December 28, 2019

Saturday

December 28, 2019

Time in a Bottle

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Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper

Iowa swung fiercely to Trump. Will it swing back in 2020?

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Few states have changed politically with the headsnapping speed of Iowa.

The question heading into 2020 is whether it's going to change again.

In 2008, Iowans voters propelled Barack Obama toward the White House. A year later, the state's Supreme Court sanctioned same-sex marriage. In 2012, Iowa backed Obama again.

By 2016, Donald Trump easily defeated Hillary Clinton in Iowa. Republicans were in control of the governor's mansion and state legislature and held all but one U.S. House seat. For the first time since 1980, both U.S. Senate seats were in GOP hands.

Voters were slow to embrace Obama's signature health care law. The recession depleted college educated voters as a share of

In this Sept. 14, 2015, file photo, a worker steams wrinkles out of a US flag before the arrival of President Barack Obama at a town hall meeting, at North High School in Des Moines, Iowa.

Associated Press

the rural population, and Republicans successfully painted Democrats' as the party of coastal elites.

Trump carried Iowa by a larger percentage of the vote than in Texas, and carried counties no Repub-

lican since Dwight D. Eisenhower had won.

But now, as Democrats turn their focus Iowa’s kickoff caucuses to begin the process of selecting Trump’s challenger, could the state be showing signs

of swinging back?

If Iowa’s rightward swing has stalled, it could be a foreboding sign for Trump in other upper Midwestern states he carried by much smaller margins and would need to win again.

“This is an actual correction,” Tom Vilsack, the only two-term Democratic governor in the past 50 years, said of Republicans.

Continued on Page 4

A2 UP

Saturday 28 December 2019

FRONT Man who made 27,000 crosses for shooting victims is retiring

In this Aug. 5, 2019, file photo Greg Zanis prepares crosses to place at a makeshift memorial for victims of a mass shooting at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas.

Associated Press

AURORA, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois man who made more

than 27,000 crosses to commemorate victims of mass

shootings across the country is retiring.

Greg Zanis came to realize, after 23 years, his Crosses for Losses ministry was beginning to take a personal and financial toll on him, according to The BeaconNews.

"I had a breaking point in El Paso," he said, referring to the mass shooting outside of a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. "I hadn't slept for two days, it was 106 degrees and I collapsed from the pressure when I heard there were two more victims of the mass shooting."

Zanis has set up crosses after the school shootings at Columbine, Sandy Hook and Parkland. He also placed crosses after the Las Vegas music festival shooting and the Orlando nightclub shooting.

"I leave a piece of my heart behind each time I go," he said.

In 2016 he made more than 700 crosses that were carried along Michigan Avenue in Chicago to honor each person who had

been killed that year.

Earlier this year, Zanis found himself making crosses for his very own hometown of Aurora, Illinois, after a Henry Pratt Co. employee opened fire on his coworkers. "After Orlando, it never stopped," Zanis said of the mass shootings. "The country had me on the road for a while every week. I have driven 850,000 miles to put up crosses. I slept in my truck and never had the money to cover what I was doing."

With donations from time to time, Zanis mainly relied on his own resources to build the crosses.

"At one point last year I was $10,000 in debt and somebody covered that for me," he said. "Now I am $14,000 in debt."

Zanis hopes to pass on his ministry to the nonprofit Lutheran Church Charities of Northbrook.

"I feel is is not the end of the ministry. It is the end of me doing it," he said.q

U.S. NEWS A3

Saturday 28 December 2019

Navy SEALs call Edward Gallagher 'evil' in leaked videos SAN DIEGO (AP) — Navy SEALs described their platoon leader, retired Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, as "evil," "toxic" and "perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving," in video footage of interviews obtained by The New York Times.

Gallagher's war crimes case earlier this year gained national attention after President Donald Trump intervened on his behalf despite strong objections from Pentagon leaders who said the president's move could damage the integrity of the military judicial system. The case also led to the Navy secretary's firing.

The footage published Friday was part of a trove of confidential Navy investigative materials that the Times obtained about the prosecution of Gallagher, who was accused of battlefield misconduct in Iraq.

It shows members of Gallagher's SEAL Team 7 Alpha Platoon speaking to agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service about his conduct in sometimes emotional interviews.

They described how their chief seemed to love killing, how he targeted women and children and boasted that "burqas were flying."

The footage provides revealing insights of the men who worked with Gallagher and turned him in. They have never spoken publicly about the case, which has divided the elite fighting force known for its secrecy.

"The guy is freaking evil," Special Operator 1st Class Craig Miller says about Gallagher in one interview.

"The guy was toxic," Special Operator 1st Class Joshua Virens, a sniper, says in another.

Special Operator 1st Class Corey Scott, a medic in the platoon, says, "You could tell he was perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving."

The material also includes thousands of text messages that the SEALs sent to one another about Gallagher's case and video from a SEAL's helmet camera that shows Gallagher approach a barely conscious captive — a teenage Islamic State fighter — in May 2017. The camera then shuts off.

In video interviews, three SEALS said they saw Gallagher go on to stab the sedated captive for no reason and hold an impromptu ceremony over the body as if it were a trophy.

Miller called it "the most disgraceful thing I've ever seen in my life."

Gallagher was charged with murder in the death of the wounded captive in Iraq, posing with the body in photos and shooting civilians. A jury of combat veterans acquitted him of all charges except one count for posing with a human casualty.

In the interviews, the platoon members told investigators that they tried repeatedly to report what they saw but no action was taken. In April 2018, they went outside the SEALs to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and Gallagher was arrested a few months later.

Gallagher has insisted that the charges against him were concocted by six disgruntled SEALs in his platoon who could not meet his high standards.

Reacting to the videos, Gallagher called the accusations "blatant lies" in a statement issued through

his lawyer, the Times reported.

After his court-martial, Gallagher was demoted from chief petty officer to a 1st class petty officer.

Trump restored Gallagher's rank and has repeatedly tweeted support for him, saying his case had been "handled very badly from the beginning." q

In this July 2, 2019, file photo, Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher leaves a military court on Naval Base San Diego.

Associated Press

A4 U.S.

Saturday 28 December 2019

NEWS Continued from Front

In this June 11, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Republican Party of Iowa's annual dinner in West Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday. Few states have changed politically with the head-snapping speed of Iowa.

Associated Press

Iowans unseated two Republican U.S. House members in 2018 during midterm elections where more Iowa voters in the aggregate chose a Democrat for federal office for the first time in a decade.

"I think that leaves little question Iowa is up for grabs next year," veteran Iowa Democratic campaign consultant Jeff Link said.

There's more going on in Iowa that simply a merely cyclical swing.

Once-GOP-leaning suburbs and exurbs have swelled with college-educated adults in the past decade, giving rise to a new class of rising Democratic leaders.

"I don't believe it was temporary," Iowa State University economist David Swenson said of Democrats' 2018 gains in suburban Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

"I think it is the inexorable outcome of demographic and educational shifts."

The Democratic caucuses will provide a test of how broad the change may be.

For now, that is not a widely held view, as Iowa has shown signs of losing its swing state status.

In the 1980s, it gave rise to a populist movement in rural areas from the left, the ascent of the religious right as a political force and the start of an enduring ruralurban balance embodied

by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.

After 30 years of Republican dominance in Iowa's governor's mansion, Vilsack was elected in 1998 as a former small-city mayor and pragmatic state senator.

An era of partisan balance in Iowa took hold, punctuated by narrow Iowa wins

by Democrat Al Gore in 2000 and George W. Bush in 2004.

After the 2006 national wave swept Democrats into total Statehouse control, Obama's combination of generational change, his appeal to anti-Iraq War sentiment and the historic opportunity to elect the first African American president made Iowa an easy win.

"We were like a conquering army, prepared to negotiate terms of surrender," said Cedar Rapids Democrat Dale Todd, an early Obama supporter and adviser.

Today, in the state Capitol, there are reminders of how much the ground had shifted since those heady days.

Republicans today control all of state government for the first time in 20 years, in line with takeovers in nearby states that were completed earlier but traced their beginnings to the same turbulent summer of 2009.

On a Wednesday in August that year, throngs flocked to Grassley's typically quiet annual county visits to protest his work with Democrats on health care legislation.

The previous April, Iowa's Supreme Court unanimously declared same-sex marriage legal. A year later, Christian conservatives successfully campaigned to oust the three Supreme Court justices facing retention.

By 2016, Republicans had completed their longsought statehouse takeover, in part by triumphantly beating longtime Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal.

The answer for Democrats in Iowa is much the same as the rest of the country: growing, vote-rich suburbs.

Dallas County, west of Des Moines, has grown by 121% since 2000. Last year, long-held Republican Iowa House districts in Des Moines' western suburbs fell to Democrats.

It was the culmination of two decades of shifting educational attainment with political implications.

Since 2000, the number of Iowans with at least a college degree in urban and suburban areas grew by twice the rate of rural areas, according to U.S. Census data and an Iowa State University study.

Since 2016 alone, registered Democrats in Dallas County have increased 15%, to Republicans' 2%.

Republicans still outnumber Democrats, but independent voters have leaped by 20% and now outnumber Republicans.

"There is now a third front," Gronstal said.

Though Trump's return to the ballot in 2020 shakes up the calculus, his approval in Iowa has remained around 45% or lower, typically problematic for an incumbent.

Another warning for Trump, GOP operative John Stineman noted, is The Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll's November finding that only 76% of self-identified Republicans said they would definitely vote to re-elect him next year.

With no challenger and 10 months until the election, a lot can change.

"Still, that's one in four of your family that's not locked down," Stineman said.

Democratic turnout in 2018 leaped from the previous midterm in 2014, according to the Iowa Secretary of State.

Republican turnout also rose, but by a smaller margin.

"I think the success in the midterms kind of made people on the Democratic side believe that 'we can do it,'" said J. Ann Selzer, who has conducted The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll for more than 25 years.

Perhaps, but Trump has his believers, too.q

U.S. NEWS A5

Saturday 28 December 2019

Search expands for missing Hawaii tour chopper carrying 7

By CALEB JONES Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Rescuers resumed searching Friday for a tour helicopter carrying seven people that disappeared during a trip to one of the most rugged and remote coastlines in Hawaii.

A search that began Thursday night was expanded Friday morning, but the steep terrain, low visibility, choppy seas and rain made the effort challenging, the Coast Guard said.

"Those conditions are not ideal," Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Sara Muir said.

Rescue teams were "looking for any sign of the helicopter both on land and in the water and along the coastline."

The helicopter company, identified as Safari Helicopters, contacted the Coast Guard about 45 minutes after the aircraft was due back from a tour of Kauai's Na Pali Coast on Thursday evening, a Coast Guard statement said.

The Eurocopter AS350 helicopter took off from the town of Lihue, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The helicopter has an electronic locator, but no signals had been received, according to the Coast Guard.

The chopper was carrying a pilot and six passengers, two of whom were believed to be minors, the Coast Guard said.

Clouds and rain at the scene limited visibility to 4 miles (6.4 kilometers), with winds at 28 mph (45 kph).

Friday's forecast predicted winds were at about 23 mph (37 kph).

A rescue helicopter and crew was launched from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, and additional support was provided by the Navy Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 37 at Kaneohe Bay. A Coast Guard cutter and crew were also launched from Honolulu.

"We're looking forward to first light when our visibility

improves simply because we have daylight," Muir said.

Local fire officials planned to launch their own search efforts. Commercial helicopter companies and ATV crews were also being deployed.

Towering mountains and steep, deep ravines and cliffs line the coast.

"There are beaches along the Na Pali coastline, but we are experiencing periods of very high water, so exactly how much beach may be available I couldn't tell you," Muir said.

Helicopter tours are common above the island of Kauai, much of which is made up of remote state parks.q

This photo provided by the Hawaii department of Land and Natural Resources shows an area over Napali Coast State Wilderness Park where search and rescue are searching for a tour Helicopter that disappeared in Hawaii with several people aboard on Friday, Dec. 27, 2019.

Associated Press

A6 U.S.

Saturday 28 December 2019

NEWS

Newseum hailed free press, but got beaten by free museums

By ASHRAF KHALIL WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2008, the Newseum — a private museum dedicated to exploring modern history as told through the eyes of journalists — opened on prime Washington real estate.

Sitting almost equidistant between the White House and the Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue, the glasswalled building became instantly recognizable for its multi-story exterior rendition of the First Amendment.

Eleven years later that experiment is coming to an end. After years of financial difficulties, the Newseum will close its doors Tuesday.

"We're proud of how we did our storytelling," said Sonya Gavankar, the outgoing director of public relations.

"We changed the model of how museums did their work."

The building was sold for $372.5 million to Johns Hopkins University, which intends to consolidate its scattered Washingtonbased graduate studies programs under one roof.

Gavankar attributed the failure to a "mosaic of fac-

In this Friday, Dec. 20, 2019, photo, people visit the Pulitzer Prize Photography exhibition at the Newseum, in Washington.

Associated Press

tors" but one of them was certainly unfortunate timing. The opening coincided with the 2008 economic recession, which hit newspapers particularly hard and caused mass layoffs and closures across the industry.

She also acknowledged that the Newseum's status as a for-pay private institution was a harder sell in a

city full of free museums. A Newseum ticket costs $25 for adults, and the building is right across the street from the National Gallery of Art and within blocks of multiple Smithsonian museums.

"Competing with free institutions in Washington was difficult," Gavankar said.

Another problem, organiz-

ers said, is that the Newseum struggled to attract local residents, instead depending on a steady diet of tourists and local school groups. Actual Washington-area residents, who do frequent the Smithsonian and elsewhere, mostly came on school trips and rarely returned as adults.

Claire Myers fits that profile.

The D.C. resident recalls coming to the Newseum in high school in a senior-year class trip. She only returned in late December for a final visit because she heard it was closing at the end of the year.

"I do think part of the reason was because it's a paid museum," she said. "Why go out of my way to do this when I could just go to any other free museum?"

The $25 price tag, Myers said, creates a pressure to set aside the whole day and take in every exhibit, whereas at one of the free Smithsonian museums, she knows she can come back another time to catch whatever she missed. But Myers said she was deeply impressed by the exhibits, particularly the Newseum's signature gallery of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs.

"I do wish it wasn't going away," she said.

The museum's focus evolved over the years, showcasing not just journalism and historic events, but all manner of free speech and civil rights issues and some whimsical quirks along the edges.q

Judge orders government to make changes to terror watchlist

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A federal judge is ordering the government to make changes to its watchlist of more than 1 million people whose inclusion marks them as known or suspected terrorists, but for now he's giving the government latitude to propose the changes as it sees fit.

The order issued last week

by U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria falls short of what a Muslim civil rights group had hoped for when it won a ruling earlier this year that the secret list violates the constitutional rights of those placed on it.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations had asked Trenga to order specific, sweeping changes to the way the government places names on the list

and providing a meaningful opportunity for those wrongly included to clear their names.

Instead, Trenga simply told the government to craft its own remedies to bring the list into compliance and to submit those proposals to him for review.

Trenga ordered the government to provide him a status report on its proposed revisions by early February.

Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he has little hope that the government will on its own propose any meaningful changes.

"I don't think there's any doubt the government is going to take a cynical approach to any type of watchlist revision," he said in a phone interview. "We expect the government

will be focused on maintaining its illegal program."

Still, he said, Trenga's ruling holds some bright spots. Trenga indicated he will review the government's proposals to gauge whether they fix the specific due process problems he outlined earlier in the year: that the government refuses to confirm whether individuals are on the watchlist, that those on the list lack an opportunity to rebut the negative information that led to their inclusion, and that if they request a review of their status they are unable to learn its outcome or make any meaningful appeal.

The watchlist, also known as the Terrorist Screening Database, is maintained by the FBI and shared with a variety of federal agencies. Customs officers have access to the list to check

people coming into the country at border crossings, and aviation officials use the database to help form the no-fly list, which is a much smaller subset of the broader watchlist.

As of June 2017, approximately 1.16 million people were included on the watchlist, according to government documents filed in the lawsuit. In 2013, the number was only 680,000. The vast majority are foreigners, but according to the government, there are roughly 4,600 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents on the watchlist as of 2017.

CAIR filed the lawsuit on behalf of more than 20 Muslim plaintiffs who said they were wrongly placed on the list and called the government's process for adding names overbroad and riddled with errors.

The lawsuit argues that the watchlist does little to nothing to actually prevent terrorism, all while imposing a burden and suspicion on Muslims wrongly included on the list.

The suit was filed in 2016 and has exposed previously unknown details about the list and how it is disseminated. In particular, government lawyers acknowledged after years of denials that more than 500 private entities are given access to the list. Government lawyers describe those private agencies as "law enforcement adjacent" and include university police forces, and security forces and hospitals, railroads and even animalwelfare organizations.

The Justice Department and the FBI each declined comment Friday on Trenga's ruling.q

U.S. NEWS A7 NYC ups policing in Jewish areas after spate of attacks Saturday 28 December 2019

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City is increasing its police presence in some Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Jewish populations after a string of possibly antiSemitic attacks during the Hanukkah holiday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the latest episode happened Friday.

Besides making officers more visible in Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg, police will boost visits to houses of worship and some other places, the mayor tweeted.

"I feel pained that in this society, a place that is supposed to be of respect for everybody, a season when we're supposed to be respecting everybody, we see hate rearing its very ugly head. We will not accept it," the Democrat said during a visit later Friday to Crown Heights, where he met with some representatives of the local Jewish community.

Around the city, police have gotten at least six reports this week — and eight since Dec. 13 — of attacks possibly propelled by antiJewish bias.

"It's something that's very alarming, and we treat it very seriously," police Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said at a news conference Friday.

The attacks have happened as Jewish communities in the New York City metro area were already on edge after a deadly

Dec. 10 shooting rampage at a northern New Jersey kosher market. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the attack was driven by hatred of Jews and law enforcement.

"The persistent and violent anti-Semitic attacks on Jews in the New York area has reached a crisis level," Eric Goldstein, the CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, said Friday. The organization is a large Jewish charity.

The latest incident happened around 12:40 a.m.

Friday, when a woman slapped three other women in the face and head after encountering them on a Crown Heights corner, police said. The victims, who range in age from 22 to 31, suffered minor pain, police said.

Tiffany Harris, 30, was arrested on a hate-crime harassment charge. She was awaiting arraignment Friday. It wasn't clear whether she had a lawyer who could comment on the charges, and no working telephone numbers for Harris could immediately be found.

Her arrest came hours after a hate crime assault arrest in Brooklyn's Gravesend neighborhood.

There, according to police and court documents, a woman was hit in the head with a bag by an attacker who jumped in front of her, made anti-Semitic comments and vowed that "your end is coming to you" Thursday afternoon.

The victim, 34, was with her

In this Dec. 11, 2019 file photo, Orthodox Jewish men pass New York City police guarding a Brooklyn synagogue prior to a funeral for Mosche Deutsch in New York.

Associated Press

3-year-old son.

The suspect, Ayana Logan, 42, was freed on supervised release after being arraigned Friday.

Her lawyer, Lauren Katzman, said she believed authorities were overreaching in casting the case as a hate crime.

"Ms. Logan is not guilty, and I look forward to fighting the case for her in court," Katzman said.

On Monday, a Miami man was charged with hatecrime assault after police said he made an anti-Semitic remark and attacked a man in midtown Manhattan. The 65-year-old victim was punched and kicked, suffering cuts, police said.

He had been wearing a yarmulke, according to former state Assemblyman

Dov Hikind, who has founded a group dedicated to combating anti-Semitism.

Steven Jorge, 28, is being held without bail, and a judge ordered a psychiatric exam for him, court records show. A message was left Friday for Jorge's lawyer.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo told a state hate crimes task force to help police investigate the attack, calling it "a horrific and cowardly act of anti-Semitism."

"It's even more despicable that it occurred over the holidays," the Democratic governor said in a statement Wednesday. Hanukkah began Sunday.

The New York Police Department's Hate Crime Task Force is also investigating some other episodes this

week as possibly motivated by anti-Semitism: — Officers were told that two boys, ages 6 and 7, were accosted by a group of people while getting off an elevator in a Williamsburg apartment building Monday night, and one of the boys was hit, Harrison said. The attackers fled.

— A 25-year-old man told police he was walking on a Crown Heights street early Tuesday when a group of people started yelling antiSemitic slurs at him and one threw a beverage at him.

The suspects fled.

— Later Tuesday in Crown Heights, a 56-year-old man said that a group of people approached him, and that one of them punched him, while he was walking. No arrests have been made.q

Baltimore breaks city record for killings per capita in 2019 BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore broke its annual per capita homicide record after reaching 342 killings Friday.

With just over 600,000 residents, the city hit a historically high homicide rate of about 57 per 100,000 people after recent relentless gunfire saw eight people shot — three fatally — in one day and nine others — one fatally — another day.

The new rate eclipses that of 1993, when the city had a record 353 killings but was much more populous before years of population exodus. By contrast, New York City, with more than 8 million residents, had 306 homicides through Dec. 15.

The total is up from 309 in 2018 and matches the 342 killings tallied in 2017 and 2015, the year when the city's homicide rate sud-

denly spiked.

A statement from Baltimore police said officers were dispatched late Thursday night to a location on Pratt Street, where they found a man with gunshot wounds.

A police spokesman said the man died from his wounds at a local hospital early Friday.

This is the fifth year in a row that Baltimore has reported more than 300 killings.q

In this Sunday, April 28, 2019 file photo, Police work near the scene where authorities say several people were shot, at least one fatally in Baltimore.

Associated Press

A8 WORLD

Saturday 28 December 2019

NEWS

UN official: Past decade has seen human rights `backlash'

By EDITH M. LEDERER UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The past decade has seen a backlash against human rights on every front, especially the rights of women and the LGBT communities, according to a top U.N. human rights official.

Andrew Gilmour, the outgoing assistant secretary-general for human rights, said the regression of the past 10 years hasn't equaled the advances that began in the late 1970s — but it is serious, widespread and regrettable.

He pointed to "populist authoritarian nationalists" in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, who he said are taking aim at the most vulnerable groups of society, including Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, Roma, and Mexican immigrants, as well as gays and women. He cited leaders who justify torture, the arrests and killing of journalists, the brutal repressions of demonstrations and "a whole closing of civil society space."

"I never thought that we would start hearing the terms 'concentration camps' again," Gilmour told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.

"And yet, in two countries of the world there's a real question."

In this June 14, 2019, photo provided by the United Nations, Andrew Gilmour, assistant secretarygeneral for human rights, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Sudan and South Sudan at U.N. headquarters.

Associated Press

He didn't name them but appeared to be referring to China's internment camps in western Xinjiang province, where an estimated 1 million members of the country's predominantly Muslim Uighur minority are being held; and detention centers on the United States' southern border, where mostly Central American migrants are being held while waiting to apply for asylum. Both countries strongly deny that concentration camp-

like conditions exist.

Gilmour is leaving the United Nations on Dec. 31 after a 30-year career that has included posts in hot spots such as Iraq, South Sudan, Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories and West Africa. Before taking up his current post in 2016, he served for four years as director of political, peacekeeping, humanitarian and human rights affairs in former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office.

Despite his dim view of

the past decade, Gilmour — a Briton who previously worked in politics and journalism — said he didn't want to appear "relentlessly negative."

"The progress of human rights is certainly not a linear progression, and we have seen that," he said.

"There was definite progression from the late '70s until the early years of this century. And we've now seen very much the countertendency of the last few years."

Gilmour said human rights were worse during the Cold War between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, "but there wasn't a pushback as there is now."

He pointed to the fact that in the past eight years or so, many countries have adopted laws designed to restrict the funding and activities of nongovernmental organizations, especially human rights NGOs. And he alleged that powerful U.N. member states stop human rights officials from speaking in the Security Council, while China and some other members "go to extraordinary lengths to prevent human rights defenders (from) entering the (U.N.) building even, let alone participate in the meetings."

In March 2018, for example, Russia used a procedural maneuver to block thenU.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein from addressing a formal meeting of the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body, Gilmour said.

Zeid was able to deliver his hard-hitting speech soon after, but only at a hurriedly organized informal council meeting where he decried "mind-numbing crimes" committed by all parties in Syria.q

Montenegro adopts law on religion amid protests by pro-Serbs

Police officers guard the parliament building in Podgorica, Montenegro, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019, during a protest against a proposed law regarding religious communities and property.

Associated Press

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro's parliament adopted a contested law on religious rights

after chaotic scenes in the assembly that resulted in the detention of all proSerb opposition lawmakers.

The vote early Friday followed a day of nationwide protests by supporters of the Serbian Orthodox Church who say the law strips the church of its property, including medieval monasteries and churches.

The government has denied that.

Trying to prevent the vote, the pro-Serb lawmakers hurled what appeared to be a tear gas canister, or a firecracker, and tried to destroy microphones in the parliament hall. Plainclothes police wearing gas masks intervened, detaining 24 people, including 18 opposition lawmakers.

"We are ready to die for our church and that's what we

are demonstrating tonight," opposition leader Andrija Mandic said during the incidents.

The law, approved by 45 ruling coalition lawmakers, says religious communities would need to produce evidence of ownership of their property from before 1918, when Montenegro joined a Balkan kingdom.

Montenegro's population of around 620,000 is predominantly Orthodox Christian and the main church is the Serbian Orthodox Church. A separate Montenegrin Orthodox Church isn't recognized by other Orthodox Christian churches.

Montenegro's pro-Western

president has accused the Serbian Orthodox Church of promoting pro-Serb policies and seeking to undermine the country's statehood since it split from much larger Serbia in 2006.

Montenegrins remain divided over whether the small Adriatic state should foster close ties with Serbia.

Hundreds of pro-Serb opposition supporters on Thursday staged an all-day protest against the law, blocking roads and entrances to the cities. Dozens of riot officers used metal barriers to prevent the crowd, including Orthodox priests, from reaching the parliament building where lawmakers debated the bill.q

WORLD NEWS A9

Saturday 28 December 2019

Moroccan YouTuber sentenced to prison, journalist detained

By AMIRA EL-MASAITI Associated Press RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Moroccan authorities have sentenced a Youtuber who criticized the king to prison, and detained a journalistactivist who defended antigovernment protesters in a tweet.

Freedom of speech advocates say the moves Thursday reflect growing pressure against those who use social networks to express anger at economic and social problems.

A court in Settat handed a four-year prison sentence to Mohammed Sekkaki for referring to Moroccans as donkeys and criticizing King Mohammed VI, in a video posted on YouTube in November. The royal family is

widely revered in Morocco, and criticizing the king is a criminal offense.

Also Thursday, journalist and activist Omar Radi was detained in Casablanca and charged with insulting a judge. Radi's arrest was apparently prompted by a tweet six months ago criticizing a Moroccan court's decision to hand maximum prison sentences to leaders of mass demonstrations in the poverty-stricken northern Rif region.

The Casablanca court refused to grant Radi bail pending the next hearing Jan. 2, said activist Khalid El Bekkari, who was in the court when Radi was charged. If convicted, Radi could face up to a year in prison and a 500 euro ($555)

In this Thursday, July 11, 2019, photo, people stand outside a court in Sale, Morocco.

Associated Press

fine. It was unclear why the arrest occurred so long after the original tweet.

Radi was also part of Arab Spring protests in Morocco in 2011 that pushed against

corruption and abuse of power and limits on free speech, and he has continued to defend human rights since then.

Morocco, long known for its

stability in the Arab world, adopted constitutional reforms in response to the Arab Spring, but the country is still struggling with poverty, corruption and unemployment.

Freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Moroccan constitution, but with limits. Authorities say some social media users are pushing those limits too far, sometimes for personal gain.

But rights activists say authorities are trying to cover up their inability to solve Morocco's problems.

In September, a Moroccan journalist was sentenced to prison on charges of undergoing an illegal abortion after becoming pregnant while being single. q

EU chief warns that new Brexit delay might be necessary Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and Britain will struggle to seal an agreement on trade and other aspects of their future ties after Brexit next year and should consider extending the negotiations beyond 2020, a top EU official said in an interview published Friday.

The U.K. is scheduled to leave the EU on Jan. 31. If it does, it will be the first time a country leaves the world's biggest trading bloc. Negotiations between the remaining members and the British government on future trade, fisheries, education and transport relations can only begin after that date and must conclude by the end of 2020.

"I am very concerned about how little time we have," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the French business newspaper Les Echos. "It seems to me that, on both sides, we should seriously consider whether the negotiations are feasible in such a short time."

"I think it would be reasonable to take stock in the middle of the year and if necessary, agree on an extension to the transition period," von der Leyen said.

As the leader of the executive commission, von der Leyen heads the EU institution responsible for Brexit talks and negotiating trade deals on behalf of member countries.

Such trade pacts routinely

take years to complete, and businesses fear that the U.K. could face a new "no-deal" Brexit scenario at the start of 2021 if questions about whether tariff-free trade with the country's biggest trading partner remain unanswered.

But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted he would not agree to any delays. Johnson who won a solid parliamentary majority in an election earlier this month, which helped him push a Brexit withdrawal deal through the lower house of Parliament, The Brexit bill contained amendments that bar the British government from extending the transition period beyond 2020.

Under Article 50 of the EU's

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen right, speaks during the Commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty and the legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights in Strasbourg, eastern France, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019.

Associated Press

Lisbon Treaty rule book, which governs how countries leave the bloc, any

new extension to the departure process must be agreed by June 30, 2020.q

A10 WORLD

Saturday 28 December 2019

NEWS

12 killed, dozens hurt after jetliner crashes in Kazakhstan Associated Press ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — A jetliner with 98 people aboard struggled to get airborne and crashed shortly after takeoff Friday in Kazakhstan, killing at least 12 people, authorities said.

The Bek Air jet, identified as a 23-year-old Fokker 100, hit a concrete wall and a two-story building soon after departing from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city and former capital, airport officials said.

The aircraft's tail also struck the runway twice during takeoff, indicating that it struggled to get off the ground, Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar said.

Fifty-four people people were reported hospitalized with injuries, at least 10 of them in critical condition, officials said.

The cause of the predawn crash was unclear. Authorities quickly suspended all Bek Air and Fokker 100 flights in Kazakhstan while the investigation got underway.

In this handout photo provided by the Emergency Situations Ministry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, police and rescuers work on the side of a plane crash near Almaty International Airport, outside Almaty, Kazakhstan, Friday, Dec. 27, 2019.

Associated Press

One survivor said the plane started shaking less than two minutes after takeoff.

"At first, the left wing jolted really hard, then the right.

The plane continued to

gain altitude, shaking quite severely, and then went down," Aslan Nazaraliyev told The Associated Press by phone.

Government officials said

the jet underwent de-icing before the flight, but Nazaraliyev recalled that its wings were covered in ice, and passengers who used emergency exits over

the wings slipped and fell.

The weather in Almaty was clear, with temperatures just below freezing. The plane was flying to NurSultan, the capital formerly known as Astana.

Video footage showed the front of the broken-up fuselage rammed against a building and the rear of the plane lying in a field next to the airport.

Passengers who survived may have been saved by the fact that the plane crashed at a lower speed and from a lower altitude because it was taking off, and it came down in terrain that may have eased the impact.

"The lower the speed, the lower the energy, and the fact that it lands on things that might not tear it up so much" all play a role, said Adrian Young, senior aviation consultant at the To70 consultancy in the Netherlands.

Cold weather may have helped prevent fire, Young said.q

Iran-backed groups accuse Iraqi president of caving to US

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Iransupported groups on Friday blasted Iraq's president for not naming their preferred prime minister candidate, saying his decision was at the behest of the United States, and warned him to not name anyone who could be "an agent of the Americans."

In refusing to appoint Fatah-backed candidate Asaad al-Eidani on Thursday, President Barham Salih said he was responding to broad opposition by antigovernment protesters who have flooded the streets for nearly three months to demand the overthrow of Iraq's entire political class.

The protesters, who accuse the government of corruption and mismanagement, poured into the streets Wednesday demanding an independent candidate for prime minister.

But in a statement Friday, the Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataeb Hezbollah, called

A protester walks past a poster with a defaced picture of the governor of the southern Basra province Asaad al-Eidani and Arabic that reads "rejected by the people," during the ongoing protests, in Tahrir square, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019.

Associated Press

Salih's move "suspicious."

"We know that he is carrying out an American will that aims to pull the country toward chaos," the

statement said.

Legislator Odai Awad, a member of the Iranbacked Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous,

called Salih a coward in an interview with a local TV station and said "every Iraqi should spit in the face of the president for what he

did."

The Iran-affiliated groups said the president had violated the constitution "by refusing to carry out his duties" to name the candidate chosen by parliament's largest bloc.

Since last year's elections, however, politicians have disagreed over which bloc is the largest, a dispute that has led them to twice miss the deadline for naming a new premier.

There are two main blocs in the Iraqi Parliament: Sairoon, led by populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; and Fatah, headed by Hadi al-Amiri. But the numbers in the blocs have continued to change since the elections, with an unknown number of lawmakers leaving some blocs and joining others. In a statement Friday, protesters called the Iran-backed groups "blocs of corruption" that are doing everything they can to ensure that sects and ethnic groups hold the country's top posts. q

WORLD NEWS A11

Saturday 28 December 2019

S Korean court rejects arrest of ex-justice minister

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court on Friday rejected a request to arrest a key ally of President Moon Jae-in who is being investigated over allegations of corruption and power abuse, saying he was unlikely to flee or destroy evidence.

But in a rare comment on a suspect who has yet to be convicted, the Seoul Eastern District Court stated that the case of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk involved criminal acts of bad nature.

Prosecutors have claimed that Cho, while serving as Moon's senior secretary for civil affairs in 2017, abused his power by blocking a government inspection into corruption allegations surrounding former Financial Services Commission Director-General Yoo Jaesoo, another official close to Moon's ruling party.

Yoo, who later became

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, center, speaks upon his arrival at the Seoul Eastern District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019.

Associated Press

vice mayor of the city of Busan, was arrested in November and indicted earlier this month over suspicion that he received around 49.5 million won ($42,600) in bribes from businesspeople

during his time at the financial regulator.

Cho, once considered a future presidential contender for the ruling liberals, is being separately investigated over allegations of finan-

cial crimes and academic fraud surrounding his family that led to the arrests of his wife and other relatives and sparked huge protests that dented the popularity of Moon's government.

"The nature of the criminal acts in this case is not good, but considering the suspect's testimony and attitude during the hearing, the fact that his spouse has been arrested and is on trial on a different case, the fact that it's difficult to determine that the gravity of the offense would warrant an arrest, and that the suspect has a fixed residence, it cannot be said there's a reason for an arrest based on concerns of fleeing," the court said in a statement.

Prosecutors didn't immediately say whether they would make further requests for Cho's arrest.

Moon's office said it respects the court's decision to reject the warrant and criticized prosecutors for what it described as an "unreasonable" attempt to arrest Cho. Blue House spokeswoman Ko Min-jung didn't specifically comment on the court's assessment of Cho's alleged crimes. q

Sizzling temperatures hit Australia as wildfires persist PERTH, Australia (AP) — A code red was issued in South Australia on Friday as temperatures hit 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) in the state's capital, while firefighters battling wildfires in New South Wales established containment lines in cooler conditions ahead of an expected heatwave this weekend.

South Australia last week had 86 homes destroyed after wildfires flared in catastrophic conditions, as its capital Adelaide endured a heatwave peaking at a sizzling 46 C (115 F). There was respite during the Christmas period, but oppressive conditions returned Friday and are set to continue until Monday.

The heatwave has prompted the South Australian government to declare a code red, which aims to ensure the homeless kept cool and hydrated. A code red is an extreme heat watch issued to reduce the harmful effects on the homeless. Services include

In this image made from video, smoke rises from wildfires Friday, Dec. 27, 2019, in the Blue Mountains, New South Whales, Australia.

Associated Press

shelter options and additional food services.

"Keeping vulnerable South Australians safe and well in the extreme heat forecast over the next few days is our priority," South Australian Human Services Minister Michelle Lensink said.

The fire danger rating was severe in Adelaide, while the rest of the state was mostly between high and very high.

About 1,300 firefighters in New South Wales on Friday established containment lines in cooler conditions.

Around 70 fires, however, continued to burn across the state with almost half of them not contained.

"Because these fires are large, they're complex and they're very prone to the elements. Once these weather conditions turn

around, we know we're going to see increased fire activity," New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

"So they're just giving their all to shore up protection and trying to consolidate and contain them as much as they can."

Authorities are bracing for conditions to deteriorate with Sydney forecast to hit 31 Celsius (88 F) on Sunday before reaching 35 C (95 F) on Tuesday. The city's western suburbs could reach 41 C (106 F) on Sunday.

Fire danger ratings remained very high in northwestern New South Wales, and high in Sydney.

About 5 million hectares (12.35 million acres) of land have burned nationwide over the past few months, with nine people killed and more than 950 homes destroyed. New South Wales, the country's most populous state, has received the brunt of the damage, with around 850 homes razed.q

A12 WORLD

NEWS Venezuela's poorest struggle to take care of their dead Saturday 28 December 2019

By RODRIGO ABD SCOTT SMITH SHEYLA URDANETA MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) — The last time anybody in Nerio García's family heard his voice was on a crackly call from jail outside Maracaibo, Venezuela's second city. He called from a borrowed cellphone, pleading to his brother for help.

"Tell Mother to bring me some food," García, 29, said in the 2 a.m. call, relatives later recounted.

Another call from a fellow inmate said García had stolen a gun and escaped, drawing his mother, Juana Castillo, to the overcrowded jail in Cabimas. She was desperate for answers, but was instead told to go looking on the shoreline of nearby Lake Maracaibo.

There, she found him shot between the eyes and floating in the water.

"I'm desperate," Castillo told The Associated Press, while with her son's body at a morgue near the jail. "I want to take my son home to bury him near me."

While the family may never know the truth of his death, the grisly discovery set the grief-stricken mother on a scramble to rescue her son's body from the water and to find enough money to bury him.

Death has become an overwhelming financial burden for many of Venezuela's poorest, who already struggle to find dignity in life. They scrape together food and shelter needed to get through each day, and a relative's death can become the breaking point.

The cost of transporting a body and buying a casket and burial plot for a funeral can run into the hundreds of dollars, or more. In Venezuela, most earn the minimum wage of roughly $3 a month as hyperinflation devours pay.

Some overcome the financial burden of a relative's death by renting caskets, a cheaper option than buying. Others turn to amateur morticians, who embalm bodies at home and convert wooden furniture into

A man's body lies in a coffin before being cremated at a cemetery Maracaibo, Venezuela, Nov. 23, 2019.

Associated Press

coffins.

For many in Maracaibo, Venezuela's economic crash in the last five years hit especially hard. Once a center of the nation's vast oil wealth, production under two decades of socialist rule has plummeted to a fraction of its high, taking down residents' standard of living.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó this year launched a campaign promising to oust President Nicolás Maduro and return the nation to its bygone prosperity. While the power struggle plays out, millions of Venezuelans remain caught in the middle. The poor and wealthy alike in Maracaibo live with rationed electricity, and despite the region's abundant oil, they often wait in line for days to gas up their cars.

Among life's struggles, too often comes the need to provide a relative with a funeral.

Community activist Carolina Leal has assumed the role of funeral director in her poor and often violent Maracaibo neighborhood of Altos de Milagro Norte, hoping to rid families of unnecessary misery she has seen too many times.

Leal said police only enter when they are coming to

mete out deadly street justice, while too many others die from long, agonizing illnesses such as AIDS and tuberculosis. She has also witnessed deaths from malnutrition and poisoning from people eating garbage in the street.

"This slum here has turned into a living hell," Leal said.

"Some bodies were decomposing at home because officials we asked didn't help. It's infuriating."

Leal has formed a team with two other neighbors who employ their unique skills to bring dignity to the dead. One busy month recently, Leal said she oversaw 12 funerals.

Upon learning of a death, carpenter Arturo Vielma visits the mourning family´s home, asking what wooden furniture, like a table or standalone closet, they can spare for him to build a casket.

Roberto Molero next comes to embalm the body with no training other than seeing it done during a decade that he worked as a driver at a funeral home.

This gives families time to mourn and come up with money while they make funeral arrangements before the body decomposes.

Molero's kit includes a sewing needle and thread to

stitch together faces of those killed in violent clashes with police. He charges the equivalent of $5.

"Not everyone can pay that, so some I've let go for free," Molero said. "What are you going to do if we grew up together?"

Leal's contribution stems from her former role as a socialist party enforcer. She says she has abandoned a violent past, but isn't shy about cajoling officials at the mayor's office to provide a burial place. Once, she pressed her point by bringing a coffin to city hall until officials found a grave site.

Venezuela's crisis has reshaped the funeral industry.

Funeral homes in Maracaibo said that in the last two years they have started renting caskets to families for $50. The family returns the casket and sends their loved one's body to be cremated, making it dramatically cheaper than buying a coffin for $100 to $300.

Furniture maker Sergio Morales for years crafted tables, chairs, bed frames and night dressers, but as Venezuela's crisis deepened, he began using the same wood, nails and glue to build simple wooden caskets for less than $100.

They are on display outside on the street.

The indignities of death don't quickly end. Thieves often raid graves for valuables, while public cemeteries often go abandoned, overgrown with weeds.

When families cannot afford headstones for loved ones at the Maracaibo public cemetery, each rain storm erases any sign of a fresh grave, making it impossible for them to find their loved one's plot when they return.

García's mother described how she put aside an urge to find justice for her son's death and focused rather on how she would rescue his body and bury it. With help at the lake shore, they tied him to a tree so he didn't drift away, and next told police, who pulled the body from the water and delivered it to the morgue.

The autopsy showed he was shot in the head and also in the back.

García had been jailed for two years following a family feud and was expected to go free just days after being shot in the jail, his attorney said. Instead, his mother and siblings set out borrowing money from neighbors to cover the funeral expenses.

They finally brought him home to a poor Maracaibo neighborhood, where the family lives in a halfbuilt shack made of cinder blocks. It's only partially covered by a roof and lacks glass for the windows.

They mourned over the casket, placing a plastic bottle on the ground, scrawled with the word "donations."

Incense burned to mask the smell, and his sisters took turns shooing away flies drawn to the decomposing body.

At the cemetery, they lowered the casket into a donated burial plot. His mother, shaky on her legs, stepped to the grave and placed inside three small loaves of bread and a malt drink.

She said this was her way of feeding her son, satisfying the hunger he had cried about in his final call home hours before his death.q

A13

Saturday 28 December 2019

Time doesn’t stay in a bottle

By Melissa Martin OHIO, US — We like to romanticize a message in a bottle as it ebbs and flows with ocean waves. When the bottle finds a person, the message is read. But the passage of time does not slow down or speed up. Time on a continent, the mainland, an island, a country, or a city is still just ‘time.’ Time in an airplane, on a boat, a vehicle or a bicycle is still just ‘time.’

Time spent crawling, walking, running, or skipping is still just ‘time.” Time travels on.

Jim Croce was an American folk singer and songwriter. He wrote “Time in a Bottle” in 1970. He died an untimely death in 1973.

Time is an elusive creature.

The very young yearn to be older. The very old yearn to be younger. The young desire independence, ability to make decisions, and eighteenth birthday freedom. The old desire health, peace, and more birthdays.

What do the young and old have in common? Time.

We wish time would stand still during our utmost moments—but it cannot. The young want to travel into the future. The old want to travel back to the past.

Both young and old desire to change time.

Humans cannot control or boss time around. Although humans developed clocks and calendars, time serves no human being. Time ultimately becomes our master. We can manage our activities but not time.

Alas, the hands on the clock only go forward and never backward. The brain goes back in time, sort of, as we remember memories. Events, celebrations, and happenings are captured in photographs, vid-

eos, and history books, but time cannot be captured.

A sunrise and a sunset cannot be halted by humanity.

The arrow of time, a concept developed by an astrophysicist, suggested a one-way direction of time.

You can make an egg into an omelet, but you can’t turn an omelet back into an egg.

Is time an enemy to the earthly body? Or a friend to the afterlife?

“Time goes, you say? Ah no! Alas, Time stays, we go.”—Henry Austin Dobson The year 2019 will come to an end like the year before. Another year gone, but not forgotten. The past year brought births and deaths. Marriages and divorces. Graduations and retirements. Before, during, after. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. Phases, stages, ages. Tick, tick, tick. Time travels on.

People change. The passage of time doesn’t change.

The planet changes. The passage of time doesn’t change.

The universe changes. The passage of time doesn’t change.

In 2020, we still only get 168 hours per week. That’s it.

No more. No less. What will you do differently with your time?

“There’s just not enough time in the day.” That’s the mantra of many people around the globe. Wakeup. Do the day. Sleep. And repeat each day until the weekend. And cram so many goings-on into two days that by Sunday night you’re exhausted. Is the to-do list too long? Backto-back obligations with no downtime is a recipe for stress. Put a no-no on that go-go.

How often do you tell your kids to “hurry up” or “keep moving?” Hushing, rushing, and shushing.

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister, a picture book, by Linda Lodding is about a child with too many activities. “Her wellmeaning, busy parents have packed her after-school hours, turning Ernestine into the over-scheduled poster child of today.”

Ernestine just wants some time to play. www.flashlightpress.com.

steal away our time from face to face relating to others.

Burst the busyness bubble with awareness that life is about balance. We can’t save time in a bottle and pour it out when in a pinch. We can save up vacation days but not time.

“Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.”—Art Buchwald q

Intense time pressure and impractical deadlines can lead to mood changes, poor decision-making, and feeling overwhelmed. What’s the cure for employment busyness and burnout? Are you too busy to find the solution?

Being more organized may help, but doesn’t slow down or stop time. We operate under the fallacy that when things settle down, we’ll have more time. Really?

We allow television and technology to

Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is an author, columnist, educator, and therapist. She lives in US.

A14 LOCAL

Saturday 28 December 2019

Urban Chic in Tropical Beach Décor:

Coral Shell Condominiums is made with Family Love

ORANJESTAD —The Caribbean is a paradisiacal place where anyone would like to own their own condo to enjoy family, retirement, sun, sand and sea, and leisure. Making the perfect choice for that perfect place in the jungle of offerings can be a hassle. Well, in case you are looking for the best in all senses, Coral Shell is a must-see. We will tell you why.

The best comes from the heart and in the case of Coral Shell Condominiums it is the owners who built this place as their own home. Actually it is their own home as they will live in one of the exclusive condominiums themselves. Marisabel and Albert are a warm, genuine, hard-working and driven-by-perfectionism and passion kind of couple. They do not only care for the luxury private residence they are building but take the environment into consideration in their concept as they are the park-keepers of the adjacent Boy Ecury Park. Aruba Today was shown around by the owner who while explaining all the beauty that surrounds us mentions he is a medical specialist in origin. That explains his accuracy with every tiny detail and his decision for only the best quality products. There are 16 apartments in the range from one, two, three, four and five bedrooms.

The building The building is unique with 2 centimeter thick marble floors, exterior façade in Dominican Coral Stone, walls with concrete blocks – not dry wall, double glass windows with UV protection and sound control, a double system of air conditioning, sound control and waterproof mat under marble floor to isolate noise, fire and gas detectors in all apartments, laundry rooms and each kitchen has an InSinkErator.

The impeccable architecture is inspiring; appearing to have an art-museum vibe. Correct, says Albert, the architect is inspired by Spanish artist Gaudi among others. The walls seem to flow in a natural way and fit perfectly into the sun-lit place and surrounding colors of nature.

The kitchens are all 100% Italian brand and even installed by Italians who call this place “Pala-

zzo”. “They said to have installed kitchens all over the world but never saw a condominium residence where all is matched so perfectly,” the owners say. “I can say with pride that this is the most exclusive condominium in the Caribbean.”

The location You have a priceless view offering 180 degrees that gives you a turquoise ocean, big blue sky, lush green gardens and the Linear Park urban walkway. Open air, sea, sand, city and more sea … all in one. Stroll in Boy Ecury Park, play with the children in Linear Park, take a dive in the ocean just in front of you and walk to one of the many restaurants that are close-by. Coral Shell has all the options in one. Most of the time you have to make a choice between a seaside location, urban environment or inland greens but here you have it all. Did we mention you have your private parking under the roof? Also there is round-the clock security guard and video surveillance. How about the Infinity pool with hydro jets and the outdoor terrace with bar, sun deck, fitness center and multipurpose court?

Now we did. You must see it for yourself to experience the magic of Coral Shell, the owners will be honored to guide you around! q

Please contact to visit: Phone: +297 587 9170 or +297 594 6745

or +58 4123277132 Email: Marisabeldaboin@hotmail.com or Deluxerealestatenv@gmail.com L.G. Smith Boulevard w/ Beatrixstraat 20 Oranjestad www.coralshellaruba.com

LOCAL A15

Saturday 28 December 2019

Cheers for the New Year at Hilton’s New Year’s Eve Grand Fiesta PALM BEACH — Say Goodbye to the old year and welcome the New one at Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino’s New Year’s Eve Grand Fiesta. This is a memorable, tropical event that will take place at the pool deck of the resort. A 6-hour long, non-stop, pool-side celebration includes a premium open bar from 7 P.M. to 1 A.M., including Moet & Chandon champagne and also a tropical cocktails bar that will be serving their famous cocktails invented at the Hilton Hotels from all around the world. A luxurious dinner will be served from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M., which includes traditional Christmas dishes.

Roasted Certified Angus Beef Sirloin and whole Salmon baked in flaky pastry.The extraordinary buffet will also include the innovative Risotto action station, deliciously hot dinner with Chicken Spinach Fontina Roulade Dijonaisse, Rosemary Thyme Honey Lamb Chops, and much more. All served with exquisite sides.

For the NewYear’s Eve Grand Fiesta buffet, the culinary team will be preparing a wide selection of appetizers such as soups, gourmet salads, fresh salads, sushi rolls and tuna tataki. A delicious anti-pasto and an assorted variety deli cuts, raw seafood bar on ice, including Seafood Ceviche, Smoked Salmon, Oysters Rockefeller and Oysters, combined with a mouthwatering carving station serving

Boogie down the night away on the tunes of a band and entertainment by a DJ. Countdown to the New Year and experience the most spectacular firework show on the beach.

A perfect dinner is not complete without dessert. Try the Ponche Kuba Cheese Cake or the Deluxe Petit Fours, Key Lime Tarts, Eggnog Crème Brulee, Mousse Shooters, Homemade Tiramisu, Cheese Cake and Cashew Cake. So tempting!

Tickets for this 6-hour long celebration are availbale at the Aruba Tower Lobby. For reservations +297 526 6612 or send an email at hiltonconcierge@depalmtours.com.q

A16 LOCAL

Saturday 28 December 2019

Aruba to Me ORANJESTAD – Aruba Today likes to welcome readers to participate in our newspaper. You can see that in our Honored Guestpublications, specials like on Valentine’s Day and on other occasions. Throughout the year you are always welcome to send us your vacation picture(s) together with completing the sentence: Aruba to me is …….. (Email: news@arubatoday.com) For today’s newspaper we received a great picture from Brenda D’Andrea of Westerville, Ohio. She wrote to us:

“Aruba to me is…. A piece of heaven on earth” To Brenda and her husband, Day or night, Aruba is a delight.

We also receive a great picture from Sandra Sanderson. She wrote to us: “Aruba to me is…. our go to place to relax and escape the challenges life offers at home.

2019 has been a tough year so we decided to spend Christmas here which has been wonderful.

A17

Saturday 28 December 2019

Russian National Anti-doping Agency RUSADA head Yuri Ganus arrives to attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 27, 2019.

Associated Press

KAWHI-TE GOOD!

Russia confirms it will appeal 4-year Olympic ban MOSCOW (AP) — Russia confirmed Friday that it will appeal its four-year Olympic ban for manipulating doping data.

The Russian anti-doping agency, known as RUSADA, sent a formal letter disagreeing with the sanctions imposed earlier this month by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The case is now heading to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Next year's Olympics in Tokyo will be the third consecutive edition of the games preceded by a legal battle over Russian doping issues.

RUSADA said it “disputes the (WADA) notice in its entirety,” including the evidence of tampering with the data archive. The data was handed over in January and was meant to clear up past cover-ups, but has led to more legal tussles.

Continued on Page 23

Kawhi Leonard is the AP’s male athlete of 2019 Los Angeles Clippers' Kawhi Leonard dunks during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019, in San Antonio.

Associated Press Page 19

A18 SPORTS

Saturday 28 December 2019

Competitors, back, race past spectators at the start of the 75th Sydney Hobart yacht race in Sydney Harbour, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019.

Associated Press

Italy's Dominik Paris, winner of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, celebrates on the podium with second-placed Switzerland's Beat Feuz, left, and third-placed Austria's Matthias Mayer, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Dec. 27, 2019.

Associated Press

'I own this track': Paris feels at home on Stelvio course BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Dominik Paris mastered the Stelvio course once again on Friday, becoming the first skier to win three consecutive downhill races on one of the World Cup's most demanding tracks.

The Italian won a shortened race with a gutsy run, defeating Switzerland's Beat Feuz and Austrian Matthias Mayer.

"I feel a bit like the owner of this track. On this track it's as if I were really at home," Paris said.

It was his 13th downhill win, and fourth in Bormio. He also triumphed in 2017 and 2018, and won the first race of his career here, in 2012.

"Each race is a new challenge. I put everything on the track to do the best possible, you never know how it ends and this is the beauty of sport," Paris said.

The race replaced the downhill that was canceled in another Italian resort, Val

Gardena, last Saturday due to heavy snowfall.

While Friday's race was reduced to 2.95 kilometers, the regular full-length 3.23K Stelvio downhill is scheduled for Saturday.

Racing in cloudy conditions on a bumpy course, Paris attacked from top to bottom, pushing all the way as he came off the ideal race line several times.

"It wasn't my best-ever run in Bormio, but for sure one of the most brutal ones. It was on the limit," said Paris, who won the super-G world title last season.

"I lost some time when I bumped against a gate," he added. "When you achieve these results, it's even more beautiful to look for the limit."

Feuz, who won the previous downhill in Beaver Creek three weeks ago, came up 0.39 seconds short, while Mayer trailed by 0.42.

The rest of the field, led by

fourth-place Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway, finished more than a second off the pace.

Feuz remained in the lead of the discipline standings with 240 points, with Paris closing in on 204.

The Italian also climbed to second in the overall World Cup standings, 30 points behind leader Henrik Kristoffersen. The Norwegian does not compete in downhills.

Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr, who won a super-G in Val Gardena last week, caught a bump at full speed and lost his left ski halfway down his run, but the Austrian avoided a crash.

Getting his third top-10 result of the season, Travis Ganong led the U.S. ski team in eighth, 1.48 off the lead. The race weekend in Bormio will be concluded by an Alpine combined event on Sunday.q

Comanche wins 75th Sydney to Hobart race, InfoTrack in 2nd HOBART, Australia (AP) — Comanche won the 75th edition of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Saturday by claiming line honors for the third time.

The Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant-skippered super maxi made the most of strong overnight winds to cross the River Derwent finish line just after 7:30 a.m. local time.

Comanche earlier broke away from a five-strong pack of super maxis down Tasmania's east coast having taken a wider route across Bass Strait on Friday.

She stalled at one stage on a windless River Derwent before crossing the line in a time of 1 day, 18 hours, 30 minutes and 24 seconds. " That was dramatic. That was 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back. It was really very stressful," Cooney said.

InfoTrack, which was the first yacht out of Sydney Harbour on Thursday, finished second, about 45 minutes behind Comanche. The three other super maxis filled out the top five placings — nine-time line honors champion Wild Oats XI was third, Scallywag fourth, just 38 seconds behind, and Black Jack fifth.

Comanche's celebrations were subdued at Hobart's Constitution Dock after several nights of intense racing.

The yacht fell behind on Friday morning but regained the lead in the afternoon

after taking the wider Bass Strait route to pick up winds.

"It was a long night. Everybody is pretty tired," Cooney said. "We treated the race as a sprint, we didn't take too many breaks. We wanted crew on deck all the time. It was relief more than elation."

Comanche ran into more problems near Tasman Island, where an unknown object wrapped around the yacht's rudder rendered it immobile.

"We were in a little bit of drama for a short period of time," Cooney said.

Comanche's previous wins were in 2015 and 2017, the latter coming in race-record time of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes after Wild Oats XI was stripped of the title in a post-race protest.

Minerva became the fleet's third retirement overnight, reducing the number of yachts in the race to 154.q

SPORTS A19

Saturday 28 December 2019

The Fun Guy: Kawhi Leonard is the AP’s male athlete of 2019

By TIM REYNOLDS He was the Fun Guy. The board man who got paid.

He overcame injury to reclaim his rightful place as one of the very best basketball players on the planet. He conquered the NBA world for a second time, bringing a championship to Canada. And then he joined the Los Angeles Clippers, ready to start anew.

“What it do, baby?”

For Kawhi Leonard in 2019, there finally is an answer to his infamous question: He did everything, without talking much.

Leonard is The Associated Press’ male athlete of the year for 2019, comfortably winning a vote by AP member sports editors and AP beat writers. He becomes the fifth NBA player to win the award, joining Larry Bird (1986), three-time recipient Michael Jordan (1991 through 1993), three-time recipient LeBron James (2013, 2016, 2018) and Stephen Curry (2015). The award has been made annually since 1931, and Simone Biles was announced Thursday as the women’s recipient for 2019.

Leonard was the NBA Finals MVP for the second time, leading Toronto to its first championship — five years after he first smudged his fingerprints on both trophies with the San Antonio Spurs. He wound up leaving the Raptors in the summer for the Clippers, returning to his native Southern California and turning the historically woeful franchise into one of the top teams in the league.

“The ride was fun,” Leonard said earlier this month on his return trip to Toronto, summing up his year with the Raptors. “I had a great time.”

By now, it’s no secret that Leonard is a man of few words.

He is not a man of few accomplishments.

He received more than twice as many points in the balloting as any of the other 18 vote-getters. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was second, followed by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback

Patrick Mahomes, tennis star Rafael Nadal and reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Kawhi’s pretty steady,” said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, Leonard’s former coach with the Spurs. “He’s not a big talker. He doesn’t try to find the limelight or anything like that. He’s just a good guy who wanted to be good.”

Somewhere along the way, he became great.

Leonard was the best player in last season’s playoffs, after a regular season where he missed 22 games mostly because of what has become known as “load management” — the fancy term used on nights when he would sit out to rest. Leonard missed most of the 2017-18 season with the Spurs because of a complicated leg issue, and the NBA said last month that he is still dealing with “an ongoing injury to the patella tendon in his left knee.”

He was limping at times in the playoffs, but it didn’t matter. He averaged 30.5 points and 9.1 rebounds in the postseason, his 732 points in last year’s playoffs ranking as the third-most in any NBA playoff year. In the biggest times, he came up the biggest — 15 points in the fourth quarter to carry Toronto past Milwaukee in the series-turning Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, and 17 points in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals against Golden State to put the Raptors on the cusp of the title.

And, of course, he made The Shot: the four-bounceoff-the-rim, at-the-buzzer jump shot from the corner to beat Philadelphia in Game 7 of the second round.

“Without a doubt,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse mused during the playoff run, “the best thing about this thing is that somehow I wound up on the sideline getting to watch this guy play up close.”

Leonard performed at that lofty level even while dealing with a major distraction.

Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James, left, and Los Angeles Clippers' Kawhi Leonard (2) chase the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019, in Los Angeles.

The Clippers won 111-106.

Associated Press

During the NBA Finals, it was revealed that Leonard filed a federal lawsuit against Nike and claimed the footwear and apparel giant was blocking him from using a logo that he believes he owns.

“There’s a lot of guys that are like, ‘Look, I’m going to find a way to win and in a seven-game series I’m going to get the best of you in the end,’” said Miami’s Jimmy Butler, who was with Philadelphia last season and saw up-close what makes Leonard tick. “But

he’s definitely up there.

Your respect just grows.

Push, pull, whatever he’s got to do. ... He’s going to find a way.”

During the playoffs, Leonard’s “I’m a fun guy” quote that he offered on his arrival in Toronto became a meme and a marketing slogan. So did his “Board man gets paid” line. And after the Raptors won the title, Serge Ibaka’s video of Leonard went viral — they were in the back of a car, on the way to the parade, and Ibaka teed him up for

the next unforgettable saying. “Fun Guy, what’s up baby?” Ibaka asked.

The answer was classic Leonard. Short, sweet, to the point.

“I’m playing to have fun and try to be the best player I can be,” Leonard said.

“I’m happy with myself and what I have done in my career and I’m just going to keep on from there. It’s not about me being famous or want to have more fame than those guys. It’s about me playing basketball and having fun on the floor.”q

A20 SPORTS

Saturday 28 December 2019

Doncic nets 24 in return from injury, Mavs beat Spurs 102-98

Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic (77) battles San Antonio Spurs guard Bryn Forbes (11) for space during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019, in Dallas.

Associated Press

By The Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic returned to the Dallas lineup after missing four games due to injury and scored 24 points, helping the Mavericks beat the San Antonio Spurs 102-98 on Thursday night.

Doncic finished with 10 rebounds and eight assists and barely missed adding to his NBA-leading total of eight triple doubles. He last played on Dec. 14 against Miami, when he sprained his right ankle.

San Antonio rallied from a 102-85 deficit by scoring the game's final 13 points.

After Doncic missed two free throws, the Spurs' Derrick White missed a 3-point attempt with six seconds left and Doncic got the rebound.

The Mavericks (20-10) pulled within half a game of idle first-place Houston in the Southwest Division.

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 17 points, Kristaps Porzingis and Dorian Finney-Smith each had 13, and Delon Wright added 12 off the bench. Dwight Powell's 11 points all came in the first half.

DeMar DeRozan led San Antonio with 21 points, 16 in the second half. Rudy Gay scored 18, LaMarcus Aldridge had 17 and White finished with 10.

KNICKS 94, NETS 82 NEW YORK (AP) — Julius Randle had 33 points and eight rebounds, and the Knicks forced the Nets into the worst shooting performance in the NBA this season.

Brooklyn finished 21 of 78 (26.9%) from the field. Chicago had the previous worst shooting game this season when it hit 29.9% against Toronto exactly two months earlier.

Marcus Morris added 22 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Elfrid Payton scored 13 points as New York won for the first time in three meetings with Brooklyn this season.

Spencer Dinwiddie scored 25 points but was only 5 for 15 for the Nets.

PISTONS 132, WIZARDS 102 DETROIT (AP) — Blake Griffin had 14 points and a season-high 11 rebounds and Detroit routed Washington in a matchup of shorthanded teams.

The Pistons were missing Reggie Jackson (back) and Luke Kennard (knee), while Griffin, Bruce Brown and Derrick Rose played through injuries.

John Wall, Davis Bertans, Isaiah Thomas, Thomas Bryant and Rui Hachimura sat out for Washington.

Detroit got 14 points and 10 rebounds from Andre Drummond. Christian Wood finished with 22 points and Todd Frazier scored 18.

Anzejs Pasecniks scored a career-high 17 in his fifth NBA game to lead the Wizards. Bradley Beal had 15 points.

GRIZZLIES 110, THUNDER 97 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Jonas Valanciunas scored 21 points, Jaren Jackson Jr. added 20 and Memphis held on to the lead this time against Oklahoma City in the second meeting between the teams in eight days.

Tyus Jones added 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting for Memphis, which blew a 24-point third-quarter lead during its last visit to Oklahoma City on Dec. 18 and lost 126-

122.

That started a stretch in which the Grizzles dropped three out of four games.

Chris Paul had 23 points and 11 assists, Shai GilgeousAlexander scored 21 and Dennis Schroder added 20 points for Oklahoma City, which had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Brandon Clarke scored 13 points for Memphis, going 5 of 6 from the floor.

Steven Adams scored 16 points for the Thunder.

JAZZ 121, TRAIL BLAZERS 115 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 28 of his 35 points in the second half to power Utah over Portland.

Rudy Gobert, who had 16 points and 15 rebounds, forced Carmelo Anthony into an air ball with 22.4 seconds remaining and blocked Damon Lillard's driving shot with 5.2 seconds left to quell the Trail Blazers' furious fourth-quarter rally.

Lillard scored 34 points, including a pair of 30-foot contested 3-pointers in the final minutes, and CJ McCollum tallied 17 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter for the Blazers (14-18), who have dropped two straight after winning four in a row.

TIMBERWOLVES 105, KINGS 104, 2OT SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Andrew Wiggins scored the first basket of the second overtime and then fed Robert Covington for another score, and Minnesota ended its 11-game losing streak by beating Sacramento.

Wiggins finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Gorgui Dieng had 21 points and 15 rebounds, and Covington scored 19 for the Timberwolves.

Minnesota hadn't won since Nov. 27 before limiting Sacramento to 11 points in the fourth quarter and then outlasting the Kings in two overtimes. The Wolves did it without Karl-Anthony Towns, who missed his fifth straight game with a left knee sprain.

Richaun Holmes had 20 points and a career-high 18 rebounds for the Kings.q

SPORTS A21

Saturday 28 December 2019

49ers-Seahawks showdown on Sunday night highlights Week 17

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr. AP Pro Football Writer The return of Beast Mode.

A division title on the line.

Possible home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

Those are the intriguing story lines of the juiciest matchup of the NFL's final week of the regular season as the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks square off in a Sunday night showdown that will have a postseason feel.

The 49ers (12-3) travel to Seattle to take on Russell Wilson and the Seahawks (11-4), with the winner capturing the NFC West. San Francisco would clinch home-field advantage throughout by winning, while Seattle could host until the Super Bowl with a victory and losses by both Green Bay and New Orleans.

"We know this is going to be a hostile environment, 'Sunday Night Football,' so, can't wait for it," 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said.

The loser of this matchup would enter the playoffs with an NFC wild-card berth.

"It's a very special week for us," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "It's the last week of the season, playing for everything, for a division and all that. We're very fortunate to be in that situation. It is what we aim for. It's always what we look toward and we always wonder if the chance to do something like this is going to happen at home or on the road.

"We're thrilled we'll be here."

CenturyLink Field will have a familiar face coming back "home" in running back Marshawn Lynch, who re-signed with Seattle on Monday after injuries to Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny left a void in the Seahawks' backfield.

"It's a great feeling to be back," Lynch said in a 15-second news conference with reporters.

Never one to be chatty

off the field, Lynch made his marks — literally — with his tough, physical "Beast Mode" style of running. The 33-year-old Lynch hasn't played since midway through last season with Oakland, but is expected to play for Seattle on Sunday in the team's biggest game of the season.

"Only one person can pull this off and that's No. 24," linebacker K.J. Wright said of Lynch, who played for the Seahawks from 201015. "Back in the building, it feels good. When I heard the news I was like, 'Perfect.' He's just the ultimate teammate, cool dude, just ballin'. I'm glad to have him back."

GREEN BAY (12-3) at DETROIT (3-11-1) The Packers will certainly keep an eye on the 49ersSeahawks game, especially if they beat the lowly Lions and clinch a firstround bye. Aaron Rodgers and Co. would also wrap up home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs if San Francisco loses.

Rodgers will also be going for an individual milestone.

He needs 321 yards passing to become the sixth player in NFL history with eight seasons of at 4,000.

Meanwhile, the Lions have lost eight straight games, the team's longest skid since finishing the 2012 season with eight consecutive losses. Detroit is 0-7 since losing quarterback Matthew Stafford and would finish with the second-worst record in the NFL with a loss and a win by Washington over Dallas.

NEW ORLEANS (12-3) at CAROLINA (5-10) Drew Brees and the Saints are another team whose playoff travel plans could be affected by the game on Sunday night. New Orleans can clinch homefield advantage in the NFC with a win and losses or ties by either San Francisco or Green Bay. The Saints could also do it with a tie and losses by both the 49ers and Packers.

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, left, looks across at quarterback Russell Wilson during warmups at the NFL football team's practice facility Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2019, in Renton, Wash.

Associated Press

Speaking of Brees, he has completed an NFL-high 75.3% of his passes this season, which puts him on pace to eclipse his singleseason record 74.4% from last year. He also enters as the career leader in yards passing with 77,163, and TD passes with 544 — five ahead of New England's Tom Brady.

The Panthers, who'll be looking for a new coach after Ron Rivera was fired, have lost seven straight and turn again to rookie quarterback Will Grier to make his second NFL start. Christian McCaffery, whose 109 receptions are an NFL record for a running back, needs 67 yards receiving to become only the third player in league history with 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season.

PHILADELPHIA (8-7) at NEW YORK GIANTS (4-11) The soaring Eagles have won three straight and can clinch the NFC East with a win over the division-rival Giants.

Philadelphia has beaten New York six consecutive times, and 10 of 11, so it would make sense for the Eagles to be confident about their chances. Philly could still win the division with a loss — as long as Dallas also loses at home to Washington.

The Giants have won two in a row overall, and rookie Daniel Jones is coming throwing a career-best five touchdowns in an over-

time win over the Redskins.

Jones' 23 TD passes are a franchise record for a rookie despite him playing in only 12 games.

WASHINGTON (3-12) at DALLAS (7-8) The Cowboys whiffed on a chance to control their playoff scenario with their clunker at Philadelphia.

Dallas now needs to beat the Redskins at home — and hope the Eagles stumble on the road against the New York Giants.

Coach Jason Garrett enters the game with his future with the Cowboys uncertain after a 3-0 start with big expectations was overshadowed by a 4-8 stretch that featured two threegame skids.

Dallas has won eight of its last 10 against the Redskins, who'll have Case Keenum at quarterback after Dwayne Haskins was hurt last week. Keenum hasn't started since sustaining a concussion on Oct. 24 at Minnesota.

TENNESSEE (8-7) at HOUSTON (10-5) The Texans have already wrapped up the AFC South, winning the division for the fourth time in five games.

But they'll take on a Titans team trying to earn a second playoff berth in three seasons.

Tennessee is in if it wins — and would ensure the team's fourth straight winning season, its longest stretch since 1987-93 when the franchise was in Hous-

ton. The Titans, who have lost seven consecutive games at the Texans, could still make the postseason with a loss, but would also need Pittsburgh to lose and Indianapolis lose or tie.

A win for Deshaun Watson and the Texans would give them consecutive 11-victory seasons for the first time in franchise history.

PITTSBURGH (8-7) at BALTIMORE (13-2) The Ravens have already clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC and will rest several starters, including quarterback Lamar Jackson and running back Mark Ingram.

That will put their franchisebest 11-game winning streak in jeopardy against a Steelers team still in the playoff hunt.

Pittsburgh, which will start Devlin "Duck" Hodges for the fifth straight game, has a few postseason scenarios, but the easiest has them beating the Ravens and having Tennessee lose at Houston. If they make it, the Steelers would become only the 15th team since 1970 to reach the playoffs after opening a season 1-4.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS (5-10) at KANSAS CITY (114) Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs can still earn the AFC’s No. 2 overall seed and a first-round playoff bye with a victory over the Chargers and a loss by New England to the Dolphins.

Continued on Next Page

A22 HEALTH

Saturday 28 December 2019

In this Oct. 13, 2019, file photo Baltimore Ravens quarterback Robert Griffin III works out prior to an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Baltimore. It will be Griffin's first NFL start since 2016 on Sunday, Dec. 29.

Associated Press Continued from Previous Page

Kansas City, which has won four straight AFC West titles, is 10-1 in its last 11 against Los Angeles, the lone loss coming last season at Arrowhead Stadium.

There could be some extra motivation for the Chargers, who might have Philip Rivers under center for the final time. His contract expires after the season and he's having arguably the worst year of his career with 24 turnovers, including 18 interceptions that tie him for second most in the NFL. MIAMI (4-11) at NEW ENGLAND (12-3) Tom Brady and the Patriots have already clinched the AFC East for the 11th straight season, and a win over the division-rival Dolphins would give them a first-round playoff bye for the 10th year in a row.

A victory would also give New England eight 13-win seasons, one behind San Francisco in NFL history. But, wait ... there's more. The Patriots have a chance to sweep their division opponents (Dolphins, Bills and Jets) for the third time,

joining the 2007 and '12 squads.

If you're looking for some intrigue in this one, there's maybe this: New England's top-ranked defense hasn't allowed a 300-yard passer in 24 straight games, but could be tested by Miami's Ryan Fitzpatrick. Last week, Fitzpatrick joined Dan Marino as the only players in franchise history to throw for 400 yards and four touchdowns in a game.

OAKLAND (7-8) at DENVER (6-9) Jon Gruden's guys still have a long-shot chance at making the playoffs. No, really, they do. But the Raiders need a ton of help to make it to the postseason for the second time since 2002.

First off, Oakland needs to beat Denver, of course.

Then the Raiders need losses by Tennessee and Pittsburgh; a victory by Indianapolis; and at least one win by New England, Chicago, Detroit or the Chargers.

Whew. Got at all that?

The Broncos' best defense — well, other than Von Mill-

er — might be the weather.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has lost nine straight when the temperature is 50 degrees or below. The forecast in Denver on Sunday is expected to be a high of 36 degrees.

ARIZONA (5-9-1) at LOS ANGELES RAMS (8-7) So long, Coliseum.

The Rams, who will wrap up a disappointing season, play their final game at the 96-year-old stadium before moving into SoFi Stadium in Inglewood next season.

The Rams are looking to secure a third consecutive winning season for the first time since 1999-2001 when the franchise was in St. Louis. But this one would be hollow considering the Rams were in the Super Bowl a year ago.

Arizona could be without rookie quarterback Kyler Murray (hamstring injury).

The Cardinals will also have to contend with some matchup history: Rams coach Sean McVay has never lost to Arizona, going 5-0, and Los Angeles has scored at least 31 points and allowed no more than 16 in each of those games — which is unmatched in any five-game rivalry stretch in NFL history.

CHICAGO (7-8) at MINNESOTA (10-5) The Vikings are locked into the sixth seed in the NFC after clinching a playoff berth for the third time in six seasons under coach Mike Zimmer.

Minnesota could reach some rare territory with a win, which would get the Vikings to 11 for just the fourth time in the last 19 seasons.

The Bears had a big-time letdown a year after win-

ning the NFC North at 124, and will miss the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years. Despite that, Matt Nagy (19-12) can pass George Halas for the most wins by a Bears coach in his first two seasons with a victory Sunday.

NEW YORK JETS (6-9) at BUFFALO (10-5) These teams finish the regular season together after beginning it together, with the Bills rallying from a 16-0 third-quarter deficit to win 17-16 in Week 1.

Buffalo has already clinched a playoff spot and coach Sean McDermott has said the starters will play, but they might not finish this one. A victory would give the Bills their most wins in a season since going 11-5 in 1999.

The revenge-minded Jets need a victory to avoid setting a franchise-worst streak of fourth straight seasons with double-digit losses. One sidenote: Sam Darnold's 35 TD passes are two shy of Joe Namath's franchise record for the most in a player's first two seasons.

INDIANAPOLIS (7-8) at JACKSONVILLE (5-10) Jacoby Brissett and the Colts need a win to avoid their second losing season in three years. It appeared a lock just a few weeks ago, but Indianapolis lost four straight until beating Carolina last week.

The Colts have defeated the Jaguars in two of the last three meetings, but Jacksonville has won four straight at home against Indianapolis.

Jacksonville, which is likely in for big changes in the offseason, has lost six of its last seven — all by double digits.

CLEVELAND (6-9) at CINCINNATI (1-14) The season began with huge expectations for Baker Mayfield and the Browns, but will finish in bitter disappointment as Cleveland extends the NFL's longest current postseason drought to 17 years.

The spotlight is on coach Freddie Kitchens, who could be done after just one season — and a loss to the lowly Bengals could seal his fate.

The Bengals have already clinched the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft in April, but could also make some dubious franchise history. A loss would leave Cincinnati with the worst record in the team's 52 years, surpassing the 2002 squad under Dick LeBeau that went 2-14.

ATLANTA (6-9) at TAMPA BAY (7-8) A matchup of AFC South also-rans could quickly develop into a passing game clinic, with the Buccaneers ranking first in the NFL in yards passing and the Falcons third.

Not only that: The Falcons' Matt Ryan and Buccaneers' Jameis Winston are the only players with at least 10 300-yard passing games this season.

It has been a strange year for Winston, who leads the NFL with 4,908 yards passing and needs just 92 to become the first 5,000-yard passer in franchise history.

His 31 TD throws are a single-season team record, but Winston also leads the league with an eyepopping 28 interceptions.

Tampa Bay will have to make a tough decision in the offseason on Winston, who's due to become a free agent.q

Dre'Mont Jones earns top NFL honor after nearly sitting out

Denver Broncos defensive end Dre'Mont Jones (93) sacks Detroit Lions quarterback David Blough (10) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019, in Denver.

Associated Press

ARNIE STAPLETON AP Pro Football Writer ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Denver Broncos rookie defensive end Dre'Mont Jones came very close to sitting out last week's game against the Detroit Lions because of a sprained left ankle.

Good thing he didn't.

On Friday, Jones became just the third rookie in fran-

chise history to win AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors, joining linebackers D.J. Williams in 2004 and Von Miller in 2011.

"That was dope. I'm happy for him," Miller said. "A rookie? Straight off an injury?

That was definitely dope."

Jones returned to the Broncos' lineup after missing a game at Kansas City and he maded five tackles and

2½ sacks in spearheading a Denver defense that limited the Lions to 191 total yards in a 27-1 7 Broncos victory.

"I was pretty close" to not playing, Jones said after practice Friday. "To be honest, it was a game-time decision. I got there early so I could work out early and see how I feel and ... it turned out OK."q

SPORTS A23

Saturday 28 December 2019

Russian National Anti-doping Agency RUSADA head Yuri Ganus shows a book of international standards while speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 27, 2019.

Associated Press Continued from Page 17

RUSADA's own CEO, Yuri Ganus, attached his own note of protest to Friday's letter. Ganus is critical of Russian officials and had disagreed with the decision to appeal. He was overruled by his agency's founders, which include some of Russia's most influential sports leaders.

The WADA sanctions ban the use of the Russian team name, flag or anthem at a range of major sports competitions over the next four years, including next year's Olympics and the 2022 soccer World Cup. Ganus said he believes any appeal has little chance of success and could even lead to harsher sanctions, including a ban of all Russian athletes, who under the current ban are allowed to compete as neutrals.

"There is a possibility of entering the case new players which may demand from the court not to soften the sanctions but to toughen them," Ganus said. "The sanctions regime that is in place against the Russian sport is not full, it is not a 100 percent. There were greater sanctions, up to a ban of all athletes."

Russians will be allowed to compete in Tokyo as unaffiliated athletes if they pass a vetting process that examines their history of drug testing, and possible involvement in cover-ups at the lab.

That has prompted anger from some Western athletes and organizations like the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which wanted a blanket ban on Russian

athletes.

The appeal was widely expected with Russian President Vladimir Putin having branded the ban "unfair."

RUSADA's supervisory board voted Dec. 19 to file an arbitration case with CAS in Switzerland after WADA ruled Russia had manipulated doping laboratory data to cover up past offenses. Putin has said it was not fair to threaten Russia with more doping-related punishment, and that any sanctions should be on an individual basis. "I think it is not just unfair but not corresponding to common sense and law," Putin said.

After a panel of three CAS arbitrators is chosen, a verdict will be issued within three months.

Putin added that WADA's recommended four-year ban on Russia hosting major sports competitions would have little effect, pointing to the 2022 men's volleyball world championships as an event Russia intends to keep.

WADA demands events are moved unless it's "legally or practically impossible" to do so, which could create a loophole for event organizers who don't want to break financial commitments. That ban already doesn't apply to next year's European Championship soccer games in St. Petersburg or the 2021 Champions League final, both of which are exempt because they're continental, not world, championships.

Ganus has said he believes the editing took place, and he said a hearing reveal further evidence of data manipulation.q

Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (88) celebrates with teammate Brent Seabrook (7) on the bench after scoring a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2019, in Chicago.

Associated Press

Blackhawks moving on without Seabrook, de Haan

By JAY COHEN AP Sports Writer CHICAGO (AP) — Reality set in for Jonathan Toews when he got to the Chicago Blackhawks' locker room Friday morning.

Brent Seabrook's stall was empty.

"Day 1, pretty much. He's not around," Toews said, "and you notice it right away."

Seabrook has been ruled out for the rest of the season after years of physical play finally caught up to the steady defenseman, who had right shoulder surgery on Friday. The 34-year-old Seabrook then will have surgery on his right hip in January and left hip in February.

The Blackhawks also will be without Calvin de Haan for the rest of the year. The 28-year-old defenseman had his own right shoulder surgery on Friday.

Seabrook and de Haan were placed on long-term injured reserve, creating significant salary-cap space, but leaving Chicago with a huge void on the back end.

"From the (coaching) perspective, we're focused on the players we have and find a way to get it done," coach Jeremy Colliton said. "But of course those

guys are really big parts of the group, both on and off the ice. A lot of leadership and solid, dependable-type players, which, of course, we're going to miss."

De Haan was acquired in a June trade with Carolina. He had surgery on the same shoulder last offseason.

Colliton said both defensemen are expected to be ready for training camp next year. But in the meantime, a run of injuries is making it more difficult for last-place Chicago to work its way into the the playoff race.

Brandon Saad is expected to miss another three weeks after he hurt his right ankle during Chicago's 4-1 victory at Winnipeg on Dec. 19. Fellow forwards Andrew Shaw and Drake Caggiula are on LTIR due to concussions, though Caggiula has been skating and could return soon. Rookie defenseman Adam Boqvist will miss Friday night's game against the New York Islanders because of a right shoulder injury.

"I don't manage expectations," Colliton said. "We expect to win. We expect to compete, give ourselves a chance with how to we play."

The 6-foot-3 Seabrook has been a key player and leader for Chicago for more than a decade. He has 103 goals and 361 assists in 1,114 games since his NHL debut in 2005, plus 20 goals and 39 assists in 123 playoff appearances.

He helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

"Such a huge part of our room," forward Patrick Kane said. "So hopefully he gets his injuries fixed and comes back better than ever." Seabrook was a healthy scratch for the third time this season when Chicago lost 4-1 to Colorado on Dec. 18. The Blackhawks then announced the next day he was undergoing further medical evaluation.

Seabrook, who is under contract through the 202324 season at an average annual value of $6,875,000, missed a total of nine games over the previous six seasons.

"He's battled through these injuries for a long time," defenseman Duncan Keith said. "Anybody else, they probably would have been missing a lot more time than that over the course of the last several seasons.

It shows the kind of mentality and the type of person that he is."q

A24 TECHNOLOGY

Saturday 28 December 2019

Federal study finds race, gender affect face-scanning tech

By MATT O'BRIEN A study by a U.S. agency has found that facial recognition technology often performs unevenly based on a person’s race, gender or age.

But the nuanced report published Thursday is unlikely to allay the concerns of critics who worry about bias in face-scanning applications that are increasingly being adopted by law enforcement, airports and a variety of businesses.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been studying facial recognition for nearly two decades, but this is the first time it has investigated demographic differences in how face-scanning algorithms are able to identify people.

The study was prompted in part by growing concern among lawmakers and privacy advocates that biased results in commercial face recognition software could entrench racial discrimination in the criminal justice system and elsewhere.

The report cautions against “incomplete” previous research alleging biased facial recognition that has alarmed the public, but also confirms similar trends showing higher error rates for women, the youngest and oldest people, and for certain racial groups depending on which image database or software is being used.

“There is a wide range of performance and there’s certainly work to be done,” said Craig Watson, manag-

In this Dec. 4, 2019, file photo commuters pass through the World Trade Center in New York.

Associated Press

er of NIST’s research group that studies biometric technology. “The main message is don’t try to generalize the results across all the technology. Know your use case, the algorithm that’s being used.”

NIST, which is a part of the Commerce Department, tested the algorithms of 99 mostly commercial soft-

ware providers that voluntarily submitted their technology for review. It ran those algorithms on millions of FBI mugshots, visa application photos and other government-held portrait images such as those taken at border crossings.

Microsoft was among the major tech companies that participated in the re-

search, along with dozens of lesser-known video surveillance providers and numerous China-based companies such as SenseTime, Hikvision and Tencent. Amazon, which markets facescanning software to U.S. police agencies, did not participate.

Watson said that’s because Amazon’s cloud-based

software doesn’t work with NIST’s testing procedures, though the agency is in talks with the company about how to test its algorithms in the future.

The agency’s report credits two widely-cited studies of facial recognition bias

by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers for serving as a “cautionary tale” about uneven results across race and gender boundaries, though it also suggests they sowed public confusion in the way they sought to measure performance.

Joy Buolamwini, who led those studies and has urged a halt to the technology’s proliferation, said in an email Thursday that NIST’s study is “a sobering reminder that facial recognition technology has consequential technical limitations.”

“While some biometric researchers and vendors have attempted to claim algorithmic bias is not an issue or has been overcome, this study provides a comprehensive rebuttal,” she wrote.

She was echoed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which in a statement Thursday said that government agencies like the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection should take heed of the report and halt their deployment of facescanning software.

“Even government scientists are now confirming that this surveillance technology is flawed and biased,” said ACLU policy analyst Jay Stanley.q

China to complete Beidou competitor to GPS with new launches BEIJING (AP) — China said Friday its Beidou Navigation Satellite System that emulates the U.S. Global Positioning System will be competed with the launch of its final two satellites in the first half of next year.

Project director Ran Chengqi told reporters that the core of the positioning system was completed this month with the launch additional satellites bringing its total constellation to 24.

That was up from 19 the year before, making it one of rising space power China's most complex projects.

Ran described the system at a rare news conference as having "high performance indicators, new technology systems, high localization, mass production networking and a wide range of users." "Before June 2020, we plan to launch two more satellites into geostationary orbit and the Beidou-3

system will be fully completed," Ran said.

The latest launches mark the third iteration of Beidou, meaning "Big Dipper," the first of which was decommissioned in 2012. Future plans call for a smarter, more accessible and more integrated system with Beidou at its core, to come online by 2035, Ran said.

"As a major space infrastructure for China to provide public services to the

world, the Beidou system will always adhere to the development concept of 'China's Beidou, the world's Beidou, and the first-class Beidou,' serving the world and benefiting mankind," Ran said.

China's space program has developed rapidly along all lines over the past two decades and developing independent high-tech capabilities — and even dominating in fields such as

5G data processing — is a major government priority.

In 2003, China became just the third country to independently launch a manned space mission and has since constructed an experimental space station and sent up a pair of rovers to the surface of the moon. Future plans call for a fully-functioning permanent space station, a mission to mars and a possible crewed flight to the moon.

BUSINESS A25 Markets in 2019: record stocks, lower rates, so-so IPOs Saturday 28 December 2019

By ALEX VEIGA NEW YORK (AP) — On January 3, the S&P 500 sank 2.5% when Apple warned of sagging demand for the iPhone, an inauspicious start to 2019 following a 14% drubbing in last year's fourth quarter.

On January 4, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell said the central bank would be "patient" with its interest rate policy following four increases in 2018. The S&P 500 soared 3.4% and by the end of the month was up nearly 8%.

January's swing helped set the tone for a year in which the market responded to every downturn with a more sustained upswing. Along the way, stocks kept setting records — 32 of them for the S&P 500 by Dec. 20, and 19 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

By its final policy meeting in December, the Fed had completely reversed course and cut rates three times in what Powell called a preemptive move against any impact a sluggish global economy and the U.S.-China trade war might have on U.S. economic growth.

The stock market, and most Fed observers not named Trump, approved of the Fed's actions.

Investors' uncertainty over trade policy eased by December as Washington and Beijing reached a modest, interim agreement that averted a new round of tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese imports and reduced existing import taxes on about $112 billion in other Chinese goods.

While the pact left unresolved some of the thorniest issues between the two countries, investors appeared happy to have a de-escalation in trade tensions now and push off lingering concerns until 2020.

Through it all, the U.S. economy and consumers' appetite for spending remained resilient, supporting the market's record-shattering, year-end rally.

ALMOST EVERYTHING'S A WINNER Investments around the world were winners in 2019 as central banks unleashed

In this Nov. 14, 2019, file photo a pair of specialists work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Associated Press

more stimulus to bolster the global economy against the damage created by President Donald Trump's trade war. Not only did U.S. stocks rise, so did highquality bonds, low-quality bonds and foreign stocks.

Among the few losers: junk bonds with the very lowest credit ratings, but a better performance from bonds with bad but not the worst ratings meant high-yield indexes still generally made gains. ___ KEEPS ON TICKING The U.S. economy withstood a number of challenges in 2019. President Trump's trade war with China intensified as both sides increased tariffs. Fears of recession spiked in late summer and fall as exports fell and businesses, facing higher costs on imported goods, cut back spending on new machinery and equipment. Overseas economies also stumbled, with Germany nearly falling into recession and growth in the U.K. slowing amid Brexit uncertainty. Still, the U.S. consumer kept spending as the unemployment rate hit a 50-year low and wage growth picked up for workers outside managerial ranks. Most economists expect modest growth in 2020. ___

MIXED REVIEWS For initial public offerings, 2019 was like a year in Hollywood: There were some phenomenal successes and some notable flops.

Ride-hailing giant Uber and rival Lyft were huge disappointments. Video-conference company Zoom and workplace messaging company Slack each soared on their first day of trading, but while Zoom kept zooming Slack, well, slacked off after that. For non-tech companies, Beyond Meat and its plant-based burgers hit the spot while SmileDirectClub produced mostly frowns.

WeWork's botched IPO signaled a change in IPO investors' mindset. ___ TECH IS CHIPPER Technology stocks soared in 2019 and far outpaced every other sector in the S&P 500. Chipmakers, including Advanced Micro Devices and Lam Research, made some of the biggest gains, despite a trade war that threatened business in China. Apple and Microsoft had their biggest share gains in a decade and each topped $1 trillion in market value.

Energy stocks gained the least amid concerns that oil supply is outpacing demand. __ EARNINGS EASE UP

Corporate profits hit the brakes in 2019, a year after a big tax cut helped juice results. On top of no longer getting the benefit of the first year of lower tax rates, a slowing global economy weighed on company revenues. If S&P 500 companies end up reporting four straight quarters of declines for 2019, as analysts expect, it would be the first time that's happened since 2015-16. Still, analysts tend to set low expectations that most companies are able to beat, so investors aren't panicked by the slower profit growth. ___ CAN NEGATIVE BE A POSITIVE? Would you pay someone to lend money to them?

The practice has become more common around the world — $13 trillion in bonds globally had negative yields as of November, according to Deutsche Bank.

Much of that total is from Japan, France and Germany, countries that account for nearly a quarter of all the world's bonds. It's the result of shock-therapy by the European Central Bank and others to try to jolt their economies and inflation higher. ___ THE FED'S U-TURN The Federal Reserve changed course on interest

rate policy this year, cutting its benchmark rate three times after more than two years of increases. Chairman Jerome Powell portrayed those cuts as "insurance" against a slowdown resulting from weak global growth. Prior to late 2015, the Fed had been keeping rates at a record low near zero to stimulate the economy. In December, the Fed said it was prepared to keep rates low at least through next year. ___ "HOME" RUN A strong labor market and a steady decline in mortgage rates stoked demand among would-be homeowners this year, driving U.S. home sales higher. A persistently limited supply of previously occupied homes for sale at a time when millennials are increasingly seeking to become homeowners also helped to stoke demand, even though affordability remained a challenge in many markets.

The housing trends favored U.S. homebuilders, whose shares surged well above the broader market. ___ CLICKS AGAIN OUTSHINE BRICKS Retailers had a mixed year as they continued beefing up their online sales strategies amid declining foot traffic. Department stores, and Macy's in particular, fell sharply. Specialty retailers did much better, with electronics retailer Best Buy, car dealership chain CarMax and home improvement retailers Home Depot and Lowe's among those making sharp gains.

As the year wound down, retailers were hoping that low unemployment, higher wages and the recordsetting stock market would translate into a robust holiday shopping season. ___ PROTEIN PUSH Plant-based meat has gone mainstream. Beyond Meat, which makes burgers and sausages from pea protein, had one of the most successful IPOs of the year. Burger King's soybased Impossible Whopper was a big hit. q

A26 COMICS

Saturday 28 December 2019

Mutts

Conceptis Sudoku

6 Chix

Blondie

Mother Goose & Grimm

Baby Blues

Zits

Yesterday’s puzzle answer

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

CLASSIFIED A27

Saturday 28 December 2019

Scientists claim to find ancient seawall off Israeli coast

By PATTY NIEBERG Associated Press HAHOTRIM BEACH, Israel (AP) — An international team of researchers says it has discovered a 7,000-year-old-seawall along Israel's Mediterranean coast, providing evidence that coastal communities protected themselves against rising waters even in ancient times.

The scientists believe the more than 100-meter-long (110-yard-long) structure acted as a fortification against surging waters and storms. The study, published Wednesday in the Public Library of Science One journal, said the Neolithic era village, called Tel Hreiz, was abandoned and eventually swallowed by the sea.

"Here we have an example, a practical example of a process that is still going on.

We can see a whole community which are now under the sea," said Ehud

Galili, lead researcher and archaeologist from Israel's Haifa University.

The researchers believe the structure was built by villagers out of riverbed boulders found several kilometers (miles) away. The site lies just south of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa.

While seas were rising at a faster rate during the Neolithic period than they are today, the causes were much different, according to co-author Jonathan Benjamin from Flinders University in Australia.

"There's a big difference between climate change and prehistory which was naturally occurring, and climate change now, which is due to this huge human intervention," Benjamin said.

Still, similar to contemporary coastal communities, Benjamin said the villagers of Tel Hreiz had to make "the very human decision" to stay or go as the coastline receded.q

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A28 SCIENCE

Saturday 28 December 2019

Scientists struggle to save seagrass from coastal pollution

By MICHAEL CASEY and ANDREW SELSKY DURHAM, N.H. (AP) — Peering over the side of his skiff anchored in the middle of New Hampshire’s Great Bay, Fred Short liked what he saw.

Just below the surface, the 69-year-old marine ecologist noticed beds of bright green seagrass swaying in the waist-deep water. It was the latest sign that these plants with ribbon-like strands, which had declined up to 80% since the 1990s, were starting to bounce back with improved water quality.

Seven rivers carry pollution from 52 communities in New Hampshire and Maine into the 1,020-square-mile (2,650-square-kilometer) watershed for the bay.

“It actually looks better than it did last year at this time and better than has in many years,” said Short, a noted seagrass expert who coordinates the monitoring of 135 sites around the world from his University of New Hampshire lab.

“You see here,” he said, glancing into the water.

“It’s nearly 100% cover. You look to the bottom. You can’t see the mud. You just see eelgrass. That is as dense as it gets. That’s a really good sign.”

Seagrass beds in New Hampshire and along shorelines around the world are important because they have been found to provide food and shelter for fish, shellfish and sea turtles. They also blunt the impacts of ocean acidification, reduce coastal erosion and keep the water clean by filtering out excessive nutrients.

Their comeback in the Great Bay gives hope for recovery elsewhere.

The more than 70 spe-

In this undated photo provided by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, a winter flounder rests in a restored eelgrass meadow in the outer Boston Harbor.

cies of seagrasses are among the most poorly protected but widespread coastal habitats — more than 116,000 square miles (300,000 square kilometers) have been mapped, though there could be 10 times that. They are found along coastlines around the world except Antarctica’s.

Seagrasses, which cover less than 0.2% of the world’s oceans, store twice as much carbon in a given area as temperate and tropical forests, a study by the United Nations-affiliated Blue Carbon Initiative found. But seagrass meadows in many places are imperiled by coastal development, overfishing, runoff from farm waste, and the growing threat from climate change. They have declined roughly 7% annually since the 1990s, a peerreviewed study found. That is on par with the declines of tropical rain forests and coral reefs.

Some seagrass declines have occurred with stun-

ning speed. Central California’s scenic Morro Bay has lost more than 90% of its eelgrass since 2007.

“It’s certainly not a pretty picture and may not get any prettier because of the climate change issues we are all dealing with,” said Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Robert Orth, a professor who has studied seagrass for decades.

“These plants are very sensitive to environmental characteristics — water quality, temperature.”

In parts of the United States and other developed countries, there is growing recognition of the importance of seagrass and its sensitivity to nitrogen-rich runoff from sewage treatment plants and other sources. Too much nitrogen can spike algae growth, which clouds the water and blocks the sunlight seagrass needs to grow.

“We think this is a problem that has to be solved,” said Ken Moraff, water division director for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s New England region. Communities around the Great Bay have spent about $200 million to upgrade wastewater treatment plants, resulting in some cutting nitrogen releases by up to 70%, according to EPA and officials in several Great Bay communities.

“We’ve seen other areas where reductions in nitro-

gen do result in the ecosystem starting to come back,” Moraff said.

Studies have documented seagrass recovery in Boston, Tampa Bay and Long Island Sound.

Boston Harbor was once known as the dirtiest harbor in America because most waste went into the waters untreated.

Then the state invested $3.8 billion in a treatment facility on Deer Island that was completed in 2001 and allowed wastewater to be piped almost 10 miles (16 kilometers) out into Massachusetts Bay. The state has documented an 80% decline in nitrogen levels in the harbor.

Tay Evans, a seagrass specialist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, said there has been a corresponding 50% increase in eelgrass from 2006 to 2016. Now seagrass is growing in Governors Island Flats near Logan International Airport.

“It was astounding me,” Evans said. “I dove there and saw what we would call a moonscape that was just mud. You come back and it’s a lush meadow and then you’re going to see all the animals — the winter flounder swimming through there, lobster walking around.”

In Tampa Bay, seagrass beds are reaching levels not seen since the 1950s.

More than $2.5 billion was spent on upgrades to sewage treatment plants, measures to address stormwater runoff and curbs on nitrogen emissions from power plants. That resulted in twothirds less nitrogen going into the bay compared to the 1970s, according to Ed Sherwood, executive director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.

Seagrass area nearly doubled to about 63 square miles (163 square kilometers). The water quality improvement along with a gill net ban has contributed to the recovery of several fish species including striped mullet, red drum and spotted sea trout.

But such stories can’t mask the challenges.

Some recoveries such as those in parts of the Boston Harbor and the Great Bay are at risk from dredging. In other places, such as Chesapeake Bay, a decline in nitrogen has benefited many underwater plants but not eelgrass, which has declined since the 1990s.

Brooke Landry, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources biologist who monitors the bay’s underwater vegetation, said that eelgrass, a coldwater species, may be more susceptible to heat events as seen in 2005 and 2010 — or to overly cloudy waters in the bay.

Scientists are also struggling to understand why eelgrass hasn’t come back in California’s Morro Bay. “We have some theories,” said Jennifer O’Leary, who studied the bay as a California Sea Grant researcher. She said the eelgrass decline has occurred in waters that are warmer, saltier, cloudier and less oxygenated than the bay’s mouth, where eelgrass did well.

In New Hampshire, eelgrass has recovered about 20% in parts of the Great Bay, though it hasn’t returned to several areas.

Some conservationists argue that bayside communities need to further reduce nitrogen releases through tens of millions of dollars in treatment plant improvements.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Saturday 28 December 2019

Innovative fashion designers lead the way on sustainability

By LIZZIE KNIGHT Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Innovative fashion designers are turning to such things as horseradish and nettles to make sustainable clothing and accessories to the delight of a growing number of buyers.

While more consumers are paying closer attention to how the production of goods impacts the environment, old habits die hard. A buy-and-toss mentality persists despite a boost from celebrities helping to drive the upcycle and vintage movements.

Actress Maggie Q, who created an activewear line from recycled fabrics, is among activists who see plenty of room for improvement. She says she feels "sick about fast fashion.''

"You hear people say, 'Well, it was cheap and you need to wear it once, you throw it away,'" she said.

The British design duo behind Vin + Omi, a brand worn by Michelle Obama, Beyonce and Lady Gaga, is forever on the hunt for creative solutions to sustainability. They sourced latex from Malaysia, for example. However, they found the conditions for plantation workers appalling and bought the operation.

At their studios in the Cotswolds, in the heart of the

This combination of photos show models wearing creations from the Stella McCartney Ready To Wear Spring-Summer 2020 collection during Paris Fashion Week on Sept. 30, 2019.

Associated Press

English countryside, they grow a range of crops and plants for textile development, including chestnuts and horseradish. Their latest collection features garments made from nettles, alpaca fleece and recycled plastic from paint tubes. English designer Zoe Corsellis keeps the carbon footprint of her garments low by manufacturing them in London, with fabrics sourced in the U.K. and Germany. She makes them from wood pulp, sea waste and peace silk, considered more humane to silk worms than traditional production processes. A wood pulp gown feels like jersey to the touch.

Belgian designer Sebastiaan de Neubourg is re-

cycling plastic bottles, car dashboards and refrigerators for sunglasses for his brand, W.R.YUMA. Plastic waste is collected and shredded to make 3D printer filament. Transparent frames are made from soda bottles, white ones from refrigerators and black ones from car dashboards.

"Waste, I believe, is design failure," he said. Fee Gilfeather, sustainability expert at the nonprofit Oxfam, said there's hope on a larger scale.

"The textile industry is getting close to working out how to do fiber-to-fiber recycling," she said. "So what that means is that when you take a garment that's no longer needed, you

can break it down into the fibers and turn that back into a raw material to make clothing."

More celebrities are also playing a role, with some turning to vintage.

Amal Clooney, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle and Kim Kardashian West have been wearing more vintage pieces and re-wearing outfits, something unheard of among many celebrities. Billie Eilish recently wore a custom upcycled outfit from Burberry to the American Music Awards.

"I'm trying to like waste less resources," the teenage singer said.

Singer Paloma Faith is an old hand at vintage.

"I've been wearing - and

obsessive about - vintage clothing for my whole life and I feel like it's really an important thing to recycle and re-use, not just because the ideas in my view were better from the past, but also because we can't just keep contributing to the landfill, and we have to take a bit or more responsibility," she said.

For more than a decade, designer Stella McCartney has been in the sustainability fight. Her latest collection was her most sustainable yet, using organic cotton, recycled polyester, sustainable viscose and traceable wool.

"It's really important to me that you shouldn't notice that what I do is more ethical than other houses," she said. "You should just love it and want it and then the desirability means it comes into your life, and it means that other businesses have to change."

Brands that have heavily used fur in the past have reconsidered. Burberry, Gucci and Versace are among high-end houses opting for faux fur. Many others, including Chanel and Victoria Beckham, will no longer use exotic animal skins.

Burberry destroyed millions of dollars' worth of clothes and accessories every year to prevent the products being sold cheaply.q

Eddie Murphy’s “Saturday Night Live” return is a ratings win

By LYNN ELBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eddie Murphy delivered an early holiday gift to “Saturday Night Live.”

With Murphy aboard as host after a decades-long absence, the NBC show earned its biggest audience since 2017. Just shy of 10 million viewers tuned in to see Murphy back on the late-night comedy show that helped launch his career. His last appearance was in 1984.

In May 2017, an episode hosted by Melissa McCarthy attracted 10.4 million viewers.

Murphy reprised some of his landmark “SNL” characters

on last Saturday’s show, including Mr. Robinson, Gumby and Buckwheat.

The actor-comedian was joined during his opening monologue by Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan.

Pop sensation Lizzo was the night’s musical guest.

NBC also earned bragging rights for its prime-time performance last week with an average 6.2 million viewers, powered by its Sunday night NFL telecast. The network is No. 1 for the season to date, the first time since 1999 that it has led in total viewers at this point in the TV year.

CBS was second with an average of 4.95 million,

Nielsen said. Fox had 4.3 million, ABC had 2.9 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Univision had 1.24 million, Telemundo had 790,000 and the CW had 700,000.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most-watched cable network, averaging 3.1 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 2.2 million, MSNBC had 1.8 million, Hallmark had 1.7 million, and CNN had 1.5 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 8.8 million viewers.

NBC’s “Nightly News” was next with 7.9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.8 million viewers.q

This Dec. 21, 2019 photo shows Eddie Murphy in a sketch from "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" on "Saturday Night Live" in New York.

Associated Press

A30 PEOPLE

Saturday 28 December 2019

& ARTS Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ offers a flawed critique

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Sam Rockwell, from left, Kathy Bates and Paul Walter Hauser in a scene from "Richard Jewell."

Associated Press

Associated Press “Richard Jewell” is a typically strong late-period Clint Eastwood docudrama that balances grand American themes while captivatingly dramatizing the villainization of the Atlanta Olympics bombing hero, only to needlessly tarnish itself with a wanton and unfounded depiction of a female journalist at the center of the 1996 media storm.

Eastwood’s drama is about Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser), the security guard who discovered the bomb in Centennial Park and who, by moving crowds away from the suspicious backpack, saved lives from the explosion. One died and more than 100 were injured, but the damage done could have been significantly worse.

Jewell found himself quickly catapulted onto the national news and celebrated for his actions, only to soon turn into the focus of the FBI’s investigation when misguided investigators decided Jewell — a so-called “frustrated white male” with an extensive gun collection who lived with his mom (Kathy Bates) and had a history of misusing his power — matches the profile of a “false hero.”

The entire concept of a “false hero” seems tailor made for Eastwood, who has spent much of his career, especially recently (“Sully,” “The 15:17 to Paris”), examining the nature

of heroism and scrutinizing how a sense of civic duty arises despite, not because of, a rapacious modern American society.

In “Richard Jewell,” Eastwood’s critique focuses on two institutions — the government (by way of the FBI) and the media (by way of an Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter who broke the story that Jewell was being considered a suspect). Olivia Wilde plays that reporter, Kathy Scruggs, who like most of those depicted in “Richard Jewell,” is based on a real person.

But the venom reserved specifically for Scruggs is mystifying. Scruggs, who died in 2001, is shown not just as overwhelmingly arrogant and bitter but as a reporter who sleeps with a source (Jon Hamm’s FBI agent) for the scoop. In a film that otherwise strives for accuracy (screenwriter Billy Ray based it on Marie Brenner’s 1997 Vanity Fair article “American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell”), it’s a glaring and offensive invention that perpetuates a false and misogynistic view of female journalists, let alone of Scruggs. “Richard Jewell,” about larger powers running roughshod over an innocent individual, enacts the very injustice it depicts.

It’s a shame because the rest of “Richard Jewell” is often a thought-provoking docudrama with a singular protagonist. We first

meet Jewell as a supply room clerk rolling a mail cart through an office. He catches the attention of one attorney, Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell), by thoughtfully, if a little creepily, stocking his desk drawer with candy bars. “I’m going to call you Radar,” Bryant says.When Jewell leaves for a security gig with plans on becoming a police officer, Bryant cautions him: “A little power can turn a person into a monster.” Jewell will have his own struggles with that (he makes for an extremely aggressive college campus security officer) but there are those with far less restraint in “Richard Jewell.”

Eastwood cuts between Jewell’s past while leading up to the fateful night, depicting an awkward and serious young man who speaks in platitudes but struggles to achieve the higher status he aspires to.

“The world owes us better than this,” Jewell laments to his mother.

The portrait of Jewell is remarkably nuanced. Hauser, who played the dimwitted accomplice in “I, Tonya,” imbues him with a flawed humanity. His life doesn’t stand up well to the spotlight. He has been guilty of impersonating an officer, unpaid taxes and even keeping an item from the bomb scene as a souvenir. But he’s mostly doing his best, and even the most imperfect are capable of something great.q

‘Game of Thrones’ author Martin opens bookstore in Santa Fe Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — “Game of Thrones” author and television producer George R.R. Martin is adding bookstore owner to his resume.

The fantasy writer quietly opened Beastly Books last month in Santa Fe next to the movie theater he revived in 2013, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

The shop sells books by him and by local authors and “Game of Thrones” merchandise.

Martin, a longtime Santa Fe resident, wrote on his blog that he opened the bookstore in part because the lobby of his Jean Cocteau Cinema theater was too small to display books by visiting authors.

Martin in June joined a New

Mexico-based art collective known as Meow Wolf.

He will serve as “chief world builder” for a permanent installation inside a multidimensional Santa Fe mystery house.

Martin’s novel series, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” inspired the HBO TV show “Game of Thrones.” It aired its eighth and final season in May.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A31

Saturday 28 December 2019

'Mame,' 'Hello, Dolly!' composer Jerry Herman dies at 88

By MARK KENNEDY Associated Press Tony Award-winning composer Jerry Herman, who wrote the cheerful, goodnatured music and lyrics for such classic shows as "Mame," "Hello, Dolly!" and "La Cage aux Folles," died Thursday. He was 88.

His goddaughter Jane Dorian confirmed his death to The Associated Press early Friday. He died of pulmonary complications in Miami, where he had been living with his partner, real estate broker Terry Marler.

The creator of 10 Broadway shows and contributor to several more, Herman won two Tony Awards for best musical: "Hello, Dolly!" in 1964 and "La Cage aux Folles" in 1983. He also won two Grammys — for the "Mame" cast album and "Hello, Dolly!" as song of the year — and was a Kennedy Center honoree. He had three original Broadway productions playing at the same time from February 1969 to May 1969.

Tributes poured in Friday from Broadway royalty, including from Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the book of "La Cage aux Folles" alongside Herman's songs.

"We lost one of the greats," Fierstein tweeted. "A collaborator and friend for almost 40 years. I cannot thank him enough for his love, trust, encouragement, support and laughter." Writer and host Seth Rudetsky honored Herman for writing "quintessential Broadway songs. Beautiful melodies and fantastic lyrics." Herman wrote in the Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition, an optimistic composer at a time when others in his profession were exploring darker feelings and material. Just a few of his song titles revealed his depth of hope: "I'll Be Here Tomorrow," "The Best of Times," "Tap Your Troubles Away," "It's Today," "We Need a Little Christmas" and "Before the Parade Passes By." Even the title song to "Hello, Dolly!" is an advertisement to enjoy life.

Herman also had a direct, simple sense of melody and his lyrics had a natu-

In this June 7, 2009, file photo, Jerry Herman accepts his Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater from Angela Lansbury at the 63rd Annual Tony Awards in New York.

Associated Press

ral, unforced quality. Over the years, he told the AP in 1995, "critics have sort of tossed me off as the popular and not the cerebral writer, and that was fine with me. That was exactly what I aimed at."

In accepting the Tony in 1984 for "La Cage Aux Folles," Herman said, "This award forever shatters a myth about the musical theater. There's been a rumor around for a couple of years that the simple, hummable show tune was no longer welcome on Broadway. Well, it's alive and well at the Palace" Theatre.

Some saw that phrase — "the simple, hummable show tune" — as a subtle dig at Stephen Sondheim, known for challenging and complex songs and whose "Sunday in the Park with George" Herman had just bested. But Herman rejected any tension between the two musical theater giants.

"Only a small group of 'showbiz gossips' have constantly tried to create a feud between Mr. Sondheim and myself. I am as much of a Sondheim fan as you and everybody else in the world, and I believe that my comments upon winning the Tony for 'La Cage' clearly came from my delight with the show business community's endorsement of the simple melodic showtune which had been criticized by a few hard-nosed critics as being old fashioned," he

said in a 2004 Q&A session with readers of Broadway. com.

Playwright Paul Rudnick on Friday praised Herman for providing "such joy."

And director and choreographer Matthew Bourne said Herman's "feel-good shows full of melody and joy will live forever." Bernadette Peters, Elaine Paige and Carolee Carmello also mourned his passing, with Donna Murphy thanking the composer for "countless moments of explosive joy, deep poignancy, profound inspiration, humor and heartbreak."

Herman was born in New York in 1931 and raised in Jersey City. His parents ran a children's summer camp in the Catskills and he taught himself the piano.

He noted that when he was born, his mother had a view of Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre marquee from her hospital bed.

Herman dated his intention to write musicals to the time his parents took him to "Annie Get Your Gun" and he went home and played five of Irving Berlin's songs on the piano.

"I thought what a gift this man has given a stranger.

I wanted to give that gift to other people. That was my great inspiration, that night," he told The Associated Press in 1996.

After graduating from the University of Miami, Herman headed back to New York, writing and playing piano in a jazz club. He made his Broadway debut in 1960 contributing songs to the review "From A to Z" — alongside material by Fred Ebb and Woody Allen — and the next year tackled the entire score to a musical about the founding of the state of Israel, "Milk and Honey." It earned him his first Tony nomination.

"Hello, Dolly!" starring Carol Channing opened in 1964 and ran for 2,844 performances, becoming Broadway's longest-running musical at the time. It won 10 Tonys and has been revived many times, most recently in 2017 with Bette Midler in the title role, a 19th-century widowed matchmaker who learns to live again.

"Mame" followed in 1966, starring Angela Lansbury, and went on to run for over 1,500 performances. She handed him his Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2009, say-

ing he created songs like him: "bouncy, buoyant and optimistic."

In 1983 he had another hit with "La Cage aux Folles," a sweetly radical musical of its age, decades before the fight for marriage equality.

It was a lavish adaptation of the successful French film about two gay men who own a splashy, drag nightclub on the Riviera. It contained the gay anthem "I Am What I Am" and ran for some 1,760 performances. Three of his shows, "Dear World," "The Grand Tour" and "Mack and Mabel," failed on Broadway.

Many of his songs have outlasted their vehicles: British ice skaters Torvill and Dean used the overture from "Mack and Mabel" to accompany a gold medal-winning routine in 1982.

Writer-director Andrew Stanton used the Herman tunes "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes a Moment" to express the psyche of a love-starved, trash-compacting robot in the film "WALL-E." Later in life, Herman composed a song for "Barney's Great Adventure," contributed the score for the 1996 made-for-TV movie "Mrs. Santa Claus" — earning Herman an Emmy nomination — and wrote his autobiography, "Showtune," published by Donald I. Fine.

"There has been no other music which took our breath away, that made us hum and cheer and respect ourselves more than a majestic Jerry Herman musical," said Dorian.

He is survived by his partner, Marler, and his goddaughters — Dorian and Dorian's own daughter, Sarah Haspel. Dorian said plans for a memorial service are still in the works for the man whose songs she said "are always on our lips and in our hearts."q

A32 FEATURE

Saturday 28 December 2019

Cambodian genocide documented in victims' preserved clothes PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — As a leader in the field of textile conservation, Julia Brennan has worked to preserve many glamorous and historic articles of clothing, from a kimono presented to Babe Ruth, to singer James Brown's jumpsuit, to a British aristocrat's coronation gown.

Her profession, however, has also brought her into contact with humanity's darkest moments, including genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia.

Brennan recently began a project at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, where the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s tortured as many as 17,000 men, women and children before killing them. The museum's macabre artifacts include torture devices and displays of skulls.

The most haunting display comprises photo portraits that were kept as part of the meticulous recordkeeping ordered by Tuol Sleng's Khmer Rouge commander, who in 2012 was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, murder and torture.

But only a small amount of victims' clothing is displayed; most was stowed away in nooks and crannies, untouched since the museum was established in 1980. Museum director Chhay Visoth felt it was urgent to register and preserve these holdings, and he sought Brennan's help in 2014.

The 59-year-old Brennan was born to American par-

In this Feb. 5, 2019, photo, leading textile conservationist Julia Brennan holds a scarf from a victim of the former Khmer Rouge as she inspects artifacts at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Associated Press

ents in Indonesia, where her father was on a Jesuit scholarship teaching at universities and doing research. She was raised in northern Thailand, where her father worked for the U.S. government, and when he later worked on a European Union arms control project in Cambodia, Brennan became acquainted with that country's culture.

Brennan was keenly interested in the Tuol Sleng project, and the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh eventually gave a $55,000 grant to support it.

She then began her work to jump-start the preservation of 3,000-5,000 articles of prisoners' clothing and train Cambodian staff to care for them.

Brennan worked on a simi-

In this April 9, 2019, file photo, tourists view portraits of victims executed by the Khmer Rouge regime at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Associated Press

lar project for the past two years in Rwanda, where long-standing rivalries between two tribes led to the killings of an estimated 800,000 people in 1994.

She helped to preserve clothing at the Nyamata church, where more than 10,000 people were slaughtered as they sought shelter from marauding mobs. The church is now a memorial site, with the clothing an integral part of its exhibition.

The power of clothing in documenting genocide is widely recognized by experts. The collection at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland includes 390 striped inmates' uniforms and 246 Jewish prayer shawls, according to Pawel Sawicki, a press officer for the memorial.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., holds a variety of items of clothing as well.

One of the most striking exhibits is of 4,000 shoes from some of the victims of the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland.

"The exhibit very simply shows the magnitude of Nazi murder while simultaneously allowing the viewer to individualize the horror," Jane Klinger, the Holocaust museum's chief conservator, said in an email.

Brennan, who since 1996

has had her own company, Caring for Textiles, in Washington, D.C., made a similar point during an interview at Tuol Sleng.

"You're not going to necessarily cry or have memories when you see a skull, but when you see a skirt that's the same pattern as your mother's, then that's going to bring these memories that are so palpable, and this is so powerful," she said.

Less is more in conservation, according to Brennan, "because we want to keep the associated dirt and stains and particles as part of the context and information of the artifact."

So for Tuol Sleng's artifacts, she said she has been teaching half a dozen Cambodian colleagues to photograph a piece

to identify it for inventory, "then just to surface clean carefully with a vacuum or a soft brush, and then the dirt can be saved as part of the record and some of the surface soiling will be loosened."

Treatment doesn't end there. In tropical places like Cambodia, there's a lot of mildew and mold as well as live insects to deal with.

To try to protect the material for the long term, it is put into "micro climates" in which the relative humidity can be reduced. Brennan said she developed this system during her work in Rwanda, putting the items in dry storage boxes with desiccants, pellets normally used in the agriculture industry.

Kho Chenda, a 28-year-old staff member at Tuol Sleng, has taken Brennan's preservation lessons to heart.

She said what she's learned is vital because of the museum's mission to teach the horrific legacy of the Khmer Rouge.

"If that clothing gets too old and worn out, then the evidence it offers will be gone, and when you talk to the younger generation, they will not believe you," she said.

Kong Kuntheary, another of Brennan's students, echoed the sentiment.

"This clothing is really important evidence, so we have to preserve it to make sure that even in 100 or 200 years, it will not have disappeared," said the 52-yearold employee of the National Museum in Phnom Penh.q

In this Feb. 5, 2019, photo, a tourist views piles of clothing from the victims executed by the Khmer Rouge regime at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Associated Press