-hedging loss was a far smaller $54 million in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Excluding what it termed one-time items, Delta said it would have earned $1.18 per share, a penny below the average forecast from analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research and FactSet.q

A26 COMICS

Saturday 23 January 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Yesterday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Saturday 23 January 2016

Classifieds NICE HOUSE FOR RENT 3 bedroms / 2 bathrooms Moko / Tanki Leendert area Full or semi furnished 583-8080 204384 _____________________________

FOR SALE New luxurious home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and swimming pool in Opal, an upper class area in Aruba, 5 car minutes from the resorts and beaches.

Asking-price: $ 480.000,-. Call 5937118 or mail wetronv@gmail.com 204378 ____________________ Time Share For Sale/ Rent Tropicana week 3, 1/17/16 2 Queen beds, couch rent $860 buy $2075 check in date can be changed for a fee and La Quinta special sale unit 2304, 1 br, 12/12 $1675 or best offer rmwjmw@aol.com Phone: 508 651 0016 204234 __________________________

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 204372 _________________________

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A28 SCIENCE

Saturday 23 January 2016

Disappearance of Bolivia’s No. 2 lake a harbinger

CARLOS VALDEZ Associated Press UNTAVI, Bolivia (AP) — Overturned fishing skiffs lie abandoned on the shores of what was Bolivia’s second-largest lake. Beetles dine on bird carcasses and gulls fight for scraps under a glaring sun in what marshes remain.

Lake Poopo was officially declared evaporated last month. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have lost their livelihoods and gone. High on Bolivia’s semi-arid Andean plains at 3,700 meters (more than 12,000 feet) and long subject to climatic whims, the shallow saline lake has essentially dried up before only to rebound to twice the area of Los Angeles.

But recovery may no longer be possible, scientists say. “This is a picture of the future of climate change,” says Dirk Hoffman, a German glaciologist who studies how rising temperatures from the burning of fossil fuels has accelerated glacial melting in Bolivia.

As Andean glaciers disappear so do the sources of Poopo’s water. But other

A fisherman walks along the abandoned boats in the dried up Lake Poopo, on the outskirts of Untavi, Bolivia. The overturned fishing skiffs lie abandoned on the dried up former shores of what was Bolivia’s second-largest lake.

(AP Photo/Juan Karita)

factors are in play in the demise of Bolivia’s secondlargest body of water behind Lake Titicaca.

Drought caused by the recurrent El Nino meteorological phenomenon is considered the main driver.

Authorities say another factor is the diversion of water from Poopo’s tributaries, mostly for mining but also

for agriculture.

More than 100 families have sold their sheep, llamas and alpaca, set aside their fishing nets and quit the former lakeside village of Untavi over the past three years, draining it of well over half its population. Only the elderly remain.

“There’s no future here,” said 29-year-old Juvenal

Gutierrez, who moved to a nearby town where he ekes by as a motorcycle taxi driver.Record-keeping on the lake’s history only goes back a century, and there is no good tally of the people displaced by its disappearance. At least 3,250 people have received humanitarian aid, the governor’s office says.

Poopo is now down to 2 percent of its former water level, regional Gov. Victor Hugo Vasquez calculates.

Its maximum depth once reached 16 feet (5 meters).

Field biologists say 75 species of birds are gone from the lake.

While Poopo has suffered El Nino-fueled droughts for millennia, its fragile ecosystem has experienced unprecedented stress in the past three decades.

Temperatures have risen by about 1 degree Celsius while mining activity has pinched the flow of tributaries, increasing sediment.

Florida Institute of Technology biologist Mark B. Bush says the long-term trend of warming and drying threatens the entire Andean highlands.

A 2010 study he co-authored for the journal Global Change Biology says Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, could face catastrophic drought this century. It predicted “inhospitable arid climates” would lessen available food and water this century for the more than 3 million inhabitants of Bolivia’s highlands.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Saturday 23 January 2016

Looking for diversity, Hollywood could simply just turn on the TV JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — As Hollywood continues to be battered by a backlash to the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations and in the film industry at large, it doesn’t have to look far for inspiration: Just turn on the TV. Where the movies have lagged, television has recently exploded with diversity across the dial.

Now, the film industry will be playing catch-up to the small screen, where some of the most talented people of color have turned for greater artistic freedom and the chance to tell more varied stories that don’t require capes or marketability in China.

Many previous Oscar nominees are already there.

Ava DuVernay, director of last year’s best picturenominee “Selma,” is currently at work on “Queen Sugar,” a drama series for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN. John Ridley, the Oscarwinning screenwriter of “12 Years a Slave,” is in the second season of his acclaimed ABC series, “American Crime.” Forest Whitaker, who won best actor for 2006’s “The Last King of Scotland,” is part of a “Roots” remake for A&E. Two-time Oscar nominee Viola Davis is on Shonda Rhimes’ “How to Get Away With Murder” for ABC. “TV cares about its audience,” says Davis, who in September became the first African-American to win an Emmy for best actress in a drama. “TV wants to cater to the demographics of what is America.”

Television is a faster, more nimble medium than film, where movies regularly take years to make; but it also has some structural advantages. Power in Hollywood is still largely held by the six major studios and a handful of other large production companies. In television, there’s a veritable ocean of op-

portunity, including cable and streaming networks with deep pockets and a willingness for riskier material.

Though the television landscape was less diverse just a few years ago, it’s — for now — flush with the likes of Lee Daniels’ “Empire,” Aziz Ansari’s “Master of None” and Jill Soloway’s “Transparent.”

“How you fill up the volume is by writing more narratives,” said Davis. “And the narratives have got to be varied. Everything can’t be the same. And therefore, it gives people the opportunity to come in and show what they can do.” To compete in an increasingly crowded media landscape, studios now bankroll fewer films and instead focus on bigger blockbusters that can sell tickets around the globe. It’s a strategy that has been largely working (2015 set a record of $11.1 billion at the box office), but it has put a stranglehold on distinct voices, of any color, who find little daylight between hulking franchises.

As a producer, Whitaker twice found rejection at the studios before raising money independently for 2013’s “Fruitvale Station” (the breakout debut of director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan, who reteamed for the Oscar-overlooked “Creed”) and Rick Famuyiwa’s 2015 teen comedy “Dope.”

“We’re taking a leap on stories that maybe somebody else says they just don’t get,” Whitaker said when releasing “Dope.”

New streaming platforms have provided new avenues for some filmmakers.

Spike Lee, who has said he won’t attend the Oscars, found a home for his latest film, the gang violence takedown “Chi-Raq,” with Amazon. The child soldier drama “Beasts of No Nation,” which provided the much-praised but unnominated performance

by Idris Elba, came from Netflix.q

AP Newsbreak: Film academy announced reforms to diversify SANDY COHEN AP Entertainment Writer The film academy is pledging to double the number of female and minority members by 2020, and will immediately diversify its leadership by adding three new seats to its board of governors.

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced the changes Friday, following a weeklong storm of criticism and calls for an Oscar boycott after academy members nominated an all-white slate of actors for the second year in a row. “The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up,” she said in a statement.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’

51-member board of governors unanimously approved a series of reforms late Thursday to “begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition,” Isaacs said.

The number of minorities currently serving as members of the academy has not been revealed.

Other changes include limiting members’ voting status to a period of 10 years, to be extended only if the individual remains active in film during that decade.

Lifetime voting rights will be granted only to Academy Award nominees and winners, and to members after three ten-year voting terms. Previously, all active members received lifetime voting rights.

The organization also plans to diversify its leadership beyond the board of governors by adding new members to key decisionmaking committees, and further diversify its membership with a global campaign to identify and recruit diverse talent.

Reaction came swiftly. Ava DuVernay, director of last year’s best picture-nominee “Selma,” tweeted that the changes were “one good step in a long, complicated journey for people of color and women artists.” She added: “Shame is a helluva motivator.”

And director Rick Famuyiwa, whose films include “The Wood” and “Brown Sugar,” commented: “The devil is in the details.” q

Actress Dash: BET lies to black people DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Don’t look for actress and Fox News Channel contributor Stacey Dash to be working on any more BET shows for a while.

Dash questioned the black-oriented network’s very existence this week and wouldn’t back down despite criticism. She wrote on her website that BET lies to its viewers and promotes segregation.

The dispute stemmed from Dash’s “Fox & Friends” interview Wednesday when she was asked about the lack of black nominees for Academy Awards. The former “Clueless” star said people need to make up their minds between segregation and integration, “and if we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the (NAACP) Image Awards, where you’re only rewarded if you’re black.”

A tongue-in-cheek BET tweeted a picture of Dash appearing in the network’s sitcom “The Game” and asking, “can we get our check back?”

More seriously, BET Chairman and CEO Debra

Stacey Dash attends the “American Sniper” premiere in New York. Dash wrote on her website that BET lies to its viewers and promotes segregation.

(Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Lee said the network was created to give AfricanAmericans and lovers of black culture a place on TV where they could consistently see themselves represented and celebrated.

“African-American contributions to American culture are countless and we cannot and should not wait for anyone to acknowledge them,” Lee said.

Several non-black artists have either received BET Awards or performed at the annual awards show, including Robin Thicke, Justin Beiber, Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande

and Sam Smith, the network said.

On TV One, commentator Roland Martin showed how Dash has appeared on the cover of several magazines geared to black audiences and called her “a damn fool.” Dash, who was suspended from Fox for two weeks last month for using an obscenity in a description of President Barack Obama, wrote on her website that most people have never heard of “The Game” because it’s on BET. “I’m thankful for all of the acting jobs I had,” she wrote. q

A30 PEOPLE

Saturday 23 January 2016

& ARTS

What’s on TV:

‘Outsiders’ sparks war between 2 vastly different societies

FRAZIER MOORE AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “Outsiders,” the bare-knuckles new drama from WGN America, pits a tribe of offthe-grid hill people against “civilized” folk at the foot of the mountain who want to oust them to unearth a rich vein of coal just waiting to be mined once these longentrenched squatters are

evicted.

But it’s not going to be easy. Or pretty.

“We don’t go up THERE, they ain’t supposed to come down HERE,” warns Deputy Wade, reciting the policy of detente that keeps a shaky peace in place. It is Wade who now is ordered to drive them out.

Thomas M. Wright plays

This image released by WGN America shows Ryan Hurst as Lil Fosterin a scene from “Outsiders,” premiering on Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 9 p.m. ET. (Eric Liebowitz/WGN America via AP)

this put-upon lawman, with veteran actor David Morse starring as “Big Foster” Farrell, the fearsome heir-apparent to the tribe’s leadership, and, otherwise among the large cast, Ryan Hurst (known to “Sons of Anarchy” fans as motorcycle gangster Opie) portrays “Big Foster’s” formidable but tormented son.

Is the conflict in “Outsiders,” which finds the Farrells locked in internal strife while at the brink of war with the outside world, likely to cause fireworks in this pocket of Appalachia? In Farrell tribal-speak, you might say “Ged-gedyah.” Which translates into “Hell, yeah!”

(The series premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST.) “Outsiders” was created

by Peter Mattei, a 58-yearold artist-polymath (“Dilettante, I think, is the word you’re looking for”) whose resume includes playwright, novelist and filmmaker with a 2002 indie picture, “Love in the Time of Money,” that Robert Redford executive-produced and featured Vera Farmiga, Rosario Dawson, Steve Buscemi and Adrian Grenier. His range of cool comrades also includes an executive producer of “Outsiders,” Paul Giamatti, whom he first met when both were attending Yale Drama School.

Mattei (pronounced “mahTAY”) today divides his time between Austin, Texas, and upstate New York. But he was inspired to create “Outsiders” by memories from his post-collegiate days as a founding member of a theater company that staged its plays in a Tribeca warehouse, and as a resident in the dirt-cheap, but now super-chic, patch of Brooklyn known as Williamsburg.

“In Williamsburg, it felt like we had this ‘mountain’ we could live on for free,” he says, invoking a Farrellesque perspective. “Then, with gentrification, along came the people with money, and they evicted us.

“I think a lot about money and technology,” continues Mattei, who studied economics at Brown University and worked for a time in the dot-com industry.

“After Occupy Wall Street and the financial crisis, I was trying to find some way to write about that, too. It all came together as this group of modern-day people who live in an antimodern way, without technology, just as they had done for centuries.

“And then there comes a threat” — Big Coal, enabling modern contrivances while befouling nature

— “to their way of life. And they will have to defend it.”

Make no mistake, “Outsiders” doesn’t play favorites between the Farrells, who only want to be left alone, and the villagers, who desperately need the economic jolt this coal windfall might provide.

The first episode even includes a declaration of coal’s importance to the nation’s energy needs.

And while the Farrells are certainly no pack of sweethearts (it has to be more than coincidence that this in-bred family’s surname is so similar to “feral”), one initial plan from their camp for how to meet their looming threat sounds reasonable enough.

“I wanted both worlds, in the hills and down below, to have lots of shades of gray,” says Mattei. “This series is like all the things I’ve done — a little bit like conceptual art, like a thought experiment: ‘What if.....?’”

The “what-if” propelling “Outsiders” was met with interest from several networks, Mattei says. But none more so than WGN America, which has found success with a pair of ambitious dramas, “Manhattan” and “Salem,” and in March will launch the Civil War-era “Underground.” It handed him a 13-episode straightto-series deal.q

PEOPLE & ARTS Around Sundance:

Daisy Ridley lends star power, Judd Apatow is a proud papa

The Associated Press PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The Associated Press is all over the Sundance Film Festival, which runs through Jan. 31, from its premieres to the Hollywood glitz. Here’s what they’ve seen and heard: RIDLEY’S STAR POWER Daisy Ridley knows a little something about being one of the only girls in a boys’ club. The “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” star transfixed audiences as the cando Rey, and now Ridley is lending her support to another young girl with a dream — Aisholpan, 13-yearold Mongolian girl who endeavors to become the first female Eagle Hunter.

After seeing a cut of the film, Ridley decided to sign on as an executive producer of “The Eagle Huntress,” a documentary from director Otto Bell about Aisholpan’s journey to reach her goal. Executive producer Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me”) announced her involvement on Friday.

The film is making its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, and Ridley hopes to use her newfound star power to increase the documentary’s visibility and it’s message of female empowerment.

“I was deeply moved by Aisholpan’s story and wanted to be a part of this beautiful film,” Ridley said in a statement. “I feel audiences and young girls around the world will be as inspired by her story as I was, and I am so proud to share her journey with the world.”

--By Lindsey Bahr DINNER WITH STARS Sundance filmmakers and their supporters broke bread together at the film festival’s annual dinner celebration, An Artist at the Table.

Ava DuVernay, Jon Hamm, Casey Affleck, Zosia Mamet and Nick Jonas were among the artists dining with Sundance donors at the private event, held on a ranch outside Park City.

Guests were invited to experience a short virtual-reality film, and people wearing special goggles and earphones dotted the room.

Norman Lear was the guest of honor, attending the dinner after the documentary about his life, “Norman Lear: Another Version of You,” premiered as the festival’s opening-night film.

Lear said the film “startled and stunned and thrilled me.”

Later, a troupe of musicians performed the theme songs to some of the most popular shows Lear created, including “All in the Family,” ‘’The Jeffersons” and “Good Times.”

Flanked by his wife and one of his daughters, Lear was merrily singing along.

--By Sandy Cohen PAPA APATOW Dads will be dads no matter where they are and producer, director and writer Judd Apatow was no exception at Thursday’s Sundance premiere of the movie “Other People.” His 17-year-old daughter Maude Apatow, who has appeared in “Knocked Up,” ‘’Funny People” and “This is 40,” is in the film — and it’s her first movie not made by her dad or starring her mom, Leslie Mann. “It’s really nice,” said Maude on the red carpet. “This is the first film I’ve done without my parents too, and I think it feels like the same sort of people like funny people and I felt really comfortable the whole time. It was awesome.”q

A31

Saturday 23 January 2016

Sundance opens with film on Norman Lear SANDY COHEN AP Entertainment Writer PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Norman Lear was so touched by the documentary made about his life, he wanted to cuddle up with the entire audience at the Sundance Film Festival.

“If we could find the largest bed and we could all get in bed together, it would express everything I’m feeling right now,” Lear, 93, said after watching the film.

“Norman Lear: Another Version of You” was received with a standing ovation when it opened the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday night. Directed

by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, the film spans practically the whole of the 93-year-old artist and activist’s life, professionally and personally.

It explores Lear’s reasons for creating such groundbreaking sitcoms as “All in the Family,” ‘’Maude,” ‘’Good Times” and “The Jeffersons,” which were based as much on his personal experiences as his desire to bring real, relevant subjects to TV audiences.

“Another Version of You” skips through time, unfolding Lear’s story without

chronological restraints. A theme throughout is Lear’s unresolved feelings for his father, who was jailed for fraud when Lear was 9. Lear

wrong?” Bunker pleads.

As much a history of the modern sitcom as a portrait of their creator, the film reveals behind-the-scenes

Directors Rachel Grady, left, and Heidi Ewing, right, pose with Norman Lear at the premiere of “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You,” during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Park City, Utah.

(Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP)

grew up between uncles’ and grandparents’ houses, and the film frames his work — particularly in “All in the Family” — through this painful lens.

Even more than 40 years later, Lear tears up when watching an episode where Archie Bunker is faced with the reality that his father was bigoted and cruel.

“How can a man that loves you tell you anything that’s

strife in Lear’s TV families.

Carroll O’Connor, who famously played Archie Bunker but was actually a liberal, often challenged Lear over his character’s abrasive manner. “Good Times” stars Esther Rolle and John Amos also argued over how their characters were portrayed. As the first black family on television, the actors bristled against what they saw as caricatures and stereotypes.q

‘Other People’ impresses Sundance crowd LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — There is no joy in watching Molly Shannon die for 97 minutes, especially in a movie that’s not really her story.

That’s not a spoiler. Her character’s death is the opening frame of “Other People,” the feature directorial debut of Chris Kelly, who has written for “Saturday Night Live” and “Broad City.” The film, which follows a family across the year their mother is dying of cancer, opened the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday night to a packed crowd at the Eccles Theatre.

The opening night film has a scattered history and can range from Oscar-worthy (“Whiplash”) to Razzieready (“The Bronze”). “Other People” doesn’t fit into

Actress Maude Apatow, right and her father Judd Apatow, left, poses at the premiere of “Other People” during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Park City, Utah.

(Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP)

either extreme, but instead languishes in that murky middle territory where there is promise, emotional truth and comedic prowess, but there’s also clunky character development, banal clichés and little in-

sight in the end.

That first scene sets the tone. It opens on a family of four (Jesse Plemons, Bradley Whitford, Maude Apatow and Madisen Beaty) sobbing over their dead mother’s body. q