February 26, 2016

On Top Of The News Email:news@arubatoday.com website: www.arubatoday.com Tel:+297 582-7800 Friday, February 26, 2016

US Agency Under Fire

Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart speaks at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on world wide threats on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Military Files, Emails Allegedly Deleted Amid Probe

DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Personnel at U.S. Central Command have deleted files and emails amid allegations that intelligence assessments were altered to exaggerate progress

against Islamic State militants, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday.

A whistleblower whose position was not disclosed told the committee that material was deleted, according to a committee

staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly disclose the information.“We have been made aware that both files and emails have been deleted by personnel at CENTCOM and we ex-

pect that the Department of Defense will provide these and all other relevant documents to the committee,” Rep. Devin Nunes said at a hearing on worldwide threats facing the United States. Central Command oversees U.S. military activi-

ties in the Middle East.

Navy Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a spokesman for CENTCOM, said the combatant command was fully cooperating with the DOD’s probe into the allegations.

Continued on Page 3

A2 UP

Friday 26 February 2016

FRONT

Biden: Campaign rhetoric on Mexico ‘dangerous’ PETER ORSI Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that some U.S. campaign rhetoric about Mexico and immigrants has been “dangerous, damaging and incredibly ill-advised” and is out of step with most Americans’ attitudes.

poison the well and at the same time work out a real estate agreement to buy the well,” he said.

Without naming names Biden was generally critical of Republican candidates, several of whom have proposed measures from walling the entire U.S.-Mexico border to deporting all 11 million people estimated

said. “But here’s what I’m here to tell you: They do not, they do not, they do not represent the view of the vast majority of the American people.”

Biden was accompanied

by U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, second from right, addresses the Mexican delegation at the start of a meeting of the High Level Economic Dialogue between Mexico and the U.S., in Mexico City, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. Biden is heading up a high-level U.S. delegation that’s in Mexico for annual talks on boosting economic and commercial ties between the two countries.

(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Speaking in Mexico City at Cabinet-level talks on boosting economic and commercial ties with one of the United States’ top trading partners, Biden reassured Mexican officials that such talk does not reflect progress in the countries’ bilateral relations.

“The main message I wanted to say to you is that I understand that you can’t

to be living in the United States illegally. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump said last year that Mexico was sending crime, drugs and “rapists” north of the border.

“Some of the rhetoric coming from some of the presidential candidates on the other team are I think dangerous, damaging and incredibly ill-advised,” Biden

Jewell and her Mexican counterparts signed agreements to cooperate on energy issues, conservation and preparing for the impacts of climate change, the U.S. Interior Department said in a statement. The secretary also commended recent Mexican reforms opening its energy sector to private investment.q

China accuses US chief of using smears C. BODEEN Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China’s Defense Ministry says the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific smeared China while seeking additional defense funding from Congress, in the latest accusation in a war of words accompanying rising tensions in the South China Sea. Ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian on Thursday strongly criticized Adm. Harry Harris Jr.’s testimony before Congress, in which Harris said China was militariz-

ing the economically and strategically vital waterway and seeking “hegemony” in East Asia.

China adamantly denies such accusations and says Washington and its allies are responsible for raising tensions.

“I have noted that according to media reports, Adm. Harris made his remarks while seeking additional defense budget funds from Congress,” Wu told reporters at a monthly news briefing.

“We don’t interfere in your

seeking defense budget funds, but you can’t carelessly smear China while asking for more money,” Wu said.

In his testimony before the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Harris commented on the Chinese armed forces’ construction and extension of islands in the highly disputed South China Sea. China is also adding airstrips, harbors, radar stations and other infrastructure and deploying surface-to-air missiles on some. q

US calls proposed sanctions on North Korea a ‘major upgrade’ MICHAEL ASTOR Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States on Thursday introduced a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that it said will significantly increase pressure on North Korea in response to its latest nuclear test and missile launch.

Ambassador Samantha Power said the draft is meant to ensure North Korea will be held accountable for its actions.

“It is a major upgrade and there will be, provided it goes forward, pressure on more points, tougher, more comprehensive, more sectors. It’s breaking new ground in a whole host of ways,” Power said before heading into a closed-door meeting where the U.S. planned to circulate the draft to all 15 council members.

The draft is the result of an agreement between the United States and China, North Korea’s main ally.

The council is expected to vote on it over the weekend.

A U.S. official familiar with the draft, who asked not to be identified because negotiations were ongoing, said the proposed new sanctions are broader in scope than in previous resolutions and contain unprecedented enforcement provisions, including a requirement that countries inspect any cargo passing through their country on its way to or from North Korea.

The draft also includes a total ban on arms sales by or to North Korea, closing a loophole for small arms and light weapons in earlier sanctions resolutions.

It also would ban flights by North Korean planes believed to be carrying illicit goods.

Taking aim at the country’s finances, the draft resolution requires states to freeze assets that are determined to be associated with North Korea’s ballistic missile program. It also seeks to crack down

on North Korea’s “proliferation network” by requiring U.N. member states to expel its diplomats and functionaries of companies found to be involved in illicit activities.

The draft resolution would also ban imports of aviation fuel, with no exceptions, and exports of rare earths and mineral by North Korea, the diplomat said.

The official stressed that the sanctions target the ruling elite and are designed not to add to the “grave hardship of the people of DPRK.” Items such as luxury watches, snowmobiles, recreational water vehicles and lead crystal were also added to a list of luxury goods that North Korea is not allowed to import.

North Korea started off the new year with what it claims was its first hydrogen bomb test on Jan. 6 and followed that up with the launch of a satellite on a rocket on Feb. 7 that was condemned by much of the world as a test of banned missile technology.

Over the past 10 years, North Korea has conducted four nuclear tests and launched six long-range missiles — all in violation of Security Council resolutions.

The U.N. draft follows a flurry of activity in Washington, including meetings between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday, and with National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday.

The U.S., its Western allies and Japan, also pressed for new sanctions that go beyond the North’s nuclear and missile programs.

But China, Pyongyang’s neighbor and supporter on the council, is reluctant to impose measures that could threaten the stability of North Korea and cause the country’s economy to collapse.q

U.S. NEWS A3

Friday 26 February 2016

House chairman: Military files, emails deleted amid probe

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., speaks at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on world wide threats on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Continued from front

“While it would be inappropriate to discuss the details of that investigation, I can tell you that as a matter of CENTCOM policy, all senior leader emails are kept in storage for record-keeping purposes, so such records cannot be deleted,” Raines said. It’s unclear if emails written by lowerlevel staff were also maintained.

Nunes, R-California, also said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence briefed the committee on a survey indicating that more than 40 per-

cent of Central Command analysts believe there are problems with the integrity of the intelligence analyses and process.

“To me, it seems like 40 percent of analysts who are concerned at CENTCOM — that’s just something that can’t be ignored,” Nunes said.

A senior intelligence official said that each year the DNI conducts a survey at all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies to gain feedback on the integrity, standards and objectivity of the process used to analyze intelligence. In the most recent survey, con-

Nevada governor withdraws name from Supreme Court consideration MICHELLE RINDELS Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada’s Republican governor said Thursday he is not interested in being considered for the U.S. Supreme Court at this time, and he has told the White House so.

Brian Sandoval, Nevada’s first Hispanic governor and a supporter of abortion rights, issued a statement the day after The Washington Post reported the White House was considering him as a potential replacement for the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

The choice of Sandoval could have given President

Barack Obama a chance at breaking Senate Republicans’ planned blockade of any election-year confirmation.

“Earlier today, I notified the White House that I do not wish to be considered at this time for possible nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Sandoval wrote.

“The notion of being considered for a seat on the highest court in the land is beyond humbling, and I am incredibly grateful to have been mentioned.”

He offered no reason for his decision. Sandoval, 52, is a former federal judge and popular second-term governor.q

ducted between August and October of last year, approximately 120 em-

ployees from CENTCOM responded to the survey.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose details of the internal survey.

A report on the survey issued in December 2015 indicated that 40 percent of those who responded at CENTCOM answered “yes” to the question: “During the past year, do you believe that anyone attempted to distort or suppress analysis on which you were working in the face of persuasive evidence?”

Asked whether he considered 40 percent an unusually high number, Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the committee that he did.

Stewart said that while it would be favorable for all

to “get closure on exactly the extent of this allegation,” he cannot control the pace of the watchdog’s investigation.

He said that while the investigation proceeds, intelligence officials continue to look into ways to improve the process of producing the assessments, and he noted that the DIA’s ombudsman had looked into a particular incident.

The New York Times, which first disclosed the investigation, reported that the probe began after at least one civilian DIA analyst told authorities he had evidence that officials at Central Command were improperly reworking conclusions of assessments prepared for President Barack Obama and other top policymakers.q

A4 U.S.

Friday 26 February 2016

NEWS

Apple asks judge to vacate order on locked iPhone ERIC TUCKER TAMI ABDOLLAH Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Apple Inc. on Thursday asked a federal magistrate to reverse her order that the company help the FBI hack into a locked iPhone, accusing the federal government of seeking “dangerous power” through the courts and of trampling on its constitutional rights.

The filing represents Apple’s first official response since the judge’s order last week and builds upon arguments voiced by the company’s chief executive and supporters.

It marks the latest salvo in a court fight that could create meaningful precedent and establish new legal boundaries in the policy between national security and digital privacy.

“No court has ever authorized what the government now seeks, no law supports such unlimited and sweep-

National Counterterrorism Center Director Nicholas Rasmussen, left, FBI Director James Comey, third from left, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, second from left, depart following a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

ing use of the judicial process, and the Constitution forbids it,” Apple said.

The Justice Department is proposing a “boundless interpretation” of the law that, if left unchecked,

could bring disastrous repercussions, the company warned in a memo submitted to Magistrate Sheri Pym that aggressively challenges policy justifications put forward by the Obama administration.

“The government says: ‘Just this once’ and ‘Just this phone.’ But the gov-

ernment knows those statements are not true,” lawyers for Apple wrote.

They said that if Apple were required to build the software the FBI wants, “criminals, terrorists and hackers will no doubt view the code as a major prize and can be expected to go to considerable lengths

to steal it.”

A hearing is scheduled for next month.

The dispute broke into public view last Tuesday when Pym directed Apple to help the FBI gain access to a phone used by one of the assailants in the San Bernardino, California, attacks. Federal agents haven’t been able to open the phone of Syed Farook because they don’t know the passcode. The Justice Department wants Apple to create specialized software for the iPhone that would bypass some security features so that the FBI can try as many passcodes as possible without the data being erased.

The filing was made the same day that FBI Director James Comey defended the government’s approach during separate appearances on Capitol Hill, where he stressed that the agency was seeking specialized software for only one phone as part of an investigation into an act of terror that left 14 dead. q

Obama bans imports of slave-produced goods

MARTHA MENDOZA Associated Press Federal officials are preparing to enforce an 86-yearold ban on importing goods made by children or slaves under new provisions of a law signed by President Barack Obama.

“This law slams shut an unconscionable and archaic loophole that forced America to accept products made by children or slave labor,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon democrat who worked on the legislation.

The Tariff Act of 1930, which gave Customs and Border Protection the authority to seize shipments where

forced labor was suspected and block further imports, was last used in 2000, and has been used only 39 times all together largely because of two words: “consumptive demand” — if there was not sufficient supply to meet domestic demand, imports were allowed regardless of how they were produced.

The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act signed by Obama on Wednesday eliminated that language, allowing stiffer enforcement. US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske and agency leaders are planning a

briefing Friday to explain how they’ll be implementing the new law.

“If the U.S. government works to really keep out goods made with forced labor, this change will have a profound ripple effect on supply chains worldwide,” said David Abramowitz, who advocated for the change as vice president for Humanity United.

To start an investigation, Customs needs to receive a petition from anyone — a business, an agency, even a non-citizen — showing “reasonably but not conclusively” that imports were made at least in part with forced labor.q

U.S. NEWS A5

Friday 26 February 2016

Man who shot Colorado deputies angry over foreclosure SADIE GURMAN DONNA BRYSON Associated Press BAILEY, Colo. (AP) — Martin Wirth spent recent years fuming over police brutality and corrupt mortgage companies, fueled by his own run-ins with the law and a long battle to save from foreclosure his twostory home in the Colorado mountains.

That fight came to a violent end Wednesday when the 58-year-old shot three law enforcement officers trying to serve an eviction notice, killing one and wounding the others. Officers fired back, killing Wirth.

Some close to Wirth struggled to reconcile the shooting with their memories of him as a well-intentioned activist, while others recalled a quick-tempered man with a propensity for violence. He wrote disparagingly of the government and police in seething posts on his Facebook page.

“They are a brutal impediment to human progress a danger to us all,” one post said. “Because I write such things, cops want me dead.” Aware of the danger, eight officers from the Park County Sheriff’s Office went to the home in a hillside neighborhood north of the town of Bailey to serve what authorities described as a “high-risk” eviction notice. They had been ordered to remove Wirth and his property from the home, court documents show.

Wirth appeared on the deck when they arrived, then went back inside, the sheriff’s office said. For unknown reasons, officers followed him in, and Wirth opened fire, leading to a shootout.

The gunfire killed Cpl. Nate Carrigan, a 13-year veteran of the agency. One of the wounded deputies underwent surgery for life-threatening injuries and was in critical condition. The other was treated and released after a bullet grazed his ear.

Wirth had several brushes with the law over the years.

He was acquitted of second-degree murder in 1994 for the shooting death of his 24-year-old neighbor

during an argument over a chess game.

Wirth testified that the man provoked him and lunged for his revolver before he shot him twice in the chest in Fort Collins, The Coloradoan reported. Jurors told the newspaper they were conflicted about the acquittal.

In January, he was charged with eluding a police officer, obstructing a law enforcement animal and driving without insurance and a license, court records show.

A man who got a protection order in 2005 against Wirth said he made violent threats while enrolled in court-ordered drug and alcohol counseling. Dan Spykstra, who was running the program at the time, said he confronted Wirth after Wirth went off on an employee.

Wirth said he would put a bomb in Spykstra’s mailbox and said, “I have you in my crosshairs,” according to Spykstra. “I did not think they were jokes,” Spykstra said. “He was a person who was constantly saying the government was out to get him. Nothing was his fault, it was always someone else’s.”

Wirth owned his home until March 2014, when Fannie Mae, the governmentcontrolled mortgage company, took ownership after he lost a court battle over his foreclosure. He had defaulted on a $138,000 mortgage he took out in 2002, according to court records. Foreclosure proceedings began in 2013.

“It seems to me that he was just pushed to the end of his rope, and he tried every single approach to addressing his grievances, and at the end, he chose to not let them take his house away from him,” said Tim Holland, who was involved in the Occupy Denver movement with Wirth. “It’s the middle of winter in the mountains. Where was he going to go?”

The Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition, an organization aligned with the Occupy movement, said it helped Wirth with his foreclosure struggles.q

Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener, center, pauses during a news conference on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, in Bailey, Colo. The tight-knit Colorado mountain community mourned a sheriff’s deputy who was shot and killed while serving an eviction order on Wednesday.

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

A6 U.S.

Friday 26 February 2016

NEWS

Snacks nation: Food makers turning everything into snacks CANDICE CHOI AP Food Industry Writer NEW YORK (AP) — There are no meals anymore, only snacks.

As around-the-clock grazing upends the way people eat, companies are reimagining foods that aren’t normally seen as snacks to

is comparable in size to a bag of potato chips).

Even Hershey is trying to become more of a snacks player with “snack mixes” that seem like trail mix, except with Reese’s peanut butter cups and mini chocolate bars (280 calories per package).

it’s inspiring some companies to try and transform everyday foods into more exciting snacks.

Snacks can have good profit margins, too. Prices will vary depending on the retailer, but the suggested retail price for a snack pack of Hillshire’s grilled chicken

Spam Snacks, left, Skippy P.B. Bites, center, and Hillshire Genoa Salami with cheese and crackers are arranged for a photo, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in New York. As around-the-clock grazing upends the way people eat, companies are reimagining foods that aren’t normally seen as snacks to elbow in on the trend.

(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

elbow in on the trend. That means everything including grilled chicken, cereal, chocolate, peanut butter and even Spam are now being marketed as snacks.

Some are trying to jump into the party by playing up protein. Meat processing giant Tyson launched HillshireSnacking this year with packs of cut-up chicken that people are supposed to grab and eat with their hands (120 calories per pack). Canned meat maker Hormel is testing “Spam Snacks,” which are dried chunks of the famous meat in re-sealable bags (220 calories per bag).

People with a sweet tooth aren’t being forgotten. After years of slumping cereal sales, Kellogg recently introduced Kellogg’s To Go pouches, which hold slightly larger pieces of cereal the company says were “specifically created to be eaten by hand” (190 calories per pouch, which

“People are snacking more and more, sometimes instead of meals, sometimes with meals, and sometimes in between meals,” said Marcel Nahm, who heads North American snacks for Hershey. He said Hershey’s research shows some people snack “10 times a day.”

Snacking has been encroaching on meals for years, of course, fueled in part by the belief that several smaller meals a day are better than three big ones. Snacks now account for half of all eating occasions, with breakfast and lunch in particular becoming “snackified,” according to the Hartman Group, a food industry consultancy.

But more recently, the blurring lines are making people reach for snacks with benefits they might otherwise get from a meal, like protein or fiber. That has led to ingredients like chickpeas, lentils and quinoa popping up in snacks. And

is $2.49, while Kellogg’s To Go pouch sells for about $2.

Kellogg is also marketing regular bowls of cereal as a late-night snack, and says it can do more to push PopTarts as an anytime snack.

Hormel recently introduced Skippy P.B. Bites, which are candy-like balls of peanut butter marketed as filling treats for kids.

A serving has 160 calories and 8 grams of sugar, with each canister containing six servings. The canister costs around $3.50 and isn’t supposed to be a single snack, but Hormel president Jim Snee says “unfortunately it can end up being that.”

Prescribing an ideal eating pattern for everyone is difficult given people’s varying lifestyles, said Claudia Zapata, a registered dietitian in San Antonio, Texas. But she noted that snacks should generally be 250 calories at most and are meant to tide people over between meals. q

Judge: NYC can penalize chains that don’t post warnings on salt JAKE PEARSON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Large chain restaurants and fastfood eateries in the nation’s most populous city can be fined up to $600 beginning next week for not posting salt warnings on menu items that contain more than the recommended daily dose of sodium, a judge ruled Wednesday.

“Some people love salty food and are just going to eat those salty foods regardless of whether there’s a salt icon next to it,” Supreme Court Justice Eileen Rakower said from the bench.

“I believe information is power.”

The ruling dismissed a challenge from the National Restaurant Association brought just days after the first-of-its-kind rule was enacted in December. It is but the latest in a series of healthy eating measures pioneered by New York City public health officials that have been challenged in the courts, including an overturned rule limiting the size of sugary drinks and an upheld requirement that chains post calorie counts on menus.

“This is really good news for the health of New Yorkers,” said Dr. Mary Bassett, the city’s health commissioner.

The fines take effect March 1.

Under the rule, restaurant owners must now post distinct triangle icons with salt-shaker images inside on menus next to items that top the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams of sodium, about a teaspoon’s worth.

Public health officials have long argued that Americans consume too much salt, and point to cheddar bacon burgers with nearly 4,300 mg and boneless Buffalo chicken salads with more than 3,000 mg as proof.

The warnings will apply to chains with at least 15 outlets nationwide, which health officials estimate account for about one-

This undated provided by the New York City Health Department shows an icon of a salt shaker that serves as a graphic warning to NYC consumers of high salt content in foods.

(NYC Health Department via AP)

third of the city’s restaurant business. Panera, Applebees and other chains have already started posting salt-warning labels.

Preston Ricardo, who represented the National Restaurant Association, likened the salt-shaker icons to warnings for biohazardous material that would confuse consumers, steer them to restaurants not required to post them and violate the First Amendment rights of restaurant owners forced to post them.

“The irreparable harm is real,” he said, arguing that there’s controversy among scientists themselves about how much salt is too much. The association planned to appeal the ruling, he said.

The average American consumes about 3,400 mg of sodium per day and experts say too much salt can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and high blood pressure. The federal government recommends people consume less than 2,300 mg of salt per day.

The salt-warning labels, initiated by current Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, follow a string of public health initiatives championed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, such as an attempt to ban oversized sugary drinks, restrict the use of trans fats in restaurants and prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants.q

U.S. NEWS A7

Friday 26 February 2016

US Financial Front:

Applications for jobless benefits rise to still-low level for the past three years, pushing the unemployment rate down to an eight-year low of 4.9 percent. Wage gains are accelerating, but still remain below levels consistent with a healthy economy.

KEY DRIVERS: Americans are shopping and eating out at restaurants, helping to offset drags from China’s faltering economy and reA military veteran, at right, talks about employment opportunities at a job fair for veterans, in Pembroke Pines, Fla. On Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, the Labor Department reported on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits the week before.

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

C. S. RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, though the figure remained at a low level that suggests layoffs aren’t widespread.

THE NUMBERS: The Labor Department says weekly applications rose 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 272,000. The four-week average, a less volatile figure, declined 1,250 to 272,000.

The number of people col-

lecting benefits has declined 4.9 percent in the past year to 2.25 million.

THE TAKEAWAY: The figures indicate that weak overseas economies and wild swings in the stock market haven’t caused employers to cut jobs. Applications are a proxy for layoffs, and have been at historically low levels for nearly a year. Employers appear confident enough in future growth to hold onto their staffs.

Job gains have been solid

January durable goods orders jump M. CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. companies for long-lasting manufactured goods advanced in January at the strongest pace in 10 months. Moreover, a key category that tracks business investment surged by the largest amount in 19 months.

The bigger-than-expected gains could be a sign of better days ahead for the nation’s beleaguered manufacturers.

Orders for durable goods,

items ranging from autos and appliances to steel and machinery, rose 4.9 percent last month, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That represented a rebound from a 4.6 percent plunge in December and a 0.5 percent decline in November.

Demand in a category that serves as a proxy for business investment plans rose 3.9 percent in January, reversing a 3.7 percent fall in December. It was the biggest advance in this category since June 2014.q

cessions in other developing countries such as Brazil and Russia.

Consumer spending makes up about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity and economists expect it will help bolster US growth this year, even as manufacturing and exports likely remain weak.

Americans are also spending more on big-ticket

items such as cars and homes. Sales of existing homes ticked up in January to nearly the healthiest level in nine years.

Economists forecast the U.S. economy will expand about 2.3 percent this year, similar to the modest growth that has occurred during the six-year recovery from the Great Recession.q

A8

Friday 26 February 2016

WORLD NEWS

Syrian army recaptures town in Aleppo from IS ZEINA KARAM Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government troops backed

by Russian airstrikes recaptured a town in Aleppo province from Islamic State militants on Thursday in a key advance just two days ahead of a U.S. and Russiaengineered cease-fire that is set to take effect in Syria.

In the rebel-held suburb of Daraya, opposition activists said the army escalated its attacks, dropping dozens of barrel bombs from helicopters on the devastated town located a few kilometers southwest of the Syrian capital, sending plumes of smoke rising into the sky.

Russia and the United States have set a deadline of midnight on Friday for the temporary cease-fire to take effect between the Syrian government and opposition forces. But fighting is expected to continue in many places, because the deal excludes groups deemed terrorist by the U.N. Security Council including Islamic State and the al-Qaida branch in Syria, the Nusra Front.

The town of Khanaser captured by the army Thursday was seized earlier this week by the Islamic State group, cutting state forces’ access to the provincial capital, also called Aleppo, said the Syrian government and the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group.

SANA said the army took

Khanaser, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Aleppo city, after three days of heavy battles and that intense fighting was still underway to reopen the

ating table in Geneva.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said he will convene the first meeting of a task force meant to monitor

Thursday, saying he is worried that Russia will continue to hit Syrian civilians or the moderate opposition during the truce. Ahmet Davutoglu has accused

Civilians carry supplies in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian government troops backed by Russian airstrikes recaptured a town in Aleppo province from Islamic State militants on Thursday.

(Alexander Kots/K. Pravda via AP)

road. On Tuesday, IS seized Khanaser and surrounding hills, severing the government’s main land route to the city.

In the push on Khanaser, the Syrian army and progovernment Shiite militias were backed by Russian airstrikes, The Observatory said. The cease-fire meant to start on midnight Friday is aimed at achieving a temporary “cessation of hostilities” that would bring back the Syrian government and its opponents to the negoti-

the cease-fire. Speaking to reporters Thursday in Geneva, he predicted a “crucial” day ahead of the start of the truce brokered by the United States and Russia.

The Syrian opposition has agreed to abide by the truce but expressed major concerns and reservations about what it said were ambiguities and the lack of any clear mechanism to implement the agreement.

Turkey’s prime minister echoed those concerns on

Russia of striking the moderate opposition in Syria over the past five months under the guise of hitting militants.

Davutoglu said the ceasefire would have “no meaning if Russia continues with its irresponsible bombings.”

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state-run Anadolu Agency that Saudi aircraft would arrive “today or tomorrow” at the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey to join the fight against Islamic State in Syria. q

Saudis rebuke Lebanon for siding with Iran

BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Saudi Arabia has lashed out at Lebanon, cutting off billions of dollars of aid and telling its citizens to leave the country, after Beirut sided with Iran in the fallout over the execution of a Saudi Shiite cleric, in a diplomatic dispute that threatens Lebanon’s struggling economy.

The tension reflects the worsening Sunni-Shiite conflict in the Middle East, which is driven by regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Iran, who are fighting

proxy wars in Syrbia, Yemen and, to a lesser extent, in Iraq. Saudi’s punitive measures against Lebanon began last week after the Lebanese foreign minister, Gibran Bassil, an ally of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, declined to support Saudi resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers.

The resolution sought to condemn Iran over attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions following Riyadh’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in early

January.

Riyadh announced Friday it was halting $4 billion in aid grants due to what it described as stances taken

by Lebanese officials which “were not in harmony with the ties between the two countries.”

This week, Saudi Arabia called on its citizens not to travel to Lebanon for safety reasons and ordered those staying there to leave. Its Gulf allies Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar predictably followed suit, issuing similar warnings. The United Arab Emirates also banned its

citizens from traveling to Lebanon and withdrew a number of diplomats from the country.

Lebanon’s political elite is deeply divided between two powerful Saudi and Iran-backed coalitions. The spat has exacerbated divisions among Lebanon’s notoriously fractious politicians, who traded accusations over the billions of dollars lost. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 and parliament has failed to elect a new head of state because of lack of a quorum.q

Australia warns of possible Indonesia terror attack: AP SYDNEY (AP) — Australia’s government warned on Thursday that terrorists may be in the advanced stages of preparing attacks in Indonesia, and urged travelers to exercise a high level of caution when visiting the Southeast Asian nation, including the popular tourist island of Bali.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued the travel advisory, which said only that there were “recent indications” an attack may be in the advanced planning stages, and warned people to be vigilant at places of worship and during holiday periods. The department did not raise its overall warning level for Australians visiting the country.

The advice comes just days after Australia warned that terrorists may be plotting attacks in and around Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s largest city.

In its warning for Indonesia, the department cited the Jan. 14 attacks in the capital, Jakarta, that left eight people dead, saying the assaults demonstrated an ongoing threat.

“We continue to receive information that indicates that terrorists may be planning attacks in Indonesia,” the department wrote.

“An attack could occur anywhere at any time.”

The agency did not immediately to a request for more details.

Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said it had no information about possible attacks.

“We want to emphasize that our security authorities continue to be working and vigilant,” ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said in a statement.

“They have not conveyed any indication of an increased threat.”

In recent years, Indonesian counterterrorism forces successfully eradicated the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah that was responsible for several attacks, including the 2002 bombings of bars in Bali which killed 202 people, as well as two hotel bombings in Jakarta in 2009 that killed seven people.q

WORLD NEWS 9

Friday 26 February 2016

Calais camp, symbol of migrant crisis, set for destruction ELAINE GANLEY JEROME DELAY Associated Press CALAIS, France (AP) — A French court gave the state the green light Thursday to raze makeshift tents and lean-tos used by hundreds of migrants at a sprawling slum in Calais, where many dream of slipping into Britain.

Tamping down fears of a violent confrontation, France’s interior minister promised to treat the migrants humanely and not send in bulldozers to evict them.

The camp in the northern port city — known as “the jungle” — has been an embarrassing chapter in Europe’s migrant crisis, and France announced this month that its densely populated southern half would be razed. The move prompted rights groups and migrant advocates to sue.

The court in Lille ruled that the makeshift shelters used by the migrants can be destroyed — but that common spaces like places of worship, schools and a library must be left standing.

Calais’ prime location — with a major ferry port, Eurotunnel rail system and truck traffic crossing the English Channel — has put it in the crosshairs of the migrant crisis. Weary travelers come driven by a dream that they will find peace and prosperity in Englishspeaking Britain. Lacking any papers, they have to sneak across the Channel, and at least 20 migrants have died trying since late June.

Officials say moving migrants out of the Calais slum will be a better solution for all, since many have been languishing in poverty and hopelessness

A migrant walks in the mud in a makeshift camp where over 1,000 migrants mostly from Iraqi Kurdistan live in Grand-Synthe, near the northern town of Dunkerque, France, Wednesday Feb. 24, 2016. The clock is ticking for hundreds of migrants in the nearby port city of Calais waiting for a judge to decide whether to postpone an eviction order in the camp locally referred to as “the jungle”.

(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

after nearby borders have been sealed by increasing security. Officials estimate the number of migrants who will be affected at 800 to 1,000, while humanitarian organizations say over 3,000 migrants live there.

Interior Minister Bernard Ca-

zeneuve lauded the court’s decision, saying it “fully supported” the government’s strategy for dealing with the camp.

“It has never been our intention to send in bulldozers to destroy the camp,” Cazeneuve added.

Another filthy camp known as a haven for smugglers near Dunkirk, France, is being relocated to a more hygienic site with heated tents under the supervision of the charity group Doctors Without Borders.

Moving the migrants out

will be France’s most dramatic step yet to end Calais’ yearslong migrant problem, which has transformed the city of nearly 80,000 into a high-security tension point, fueled farright sentiment and defied British and French efforts to make the issue go away.

The same court in Lille ordered the state in November to clean up the camp by adding running water, toilets and garbage bins, count the number of minors without families — now 326 — and help those in distress.

As of late, however, an increasingly vocal backlash against the Calais migrants has been punctuated by militia-style violence. Truckers have grown exasperated or fearful of increasingly bold migrants trying to sneak rides across the English Channel.

A sense of anxiety mounted in the camp Thursday ahead of the court ruling. Nearby Belgium, concerned about an influx of Calais evacuees, implemented border checks.q

Uber faces potential fine, ban for bosses in France PHILIPPE SOTTO Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Uber risks millions of euros in damages and fines and having two top executives banned from running the ride-hailing company in France as a trial wrapped up Thursday in a Paris court.

The San Francisco-based company is in trouble in France over its now-suspended low-cost UberPop service, which connected clients to non-professional drivers, infuriated French taxi drivers and prompted the criminal charges. Uber continues to operate its

standard service with registered professional drivers.

A Paris court wrapped up a protracted, high-profile trial Thursday targeting Thibaud Simphal, general manager for France, and PierreDimitri Gore-Coty, chief for Europe, Middle East and Africa. The verdict will be delivered June 9.

They are accused of complicity in practicing an illegal taxi activity. Charges also include deceptive commercial activity and violation of French privacy law by illegally stocking, processing and recording personal information about

the self-employed drivers who work with Uber.

The charges could potentially carry prison terms, but the prosecutor did not recommend prison in her closing arguments.

She asked for the two executives to be banned from managing, running or heading any companies in France for five years.

She also called for a 1 million euro ($1.1 million) fine against Uber France, a 70,000 euro ($77,000) fine for Gore-Coty and a 50,000 euro ($55,000) fine for Simphal.

Dozens of taxi unions, as-

sociations and drivers are seeking more than 100 million euros in damages overall.

Their lawyers argue that traditional taxi drivers are losing business due to unfair competition by non-professional drivers.

They claimed during the trial that Uber sidesteps taxes, social charges and licensing fees and works with unregistered, badlytrained and improperly-insured drivers.

During the sometimes heated hearings, Uber was called names like “monster,” ‘’thug” or “weasel.”q

A10 WORLD

Friday 26 February 2016

NEWS

Mumbai sets no-selfie zones as deaths linked to selfies rise RISHABH R. JAIN MANISH MEHTA Associated Press MUMBAI, India (AP) — Look around in any major Indian city, and you will find someone with an arm outstretched, mobile phone in hand, smiling widely and clicking away. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embraced the medium, posting pictures online he’s snapped with various world leaders.

But the pursuit of the most epic selfie can have lethal consequences.

India is home to the highest number of people who have died while taking photos of themselves, with 19 of the world’s 49 recorded selfie-linked deaths since 2014, according to San Francisco-based data service provider Priceonomics. The statistic may in part be due to India’s sheer size, with 1.25 billion citizens and one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets.

Alarmed by the trend, Mumbai has declared 16 no-selfie zones across the city, as authorities warn people against taking unnecessary risks.

Earlier this month, an 18-year-old college stu-

Indians take a selfie in Mumbai’s coastline. India is home to the highest number of people who have died while taking photos of themselves, with 19 of the world’s 49 recorded selfie-linked deaths since 2014, according to San Francisco-based data service provider Priceonomics. The statistic may in part be due to India’s sheer size, with 1.25 billion citizens and one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets.

(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

dent on a class picnic lost his balance while taking a selfie atop a rock near a dam near the central Indian city of Nashik. He fell into the water and drowned, along with a classmate who jumped in to try and save him. Last month, an 18-year-old woman fell and drowned in the sea while taking a photo of herself at Mumbai’s Bandstand Fort,

a popular tourist spot.

An engineering student sustained fatal head injuries when a rock he was standing cracked and sent him tumbling. He’d been trying to take a selfie with friends in front of the Kolli Hills in Tamil Nadu.

And in January 2014, three students aged 20 to 22 died when they stopped to take a photo with a speed-

ing train approaching, and were hit. They’d been on their way to visit the Taj Mahal.

In Mumbai, police have declared selfies off-limits in areas perceived as risky — particularly along the coastline in spots with no railings or barriers. Anyone venturing into off-limits areas, even if they take no photos, risks being slapped

with a fine of 1,200 rupees, or about $18.

After the woman’s death last month, the city’s police conducted a survey to identify such dangerous places, police official Dhananjay Kulkarni said.

The city also plans to run an awareness campaign.

Despite clearly marked signs demarking the selfiefree zones, people can still be seen clicking away, and often going to the edges or standing on ledges to get the most thrilling shots.

“When you are traveling alone, and do not have anyone to take your pictures, then it’s only selfie,” said Murtuza Rangwala, a student in Mumbai.

Mumbai psychologist Keerti Sachdeva said she doesn’t expect the constant pursuit of selfies to end any time soon, saying one probable reason is the need for acceptance and love.

“You know people have this sort of feeling in adolescent age, especially that they need to get this acceptance from everyone, that I am a smart person, I am a good-looking person,” Sachdeva said. “So for acceptance and recognition they are indulging in taking of selfies.”

China criticizes Philippines over South China Sea dispute M. PENNINGTON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — China on Thursday accused the U.S.-allied Philippines of “political provocation” in seeking international arbitration over territorial claims in the South China Sea. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the decision

by Philippine leaders to lodge a case with a tribunal in The Hague was “ir-

responsible to the Filipino people and the future of the Philippines.”

China has refused to participate in the proceedings. A ruling is expected later this year, after the tribunal decided last October that it could hear the case.

The Philippines initiated arbitration in early 2013 after Beijing refused to withdraw its ships from a disputed shoal under a U.S.-bro-

kered deal. It contends that China’s massive territorial claims in the strategic waters do not conform with the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and should be declared invalid. The Philippines also asserts that some Chinese-occupied reefs and shoals do not generate, or create a claim to, territorial waters.

Wang blamed the Philip-

pines for shutting the door to negotiations with China over their dispute and seeking arbitration without China’s consent.

He said China was prepared to negotiate “tomorrow.”

“We are neighbors just separated by a narrow body of water,” Wang told the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “We want to contrib-

ute to the Philippines’ economic development.”

Wang was in Washington this week for talks with his counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry. Differences over the South China Sea have strained U.S.China relations. The U.S. accuses China of militarizing a key conduit for world trade. China says Washington and its allies are responsible for raising tensions.

WORLD NEWS A11

Friday 26 February 2016

Some experts contend Brazil is exaggerating Zika crisis J. BARCHFIELD P. PRENGAMAN Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Often drowned out by the dire warnings and fear surrounding Zika, some medical professionals are saying that Brazil and international health officials have prematurely declared a link between the virus and what appears to be a surge in birth defects.

A few even argue that the Brazilian government is being irresponsible, given that a connection hasn’t been scientifically proven between the mosquito-borne virus and the birth defect known as microcephaly, which causes infants to be born with abnormally small heads.

“It’s a global scandal. Brazil has created a worldwide panic,” said Alexandre Dias Porto Chiavegatto Filho, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Sao Paulo, one of the most-respected universities in Latin America. “I’m not saying that Zika is not causing microcephaly, but I am saying that the ministry has yet to present any scientifically credible evidence to support that conclusion.”

Chiavegatto and others argue there are still too many unanswered questions to blame Zika. Why are the vast majority of the cases of microcephaly being reported in Brazil? Why haven’t they also shown up in proportional numbers in other countries hit hard by Zika, such as Colombia? (The answer, some say, is that Brazil was hit by Zika first, and microcephaly cases might be expected to crest elsewhere in the months ahead.)

And how can conclusions be drawn from government statistics that are flawed and possibly vastly underreported in the past, before Brazilian officials required doctors to report microcephaly cases?

In an article published Wednesday by the Annals of Internal Medicine, 14 Brazilian and American researchers said the link between Zika and microcephaly “remains presumptive.” The strongest evidence is circumstantial, they said, and there are challenges in confirming the connection.

But Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro recently said he was “absolutely sure” of a causal link between Zika and microcephaly. He and other scientific experts around the world have pointed to studies that detected the presence of Zika in the brains of dead fetuses and in the placentas of babies diagnosed with microcephaly in the womb.

While visiting Brazil on Wednesday, Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said microcephaly can be caused by many things but that her organization was affirming that “Zika is responsible (for it in Brazil) until evidence to the contrary emerges.” And the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned pregnant women against traveling to more than 30 destinations where the virus has been registered, most in Latin America.

Every week, the evidence is “getting stronger and stronger,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and In-

Brazilian and U.S. health workers from the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) talk with a resident as they search for mothers and infants to recruit for a study aimed at determining whether the Zika virus is causing babies to be born with a birth defect affecting the brain in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.

(AP Photo/Andre Penner)

fectious Diseases, told a U.S. Senate committee

Wednesday. He cited several published cases where

the virus was found after fetal or newborn deaths.

Still, despite the heavyweight support and anecdotal evidence, some critics are not satisfied.

Luis Correia, who teaches scientific method at the Bahia School of Medicine and Public Health, said the small-scale studies cited by health officials don’t equal proof.

“There appears to be a sort of scientific illiteracy within the ministry that has led them to mix up association with causality,” said Correia. “They are confusing hypothesis with fact.”

Correia compared the situation to finding a bystander at the scene of a murder.q

A12 WORLD

Friday 26 February 2016

NEWS

US: Puerto Rico could shut down if no debt restructuring SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday warned of a potential government shutdown in Puerto Rico and lengthy litigation if Congress doesn’t approve a debt restructuring plan for the U.S. territory soon.

Antonio Weiss, counselor to the U.S. Treasury secretary, issued the warning as House Republicans held hearings in Washington during a final push to address the island’s failing economy.

Weiss said he supports a plan that would temporarily suspend litigation to prevent a shutdown of basic government services on the U.S. territory and give time for voluntary negotiations with debt holders.

The plan also would create a voting mechanism to prevent a handful of officials from blocking a reasonable compromise, he said during a hearing by the House Committee on Natural Resources, which expects to

file a bill to address Puerto Rico’s economic crisis. If debt negotiations fail, a court-supervised structure would ensure what Weiss called an orderly resolution.

He also said that an independent federal oversight board is needed if a debt restructuring plan is approved.

“There is no room for error in this economy,” he said.

“The government remains open only because the governor authorized more

than $1 billion in onerous and unsustainable emergency liquidity actions.”

Puerto Rico has struggled with a financial crisis for nearly a decade and faces a $72 billion public debt load that the governor has said is unpayable and needs restructuring.

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has pledged action by end of March, although some legislators remain reluctant, noting that Puerto Rico has not released long-

delayed audited financial statements.

“Congress is flying blind,” Rep. Jeff Duncan, a South Carolina Republican, said during the hearing. “I don’t believe we should take any action.”

The hearings were held on the same day the White House announced it would speed up access to nearly $400 million for public works projects in Puerto Rico to help spur economic development.q

Jamaican prime minister fights for her job amid tough times

In this photo, Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller attends a multilateral meeting at the Caribbean Energy Security Summit at the State Department in Washington. Simpson Miller is fighting to keep her job amid high crime and unemployment in the largest country in the Englishspeaking Caribbean.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

H. CAMPBELL Associated Press KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The prime minister of Jamaica was fighting to keep her job Thursday amid high crime and unemployment

in the largest English-speaking country in the Caribbean. Voters in Jamaica were choosing a new Parliament and polls showed it was likely to be a close race between the ruling

People’s National Party of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and the opposition Jamaica Labor Party.

Simpson Miller predicted her party would retain power in the 21-seat Parlia-

ment as she urged voters to remain calm in a country that has seen election day violence in the past.

“I want no intimidation. I want no trouble. I want everybody to go out and cast their vote in peace,” she said while voting in her Kingston constituency.

There were long lines at polling stations across the country. Police said arsonists set fire to a polling station in Hanover Parish on the island’s northwest corner before dawn. Voting was moved to another location and no other major incidents were reported.

Simpson Miller became the country’s first female leader in 2006. That first term ended in 2007, but she returned as prime minister in 2011 amid a shrinking economy and one of the highest levels of debt relative to GDP in the world.

Her government negotiated a $930 million aid package with the IMF.

The Jamaican dollar has declined, the cost of living has gone up and wages have been stagnant. The IMF, however, has praised the government for cutting debt and making other reforms to its economy and the country’s stock market was rated among the best performing in the world last year. “It makes no sense we stop the progress now,” said 59-year-old voter Herbert Hall. “We’ve made a lot of progress with the economy and development. It would be chaos if we change now.” The opposition, led by Andrew Holness, expected a far better showing than in 2011, when it was swept out by a 2-1 margin. “You are going to see a far more energized Jamaica Labor Party base than in 2011 because our members have been motivated by the issues we have raised in our campaign,” Holness said. q

Beginning in the early 20th century, Argentina took in thousands of Syrians and Lebanese, waves of immigrants that continued to come during times of turmoil in the Middle East.

Carlos Menem, who was Argentine president in 1989-1999, was born to Syrian parents.

However, Argentina has not received many Syrian refugees in recent years.

Since 2014, about 200 have come in under “Program Syria,” according to immi-

gration authorities. The program gives humanitarian visas for two years and appears to have mostly been used by Syrians with relatives in Argentina.

Hollande, who is on a tour of South America, planned to attend a ceremony Thursday paying tribute to victims of Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship. He also planned to meet with Estela de Carlotto, head of the human rights group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. q

French president suggests Argentina help with Syrian crisis BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — French President Francois Hollande suggested this week that Argentina could take in some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing civil war.

The idea appeared to be an off-the-cuff comment during a news conference

by Hollande and Argentine President Mauricio Macri after they met privately and signed agreements on issues ranging from fighting terrorism to increasing cultural exchanges.

Hollande lauded Argentina’s history of receiving immigrants, mentioning Syrians and Lebanese who arrived in the South American nation decades ago.

Then, without referring to Argentina by name, he said through a translator that “we must make an effort wherever we are” to receive people in refugee camps in Jordan and Syria.

With necessary controls implemented, refugees could be received in places with “existing communities from

those countries that can help,” he added.

As Hollande spoke, Macri didn’t make any notable facial expressions. The two leaders then left.

It wasn’t clear if the two had discussed the issue privately or if Argentina was contemplating taking in some of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian’s who have fled their country’s civil war. Receiving refugees was not one of the agreements the two leaders mentioned.

LOCAL A13

Friday 26 February 2016

Eagle Beach this Saturday: Flip Flop Festival 2016 to Bring Good Vibes to the Beach!

EAGLE BEACH - This Saturday February 27, 2016 Chill and Balashi Beer will have their annual Flip Flop Festival at Eagle Beach. The festival will start at 2pm and will go on till 2am. Entrance policy for this free event is 18+.

The lineup for this year will be as follow DJ Yeimy Buleria- DJ Outkast - Ritmo Real - T.O.K - DJ OutkastGyptian - Walshy Fire- Nutz Beatz In 1995 DJ YEIMY, moved to Aruba , and began to work as a DJ in popular discos like Whisky Roadhouse Café, E – Zone , Crobar , Tantra , Café Bahia and Havana Beach Club. DJ YEIMY has also been part of many important events on the Island , playing with many popular DJ’s from Latin America, Europe and the USA. DJ YEIMY also was very successful on the radio, he hosted and played in his own program called RITMO , for more than 15 years, playing, dance, house ,retro, techno music whilst also promoting local and international DJ’s.

Buleria will be also performing at the Flip Flop Festival!

Buleria won the band of the year award in Aruba and Curacao in 2015! With many hits under their name they will surely make you swing and sing mama mia buleria!

An official member of Eminem’s Shadyville Crew AND 50 Cent’s G-Unit The Cut Creator, DJ Outkast has one of the most potent mixes of talent, experience, performance and swag in the Caribbean.

Considered the top DJ on his island and one of the best in the region he has served residencies in SXM’s hottest clubs and is the current host of the daily “Power Hour” on Lazer 101.1 FM.

Outkast has gained the respect of A-list artists by supporting the likes of Ludacris, Fabolous, Damian Marley, Wyclef, Fatman Scoop, Beenie Man and many others.

Ritmo Real, a talented artist, entertainer, producer, and composer. Ritmo Real has hits with different artist like Nutzbeatz, Fellow, Ataniro, Jeon, Ir sais, Keizer Ori, Immorales and many more. Ritmo also has a few hits together with Upgrade Music.

T.O.K .is one of the best dancehall groups to have originated from Jamaica.

The group broke into the U.S. market with a 2001 debut album, “My Crew, My Dawgs,” which peaked at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart. Hits include “Gal You A Lead” and “Footprints”. T.O.K reunited again at the end of 2015, and will perform exclusively at the Flip Flop Festival.

Gyptian is one of the leading young artists in the new lovers rock reggae genre, mixing elements of dancehall and urban music to create hits such as “Hold Yuh”, his Billboard charted breakout hit. Nominated for Best New Entertainer at the 2006 International Reggae and World Music Awards. Gyptian continues to role out hits such as “wine slow”, “beautiful lady”, “Nah Let go”, and recently released “All on me”. Word of his intense sets and professionalism has led to performances in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Pacific and beyond. Outkast has been featured on BET’s 106 and Park.

Walshy Fire has been circling the planet introducing audiences at major Festivals, genre-defying

mashup of EDM and World beats. He has rightfully earned the title of Global Ambassador of Music and Culture. Together with the Grammy-Award winning crew Black Chiney, Major Lazer and as a solo performer Walshy is known for his ability to rock crowds of every background or size.

He reinforces his technique with style and swagger, both of which give him an awesome stage presence.

In 2015, Walshy thrust even further into the spotlight with the release of Major Lazer’s album “Peace Is the Mission”. The hit single “Lean On” has almost a billion views on YouTube and was named the most streamed song ever on Spotify. Other hits include “Bumaye”,and “Get Free

It did not take long for Nutzbeatz a.k.a Eldrick Boekhoudt, born in Aruba to become the biggest EDM DJ on the island. Nutzbeatz began his DJ career at a young age. He went from small parties to residence is most clubs in Aruba to the largest events on the islands. He successfully proved his skills to be innovative and quickly made a name for himself. He has a large fan base and is fan favorite in this region.

Nutzbeatz has had the opportunity to play alongside DJ’s such as Dimitri Vegas, Chuckie, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, Nero, Erick Morillo, Hardwell, Afrojack, Nicky Romero, Fatboy Slim, and many more.

Of course the Festival will be hosted by the residence

MC, the one and only: MC SAMIL Starting his MC career back in December of 2011 as the resident Mc of a well know Club in Aruba called “Senor Frogs”. In the year of 2012, Samil has hosted in every club & bars on the island and has continued to expand to big events & festivals. But it wasn’t until his first Debut on a big stage Back in January 2013 performing alongside Nutzbeatz in front of 10.000+ people, his name and talent got noticed and ever since that night, things have never been the same. Since his debut in early 2013, Samil has quickly grown to be one of the best MC on Aruba and his name is only growing bigger throughout the region.

With the demand of Mc Samil growing more and more, he had the opportunity to perform alongside Djs such as Chuckie, Funk D, Genairo Nvilla, Cedric Gervais, Nutzbeatz, Karixon, Bamfstarz And Many More.

He also had the chance to share the stage with; Fat Boy Slim, Nero, Eric Morillo, baggi begovic, Dimitri Vegas, Quintino, Alex Sargo, MC Roga & many more.

A14 LOCAL

Friday 26 February 2016

Expedia PartnerCentral App Now Available in Dutch, Spanish & French

ORANJESTAD - The Expedia group, one of the world’s largest online travel companies, announced this week that the Expedia® PartnerCentral (EPC) App, which originally rolled out in June 2015, will now be

available for Caribbean hotel partners in multiple languages including Spanish, French and Dutch as of February 23, 2016.

The EPC App allows hotel partners to manage their business with Expedia any-

time, anywhere. The realtime, critical data helps partners to stay informed and competitive with real-time insights about the market; read and respond instantly to feedback from guests; stay up to date with

reservations, arrivals and cancellations; move last minute inventory fast with Sell Tonight; help increase visibility by creating targeted promotions; receive notifications with time-sensitive information; and access data quickly with an efficient single login.

“To drive value to our hotel partners The Expedia group is constantly investing in new technology to help provide partners with better insights and customer service, as well as increase demand,” said Demetrius Canton, market management director for the Caribbean. “We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for our partners to utilize data and create a better experience for their guests.”

Several Expedia group hotel partners in the Englishspeaking Caribbean have already tested the app and are thrilled with its quick response time and easy usage.

--“I’m a frequent traveler and I would always have to find a hotel in order to connect to a computer and make changes on the Expedia site. Because of the app, I now only have to log on through the app on my phone, make the changes, and in a few minutes I’m on the road again,” said Paul Graber, national sales manager at Bolongo Bay Beach Resort in St. Thomas.

--Sasha Cole, marketing manager at Silver Point Hotel in Barbados said “I’ve been using the EPC App for a couple of months now and find it very convenient when I am away from my desktop for a quick inven-

tory and rate update as well as a quick glance of daily activities for the property.”

--“The app’s quick features allow me to spot trends and measure hotel performance,” said Rachel Schnure, market director of Travel Industry Sales at Marriott Caribbean & Latin America Resorts. “I also love how easy it is to toggle between multiple hotels.”

The EPC App is free for download in Spanish, French and Dutch at the Apple App Store and Google Play and requires an iPhone running iOS 7 or higher, or an Android phone running OS 4.1.2 or higher. The app is the latest innovation demonstrating Expedia’s ability to transform travel through technology. Expedia’s product team utilizes an unprecedented amount of data and insights to solve everyday problems on behalf of travelers and suppliers.

Products are developed by applying data through a three-step framework: empathize, hypothesize, test and learn. The outcomes solves problems consumers and suppliers may not have even been aware of, resulting in user delight, increased engagement and time optimization.

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 languages, 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

LOCAL A15

Friday 26 February 2016

Online tool enhances visitor ease to island: ATA’s Digital Embarkation and Disembarkation Card a Success!

ORANJESTAD (PRNewswire) – The Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA), Aruba Immigration Services (IASA) and Gamma introduced a new service to the island’s visitors recently.

As a country that continually strives for the pursuit of innovation and modernization in guest services, Aruba’s new service allows guests the option of digitally filling out the required Embarkation and Disembarkation card (ED-card) before ever stepping foot on the popular Caribbean island.

In the past, the ED-card was given to travelers while still onboard their flight. With the introduction of the new online version, visitors are now able to go to www. edcardaruba.aw as soon as they book their flights to fill out the digital ED-card as a convenient and green

alternative, contributing to Aruba’s commitment to sustainable action.

Families, couples and friends heading to Aruba along with travel industry leaders will appreciate the digital ED-card for offering visitors the opportunity to easily complete the information requirements before embarking on their journey, as well as expediting the airport flow once they arrive on-island.

Aruba’s “Happy Returners”—travelers who have been to Aruba at least once before or continue to return, year after year—will appreciate that they only have to update their digital ED-card with new travel dates and trip details, as the system will save their basic information for future use.

All visitors to Aruba are re-

quired to fill out an ED-card, although the traditional paper card will still be available for visitors who prefer this. Guests can fill out their digital ED-card as soon as they have booked their flights and up to 48 hours before departing to Aruba.

After 48 hours have passed, all visitors must fill out the paper ED-card upon arrival.

“ATA and IASA are thrilled to be industry leaders with this time saving digital tool.

Aruba’s tourism partners and local people are all committed to the continued enhancement of our One happy island,” said Ronella Tjin Asjoe-Croes, CEO of ATA. “Upon landing with their ED-card already completed, visitors will be further delighted to discover the Aruba’s Happy Flow program, designed to streamline and expedite

the passenger process with enhanced digital airport checkpoints.”

Once more, Aruba has been differentiated from other destinations and ATA from other Destination Marketing and Management Organizations (DMMOs) for this innovative focus on meeting the modern traveler’s needs and exceeding expectations.

ATA has also recently launched the Happiness Builder, a game-changing digital tool that allows visitors to begin their vacations early and enjoy the trip planning process almost as much as their time on island.

A content-rich planning experience where travelers can explore aruba.com/ shortcuts for nearly 100 videos featuring adventure, relaxation, romance and cultural activities in Aruba,

the Happiness Builder creates a personal ‘Shortcut to Happiness’ video itinerary made from six chosen clips with the addition of happy music and a personalized message which can then be shared with friends and loved ones via email and social media.

As Aruba continues to evolve from both a product and marketing perspective, new and innovative tools like digital the ED-card and the Happiness Builder remain crucial to Aruba’s success as one of the most popular tourist destinations.

Fill out your own ED-card online at www.edcardaruba.aw. For more information on the One happy island, visit www.aruba. com. Engage with Aruba via social media at www. facebook.com/ArubaFans or @Aruba on Twitter.q

A16 LOCAL

Friday 26 February 2016

With the International Hot Rod Association:

Team Aruba Drag Racing Heads Stateside to Start 2016 Tour!

ORANJESTAD/UNION, S.C. - The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) will kick off their 2016 season with the Amsoil Nitro Nationals, March 4-6 at Orlando Speed World in Orlando, Florida. The Pro Stock team from Aruba has been diligently working toward this event all offseason long and the time has almost come to see the fruit of their efforts.

Driver Trevor Eman, along with his father and team patriarch, Ven Eman, have set aside the duties of their welding and machine shop businesses in Aruba to return to the Team Aruba race shop in Union, S.C. where the crew is working to prepare the Aruba. com Mustang for its first outing of the year. Both the Jon Kaase engine and the Jerry Haas chassis have received performance updates during the offseason.

The team also made upgrades to the race trailer functionality.

The most significant change for Team Aruba, however, is the addition of sponsor Aruba Airport Authority. “We have the great opportunity of part-

nering with the Aruba Airport Authority in 2016,” stated Eman. “Our Aruba. com Mustang will proudly display the Aruba Airport Authority logo on its hood.

Together with the Aruba Tourism Authority we can now talk to the fans and racers at the track about not only the vacation aspect of Aruba, but also the ‘travel to Aruba’ aspects.

We cannot be more grate-

ful for the confidence and support we have received from the Aruba Airport Authority and will be sure to carry them strongly into the Winner’s Circle.”

The Aruba Airport Authority (AAA) is the first and last round of friendly faces visitors see when traveling to and from “The One Happy Island.” AAA receives flights from all major US airlines and provides visitors with

ease in traveling to and from the island, including nonstop flights, pre-clearance customs, and more.

The Emans and Team Aruba crew are working to ready the all components of their operation this week before heading south for a test session in preparation for the Nitro Nationals. The team plans to test for several days leading up to the event. This will be the firstever IHRA event at Orlando Speed World and fans and racers alike are excited for the event to make its debut. Professional categories will qualify on Friday and Saturday before final eliminations on Sunday. The famed “Mountain Motor” Pro Stock category continues to gain popularity with fans as the profes-

sional category that most closely resembles factory made cars.

“The crew is anxious to get back at it,” Eman continued. “Just as we have worked to improve our operation over the offseason, the IHRA has done the same. We look forward to a great season. We cannot wait to see all our friends and fans at the race track again after being away for so long. We hope to meet new fans at Orlando Speed World, since it’s our first trip there. Orlando is a worldwide vacation destination, but the local residents need a special getaway of their own. Aruba is the perfect spot for Floridians to escape the hustle and bustle of a tourist city to relax on a pristine beach with crystal blue water in a true paradise.

“We are also looking forward to having friends and family from Aruba join us at this event as it is the closest to fly to from Aruba. The invitation is extended to all our fans from Aruba to hop on a plane and come join us in Orlando and watch us race.”

For more on the event visit Amsoil Nitro Nationals event page.

Follow Team Aruba on Facebook and Twitter. Find race results, team updates, videos and photos. Also leave your comments to cheer on Team Aruba!

For more on your Aruba vacation visit www.Aruba. com. Visit www.airportaruba.com.q

SPORTS A17

Friday 26 February 2016

NOVAK NO FINAL Sergio Garcia, of Spain, reacts after making an eagle on the second hole during the first round of the Honda Classic golf tournament, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Associated Press

Garcia, Thompson tied for lead at Honda Classic

DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Sergio Garcia made an eagle, avoided an alligator and wound up in a share of the lead Thursday in the Honda Classic.

Garcia holed out with an 8-iron from 142 yards into the wind on the second hole for an eagle, and he narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 18th hole at PGA National. The Spaniard shot 5-under 65 and shared the lead with Michael Thompson, the 2013 Honda Classic winner, who also birdied the last hole.

They were one shot ahead of Rickie Fowler and William McGirt.

The biggest excitement for Garcia was on the par-4 sixth hole, where he made his lone bogey.

His tee shot found the water left of the fairway, shallow enough for him to roll up his pants and try to play it out to the fairway. That part was easy. He looked over his shoulder because of an alligator on the island, making sure it wasn’t going anywhere soon.

Continued on page 19

Djokovic retires from match, ending run of finals Novak Djokovic from Serbia returns the ball to Malek Jaziri from Tunisia during the third day of Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.

Associated Press Page

A18 SPORTS

Friday 26 February 2016

Djokovic retires in Dubai QFs with infected eyes SANDRA HARWITT Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Top-ranked Novak Djokovic retired during his quarterfinal in the Dubai Tennis Championships with an infection in both eyes on Thursday, ending his global run of 17 consecutive final appearances.

“It’s an eye problem,” Djokovic, wearing dark sunglasses, said at his postmatch news conference.

“I have had it ever since I arrived to Dubai. Started with an infection, and then severe allergy.”

Djokovic said the infection started in his right eye but then presented in both eyes. He was instructed not to wear his contact lenses except for during matches because it aggravates the condition.

“It’s gotten worse the last two days, unfortunately,” he added. “It’s the first time that I have had such a problem with the eye. It was ultrasensitive today, the lights, and just wasn’t to be.”

The retirement ended

Novak Djokovic from Serbia returns the ball to Malek Jaziri from Tunisia during the third day of Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.

Associated Press

Djokovic’s run of 17 straight finals dating to the 2015 Australian Open. He had won 13 of those finals, including the last seven since the U.S. Open in September. He was one final away

from tying Ivan Lendl’s Open era record of 18 straight in 1981-82. But he wasn’t worried about his streak ending.

“I just hope this problem with the eye will fade away

in the next couple of days,” he said. “I got a lot of important events waiting for me in the next period. Of course, Davis Cup back home (next week) and Indian Wells, Miami, and of

course clay-court season.”

The last time Djokovic retired from a match was against Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in a Davis Cup semifinal in 2011.

He’s played 350 matches since then for a 312-38 winloss record.

Playing Feliciano Lopez, Djokovic called for the ATP trainer while trailing 1-2. He kept pointing to his face as he spoke to the trainer but eventually got up to play.

However, he quit the match after the Spaniard closed out the first set 6-3.

Lopez will play unseeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the semifinals. Baghdatis upset fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-5, 6-0.

Second-seeded Stan Wawrinka set up a semifinal with unseeded Nick Kyrgios by beating eighthseeded Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-1.

Kyrgios, who is making his Dubai debut, advanced by beating third-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-4 despite having treatment on his back in the first set.q

Galaxy, Santos Laguna draw 0-0 in CONCACAF Champions League CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Dan Kennedy made five saves

and the new-look Los Angeles Galaxy held Santos

Laguna to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the CONCACAF

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Nigel de Jong, center, shoots against Santos Laguna during the first half of a CONCACAF Champions League soccer quarterfinal in Carson, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.

Associated Press

Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday night.

After failing to defend its MLS title last season, the Galaxy underwent another roster overhaul heavy on star power. Five newcomers were in the starting lineup, including English defender Ashley Cole and Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong, and it didn’t take long for that class to show itself.

Jelle Van Damme’s header off a corner kick forced Santos Laguna goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin to make a dramatic one-handed save in the opening minute. The Galaxy continued to create chances early, with Robbie Keane slipping behind three defenders in the 17th minute but unable to head Steven Gerrard’s pass on goal.

“If we had scored a goal it would have been the perfect result, but it is still a

good result,” Gerrard said.

“We’ve been banging the drum all preseason about being solid defensively and keeping clean sheets, and that’s the basis we can be successful from.”

The tie will be settled in Torreon, Mexico on March 1. It became particularly illtempered in the final minutes when Keane got into an animated discussion with Santos Laguna manager Luis Zubeldia before the two were separated.

“Could be worse,” Galaxy manager Bruce Arena said of the result. “For our first time out I thought we played well. ... We’re not going to change much between now and Tuesday.

In a couple months, we’ll see what kind of team we have.”The match opened up late in the second half, with chances developing on both ends of the pitch.

Carlos Izquierdoz redirect q

SPORTS A19

Friday 26 February 2016

Honda Classic

Continued from page 17 “I was more worried about the alligator that was on the other side of the island than getting out of the water,” Garcia said. “The ball, I could see probably half of it, so I knew that I could get it out. Almost made 4, which would have been a great 4. I’m not going to lie, I was happy with a 5.”

And he was happy with other 60 strokes he took on a typical windy day at PGA National.

Garcia missed the cut last week at Riviera, two days in which he said he did nothing well. Hardly anything went wrong for him in the Honda Classic, and even when it did, he managed to avoid trouble. Garcia had to play a 40-yard hook from the rough left of the 10th fairway to just short of the green for a simple par.

Fowler had the only bogey-free round, which included a chip-in for par on the 10th hole. McGirt was more on the wild side by making seven birdies.

“Anything in the red is good around this place,” McGirt said. “At 4 under, I would say it was bordering on great. This place is never easy, even when it’s calm. You can’t fall asleep on any shot out here.”

For the early starters, it was a rude welcome to the Florida swing — chilly and gusts that approached 30 mph.

Phil Mickelson extended his good play from a runnerup finish at Pebble Beach and shot 69, among 10 players who managed to break par in the morning.

The wind eased slightly and

Rickie Fowler lines up a putt on the 12th hole during the first round of the Honda Classic golf tournament, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Associated Press

the warmth returned briefly in the afternoon, and the crowd had a lot more to cheer.

That included the loudest cheer of the day on the par-3 17th, where Alex Cejka made a hole-in-one.

Rory McIlroy, however, wasn’t in a happy place when he finished. Standing outside the scoring area, he smacked his putter on the concrete before going inside to sign for a 72. It wasn’t an awful score, but the finish led to his angst.

He hit the face of a bunker on the 14th hole and went into another fairway bunker, put his third in more

sand left of the green and made double bogey. After a birdie on the 15th, McIlroy came up short into the bunker on the 16th for a bogey, and he finished his round with a three-putt bogey from 10 feet.

Fowler was playing for the first time since he lost a twoshot lead with two holes to play and Hideki Matsuyama beat him in a playoff at Phoenix Open. Fowler said he spent a week with friends and played plenty last week to get ready for a big stretch. He opened with two birdies in three holes and was in position most of the day.

“I think we got a good break playing in the afternoon today,” he said. “I think the wind laid down a little bit for us. I know the guys had a tough time this morning and the course was not easy. Still didn’t play easy out there for us.

I felt like I swung it really well tee-to-green. Would have been nice to putt a little better, but still a nice, solid round to start off the week.”

Garcia is playing for only the third time this year. He tied for seventh in Qatar and was never close to making the cut at Riviera.

“I didn’t come in with a

lot of confidence,” Garcia said. “For sure, you are wondering a little bit, because usually my long game, it’s up there, and even when I’m not playing great, I still can manage to get around it. But last week, I felt out of sorts. I didn’t know what was going on.”

He took four days off, played 10 holes Wednesday in the pro-am before the rain arrived and it all felt good again.

“It’s only the first round,” Garcia said. “We still have three tough rounds to go on a very difficult golf course.

But any good round, it’s always welcome.”q

20 SPORTS

Friday 26 February 2016

NBA Capsules

Curry too hot for Heat as Warriors win 118-112

MIAMI (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 42 points and made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 38 seconds left, Klay Thompson scored 17 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter and the Golden State Warriors beat the Miami Heat 118-112 on Wednesday night.

Harrison Barnes scored 11 and Draymond Green had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Warriors, who trailed by 12 in the early going and improved to 51-5 on the season.

Dwyane Wade scored a season-high 32 points for Miami, which got 21 points and 13 rebounds from Hassan Whiteside and 16 points and 11 rebounds from Luol Deng. Rookie Josh Richardson added 15 points for Miami.

CAVALIERS 114, HORNETS 103 CLEVELAND (AP) — LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each scored 23 points and Cleveland beat Charlotte.

The Cavaliers bounced back from a home loss Monday to Detroit in which James tied a season low with 12 points.

Kemba Walker had 20 points for Charlotte, which had won four straight on the road and five straight overall.

Cleveland used a 40-point second quarter to build a 63-52 halftime lead and dominated the second half, pushing the lead to 24 points in the fourth quarter.

BULLS 109, WIZARDS 104 CHICAGO (AP) — Taj Gibson and E’Twaun Moore each scored 17 points, Tony Snell added 16 and a thrown-together roster of Chicago backups beat Washington.

Three of the Bulls’ top four scorers missed the game and the fourth was sick.

Derrick Rose was a last-minute scratch with right hamstring tendinitis.

Pau Gasol, who missed practice on Tuesday and was playing with the flu, narrowly missed a tripledouble, finishing with 15 rebounds, 10 points and nine assists in the Bulls’ third straight victory.

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) hits a 3-point shot over Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside (21) during the final minute of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in Miami. The Warriors defeated the Heat 118-112.

Associated Press

Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 19 points. Garrett Temple scored 18 and Ramon Sessions and John Wall added 16. Markieff Morris had 10 rebounds for the Wizards.

SPURS 108, KINGS 92 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Tony Parker scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and San Antonio beat Sacramento for its third straight victory.

The Spurs took the lead for good with just over 4 minutes left in the third quarter, then pulled away in the fourth in winning for the ninth time in 10 games. San Antonio continued its dominance against the Kings, beating Sacramento for the 35th time in 39 games.

Kawhi Leonard had 18 points and Danny Green 16 for the Spurs. Kyle Anderson scored 14, while LaMarcus Aldridge struggled offensively but played solid defense on DeMarcus Cousins, and finished with nine

rebounds and five blocks.

Cousins had 21 of his 22 points in the second half and added 10 rebounds for the Kings, who had their three-game win streak snapped.

THUNDER 116, MAVERICKS 103 DALLAS (AP) — Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 24 points apiece and Oklahoma City completed a season sweep of Dallas.

Westbrook also had 13 assists and seven rebounds as the Thunder scored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter and weathered a 14-0 Dallas run to avoid matching a season high with a third straight loss in their first game since a blowout defeat at home against Cleveland.

The addition of David Lee didn’t help the Mavericks inside. Steven Adams scored 11 of his 15 points in the third quarter and Enes Kanter scored eight in the

first 5 minutes of the fourth, the last on a dunk to finish Oklahoma City’s 15-0 run for a 102-81 lead.

Dirk Nowitzki had a season-high 33 points to lead the Mavericks, who went 0-4 against a possible firstround playoff opponent.

PACERS 108, KNICKS 105 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Paul George scored 25 of his 27 points in the second half to lead Indiana over New York.

Kristaps Porzingis missed a 3-point shot that would’ve given the Knicks the lead with 1.9 seconds remaining.

Myles Turner then made one free throw at the other end.

George, who shot 1 of 9 in the first half, had 10 points in the third quarter and 15 in the fourth. He finished hitting 10-of-23 shots.

Porzingis led New York with 22 points and Jose Calderon had 20. Calderon made all four of his 3-point attempts.

RAPTORS 114, TIMBERWOLVES 105 TORONTO (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 31 points and Kyle Lowry added 21 as Toronto beat Minnesota for a franchise record-tying ninth straight home victory.

DeRozan had eight points in the final quarter while Lowry scored 12 as the Raptors (38-18) pulled away over the closing minutes to match a home winning streak set back in 1999.

The Raptors will have a chance to better the mark on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Andrew Wiggins had 26 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Timberwolves (18-40), while Gorgui Dieng added 21 points and eight rebounds.

GRIZZLIES 128, LAKERS 119 MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Matt Barnes scored a season-high 25 points as the Grizzlies led from start to finish, beating Los Angeles in Kobe Bryant’s final game in Memphis.

Six Grizzlies finished in double figures as Memphis finished with season highs in scoring and 3-pointers, going 13 of 27 from beyond

the arc. Barnes was 5 of 9 on 3s and P.J. Hairston, who had 17 points, was 4 of 7.

Mike Conley scored 24 points and added eight assists as Memphis won its second straight and third in the last four.

Jordan Clarkson scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half to lead the Lakers, who lost their seventh straight. D’Angelo Russell and Lou Williams added 22 points each, and Bryant finished with 13 points, but was 5 of 14 from the field — including 2 for 7 on 3s.

NUGGETS 87, CLIPPERS 81 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kenneth Faried had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Denver beat the Clippers for its first victory since the All-Star break.

Gary Harris added 17 points and Danilo Gallinari 16 for the Nuggets, who snapped a three-game skid while improving to 7-13 on the road against Western Conference opponents. Nikola Jokic matched Faried with 11 rebounds.

The Clippers were led by J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford with 20 points apiece, and Chris Paul had 17 points and 10 assists. They had won five of seven, but were outclassed in nearly every category by the struggling Nuggets.

Denver outscored them 4422 in the paint and 19-9 in fast-break points.

PISTONS 111, 76ERS 91 AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Tobias Harris led a balanced offense with 22 points and Andre Drummond had 18 rebounds as Detroit beat Philadelphia.

Playing in front of a tiny crowd because of a snowstorm in metro Detroit, the Pistons led by 16 points in the first quarter and were never threatened while winning their second straight after a five-game losing streak.

Hollis Thompson scored 19 points to lead the 76ers, who lost their sixth straight.

Jahlil Okafor had 13 points, but just two rebounds. No other Philadelphia starter had more than eight points.q

SPORTS A21

Friday 26 February 2016

NHL Capsules Gelchenyuk double leads Canadiens to 4-3 win at Capitals The Associated Press WASHNGTON (AP) — Alex Galchenyuk scored two goals, Mike Condon made 33 saves and the Montreal Canadiens topped the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals 4-3 on Wednesday night.

The Canadiens built a 3-0 lead and chased Capitals goalie Braden Holtby in the second period before holding on as Washington tallied two late goals.

Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Fleischmann added goals for the Canadiens, who had lost four of five, and two previous meetings with Washington this season.

Trailing 4-1, the Capitals scored twice inside the final minutes, including Andre Burakovsky’s goal with 2:53 remaining. Jason Chimera and Dmitri Orlov also scored for the President’s Trophy front-runners, who entered 17-1-1 over their previous 19 home games.

Alex Ovechkin, the NHL leader with 39 goals, had one assist, but did not score for the first time in four games for Washington.

BRUINS 5, PENGUINS 1 BOSTON (AP) — David Pastrnak had two goals, including one on a penalty shot, and Boston blew past Pittsburgh.

Boston outscored Pittsburgh 14-3 while sweeping the three-game season series.

Tuukka Rask made 41 saves for the Bruins. Jimmy Hayes, Landon Ferraro and Brad Marchand also scored.

Tom Kuhnhackl scored to bring Pittsburgh within 2-1 late in the second period. The puck went in off Kuhnhackl’s skate, and the goal survived a video review.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots, and Pittsburgh got its first regulation loss in its last five road games.

The Penguins entered one

point ahead of New Jersey for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

DUCKS 1, SABRES 0 ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Frederik Andersen made 26 saves in his fourth career shutout, Sami Vatanen scored on a power play in the second period and Anaheim beat Buffalo for its season-best sixth straight victory.

The resurgent Ducks climbed within two points of the Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Kings. Anaheim is 20-4-2 since losing back-to-back games road games against the Islanders and Rangers on Dec. 21-22.

Robin Lehner made 28 saves for the Sabres, who were shut out for the fifth time. Andersen is 4-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average in four career starts against Buffalo.

This was his first shutout of the season.

The Ducks had scored at least five goals in a franchise-record four consecutive games coming into this one but failed to get a shot on net during the final 10:38 of a scoreless first period.

AVALANCHE 4, SHARKS 3, SO DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene scored in the shootout, Shawn Matthias had a goal in his Colorado debut and the Avalanche beat San Jose.

Calvin Pickard came up big in the shootout by stopping two shots. He made 30 saves filling in for starter Semyon Varlamov, who was out with the flu.

Gabriel Landeskog and Jarome Iginla had goals in regulation for Colorado.

It was Iginla’s 607th career NHL goal.

Matthias scored on his first shot in an Avalanche jersey. The same went for Nick Spaling in a Sharks sweater.

Both were acquired in sep-

Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk, right, shoots the puck as Washington Capitals center Brooks Laich defends during the third period of an NHL hockey game, on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in Washington. The Canadiens defeated the Capitals 4-3.

Associated Press

arate deals with Toronto earlier in the week.

Brent Burns and Joel Ward

also scored for the Sharks, with Ward’s goal tying it with 1:31 remaining. Martin

Jones made 38 saves, and the Sharks finished their trip with a 3-1-1 mark.q

Orioles, Yovani Gallardo finalize $22M, 2-year deal SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles hope that Yovani Gallardo will concentrate on solidifying their starting staff and that he will forget about the angst caused during the restructuring of his contract.

Gallardo and the Orioles finalized a $22 million, twoyear contract on Thursday, a deal that includes a 2018 team option. The sides had agreed to a $35 million, three-year deal Saturday subject to him completing a physical to the satisfaction of the team.

“It was a little bit different, to be honest, but I’m just glad we were able to get something done,” Gallardo said. “It’s part of the process, to be honest. I think it’s part of the situation, becoming a free agent, but everything for me, I’m past that.”

Gallardo joins Kevin Gausman, Miguel Gonzalez, Ubaldo Jimenez and Chris Tillman in the rotation.

Baltimore and Gallardo were linked in the early in free agency, but it took three months for the deal to come together.

“We had a little bit of contact since Day 1. That was pretty much it,” he said.

In this Friday, Sept. 18, 2015 file photo,Texas Rangers starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners in Arlington, Texas.

Associated Press

“As the offseason went on, it got a little more serious.

I want to pitch for a team that wants me.”

Gallardo gets $9 million this year, of which $2.25 million is deferred with no interest, and $11 million in 2017, of which $1 million is deferred.

The Orioles’ option is at $13 million, of which $3 million would be deferred, and he would get a $2 million buyout if it is declined.

Gallardo receives the guaranteed deferred money in equal payments of $1,625,000 on July 1 in 2019 and 2020, and if the option is exercised he would get

$3 million on July 1, 2021.

If the option is declined, the buyout is due on July 1, 2018. Because Gallardo turned down a $15.8 million qualifying offer from Texas in November, the Orioles forfeit their first-round draft pick, which would have been the 14th overall. Texas gains an extra selection after the first round.

Gallardo, who is 102-75 with a 3.42 ERA in his career, has thrown at least 180 innings and started at least 30 times for the last seven seasons. He was 13-11 with a 3.42 ERA for the Rangers last year.q

A22

Friday 26 February 2016

SPORTS

Column: Pro boxing in Rio? A bad idea in so many ways TIM DAHLBERG AP Sports Columnist Not that long ago boxing was on the verge of being kicked out of the Olympics because corruption, ineptitude and head-shaking decisions had made a mockery of the sport.

Maybe it’s time to bring up the idea again.

Boxing in Rio this summer was going to be different, no matter what. The most notable change is that headgear will come off, at least for the men, an idea that has stirred more than just a little controversy by itself.

But now the head of the organization that runs Olympic boxing has gone a bit too far. Taiwan’s ChingKuo Wu, president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), suggested this week that the best pro fighters in the world should be eligible to compete for their countries in the upcoming games.

It’s a proposal born out of desperation for a sport that is its own worst enemy. It’s also a recipe for disaster should it be allowed to happen.

You want knockouts to boost the ratings? Not a problem.

A little blood to spice things up? No worries, because without the headgear it’s

In this Monday, Sept. 9, 2013 file photo, Ching-Kuo Wu of Taiwan, executive board member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and IOC presidential candidate, attends a report session during the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Associated Press

almost a given.

Permanent brain damage isn’t on the list, but that’s for the fighters themselves to deal with down the road.

A death in the ring isn’t out of the question, either, with the incompetents who run what used to be called amateur boxing in charge of the matchups.

Imagine, if you will, some of the possibilities.

Gennady Golovkin already knocks out everyone they put in front of him, and bringing a gold home to Kazakhstan might entice him. It might, however, not be the kind of match the parents of a teenage Golden Gloves winner want their son to have in his Olympic debut.

Who knows, Wladimir Klitschko might want another gold medal to add to the one he won in 1996.

The former heavyweight champion shouldn’t have much trouble knocking out the kids they put in front of him, and hopefully they’ll be able to complete a sentence afterward.

There are already suggestions that Floyd Mayweather Jr. may want to come out of retirement to win the gold medal that eluded him in 1996. Mayweather got the bronze in Atlanta after incompetent judges using a scoring system invented in some third-world country went against him in a semifinal bout with Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov.

Those who have been around Mayweather find that just a bit laughable.

His motivation to fight hasn’t been a trinket to hang around his neck, but big checks to cash. And the $25,000 that goes to a gold medal American athlete wouldn’t pay for an oil change on one of his Bugattis.

Ridiculous? Yes, though don’t sell these dreamers short. If not this year, then 2020 looms for pros of all sorts to descend on Tokyo.

“Do I think it’s going to happen this year? No,” said Mike Martino, executive director of USA Boxing.

“But it’s something that’s been on our radar screen, something we’ve talked about for the last four years, knowing that AIBA pro boxers were going to be in the Olympics. We’ve talked to the USOC about how it impacts the sport, and it’s huge. The Dream Team changed basketball in the Olympics forever. This will obviously change boxing forever.”

It will do that, no doubt. Unfortunately, it will be for the worse.

The Olympics have always been a goal for young fighters coming up in the amateur system.

Gold medals launched the careers of some of the best

fighters ever, from Muhammad Ali to Sugar Ray Leonard to Lennox Lewis.

Take away that path and you take away much of the amateur system. With no incentive to remain amateurs, fighters will turn pro before they are ready and most will end up on the scrap heap or toiling away for $1,500 a fight on an undercard somewhere.

Yes, the Olympics have long been in need of serious change when it comes to the sport of boxing. The incompetency of Olympic boxing officials cannot be overstated, from the robbery of Roy Jones Jr. in Seoul to the decision to disqualify Evander Holyfield after he knocked his opponent silly in 1984 in Los Angeles.

But the idea of tossing pros into the games in Rio is both shortsighted and harebrained. It accomplishes nothing, and almost surely wouldn’t draw the biggest stars anyway.

Let the Dream Team keep its historic place in opening the Olympics to pros.

Remember, though, that there’s a difference between dunking basketballs and getting punched in the face.

Let amateur boxers continue chasing an Olympic dream of their own.q

British lawmakers write to NFL about Redskins nickname LONDON (AP) — Two British lawmakers have written to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to complain about the nickname of the Washington Redskins ahead of the team’s visit to London next season.

Ruth Smeeth and Ian Austin, who are members of the Labour Party, wrote in a letter dated Feb. 2 that the NFL “should consider changing the name of the Washington franchise or, at a minimum, send a different team to our country

to represent the sport, one that does not promote a racial slur.”

The NFL said it received a letter co-authored by Smeeth and Austin.

“A team’s name is a club decision,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. “We recognize there are strong views on both sides of this.”

The NFL has been playing regular-season games in London since 2007. Washington is scheduled to play the Cincinnati Bengals on

Oct. 30 at Wembley Stadium.

The letter from the lawmakers said that there is “deliberate insensitivity and apparent hostility to a prominent minority group” by using the Redskins name. It said the “exportation of this racial slur ... directly contravenes the values that many in Britain have worked so hard to instill.”

Many Native Americans and other groups have called for the team to do away with its name. The

Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.

Associated Press

team has maintained that it is meant to honor Native Americans, and Redskins

owner Dan Snyder has said he will never change the nickname.q

TECHNOLOGY A23

Friday 26 February 2016

From Western Union to Apple: When tech battled government TALI ARBEL AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The fight between Apple and the FBI over access to a San Bernardino killer’s iPhone isn’t the first time industry and government have tangled over privacy and security. Every revolution in communications technology has sparked new battles over its use that changed the course of law enforcement, surveillance

ers read a telegram meant for you, according to a Mississippi Law Journal article by Wesley MacNeil Oliver, a Duquesne University law professor. But it was far less clear what evidence the government needed to present a court to justify a wiretap.

Western Union, eager to let customers know it was looking out for their privacy, jumped at the opportunity to object to government

In this Sept. 25, 2015 file photo, a Apple iPhone 6S is displayed at an Apple store on Chicago.

Associated Press

This undated photo shows a rotary dial telephone in Houston.

Associated Press

and civil liberties.

Here are a few famous cases that helped establish the rules that govern the government’s access to our conversations and other personal details: THE TELEGRAPH The telegraph upended nineteenth-century notions of time and distance, making possible same-day — and sometimes faster — communication where previously it had taken days or weeks for a mailed letter to arrive by train or steamer.

Its users, though, had little expectation of privacy. All messages passed through the hands of telegraph operators, and the telegrams themselves were easily accessible to government agents.

Many states had privacy laws forbidding the telegraph company to let oth-

subpoenas in the mid-tolate 1800s. The company would argue that the government’s requests for information were too broad and that they were unreasonable searches not per-

mitted by the Constitution.

The company’s efforts helped set a standard for telegram subpoenas, Oliver wrote. For instance, the government had to provide a “reasonably accurate description of the paper wanted, either by its date, title, substance, or the subject it relates to,” instead of just requesting an “indiscriminate search” for information contained in a broad swath of telegrams, he said.

This May 16, 1944 file photo shows a t device used by Western Union which translates a telegram into holes on a tape, and then passes it along to the box-like apparatus at upper left.

Associated Press

This March 20, 1944, file photo shows switchboard operators in London.

Associated Press

THE TELEPHONE Law enforcement efforts soared with Prohibition, leading to a confrontation with phone technology. A particularly famous case revolved around Roy Olmstead, a former Seattle police officer who became known as “King of the Northwest Bootleggers” for running a ring of liquor im-

porters and distributors in the 1920s. Federal agents tapped the phone company’s wires outside Olmstead’s company offices and by his home in an era when there was no warrant requirement for doing so, said Richard Hamm, a history professor at the State University of New York at Albany.q

A24 BUSINESS

Friday 26 February 2016

Wall Street posts solid gains on rising oil prices KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A lateday surge pushed U.S. stocks sharply higher Thursday, propelled by a recovery in energy companies and bank stocks, which have been hit hard this year.

Investors were also encouraged by positive economic data, including improved orders for long-lasting goods that served as a sign that businesses were buying equipment and investing in their operations.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 212.30 points, or 1.3 percent, to close at 16,697.29. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 21.90 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 1,951.70 and the Nasdaq composite rose 39.60 points, or 0.9 percent, to close at 4,582.20.

Stocks had been flat to slightly higher most of the day but added to their gains in the last hour of trading. The market — as it has done for weeks now

Trader Peter Tuchman works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A late-day surge pushed U.S. stocks sharply higher Thursday, propelled by a recovery in energy companies and bank stocks, which have been hit hard this year.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

— largely tracked the price of oil. U.S. crude oil closed up 92 cents, or nearly 3 percent, to $33.07 a barrel while Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose

88 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $35.29 a barrel.

“Oil and the stock market are going to keep moving in tandem like this until oil prices stabilize,” said Jeremy Zirin, chief equity strategist at UBS Wealth Management.

Bank stocks got a reprieve Thursday after several weeks of downward pressure. The financials sector was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500. Morgan Stanley rose 4 percent, Goldman Sachs rose 2 percent, while the big retail banks

Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp and Citigroup were up more than 1 percent each.

Bank stocks have been hit hard this year on expectations that the Federal Reserve will now be reluctant to raise interest rates, which boost bank profits, and that low oil prices will continue to cause banks to write off energy loans.

“The fears about the banks are entirely about profitability. Investors were expecting the Fed to raise rates three to four times this

year, now we are looking at maybe one interest rate hike,” Zirin said.

Orders to U.S. companies for long-lasting manufactured goods rose in January at the strongest pace in 10 months, the government said Thursday. A key category that tracks business investment surged by the largest amount in 19 months. The bigger-thanexpected gains could be a sign of better days ahead for the nation’s beleaguered manufacturers.

The biggest gainer in the S&P 500 Thursday was Salesforce.com, which jumped $6.90, or 11 percent, to $69.42 after the company issued an upbeat outlook for the year. Investors had been worried about the results of Salesforce after a competitor, Tableau, issued a dismal outlook earlier this month that caused its shares to drop nearly 50 percent, dragging down its competitors.

Both U.S. and European markets fared well despite a sharp drop in Chinese stocks overnight. The Shanghai composite fell 6.4 percent on renewed concerns about the country’s manufacturing sector and market liquidity.

Bond prices rose, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note falling to 1.71 percent from 1.75 percent on Wednesday.

Sears 4Q loss widens after weak holidays NEW YORK (AP) — Sears’ fourth-quarter loss widened despite deep cost cuts and, after the struggling retailer limped through the crucial holiday shopping season, it promised to tighten spending even more this year.

Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert pointed to a warm winter that drove down sales for seasonal goods and brutal competition with other retailers, almost all of whom were forced into clear inventory by marking down prices drastically.

Shares rose 4 percent before the opening bell Thursday after the company

announced that a major shareholder in the company would take a seat on the board, which will be increased to 10 seats.

One of those seats will be occupied by Bruce Berkowitz, chief investment officer at Fairholme Capital Management LLC. Fairholme owns a 26.3 percent stake in the Hoffman Estates, Illinois, company, according to the data firm FactSet. For the period ended Jan. 30, Sears, which also owns Kmart, lost $580 million, or $5.44 per share, compared with a loss of $159 million, or $1.50 per share, a year earlier.

If a one-time $180 million

charge related to the impairment of the Sears trade name is removed, the pershare loss would have been $1.70 per share.

Revenue declined to $7.3 billion from $8.1 billion.

Sales at Kmart stores open at least a year dropped 7.2 percent, while sales at Sears stores fell 6.9 percent.

Both were hit with weak consumer electronics sales, though the company said that that was actually an improvement from the first three quarters of the year.

Sears said earlier this month that it would accelerate the shuttering of some stores following the challenging holiday season.

BUSINESS A25

Friday 26 February 2016

Tax group blasts Pfizer, urges stop to its tax-cutting deal LINDA A. JOHNSON AP Business Writer A consumer group is accusing Pfizer of seeking to avoid $35 billion in U.S. taxes with its plan to buy fellow drugmaker Allergan in a deal structured to nominally move Pfizer’s address to lower-tax Ireland, Allergan’s home.

In a report released Thursday, Americans for Taxpayer Fairness says that would also slash future U.S. taxes paid by Pfizer Inc., which will keep its operational headquarters at its New York City base. Pfizer would still have to pay U.S. taxes on income earned in the country, but not overseas.

The group has been urging federal regulation changes to block not just the Pfizer deal, but a surge of other companies in various industries doing inversions to slash their U.S. tax bills.

That lost revenue ultimately comes out of the pockets of consumers and other taxpayers.

Americans for Taxpayer Fairness also accuses Pfizer of gouging Americans with frequent and excessive price hikes on its medicines while benefiting from multiple loopholes and tax deductions that reduce Pfiz-

This photo shows the Pfizer logo on display at the company’s world headquarters in New York. A consumer group is accusing drugmaker Pfizer of seeking to avoid $35 billion in U.S. taxes with its plan to buy fellow drugmaker Allergan in a deal structured to nominally move Pfizer’s address to lower-tax Ireland, Allergan’s home.

(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

er’s U.S. tax rate, on average, to 6.4 percent. That’s well below the 24 percent Pfizer has claimed.

At a news conference in Washington, the group and several members of Congress said the federal government can and should block Pfizer’s $160 billion acquisition of Allergan. Pfizer, the world’s second-biggest drugmaker by revenue, says the deal is set to be completed by December.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Pfizer said,

“The proposed combination of Pfizer and Allergan will create a global, R&Dfocused company with the ability to lead in the quest to find cures and treatments for patients with the most feared diseases and conditions of our time, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cancer and rare genetic disorders.

“This transaction is not structured to move jobs out of the United States, where we conduct the majority of our research,” Pfizer wrote.

The 28-page report doesn’t

Japan’s Sharp accepts takeover, Foxconn balks YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Sharp Corp. announced Thursday it will accept a 489 billion yen ($4.4 billion) takeover by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known as Foxconn, but Foxconn said it was not ready to sign the deal.

“We will have to postpone any signing of a definitive agreement until we have arrived at a satisfactory understanding and resolution of the situation,” Foxconn Technology Group said in a statement.

It did not elaborate. If the deal goes through, Sharp would become the first major Japanese electronics maker to be acquired by a foreign company.

Foxconn is a major contractor to Apple Inc., assembling products such as

iPhones.

Sharp chose Foxconn as its preferred partner in a twoday board meeting ending Thursday, and said Foxconn would gain a 66 percent stake in the company under the deal.

Sharp spokeswoman Nali Li said the company had no official comment on the statement from Foxconn.

It was unclear whether Foxconn was questioning the content of Sharp’s announcement, or just requesting more time to look at details.

Sharp had been considering both Foxconn’s bid and an offer from a Japanese government-backed consortium of Japanese investors.

Despite Japan’s rapid globalization, some have expressed fears a Foxconn takeover will result in the

country losing technology to foreign interests.

Media reports in Japan that a deal might be imminent had sent Sharp share prices initially higher on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, but they finished 14 percent lower after details of the deal leaked. Sharp made the announcement after trading ended.

Osaka-based Sharp has long been a prized brand in Japan, beginning with its sale of mechanical pencils, still known as “sharp pencils” here. It also pioneered hand-held electronic devices.

Sharp had its beginnings as a Tokyo-based metalworking shop in 1912. It later made its fame with Aquos flat-panel TVs and nifty Internet-connecting cellphones, long before the arrival of iPhones in Japan.

mention the deal’s impact on U.S. jobs. But it discusses Pfizer’s impact on U.S. patients and taxpayers in depth.

It says that in recent years, Pfizer has repeatedly raised prices of its top-selling drugs, including erectile dysfunction pill Viagra, pain treatments Lyrica and Celebrex and antibiotic Zyvox. Pfizer raised prices on those and three other drugs by an average of 39.2 percent from 2013 through 2015 — 23 times overall inflation during that period — and this year raised prices on about 60 drugs by more than 10 percent on average, according to the report.

The tax group states that patients in Ireland pay about one-twelfth what Americans do for Pfizer’s seven top drugs. That’s because Ireland and virtually every country except the U.S. sets limits on drug prices, which are unregulated here. The group suggests Pfizer should cut its drug prices in the U.S. to what it charges in Ireland, which isn’t likely to happen.

Most of those seven drugs have patents that recent-

ly expired or will soon. It’s standard procedure for Pfizer and most other drugmakers to jack up the price of their drugs at that point, to make as much money as possible before cheaper generic versions flood the market and grab most of the sales. The report notes Pfizer benefits from an educated U.S. workforce and infrastructure here, and makes about 5 percent of its U.S. sales to the federal government, about $1.01 billion a year on average from 2011 through 2014.

The report also states that Pfizer gets tax credits averaging $118.1 million a year by writing off part of its costs for research and for manufacturing done within the U.S. It also claims Pfizer got tax breaks averaging $7 million a year from 2011 through 2014 due to a loophole that allows it to deduct excess compensation given to top executives in the form of stock options tied to their performance.

The report is the second one Americans for Taxpayer Fairness has issued since November criticizing Pfizer’s planned inversion.

A26 COMICS

Friday 26 February 2016

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Yesterday’s puzzle answer

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

Halal food pioneer gets 2 years in jail over export fraud CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A businessman who is considered a pioneer in the U.S. halal foods industry was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison for committing fraud in exporting beef products to Malaysia and Indonesia. U.S. District Judge Linda Reade granted 74-year-old William Aossey Jr. some leniency, departing from federal guidelines that called for a longer sentence. She also fined him $60,000.Dozens of supporters had pleaded with Reade to give Aossey probation, describing him as a generous businessman and ambassador for U.S. trade who shouldn’t spend the final years of his life behind bars. But federal prosecutors had sought a lengthy prison term, saying Aossey had betrayed foreign governments and customers who trusted him and his company’s products.

Aossey founded the Midamar Corp. in 1974 in his hometown of Cedar Rapids and built it into a brand that distributed more than 200 halal food products. A son of Syrian immigrants, Aossey had been a leader in the relatively large Muslim community and enjoyed relationships with many politicians. Aossey was convicted last year of directing employees to falsify packaging labels so Midamar could export beef products that did not meet Malaysian and Indonesian standards for halal, or slaughter practices based on Islamic law. A lengthy investigation also led to charges against Midamar, a related halal certification organization and two of Aossey’s sons.

The products at issue came from a Minnesota slaughterhouse that wasn’t approved for importation

by Malaysia or Indonesia.

Instead, Midamar employees removed that slaughterhouse’s federal establishment number and replaced them with labels falsely showing that the products had come from an Omaha, Nebraska, slaughterhouse that had been approved to export to the countries. In all, 22 shipments worth more than $740,000 were involved.q

CLASSIFIED A27

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A28 SCIENCE

Friday 26 February 2016

U.S. space-endurance champ says he could do another year MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — America’s spaceendurance champ, Scott Kelly, returns to Earth next week after nearly a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station. High on his to-do list when he gets back: jumping into his pool and dining at a real table.

Yet he said he could hold out another year in the “harsh environment” of space — where nothing ever feels normal — if he had to.

“Yeah, I could go another 100 days. I could go another year if I had to,” Kelly assured reporters Thursday in a video news conference from orbit. “It would just depend on what I was doing and if it made sense, although I do look forward to getting home here next week.”

Going without running water for a year has made hygiene difficult, Kelly acknowledged: “It’s kind of like I’ve been in the woods camping for a year.”

But the hardest part of all, he said, is being separated from his loved ones, a situation that will pose even more of a challenge for astronauts sent to Mars.

Kelly took questions on Day 335 of what already is NASA’s longest single spaceflight. By the time Kelly checks out Tuesday and rides a Russian cap-

In this image from video made available by NASA, astronaut Scott Kelly speaks to reporters on Earth during a news conference held on the International Space Station on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.

Associated Press

sule to a landing in Kazakhstan, his mission will have lasted 340 days.

The world record for a single spaceflight is 438 days, set by a Russian cosmonaut in the 1990s. Even that will pale in comparison to a Mars expedition, expected to last two to three years round trip.

Scientists hope to learn much from Kelly’s mission to pave the way to Mars in two decades. They will also collect data from his Russian roommate for the year, Mikhail Kornienko.

Kelly, 52, a former space

shuttle commander, will undergo a battery of medical and physical tests at the landing site. He will then be hustled home to Houston for more tests and weeks if not months of rehabilitation to recover from the punishing effects of an extended stay in zero gravity, including degraded vision and the loss of bone and muscle.

Awaiting his arrival in Houston will be his two daughters, his girlfriend, who works in public affairs at Johnson Space Center, and his identical twin, former astro-

naut Mark Kelly.

The brothers have submitted to similar medical tests for more than a year and will keep it up in the months ahead. NASA hopes the research on the genetically identical brothers will illuminate some of the more extreme effects of weightlessness on the body.

The Kellys talked often during the mission, more than they did before the flight, in fact. The 250-mile-high outpost has an Internet phone capable of calling anyone.

Mission Control also arranges regular video confer-

ences between astronauts and their families.

“For him, living in space and being so far detached from life on Earth, one of the only real lifelines you have, one of the best ones, is certainly the ability to make a phone call,” Mark Kelly said from his home in Tucson, Arizona. He said he and his brother hope to go fishing in Alaska.

Scott Kelly said he was more anxious to return home following his last space station stint five years ago, which lasted 159 days. That was because of the assassination attempt two months earlier on his congresswoman sister-in-law, Gabrielle Giffords, Mark’s wife.

This time, Kelly said, he didn’t focus on the end of his mission but rather on each upcoming milestone: the arrival of supplies and crews, major experiments, spacewalks, maintenance tasks. Even so, he said, events from last summer or fall seem like forever ago.

He lightened things up recently by donning a gorilla suit — a gag gift from Mark — and cavorting through the station while the cameras rolled.

“Next milestone’s coming home,” Kelly said with a smile.

He ended the news conference with a slow-motion backflip — undoubtedly one of the pluses of space.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Friday 26 February 2016

Mick Jagger continues work as producer with HBO’s ‘Vinyl’ MESFIN FEKADU AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — As Mick Jagger is driving around Latin America on tour with The Rolling Stones, he’s seeing familiar advertisements promoting his latest project plastered around town.

This time it’s not his music — but the HBO series “Vinyl,” which he created and executive produced.

“I’m in Argentina and I’m driving to the gig and there are big billboards on the freeway, ‘Vinyl!’” he says happily over the phone.

“It’s quite funny really.”

The show about the music industry in the 1970s debuted this month and has already been renewed for a second season. It stars Bobby Cannavale as a troubled record executive in a music industry mixed with drugs and sex; other cast members include Ray Romano, Olivia Wilde and Jagger’s son, James Jag-

ger.

“Obviously it’s fictional,” Jagger says with a laugh.

“It’s a drama series and in a drama series you really want to bring out the characters, the narrative ... having said that, of course you also want to instill in people the sense of the times and you want them to buy in that. ...You have to make it believable — that’s our overarching goal, whether it’s actually true or not.”

Jagger said filming the show — which he created with Martin Scorsese — reminded him of the 1970s when the Stones were dominating the music scene and touring around the world.

“I never worked at a recording company like that because in that time I was working at Atlantic Records with Ahmet Ertegun, and there’s some of that in there, but it’s a combination of a lot of things,” he said. “It’s a particular crazy

time and place for this particular company.”

In the series, which airs at 9 p.m. EST on Sundays, Jagger’s 30-year-old son plays the role of Kip Stevens, the lead singer of the punk rock band Nasty Bits.

“Well, first of all, I thought he was really good so I didn’t have to worry too much. I mean, if he was really, really not good, maybe I wouldn’t have been the one to tell him,” Jagger said.

“I was really pleased with his performance.”

The Jaggers worked together on the song “Rotten Apple,” which Nasty Bits perform in the debut episode on “Vinyl.”

The icon added that he didn’t think of recording his own music for the series — “I wouldn’t say it would never happen” — but music from others for the show has been released and more will come. “Vinyl: Music from the HBO Original

In this Jan. 15, 2016 file photo, Mick Jagger attends the premiere of HBO’s new drama series “Vinyl”, at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York.

Associated Press

Series — Volume 1” was released this month and “Vinyl: Music from the HBO Original Series — Volume 1: Finale” will be released on April 15, two days before the 10-episode first season wraps. Digital EPs will be released Friday with music from the series.

Jagger, who has been busying producing TV series’, films and documen-

taries, said he’s never been interested in being a record label head like Cannavale’s character in “Vinyl.”

“Everyone has their little imprint, but actually owning something like that would drive me nuts. Literally nuts,” he said. “We want to be an artist; you don’t really want to be involved too much business.”q

A30 PEOPLE

Friday 26 February 2016

& ARTS

Pair of Neil Young films set for nationwide screening In this Nov. 3, 2014 file photo, singer Neil Young poses for a portrait at the opening reception for his art show “Special Deluxe” at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica, Calif.

Associated Press

SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The concert film “Rust Never Sleeps” shows Neil Young at his rocking best.

The more rarely seen “Human Highway” shows Young at perhaps his most eccentric.

Fans will get a chance to view newly restored and edited versions of both back-to-back, and hear from Young himself in a live interview, during a one-night special screening in theaters nationwide on Monday. Billed as “An Evening with Neil Young,” it will be the first time either film has received a widespread public screening in decades.

Young, in an interview with The Associated Press this week, said the time had come to release “Human Highway” after three years of filming starting in 1978, and more than 30 years of tinkering, because he finally felt like he had gotten it right.

Why did it take so long? “’Cause I suck, that’s why,” Young said, laughing, in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. “It takes me a long time to do things.”

Young co-directed “Human Highway” under the pseudonym Bernard Shakey and starred as a goofy mechanic at an isolated diner and gas station under the shadow of a nuclear plant. Dennis Hopper co-stars as a deranged (what else?), knife-loving cook and co-director Dean Stockwell plays the diner’s owner looking for a buyer.

Young said he had a blast making the film with his friends, even though it wasn’t well received when first released.

“Most people were turned off, they thought I was de-

stroying my career,” Young said. “But it was quite rewarding for me. I’m still here, I still have a career. It was amazing. I overcame it!”

He and actors from the film will be interviewed live on Monday by filmmaker and rock journalist Cameron Crowe.

Young said he sees “Human Highway” as a fantasy made in the way films were in the golden era of Hollywood.

“The whole thing resembles a comic book,” Young said. “Nothing in the background was real. It’s all paintings and set design and models and everything. We created a whole environment.”

The new wave band Devo take a turn as glowing, radioactive plant workers who accidentally trigger the end of the world and jam with Young during a far-out dream sequence.

“It’s a funny little film about the last day of Earth and how absent minded everybody is, kind of ignoring what’s going on in the world,” Young said. “It’s actually pretty up-to-date.”

“Human Highway” is billed as a “post-apocalyptic musical comedy” and has gained cult status over the years, after fading from public view following its ini-

tial release. Now it and a newly restored version of the 1979 concert film “Rust Never Sleeps” will be available on DVD for the first time April 1.

“Rust Never Sleeps” captures a 32-year-old Young on his 1978 North American tour first performing acoustic on such songs as “Sugar Mountain” before then being joined by his longtime band Crazy Horse for some of the best live versions of songs including “Cinnamon Girl” and “Powderfinger.”

Young, who turned 70 in November, isn’t just revisiting the past. He said he’s been in the studio completing work on a new album titled “Earth,” that will released in a couple months and in June he embarks on an extensive European tour with the band Promise of the Real.

But on Monday, with the screening of the two films he worked decades to perfect, Young said he hopes viewers simply have a good time.

“A lot of work went into creating these things and making them last forever, as long as they can last, as long as the planet lasts,” Young said. “That’s what we made them for. I hope people feel the love that went into it.”q

PEOPLE & ARTS

A31

Friday 26 February 2016

Diversity must play a role in Oscar show, but not the lead SANDY COHEN AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sunday’s Academy Awards promise a three-way race for best picture, performances by Lady Gaga, Sam Smith and the Weeknd, and the likelihood of first Oscar wins ever for Leonardo DiCaprio and Sylvester Stallone.

But no one is talking about it.

Oscar host Chris Rock and telecast producers Reginald Hudlin and David Hill — who would typically be promoting the show this week to inspire tune-in — have gone silent. Academy officials are staying mum. Hollywood’s diversity issue is dominating buzz, demanding airtime and threatening to overwhelm the industry’s biggest night.

That leaves Hudlin and Hill with the unenviable challenge of presenting a show celebrating the best of the movie business when its worst features have been in focus. The producers declined interview requests from The Associated Press, as did Rock and film academy representatives.

It’s fair to expect Rock — who called Hollywood “a white industry” in a 2014 essay — to address the diversity issue up front, and industry experts say he’s perfectly suited for the job.

“That opening Chris Rock monologue is going to be key to how the overall

Pedestrians walk through the arrivals area for the Oscars in front of the Dolby Theatre on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in Los Angeles. The 88th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday.

Associated Press

telecast is perceived,” said Dave Karger, chief correspondent for Fandango. com. “He’s the kind of guy who can treat all of this with the perfect amount of edge and humor.”

“This is not the year you want Ellen DeGeneres or Billy Crystal up there,” said Steve Pond, awards editor for TheWrap.com and author of “The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings at the Academy Awards.

“That would be awkward.”

Hollywood’s lack of diversity has taken center stage since last month’s Oscar nominations revealed a second consecutive year

of all-white acting contenders.

Producers have assembled a diverse array of presenters for Sunday’s show, including Morgan Freeman, Sofia Vergara, Kevin Hart, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, Kerry Washington, Quincy Jones and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” director J.J. Abrams and star Daisy Ridley. Last year’s winners Eddie Redmayne, Patricia Arquette, J.K. Simmons, Julianne Moore, John Legend and Common are also set to appear.

Then there are the nominees, who’ve been some-

what overshadowed this awards season by the industry’s larger issues. “The Revenant” leads with 12 nominations, including best picture, and it’s locked in a three-way battle with the investment dramedy “The Big Short” and the journalism tale “Spotlight” for the night’s top prize. Other contenders are “Bridge of Spies,” ‘’Brooklyn,” ‘’The Martian,” ‘’Room” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

The leading best-picture nominees split the guild awards: “Spotlight” claimed the Screen Actors Guild’s top prize, “The Big Short” won with produc-

ers and “The Revenant” brought Alejandro Inarritu a second consecutive Directors Guild of America award. Many academy voters are also guild members, which means Inarritu could also take home his second directing Oscar.

He’s up against Adam McKay (“The Big Short”), Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), George Miller (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) and Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”).

DiCaprio (“The Revenant”) and Brie Larson (“Room”) have swept the acting categories at other awards shows this season and are favored to win on Sunday.

DiCaprio faces Redmayne (“The Danish Girl”), Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”), Matt Damon (“The Martian”) and Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs”). Larson is nominated alongside Cate Blanchett (“Carol”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Joy”), Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years”) and Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”).

Regardless of what the Oscars’ host and producer may add to the diversity conversation, they plan to present the traditional 24 awards and feature musical performances by original song nominees Gaga, Smith and Weeknd and a special appearance by Dave Grohl.

“The show can’t solve the diversity problem in the academyq

Athletes, actress set to judge $1 million tech TV contest LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two basketball stars and a brainy sitcom actress will be among the judges for TBS’ tech-competition series, “America’s Greatest Makers.” The cable channel said Tuesday that Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Mayim Bialik will help decide the winner of the contest and its $1 million top prize. Executive producer Mark Burnett said the show will debut close to college basketball’s March

Madness, with some games carried by TBS, so including O’Neal and Smith was a good fit. Bialik, who stars on “The Big Bang Theory,” holds a doctorate in neuroscience.

The competitors, both groups and individuals, have come up with “amazing and cool” tech ideas, Burnett said. They range from a toothbrush equipped with a video game to encourage kids to use it — to a drone with the possibility of being controlled by thought.

Competitors that survive the first round will fine-tune their products through weekly challenges to be judged by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich; financial expert Carol Roth; Kevin Pereira, co-host of truTV’s “Hack My Life,” and one of the celebrity judges.

Burnett, whose credits include “Survivor” and “Shark Tank,” said the male and female contestants range in age from 15 to 59 and are ethnically diverse.

“America’s Greatest Makers,” starting April 5, is de-

In this March 14, 2015 file photo, former NBA basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, left, arrives at the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber in Culver City, Calif. O’Neal, along with fellow basketball great Kenny Smith and actress Mayim Bialik, right, will help decide the winner of the tech-competition series, “America’s Greatest Makers,” on TBS. Associated Press

scribed by TBS as part of chip-maker Intel’s initiative to foster innovation in the

areas of wearable technology and smart-connected consumer electronics.q

A32 FEATURE

Friday 26 February 2016

Why mindfulness has become a trend and how you can do it KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Drop-in meditation studios are proliferating in major cities like New York and Los Angeles and medi meet-ups are becoming the new book clubs as more people are craving ways to unplug, pushing meditation practices and mindfulness movements from hippie to mainstream.

We asked leading meditation and mindfulness teachers to help demystify these ancient traditions.

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS? Mindfulness is staying connected to the present moment.

“You start to let go of all the accumulated stress and information. So it’s not only a time to not ingest, it’s a time to let the body let go,” says Emily Fletcher, a former Broadway actress and founder of Ziva Meditation in New York which offers in person and online training.

Mindfulness also can help curb overeating and other unhealthy habits. The reason: Practicing mindfulness makes one feel more satiated — rather than, for example, rushing through a sandwich while continuing to work, practitioners learn to enjoy every bite, says meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION? While meditating is usually associated with a sitting practice often guided by the breath, mindfulness extends that practice into everyday life and focuses on cultivating awareness in the present. Sometimes compared to mental strength training, mindfulness can be practiced washing the dishes, driving to work, brushing your teeth and during other routine tasks.

The point is to prevent your mind from wandering, projecting fear and worry from the past and future and training yourself to accept and enjoy the moment.

In this Feb. 21, 2016 photo, Lauren Eckstrom, background center, begins a session at Unplug Meditation Center in Los Angeles.

conventional wisdom that as we get older our brains shrink in size. That’s true for most people, but for people who do have a consistent regular mind body practice that may not necessarily be the case.”

I STARTED ON MY OWN AND IT’S MAKING ME FEEL ANXIOUS. IS THAT NORMAL? Experts stress the importance of starting with a teacher or one of the nuWHY HAS MINDFULNESS BECOME SUCH A BUZZ-WORD? Experts say it’s the antidote to the fast-paced tech world we live in. There’s slowly been a backlash against a distracted, multitasking lifestyle to one that is more self-aware, live in the moment attitude.

“We’re just ingesting, ingesting information all day long,” Fletcher says.

Adds Salzberg: “We get caught in these spirals of addiction. You remain unfulfilled. That’s why we seek more and more intensity and more and more stimulation in order to feel content and it never works.”

ARE THERE ANY REAL HEALTH BENEFITS? Experts say mindfulness offers a rest for the brain, increased productivity and the ability to turn off the unfulfilling autopilot of the

daily grind and instead live in the present moment.

“The mind body connection isn’t just something you feel. There is a physiology that begins at the molecular level that goes all the way to the organ level,” said Dr. Darshan Mehta, medical director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It challenges this

merous apps or online videos. For some, a YouTube meditation video or a mindfulness exercise without guidance might feel forced and unfulfilling at first.

“The more you push the mind, the more it will do the opposite,” says Annelies Richmond, a director at the Art of Living Foundation, who helped bring mindful-

ness, meditation and yoga to New York city public schools.

Instead, mindfulness should be a natural byproduct of a daily meditation practice.

“When you just tell someone just go close your eyes and meditate, it can become like a torture. There are a bunch of thoughts and you don’t know want to do with them. Sometimes you feel more restless being aware of all those thoughts,” says Richmond.

WHAT KIND OF CLASSES AND APPS ARE OUT THERE? At Unplug Meditation in Los Angeles, students can choose classes to unblock chakras, cultivate intuition or a breathing class set to modern music for $22. In Central Park, 1,500 people signed up for a free group meditation this summer called The Big Quiet and 800 people sold out a New York concert venue, paying $20 to sit in silence.

“It’s one of the most profound experiences you can share with other humans, especially when you’re in the hundreds. There’s something about being in quiet and sharing that with a group that creates almost like a vortex. It’s t like the collective energy of the room starts to swirl together,” said event organizer Jesse Israel, whose inviteonly Medi Club in New York has grown to 1,000 people who vie for 200 spots at monthly meet-ups.

Emily Fletcher is the host of a new podcast for Gaiam’s recently launched-app, which offers nearly two dozen teachers from different lineages for $2.99. Most are between four to 15-minutes and Fletcher’s offering include guided visualization for a first date, sports performance and test taking.

1 Giant Mind’s free app includes sessions between 10 and 20 minutes with a guide, music or silence.

Headspace’s popular app offers 10-minute guided meditations.q