September 30, 2017

La Cabana Certifies Saturday

September 30, 2017 T: 582-7800 | F: 582-7044 www.arubatoday.com

Page 13

Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper

Price Cut

Trump’s Health Secretary Resigns in Travel Flap In this June 15, 2017, file photo, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Price announced Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, he is resigning amid criticism of his travel on private planes.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

By RICARDO ZALDIVAR JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s health secretary resigned Friday, after his costly travel triggered investigations that overshadowed the administration’s agenda and angered his boss. Tom Price’s regrets and par-

tial repayment couldn’t save his job.

The Health and Human Services secretary became the first member of the president’s Cabinet to be pushed out in a turbulent young administration that has seen several high-ranking White House aides ousted. A former GOP congressman from the Atlanta suburbs,

Price served less than eight months.

Publicly, Trump had said he was “not happy” with Price for repeatedly using private charter aircraft for official trips on the taxpayer’s dime, when cheaper commercial flights would have done in many cases. Privately, Trump has been telling associates in recent days that his health chief had become

a distraction. Trump felt that Price was overshadowing his tax overhaul agenda and undermining his campaign promise to “drain the swamp” of corruption, according to three people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Continued on Page 3

US to Americans: Stay away from Cuba After ‘attacks’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States issued an ominous warning to Americans on Friday to stay away from Cuba and ordered home more than half the U.S. diplomatic corps, acknowledging neither the Cubans nor America’s FBI can figure out who or what is responsible for months of mysterious health ailments.

No longer tiptoeing around the issue, the Trump administration shifted to calling the episodes “attacks” rather than “incidents.”

The U.S. actions are sure to rattle already delicate ties between the longtime adversaries who only recently began putting their hostility behind them.

The U.S. Embassy in Cuba

will lose roughly 60 percent of its American staff and will stop processing visas for prospective Cuban travelers to the United States indefinitely, officials said. Roughly 50 Americans had been working at the embassy.

President Donald Trump said that in Cuba “they did some very bad things” that

harmed U.S. diplomats, but he didn’t say who he might mean by “they.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who reviewed options for a response with Trump, said, “Until the government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel in order to mini-

mize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm.” In Friday’s travel warning, the State Department confirmed earlier reporting by The Associated Press that U.S. personnel first encountered unexplained physical effects in Cuban hotels.

Continued on Page 2

A2 UP

Saturday 30 September 2017

FRONT

US to Americans:

Stay away from Cuba after ‘attacks’ Continued from Front

While American tourists aren’t known to have been hurt, the agency said they could be exposed if they travel to the island — a pronouncement that could hit a critical component of Cuba’s economy that has expanded in recent years as the U.S. has relaxed restrictions.

At least 21 diplomats and

U.S. pullout would end up rewarding the aggressor.

On the other hand, officials have struggled with the moral dimensions of keeping diplomats in a place where the U.S. government cannot guarantee their safety.

The administration considered expelling Cuban diplomats from the U.S., officials said, but for now no such action has been ordered.

half-century estrangement despite only 90 miles of separation. In 2015, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro restored diplomatic ties, embassies were re-opened and travel and commerce restrictions were eased.

Trump has reversed some changes but has broadly left the rapprochement in place.

After considering options

In this Aug. 14, 2015 photo, a U.S. flag flies at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba. Senior U.S. officials say the United States is pulling roughly 60 percent of its staff out of Cuba and warning American travelers not to visit due to “specific attacks” that have harmed U.S. diplomats.

(AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)

family members have been affected. The department said symptoms include hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues and difficulty sleeping. Until Friday, the U.S. had generally referred to “incidents.” Tillerson’s statement ended that practice, mentioning “attacks” seven times; the travel alert used the word five times.

Still, the administration has pointedly not blamed Cuba for perpetrating the attacks, and officials have spent weeks weighing how to minimize the risk for Americans in Cuba without unnecessarily harming relations or falling into an adversary’s trap.

If the attacks have been committed by an outside power such as Russia or Venezuela to drive a wedge between the U.S. and Cuba, as some investigators have theorized, a

That incensed several lawmakers who had urged the administration to kick out all of Cuban’s envoys. “It’s an insult,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a vocal critic of Cuba’s government, in an interview. “The Cuban regime succeeded in forcing Americans to downscale a number of personnel in Cuba, yet it appears they’re going to basically keep all the people they want in America to travel freely and spread misinformation.”

The U.S. travel warning said, “Because our personnel’s safety is at risk, and we are unable to identify the source of the attacks, we believe U.S. citizens may also be at risk and warn them not to travel to Cuba.”

The moves deliver a significant setback to the delicate reconciliation between the U.S. and Cuba, countries that endured a

that ranged all the way to a full embassy shutdown, Tillerson made the decision to reduce all nonessential personnel and all family members. Also included in the recall is Scott Hamilton, currently the highest-ranked diplomat at the mission. Staffing at the embassy in Havana was already lower than usual due to recent hurricanes that whipped through Cuba.

Cubans seeking visas to enter the U.S. may be able to apply through embassies in nearby countries, officials said. The U.S. will stop sending official delegations to Cuba, though diplomatic discussions will continue in Washington.

The United States notified Cuba early Friday via its embassy in Washington.

Cuba blasted the American move as “hasty” and lamented that it was being taken without conclusive investigation results. q

Puerto Rico angry over ‘good news story’ remark by official

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE LUIS ALONSO LUGO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pledged to help Puerto Ricans recover basic necessities and security in Maria’s ruinous aftermath as his homeland security chief tried to escape a tempest of her own making, set off when she called Washington’s response to the hurricane a “good-news story.”

Elaine Duke, the department’s acting secretary, drew a sharp rebuke from San Juan’s mayor for seeming to play down the suffering.

“When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a good-news story,” Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz told CNN on Friday. “Damn it, this is not a good-news story. This is a people-are-dying story.”

For his part, Trump said Puerto Rico is “totally unable” to handle the catastrophe on its own. “They are working so hard but there’s nothing left,” he said. “It’s been wiped out.” He said the government is “fully engaged in the disaster and the response and recovery effort.”

Yet even in voicing solidarity and sympathy, he drew attention again to Puerto Rico’s pre-hurricane debt burden and infrastructure woes, leaving doubt how far Washington will go to make the U.S. territory whole.

“Ultimately the government of Puerto Rico will have to work with us to determine how this massive rebuilding effort — it will end up being one of the biggest ever — will be funded and organized, and what we will do with the tremendous amount of existing debt already on the island,” he said. “We will not rest, however, until the people of Puerto Rico are safe.”

Earlier he tweeted: “The fact is that Puerto Rico has been destroyed by two hurricanes. Big decisions will have to be made as to the cost of its rebuilding!”

Duke visited the island Friday, surveying the ravaged landscape by helicopter in an hourlong tour and driving from the airport past still-flooded streets, twisted billboards and roofs with gaping holes. She met local officials and federal personnel on the ground, and tried to move on from remarks that stunned people in Puerto Rico a day earlier.

Speaking to the press, and taking no questions, she said neither she nor Trump will rest until displaced Puerto Ricans are back home, schools, hospitals and clean water are back and the island’s economy is moving again. Duke said she is aware that people are suffering and “clearly the situation in Puerto Rico after the devastating hurricane is not satisfactory.”

During this season’s trio of monster hurricanes — Harvey, Irma, Maria — Trump and his administration have drifted into the perilous territory of premature selfcongratulation in the face of unfolding catastrophe, seemingly unmindful of the “Brownie moment” that scarred George W. Bush’s presidency.

Bush famously told his emergency management director, Michael Brown, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” during what proved to be a tragically inept federal response to deadly Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Trump has repeatedly boasted about the positive reviews he said his administration is getting from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for its relief effort, even as people in remote towns struggle to find food, water and other basics. Then Duke said before leaving Washington that the federal relief effort was a “goodnews story” because of “our ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths.”

“Let me clarify,” she said Friday upon her arrival in San Juan. She said she meant “it was good news that people of Puerto Rico and many public servants of the United States are working together.”q

U.S. NEWS A3 Trump’s health secretary Price resigns in travel flap Saturday 30 September 2017

In this Sept. 28, 2017 photo, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price attends a discussion in Washington. Price announced Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, he is resigning amid criticism of his travel on private planes.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Continued from Front

On Friday the president called Price a “very fine person,” but added, “I certainly don’t like the optics.”

The flap prompted scrutiny of other Cabinet members’ travel, as the House Oversight and Government Reform committee launched a governmentwide investigation of top political appointees.

Other department heads have been scrambling to

explain their own travel.

Price’s repayment of $51,887.31 for his own travel costs and his public expression of regrets did not placate everyone at the White House. The total travel cost, including the secretary’s entourage, was unclear. It could amount to several hundred thousand dollars.

An orthopedic surgeon turned politician, Price rose to Budget Committee chairman in the House,

Trump promotes his ‘giant, beautiful, massive’ tax plan

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that the centerpiece of his plan to help American businesses and workers “thrive, compete and grow” is a “giant, beautiful, massive, the biggest ever in our country, tax cut.”

Trump and congressional Republicans unveiled the broad outlines of the tax plan earlier this week.

“My administration is working every day to lift the burden on companies and workers so you can thrive, compete and grow,” Trump said in a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers.

He said the tax cut plan

was a core element.

The nearly $6 trillion plan sketched out this week by Trump and other officials would deeply reduce taxes for corporations, simplify tax brackets and nearly double the standard deduction used by most tax filers.

But many details remain to be fleshed out.

In the remarks, Trump highlighted a provision of the plan that would allow businesses for the next five years to write off the full cost of new equipment in the same year it’s purchased.

Trump said that proposal alone will encourage companies to invest and create jobs.q

where he was known as a fiscal conservative. When Price joined the administration, Trump touted him as a conservative policy expert who could write a new health care bill to replace the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. But Price became more of a supporting player in the GOP’s futile health care campaign, while Vice President Mike Pence took the lead, particularly in dealing with the Senate.

The perception of Price jetting around while GOP lawmakers labored to repeal “Obamacare” —including a three-nation trip in May to Africa and Europe— raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. Price flew on military aircraft overseas.

Although much of Trump’s ire over the health care

failure has been aimed at the Republican-controlled Congress, associates of the president said he also assigns some blame to Price, who he believes did not do a good job of selling the GOP plan.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Friday that Price had worked hard to help that chamber pass its plan before the GOP health overhaul effort reached an impasse in the Senate.

“I will always be grateful for Tom’s service to this country,” he said.Democrats said Trump’s next HHS secretary should turn away from partisanship and try to work with them.

A Pence protege, Seema Verma, has been mentioned as a possible successor to Price. q

A4 U.S.

Saturday 30 September 2017

NEWS

Nebraska court ends beer sales near South Dakota reservation

By GRANT SCHULTE Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Four Nebraska beer stores criticized for selling millions of cans each year next to an American Indian reservation where alcohol is banned will remain closed after the state Supreme Court on Friday rejected their appeal.

The court thwarted the last-ditch effort to resume beer sales in Whiteclay, Nebraska, a tiny village on the border of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The ruling upholds an April decision by state regulators not to renew the stores’ licenses amid criticism that the area lacks adequate law enforcement.

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is plagued by a litany of alcohol-related problems, including high rates of fetal alcohol syndrome, and activists complain that Whiteclay fuels those issues.

The four stores — in a village with just nine residents — had sold the equivalent of about 3.5 million cans of beer annually.

Whiteclay has also served for decades as a remote hangout for people to panhandle, loiter, fight

This Oct. 20, 2016 photo shows a view of Whiteclay, Neb. The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, rejected a last-ditch effort to resume beer sales in the tiny village next to an American Indian reservation in South Dakota that is plagued by alcohol problems.

(Francis Gardler /The Journal-Star via AP)

and pass out on sidewalks.

Its residents rely on a county sheriff’s office 23 miles (37 kilometers) away for law enforcement.

“Today’s Nebraska Supreme Court decision means that the shame of Whiteclay is over,” said Dave Domina, an Omaha attorney for local residents who protested the liquor licenses. “It also means huge rocks have been removed from the road to recovery for many of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation and the Pine Ridge Reservation.”

The court rejected the retailers’ appeal on a technicality, arguing that they

failed to include all “parties of record” when they asked a district court to review the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission’s decision. The justices ruled that they couldn’t review the case because the district court didn’t have proper jurisdiction.

“Our decision today does not address the merits of the parties’ respective positions, but rests solely on jurisdictional grounds,” the court said in its opinion.

An attorney for the four stores did not immediately return phone messages Friday. A phone call to the Oglala Lakota Nation’s

main government office rang unanswered.

Bob Batt, the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission’s chairman, said commissioners won’t likely approve any new liquor licenses in the area anytime soon.

“I’d say the chances of that are zip,” he said.

Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, whose office defended the liquor control commission, said the ruling “affords an opportunity to write a hopeful chapter in the story of Whiteclay.”

Some residents in rural Sheridan County, which includes Whiteclay, said

they were concerned that closing the stores could lead to an influx of drunken drivers on Nebraska roads.

Authorities have reported a slight uptick in alcoholrelated crashes but said it’s too early to call it a trend or to blame the closure of the stores.

“Yes, the Whiteclay stores are closed now, but there’s still drinking that’s happening,” said Rushville Mayor Chris Heiser, who opposed the decision to shutter the retailers. “I just can’t believe that in America these days, the government can come in and shut you down like that.”John Maisch, a former Oklahoma alcohol regulator who produced a documentary on Whiteclay and fought to close the stores, said he was “elated” with the court’s ruling on Friday but noted that many adults and children will continue to suffer for decades with the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome. With the stores closed, he said he would turn his attention to working with local Pine Ridge residents on treatment centers for fetal alcohol syndrome and substance abuse.“There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done,” Maisch said.q

Immigrants line up to renew work permits as program ends

By AMY TAXIN ASTRID GALVAN Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The line stretches down the block before the sun rises in Los Angeles, made up of immigrants seeking help to renew their work permits under a program that has shielded them from deportation but is now nearing its end.

Ivan Vizueta, a 25-year-old from Long Beach, California, brought a folding chair and music to pass the time while waiting to renew his papers and get a new two-year permit that lets him work for a plumbing company and earn nearly double the amount he made at his old job. The lines have been a regular occurrence in recent days, with some people camping out as early as 3 a.m.

In this Sept. 28, 2017 photo, people wait in line at CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles) for help with immigration paperwork, including renewing work permits for expiring Obama-era program for immigrants brought to the country as children. After Oct. 5, 2017, no one else can renew under the program that has let nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the United States as children work in the country even though they lack legal papers.

(AP Photo/Amy Taxin)

“I have to do this so I have another two years of safety,” said Vizueta, who was

brought to the country nearly two decades ago from Mexico and hopes to

run his own plumbing business someday.

For immigrants like Vizueta, it’s a race against the clock as they rush to renew their permits ahead of a looming Oct. 5 deadline set by the Trump administration. After that date, no one else can renew under a program that has let nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the United States as children work even though they lack legal papers.The work permits have been a lifeline for many young immigrants who have been educated in American schools and know no other home than the United States. The program created by President Barack Obama in 2012 also protected these immigrants, many of them in their 20s, from being deported to countries they hardly remember. Critics

call it an illegal amnesty program that is taking jobs from U.S. citizens.When President Donald Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program this month, he gave Congress six months to draft a more lasting fix. Democratic leaders and Trump said they have reached a deal to protect the immigrants, but Congress has since turned its focus to overhauling the tax code. Democratic congressional leaders say they are waiting on the White House to craft a legislative proposal.Meanwhile, immigrant advocates around the country have been urging the Trump administration to extend the Oct. 5 deadline and holding legal clinics and donating money to help immigrants cover the $500 renewal fee. q

U.S. NEWS A5

Saturday 30 September 2017

Air Force Academy leader delivers powerful speech on race AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.

(AP) — The leader of the Air Force Academy delivered a poignant and stern message on race relations in a speech to thousands of cadets after someone wrote racial slurs on message boards outside the dorm rooms of five black students.

Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria warned students that he would not tolerate racism at the academy and invoked some of the racial tensions that have been gripping the country. At one point, he insisted that everyone in the audience take out their phones and record him so his message was clearly heard.

“If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, get out,” he said Thursday as audience members looked on with rapt attention.

Air Force security personnel are investigating the incident after the slurs were discovered Tuesday. Racial

Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, gives a speech about race relations to U.S. Air Force cadets during lunch, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Silveria, the leader of the Air Force Academy delivered a poignant and stern message on race relations in a speech to thousands of cadets after someone wrote racial slurs on message boards outside the dorm rooms of five black students.

(Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP)

slurs are illegal in the military and can bring charges of violating orders and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Officials have said they

cannot provide any more information about what happened because of the ongoing investigation. No additional details were released Friday.

Silveria said he called the families of the five prep school students who were the objects of the slurs.

His speech quickly became a widely viewed video on-

line, coming in the aftermath of racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the debate about NFL players kneeling for the national anthem.q

A6 U.S.

Saturday 30 September 2017

NEWS

Police: Mom flew to Germany, left 4 kids home alone in Iowa JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — A suburban Des Moines mother has been jailed after she left her four children home alone while she traveled to Europe for a 12-day vacation in Germany, police said Friday.Johnston police have charged Erin Macke, 30, with four counts of child endangerment and one of transferring a firearm to a person under 21.

Police said the latter charge was filed because a firearm was left at home within the children’s reach.

Police said Macke tried but failed to make child care arrangements for her children — two aged 12, one 7 and the other 6 — before leaving Sept. 20 for a vacation in Germany.

The father of one of the children was called by his

child the next day, and he tipped off police that the children had been left unsupervised, Johnston police spokeswoman Janet Wilwerding said Friday.Johnston police Lt. Tyler Tompkins told Des Moines television station KCCI that Macke’s baby sitter options all fell through, so she left the two 12-year-olds in charge.

“They were concerned,

they didn’t know, they were confused,” Tompkins said of the youngsters. “I mean, we’re only talking about 12-year-olds being the adults here.”

Officers went to the residence Sept. 21 and called the Iowa Human Services Department, which took custody of the children.

They have since been released to the care of rela-

tives, Wilwerding said.

Police called Macke in Germany, demanding she return.She had planned to fly home on Sunday.

The mother was arrested on her return Thursday.

She remained in custody Friday, according to Polk County Jail records.Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who can comment on her behalf.q

Tennessee church suspect may have sought Charleston revenge

This photo provided by Metro Nashville PD shows Emanuel Kidega Samson.

(Metro Nashville PD via AP)

By SADIE GURMAN ERIC TUCKER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A note found in the car of a man charged with spray-

ing deadly gunfire at a Tennessee church made reference to revenge for a white supremacist’s massacre at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, two years earlier, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.The note could offer a glimpse into Emanuel Kidega Samson’s mindset at the time of Sunday’s shooting and a possible motive for the rampage, which left a woman dead and six other people wounded. The Associated Press has not viewed the note, but it was summarized in an investigative report circulating among law enforcement. Two officials read parts of the note to the AP.The report said that “in sum and in no way verbatim,” the note

referenced revenge or retaliation for Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine black worshippers at the South Carolina church in 2015 and has since been sentenced to death. It wasn’t clear what precisely Samson is alleged to have written about the Roof shooting, or whether his note contained other important details that might also speak to a motivation or state of mind.The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation. Metro Nashville Police declined to comment, saying it had not released the information.Samson has been charged with murder, and the FBI and U.S. at-

torney’s office in Nashville quickly opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting. His public defender did not immediately return calls for comment. And spokespeople for the FBI, the U.S. attorney’s office and District Attorney General Glenn Funk declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.Police have said Samson, masked and wearing a tactical vest, fatally shot a woman who was walking to her vehicle and then entered the rear of Burnette Chapel Church of Christ and shot six other people, walking silently down the aisles with a .40-caliber handgun. The case immediately called to mind the killings at Emanuel AME Church, in Charleston, South Carolina. q

Man accused of killing son to be with teen lover gets prison CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A man accused of killing his 3-year-old son because the boy was getting in the way of his relationship with a teenage girlfriend was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

David Creato Jr. showed little emotion during the court hearing in Camden, staring straight ahead as a prosecutor recounted how he first reported son Brendan missing and stood by as emergency personnel

searched for the boy.

“He lied to the police, he lied to his parents. Worst of all, he lied to Brendan’s mother, who certainly had a right to know exactly what happened to their son,” assistant prosecutor Christine Shah said after playing a 14-minute video that showed a collage of photographs from Brendan’s short life.

Creato declined to make a statement before the sentence was issued, but his

father later told reporters that his son is innocent.

The 23-year-old Creato pleaded guilty in August to aggravated manslaughter after a previous murder trial ended in a mistrial. He said at the time that he “recklessly caused his son’s death under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life by depriving Brendan of oxygen.”

Prosecutors have said Creato killed his son because

he was worried his then-17year-old girlfriend was going to leave him while she was away at college. She also made it clear that she didn’t want to be around his child and wanted him to give up custody. She was never charged, and the couple has since broken up.

After the hearing, Creato’s father told reporters that he believes his son is innocent and that he is reaching out to private investigators to

catch the real killer.“The wrong person is sitting in jail,” David Creato Sr. said.

Creato, known as D.J., initially said his son wandered away from his Haddon Township home in October 2015. The boy’s pajama-clad body was found hours later in a wooded area about a mile from his home, but his neon green socks were clean. Prosecutors said that would have been impossible if Brendan had walked there. q

U.S. NEWS A7

Saturday 30 September 2017

Double rock falls at famed Yosemite don’t deter climbers

By SCOTT SMITH Associated Press YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — In the closeknit community of climbers who flock from around the world to cling to the mountainside precipices at Yosemite National Park, climbers were awed but undeterred by successive rock falls that sent tons of granite plunging to the ground, killing one and injuring two over two days.

“It’s kind of an inherently dangerous sport,” Hayden Jamieson, 24, of Mammoth Lakes, California, said Friday, as he prepared to head up the nose of El Capitan early Saturday with his climbing partner.

Jamieson said he feels more at risk of being struck by a car on the street than from a falling slab of granite in the wilderness. But the aftermath of a slab of granite about 12 stories high that shattered to the ground on Wednesday had left a big impression.

“It was totally overwhelming,” he said of the crash and acrid smell of granite dust that lingered in the air.

“It’s like witnessing the largest natural event that I’ve ever seen.”

The first slab fell from a peak at the world-class climbing destination El Capitan on Wednesday afternoon, followed by a much larger chunk of granite from the same section of the mountainside Thursday afternoon. Thursday’s crash sent a plume of granite dust throughout the Yosemite Valley, where thousands of tourists flock every year, and closed a main road out of the na-

tional park.

Climber Ryan Sheridan, of Buffalo, New York, had

on the massive mountain that unaffected by the slide.

rock and rubble broke through the sunroof of his SUV, hitting Jim Evans,

In this photo provided by Peter Zabrok, climber Ryan Sheridan who had just reached the top of El Capitan, a 7,569-foot (2,307 meter) formation, when a rock slide let loose below him Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, in Yosemite National Park, Calif.

(Peter Zabrok via AP)

been scaling the route for days with a climbing partner when the rock let loose below them Wednesday.

He said he and his partner, Peter Zabrok, had slept on the wall in the fall zone a couple of nights before it came crumbling down and he noticed the rock was loose.

Sheridan, 25, said he hammered a pin onto the wall and “when you hit the wall, you could hear echo all around you.”

The duo continued climbing and reached the summit Thursday, after a second rock slide plunged down. After descending Friday, though, he said there are dozens of routes

“Those are things you can’t really control, and it’s an inherent risk people who climb take. Freak accidents happen,” Sheridan said.

Still, some climbers acknowledged stress as they weighed whether to take one of 100-some routes up El Capitan or any other big climbs in the park right now, said Josh Edwards, 21, of Bend, Oregon.

“It’s kind of scary thinking that an entire cliff side can come off,” Edwards said.

“The general feeling is everybody’s a little scared. At least I am.”

Thursday’s crash injured a man who was driving out of the national park when

of Naples, Florida, in the head, said his wife.

His wife, Rachel Evans, told KSEE-TV of Fresno (http:// bit.ly/2x1EnIU ) that the family had just finished a three-day visit to Yosemite.

“We didn’t know what had happened, but it shattered (the glass) and the dust just poured in,” Evans said.

“We were trying to outrun it; it was like ‘Go! Let’s go!’ and at the same time my husband reached up and he was like ‘Oh, my head, my head’ because it was bleeding profusely and hurting.”

Ian Mort, 60, of Los Angeles, could smell the dust and he sat in jammed traffic after Thursday’s rock fall

as he headed into the park for his first trip, but he said he wasn’t concerned.

“Mother Earth changes every day, and we just have to get used to it, I guess,” he said Friday.

Wednesday’s slide killed Andrew Foster, 32, of Wales, who was hiking with his wife at the bottom of El Capitan far from trails used by most Yosemite visitors, preparing to ascend El Capitan.

Foster’s former colleagues at the Up and Under outdoor gear store in Cardiff, Wales, recalled him Friday in a statement as a man whose passion for the outdoors, “and mountains in particular, was enormous and infectious.”His wife, Lucy, was seriously injured in the rock fall.

Rocks at the world-renowned park’s climbing routes break loose and crash down about 80 times a year. The elite climbers who flock to the park using ropes and their fingertips to defy death as they scale sheer cliff faces know the risk but also know it’s rare to get hit and killed by the rocks.The last time a climber was killed by falling rock at Yosemite was in 2013, when a Montana climber fell after a rock dislodged and sliced his climbing rope. It was preceded by a 1999 rock fall that crushed a climber from Colorado.

Park officials say rock falls overall have killed 16 people since 1857 and injured more than 100.The rock falls came during the peak of the climbing season for El Capitan, with climbers from around the world trying their skill against the sheer cliff faces.q

A8

Saturday 30 September 2017

WORLD NEWS

EU moves ahead faster on new future than on Brexit talks

By RAF CASERT Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Twenty-seven European Union nations, excluding Britain, will be coming up with clear options on a more tightly knit future for themselves even before they will allow divorce negotiations with the U.K. to move toward brokering a new relationship.

EU Council President Donald Tusk said Friday he would be presenting “a political agenda in two weeks’ time,” after EU vision statements in recent weeks from French President Emmanuel Macron, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and others on how to the reform the bloc.

That will be just days before the next EU summit, which is expected to reject for now British demands to start negotiating on the country’s future links with the bloc alongside the current talks on how to make the cleanest Brexit possible.

Officials said Tusk will be given the job of reconciling Macron’s vision of how the EU should embrace a joint budget, a shared military and harmonized taxes to stay globally relevant with those ideas of EU nations that might not want to

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, speaks with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, right, and French President Emmanuel Macron during a working session at an EU Digital Summit in Tallinn, Estonia on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. The European Union is looking beyond its impending breakup with Britain at how to build a common future with the 27 nations remaining in the bloc.

(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

grow too closer too quickly.

Tusk said he would seek “real solutions to real problems” and stressed the need to make progress “step-by-step, issue-by-issue.”

Macron said the EU had to seize the moment of having an improved economy and increased confidence in the bloc to push through reforms before European elections in 2019.

“2018 is a year of opportu-

nity for Europeans,” he said.

“In 5 or 10 years, it will be too late.”

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned, however, not to set the bar too high, since changes in the bloc of half a billion people have always been tough to achieve.

“Under-promise and overdeliver,” Rutte said.

“Don’t promise an elephant and see a mouse show up.”

The collegial atmosphere was bolstered by a nonconfrontational dinner Thursday night for EU leaders, where few of the usual east-west or north-south fissures spoiled the mood, officials said.

The goodwill has not extended to the issue of Brexit over the past months.

EU leaders at their Oct. 19-20 summit have to say whether “sufficient progress” has been achieved

Israel grinds to a halt as Jews fast for Yom Kippur

JERUSALEM (AP) — The holiest day of the Jewish calendar has brought most of Israel to a halt for Judaism’s day of atonement.

Yom Kippur began Friday evening capping a 10-day period of soul-searching for

observant worshippers that began with the Jewish New Year festival.

It is observed with a 25-hour fast and long prayers asking God for forgiveness.

The holiday is unique in Israel as virtually the entire

country shuts down. Businesses and airports close; radio and TV stations go silent. Roads are eerily quiet devoid of traffic. Some secular, mostly young, Israelis take advantage of near-empty roads and

highways with bicycle and skateboard rides.

Israel’s military shut West Bank crossings citing security assessments. A Palestinian had killed three Israelis and wounded another at a settlement on Tuesday.q

on divorce issues with Britain — citizens’ rights, the Irish border and a financial settlement — to grant the U.K. its wish to start talking about a new trade deal with the EU. Juncker said it will take “a miracle” for there to be sufficient progress by then, despite a round of negotiations in Brussels this week that ended with some progress.

Other EU leaders sounded a similar tone.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said despite “a better vibe and a better mood coming out of the negotiations” he questioned whether the time was right to move on to trade issues with Britain.

“It’s still very evident that there’s more work to be done,” he said.

For the past week, though, British Prime Minister Theresa May has sounded more conciliatory.

In Estonia, she guaranteed her country’s commitment to security even though the nation is leaving the bloc.

May visited troops in Estonia close to the Russian border on Friday and said “the United Kingdom is unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe’s security.”

“We will continue to offer aid and assistance to EU member states that are the victims of armed aggression, terrorism and natural or man-made disasters,” she vowed.

She also proposed a “new security partnership” to weather the divorce when her country leaves the bloc in March 2019. q

WORLD NEWS A9 Stalemate over Catalan vote keeps Spain in suspense

Saturday 30 September 2017

By BARRY HATTON ARITZ PARRA Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Scores of Catalan farmers on tractors rumbled into downtown Barcelona on Friday, driving down the city’s broad boulevards in a show of support for a potentially explosive vote on whether the prosperous region should break away from the rest of Spain and become Europe’s newest country.

The Spanish government and secession-minded authorities in the northeastern Catalonia region were on a collision course, with the independence referendum still slated for Sunday despite efforts by the courts and police to stop it.

The tractors carried the Catalan pro-independence flag, called the “estelada,” to the office of the national government’s representative in Barcelona.

Similar tractor protests were being held across Catalonia. The region’s biggest farmers’ union said the demonstrations were part of their fight for “democracy and liberty.”

With weeks of antagonism and tension coming to a head, neither side was showing signs of backing down from a confrontation that has pitched Spain into a political and constitutional crisis.

The Madrid-based Spanish government has maintained the ballot cannot and will not happen because it contravenes the

A man with the estelada, or Catalonia independence flag, steers a tractor during a protest by farmers in Barcelona, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. Authorities in Catalonia aim to ensure that a disputed referendum on independence from Spain will take place peacefully on Sunday despite a crackdown on the vote by the national government, the region’s interior chief said.

(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

constitution, which refers to “the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation.” Any vote on Catalan secession would have to be held across all of Spain, the government says.

“This secessionist process has been illegal from the start,” government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said Friday. “Since the referendum ... won’t have any political consequence, pursuing it won’t do anything but extend the damage, the harm and the disintegration that it is already doing.” Acting on court orders, police have confiscated about 10 million ballot papers and some 1.3 million posters advertising the referendum,

Prosecutors: Dutch boy, 14, has confessed to slaying his parents THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch prosecutors say a 14-year-old boy has confessed to killing his parents with a knife, a double slaying that sent shockwaves through the tiny northern village where they lived and beyond.

The bodies of the couple, reportedly 63 and 62, were discovered Tuesday morning in Katlijk, a rural village with some 600 inhabitants that lies 140 kilometers (87 miles) northeast of Amster-

dam. Police detained the son the same evening on suspicion of involvement in the deaths.

Prosecutors said Friday that an investigating judge has agreed to extend the son’s detention by two weeks while investigations continue. Tjeerd van der Zwan, mayor of nearby Heerenveen, said in a statement this week that, “It goes without saying that an event like this has a profound effect on people.”q

and have blocked the distribution of ballot boxes. On Friday, the Catalan police were ordered to clear out all 2,315 polling stations,

most of them in schools, by 6 a.m. Sunday to prevent the referendum from taking place.

In an internal memo, the

regional police chief, Maj. Josep Lluis Trapero, said patrols would be sent to confiscate ballot boxes and electoral papers.

Separatist groups had already been calling on parents to organize activities with students at the schools to prevent police from closing them before the vote.

David Martinez, a 46-yearold father of three, said he was bringing his children to a weekend-long activity at their school in Barcelona’s Eixample district.

“Given the recent events, the school community has decided to stand up and defend the democratic values that our kids need to learn,” he said. “Values that are important, like freedom, dialogue, participation.” The Catalan regional government and local civic groups insist they are entitled to exercise their democratic rights and intend to do so regardless of the obstacles. q

A10 WORLD

Saturday 30 September 2017

NEWS

Iraqi forces to take control of Kurdish borders

By S. GEORGE Q. ZAHRA Associated Press IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iraq’s military was preparing to take control of the international borders of the northern Kurdish region as a flight ban halted all international

erendum vote could lead to violence, setting off an unpredictable chain of events.

Two U.S. officials said Washington was concerned about possible operations involving Iraqi, Iranian or Turkish forces, or a combi-

agency announced.

At Irbil International airport, hundreds of passengers lined up for flights out of the Kurdish region in the hours before the central government’s flight ban took effect Friday evening. Baghdad had demanded the

A Kurdish woman holds a banner with ‘independence’ written on it to protest against the flight ban issued by the Iraq federal government outside the Irbil International Airport in Iraq, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. Many travelers boarded the last flights out of the cities of Irbil and Sulaymaniyah as an Iraqi government order to halt all international flights in Kurdish territory was set to kick in on Friday.

(AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

flights from servicing the territory’s airports on Friday as the central government in Baghdad stepped up moves to isolate the Kurds following their vote on independence earlier this week.

Iraqi troops now in Turkey and Iran would start on Saturday morning to enforce control over the border crossings out of the Kurdish region, Iraqi officials told The Associated Press. They will not enter the Kurdish region, but instead Iraqi customs administrators backed by the troops will set up control points just outside the Kurdish border stations, the officials said.

The step will be the first movement of troops — outside of joint military exercises held by Turkey, Iran and Iraq — in response to this week’s referendum in which Kurds voted by more than 90 percent to back independence from Iraq for their self-rule zone and other areas they have captured the past year.

The escalation feeds worries in the United States, a close ally of both the Kurds and Baghdad, that the ref-

nation thereof. Behind the scenes, the United States has strongly been advising against any military incursion into the Kurdish region, and believes none of the players will do so, according the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The nonbinding referendum — in which the Kurds voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Iraq — will not immediately result in independence. But Kurdish leaders have said they will use it to press for negotiations on eventually forming their own state.

That has set off alarm bells in Baghdad, where the government has said it is determined to prevent a break-up of the country, and in Iraq’s neighbors, Iran and Turkey, which fear the vote will fuel similar ambitions among their own significant Kurdish populations. So they have moved to isolate the region. Iran on Friday announced a ban on oil imports and exports with the Iraqi Kurdish region, the state news

region hand over the airport to its authority or else face a ban. Talar Saleh, the general director of Irbil International Airport, says Kurdish authorities had attempted to meet with officials from the central government to comply with the demand. But “so far, up to this moment, there is no reply from Baghdad,” she said at a press conference held at the airport.

While Baghdad controls the airspace over the Kurdish region, immigration and security inside the airports are controlled by local Kurdish region officials and security forces. Many of the hundreds of people traveling Friday afternoon were foreigners ordered to leave the region by the companies they work for.

“Of course we don’t want to leave,” said Joao Gabriel Villar, a Brazilian doctor working for a non-governmental organization that helps people displaced by the conflict with the Islamic State group.

“We had only just arrived,” he said. “We could have helped many more people if we stayed.”q

Activists: Airstrikes hit dozens of towns across northern Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — Airstrikes hit towns and villages in northern Syria Friday killing and wounding dozens of people, opposition activists and pro-government media said.

Clashes meanwhile in the country’s center and east with the Islamic State group led government forces to secure a main highway linking the capital Damascus with eastern Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes are concentrating on Idlib, Hama and Aleppo provinces north of the country, which witnessed clashes last week between Syrian and Russian troops with insurgents.

Rami Abdurrahman, the Observatory’s chief, said 42 towns and villages were aerially bombarded on Friday alone, killing at least 12 and wounded 31.

The opposition’s Thiqa News Agency released a video showing a bloodied dead baby being pulled from under the rubble in the village of Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province. Thiqa said five people were killed in the strikes Urem al-Kubra.

Opposition activists say Syrian and Russian warplanes have been bombing northern Syria for nearly a week, killing as many as 150 people.

The airstrikes in northern Syria came as government forces have been fighting fierce battles with IS members in central and eastern Syria, clashes that killed scores of troops and pro-government militiamen, according to IS statements and Syrian opposition activists.

Violence had broken out Thursday when IS fighters attacked the village of Shola, capturing it from government forces and cutting off the highway linking the capital Damascus and the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

Al-Manar TV of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, which is fighting with government forces in Syria, said that the highway has been secured, adding that vehicles can now drive through it.

The Observatory said two days of fighting in the desert area left 120 Syrian troops, Hezbollah fighters and other pro-government gunmen dead. The governmentcontrolled Syrian Central Military Media said Syrian troops repelled the attack by IS. The attack by IS came as a surprise at a time when the extremists are losing ground across their self-declared caliphate. In July, the group lost the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. IS’s de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria is currently under attack by the U.S.-backed and Kurdishled Syrian Democratic Forces.

Iraqi troops and SDF fighters have been marching against IS under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.led coalition while Syrian troops and their allies have gained ground under the cover of Russian airstrikes.

The Pentagon said in a statement Friday that since the U.S.-led coalition operations against IS began in Iraq and Syria in 2014, forces allied with the Americans have retaken more than 83 percent of land once held by extremists. It added that the effort has liberated more than six million Syrians and Iraqis.

It said these achievements have come at a cost, however, with 1,200-1,500 Iraqi forces killed in action during the nine-month campaign that liberated Mosul and an approximate 8,000 more wounded.

The Pentagon statement said SDF fighters who are marching in Raqqa and Deir el-Zour have suffered “similarly in efforts to rid their nation” of IS, with approximately 1,100 of their troops killed and 3,900 more wounded in the ongoing fight. It said that in the month of August, the coalition carried over 455 open reports of possible civilian casualties from previous months and received 80 new reports from coalition artillery shelling or airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. q

WORLD NEWS A11

Saturday 30 September 2017

Mexico official: Warnings over school ignored before quake

Investigative police officers inspect a part of the Enrique Rebsamen school that collapsed during last week’s 7.1 magnitude quake in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017.

(AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexico City borough president said officials from a previous administration ignored warnings that unauthorized construction work on a school that collapsed during a powerful earthquake had hurt the building’s structural integrity.

Meanwhile the death toll from the magnitude 7.1 quake which hit Sept. 19 jumped by 10 to 355 on Friday, as the search continued for bodies in the debris of some downed buildings.

The school became a symbol of the tragedy when a three-story wing of the building pancaked, killing 26 people including 19 chil-

Philippines slams 39 countries calling for end to drug killings

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government has denounced 39 mostly Western nations, including the United States, Britain and France, which have urged it to end thousands of killings under President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown and allow investigations in cooperation with the international community.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday that its diplomats told the countries, which issued a joint statement in Geneva expressing serious concern over human rights conditions in the Philippines, “to respect Manila’s domestic processes.”

The government, through its diplomatic mission to the United Nations in Geneva, said it takes “grave exception to the sweeping and politicized statement” delivered by Iceland on behalf of 38 other countries during a meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, the department said.

In their statement, the countries said they “remain concerned about the thousands of killings and climate of impunity associated with the war on drugs,” and cited Philippine commitments to investigate these crimes and observe due process.

The countries encouraged the Philippines to request technical assistance if necessary.q

dren. Photos over the years suggested an increasingly heavy fourth story had been gradually added to the wing.

Borough president Claudia Sheinbaum said late Thursday that inspectors issued a report in November 2013 and warned the borough’s judicial director at the time that work on the third floor and illegally added fourth floor were “damaging structural elements that affect the stability of the building.”

The privately operated elementary and middle school was apparently allowed to complete the work by paying a fine equivalent to about $1,600 at the time.

“The file was closed, with a fine of 21,000 pesos. Outrageous,” Sheinbaum said.

She added that she has

filed a criminal complaint against the former judicial director, a person who held the same post later and “whoever else may be responsible.”

Sheinbaum, who took office in 2015, had said earlier there was unauthorized expansion work at the school since around 2010.

Another borough closer to the city center also filed criminal complaints against two developers for two buildings that partially or completely collapsed, killing at least three people.

The borough of Benito Juarez accused the two firms of having “used lowquality materials, lying and evading the law.”

One of the buildings was only about a year old and advertised its apartments as being structurally sound

and quake-resistant. The other, a six story rental apartment building, was apparently built in the last year atop the unreinforced structure of a decades-old four-story building.

The vast majority of the collapses and deaths occurred in buildings constructed under looser regulations prior to a 1985 quake that killed thousands in Mexico City.

However the three buildings cited in the criminal complaints involved more recent construction. The school was started in 1983 but then expanded in the last decade.

Most of the rubble has been cleared away from the 38 sites where buildings collapsed in the capital, leaving only a few active recovery efforts.q

A12 WORLD

Saturday 30 September 2017

NEWS

Maria dims Puerto Rico’s bleak economic outlook

In this Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017 photo, Nestor Serrano walks on the upstairs floor of his home, where the walls were blown off, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. Maria has thrown Puerto Rico’s already messy economic recovery plans into disarray.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

By ALEXANDRA OLSON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Hurricane Maria has thrown Puerto Rico’s already messy economic recovery plans into disarray.

For now, the focus has shifted from Puerto Rico’s financial woes to meeting the basic needs of its 3.5 million people, many of whom still lack adequate food, water and power more than a week since the Category 4 hurricane laid waste to the

U.S. territory. But as Puerto Rico emerges from the worst of the disaster, it will still face a $74 billion public debt load and a decadeold economic recession that has sent hundreds of thousands of islanders fleeing to the U.S. mainland.

The hurricane has interrupted court proceedings and mediation efforts with creditors aimed at restructuring the debt. The destruction will severely disrupt revenue flows and force a re-

calculation of a fiscal plan, painfully negotiated with federal oversight board appointed to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances. While there is some potential for federal recovery money and insurance payouts to jolt a stagnant economy, much depends on how much aid Congress will approve.

President Donald Trump on Friday promised the rebuilding effort “will end up being one of the biggest ever.”

With so many unknowns,

however, economists are unsure if there will be any silver lining for Puerto Rico.

“Generally, what we find is that natural disasters are just temporary problems and in most cases after the rebuilding, things revert to the long-term trends,” said David Hitchcock, an analyst with S&P. “Unfortunately, the longer-term trends already weren’t very good.” Here are some things to watch as Puerto Rico confronts the dual challenges of natural disaster and economic chaos.

FISCAL RECOVERY PLAN IN LIMBO Puerto Rico’s efforts to put its finances in order were mired in controversy, lawsuits and street protests.

Now, the island must rethink everything. The oversight board appointed by Congress approved a 10-year spending plan in March that chipped away at the government’s debt load while cutting employee benefits and raising service fees. The plan must now be revised to take into account expected revenue losses and a drop in economic output. Tax collection is certain to plummet, especially if more Puerto Ricans flee to the mainland.

And nobody will be paying

Poll: Brazil president’s approval rating at just 3% SAO PAULO (AP) — A new poll in Brazil says embattled President Michel Temer’s already dismal approval rating has sunk even further to a new historic low.

Just 3 percent of respondents in the Ibope Institute

survey approve of Temer’s administration, while 77 percent disapprove. In a previous poll from July, 5 percent approved while 70 percent disapproved.

The latest survey is based on 2,000 face-to-face in-

terviews conducted Sept.

15-20, as Brazil’s top prosecutor charged Temer and key allies with leading a criminal organization. Temer was also accused of obstruction of justice.

He has denied wrongdo-

ing, calling the indictment “filled with absurdities.”

This week’s poll had a margin of error of 2 percentage points. No president has had a lower rating since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985.q

their electric or water bills anytime soon. The Puerto Rican Power authority says it could take months to completely restore power.

Revenue from manufacturing and tourism will also fall.

“The oversight board has to revisit the whole fiscal plan and make a determination based on the new reality,” said Rep. Nydia Velasquez, a New York Democrat who was born on the island.

“Puerto Rico today is totally different from the Puerto Rico of a week ago.” Jose Luis Cedeno, a spokesman for the board, said “all options are on the table.” For now, the board has authorized $1 billion of the current budget to be diverted for hurricane relief. That’s a fraction of the tens of billions of dollars that the hurricane is expected to cost.

BONDHOLDERS IN THE LURCH The disaster is bad news for the island’s investors, mostly mutual funds and hedge funds that bought distressed Puerto Rican bonds at a discount in hopes of making a profit. Creditors can expect delays in the restructuring process and will come under pressure to accept even more reduced payments, said Ted Hampton, an analyst with Moody’s Investor Service.

Faced with multiplying lawsuits from creditors, Puerto Rico sought a form of bankruptcy protection in May. The federal judge who is overseeing that process, Laura Taylor Swain, indefinitely postponed a key Oct. 4 hearing because the hurricane paralyzed the island. q

A13

Saturday 30 September 2017

Aruba Certification Program Works for La Cabana EAGLE BEACH - La Cabana Beach Resort and Casino opened her doors recently for a valuable workshop.

The Aruba Certification Program trained a group of employees during some dynamic days.

The enthusiasm was there and the group learned how important it is to give the correct information and be consistent in your work. In a series of sessions different topics were treated like the actual history and culture of Aruba, with the elements of excellent service were at the forefront.

‘The choice to give your staff the opportunity to upgrade is to be applauded and will add value to your service,’ so says the organization of Aruba Certification Program.

The goal of the program is to support the people working in the tourism industry with workshops and trainings to make their service level the best. For more information you can visit their website www. acp.aw. q

The Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort showed up in The New York Times EAGLE BEACH - The Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort is a boutique hotel in Aruba that recently was praised in the Travel section of the prestigious newspaper The New York Times. Aruba was mentioned with four other islands as destinations that were still stable after the devastating legacy hurricanes Irma and Maria left in some Caribbean islands.

Despite the fact that the actual damage still has to be determined, Frank Co-

mito, the Chief Executive of the Caribbean Hotel Association, mentions that almost 70 percent of the Caribbean islands remained intact. The organization represents hotels and related businesses in tourism at 32 Caribbean destinations.

Aruba is categorized in the article as one of the two options to visit the Caribbean within less than 5 hours flight time from the United States east coast. With more than 300 restaurants offering the best interna-

tional gastronomy, whitesanded beaches and a Chrystal blue ocean, a variety of watersports and so much more, The New York Times is putting Aruba on the map.The Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort is included as hotel within the deluxe romance package of ‘The Steal’. The package offers a studio room, a bottle of Champagne, in-room breakfast, a dinner at Passions on the Beach restaurant, a private sunset cruise and two gift baskets.q

A14 LOCAL

Saturday 30 September 2017

Run for your Hero ORANJESTAD – In case you wish to start your Sunday early and fit, the Aruba Fire Department is just your thing this weekend. At 6am you can start with a 5 kilometer (3.1 miles) course or a 10 kilometer (6.2 miles) course, either walking or running.

The ‘Run for your Hero’ races start from the actual Fire Department location in Tanki Flip.

You can also go to support the sportive participants. For more information visit Facebook page IBiSA Aruba.

The Aruba Fire Department protects our island of 19 miles long by 6 miles at its widest.

It is comprised of three firehouses. Headquarters is located in Tanki Flip, the second in San Nicolas and the third is located at the airport.

The department runs with 7 engines, 1 truck, 2 tankers, 2 rescue units and one ambulance.

Members are made up of professional firefighters as well as a compliment of volunteers.q

Paradise in the Caribbean

SALES OFFICE +297 2801005 info@leventaruba.com MOBILE +297 5927275 www.leventaruba.com

LOCAL A15

Saturday 30 September 2017

Bugaloe Beach Bar Introduces Travel Session Live Band

PALM BEACH - This Sunday get ready to join the party with the one of The Best Live bands on the island! Bugaloe is proud to bring Aruba more live music to dance and sing along to.

Starting this Sunday October 1st, the Travel Session band will be playing on Sunday nights from 7-10pm.

Don’t miss the island’s best live music!

If you want to enjoy a fun night with family and friends together with the

best music, most beautiful sunset views and great food and drink specials running all throughout the week, visit Bugaloe!

Bugaloe is located on De Palm Pier between the Riu Palace Hotel and the Hilton Resort. Come down for the view and stay for the party!q

A16 LOCAL

Saturday 30 September 2017

Loyal Guests Honored at the Tropicana Aruba Resort & Casino

EAGLE BEACH - Recently the Aruba Tourism Authority had the great pleasure of honoring a very nice couple who are loyal and friendly visitors of Aruba at the Tropicana Aruba Resort

& Casino as Distinguished Visitors.

The symbolic honorary title is presented in the name of the Minister of Tourism as a token of appreciation to guests who visit Aruba

for 10-to-19 consecutive years. The honorees were Mr. John and Mrs. Linda Haley from Massachusetts, celebrating 14 consecutive annual visits to Aruba!

John and Linda are regu-

lar guests at the Tropicana Aruba Resort & Casino and they love Aruba very much because of the beautiful sunsets, friendly locals, variety of food and the feeling of home-away-from-

home. The certificate was presented by Ms. Marouska Heyliger representing the Aruba Tourism Authority together with associates from the Tropicana Aruba Resort & Casino.q

A17

Saturday 30 September 2017

PUTT DOWN Green Bay Packers’ Jordy Nelson (87) celebrates his touchdown catch with Aaron Rodgers (12) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, in Green Bay, Wis. Associated Press

Injury-riddled Packers beat mistake-prone Bears 35-14

By GENARO C. ARMAS AP Sports Writer GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (AP) — The Green Bay Packers keep finding ways to win despite more key injuries.

The Chicago Bears never recovered from a miserable start by quarterback Mike Glennon.

Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes, and the injury-riddled Packers converted three turnovers into scores in an eventful 35-14 victory over the mistake-prone Chicago Bears on in the NFL on Thursday night. Rodgers connected with Davante Adams and Randall Cobb on short touchdown passes to help build a 21-0 lead in the second quarter of a game delayed 45 minutes by lightning between the first two periods. The Packers overpowered the Bears down the stretch to slog out a win as intermittent rain fell at Lambeau Field.

“We knew were going to get into a grind of a game.

Continued on Page 20

Mickelson, DJ star as U.S. dominates Presidents Cup

Phil Mickelson, right, celebrates after making his putt on the 18th hole with Kevin Kisner during the four-ball golf matches on the second day of the Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J., Friday, Sept.

29, 2017.

Associated Press Page 19

A18 SPORTS

Saturday 30 September 2017

Woods back on the course in a cart, uncertain about future

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Tiger Woods made it back from his fourth surgery in time for the Presidents Cup. Just not to play.

Not even Woods knows when or even if he can return. He even acknowledged Wednesday a scenario that he doesn’t return to competition because he’s at a stage where he’s only hitting 60-yard shots.

This was all about driving a cart as an assistant captain at Liberty National.

Woods is back on a golf course for the first time since the Dubai Desert Classic, where he shot 77 in the first round and withdrew the next day citing back spasms.

He had fusion surgery on his back in April, and he had reason to wonder if he would be able to join the U.S. team in this capacity.

He said in his blog May 24 that surgery brought instant nerve relief.

Five days later, however, he was arrested on a DUI charge when Florida police found him asleep behind the wheel of a running

In this Feb. 2, 2017, file photo, Tiger Woods reacts on the 10th hole during the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Associated Press

car that was parked awkwardly on the side of the road with a blinker flashing.

Woods said he had an unexpected reaction to pain medication.

Three weeks later, he entered a treatment center.

He also was an assistant captain at the Ryder Cup last fall, and even though he doesn’t have a club in his hand or a putt on the line, they are big weeks.

Having not played a full schedule since 2015, removed from the game, opportunities to spend time with an American team

is not anything he would want to miss.

“There were times when ...

I didn’t know if I was going to be able to be here because I couldn’t ride in a cart,” Woods said Wednesday.

“The bouncing just hurt too much. Driving a car still hurt. So that’s all gone now, which is fantastic.

And yeah, there were some intrepid times — not just for this golf tournament, but for life going forward.”

Woods looks as fit as ever.

He said in another blog he posted last week that he

was working out six days a week, alternating among a treadmill, his bike, swimming and lifting weights twice a day. He is hitting wedges up to 60 yards, but that’s as far as he said his doctors will allow him to go.

He was asked if he could see a scenario where he would not return to competition and Woods replied, “Yeah, definitely. I don’t know what my future holds for me. As I’ve told you guys, I’m hitting 60yard shots.”

“I’ve been out of the game for a while,” Woods said.

“First things first: Get my health organized. Make sure the pain goes away.

Then, basically, just as I said, just keeping waiting for what my surgeon says.

I’m still training. I’m getting stronger.

But I certainly don’t have my golf muscles trained because obviously I’m not doing anything golf-related.”

Woods went 4-1-0 at the Presidents Cup in 2013, his last team competition. Except for the odd occasion when PGA champion Jus-

tin Thomas or Rickie Fowler comes over to his house in south Florida to chip in his backyard practice facility, he’s not around the players in this environment.

Woods said he was “very optimistic” about getting back into the fray. He’s also as uncertain as ever.

“Like I said, the pain’s gone, but I don’t know what my golfing body is going to be like, because I haven’t hit a golf shot yet,” he said.

He said in his May blog that he “unequivocally” wants to play professional golf again, and he said again Wednesday that he was in no hurry to get back from a fourth back surgery, which followed four surgeries on his left knee.

Woods was asked if could be the best in golf again if he returned to 100 percent health. That made Woods smile, only because he doesn’t know what 100 percent means anymore with all his injuries.

The next question was if he could return to the health he had in his 20s, and Woods did all he could to keep from laughing.

“Is anybody in here who is in their 40s ever going to feel like they did in their 20s?” he said. “Seriously?”

He turns 42 at the end of the year.

His role at the Presidents Cup is assisting U.S. captain Steve Stricker, encouraging players who were not even in kindergarten when Woods won the first of his 14 majors.

And he’s loving every minute of it.

So are the players, and the fans. Woods still remains the top draw when it comes to autographs at Liberty National.

It’s a rare sighting these days on a golf course.

“The younger player on both sides, he was our dominant player, the face of the PGA Tour, and they grew up idolizing him,” Jim Furyk said.

“Having him here in the team room and here with those guys is invaluable.

“It’s a two-way street. It’s great for Tiger. As much as he’s been injured, it’s probably wonderful for him to be out here.”q

SPORTS A19

Saturday 30 September 2017

Americans running away in the Presidents Cup as though they could go either way until the back nine. At one point, the International team led in three matches, only for all of them to turn.

In the five matches, the Americans won 13 holes on the back nine, compared to just three for the International team.

The Americans have a 9-11 lead in the series, their only loss coming in 1998 at

Brooks Koepka, left, celebrates after making his putt on the tenth hole with Dustin Johnson during the four-ball golf matches on the second day of the Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J., Friday, Sept. 29, 2017.

Associated Press

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Phil Mickelson rolled in a 12foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to cap off another big day for the Americans and set a record for the largest lead after two sessions in Presidents Cup history.

Another day like this and that’s what the International team will be — history.

Mickelson and Kisner never led against Jason Day and Marc Leishman until the par-3 18th hole Friday at Liberty National. Mickelson poured in his birdie putt, and Leishman missed his from about the same range.

About the only thing that went wrong was the celebration. Mickelson, who on Thursday cropped himself out of a selfie with the last three U.S. presidents, missed a move in the “Three Amigos” dance with Kisner.

“I’m clearly the worst selfie taker. I’m the worst ‘Three Amigos’ dancer. But I can

putt,” Mickelson said.

Mickelson, who has played in all 12 Presidents Cups, has 24 match victories to tie the record set by Tiger Woods in eight appearances. Woods was looking on in his role as an assistant to U.S. captain Steve Stricker.

And that’s about all the International team could do.

Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Hadwin were 2 up with four holes to play against Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed and had to settle for a halve. Even that felt like a small victory for the International team because Spieth had birdie putts on the final two holes that narrowly missed.

Justin Thomas, already with a big year behind him as a major champion and the FedEx Cup champion, teamed with Rickie Fowler for another easy victory.

They have trailed only one hole in their two matches, and they became the first partnership to beat Louis Oosthuizen and Branden

Grace.

They took the lead for good when Fowler made a 15-foot birdie putt on the third hole, and then Thomas produced the loudest cheer of the afternoon at a pivotal moment on the 14th hole. Oosthuizen hit his approach to 6 feet, while both Americans missed the green. From the left bunker, Thomas blasted out perfectly and watched in drop in for a birdie that kept the International team from cutting the deficit to 1 down.

Thomas birdied the next hole, and his bunker shot on the 16th hit the pin and somehow stayed out.

The shortest match of the day belonged to a pair of American rookies, Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman, who sat out the foursomes matches in the opening session. They were 3 up after four holes against Charl Schwartzel and Anirban Lahiri and never let up in a 6-and-5 victory.

Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, close friends and the last two U.S. Open champions, took their first lead on the par-3 10th with Koepka’s birdie, and Johnson showed rare emotion on his final two birdies in a 3-and-2 victory over Adam Scott and Jhonattan Vegas.

Just like the opening session, the matches looked

Royal Melbourne. But it has at least been close after the opening two sessions, with neither side leading by more than two points since 1998.

With an 8-2 lead, the Americans have a mathematical chance to clinch on Saturday, which features four matches of foursomes in the morning and four matches of fourballs in the afternoon.q

A20 SPORTS

Saturday 30 September 2017

Best rivalry in NFL on tap: Steelers at Ravens

By BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer As early as it might be in the NFL schedule, several division games could be considered relatively critical in Week 4.

That includes the best rivalry in the league, the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens.

“This game is crazy,” Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger notes. “It’s a special game. I’m still here and (linebacker Terrell) Suggs is still over there.

We’ve got a lot of respect for each other in this rivalry.

C.J. Mosley, Jimmy Smith, (Brandon) Carr, and (Eric) Weddle now.

“We’ve got enough guys here that have played this physical AFC North game.

Both there and here, playoff game or whatever it is. I don’t think it will take long if the young guys don’t know now what it’s going to be about.”

Among other things, it’s for first place in the division.

Maybe that doesn’t sound significant at this point of the season, but with both teams 2-1, and Cincinnati and Cleveland both winless, the victor at Baltimore on Sunday takes quick con-

Packers Bear Continued from Page 17

The turnovers were huge for us,” coach Mike McCarthy said.

The Packers (3-1) lost two more key players to injuries. Adams left the field on a stretcher after getting hit in the head during a tackle by Danny Trevathan in the third quarter. Running back Ty Montgomery was knocked out in the first quarter with a chest injury.

But the Packers capitalized on an awful start by Glennon, who accounted for four turnovers.

“The number one thing I obviously have to fix is the turnovers,” Glennon said.

He fumbled on his first snap on a strip sack by Clay Matthews. Rodgers hit Cobb for a 2-yard touchdown pass three plays later for a 7-0 lead.

The rout was on.

In this Nov. 6, 2016, file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) dives past Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, left, for a touchdown in the second half of an NFL football game in Baltimore.

Associated Press

trol in the AFC North.

Since the start of 2008, 12 times this game has been decided by three points or fewer.

Suggs echoes Roethlisberger’s sentiments.

“You have to get an extra lift in the weight room,” says Suggs, who has more sacks on Roethlisberger (16 1/2) than anyone. “It is definitely the most physical rivalry in the NFL, and it is because Glennon fumbled on his next series, too, but the Packers couldn’t score on that drive.

It was only a matter of time because the mistakes kept mounting.

Glennon threw his second interception with 2:54 left in the third quarter. Six plays later, receiver Jordy Nelson caught his second touchdown pass, an 8-yarder from Rodgers, to make it a 28-point lead.

“This was a big character win for us,” Rodgers said.

“It’s been a next-man-up, no-excuses policy.”

Rodgers was 18 of 26 for 179 yards. He picked apart the Bears (1-3) on short, quick passes, a game plan in part necessitated by a patchwork offensive line.

The Packers played without starting tackles David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga, and their three backup tackles are already on injured reserve.

of the two teams’ style of play. You don’t cross paths without some things in common.”

The Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders, another bitter rivalry, features teams salty over stumbles on the road last week. With the Kansas City Chiefs off to a brilliant start, the loser here could be doing lots of chasing in the AFC West.

The juiciest matchup is

the Raiders’ dynamic offense against the Denver defense. Denver has shut down elite running backs Melvin Gordon, Ezekiel Elliott, and LeSean McCoy, restricting them to a combined 84 yards on 40 carries for a 2.1-yard average and zero touchdowns. Good luck, Marshawn Lynch.

The Detroit Lions’ opportunistic defense, which leads the NFL with a plus-6 turn-

Green Bay Packers’ Davante Adams is hit by Chicago Bears’ Adrian Amos and Danny Trevathan during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, in Green Bay, Wis. Associated Press

The injury to Adams cast a pall late in the third quarter. The game was delayed for about 5 minutes while medical personnel tended to the receiver, who gave a thumbs-up signal as he was wheeled off the field.

The Packers said Adams was conscious and taken

to a hospital for evaluation for possible head and neck injuries, and that he had feeling in all of his extremities.

“The news I was given on Davante — everything looks positive. qThat’s a great sign,” McCarthy said. q

over margin, has seven interceptions. They go to Minnesota, where the Vikings have not thrown any.

Perhaps the spotlight should be on the kickers. The Lions’ Matt Prater made field goals of 55 and 57 yards last week, becoming second only to Sebastian Janikowski in NFL history with 10 career 55-plus converted kicks; Janikowski has 13. Kai Forbath has made all 21 field goals attempted since joining the Vikings for the final seven games of last season.

Over that 10-game span, he’s tied with Prater and Jacksonville’s Jason Myers for the most converted.

One reason the Houston Texans have controlled the AFC South in recent seasons is winning five of the past six against the Tennessee Titans. The Texans’ defense must slow down the ground-eating Titans tandem of DeMarco Murray, who had a 75-yard touchdown last week, and Derrick Henry.

Surprisingly, J.J. Watt has no sacks thus far. But he’s gotten to the quarterback in eight straight matchups with Tennessee.

As the New England Patriots prepare for their toughest defensive test of the season from the Carolina Panthers, the offensive line’s ability to protect Tom Brady will be in the spotlight.

Brady was sacked 15 times during his abbreviated 12game regular season in 2016.

That number is already up to 10 this season.

But Brady maintains his recovery time is also better because he has learned how to absorb punishment.

“You do have to learn how to find the way down in a way that you’ll be able to get up and try to play the next play,” Brady said.

“There’s some luck involved, but let’s go again, baby. Let’s line them up and play.”

The Panthers have done a good job getting after the quarterback, posting eight sacks. At 37, linebacker Julius Peppers leads the team with 2 1/2 sacks. q

SPORTS A21

Saturday 30 September 2017

Judge 51st HR, Yankees miss chance to move up, Rays win 9-6 NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his 51st home run to give the Yankees a quick lead, but New York missed a big chance to tighten the AL East race when Sonny Gray and the bullpen fell apart in a loss to the Rays.

The Yankees stayed three games behind divisionleading Boston, which fell to Houston 12-2. Each team has three games left and both are assured playoff spots — if they wind up even, the Yankees would host the Red Sox in a tiebreaker Monday.

Brett Gardner, Greg Bird and pinch-hitter Aaron Hicks also homered for New York, which had won three in a row. Wilson Ramos homered during a sevenrun burst in the fifth inning for the Rays, who had lost three straight.

ASTROS 12, RED SOX 2 BOSTON (AP) — Major league batting leader Jose Altuve had three of Houston’s 17 hits, Carlos Correa had four and the Astros chased Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez in the second inning to win and keep Boston from clinching the first back-to-back AL East championships in franchise history.

Despite the loss, the Red Sox were guaranteed no worse than a tie for the division title when the Yankees lost 9-6 to Tampa Bay. Boston needs one more win or Yankees loss to win the division; otherwise, the teams would meet in a one-game tie-breaker in New York on Monday to see who needs to play in the wild-card game and who advances to the AL Division Series — likely facing the Astros.

Altuve had two singles and his 39th double to raise his batting average to .350.

Brad Peacock (13-2) al-

lowed two runs and four hits in five innings, striking out two and walking one for the AL West champion Astros.

INDIANS 5, TWINS 2 CLEVELAND (AP) — Carlos Carrasco struck out 14, Jason Kipnis and Roberto Perez hit two-run homers and the Indians notched their 100th win, 5-2 over the understandably sluggish Twins, who clinched a wildcard berth hours earlier.

Carrasco (18-6) dominated a Minnesota lineup loaded with reserves and September call-ups. He allowed six hits — all singles — in 8 1-3 innings and improved to 3-0 with a 0.92 ERA against the Twins. The right-hander also moved into a tie for the league lead in wins with teammate Corey Kluber and Kansas City’s Jason Vargas.

Kipnis, who has moved from second base to center field, connected for a two-run homer — his first since Aug. 18 — in the sixth inning off Trevor Hildenberger (3-3) as the Indians jumped to 31-4 since Aug. 24.

This is just the third time Cleveland has won 100 games in a season. The last team to do it was Cleveland’s powerful 1995 squad, which lost to Atlanta in the World Series.

ATHLETICS 4, RANGERS 1 ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Ryon Healy hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the sixth inning to help the Athletics beat the Rangers.

It was the fifth straight road win for the Athletics and seventh consecutive loss for the Rangers. It’s Texas’ longest skid since an eightgame slide in 2015.

Bruce Maxwell took to a knee in the Oakland bullpen during the national anthem. The catcher was

warming up starter Sean Manaea, out of view from many fans and cameras.

A small number of fans booed when Maxwell batted in the second inning.

Maxwell has been the only major league baseball player to take to a knee, mirroring protests by NFL players against racial injustice. This was Maxwell’s first road game since he began his protest last weekend.

Manaea (12-10) gave up three hits and no earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. Blake Treinen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 15th save in 20 opportunities.

Miguel Gonzalez (8-13) took the loss.

WHITE SOX 5, ANGELS 4 CHICAGO (AP) — Rob Brantly hit the game-tying home run in the eighth inning and Tim Anderson hustled home for the goahead run as the White Sox rallied for a victory over the Angels.

Anderson scored from first base on a single by Rymer Liriano, as the throw from left fielder Ben Revere went to second base and Anderson alertly headed home, scoring easily on reliever Jesse Chavez (7-11).

Carlos Perez homered for the Angels, who used seven pitchers and sat stars Mike Trout and Justin Upton one night after being eliminated from playoff contention.

Gregory Infante (2-1) earned the win in relief, throwing a scoreless eighth inning. Juan Minaya earned his eighth save with a perfect ninth inning for the White Sox, who won for the 12th time in 19 games.

TIGERS 4, ROYALS 1 KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — Daniel Norris threw five scoreless innings to pick up his first victory in more than three months as the Tigers

New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge follows through on a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, in New York.

Associated Press

snapped a season-high nine-game losing streak by beating the Royals.

Norris (5-8) gave up two hits in five innings. He was 0-4 in four starts and four relief appearances since a June 16 triumph over Tampa Bay.The Tigers had been outscored 68-39 in their losing streak, which was their longest since dropping

nine straight Sept. 1-9, 2005.

Nicholas Castellanos’ fifthinning double with the bases loaded scored Alex Presley, JaCoby Jones and Dixon Machado. Jones singled home Andrew Romine with the first run of the inning.Royals left-hander Danny Duffy (9-10) did not make it through the inning.q

A22

Saturday 30 September 2017

SPORTS

Martin’s HR-saving grab dashes Cards’ wild card hopes ST. LOUIS (AP) —The St. Louis Cardinals were eliminated from postseason contention when Leonys Martin leaped at the center-field fence to rob Paul DeJong of a tying home run with two outs in the 11th inning, preserving the Chicago Cubs’ 2-1 win over St. Louis on Thursday night.

St. Louis, which went 5-14 against its rival, missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2007 and 2008.

At 82-77, the Cardinals are assured their fewest wins since going 78-84 in 2007.

A day after clinched their second straight NL Central title, the defending World Series champions started only two position players who had played in at least 100 games: outfielders Ian Happ and Kyle Schwarber.

Schwarber singled off Matt Bowman (3-6) with one out in the 11th and Davis, who struck out in his first three at-bats, hit a run-scoring double down the left-field line.Taiwan’s Jen-Ho Tseng (1-0) pitched three hitless innings.

MARLINS 7, BRAVES 1 MIAMI (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton homered twice to become the first player to hit 59 in a season since 2001 as the Miami Marlins opened the last series of Jeffrey Loria’s tenure as owner by beating the Braves.

Stanton hit a solo home run in the fourth, then added a two-run drive in the eighth that would have gone 467 feet unimpeded, according to MLB’s Statcast.

He has 33 home runs since the All-Star break and 10 multihomer games this season.

Like us on Facebook

Bon Dia 24 Aruba facebook.com/bondianoticia

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Jose Martinez is unable to catch the throw from pitcher Matt Bowman as Chicago Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber reaches safely then advances to second on the error during the 11th inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Schwarber subsequently scored the go-ahead run.

Associated Press

He became the sixth player to reach 59, joining Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth.

Japanese veteran Ichiro Suzuki got his 27th pinch hit of the year, one shy of the record John Vander Wal set in 1995.

Dee Gordon got two hits for the Marlins, who despite a 75-84 record assured themselves of second place in the NL East, their highest finish since 2009.

BREWERS 4, REDS 3 MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Brewers closed within two games of Colorado for the National League’s second wild card with three games left, rallying to beat the Reds as Brett Phillips hit a go-ahead double in the sixth inning.

Milwaukee (84-75) closes the regular season at St. Louis, and the Rockies host the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Brewers are assured of their best record since finishing 96-66 in 2011, when they lost to the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series, Milwaukee’s last playoff appearance.

After Cincinnati tied the score in the sixth on RBI singles by Scooter Gennett against Brent Suter

and Jesse Winkler off Oliver Drake, Jared Hughes (5-3) entered with two on and the Reds loaded the bases when the reliever bobbled Jose Peraza’s bunt for an error.

Hughes struck out Adam Duvall and got Stuart Turner to ground into a double play.

NATIONALS 5, PIRATES 4 WASHINGTON (AP) — The NL East champion Nationals began their last — and meaningless — series of the regular season without a sore Bryce Harper and with a blown save by closer Sean Doolittle in what became a victory over the Pirates, whose starting pitcher, Ivan Nova, left after getting hit by a pitch on his throwing hand while batting.

Howie Kendrick, a possible starter instead of

Girardi stays with Sanchez despite defensive difficulties

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees manager Joe Girardi is sticking with catcher Gary Sanchez for the postseason despite the 24-yearold’s defensive difficulties.

Sanchez leads the major leagues in passed balls with 16 and has been behind the plate for 53 wild pitches, four shy of the big league-leading total of Colorado’s Jonathan Lucroy.

“This is my catcher,” Girardi said Friday. “I am happy with the progress that he’s made. Will he make more progress? Absolutely. He’s young, but this kid has really made a lot of progress.”

New York led 4-1 Thursday when Tampa Bay closed on a wild pitch and passed ball that each allowed a run. The Rays rallied for seven runs in the inning and went on to win 9-6.

“Catchers are going to have bad days. He got the crap beat out of him yesterday. Everyone wants to focus on the two balls that maybe they got by him, but what about the 12 or

New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez gestures to teammates after hitting an RBI single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, in New York.

14 that he did block?” Girardi said. “And he got hit in the neck. He got hit in the shoulder.”

Girardi criticized Sanchez after a passed ball at Cleveland on Aug. 4, saying he needed to improve, and he benched the 24-year-old for the next two games.

“I was just being honest, letting him know that he needs to improve, and he

took it upon himself and has worked very hard to improve,” Girardi said. “We don’t necessarily have the easiest guys to catch in the world.”In his first full season in the majors, Sanchez has thrown out 36 of 92 runners attempting to steal. He is hitting .278 with 33 homers and 90 RBIs in 121 games, missing time from April 8 to May 5 because of a strained right biceps.q

SPORTS

A23

Saturday 30 September 2017

LeBron misses second straight practice with ankle injury

New York Giants’ Odell Beckham, right, celebrates with Sterling Shepard after a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Sept.

24, 2017, in Philadelphia.

Associated Press

Giants’ Beckham fined $12,154 for dog-like TD celebration

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has been fined $12,154 by the NFL for his dog-like touchdown celebration last Sunday.

Beckham got down on all fours and pretended to urinate like a dog after catching a fourth-quarter touchdown pass in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

He was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for the celebration, and met a few days later with coowner John Mara, who was unhappy with Beckham’s behavior.

Also in that game, Eagles running back LeGarrette Blount was fined $9,115 for taunting. Jets rookie safety Jamal Adams and Min-

Like us on Facebook

Bon Dia 24 Aruba facebook.com/bondianoticia

nesota cornerback Xavier Rhodes were docked the same amount for taunting.

Jets linebacker Darron Lee drew an $18,231 fine for a late hit on Miami quarterback Jay Cutler.Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman was fined $12,154 for unnecessary roughness, while Denver’s Will Parks was docked $9,115, also for unnecessary roughness.q

By TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — LeBron James missed his second straight practice with a sprained left ankle, an injury that happened on Dwyane Wade’s first day with the Cavaliers.

James was at the team’s Cleveland Clinic Courts facility getting treatment Friday, and could be seen in the training and fitness area.

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said the superstar is day to day, but the team has not said much else about James’ injury.

The three-time NBA champion rolled his ankle on Wednesday night, shortly after his good friend Wade turned down other offers to sign a one-year, $2.3 million contract with Cleveland.

It’s not known how James hurt his ankle.

The team said X-rays were

negative.

James has tweaked his ankles in the past, but the 32-year-old has been incredibly durable throughout his career, playing in at least 75 games in 12 of his 14 regular seasons.

He played in 74 games last season.

The Cavaliers play an intra-squad scrimmage on Monday at Quicken Loans Arena and their first preseason game is scheduled for Wednesday against Atlanta.Cleveland’s season opener is Oct. 17 against the Boston Celtics and former Cavs guard Kyrie Irving, who was traded this summer.

Wade was introduced to the media following Friday’s practice, and said James began recruiting him to come to Cleveland months ago.

“He knew I could help this team in some way. I appre-

Cleveland Cavaliers’ Dwyane Wade holds up his jersey during a news conference at the NBA basketball team’s training facility, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, in Independence, Ohio.

Associated Press

ciated that,” Wade said.

“It wasn’t the sole reason, but definitely everyone knows our relationship, and that he’s a huge reason why I decided to come here. But this team is so good, and you just want to be a part of something special like this.”q

Gatlin won’t take knee in exhibition race

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — World sprint champion Justin Gatlin won’t be taking a knee in protest this weekend at an exhibition race in Brazil.

However, Gatlin said Friday that does not mean he’s against highlighting issues of racial injustice that many NFL players are trying to raise back in the United States.

“I’m going to stand up. I mean, I going to stand up,” he said. “I’m not saying if I take the knee or stand up that I’m for the protests.”

Or against them, he added.

Gatlin, who won the 100 meters in the world championships in August in a London final which includ-

ed Usain Bolt, expressed mixed emotions.

He said father Willie Gatlin was a 26-year member of the Army, and he was taught military patriotism.

On the other hand, as an African-American he said it was “time to put things in order” in terms of fairness and equality.

“We as Americans, we are staying away from the narrative,” he said. “And the real question is why are we staying away from the narrative.”

Gatlin’s agent Renaldo Nehemiah said his athlete might take a different posture were the race in the U.S., where it would get wide exposure.

“If he were at home, it might be a different stance,” Nehemiah told The Associ-

In this Aug. 5, 2017 file photo, United States’ Justin Gatlin celebrates after crossing the line to win the gold medal in the men’s 100m final during the World Athletics Championships in London.

Associated Press

ated Press. “But I think he’s probably just here to run this exhibition race.”

Nehemiah played in the NFL as a receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, the same team that Colin Kaepernick was playing for when he started protesting last season at NFL games

by not standing during the national anthem.

Nehemiah, who once held the world record in the 110 hurdles, said he would have taken a knee.

“Yeah, but I’m a rebel,” he said. “I’ll do what’s in my heart. I’m a leader, not a follower. q

A24

Saturday 30 September 2017

TECHNOLOGY

Why Facebook keeps stepping in it

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Years of limited oversight and unchecked growth have turned Facebook into a force with incredible power over the lives of its two billion users. But the social network has also produced unintended social consequences — and they’re starting to catch up with it: — House and Senate panels investigating Russian interference in the 2016 elections have invited Facebook — along with Google and Twitter — to testify this fall. Facebook just agreed to give congressional investigators 3,000 political ads purchased by Russianbacked entities, and announced new disclosure policies for political advertising — Facebook belatedly acknowledged its role purveying false news to its users during the 2016 campaign and announced new measures to curb it.

Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg even just apologized — more than 10 months after the fact — for calling the idea that Facebook might have influenced the election “pretty crazy.”

— The company has taken flak for a live video feature that was quickly used to broadcast violent crime and suicides; for removing an iconic Vietnam War photo for “child pornography” and then backtracking; and for allegedly putting its thumb on a feature that ranked trending news stories .

Facebook is behind the curve in understanding that “what happens in their system has profound consequences in the real world,” said Fordham University media-studies professor Paul Levinson. The company’s knee-jerk response has often been “none of your business” when confronted about these consequences, he said.

HANDS-OFF FACEBOOK When such issues arise, Facebook generally restricts itself to bland assertions that its policies

prohibit misuse of its platform and that it’s difficult to catch everyone who tries to abuse its platform.

When pressed, it tends to acknowledge some problems, offer a few narrowly tailored fixes — and move on. But there is a larger question the company hasn’t addressed direction: Has Facebook has taken sufficient care to build policies and systems that are resistant to abuse?

Facebook declined to address the subject on the record, although it pointed to earlier public statements in which Zuckerberg described how he wants Facebook to be a force for good in the world. The company also recently launched a blog called “Hard Questions “ that attempts to address its governance issues in more depth.

But Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s No. 2 executive, has suggested that Facebook has work to do on this front. In a recent apology , she wrote that Facebook “never intended or anticipated” that people could use its automated advertising to target ads at “Jew haters” — that is, users who expressed anti-Semitic views in the Facebook profiles.

That, she wrote, “is on us.

And we did not find it ourselves — and that is also on us.”

MOVING FAST, STILL BREAKING THINGS Facebook’s often unre-

In this Saturday, March 19, 2016, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a panel discussion in Beijing.

Associated Press

sponsive response to crisis may not work much longer for a company that sometimes still seems to hew to its now-abandoned slogan — “move fast and break things.”

Facebook has so far enjoyed seemingly unstoppable growth in users, revenue and its stock price.

But along the way, it has also pushed new features on to users even when they protested, targeted ads at them based on a plethora of carefully collected personal details, and even engaged in behavioral experiments that seek to influence their mood .

How it got here has to do with its exceptionalist company culture, a hands-off

approach that values free speech over monitoring what its users post, and the fact that no matter how many people it hires, it will always have what amounts to a skeleton crew to deal with its huge user base.

“There’s a general arrogance — they know what’s right, they know what’s best, we know how to make better for you so just let us do it,” said Notre Dame business professor Timothy Carone, who added that this is true of Silicon Valley giants in general.

“They need to take a step down and acknowledge that they really don’t have all the answers.”

MARKET INCENTIVES AND SOLUTIONS

Facebook depends on signing up as many users as possible — and pulling in as many advertising dollars as possible — to run its business. Its systems for signing up and for buying ads are both highly automated, a fact that makes the company both efficient and highly profitable.

In the first six months of 2017 , Facebook pulled in sales of more than $17 billion and reported a profit of almost $7 billion.

It also helps explain not only why Facebook can seem so disengaged from its controversies, but also why it’s vulnerable in the first place, said David Gerzof Richard, a communications professor at Emerson College. q

FAA bans drone flights near major U.S. landmarks NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is banning drone flights within 400 feet (122 meters) of several national landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.

The FAA announced the no-fly drone zones at 10 Department of the Interior sites on Thursday. They take effect Oct. 5.

The restricted sites also include Boston National Historical Park, Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park and Jef-

ferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri.

Five dams also are on the list: Nevada’s Hoover Dam, Shasta and Folsom Dams in California, Arizona’s Glen Canyon Dam and Washington’s Grand Coulee Dam. Drone violators may face civil penalties and criminal charges.

The FAA says the new restrictions came at the request of U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies.q

In Lithonia, Ga. Power companies across the United States are testing whether drones as small as 10 pounds can spot trouble on transmission lines or inspect equipment deep inside hard-toreach power plant boilers.

Associated Press

BUSINESS A25

Saturday 30 September

Walmart armors up for food fight with Amazon

By A. D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer Walmart’s Jet.com will launch a higher-end grocery line targeting millennials, just over a year after Walmart spent more than $3 billion for the fast-growing online retailer amid more intense competition from Amazon.Amazon.com Inc. last month closed on its acquisition of Whole Foods, as Walmart, Target, and other

supermarkets fight to win a bigger slice of the grocery market. And pushing private brands — when they work — offers high profit margins since stores have control of sourcing. Whole Foods has done well with its private label 365 By Whole Foods Market, which is being expanded to Amazon. com.Jet.com said Friday that the new brand, called Uniquely J, will focus on

younger customers in urban areas, offering them select coffee, olive oil, paper towels and other products.Jet. com, which sells products including clothing, gadgets and home furnishings, will also be carrying some of the niche brands like ModCloth and Bonobos that Walmart has acquired in recent months. ModCloth is now starting to be carried on Jet, while Bonobos

will be some time next year, according to Walmart officials.The moves are part of an overall strategy by Marc Lore — who founded Jet.com in 2015 and is now head of Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce — to set the startup apart from the Walmart.com website and make it more upscale.

Jet.com is built on a realtime pricing algorithm that determines which sellers

are the most efficient in value and shipping and adjusts prices based on what items are in the checkout cart, as well as how far the desired products are from the shopper’s home. So as shoppers throw items in their cart, they’re encouraged to continue shopping and build a more efficient cart and buy items labeled “smart cart” for more savings.q

Technology firms and small companies lead US stocks higher

By MARLEY JAY AP Markets Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Large technology and health care companies and smaller U.S.-focused firms rose again Friday as stocks finished the third quarter at record highs.

Stocks were mixed at the start of trading, as they had been the day before. But chipmakers and big-name technology companies pulled stocks higher, as they have done all year. Health care companies also did better than the rest of the market. Tyson Foods climbed after it gave strong profit forecasts, and investors cheered strong quarterly results from homebuilder KB Home.

The market ended the quarter on a four-day winning streak that began after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank plans to continue to raising interest rates.

“It’s all about the confidence they have that despite low inflation, it still makes sense to raise interest rates,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for

In this Wednesday, July 8, 2015 photo, Federal Hall’s George Washington statue stands near the flag-covered pillars of the New York Stock Exchange. Large technology and health care companies and smaller U.S.-focused firms rose again Friday as stocks finished the third quarter at record highs.

(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Financial Research. “She’s confident in the economy and the economic backdrop is very solid.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 9.30 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,519.36. The Dow Jones industrial average turned higher to finish with a gain of 23.89 points, or 0.1 percent, at 22,405.09.

The Nasdaq composite jumped 42.51 points, or 0.7

percent, to 6,495.96. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed at all-time highs.

The Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks added 2.08 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,490.86. It’s also at record highs after a big rally this month. It climbed 6 percent in September as investors felt positive about the U.S. economy and hoped Congress and

President Donald Trump’s administration will reduce taxes.Tyson Foods jumped after the food company raised its annual guidance and said profits for its beef business were better than expected.

Thanks in part to cost cuts, Tyson also forecast a bigger profit than analysts expected for next year.Tyson climbed $5, or 7.6 per-

cent, to $70.45. The stock gained more ground Friday than it had for the rest of this year put together.

Rival Hormel Foods, whose brands include Skippy, rose 43 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $32.14. Those companies and their competitors have struggled in recent years as Americans look for fresher food options.Technology companies rose further and were the bestperforming S&P 500 sector in the third quarter. They also held that distinction in the first quarter.

The S&P 500 technology index has climbed 26 percent in 2017, while the S&P 500 is up 12.5 percent.

Facebook added $2.14, or 1.3 percent, to $170.87 and chip equipment maker Applied Materials rose $1.47, or 2.9 percent, to $52.09. Chipmaker Nvidia advanced $3.09, or 1.8 percent, to $178.77.

The recent gains for tech companies have come in spite of a slump for Apple, the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company.

While Apple has soared this year, it’s down 4 percent since it announced its new line of iPhones and other products Sept. 12.q

US consumer spending up weak 0.1 percent in August

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers barely boosted their spending in August, a sign that overall economic activity could be weaker this quarter.

Consumer spending rose just 0.1 percent, following a much larger 0.3 percent advance in July, the Commerce Department report-

ed Friday. It was the smallest gain since June. The August weakness reflected a big drop in sales of durable goods such as autos.

Income growth slowed to a gain of just 0.2 percent. Wages and salaries, the biggest component, showed no gain at all after strong increases in June and July.

The overall economy, as

measured by the gross domestic product, grew at a robust annual rate of 2.1 percent in the April-June quarter. But many economists believe growth has slowed in the current JulySeptember quarter, reflecting the impact of a string of devastating hurricanes and the subsequent slowdown in consumer spending, which accounts for

nearly 70 percent of economic activity.

Some analysts say GDP growth could be as low as a 2 percent annual rate in the third quarter. They are, however, expecting a rebound in the final three months of the year, helped in part by spending on rebuilding after the hurricanes.The personal saving rate was unchanged

at 3.6 percent of after-tax incomes in August, the same as July. Both months represented the lowest saving rate since a 3.2 percent reading in December.A measure of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve posted a slight 0.2 percent increase. Over the past 12 months it is up 1.4 percent, still far below the Fed’s 2 percent target.q

A26 COMICS

Saturday 30 September 2017

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

Velcro’s video implores consumers to say ‘hook and loop’

By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Lots of pop songs have hooks. This one has loops, too.

Velcro Cos. this week released a music video with a message it hopes will stick as well as its products: “Don’t Say Velcro.”

The video features actors portraying trademark attorneys, joined by a few actual lawyers in the background, pleading with the public to respect the company’s brand and refer to similar “scratchy, hairy” products as “hook and loop” fasteners.“We’re asking you not to say a name we took 60 plus years to build,” the group sings. “But if you keep calling these Velcro shoes, our trademark will get killed.”

Velcro CEO Fraser Cameron said the video had been viewed more than 4 million times worldwide by Tuesday afternoon.“We want people to know there’s a real company behind the brand folks know and love and that there’s a difference between Velcro brand products and others in the marketplace,” he said. “There’s only one Velcro brand. Everything else is just hook and loop.”

Velcro has its roots in nature. Swiss engineer George de Mestral came up with the design in the 1940s after studying burrs that stuck to his dog’s fur

Saturday 30 September

dOCTOR ON DUTY

Oranjestad

Dr. Thuis Tel. 588 2600

San Nicolas

TIME SHARE FOR SALE Divi Phoenix Resort 1 bdrm Unit # 633 sleeps up to 6 peoples week 1 and 2. Have 37 weeks left. Deed Price $37,000 for 2 weeks. kazalos@aol.com 215 9067397 _________________________________208098

In this Feb. 2, 2017, file photo, Tiger Woods reacts on the 10th hole during the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Associated Press

and his wool pants during a walk in the woods.

He named his invention Velcro, a combination of “velour” and “crotchet,” the French words for velvet and hook.

Production began in France, but by 1958 operations had moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where employees marked the 50th anniversary of the company’s U.S. trademark in 2008 by lining up for more than a mile to rip apart 8-inch lengths of the company’s famous fasteners.Today, the company’s global headquarters is in the United Kingdom, and its fasteners, found on everything from spacesuits to diapers, are made in seven countries.“We’re in planes, trains, automobiles, commercial and residential construction, hospitals. ... It’s really everywhere,”

Cameron said. “It’s really hard to go through a day without encountering our brand.”Velcro’s patent expired in 1978, however, allowing competitors such as 3M to move into the market.Penn Holderness, who wrote and directed the video for Walk West in Raleigh, North Carolina, said the goal was to make a ridiculous 1980s-style video in the vein of “We are the World” for what company officials acknowledge is a First World problem.q

Dr. Wever Tel. 584 5155

EMERGENCIA 911

POLICE ORANJESTAD NOORD STA. CRUZ SAN NICOLAS POLICE TIPLINE FIRE DEPT. FIRE DEPT. HOSPITAL DENTAL CLINIC AMBULANCE IMSAN RED CROSS

100 527-3140 527-3200 527-2900 584-5000 11141 115 582-1108 527-4000 587-9850 582-1234 524-8833 582-2219

Women in Difficulties

PHARMACY

Oranjestad: Oduber Tel. 582 1780 San Nicolas Centro Medico Tel. 584 5794 INFORMATION 118 TAXI-TAS 587-5900 PROF. TAXI 588-0035 TAXI D.T.S. 587-2300 SERVICE AUA 583-3232 A1 TAXI SERVICES 587-8850

280-2828

CRUISE SHIP

October 1 Freewinds

Aruba Airport 524-2424 American Airlines 582-2700 588-0059 Avianca Aruba Airlines 583-8300 Jet Blue 588-2244 Surinam 582-7896 Venezolana 583-7674 Aruba Foundation For those Visually Incapasitated Tel. 582-5051 AL-ANON group Sabana Liber #8, Noord Tel. 736-2952 or 593-7081 FUNDACIONS Respetami Tel. 582-4433 Centro Diabetic Arubano Tel. 524-8888 Narcotics Anonymous Tel. 583-8989 QUOTA Club Tel. 525-2672 Women in Difficulties Foundation Tel. 583-5400 Bloodbank Aruba Tel. 587-0002

A28 SCIENCE

Saturday 30 September 2017

Sea critters hitchhiked across the Pacific on tsunami debris

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 300 species of fish, mussels and other sea critters hitchhiked across the Pacific Ocean on debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami, washing ashore alive in the United States, researchers reported Thursday.

It is the largest and longest marine migration ever documented, outside experts and the researchers said. The scientists and colleagues combed the beaches of Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii and tracked the species to their Japanese origins. Their arrival could be a problem if the critters take root, pushing out native species, the study authors said in Thursday’s journal Science.

“It’s a bit of what we call ecological roulette,” said lead author James Carlton, a marine sciences professor at Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

It will be years before scientists know if the 289 Japanese species thrive in their new home and crowd out natives. The researchers roughly estimated that a million creatures traveled 4,800 miles (7,725 kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean to reach the West Coast, including hundreds of thousands of mussels.

Invasive species is a major problem worldwide with

This February 2017 photo provided by Nancy Treneman shows Japanese mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis), barnacles (Megabalanus rosa), and sea anemones on a tsunami buoy which washed ashore on Long Beach, Wash.

Associated Press

plants and animals thriving in areas where they don’t naturally live. Marine invasions in the past have hurt native farmed shellfish, eroded the local ecosystem, caused economic losses and spread diseasecarrying species, said Bella Galil, a marine biologist with the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History in Tel Aviv, Israel, who wasn’t part of the study.

A magnitude 9 earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a tsunami on March 11, 2011, that swept boats, docks, buoys and other man-made materials into the Pacific. The debris drifted east with an armada of living creatures, some that

gave birth to new generations while at sea.

“The diversity was somewhat jaw-dropping,” Carlton said. “Mollusks, sea anemones, corals, crabs, just a wide variety of species, really a cross-section of Japanese fauna.”

The researchers collected

and analyzed the debris that reached the West Coast and Hawaii over the last five years, with new pieces arriving Wednesday in Washington. The debris flowed across the North Pacific current, as other objects do from time to time, before it moved north with the Alaska current or south with the California current.

Most hit Oregon and Washington. Last year, a small boat from Japan reached Oregon with 20 good-sized fish inside, a kind of yellowtail jack native to the western Pacific, Carlton said.

Some of the fish are still alive in an Oregon aquarium. Earlier, an entire fishing ship — the Sai sho-Maru — arrived intact with five of the same 6-inch fish swimming around inside.

Co-author Gregory Ruiz, a Smithsonian marine ecologist, is especially interested in a Japanese parasite in the gills of mussels. Elsewhere in the world, these parasites have taken root and hurt oyster and mussel harvests and they hadn’t been seen before on the

West Coast.

The researchers note another huge factor in this flotilla: plastics.

Decades ago, most of the debris would have been wood and that would have degraded over the long ocean trip, but now most of the debris — buoys, boats, crates and pallets — are made of plastic and that survives, Carlton said. And so the hitchhikers survive, too.

“It was the plastic debris that allowed new species to survive far longer than we ever thought they would,” Carlton said.

James Byers, a marine ecologist at the University of Georgia in Athens, who wasn’t part of the study, praised the authors for their detective work. He said in an email that the migration was an odd mix of a natural trigger and human aspects because of the plastics.

“The fact that communities of organisms survived out in the open ocean for long time periods (years in some cases) is amazing,” he wrote.q

Australia to create its own space agency for economic boost CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia announced on Monday it will create its own space agency to increase its share of the $330 billion space economy.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the agency would be part of Australia’s development of an innovation and science economy.

But the government has provided few specifics. “It’s a small agency to coordinate and lead,” Turnbull told reporters.

“The space sector, of course, is one of enormous potential.”

Acting Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Michaelia Cash said the agency’s charter would be developed by the end of March.

“A national space agency will ensure we have a strategic long-term plan that supports the development and application of space technologies and grows our domestic space industry,” she added.

The opposition Labor Party said such an agency was needed to increase Australia’s share of a global space economy from less

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks during a press conference in Sydney, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017.

Associated Press

than 1 percent of what the government estimates is worth $330 billion.q

PEOPLE & ARTS A29

Saturday 30 September 2017

Larry David’s bark, bite return in “Curb Your Enthusiasm”

By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — After too many years away from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David pronounces himself satisfied with the new season, which he said is just like previous ones, and glad he did it. That’s pretty good — no, very good — on several fronts.

First, it means the blunt-trauma insults that David delivered for eight seasons on the HBO comedy are undiminished, as is the show’s willingness to milk any subject for laughs, from sex to ethnicity to illness. Second, he’s inclined to keep the revival going, and without such a lag.

“I would say leaning toward it,” David said. “If there are more, it’s not going to be five years. ... It’s too long.

I wouldn’t want people to wait that long.”

And third — but who needs another reason? We’re just happy that “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” a platform for David’s grievances for crimes against humanity (read: Larry David) is back at 10 p.m. EDT Sunday for the first time since 2011, and unaffected by time.

The world of TV Larry, as he’s labeled his alter ego, is insulated from the current White House tenant and national tensions. All the angst is petty, personal and courtesy of David and co-stars Cheryl Hines, Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, J.B.

Larry David attends the premiere of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” at the SVA Theatre on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017, in New York.

Associated Press

Smoove, Richard Lewis and Bob Einstein, along with a bumper crop of guests including Elizabeth Banks, Lauren Graham and Bryan Cranston.

Turns out while we were yearning for “Curb,” David felt the same way.

“I missed everything about it. Because it’s really, to be trite, a lot of fun. It gives me a lot of pleasure, a lot of laughs, and it’s the actual ideal way for me to express myself,” he said.

As in express hostility?

“It’s not hostility. It’s the honesty that draws me to it,” he said in a recent FaceTime phone call. It’s his preferred way to handle

interviews not done in person and, it turns out, a boon for the questioner.

It makes it easier to appreciate that when David isn’t being irascible TV Larry, he can be attentive and disarmingly patient and, when amused, flashes an attractively broad smile that brings to mind a certain politician — and not the one he played so well on “Saturday Night Live,” Bernie Sanders, but jovial Joe Biden.

(David and Sanders actually are related, according to PBS’ “Finding Your Roots,” which traces their family genealogies in Monday’s season debut.)

Playing Sanders was a lark, David said, but he has zero interest in giving “Curb” a political infusion. “It’s never been the basis of the show,” he said, adding, “It’s not in my wheelhouse, in my very narrow, comedic wheelhouse.”

His particular skill set has yielded “Seinfeld,” which he co-created with Jerry Seinfeld, and the singular daring of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” How daring?

Last season, Larry accused guest star Michael J. Fox of using Fox’s Parkinson’s as a cover for hostile acts toward Larry. Larry attempts to make amends and promises Fox he’ll visit

sick children, then flees to Paris. (In the new episodes, he’s back in his Los Angeles stomping ground.)

The show is so contrary that it’s taken 17 years to make nine seasons, whereas most other shows generally toe the line with a season a year. But “Curb” executive producer Jeff Schaffer said there’s a bright side: David has been taking careful notes.

Imagine the “uncomfortable situations he’s been in these last six years,” Schaffer said. “It’s been amazing. ... It’s like we’re sitting in the Fort Knox of awkward.”

In a new-season trailer (preview episodes weren’t available), Larry is seen shushing a sobbing woman at a funeral, shoving a department store worker after she assaults him with spray perfume, and ordering a young couple in a romantic clinch outside his window to scram: “You’re allowed to be happy, but not in front of me.”

David insists that “Curb Your Enthusiasm” won’t dull its edge no matter what happens beyond its insular world, in which only funny counts. For instance, Smoove’s Leon Black is as brazen as ever, just like TV Larry. “If you think because of political correctness you’re going to get anything different from J.B. Smoove, you’d be mistaken. Or ‘Curb’ in general,” David said. q

CNN’s David Axelrod looks beyond political pals for series

By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) — David Axelrod makes a point of not just talking to people he agrees with politically on his podcast and CNN series, which resumes this weekend featuring longtime GOP operative and former Secretary of State James Baker.

Their discussion, which includes a testy exchange on the 1988 presidential race and views on the NFL national anthem protest, airs Saturday at 7 p.m.

EDT. Subsequent episodes of “The Axe Files” will feature House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, actor Tom Hanks and Condoleezza Rice, who was secretary of state in George W. Bush’s administration.

“I have a great respect for people who are in the arena, whether I agree with them or not,” Axelrod said. “One of the problems of our politics is that we dehumanize each other.

Instead of just disagreeing, we try to destroy each other. My view is that if you

get to know people as human beings, it’s harder to do that.”

In Baker’s case, it struck Axelrod how the future GOP stalwart got into politics after his wife died and his concerned friend, George H.W. Bush, tried to get Baker to move forward by involving him in Bush’s U.S. Senate campaign.

Baker doesn’t attack President Donald Trump but, as a former White House chief of staff, identifies with the difficult job that Trump’s chief, John Kelly, faces. q

This Jan. 19, 2012 file photo shows David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, speaking during a panel discussion, “2012: The Path to the Presidency”, at the University of Chicago in Chicago. Axelrod hosts “The Axe Files” airing Saturday at 7p.m. Eastern.

Associated Press

A30 PEOPLE

Saturday 30 September 2017

& ARTS Legendary singer Connie Francis auctions life’s treasures

In this Nov. 27, 1978 file photo, singer Connie Francis poses for a portrait in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

By KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Connie Francis’ decades-long career was marked by all the glittering things of Hollywood royalty. There were No. 1 hit songs, iconic movies, Hollywood boyfriends, glamorous gowns and TV appearances on “American Bandstand” and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Despite it all, she considers her personal life a bust.

“For as much success as I had professionally, personally I’m a failure,” said Francis.

When pressed if that’s what she really believes during a telephone interview, the 79-year-old singer says, “yeah I do. My choice of husbands, my lack of judgment in choosing the right husbands ... my impulsiveness, my not looking before I leapt. So many mistakes that I would have avoided.”

Francis is auctioning some of her favorite trinkets at Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills on Sunday, including the bomber jacket she wore performing in Vietnam, a love letter from singer Bobby Darin where he laments he’s “unhappy & miserable without you” and a 13-carat emerald

ring with diamonds. She’s also auctioning several letters from her famous friends, including Frankie Avalon, Dick Clark and Frank Sinatra.

“There was a girl once who told me she had saved a Styrofoam cup with my lipstick on it from 1958 ... so I said to myself I want to give something to my fans while I’m still alive, not when I’ve passed,” Francis told The Associated Press.

Francis gained fame in the 1950s, earning more than $6 million by the end of 1958 after singing “Who’s Sorry Now” on “American Bandstand” earlier that year. In 1960, her recording of “Where the Boys Are” became the top song in the United States and 15 other countries. But her life has also been marred by tragedies, four failed marriages, an estranged son, her brother’s murder and a brutal rape after someone broke into the motel where she was sleeping following a performance.

But the consummate entertainer says that with the exception of her brother’s death, she would do it all again. “I wouldn’t have given up the fame for anything.

I don’t’ think there are too many people on earth

who’ve had the moments of exhilaration that I have,” she says.

The auction catalog also includes fur coats and sequin gowns, including the purple Halston she wore on her comeback show with Dick Clark, plus with several gold records, including her song “Mama.”

“When Elvis Presley heard me sing this song in Las Vegas in 1958, he became so emotional that he had to leave the show. The next day, he sent me two dozen yellow roses with a note explaining that he had just lost his mother and hearing me sing ‘Mama’ was more that he could bear,” said Francis, who now lives in Boca Raton.

Her hit movie “Where the Boys Are” put Fort Lauderdale on the map, bringing throngs of teenagers to what would become the Spring Break capital of the country. Despite the movie’s success, Francis never went to the premiere. It was years before she even watched it and even then it was only because her son was curious.

“I hated my movies,” she said, recalling how her father told her “you still stink” as an actress even though she had a lucrative deal with MGM.q

Stanley Tucci to read audio for Paolo Coelho-inspired story

In this Feb. 11, 2017 file photo, Stanley Tucci poses for the photographers during a photo call for the film ‘Final Portrait’ at the 2017 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany.

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Oscarnominated actor Stanley Tucci is leading an audio

production inspired in part

by Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist.”

The audio producer and seller Audible Inc. told The Associated Press on Friday that Tucci will be joined by Toby Jones for “The Man On the Mountaintop,” vignettes and words of wisdom that are a “contemporary equivalent” to Coelho’s million selling novel.

Tucci has appeared in “The Hunger Games,” ‘’The Devil Wears Prada” and numerous other films.

He received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for “The Lovely Bones.” q

PEOPLE & ARTS A31

Saturday 30 September 2017

In Roadcase Royale, 2 artists find a way through the pain

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Some bands are created by giddy accidents or random meetings. Others are created cynically for the bottom line. The new band Roadcase Royale was created to overcome loss.

Nancy Wilson, the guitarist of the legendary band Heart, was recovering from a family crisis that had estranged her from her sister, Ann. Meanwhile, singer Liv Warfield was mourning the loss of her mentor, Prince.

They decided to join forces, blending Wilson’s rock with Warfield’s R&B. “It’s been this amazing kind of confluence of really good luck and bad luck where we both had losses in our lives,” said Wilson. “We’d already met.

We’d already talked about maybe doing something together. And we decided, ‘Let’s be the people that really do something when they say they’re going to do it.’”

Like musical step-parents, Wilson brought to the project three current members of Heart — keyboardist Chris Joyner, bassist Dan Rothchild and drummer Ben Smith. Warfield recruited guitarist Ryan Waters, who she’d gotten to know while in the New Power Generation, Prince’s backing band.

They named themselves Roadcase Royale, a title inspired by the combination of the scuffed instrument containers from Heart and the aristocracy of Prince — a “cool contrast between the royalty of the Prince people joining forces with the old road dogs,” said Wilson. The band’s debut album, “First Things First,” came out this fall and has something for everyone — rock ‘n’ roll that’s funky, lyrics that are sometimes socially conscious and sometimes fiery, with brand new songs, a few reworked Heart songs (“Even It Up” and “These Dreams”) and a Colin Hay cover.

“It’s all coming from the soul, from experience and from life. You learn how you can break all the rules that you feel confined in.

So that’s how we write. It’s so natural. I love it,” said Wilson. The band’s roots stretch back to 2015, when Heart was booked for two shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. They were looking for an opening act when they were advised to check out a singer who had electrified “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.”

That was Warfield, who with her band had performed “Why Do You Lie?” Wilson decided their opening act was found.

During their Hollywood Bowl shows, Wilson and

In this combination photo, Nancy Wilson, the guitarist for the legendary band Heart, appears at the premiere of “If You’re Not In The Obit, Eat Breakfast” on May 17, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif., left, and Liv Warfield appears at the 46th NAACP Image Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Feb. 6, 2015, in Pasadena, Calif.

Associated Press

Warfield bonded. Warfield confessed she felt a little stuck in the world of R&B and wanted to do more rock. Wilson responded: “That’s funny ‘cause I love the funk.”

Real life interrupted both women in 2016. Heart, the band that gave us “Barracuda” and “Alone,” was rocked by a body blow that summer when Ann Wilson’s husband was arrested for assaulting Nancy’s 16-yearold twin sons. And Warfield was trying to come to terms with the loss of Prince in the spring.

“That really affected me because I really didn’t know which way to go. I was just kind of lost. I was in my head a lot. I didn’t re-

ally know how to express myself,” said Warfield. “And when I met Nancy, it was like picking ourselves back up again. I was like, ‘The wheels are turning.’”

Even so, their first recording session had a nervous, tentative air. “It was like a first dance kind of thing,” said Wilson. “Music is a very intimate thing that you share with someone and we were like, ‘OK, what if it sucks?’

What if it doesn’t work?”

The first song they tackled — Hays’ “Hold On to My Hand” — was an attempt to make their own and it ended up on the album.

Everyone recognized the experiment was working.

That same day they started working on new stuff.

Judging by their first single, “Get Loud,” the band can rock. The song, championing those women “unheard, unseen” is a perfect mix of cultural empowerment and anthem rock. It would fit perfectly being sung at protest marches.

Roadcase Royale isn’t scared of commenting on society — their song “Not Giving Up” pointedly references someone building a wall while “we’re waiting just to see it fall” — even if many Heart fans come from red states.

“Politics don’t necessarily mix with rock ‘n’ roll. But if you’re speaking about what life is handing us, how unfair it can seem and strange and confusing it is, then it makes you feel better to be able to talk about that,” said Wilson.

With the new band, Wilson said she’s found a new musical home. She said there are still ragged feelings between her and her sister, who is touring on her own this year.

“Being able to open up an easygoing conversation after that has been really difficult. So I think this is the healthiest place for me to be right now, as long as I can be here,” said Wilson.

“The molecules of Heart may never amass once again but it remains to be seen. This is where I want to be, Roadcase Royale.”q

Essays on country women go beyond traditional narratives

By KRISTIN M. HALL Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — There’s an ongoing discussion among music writers, musicians and music fans about how female artists are treated compared with their male counterparts. Some common examples include referring to a “songstress” or an “allfemale band,” or focusing more on a woman’s appearance, weight, marital status or children.

In Nashville, Tennessee, that debate is front and center as country radio is dominated by male voices and women are being shut out of major country music awards. But a new collec-

tion of personal essays on the transformative impact of women in country music aims to change the narrative. Edited by music critic and consultant Holly Gleason, “Woman Walk the Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives,” published by the University of Texas Press, isn’t like one of those “women in music” special editions of a magazine. Nor is it a history book.

Each of the 27 essays focuses on the experience of when music was a savior, an inspiration or an acknowledgement of a deep and personal truth.

A 17-year-old Taylor Swift recognized the shining light inside another child star,

Brenda Lee. Rosanne Cash delivered a heartbreaking eulogy to her stepmother, June Carter Cash. Author and songwriter Alice Randall learned about theft and racism in the music business from Lil Hardin.

“Women artists take more chances,” Gleason said.

“I think they tend to dig deeper with their content.

I think they are more concerned with the depth of the human condition and also the nuances of it. To me, the badge of being a woman artist is almost like a ‘Hell, yeah!’” In Swift’s essay, she recalls watching a video of Brenda Lee singing “Someone Loves You” from 1983. “She is theatrical. And

she is beautiful, in a sparkling gown that matches the twinkle in her eye.

Lights, camera, action. She starts to sing. That’s when you hear the gold, and you watch her as she holds the crowd in the palm of her hand,” Swift writes.

Gleason pulled together writers from all backgrounds, including other musicians, journalists, poets and culinary writers. Their topics range from country music matriarchs Maybelle Carter, Hazel Dickens and Loretta Lynn to superstars like Dolly Parton and Shania Twain. Gleason learns about the power of sexuality after listening to Tanya Tucker.q

This cover image released by the University of Texas Press shows, “Woman Walk the Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives,” by Holly Gleason.

Associated Press