December 30, 2019

Monday

December 30, 2019

End the Year with a Big Bang!

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Police: 2 parishioners shot and killed Texas church gunman Associated Press WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (AP) — Congregants returned fire and fatally shot a gunman who killed at least one person in a church near Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday, police said.

A second parishioner has life-threatening injuries following the attack at the West Freeway Church of Christ, White Settlement Police Department Chief J.P. Bevering said during a news conference Sunday afternoon.

The assailant fired once before the "heroic actions" of the congregants cut his assault short, Bevering said.

"Unfortunately, this country has seen so many of these that we've actually gotten used to it at this point.

And it's tragic and it's a terrible situation, especially during the holiday season," Jeoff Williams, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at the news conference.

Continued on Page 3

An officer walks near the scene after a church shooting at West Freeway Church of Christ on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019 in White Settlement, Texas.

Associated Press

A2 U.S.

Monday 30 December 2019

NEWS

A final fundraiser for man who boosted ice bucket challenge Associated Press GLOUCESTER, Mass. (AP) — Hundreds of people plunged into the chilly ocean at a Massachusetts beach on Saturday to honor Peter Frates, the former college baseball player whose battle with Lou Gehrig's disease helped spread the ALS ice bucket challenge.

About 1,000 people showed up for the final "Plunge for Pete" at Good

Harbor Beach in Gloucester, and more than half of those braved the frigid waters on what would have been Frates' 35th birthday.

The event, in its eighth year, raised money for the Pete Frates #3 Fund, which helped pay for Frates' medical bills.

"He is laughing so hard right now at me getting into the ocean," said Frates' wife, Julie, who participated in the plunge for the first time

wearing the bikini she had on when she first met her husband. "This is the best birthday party he could ask for and wherever he is, he is very grateful."

The former Boston College baseball player, who lived in Beverly, a suburb north of Boston, died Dec. 9 after a seven-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The family has accumulated roughly $500,000 in debt People take the ice bucket challenge during the last "Plunge for Pete" event on what would have been Pete Frates' 35th birthday, at Good Harbor in Gloucester, Mass., Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019.

Associated Press

for their son's medical care, Pete's father, John Frates said, and the final fundraiser will hopefully help close the gap.

The number of people who signed up to take the actual plunge far exceeded the peak of 250 participants who participated in 2014, the year the ice bucket challenge went viral and raised more than $200 million for ALS research worldwide.

The ice bucket challenge involved pouring a bucket of ice water over one's

head and posting a video of it on social media, and then challenging others to do the same or make a donation to charity. Most people did both.

The challenge began in 2014 when pro golfer Chris Kennedy challenged his wife's cousin Jeanette Senerchia, whose husband has ALS. Patient Pat Quinn, of Yonkers, New York, picked up on it and started its spread, but when Frates and his family got involved, the phenomenon exploded on social media.q

up front A3

Monday 30 December 2019

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Police: 2 parishioners shot and killed Texas church gunman Continued from Front

"I would like to point out that we have a couple of heroic parishioners who stopped short of just anything that you can even imagine, saved countless lives, and our hearts are going out to them and their families as well."

Authorities have released scant details about the victims, the shooter and what led to the attack.

An elder at the church told the New York Times that one of those killed was a security guard who re-

sponded to the shooter, calling him a dear friend.

"He was trying to do what he needed to do to protect the rest of us," said the elder, Mike Tinius.

"It's extremely upsetting to see anyone committing violence," he said.

A woman who answered the phone at the West Freeway Church of Christ told the AP she could not answer any questions and that she was told to direct inquiries to authorities.

In a livestream of the church service, the gunman can be seen getting

up from a pew and talking to someone at the back of the church before pulling out a gun and opening fire. Parishioners can then be heard screaming and seen ducking under pews or running as papers fly to the floor.

More than 100 people, including children, can be seen sitting in the pews from the livestream's viewpoint.

Two people with minor injuries sustained while ducking for cover were treated at the scene, MedStar Mobile Healthcare spokeswoman

Authorities continue to work the scene of a fatal shooting where multiple people were shot at a church, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019, in White Settlement, Texas.

Associated Press

Macara Trusty said.

Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state to pray for the victims, their loved ones and

the community of White Settlement, about 8 miles (12 kilometers) west of Fort Worth.q

A4 U.S.

Monday 30 December 2019

NEWS

Legal marijuana sales may spark Midwest interstate tension

By KATHLEEN FOODY DAVID EGGERT Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Retailers legally selling marijuana for the past month in Michigan say they have drawn customers from surrounding Midwestern states where the drug remains illegal and, as Illinois prepares to joins the recreational market on Wednesday, officials are renewing warnings to consumers against carrying such products over state lines. The dynamic is familiar for states on the West and East coasts where the sale and use of marijuana has been broadly allowed since Colorado’s market opened in 2014, despite a federal ban that created a patchwork of legal and cultural snares. Nebraska and Oklahoma went so far as to file an unsuccessful lawsuit against Colorado, arguing that its marijuana law would have ill effects for surrounding states.

In the years since, the industry has wrestled with questions over companies’ obligation to pay federal income taxes or follow laws

In this Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019 photo, marijuana products are displayed at the Rise cannabis store in Mundelein, Ill. Associated Press

on employee safety. Other thorny issues confronted state regulators, who were forced to determine suitable pesticides for growing cannabis plants, and which ingredients were safe to include in products meant to be eaten or burned. That terrain is usually reserved for federal agencies.

The tensest point, though, remains the illegal market that has survived in states with legal cannabis markets. Some of that product comes from outside the legal systems tracked closely

by states’ regulators, while other states have struggled to keep “diverted” legal marijuana from bleeding into the illegal market at home or in far-flung states.

Data also suggests that some customers will cross state lines in search of state-licensed marijuana retailers, despite warnings that it’s illegal to bring the product back home.

The start of legal sales in Michigan on Dec. 1 and in Illinois on Jan. 1 brings that same climate to the Midwest, where some neigh-

boring states allow limited marijuana use for medical purposes. But none other has moved to permit recreational use.

States often differ in the regulation of contentious issues, including guns, speed limits and the drinking age.

But Sam Kamin, a professor of marijuana law and policy at the University of Denver, said interstate accusations about the effect of marijuana sales on legal states’ neighbors are likely to linger unless federal law changes.

“Supply and demand tells us it’s going to be a constant thing,” Kamin said.

“Regulations can only do so much and once product leaves a state, it ceases to be a regulatory problem and becomes a criminal one.” Illinois is the 11th state to broadly allow marijuana’s use and sale, shrinking early states’ market advantage and ability to draw tourists. Industry analysts expect “cannatourism” will remain popular in some places, such as Las Vegas, but that most companies trying to survive in an expensive, challenging industry must build a local customer base.

“Nonresident demand is not going to be the primary driver of revenue in these Midwestern states,” said John Kagia, chief knowledge officer at the industry analytics firm New Frontier Data. “Local consumers will be that primary driver.”

Kagia said available data on nonresident buyers suggests the percentage of traveling shoppers varies dramatically between states. One Colorado study found that about 9% of total cannabis product demand came from visitors to the state, while New Frontier Data estimates that the share of purchases by visitors in Nevada is about 25%.

In Michigan, where $4.7 million of recreational marijuana was sold in the first three weeks of December, regulators do not know how much was bought by out-of-state customers. But shops say business has been brisk, particularly

from neighboring Ohio and Indiana and nearby Illinois.

“There’s been people from all over,” said Bart Kupczyk, co-owner and director of retail at Ann Arbor-based Greenstone Provisions, one of 23 Michigan retailers licensed for adult-use recreational sales. “Ann Arbor is close to Ohio. It’s a destination city in its own right as a fairly well-known college town.” Some 45 miles (70 kilometers) to the south in Morenci, a town of 2,100 people along the Ohio border, a dispensary has reported that a majority of its customers hail from Ohio, where only medical marijuana is legal. Another retailer in Morenci secured its state license last week.

“It is important for residents of Ohio and non-residents traveling through the state to understand possession of marijuana remains a criminal violation in Ohio, even if it is purchased legally in another state which permits recreational use,” said Staff Lt. Craig Cvetan, public affairs commander for the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Illinois marijuana companies said they have trained employees to remind nonresidents that their products cannot legally be transported across state lines and can only be consumed in private residences or hotels that permit it.

Cities can decide to allow marijuana consumption at tobacco shops or dispensaries, but none will have rules in place by January, said Pamela Althoff, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois.

“If you want to enter into Illinois and participate in consuming cannabis, you need to be responsible and you need to know the law,” she said. Nonresidents can purchase less marijuana than Illinois residents under the state’s new law, and law enforcement in surrounding states have announced plans to strictly enforce their standing restriction on marijuana.

Michigan’s single-transaction limit is the same for residents and nonresidents.q

U.S. NEWS A5

Monday 30 December 2019

Navy considers shipbuilding cuts for upcoming budget

By DAVID SHARP LOLITA BALDOR Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Navy is proposing construction cutbacks and accelerated ship retirements that would delay, or sink, the Navy's goal of a larger fleet — and potentially hurt shipyards, according to an initial proposal .

The proposal would shrink the size of the fleet from today's level of 293 ships to 287 ships, a far cry from the official goal of 355 ships established in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. According to a defense official familiar with the memo, budget negotiations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made. But the Navy is looking at a number of ways to cut costs to fund other priorities, the official said.

One of the proposed cuts would reduce the number of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers planned for construction from 12 to seven over the next five years, trimming $94 billion, or about 8%, from the shipbuilding budget, the official said. Another potential cut would decommission Ticonderoga-class cruisers more quickly over the next five years, leaving nine in the fleet, rather than 13.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary budget planning discussions that have not been made public. "Either option runs counter to the Navy's stated requirement for a 355-ship fleet, and would not be well received on Capitol Hill given there's still consensus that the military and strategic threat from Russia and China is only increasing," said naval analyst Jay Korman of Avascent Group.

Defense analyst Norman Friedman said the proposal would represent a major reduction in anti-aircraft capability that is provided by destroyers and cruisers at a time when the Navy is facing more sophisticated threats from aircraft and missiles. "If you were serious about facing down the Chinese, you'd probably

want more of that than less," said Friedman.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are produced at two shipyards, Maine's Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics subsidiary, and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi. A Bath spokesman declined to comment.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King, of Maine, called the proposal "an abrupt reversal of the Na-

vy's plan to increase the size of the fleet."

The senators noted that Congress will have the final say, and they suggested that much of the funding is already in the works. Just this past week, Congress appropriated $5.1 billion for three destroyers, and a $390 million increase in advanced procurement for a down payment on an additional ship next fiscal year, they said.q

In this Sept. 6, 2019 file photo, the U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG-82) moors at Fort Trumbull State Park in New London, Conn.

Associated Press

A6 U.S.

Monday 30 December 2019

NEWS

5 stabbed at Hanukkah celebration in latest attack on Jews

By RYAN TARINELLI MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press MONSEY, N.Y. (AP) — A knife-wielding man stormed into a rabbi's home and stabbed five people as they celebrated Hanukkah in an Orthodox Jewish community north of New York City, an ambush the governor said Sunday was an act of domestic terrorism fueled by intolerance and a "cancer" of growing hatred in America.

Police tracked a fleeing suspect to Manhattan and made an arrest within hours of the attack Saturday night in Monsey. Grafton E. Thomas had blood all over his clothing and smelled of bleach when officers stopped him, prosecutors said.

President Donald Trump condemned the "horrific" attack, saying in a tweet Sunday that "We must all come together to fight, confront, and eradicate the evil scourge of antiSemitism."

Thomas, 37, was arraigned Sunday and pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Bail was set at $5 million and he remains jailed.

Thomas' criminal history includes an arrest for assaulting a police horse, according to an official briefed on the investigation. A lawyer representing Thomas at the arraignment said he had no convictions.

The FBI is seeking a warrant to obtain his online accounts and were scouring digital evidence, the official said. They are also looking into whether he has a history of mental illness.

The official was not autho-

Ramapo police officers escort Grafton Thomas from Ramapo Town Hall to a police vehicle, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019, in Ramapo, N.Y. Associated Press

rized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The stabbings on the seventh night of Hanukkah left one person critically wounded, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The rabbi's son was also injured, he said. Authorities have not provided a motive.

The attack was the latest in a string of violence targeting Jews in the region, including a Dec. 10 massacre at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey. Last month in Monsey, a man was stabbed while walking to a synagogue.

Cuomo said Saturday's savagery was the 13th antiSemitic attack in New York since Dec. 8 and endemic of "an American cancer on the body politic."

"This is violence spurred by hate, it is mass violence and I consider this an act of domestic terrorism," Cuo-

mo said. "Let's call it what it is."

Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel said it was unclear why the rabbi's house was targeted or if a specific ideology motivated the suspect. According to the official briefed on the investigation, authorities do not believe Thomas is connected to recent anti-Semitic incidents in New York City.

Sen. Charles Schumer, DN.Y. called on the FBI to investigate possible links between the Monsey stabbing spree and other recent attacks. The Simon Wiesenthal Center said it wants the FBI to create a special task force.

"Enough talk, it is time for action to deter those who propagate this hatred," Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said.

The stabbings happened around 10 p.m. Saturday at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, located next

door to his Congregation Netzach Yisroel synagogue.

The large house on Forshay Road remained cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape Sunday.

"The guy came in wielding a big knife, sword, machete — I don't know what it was," said Josef Gluck, who hit the assailant with a coffee table during the attack.

"He took it out of his holder, started swinging," Gluck said.

Levy Kraus, 15, said he was outside the rabbi's home when he saw a tall man enter with an object.

"He had something in his hand. It looked like an umbrella. It was covered," Kraus said.

Later, he said he saw the man rushing out of the house and screaming at someone, "I'll get you."

Rabbi Motti Seligson, the media director of the Chabad Lubavitch move-

ment, said witnesses told him that people fled the house and went to the synagogue where they locked themselves in. Rabbi Rottenberg led the service at the synagogue later, he said.

Weidel said a witness saw the suspect fleeing in a car and alerted police to the license plate number. Police entered that information into a database and used plate reader technology to track the vehicle to Manhattan, where Thomas was arrested.

"It was critical to the case," Weidel said.

Thomas played football for two seasons at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He lives with his mother in Greenwood Lake, New York, about 20 miles from Monsey, a prosecutor said.

No one answered a telephone number listed for his address and the voicemail box was full.

Monsey, near the New Jersey state line about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of New York City, is one of several Hudson Valley communities that has seen a rising population of Hasidic Jews in recent years.

At a celebration in Monsey on Sunday that was planned before the shooting, several members of the community stood guard armed with assaultstyle rifles. They refused to give their names when approached by an Associated Press journalist, but they said they were there to defend their community.

Jewish communities in the New York City metropolitan area have been left shaken following a deadly Dec. 10 shooting rampage at a Jersey City kosher market.q

U.S. NEWS A7

Monday 30 December 2019

Plane crash kills 5, including LSU coach's daughter-in-law

By JANELLE COGAN SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A small plane en route to a college football playoff game crashed into a post office parking lot in Louisiana shortly after takeoff Saturday, killing five people, including a well-known sports reporter who was the daughter-in-law of one of the team's coaches.

The two-engine Piper Cheyenne crashed in the city of Lafayette about a mile from the regional airport where the flight began, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said. Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating, according to Molinaro and an NTSB statement on Twitter. The plane was an eight-passenger aircraft, said Lafayette Fire Chief Robert Benoit. Six people were on board the plane, five of whom were killed, he said. The sixth, a 37-year-old man, was being treated at an area hospital along with two people who were in the post office.

A person who was either in or near a car on the ground was also "impacted" by the crash and was being treated for injuries, Benoit said. He did not elaborate.

A blackened car sat in the post office parking lot, which was carpeted with scattered tree limbs.

Kevin Jackson and other eyewitnesses told KLFY-TV that the plane hit a car as it fell, and that someone could be heard screaming inside the vehicle.

Steven Ensminger Jr., son of the offensive coordinator for the Louisiana State University football team, said his wife, Carley McCord, was on board the flight and died when it crashed.

He said the plane was en route to the Peach Bowl playoff game in Atlanta between LSU and Oklahoma. "I just don't feel like this is real," Ensminger Jr. told the AP in an Instagram message.

Ensminger Jr. said he was unable to go to the game and was at work when

the crash happened. He said his father, Steven Ensminger, called him just before the elder Ensminger got to the stadium. The coach had tears in his eyes when he appeared on the field at the start of the game Saturday afternoon, and LSU players embraced him with hugs.

"He's the MVP right now," LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said in an on-air halftime interview. LSU won 63-28. The Lafayette Fire Department identified the other people who were killed as Ian E. Biggs, 51, the plane's pilot; Robert Vaughn Crisp II, 59; Gretchen D. Vincent, 51; and Michael Walker Vincent, 15.

The injured passenger, Stephen Wade Berzas, was in critical condition, said department spokesman Alton Trahan.

The plane went down in a part of the city with a scattering of banks, fast food chains and other businesses. A trail of scorched and burning grass could be seen around the crash site.

Marty Brady, 22, said the lights went out at his apartment a couple of hundred yards (183 meters) or so away from where the plane crashed just as he was making his morning coffee.

Brady said he ran out and saw black smoke and flames from the post office parking lot. He said the plane clipped and knocked down a power line over the gate to his apartment complex.

"If it had been a little lower, it could have been a lot worse," he said. McCord was a Baton Rouge native and sports reporter for WDSU-TV in New Orleans and appeared as a sideline reporter for ESPN, according to her website. She previously worked in television in Cleveland, and she was a two-time runner-up in the Miss Louisiana pageant.

"We are devastated by the loss of such an amazing talent and valued member of our WDSU family," said WDSU President and General Manager, Joel Vilmenay. "Carley's passion for sports journalism and

This photo provided by AcadianNews shows first responders looking over the site of a plane crash near Feu Follet Road and Verot School Road in Lafayette, La., Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019.

Associated Press

her deep knowledge of Louisiana sports, from high school to the professional ranks, made her an exceptional journalist. " McCord was also part of the game-day entertainment staff for the NFL's New Orleans Saints and the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans, regularly appearing

in promotional segments broadcast during games.

"Carley was a valued member of both our New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans family as an in-game host and her infectious personality and knowledge of both teams entertained our fans," the two teams said.q

A8 WORLD

Monday 30 December 2019

NEWS

Ukraine, eastern rebels swap prisoners in move to end war

By EVGENIY MALOLETKA Associated Press MAIORSK CHECKPOINT, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine on Sunday exchanged 200 prisoners in a move aimed at ending their five-year war.

The swap at a checkpoint near the rebel-held city of Horlivka was part of an agreement brokered this month at a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.

According to figures from officials of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics — the two separatist governments in the rebel area — Ukraine turned over 124 people and the separatists freed 76.

Those released by Ukraine

Ukrainian war prisoners walk after being released after a prisoner exchange, near Odradivka, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.

Associated Press

included five former members of the now-disbanded special police force Berkut who were charged in the killing of protesters in Kyiv in 2014, Ukrainian news site

Hromadske quoted their lawyer, Igor Varfolomeyev, as saying.

The Security Service of Ukraine said the 76 freed by the rebels included 12 servicemen, two of whom had been held since 2015 after being ambushed while escorting a convoy of wounded out of the battle of Debaltseve, which destroyed much of the city.

U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said two

of its contributors, Stanislav Aseyev and Oleh Halaziuk, were among the released; they were taken captive in 2017.

Other civilians released by the separatists included a pet shop owner who was detained last year on unknown charges and a woman from governmentcontrolled territory who was seized while visiting her mother in a rebel area.

A representative of the Luhansk rebels, Olga Kovtseva, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying those released to her side included five Russian citizens and one from Brazil.

The last major prisoner swap between separatist rebels and Ukrainian forces took place in December 2017, with 233 rebels exchanged for 73 Ukrainians.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 14,000 people since 2014. It began about two months after Ukraine's Russia-friendly president fled the country amid massive protests in Kyiv. Russia's an-

nexation of the Crimean Peninsula soon followed.

Hopes for ending the fighting have risen since the election of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has been more amenable to negotiations with Russia on ending the war.

But prospects for peace are troubled by questions over allowing local elections that would ensure the rebel regions more autonomy and about Ukraine regaining control of its border with Russia in the rebel areas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed satisfaction about the exchange in a Sunday telephone call, the Kremlin said.

Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron viewed the exchange as "a long hoped-for humanitarian gesture that should contribute to the restoration of trust between the two sides," according to a German government statement.q

Ousted UK lawmakers blame Labour’s response to anti-Semitism

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, and opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, left, walk through the Commons Members Lobby after hearing the Queen's Speech in Parliament, in London, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019.

Associated Press

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A group of politicians from Britain's opposition Labour Party have called for "fundamental change"

within their party's leadership.

The comments follow a parliamentary election earlier this month that gave Labour its worst election defeat since 1935 and made pro-Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson the most electorally successful leader of the Conservative Party since Margaret Thatcher.

In a letter that was published in The Observer newspaper on Sunday, the 11-strong group of former Labour legislators and candidates called for an "unflinching" review of the party's failed campaign.

The group blamed Labour's lack of popularity with voters on "nationalization and uncontrolled spending commitments," as well as "cronyism at the top of our party" and a "repeated unwillingness to stand up to the stain of anti-Semitism."q

WORLD NEWS A9

Monday 30 December 2019

Italy's premier: Squabbling coalition will last 3 more years ruled out heading any new party, saying that would only further confuse Italy's already fragmented political forces. Parliament's term runs out in early 2023.

Conte downplayed any worries about the outcome of the January regional vote. Instead, he noted government determination to tackle an ambitious reform agenda after the holidays.

Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte speaks during his year-end press conference at Villa Madama, in Rome, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019.

Associated Press

By FRANCES D'EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italy's premier insisted Saturday his squabbling coalition will last three more years, even after a minister quit in protest and despite nervousness over a regional election that could help the popularity of right-wing forces.

Premier Giuseppe Conte brushed off concerns that his government, which took office in September, could implode. Infighting has been reported in the main party, the populist 5-Star Movement, and among leaders of the Democratic Party, the other key coalition member.

Conte is heading his second coalition government since 2018 elections for Parliament left Italy in political gridlock, dependent on rival parties governing together.

"I cannot be premier without the full, convinced support of the coalition parties, but (early elections) will be a defeat for everyone" with voters angry over government infighting, he said.

Conte advised his coalition to engage in "lively debate but not squabbling for squabbling's sake."

Opinion polls consistently show that Conte, a lawyer specializing in mediation, is one of Italy's most admired leaders. He first became premier a year-and-a-half ago in an earlier coalition that paired the 5-Stars with the rival right-wing League led by anti-migrant proponent Matteo Salvini.

Now Parliament's main opposition leader, Salvini has been campaigning for right-wing forces to wrest control in next month's election of the governorship of the Emilia Romagna region, with its capital in Bologna, long a proud stronghold of the left.

Should the League and Salvini's allies, including a growing far-right party with neo-fascist roots, triumph in the regional vote, pressure would build on the Democrats to break off the national government alliance with the rival 5-Stars. The alliance could be blamed for alienating traditional left-wing supporters.

If the Democrats bolt from Conte's government, Italy's president, Sergio Mattarella, would likely set new elections.

Despite his popularity among Italians, Conte

The reforms will include streamlining bureaucracy and fighting tax evasion to lower the tax burden on the middle class that is struggling amid a stagnant economy.

"If we don't want the country to go bankrupt, it's clear to everyone that we must work in a serious, rational, credible" way, Conte said.

He indicated that the resignation of his education

minister over funding for schools hadn't hurt his resolve to forge ahead with the coalition.

Conte also announced that he was creating a ministry for university and research.

For years, Italy has suffered a brain drain as researchers go abroad, frustrated by excess bureaucracy in a country where connections frequently count more than expertise.q

A10 WORLD

Monday 30 December 2019

NEWS

Taliban council agrees to cease-fire in Afghanistan

By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban said Saturday they have agreed to a temporary cease-fire nationwide. It provides a window during which a peace agreement with the United States could be signed.

A peace deal would allow Washington to bring home its troops from Afghanistan and end its 18-year military engagement there, America’s longest. The U.S. wants any deal to include a promise from the Taliban that Afghanistan would not used as a base by terrorist groups. The U.S. currently has an estimated 12,000 troops in Afghanistan.

The Taliban chief must approve the agreement but that is expected.

The duration of the ceasefire was not specified but it is being suggested it would last for 10 days The Taliban officials familiar with the negotiations spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the

In this Dec. 25, 2019, file photo, an Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Goble, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Associated Press

media. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous story is below.

A Taliban attack in northern Afghanistan killed at least 17 local militiamen, an Afghan official said Sunday.

The attack apparently targeted a local militia commander who escaped unharmed, said Jawad Hajri,

a spokesman for the governor of Takhar province, where the attack took place late Saturday.

Local Afghan militias commonly operate in remote areas, and are under the command of either the defense or interior ministries.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed re-

sponsibility for the attack.

The attack came even as Taliban officials have told The Associated Press that a temporary nationwide cease-fire may be in the works.

The Taliban have previously refused all offers of a ceasefire by the Afghan government, except for

a three-day truce in June 2018 over the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The current cease-fire proposal would last a week to 10 days. During that time, a peace deal with the United States would then be signed, the Taliban officials said. Talks between Afghans on both sides of the conflict would follow to decide on the shape of a post-war Afghanistan.

The Taliban shura, or ruling council, is currently debating whether to accept the U.S. cease-fire proposal, the Taliban officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, but were familiar with the ongoing U.S.-Taliban negotiations.

On Monday, an American soldier was killed in combat in the northern Kunduz province. The Taliban claimed they were behind a fatal roadside bombing that targeted American and Afghan forces in Kunduz.q

Missile attack kills 10 at military parade in Yemen’s south

In this photo provided by southern separatist forces in Yemen, known as Resistance Force, a crowd of people stand around a crater created by a missile attack on a military parade in Dhale, Yemen Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.

Associated Press

By AHMED AL-HAJ Associated Press SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A ballistic missile ripped through a military parade for a Yemeni southern separatist group that’s backed by the United Arab Emirates, killing at least six troops and four children, a spokesman said Sunday.

Maged al-Shoebi, a spokesman for the group, blamed Houthi rebels for the attack.

The explosion took place while the separatists, known as the Resistance Forces, were finishing a parade for new recruits at a soccer field in the capital of Dhale province, alShoebi told The Associated Press.

The STC is allied with the Saudi-led coalition that’s been fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. But the UAE-backed southerners are currently at odds with

Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is more closely allied with Saudi Arabia. Cracks in the anti-Houthi bloc have widened over the past several months.

Footage circulated online of Sunday’s attack shows a hole in a stage at the edge of the field, apparently from an explosion, while other footage showed dead bodies on the ground.q

WORLD NEWS A11

Monday 30 December 2019

Truck bomb in Somali capital kills at least 79 at rush hour

By ABDI GULED Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A truck bomb exploded at a busy security checkpoint in Somalia's capital Saturday morning, killing at least 79 people including many students, authorities said. It was the worst attack in Mogadishu since the devastating 2017 bombing that killed hundreds.

The explosion ripped through rush hour as Somalia returned to work after its weekend. At least 125 people were wounded, Aamin Ambulance service director Abdiqadir Abdulrahman said, and hundreds of Mogadishu residents donated blood in response to desperate appeals.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed condemned the attack as a "heinous act of terror" and blamed the local alShabab extremist group, which is linked to al-Qaida and whose reach has extended to deadly attacks on luxury malls and schools in neighboring Kenya.

Bodies lay on the ground amid the blackened skeletons of vehicles. At a hospital, families and friends picked through dozens of the dead, gingerly lifting sheets to peer at faces.

Most of those killed were university students returning

A civilian who was wounded in suicide car bomb attack is helped to be taken to hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday, Dec, 28, 2019.

Associated Press

to class and police officers, said Somalia's police chief Gen. Abdi Hassan Hijar. He said the vehicle detonated after police at the checkpoint blocked it from proceeding into the city.

Somalis mourned the deaths of so many young people in a country trying to rebuild itself after decades of conflict. Two Turkish brothers were among the dead, Somalia's foreign minister said, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack.

There was no immediate

claim of responsibility, but al-Shabab often carries out such attacks. The extremist group was pushed out of Mogadishu several years ago but continues to target high-profile areas such as checkpoints and hotels in the seaside city.

Al-Shabab is now able to make its own explosives, its "weapon of choice," United Nations experts monitoring sanctions on Somalia said earlier this year. The group had previously relied on military-grade explosives captured during assaults on an African Union peacekeep-

ing force.

Despite that advance in bomb-making, one security expert said the unlikely choice of target Saturday — a checkpoint at the western entrance to the capital — reflected al-Shabab's weakening capability to plan and execute attacks at will. Mogadishu recently introduced tougher security measures that Somali officials said make it more difficult to smuggle in explosives.

"It feels like they literally knew that their (car bomb) may not proceed through

the checkpoint into the city undetected, considering the additional obstacles ahead, so bombing the busy checkpoint in a show of strength appeared to be an ideal decision," the Mogadishu-based Ahmed Barre told The Associated Press.

Al-Shabab was blamed for the truck bombing in Mogadishu in October 2017 that killed more than 500 people, but the group never claimed responsibility for the blast that led to widespread public outrage. Some analysts said alShabab didn't dare claim credit as its strategy of trying to sway public opinion by exposing government weakness had badly backfired.

The attack again raises concern about the readiness of Somali forces to take over responsibility for the Horn of Africa country's security in the coming months from the AU force.

Al-Shabab, the target of a growing number of U.S. airstrikes since President Donald Trump took office, controls parts of Somalia's southern and central regions. It funds itself with a "taxation" system that experts describe as extortion of businesses and travelers that brings in millions of dollars a year.q

Taiwan president: Island’s democracy under threat from China Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Tsai Ingwen said Sunday that the self-governing island’s democracy remains under direct threat from rival China, underscoring her calls for closer ties with the U.S. and other allies.

Tsai was speaking at a televised debate against Han Kuo-yu of the main opposition Nationalist Party and veteran politician James Soong of the People’s First Party. Elections for president and the legislature are set for Jan. 11.

Most polls show Tsai leading in her quest for a second four-year term.

Tsai said she would preserve Taiwan’s freedoms

and way of life, but would make no changes to the constitution or the island’s official name, the Republic of China, which moved its seat of government to Taipei, the island’s capital, following the Communist Party’s seizure of power on mainland China in 1949.

“Taiwan’s most pressing challenge arises from China’s expanding ambitions,” Tsai said. “The situation in our region is ever-more complex and Taiwan’s sovereignty — its free, democratic way of life — is under threat of being stripped away and undermined.”

“We need to deepen and strengthen our international relations, and at present

we are doing so in terms of economics and across the board with many countries,” she said.

Tsai’s governing Democratic Progressive Party currently holds a majority in the assembly, allowing her to pursue an agenda of economic reforms, partly intended to attract reinvestment from Taiwanese business groups based in China and elsewhere.

During the debate, Han furthered his claims of facing opposition from the mainstream media and accused Tsai’s backers of corruption. He described China’s threat to use military force to bring Taiwan under its control as an abstraction and defended

Taiwan's 2020 presidential election candidate James Soong of the People First Party speaks during a televised policy debate in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.

Associated Press

his previous dealings with Chinese authorities as necessary to ensure Taiwan’s economic future.

Soong, who commands a

portion of the pro-China electorate, cast himself as a moderate who could bring political experience to the office. q

A12 WORLD

Monday 30 December 2019

NEWS

Denied asylum, migrants return to place they fear most: home

By TIM SULLIVAN Associated Press SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) — It had been nearly a year since the soft-spoken factory worker applied for U.S. asylum, saying he feared being killed. It had been four months since he'd been deported and flown home to Honduras.

And now, sitting at a TGI Fridays in San Pedro Sula one day in late November, he tells the story of how he had escaped death just three days before.

He was walking on a crowded downtown street two blocks from San Pedro Sula's city hall, where the policemen outside carry assault rifles and wear body armor.

Suddenly, a man stepped toward him. He fired one shot from a pistol, and fled.

The worker slumped against a wall, disoriented, a sensation of warmth rippling through him before the pain hit. But he'd been lucky. He'd been grazed just below his belt line, leaving a bloody welt about 3 inches long. He was discharged from the hospital after a few hours and returned to his tiny rental apartment and a life in hiding.

While asylum has always been a longshot for migrants, with most claims denied, it has become even harder in the Trump administration, which has focused on making asylum increasingly difficult — some would say nearly impossible — to

Neighbors watch as police and forensic workers inspect a body at a crime scene in the Rivera Hernandez neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Nov. 30, 2019.

Associated Press

get.

U.S. pressure on Mexico has forced tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to survive an immigration limbo in shelters and ever-growing tent camps in Mexican border cities, waiting for their cases to wind through U.S. immigration courts. Pressure on Central American governments, meanwhile, has led to bilateral agreements aimed at sending migrants to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to seek asylum there.

Many — like the unfortunate factory worker — have been flown directly back to the dangerous places where their journeys started.

He says he and his relatives have been hunted

for more than 20 years by a powerful criminal family from his small hometown, ever since an attack left his stepmother and stepbrother dead. The other family, he said, fears the men of his family will seek revenge.

"I've spent my whole life running," he said in his soft mumble, looking down at a half-eaten cheeseburger as he talked about life underground. "One day they are going to get me." ___ The rules are clear for outsiders who enter the gangcontrolled neighborhoods of San Pedro Sula: Roll your windows down so the spotters can see you're not a threat; drive slowly; stay on main roads, leave before nightfall.

There are police stations in these neighborhoods, but everyone knows who is in charge. The gangs monitor the streets, the police patrols and rival gangs using a complex network of young boys who work in shifts around the clock and report anything suspicious.

San Pedro Sula's criminal life is dominated by two street gangs: MS-13 and Mara 18. Very little escapes their notice.

"They told us they knew where to find my son," said a middle-class San Pedro Sula mother after she and her husband ran out of money to pay their "war tax," the extortion payments the gangs demand.

So the family ran. The father took the 11-year-old

boy to the U.S., where they applied for — and were refused — asylum. The mother took their teenage daughter into hiding in the mountains.

After the father and son were deported back home in late November, and a brief, tearful reunion, the family again split up so they'd be harder to track.

"No one knows where we are," the mother said in a telephone interview a few days after her husband and son returned. "No one." ___ The Trump Administration has long insisted that Central Americans in danger already have safe havens.

"For those of you who have legitimate asylum claims, we encourage them to go and seek assistance from the first neighboring country," Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan recently told reporters.

But most of those neighboring countries are also deeply dangerous, with powerful gangs of their own, drug cartels, corrupt officials and police forces regularly outgunned by criminals.

While immigration advocates acknowledge some cases don't meet the legal standard for asylum, they believe the real intention of the ever-tighter White House policies are to discourage migrants — even those with valid needs for asylum — from trying to reach the U.S.q

A13

Monday 30 December 2019

End the Year with a Big Bang!

ORANJESTAD — It’s the annual tradition everyone is talking about. No year’s end celebration is complete without the lighting up of the enormous firecracker at the Renaissance Aruba. This grand event will take place on Tuesday, December 31st, 2019 at 1 PM. Renaissance Aruba together with Wind Creek Hospitality will be lighting up their traditional firecracker in front of the Renaissance Marketplace. It will be a 6 million-shot firecracker accompanied by the traditional music, ‘Dande’.

The fireworks of Renaissance Marketplace is a yearly tradition. Starting in front of The Movies, Renaissance Marketplace all the way to Renaissance Marina Hotel and finish in front of Wind Creek Crystal Casino. A crowd gathers around to presence the biggest firecracker in the city.

The General Manager of the Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino, Paul Gielen, commented that this event brings a great ambience in front of the Renaissance Aruba.

Everyone is invited to bring in the New Year together with the big family of Renaissance Aruba and Wind Creek Hospitality. And at the same time, get in some last minute shopping at Renaissance Mall or the Renaissance Market Place. Shop, have a coffee, walk around, stop, try on that cute hat or buy some awesome shoes. Have a cool glass of wine and a light snack. Want to take out the family for dinner? No problem there is a wide selection of restaurants you can choose from. Relax and prepare your body for the New Year at Okeanos Spa. Feeling lucky? Visit the Wind Creek Crystal Casino and Wind Creek Seaport Casino which have the most_pun intended_ rewarding program for all its members. With a complete transformation, new interior, and new machines with the most modern jackpots in Aruba, you can say that they are the ones that pay more and has more to offer on the island of Aruba. There is plenty to do at the Renaissance mall and the Renaissance Marketplace for the entire family.

Happy New Year from Renaissance Aruba and Wind Creek Hospitality! q

A14 LOCAL

Monday 30 December 2019

Aruban born and bred Steve Francees has a passion for photography. Being a local photographer he knows the hidden gems of this island and captures them in an amazing way. As a Family and Landscape photographer Steve is ready to create your next ‘vacation memories’, morning and/or sunset shots. T: (297) 738-0777, M: stevefrancees@hotmail.com, www.instagram.com/stevefrancees and www.stevefrancees.com

The “new” Natural pool Two weeks ago someone asked me how far was the new natural bridge from the Goldmine Ruins so last week I took this drone shot. Gold was found in Aruba in 1824 and over the years the industry produced 3 million pounds of gold. The newly discovered natural pool is at your right up in this photo. So just a few minutes walking from the Bushiribana Goldmine. Take the wooden stairs and you will enjoy this amazing beauty. (*Don’t go alone, can be very dangerous)

“Masha danki” from my heart

I want to thank you all that read my column about my dushi Aruba and I’m very grateful for the feed back received during 2019 and also all questions on my instagram and my other social media about Aruba. Wishing you all a prosperous 2020 with lots of heavenly blessings.

LOCAL A15

Monday 30 December 2019

Local family tradition

Authentic Aruban face

The tradition here in Aruba is to invite your neighbors and friends during Christmas and new-years to your house. The authentic Aruban houses have “Hadrei” it’s a front porch where we all sit and have long talks while some drinking pistacho ponche-crema. Fireworks is also part of the scenery and it’s a very unique time of the year to re-connect with family and friends. This house is an authentic Aruban architecture and with cactuses make it super unique, check the star on top of the roof.

This amazing woman is Petronilla Growel well known as one of the best Aruban folklore dancers of all time and at 75 years of age she refuses to retired. Music is like blood in her veins and she can’t live without it. Aruba is a cultural melting pot and we do have 90 nationalities living in harmony on this dushi Aruba and Mrs Growel is one of them. She told me that her mother was from the Caiquetio tribe natives of northwestern Venezuela but she do have blue eyes so got it from her father side.

A16 LOCAL

Monday 30 December 2019

Sparkle with Bugaloe into 2020!

PALM BEACH — On the lookout for a ‘wow’ New Year’s Eve celebration with the best live music? Get cozy under the stars with your friends and family and start your Golden New Year in Bugaloe style! Get the year off to a good start watching dazzling fireworks, dancing with The Travel Session Band and raising a sparkling toast to a Golden 2020! This is really the best way to say goodbye to 2019 and hello to 2020, making memories with old and new friends. With 2019 around the corner Bugaloe is planning to go out with a Bang!

Enjoy the best 360° view of all the hotels' special firework shows, while The Travel Session Band performs with Steffie & Jeremy live from 10pm, December 31st. Open the New Year with a free champagne toast at midnight while savoring some delicious Dutch oliebollen! Watch the amazing sunset, enjoy the warm ocean breeze, and dance your 2019 cares away with great live entertainment, drink specials, and more! Entrance to Bugaloe is free on New Year’s Eve, December 31st, and the dresscode is ‘Gold’.

A fantastic and GOLDEN night awaits!

On January 1st, Bugaloe will open at 10:30am to give the team some time to recover that morning. Unfortunately, they will not serve breakfast this morning but they will ensure that there are enough tasty drinks! The kitchen will open at 11am for lunch.

Bugaloe is located on the De Palm Pier between the RIU Hotel and the Hilton Resort. For more information, please contact Bugaloe by email at info@bugaloe.com or by calling 00297-586-2233.q

LOCAL A17

Monday 30 December 2019

Tuscany Residence Aruba:

Standing Out with 100 % European Materials & Standards NOORD — “Quality convinces”, says Bas de Groot, Managing Director of Tuscany Residence Aruba. “We differ from traditional building, come on over and see for yourself.” At an A-location, designed in an European style with highquality materials, on property land and with buying possibilities from condos to townhouses to villas, Tuscany Residence is your dream come true. And the safest investment.

Within 2.000 feet of the Palm Beach area, which is the place to be in the island, and a 15-minute drive to Oranjestad, we find Tuscany Residence. The residence (total project contains +/- 180 units) offers 8 luxurious Townhouses in beautiful Dutch design up to 2.098ft Property land and a total 1.582ft living space. 36 Condos located in three buildings are a wonderful vacation escape or a great investment, it is up to you. What about 8 amazing 2-Layer & 3-Layer Villas with 50m2 pool, stunning Dutch architecture and allure? The landscaping in front of the houses is taken care of, keeping the value of the project intact. There is 24-hours security by camera’s and a night guard.

Quality Lays Beneath Tuscany Residence Aruba chose for European quality products to provide owners with the best durable purchase and low maintenance costs. “Windows and doors are from Mexim, originally a Belgium product, the concrete comes from The Netherlands, the bathrooms are delivered by Banjolux and the kitchen provided by Eurokitchen. All these suppliers are known for their high quality service and products and have their representative companies on the island too. We go 100 % for European standards meaning you will have a guarantee of a long-term relationship that is durable, eco-friendly and trustworthy,” Bas explains. It is not only what the eye meets when you consider an important purchase like real estate, it is essential to know what lays beneath. “And very important to mention that this is property land, one of the last opportunities to achieve that in this area. Even better within a residence that keeps your value up, you never know what your surroundings will be like when purchasing outside of a residence.”

Unique Details The design of the residences town houses, condos and villas is modern but warm with exceptional details like the stick-out window panes. “These provide shadow on the windows, preventing the strong heat of the sun coming in while maintaining the light flow.” Lots of windows and sliding doors make the light come in and because of the use of poured concrete walls the isolation is at its best.

“Everyone is welcome to see the materials and construction themselves, we can show everything here at our location. You may even pick your land.” October 1st will be the delivery of the townhouses and community pool.

In November four more town houses will be ready and the first villas are already in construction, aimed to be accomplished in March 2020. From the eight town houses six have already been sold, the condominiums go very well too and the villas are in demand, says Bas. “Prices will go up in the future, so now is the time to buy while we still have our pre construction prices running.”

Are you looking for a safe, quiet, residential area where you will meet a mix of local and foreign owners? Do you feel for a warm community with amenities like wellness, gym, restaurants, pools and this all within a structure where the residence takes care of your property management while you are not here? Can the highest European quality and solid working structure take away your preoccupations while you are home?

Than meet us, we are here to convince you with quality!q

Tuscany Residence Aruba Salina Cerca 131, Noord, Aruba info@tuscanyresidencearuba.com www.tuscanyresidencearuba.com Facebook Tuscany Residence Aruba Tel (+297) 280 4664 or (+297) 733 2424

A18

Monday 30 December 2019

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers throws during the first half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019, in Detroit.

Associated Press

Packers barely beat Lions 23-20 to earn firstround bye

By LARRY LAGE AP Sports Writer DETROIT (AP) — Aaron Rodgers was on the money when Green Bay needed him most, overcoming one of his worst games this season.

Rodgers threw a short and accurate pass to Aaron Jones, whose 31-yard reception set up Mason Crosby's 33-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Packers to a 23-20 win over the Detroit Lions that earned them a first-round bye. "We're going to be a tough team to deal with in the playoffs," Rodgers said.

The Packers (13-3) fell behind the last-place Lions by two touchdowns in the second quarter and didn't lead until Crosby made his second game-winning kick against Detroit this season.

Green Bay won a fifth straight game despite Rodgers struggling for much of the afternoon. Rodgers was 27 of 55 for 323 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He connected on less than half of his attempts for the second time this season and finished with his second-lowest rating of the year.

Continued on Page 19

KUZMA MODE

Kuzma, James lead Lakers past Trail Blazers 128-120

Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis shoots against the Portland Trail Blazers during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019.

Associated Press Page 21

SPORTS A19

Monday 30 December 2019

Packers barely beat Lions 23-20 to earn first-round bye Continued from Page 18

"Too many missed throws," Rodgers acknowledged after throwing the most passes he has in 2019, tying the third-highest total of his career. "I felt good about the throws. That's the crazy thing. We were just a little bit off at times.

"When we had to make a play, we made the play."

Detroit did not, following a season-long trend.

The Lions (3-12-1) closed with nine straight losses for their longest losing streak in a season since going 0-16 in 2008. "This game was in some ways a microcosm of our season," guard Graham Glasgow said. "We started out well and we were running the ball, but when it came to the second half and finishing the game, we didn't pull it out."

David Blough was 12 of 29 for 122 yards with an interception — and a 19-yard touchdown reception — filling in for Matthew Stafford, who had a seasonending back injury.

Despite playing only for pride, the Lions looked as if they were more motivated to win early in the game against a team with a lot at stake.

"We definitely started flat in every phase," Packers coach Matt LaFleur acknowledged.

And with nothing to lose, Detroit scored on a trick play midway through the first quarter. Blough handed off to receiver Danny Amendola, who threw back across the field to the rookie quarterback for a TD. Kerryon Johnson converted a fourth down with a 1-yard TD run late in the first half, giving Detroit a 14-0 that stunned everyone not on their sideline.

Crosby and Matt Prater made field goals over the last 20 seconds of the first half, leaving the Lions with a 17-3 lead.

Rodgers started to make more accurate passes in the second half, such as 20-yard TD pass to Davante Adams and a 28-yard pass to Allen Lazard with 5:19 left for another score.

The Packers pulled into a

Green Bay Packers surround kicker Mason Crosby (2) after his winning field goal during the second half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019, in Detroit.

Associated Press

20-all tie after linebacker Blake Martinez had a sack and interception on consecutive snaps.

Jones, who overcame having his hand stepped on,

finished with 100 yards rushing on 25 carries and had 43 yards receiving. Adams had seven receptions for 93 yards and a score.

"We haven't always made

it easy and we haven't always made it pretty, but for the most part, we've found a way to win," Adams said.

MOMENT FOR MARVIN There was a long moment of silence before the game for receiver Marvin Jones' 6-month old son, who recently died. Jones, who was on the sideline with his family during the national anthem, went on injured reserve earlier this month.

INJURIES Packers: RB Jamaal Williams (shoulder) and FB Dan Vitale (knee) were inactive.

C Corey Linsley (back), RT Bryan Bulaga (concussion) and LB B.J. Goodson (neck) were hurt during the game.

Lions: WR Kenny Golladay didn't return after being evaluated for a concussion following a 42-yard catch

in the second quarter. LB Devon Kennard and TE Isaac Nauta each left the game with hamstring injuries. LT Rick Wagner (knee) was inactive.

UP NEXT Packers: Playing in the postseason for the first time since 2016, Green Bay will have at least a bye before hosting a game. "It gives us a great chance to do a lot of self-scout," LaFleur said.

"It gives our guys a chance to heal up. That was an exhausting game and we lost a couple guys."

Lions: The franchise decided earlier this month general manager Bob Quinn and Patricia will get another season to lead the team, answering what was the biggest question for the offseason.q

A20 SPORTS

Monday 30 December 2019

Disupted DRS review triggers NZ collapse vs Australia Australia's James Pattinson, center, celebrates with teammates after capturing the wicket of New Zealand's Kane Williamson during their cricket test match in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.

Associated Press

By GREG BUCKLE Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — It was New Zealand captain Kane Williamson's turn to be puzzled by cricket's Decision-Review System (DRS) after he was given out leg-before wicket in the second test against Australia on Sunday.

Williamson's dismissal for a duck helped trigger a toporder collapse as New Zealand lost three wickets for three runs to be 35-3, before being bowled out for 240 and crashing to a 247run loss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Virtual Eye ball-tracking technology indicated the delivery from Australia's James Pattinson was going to just clip Williamson's stumps, which meant the original decision would not be overturned.

In Australia captain Tim Paine's case on Friday, umpire Marais Erasmus ruled against an appeal for lbw.

However, Williamson called for a DRS and it showed the ball was hitting the pad in line with the stumps, much to Paine's dismay.

"Sometimes you get a bit frustrated," Paine said.

But Paine acknowledged that the dismissal of Wil-

liamson was another case where the departing batsman could feel a little disappointed.

"Today we might have got one that went our way.

That's how it works," Paine said.

Paine said the technology had its good points and he would certainly not like to return to the days of relying solely on the on-field umpires.

"I know they are trying to get it as precise as they possibly can," Paine said.

"But I think as an aid to help the umpires get the correct decision, it's good."

Like Paine, Williamson aims to put the controversial decision behind him.

"It's not 100 percent accurate. You'd like to think that overall the technology does increase the amount of right decisions," Williamson said. "Whether you feel that you are unlucky or not, you still pretty much live with them and try to learn and just keep improving.

That's the focus for me and kind of always is, to move on." Williamson is the No. 3-ranked batsman in test cricket, but has scored only 57 runs in the first two tests of the series against Australia.

Paine said keeping Williamson in the field for long periods was all part of the plan to tire him out and put him under pressure.

"We're bowling really well to him at the moment," Paine said. "We want to wear opposition players down."q

SPORTS A21

Monday 30 December 2019

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers

By ERIK GARCÍA GUNDERSEN Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore (AP) — Kyle Kuzma's season may have turned a corner on Saturday night, and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped their season-long four-game losing streak in the process.

Kuzma scored 24 points, LeBron James had 21 points and 16 assists, and the Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 128-120.

Kuzma highlighted a strong performance by the Lakers' reserves, who provided 72 bench points. Portland's bench scored 39 points.

It was the type of night the Lakers have expected for Kuzma all season as he has battled through several injuries and a reduction in minutes. Kuzma scored over 20 points for the second straight game.

"Yeah, I'm just healthy now," Kuzma said of another strong performance.

"I'm confident in my body.

I took a little bit of time off, sitting out for five games and really just self-collected what I needed to do and got it done."

"We want him to be that third scorer for us, consistently get to 18 to 20 points a night and more important you know, it's just the efficiency right now that I love," James said of Kuzma, who was nine for 17 from the field. "He's just been very efficient mixing it up with his 3s, his paint touches. You saw it tonight on the break as well, just mixing it up."

Anthony Davis added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers. The win also helped the Lakers move on from a disappointing Christmas day loss to their crosstown rival Clippers.

"We were all pretty upset about the last game," Davis said. "We just wanted to make an effort to come in and get back in the win column. We were able to pull this one out."

Head coach Frank Vogel, who told his team prior to the game that he wanted his team "angry and edgy," picked up a technical in the first quarter.

"I got an early tech, I want-

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, right, shoots in front of Portland Trail Blazers center Hassan Whiteside during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019.

Associated Press

ed our group to feel that," Vogel said after the game "It's not fun losing. We're a good team and we we're able to use that to our advantage and take it out on this team."

Damian Lillard had a game-high 31 points for Portland, which dropped its third straight. Hassan Whiteside had 19 points and 16 rebounds.

The game was a highscoring affair. Both teams scored over 30 points and shot over 50% from the field in the first quarter as the Lakers built a two-point lead. In the fourth quarter, neither team cracked 30 points.

The Lakers continued to extended their lead in the first thanks in large part to the play of Kuzma. Kuzma had 20 points in the first half, a season-high for him in any half this season. He had 11 points in the second quarter as the Lakers carried a 71-64 lead into halftime.

Portland opened the second half on a 5-0 run before the Lakers seized control again. James connected with Davis twice on full-court passes that led to Lakers baskets.

Foul problems for the Lakers kept the Blazers in it.

With seven minutes left in the third quarter, a foul by JaVale McGee put the Lakers in the penalty for the remainder of the period.

A 3-pointer by CJ McCollum gave Portland their first lead since the first quarter with 5:13 left in the third. Lillard scored 12 points in the quarter.

Davis had nine points in the third quarter and an assist to Kentavious CaldwellPope for a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds left to give the Lakers a 103-95 lead after three.

"Anytime he's on the floor, any second he's on the floor he makes an impact," James said of Davis' stretch to close the third quarter.

"We expect nothing less.

He's just great."

Anthony Tolliver gave the Blazers a nice lift off the bench with a season-high 12 points, including four 3-pointers. Anfernee Simons also had a strong game off

the Portland bench with 14 points and six rebounds.

Another 3-pointer by Caldwell-Pope pushed the lead to 123-112 with 2:54 left. A dunk by Davis on a lob from James pushed the Lakers to a 127-115 lead with 1:37 left.

TIP-INS Lakers: Despite coming into the game listed as questionable, the Los Angeles Lakers got LeBron James back on Saturday.

That may help their self-described "angry and edgy" head coach Frank Vogel.

After their Christmas day loss to the Clippers, the Lakers entered Saturday riding a season-worst four-game losing streak. "I started the film session telling them I'm angry and edgy," Vogel said. "Forgive me, that's just how I am.

That's how I was feeling yesterday, that's how everyone was feeling. Following up with our guys that was just the pulse of the group. We're not happy losing that Christmas day game and certainly we're not happy losing four in a row. We have a lot of habits that we need to tighten the screws on."q

Murray out of Australian Open; Grand Slam comeback on hold Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Andy Murray has put his Grand Slam comeback on hold after announcing he will not be playing at the Australian Open next month.

Tennis Australia issued a statement Sunday saying Murray had withdrawn from the season-opening major at Melbourne Park and from the ATP Cup, a new international men's team event which starts next week and will be played in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane. "I've worked so hard to get myself into a situation where I can play at the top level and I'm gutted I'm not going to be able to play in Australia in January," Murray said in a statement.

Great Britain's Andy Murray misses a point during the Davis Cup tennis match against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019.

Associated Press

"Unfortunately I've had a setback recently and as a precaution, need to work through that before I get back on court competing." Murray had surgery

on his hip to repair a career-threatening injury after his first-round, five-set loss to Roberto Bautista Agut at the Australian Open in January. q

A22

Monday 30 December 2019

sports

Shiffrin wins WCup slalom to match Vonn's discipline mark

By ERIC WILLEMSEN Associated Press LIENZ, Austria (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin keeps closing in on the many Alpine skiing records held by retired standout Lindsey Vonn.

Shiffrin earned her 43rd career World Cup slalom win Sunday with another dominant performance, posting the fastest times in both runs to beat her Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova by 0.61 seconds.

It matches the 43 downhill wins Vonn collected before retiring last season, the World Cup record for a woman in a single discipline — although Shiffrin is still 18 victories short of Vonn's overall women's mark of 82.

And it provided a winning end to an eventful year for Shiffrin, both on and off the course.

While she set a new best mark with 17 World Cup wins in the 2018-19 season and won two world titles, she moved into a new house and saw a two-year relationship with French skier Matthieu Faivre come to an end.

"I feel like I learned a lot, I feel like it's been emotional.

I have gone through a lot of changes and transitions in my life," Shiffrin said. "I feel

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Lienz, Austria, Sunday Dec. 29, 2019.

Associated Press

like I grew up a lot this last year. I feel like I was 17 last year and all of a sudden I am 24."

Shiffrin also won Saturday's giant slalom, a win that put her in sole second place behind Vonn on the list of all-time World Cup wins.

And even before Sunday's win, Vonn seemed sure that Shiffrin will pass her mark of 82 before long.

"Can't wait to see you break the all time record

too!" Vonn wrote on Twitter.

Watched by her parents, Jeff and Eileen Shiffrin, among the 5,400 spectators, Shiffrin built a lead of 0.26 seconds over Vlhova in the opening run.

While Vlhova attacked in the second run on a course set by her coach Livio Magoni, Shiffrin even managed to double her advantage over the Slovakian.

"I saw Petra race and thought I don't know if I can

ski that fast. All I can do is try," Shiffrin said. "I know that if I am skiing my very best slalom, then it should be fast. So it was more of a question today if I would have the courage to be aggressive."

Her near-flawless run denied Vlhova a first slalom win in 11 months.

"It's really difficult. She is all the time perfect, like today, she did both runs perfect," Vlhova said. "Second place

is good but I always want to do better but today she was the best."

Sunday's victory left Shiffrin three short of the overall record for most wins in a discipline held by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, who won 46 giant slaloms between 1975-89.

However, the American three-time overall champion did set another record as she became the first skier, male or female, with a podium finish in 14 consecutive slalom races.

Shiffrin's double triumph in Lienz came 50 years after countrywoman Judy Nagel also won a GS and a slalom on back-to-back days here in December 1969.

The 200 points helped Shiffrin extend her lead in the overall standings to 295 points over Italy's Federica Brignone. If she receives her fourth crystal globe at the end of the season in March, Shiffrin would match Vonn's career tally of four overall World Cup titles.

The Shiffrin vs. Vlhova rivalry will continue next Saturday in Zagreb and on Jan. 14 in Flachau, where Vlhova last beat Shiffrin a year ago.

"I am very happy with how I skied, that's important," Vlhova said.q

Fiesta referee explains crucial calls that flipped semifinal

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Fiesta Bowl referee defended two key calls that went Clemson's way after video review in the Tigers' 29-23 victory over No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday night.

A crew of officials from the Southeastern Conference worked the game between Atlantic Coast Conference champion Clemson and Big Ten champion Ohio State. Referee Ken Williamson spoke to a pool reporter after the game to explain two crucial decisions made by replay review.

Replay officials initiated a video review that led to a targeting call on Ohio State defensive back Shaun Wade in the second quarter after he had sacked Trevor Lawrence on

Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade, right, tackles Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence during the first half of the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019, in Glendale, Ariz. Wade was ejected from the game for targeting.

Associated Press

a third-and-5. Wade hit the bracing quarterback hard enough to keep him down on the turf for a few minutes. No flag was thrown on the field, but replay review spotted helmet-to-helmet contact.

Not only was Wade ejected, but what would have been a fourth down became a first down for Clemson at the Ohio State 30.

"This was a crown-of-thehelmet targeting foul," Williamson said. "So it did eliminate a lot of other factors. Initial contact was with the crown of the helmet.

Then he wrapped up for the tackle. So at that point, targeting was properly called."

A few plays later, Travis Etienne fought off a tackler with a stiff arm and scored from eight yards out for

Clemson to make it 16-7 with 2:45 left in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, with Clemson up 21-16, the Buckeyes appeared to score a touchdown after Clemson receiver Justyn Ross was stripped of the ball by Ohio State All-American Jeff Okudah and the fumble was returned to the end zone by Jordan Fuller.

Video review overturned the call on the field and ruled Ross never completed the catch.

Williamson said the play was reviewed in the stadium as well as at the video review center the SEC uses in Birmingham, and said they determined when Ross moved, the ball was becoming loose in his hands and he did not complete the process of the catch.q

SPORTS A23

Monday 30 December 2019

Davis stops Gamboa in 12th, wins WBA lightweight title

By GEORGE HENRY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Gervonta Davis could tell early on that Yuriorkis Gamboa wouldn’t go down easily, so Davis decided to be patient and wear him down.

“I wasn’t pressed for the knockout,” Davis said.

“Once I seen I was hurting him and he wasn’t getting out of there, I just had to touch him up and win the rounds.”

Davis stayed unbeaten in his career with a 12th-round stoppage of Gamboa to win a lightweight title Saturday night.

Fighting past the ninth round for the first time, Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) showed why his nickname is Tank, releasing a barrage of punches in the final round before a left uppercut to the head ended the fight at the 1:44 mark when referee Jack Reiss called it.

Davis, becoming a twodivision champion in his adopted hometown, dropped Gamboa three times.

He landed a left hand to knock the veteran down in the final seconds of the eighth, bringing fans in the lower bowl at sold-out State Farm arena to their feet.

“I showed I’m an elite fighter,” Davis said.

“I’m not trying to rush it and get him out of there and wind up getting caught.

Gervonta Davis, left, heads to the corner as Yuriorkis Gamboa, right, looks up at referee Jack Reiss during the WBA secondary lightweight title boxing bout early Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019, in Atlanta.

Associated Press

That was my main focus going in. Not trying to rush it.

Touch him up and show the people I have skills.”

Atlanta rapper Lil Baby performed alongside Davis as he made his entrance for the main event. It didn’t take long for Davis to energize the fans, using a double-jab and a left hand to drop Gamboa at the 1:36 mark of the second.

At 25, Davis is entering his

prime and moving up to lightweight for the first time.

He gave the 38-year-old Gamboa a beating in the fifth with left uppercuts, but the Cuban had plenty of punch resistance.

Reiss called a brief timeout before the start of the third when Gamboa complained about an issue with his right shoe. His corner retied the shoe before the start of the fourth and taped it heavily before the

start of the fifth.

Stacy McKinley, Gamboa’s assistant trainer, said his fighter “had his ankle or his Achilles heel all messed up.

They wanted to stop the fight and I said, ‘No.’ I told him to get locked in and do the best you can.”

Davis, a southpaw, won Atlanta’s first world championship fight since Evander Holyfield successfully defended his heavyweight belts against Vaughn Bean

21 years ago.

“My thing was to go out there, touch him up, not get hit and break him down,” Davis said.

“I believe if I would’ve touched him to the body more that I would’ve gotten him out of there early, but lesson learned. I put on a great performance for the fans. I’m grateful.”

Davis had a dramatic Friday, getting fined by the Georgia State Athletic Commission for missing weight when he tipped the scales at 136.2 pounds and taking the two extra hours he needed to make 134 3/4. He also shoved Gamboa at the faceoff, setting off a ruckus on the stage, though both boxers quickly departed.

Davis’ next fight is undecided. Super lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine said in April that he wants a match, and Davis said last month that he’s ready, too.

But a more likely possibility is Davis returning to 130 pounds to face Mexico’s Léo Santa Cruz.

“I don’t feel like nobody above me,” Davis said.

“I’m the cash cow, I believe, so at 135 or 130, I’m selling out arenas, putting butts in the seats. I don’t think (Lomachenko is) doing that. Line him up. I’m a fighter. I’m willing to fight anybody. I’m ready.”q

Chelsea comes back to win 2-1 at Arsenal in Premier League Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Chelsea scored twice in four minutes to come from behind and beat Arsenal 2-1 in the Premier League on Sunday, ruining Mikel Arteta's first home match in charge of the north London club.

Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno missed an attempt to punch Mason Mount's free kick clear, allowing Jorginho to net in the 83rd minute and cancel out PierreEmerick Aubameyang's first-half opener.

Jorginho had been fortunate to still be on the pitch after avoiding a second yellow card for pulling down Matteo Guendouzi.

The winner came after Chelsea launched a counterattack from the edge of its own penalty area, with Tammy Abraham then allowed to race through unchallenged and playing a one-two with Willian before putting the ball through Leno's legs from close range.

It leaves Arteta with a point from his first two games since being hired as Unai Emery's full-time successor.

While Arsenal is 12th in the standings, Chelsea is 11 points ahead in the fourth Champions League place after Frank Lampard's side quickly recovered from a home loss to Southampton.q

Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea, at the Emirates Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.

Associated Press

A24 TECHNOLOGY

Monday 30 December 2019

Calif. vastly expands digital privacy. Will people use it?

By RACHEL LERMAN AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Forty million Californians will soon have sweeping digital-privacy rights stronger than any seen before in the U.S., posing a significant challenge to Big Tech and the data economy it helped create.

So long as state residents don't mind shouldering much of the burden of exercising those rights, that is.

Come Wednesday , roughly one in 10 Americans will gain the power to review their personal information collected by large companies around the world, from purchase histories and location tracking to compiled "profiles" that slot people into categories such as religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Starting January 1, they can also force these companies — including banks, retailers and, of course, tech companies — to stop selling that information or even to delete it in bulk.

The law defines data sales so broadly that it covers almost any information sharing that provides a benefit to business, including data transfers between corporate affiliates and with third party "data brokers" — middlemen who trade in personal information.

It remains unclear how it will affect the business of targeted advertising, in which companies like Facebook amass reams of personal data and use it to direct ads to specific groups of people. Facebook says it doesn't share that personal information with advertisers.

Still, because it applies to any company that meets a threshold for interacting with state residents, the California law might end up serving as a de facto national standard. Early signs of compliance have already started cropping up in the form of "Don't sell my personal information" links at the bottom of many corporate websites.

"If we do this right in California," says California attorney general Xavier Becerra, the state will "put the

In this Oct. 8, 2019, file photo a woman types on a keyboard in New York.

capital P back into privacy for all Americans."

California's law is the biggest U.S. effort yet to confront " surveillance capitalism," the business of profiting from the data that most Americans give up — often unknowingly — for access to free and often ad-supported services. The law is for anyone ever weirded out when an ad popped up for the product they were just searching on, or who wondered just how much privacy they were giving up by signing into the briefly popular facechanging tool FaceApp. But there are catches galore. The law — formally known as the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA — seems likely to draw legal challenges, some of which could raise constitutional objections over its broad scope. It's also filled with exceptions that could turn some seemingly broad protections into coarse sieves, and affects only information collected by business, not government.

For instance, if you're alarmed after examining the data that Lyft holds on you, you can ask the company to delete it. Which it will legally have to do — unless it claims some information meets one of the law's many exceptions, among them provisions that allow companies to continue holding information needed to finish a transaction

or to keep it in a way you'd "reasonably expect" them to.

"It's more of a 'right to request and hope for deletion,'" says Joseph Jerome, a policy director at privacy group Common Sense Media/Kids Action.

A more fundamental issue, though, is that Californians are largely on their own in figuring out how to make use of their new rights. To make the law effective, they'll need to take the initiative to opt out of data sales, request their own information, and file for damages in the case of data breaches.

"If you aren't even reading privacy agreements that you are signing, are you really going to request your data?" asks Margot Kaminski, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado who studies law and technology. "Will you understand it or sift through it when you do get it?"

State residents who do make that effort, but find that companies reject their requests or offer only halting and incomplete responses, have no immediate legal recourse. The CCPA defers enforcement action to the state attorney general, who won't be empowered to act until six months after the law takes effect.

When the state does take action, though, it can fine businesses up to $7,500 for each violation of the law — charges that could quickly

Associated Press

add up depending on how many people are affected.

The law does offer stronger protection for children, for instance by forbidding the sale of data from kids under 16 without consent.

"The last thing you want is for any company to think that we're going to soft on letting you misuse kids' personal information," Becerra, the attorney general, said at a press conference in December.

Many of the CCPA's quirks trace back to the roundabout way it became law in the first place. A few years ago, San Francisco real estate developer Alastair Mactaggart asked a friend who worked at a tech company if he should be concerned about news reports on how much companies knew about him. He expected an innocuous answer.

"If you knew how much we knew about you, you'd be terrified," he says the friend told him .

With help, Mactaggart produced a ballot initiative that would let California voters implement new privacy rules. Although initially a long shot, the proposal quickly gained steam amid news of huge data breaches and privacy leaks.

That drew the attention of Silicon Valley, whose big companies considered the ballot initiative too risky.

Moving the proposal into the normal legislative process would give them influ-

ence, the chance to pass amendments, and above all time to slow down what seemed to be a runaway train.

"I always knew I was signing up for a fight," Mactaggart says .

The developer agreed to pull the initiative off the ballot and have it introduced as a bill. In slightly changed — or weakened, per critics — form, it passed. Gone, for instance, was a provision that would have allowed people to sue when companies improperly declined to hand over or delete data.

The coming year will provide the first evidence of how much protection the CCPA actually offers — and how thoroughly Californians will embrace it.

Among other limitations, the law doesn't really stop companies from collecting personal information or limit how they store it. If you ask a company to delete your data, it can start collecting it again next time you do business with it.

Mary Stone Ross, incoming associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and coauthor of the original ballot initiative, worries that CCPA might just unleash a firehose of data on consumers. "A business could actually drown a consumer in information so the important pieces are lost," she says.

There's a way to avoid that by just asking for which categories of information a company holds, such as demographics, preferences or interests. But it's not clear how many will know to do that.

The law's biggest impact, in fact, may lie in how it requires companies to track what data they have, where they keep it, and how to get it to people when requested, says Jen King, director of consumer privacy at Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society. That effort alone, which can be substantial, might cause corporations to reconsider how much data they decide to hold onto.q

BUSINESS A25

Monday 30 December 2019

Sustainability in the fashion industry faces an uphill climb

By LIZZIE KNIGHT Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Sustainability in fashion is a hot button topic, with retailers large and small racing to prove their green credentials, but the desire for new attire churns and the industry remains one of the world's largest polluters as climate activists and watchdogs sound alarms.

The industry is the second largest consumer of water and is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, according to the United Nations Environment Program.

"So, for example, it would take 13 years to drink the water that is used to make one pair of jeans and one T-shirt," said Fee Gilfeather, a sustainability expert at the nonprofit OXFAM. "It's just an incredible amount of environmental resources that are required for making the clothing that we wear."

Harmful chemicals, global transport of goods and non-biodegradable packaging add to the environmental cost. The combined impact has put the industry under scrutiny among consumers who want to know where — and how — their clothes are produced.

They're demanding ethical practices and responsible retailing.

Some manufacturers and retailers have found inno-

This April 10, 2012 file photo shows the production department at fashion giant Inditex's headquarters where Zara fashion garments are designed in La Coruna, Spain.

Associated Press

vative solutions, both large and small.

At the high end of the market, designers are keen to make sustainable fashion synonymous with luxury. In 2015, a sustainability report

by Nielsen found that 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly clothing. At the low, fast fashion end of the industry, promises have been made.

Inditex, the retail giant that owns Zara, H&M and many other brands, announced a sustainability pledge in July, saying it wants all its clothes to be made from sustainable or recycled fabrics by 2025.

In addition, the global fash-

ion sector addressed climate change by launching the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action at the COP24 climate conference in Katowice in December 2018. Leading fashion brands, retailers, supplier organizations, a major shipping company and global NGO WWF International have agreed to collectively address the climate impact of the industry across sectors. Patricia Espinosa, the executive secretary for UN Climate Change, said the charter comes at a time when "we needed it most." The charter recognizes the crucial role of fashion as a contributor to greenhouse gas

emissions, with multiple opportunities to reduce emissions. It hopes to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and notes a number of issues: decarbonization of the production phase; selection of climate friendly and sustainable materials; the need for low-carbon transport; and improving consumer dialogue and awareness.

The scale of the charter is vast, but activists are up against behemoths at times.

In Britain, the Environmental Audit Committee reported on the problem earlier this year and found that the U.K. buys more clothes than any other country in

Businesses facing new overtime rules in new year

By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The new year brings new overtime rules for employers including small businesses and in turn, a pay raise for an estimated 1.3 million workers.

The Labor Department rules that go into effect Jan. 1 raise to $684 per week, or $35,568 a year, the threshold at which employees are exempt from being paid overtime. That’s a 50.3% increase from the previous threshold of $455 per week or $23,660 annually.

The jobs most likely to be af-

fected by the increase are shift supervisors or assistant managers at restaurants, retailers and manufacturing companies. Workers at companies of all sizes will be affected, but the rules are likely to have a greater impact on small companies that don’t have the revenue stream that larger businesses do to use as a cushion against the higher labor costs.

The Obama administration proposed a much larger increase in the exemption threshold, nearly doubling it to $47,476. That proposal would have affected an

In this April 9, 2018, file photo a cashier rings up a purchase at a store in Salem, N.H. Associated Press

estimated 4.2 million people, but the regulations scheduled to take effect in 2016 were put on hold by a

federal lawsuit. The Trump administration revised the proposed rules, issuing its first version last March. q

Europe, throwing away 1 million tonnes annually with 300,000 tonnes (over 661,000,000 pounds) going to incinerators or landfills.

The EAC, chaired by Member of Parliament Mary Creagh, concluded that fashion retailers should take responsibility for the clothes they sell. The Committee called for a producer responsibility scheme for textiles, which would add a small amount to the cost of each item, raising money to invest in recycling centers to divert clothing from landfills and incineration.

The British government, then led by Prime Minister Theresa May, rejected all the committee's proposals, much to the dismay of Fashion Revolution, a global movement calling for greater transparency, sustainability and ethics in the fashion industry.

"That set us back 20 years at the very, very least. It is inexcusable and frankly, unforgivable," said the organization's creative director and co-founder, Orsola De Castro. "Some of those recommendations, you'd think why would you not take that into consideration? And the reality is that the U.K. government in this occasion has also looked very out of touch because we are seeing quite a lot of policy change happening, for instance, in France. And it seems that them not getting up to speed on this is a terrible thing."q

A26 COMICS

Monday 30 December 2019

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Saturday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Monday 30 December 2019

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A28 SCIENCE

Monday 30 December 2019

'Tough year' for measles and other infectious diseases in US

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — This year, the germs roared back.

Measles tripled. Hepatitis A mushroomed. A rare but deadly mosquito-borne disease increased.

And that was just the United States.

Globally, there was an explosion of measles in many countries, an unrelenting Ebola outbreak in Africa and a surge in dengue fever in Asia. There were also backslides in some diseases, like polio, that the world was close to wiping out.

"It's been a tough year for infectious diseases," said Dr. Jonathan Mermin of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A look back at some U.S. disease trends in 2019: MEASLES There were nearly 1,300 cases of measles in the U.S. through November, That's the largest number in 27 years. There were no deaths but about 120 people ended up in the hospital.

This from a disease that vaccines had essentially purged from the country for a decade.

"How can we have gone from eliminating the disease to reviving a disease?

It's mind-shattering that we would go in that direction," said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who heads a congressional subcommittee that oversees public health spending.

Three-quarters of this year's cases were in Orthodox Jewish communities in or near New York City. As do most U.S. outbreaks, it started with travelers infected overseas who spread it to people who hadn't gotten a measles vaccine.

Vaccination rates in New York are good, overall.

In this Aug. 26, 2019, file photo, Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District biologist Nadja Reissen examines a mosquito in Salt Lake City.

Associated Press

But it was a shock to learn how low they had dipped in some places, said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, health commissioner in Rockland County, north of New York City. Distrust of vaccines had taken root in segments of the Orthodox community. The county took the unusual step of barring thousands of unvaccinated children from dozens of schools.

HEPATITIS A Hepatitis A tends to be thought of as a kind of food poisoning, often traced to an infected restaurant worker with poor hygiene.

But the latest wave began in San Diego among homeless people and people who use illicit drugs. In 2017, there were 1,500 cases in four states tied to the outbreak. This year, it boomed to 17,000 in 30 states, with Florida and Tennessee the hardest hit.

Hepatitis A usually is not considered a fatal disease, but it can be for people whose livers are already damaged by hepatitis C or longtime drinking. Nearly 200 died this year.

A vaccine for hepatitis A is now included in routine childhood vaccines, but most adults are too old to have gotten it as children.

Attempts to give the vaccine to vulnerable adults met resistance, said the CDC's Dr. Neil Gupta, who tracks the outbreaks.

Public health workers took the shots out to people in drug rehab centers and to shelters and the streets to reach the homeless. Gupta said he's optimistic that cases may drop in 2020.

EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS This rare and deadly illness saw a small but worrisome increase last summer. Eastern equine encephalitis got its name because it was first seen in horses in Massachusetts.

The virus is spread to people through mosquitoes that mostly feed on infected birds but sometimes bite humans. Few people who are infected get sick but those who do can develop a dangerous infection of the brain, spinal cord or surrounding tissues. There is a vaccine for horses, not people The numbers remain very low — just 38 cases this year.

But that's more than double the annual number in the past decade, and it included 15 deaths. That prompted health warnings in some places and even calls to cancel outdoor events scheduled for dusk, when mosquitoes are most active.

Among those who died

was Scott Mosman, an outdoors-loving mechanical engineer in Taunton, Massachusetts.

It's not clear when Mosman was bitten by a mosquito, but it likely happened while working in his yard, said Sami Fam, a friend and former colleague.

"He's kind of a big kid who always thought he was invincible," said Fam. The 58-year-old Mosman died in October.

Better diagnosing may be a contributor to the increase in reports of eastern equine encephalitis and a few other diseases spread by bites from mosquitoes or ticks. Some also ebb and flow in cycles. But researchers say larger increases also may be related to climate change, as warmer weather can contribute to booms in insects and a northward expansion of where they live.

THE GOOD NEWS This year, some infectious diseases did trend down.

Preliminary reports show Legionnaires' disease down by about 20%. West Nile virus cases fell two-thirds, compared to 2018.

And some other infectious terrors of the past, including tuberculosis, continued to recede.

And the nation is a far cry from where it was at the beginning of the 20th century, when roughly 50% of U.S. deaths were attributed to infectious diseases. Today, it's more like 5%.q

Science teachers, students get Times Square New Year’s stage Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — This year's New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square will spotlight efforts to combat climate change when high school science teachers and students press the button that begins the famous 60-second ball drop and countdown to next year.

"On New Year's Eve, we look back and reflect on the dominant themes of the past year, and seek hope and inspiration as we look forward," Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins said in a statement Saturday announcing the plan. The honorees, he said, "are working to solve this global problem through science."

Jared Fox, who teaches at the Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School, and seniors Ricardo Herrera and Diane Arevalo are working on a cleanair and greening project in the school's Upper Manhattan neighborhood.

Aida Rosenbaum, a Bronx Latin School teacher, and seniors Daniel Soto and Van Troy Ulloa led a fundraising walk to raise money for places without clean water.

Young climate activists gained new prominence this year, when Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg sparked school strikes around the world after she began skipping class to press for more action on fighting global warming. q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Monday 30 December 2019

Baby Shark’ creators release Navajo version of viral video

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Creators of the popular video “Baby Shark,” whose “doo doo doo” song was played at the World Series in October and has been a viral hit with toddlers around the world, have released a Navajo version of the tune. Pinkfong, a brand of the South Korea company SmartStudy, announced it unveiled the new version Sunday after holding singing auditions on the Navajo Nation. “Łóó’ Hashkéii Awéé,” which loosely means Navajo Baby Shark, is the 20th language version of Baby Shark, SmartStudy marketing manager Kevin Yoon said in an email.

The project was launched after Navajo Nation Museum director Manuelito Wheeler reached out to SmartStudy in September about translating “Baby Shark” into Navajo. The museum previously had lobbied for Navajo versions of

In this Dec. 8, 2019 photo, Katrina Begay practicing lines with her daughter Drew Wilson at "Baby Shark" auditions at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Ariz.

Associated Press

the movies “Star Wars” and “Finding Nemo” that were eventually made.

During the “Baby Shark” auditions, Wheeler was the confidence-building coach, and two Navajo language instructors provided coaching with the correct Navajo language pronunciations.

Hopeful actors for the role of Navajo Baby Shark, Mommy Shark,

Daddy Shark, Grandma Shark, and Grandpa Shark, drove in from around the Navajo Nation.

Yoon said the company hopes its latest project will spark interest in the Navajo language among the tribe’s younger generation.

“The Navajo Nation Museum has advised and helped us through the whole localization process,

and the translated lyrics have been supervised by Navajo language experts,” Yoon said.

SmartStudy has translated the “Baby Shark” tune of the viral video in 19 languages, including English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Arabic and Bahasa-Malay.

The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American

reservation in the U.S. The Navajo word for shark is lóó hashkéhé, which translates to “angry fish.”

The original “ Baby Shark Dance ” video has garnered more than 4 billion views on YouTube. “Baby Shark” has been around for a few years, but took the world by storm last year when the song and video went viral with the nurseryschool set, with little kids imitating the hand-clapping dance that went along with the video.

Books, plush toys, and other merchandise inspired by the song became hotticket items for the holidays and the “Baby Shark” tour was soon hatched.

A second North American leg of the “Baby Shark” concert tour is launching in March. During the World Series, Washington Nationals fans adopted “Baby Shark” as the team’s rally song. Nickelodeon has a “Baby Shark” cartoon series in the works.q

A30 PEOPLE

Monday 30 December 2019

& ARTS

'Skywalker' rises again; 'Little Women' go big at box office

By ANDREW DALTON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Star Wars" was still rising in the last weekend of the year, while "Little Women" broke big at the box office.

"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" brought in $72 million over the weekend to remain the top-earning film in North America by lightyears, according to studio estimates Sunday.

In 10 days of release it has

brought in $362.8 million for Disney, falling just short of the earnings of its predecessor, 2017's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" in a comparable span.

Helped by the Christmas holiday week, "Star Wars" had a smaller-than-average 59% drop-off in its second weekend after earning $175 million in its first.

"For a movie that opened that big, that is a modest drop," said Paul Derga-

This image released by Disney/Lucasfilm shows, from left, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Daisy Ridley as Rey and John Boyega as Finn in a scene from "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker."

Associated Press

rabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. "Movies that open this time of year, they usually have legs."

Sony's "Jumanji: The Next Level," earned $35.3 million for second place and has tallied a total of $175.5 million through its third weekend of release.

Director Greta Gerwig's reimagining of the American literary classic "Little Women" had a $16.5-million weekend and a five-day total of $29 million since its Christmas opening, a major performance for a smalleraudience film with a budget dwarfed by the top two films. The film, also a Sony release, starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and Laura Dern, scored big with both audiences and critics and is gaining momentum as an awards-season favorite.

"With Greta Gerwig's reputation as a filmmaker, a great cast and a perfect holiday release date, they've got quite a hit on the their hands," Dergarabedian said.

"Uncut Gems," an even smaller film that has also sparked awards-season buzz for Adam Sandler's rare dramatic performance as a jeweler and gambling addict, entered the top 10 for the first time as it expanded to more screens in its first week. The film earned $9.6 million over the weekend and has brought in $20 million overall.

Director Sam Mendes' experimental World War I epic "1917," earned more than $1 million since its Christmas opening despite showing in only 11 theaters.

The huge per-screen average bodes well for the film's

nationwide opening next month as it ramps up its Oscars campaign.

As 2019 ends, annual overall box office revenue is down by 4%, though it gained ground in its latter months, narrowing a deficit that was 11% in April, and 2018 was always going to be tough to beat.

"Last year was an outlier," Dergarabedian said. "It was just a massive year."

Between Marvel and "Star Wars," and its animation divisions, 2019 was utterly owned by Disney, which had all five of the year's top grossing movies: "Avengers: Endgame," "The Lion King," "Toy Story 4," "Captain Marvel" and "Frozen 2."

And with "The Rise of Skywalker" ending the year at No. 7 and "Aladdin" at No. 8, the mega-mouse ate up seven of the top 10 spots.q

Netflix series examines ‘perfect storm’ that felled NFL star

In this Sept. 5, 2012 file photo, New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez speaks in the locker room at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Associated Press

By WILLIAM J. KOLE Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — More than two years after he killed himself in his prison cell, for-

mer NFL star Aaron Hernandez’s story still fascinates — and now it’s heading back to the small screen. Netflix is releasing “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez” on Jan. 15. The three-part documentary examines the meteoric but troubled — and violent — rise and fall of the late New England Patriots tight end.

A teaser for director Geno McDermott’s film opens with chilling audio of a collect call Hernandez made to his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins. Hernandez can be heard saying: “My whole body’s shaking right now.” Jenkins asks, “What happened?” and Hernandez responds: “You know my temper.”

Hernandez’s death came just a few days after he was acquitted of most charges in the double murder case. q

PEOPLE & ARTS A31

Monday 30 December 2019

Soul-searching in opera world after tumultuous #MeToo year

By JOCELYN GECKER Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It was a tumultuous year in the opera world, a year in which sexual harassment allegations against superstar Placido Domingo prompted his disappearance from American stages and sparked deep soulsearching.

Opera performers are applauding new official efforts to create a workplace free of sexual misconduct, but say many in the industry remain fearful of speaking up about predators, particularly those in positions of power.

"The problem is so much bigger than Placido Domingo. It's the whole environment," said American soprano Lauren Flanigan, adding that in her decades-long career "almost every rehearsal I was ever in was sexualized — literally every rehearsal."

Two investigations into Domingo's behavior were opened after Associated Press stories in which more than 20 women said the legendary tenor had pressured them into sexual relationships, behaved inappropriately and sometimes professionally punished those who rebuffed him.

Dozens of others told the AP that they had witnessed his behavior.

One of the ongoing investigations is at Los Angeles Opera, where Domingo was general director since 2003. He resigned from the company in October, saying the allegations had "compromised" his ability to continue.

The other is being led by the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union representing many opera house employees, which says it didn't trust the industry to police itself.

Executive director Len Egert emphasized that the union also is looking into the wider problem of misconduct across the industry and the fear of retaliation by people in power.

"I don't think you could find one singer in this business who has not been the victim of harassment, bully-

ing or abuse of some kind, and I'm no exception," said bass-baritone Kyle Albertson, who like many others said he prefers not to name names as a matter of survival.

"It's almost written in the job description: You will be abused somehow," Albertson said.

Within the past year, most opera companies have started holding regular sexual harassment workshops, and many distribute and read aloud their sexual harassment policy to incoming casts before the start of rehearsals and distribute contact information for reporting incidents.

"It's now become an option to stand up and say 'These actions are not OK.' And that is fantastic," Albertson said.

The Houston Grand Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Minnesota Opera and a few other companies have started hiring special consultants known as intimacy directors to help stage sexually charged scenes to ensure there is no inappropriate improvising.

Perryn Leech, Houston Grand Opera's managing director, said it's about staging sex scenes in "a more caring way."

"There's been a huge change in culture, and we're still a long way from being where we need to be," Leech said, comparing the role of an intimacy director to a fight choreographer who makes sure that performers feel safe, comfortable and don't get hurt, physically or emotionally, on stage.

In opera, displays of passion are an important part of the job and singers often are required to kiss colleagues on stage or act out story lines with rapes, orgies or other acts of sexual violence.

"If you don't overtly remind yourself that this is our job, it can get very confusing very fast," intimacy director Doug Scholz-Carlson said.

Flanigan said her worst experience took place on stage when she was playing the female lead during a

In this Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 file photo, Placido Domingo performs during a sound check prior to a free concert in Mexico City.

Associated Press

1997 performance of "Macbeth" and an understudy added unscripted sexual violence. "He grabbed me by the hair, pulled my neck backward, so I couldn't get away, then he shoved his face in my face and stuck his tongue in my mouth," she said. Later in the show, she said, "he threw me on the floor and started humping my face — on stage in front of a sold-out theater, while I was supposed to be singing."

In Flanigan's case, "I was known and believed, so he was fired," but she said young artists and many others are far less likely to report abuse.

While celebrities in Hollywood helped end a culture of silence by showing support for producer Harvey Weinstein's accusers, the opera world's reaction has been different. Male stars like Andrea Bocelli have spoken up in Domingo's defense and opera's leading female lights have mostly withheld public comment on both the pervasiveness of the problem and on the high-profile men accused of misconduct, including Domingo and conductors James Levine and Charles Dutoit, all of whom deny any wrongdoing.q