Security risk - Stripes · cheaper stand-alone items, such as Lexmark printers, Lenovo laptops and...

stripes.com Free to Deployed Areas Volume 78, No. 92 ©SS 2019 MIDEAST EDITION SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 2019

BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN, WYATT OLSON

AND COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

The two Green Berets killed in com-bat in Afghanistan on Wednesday are being remembered by their unit, and mourned very differently by their families.

The family of Master Sgt. Jose J. Gonzalez, 35, of La Puente, Calif., requested that the Army not release further information about him, U.S. Army Special Operations Command said. But the family of Master Sgt. Luis F. Deleon-Figueroa, 31, publicly grieved his death in numerous social media posts.

Deleon-Figueroa’s uncle shared pho-tos of him as a child and in his dress uniform. His nephew, from Chicopee, Mass., had enlisted in the Army over 13 years ago to “go and be somebody,” Robert Figueroa recalled during a phone interview in which he audibly choked up.

SEE GREEN BERETS ON PAGE 3

Families mourn 2 Green Berets killed in Afghanistan

Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Benjamin Lewis wears a GoPro camera on his helmet during a 2015 exercise in the Angeles National Forest near Azusa, Calif.TYLER S. DIETRICH/U.S. Marine Corps

BY JOSEPH MARKS

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and other China hawks are sounding an alarm about commercial products, such as cameras, printers and laptops, from China being purchased by the Pentagon.

Most of the distress about Chinese-built technology in the Defense Department and elsewhere in govern-ment has focused on Chinese components of major software and hardware systems that access sensitive information and could be a conduit for Beijing to spy on U.S. government secrets.

But there’s also a major hacking danger posed by cheaper stand-alone items, such as Lexmark printers, Lenovo laptops and GoPro cameras, that the military is routinely buying with the equivalent of office ex-pense accounts and little or no oversight, Gallagher warned during a Wednesday call with reporters.SEE RISK ON PAGE 3

Security riskChinese-built tech poses danger throughout DOD, lawmaker warns

MOVIES Francis Ford Coppola talks about latest cut of ‘Apocalypse Now’6

WORLD Putin orders response to US missile test Page 10

The Army identified Master Sgt. Luis F. Deleon-Figueroa as one of two soldiers killed Wednesday in Faryab province, Afghanistan. The family of the other Green Beret, Master Sgt. Jose J. Gonzalez, asked that no photo be released.

U.S. Army

FBI takes down alleged Nigerian fraudsters in $46M case » Page 5

COLLEGE FOOTBALL Miami LB passed up NFL Draft to pursue unfinished businessBack page

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 24, 2019

American Roundup ............ 14Business .......................... 13Comics/Crossword ............ 22Health & Fitness ............... 18Movies ........................ 16-17Opinion ............................ 20Sports .........................24-32Video Games ..................... 15Weather ........................... 13

T O D A YIN STRIPES

MILITARY

BY ELLIE MULDER

The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette

Groundwater at the Air Force Academy in Colorado is con-taminated with the same toxic chemicals polluting a southern El Paso County aquifer, expanding a problem that has cost tens of mil-lions of dollars to address in the Pikes Peak region.

Plans are underway to begin testing drinking water wells south of the academy in the Woodmen Valley area after unsafe levels of the chemicals were found at four locations on base, the academy said Thursday.

It was unclear Thursday eve-ning how many people and wells could be impacted.

The discovery of perfluori-nated compounds at the academy opened a new front in the region’s battle against chemicals that have fouled an aquifer serving more than 64,000 people just 20 miles to the south, outside Peterson Air Force Base.

Also, it threatened to push the price tag to remove the chemicals from drinking water here ever higher, beyond the $50 million spent by the Air Force.

On Thursday, Fran Silva-Blayney, an advocate with the Sierra Club, decried yet more contamination by the chemicals in El Paso County. Studies have tied them to kidney and testicular cancers, low infant birth weight and high cholesterol.

“It doesn’t surprise me, but it’s very concerning because we

still don’t have systems in place to address remediation,” Silva-Blayney said.

Air Force officials stressed that drinking water at the acad-emy wasn’t affected — the base is supplied by Colorado Springs Utilities, which has not detected the chemicals in its water.

Utilities customers south of the academy should not have detect-able exposure to the chemicals, said Dave Padgett, the utility’s chief environmental officer.

Unclear, however, is wheth-er residents in that area are using private wells for drink-ing water and if the wells are contaminated.

Lt. Col. Tracy Bunko, an acad-emy spokeswoman, pledged relief for anyone affected.

“Bottom line, we will do ev-erything we can immediately to ensure people have safe drink-ing water,” including providing bottled water, Bunko said.

Four sites on the academy were found to have chemical levels higher than an Environmen-tal Protection Agency lifetime health advisory of 70 parts per trillion, said Michael Kucharek, another academy spokesman. He declined to name the location of those sites.

An August 2018 Air Force re-port, however, suggested four possible test sites during such an inspection: the academy’s fire training area; a fire station and a spray test area; an airfield spray test area; and the academy’s water treatment plant and nonpo-table reservoir.

The Air Force officials said the site inspection report detail-ing the academy’s contamination would be made available Friday.

The toxic, man-made chemicals have been used for decades in a military firefigting foam prized for its ability to snuff petroleum fires. They also have been used in myriad nonstick household prod-ucts, including fast-food wrap-pers and carpet cleaners.

The chemicals number in the thousands. More recently, gov-ernment agencies have referred to them with the more inclusive term of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

The discovery brings to at least four the number of sites in Colo-rado affected by the chemicals, including firefighting sites in Boulder and Adams counties.

And it brings to 203 the number of Air Force sites polluted by the chemicals.

By far the largest area affected in Colorado — as well as the na-tion — stretches for miles south-west from Peterson Air Force Base past Fountain. The base was home to a regional training area where a toxic firefighting foam was used since the early 1970s.

There, firefighters sprayed foam on the ground and used it in an unlined training pit. More recently, the foam was used in a training area that flushed into Utilities’ wastewater treatment plant, which is unable remove the chemicals. That effluent was then flushed into Fountain Creek.

Toxic chemicals discovered in groundwater at USAF academy

Military diving drillsTop: Instructors from the U. S. Air Force Combat Dive Course test students on one-man drills at Naval Support Panama City, Fla., earlier this month. The instructors teach qualified candidates how to become proficient military divers in support of naval, joint and allied operations. Above: A n instructor signals to a student during the underwater training . The instructors are a mix of both active-duty and civilians with extensive experience in military diving.

PHOTOS BY KEVIN TANENBAUM/U.S. Air Force

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3Saturday, August 24, 2019

FROM FRONT PAGE

For example, Army and Air force officials used the equivalent of government credit cards to buy more than 8,000 Lexmark print-ers during the 2018 fiscal year, despite the fact the company has “connections to Chinese military, nuclear, and cyberespionage pro-grams,” according to a recent watchdog report Gallagher cited during the call.

The Air Force also purchased 1,378 Lenovo products last year, despite a 2016 warning in a report from the Joint Chiefs of Staff Intel-ligence Directorate that “Lenovo computers and handheld devices could introduce compromised hardware into the DOD supply chain, posing a cyberespionage risk to classified and unclassified DOD networks.” The Army and Air Force also bought 117 GoPro action cameras despite vulner-abilities that could give a hacker access to the user’s credentials and to live video streams, the re-port states.

Gallagher called that report “a flashing red warning sign that even in the most sensitive parts of our government we aren’t taking cybersecurity as seriously as we should.”

Lexmark and Lenovo are Chi-nese companies, and GoPro cam-eras are produced primarily in

China. Chinese-built back doors in those products could give Bei-jing access to Pentagon commu-nications, surveillance footage and reams of other sensitive data, Gallagher warned.

He described the Lexmark and Lenovo purchases as evidence of how deeply Chinese technol-ogy is integrated into the U.S. government and other sectors of the economy — and how difficult it will be to root out all of that technology if it poses a greater hacking risks than the nation can bear.

Gallagher’s warnings come as U.S. officials are in the midst of a global pushback on Chinese tech companies, especially the telecom company Huawei, which is poised to play a dominant role in building next-generation 5G networks that will carry far more data than existing networks and create greater risk if they’re com-promised by hackers.

The government’s compara-tively lesser attention to com-mercial products from China could make them more tempting hacking targets for Chinese spies, according to Roslyn Layton, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, who also spoke on the call.

She warned that if China in-filtrated the Pentagon through

commercial Chinese suppli-ers, the result could be more damaging than the 2015 China-linked breach at the Office of Personnel Management, which compromised sensitive secu-rity clearance information about more than 20 million current and former government employees.

“If you’re the enemy and you want to infiltrate American gov-ernment and military, well why don’t you take the path of least resistance and that is America’s defense industrial base,” Layton said.

Gallagher’s co-leading the Cy-berspace Solarium Commission, a group of a dozen lawmakers and current and former government officials, which is tasked with charting a course for the future of U.S. cybersecurity policy. The commission is based on a similar Eisenhower-era group that ex-amined how best to counter the Soviet Union.

“One thing we’re discovering as we go down this path of a more competitive relationship with China is just how intertwined our economies are,” Gallagher said. “You can build a moat around critical technology, but you can never completely divorce us from the Chinese economy.”

Risk: Report says Chinese-made tech is a common risk for all branches of the military

FROM FRONT PAGE

“He was a tough kid, one of the toughest kids I’ve ever met,” Figueroa told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.

Deleon-Figueroa and Gonza-lez were mortally wounded after they came under small arms fire in Afghanistan’s restive Faryab province, the Pentagon said in a statement Thursday. No further details about the incident were provided.

The U.S. Special Forces had arrived in Almar district, on the border with Turkmenistan, on Wednesday morning for a joint operation with their Afghan coun-terparts, provincial officials said.

The operation appeared to tar-get the Taliban, which is the only militant group active in the area, provincial police spokesman Abdul Karim Yoresh said.

A Taliban statement Thursday said an hourslong battle with “raining enemy troops” in Almar had killed U.S. forces the day before.

The two fallen Green Berets, who joined the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in 2014, were posthumously promoted to mas-ter sergeant, USASOC said in a statement.

Both were “a part of our fam-ily,” said Col. John W. Sannes, 7th SFG (A) commander, in the state-ment, vowing they would not be forgotten.

“Our priority is to now pro-vide the best possible care to the families of our fallen warriors,” Sannes said.

The two soldiers’ deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed this year by hostile enemy action in America’s longest war to 14, the highest number since former President Barack Obama for-mally ended combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014. Thirteen American troops were killed by enemy forces in 2018 and 39 were killed in action in 2014, according to Pentagon data.

The U.S. war in Afghanistan is now in its 18th year, with some 14,000 American troops deployed there and charged with two sepa-rate but related missions — to train and advise Afghan troops battling Taliban insurgents, and to conduct counterterrorism op-erations against al-Qaida and Is-lamic State .

U.S. combat deaths in Afghani-stan have increased this year, even as peace talks ramp up be-tween U.S. and Taliban officials. Both sides have both signaled they are close to reaching an agree-ment that would lead to at least a partial withdrawal of American forces from the country.

The Taliban has demanded a full withdrawal of American forces, while the United States has insisted that the hardline group ensure Afghanistan does not revert to a haven for terrorist groups and that women’s rights

are upheld in the country.The United States has also in-

sisted the Taliban negotiate with the central Afghan government, a condition at which Taliban offi-cials have balked, labe ling Afghanleaders as American puppets.

Since the United States firstlaunched military operations in Afghanistan in October 2001,more than 2,400 troops have beenkilled and more than 20,000 havebeen wounded in action, Penta-gon statistics show.

Deleon-Figueroa was on histhird deployment to Afghanistan and the sixth deployment of hiscareer, according to biographi-cal information provided by Lt.Col. Loren Bymer, USASOC spokesman.

As an infantryman, Deleon-Figueroa deployed to Iraq in 2008and to Afghanistan in 2010. After completing training to become aGreen Beret in 2014, he deployedto South America in 2015 and 2018, and to Afghanistan in 2018and 2019, serving first as a com-munications sergeant and thenas an operations and intelligencesergeant.

His awards and decorationsinclude the Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medalwith Valor, Army CommendationMedal with two oak leaf clustersand Army Achievement Medalwith three oak leaf clusters.

He also earned a Combat In-fantryman Badge, Expert Infan-tryman Badge, Military Free Fall Jumpmaster Badge, ParachutistBadge and Air Assault Badge.

Deleon-Figueroa was posthu-mously awarded a Bronze Starand Purple Heart, USASOC said.

A GoFundMe page set up afterhis death said he is survived bythree daughters.

“Luis was a father, son, grand-son, brother, and best friend tomany,” the page said.

“Luis’s larger than life person-ality and undying love for New England sports will leave a void in the world that can never be filled.”

His uncle said he was proud of him.

“He chose to join the militaryafter his mother died 14 years ago,” he said. “It’s hard to know that he’s not around.”[email protected]: @[email protected]: @[email protected]: @CDicksteinDC

Green Berets: Fallen soldiers were posthumously promoted to master sergeant

MILITARY

‘ Our priority is to now provide the best possible care to the families of our fallen warriors. ’

Col. John W. Sannes7th SFG (A) commander

BY PAUL DUGGAN

The Washington Post

QUANTICO, Va. — A fatal shooting in January at the Marine Barracks on Capitol Hill occurred because a Marine lance corporal failed to properly unload his pistol after a guard shift, then pointed the weapon at a fellow Marine and pulled the trigger as a joke, unaware that a bullet was in the firing cham-ber, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Lance Cpl. Andrew Johnson, charged with unpre-meditated murder and several offenses related to his alleged careless handling of firearms, appeared at a preliminary hearing in a courtroom on the Ma-rine base here. A military judge has not yet ruled on whether the evidence against him is sufficient to warrant prosecution.

The victim of the New Year’s Day shooting, Lance Cpl. Riley Kuznia, 20, from Karlstad, Minn., was “my friend, my brother,” Johnson said in a brief statement to the judge. “I live every day with what happened, and I’ll live with it every day for the rest of my life.”

Pending the outcome of the case, Johnson, from Plymouth, Mass., has been assigned to unarmed ad-ministrative duty at the Marine Barracks Washing-ton, a Marine spokesman said. Johnson, who entered the military in July 2017, appears to be in his early 20s. The spokesman said he was not authorized to disclose Johnson’s age.

Addressing the court, the prosecutor, Marine Capt. Brendan McKenna, described “an escalation of misconduct” by Johnson last fall and winter in which he allegedly brandished his Marine-issued Beretta pistol recklessly on two occasions before the unintentional fatal shooting.

After a duty shift, guards at the Marine Barracks are required to unload their sidearms in the pres-ence of a supervisor to ensure that the guns are ren-dered safe, McKenna said.

First, he said, the 15-round clip is removed from the pistol. Then the slide is pulled back, ejecting the bullet from the firing chamber, leaving the weapon empty.

Shortly before 5 a.m. on Jan. 1, after finishing a tour of guard duty, Johnson unloaded his Beretta alone rather than wait for a supervisor to watch him, McKenna said.

Prosecutors: Marine failed to unload gun

Facebook

Lance Cpt. Riley Kuznia, above, from Karlstad, Minn., was killed when another Marine, Lance Cpl. Andrew Johnson, fired his weapon at him, allegedly as a joke. Prosecutors said Johnson didn’t unload his weapon before the shoooting.


WAR ON TERRORISM

BY LOLITA BALDOR AND JOSEF FEDERMAN

Associated Press

JERUSALEM — Israel was responsible for the bombing of an Iranian weapons depot in Iraq last month, U.S. officials have confirmed, an attack that would mark a significant escalation in Israel’s yearslong campaign against Iranian military en-trenchment across the region.

The confirmation comes as Is-raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is strongly hinting that his country is behind recent airstrikes that have hit bases and munitions depots belonging to Iran-backed paramilitary forces operating in Iraq.

The mystery attacks have not been claimed by any side and have left Iraqi officials scram-bling for a response amid strong speculation that Israel may have been behind them. Earlier this week, the deputy head of the Iraqi Shiite militias, known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forc-es, openly accused Israeli drones of carrying out the attacks, but ul-timately blamed Washington and threatened strong retaliation for any future attack.

Such attacks are potentially de-stabilizing for Iraq and its fragile government, which has struggled to remain neutral amid grow-ing tensions between the United States and Iran.

Former Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, known for his strong allegiance to Iran, warned of a “strong response” if it is proven that Israel was behind the recent airstrikes in Iraq.

In statements issued by his of-fice on Friday, he also said that if Israel continues to target Iraq, the country “will transform into a battle arena that drags in mul-tiple countries, including Iran.”

There have been at least three explosions at Iraqi Shiite militia bases in the past month. Ameri-can officials now confirm Israel was responsible for at least one of them.

Two American officials said Israel carried out an attack on an Iranian weapons depot in July that killed two Iranian military commanders. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

The July 19 attack struck a militia base in Amirli, in Iraq’s northern Salaheddin province, causing a huge explosion and fire. A senior official with the Shiite militias at the time told The As-sociated Press that the base hit housed advisers from Iran and Lebanon — a reference to the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hez-bollah group. He said the attack targeted the headquarters of the advisers and a weapons depot.

Iranian media reported a fu-neral for a “shrine defender” named Abolfazl Sarabian the following day, which typically denotes someone fighting in Iraq and Syria.

On Aug. 12, a massive explosion at the al-Saqr military base near Baghdad shook the capital, killing one civilian and wounding 28 oth-ers. The base housed a weapons depot for the Iraqi federal police and the PMF. The most recent of the explosions came Tuesday night, at a munitions depot north of Baghdad.

There have been weeks of spec-ulation in Israel that the army is attacking targets in Iraq.

In an interview with a Russian-language TV station on Thursday, Netanyahu indicated the specula-tion is true.

BY ZEINA KARAM

Associated Press

BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad’s troops seized con-trol of a string of villages in the northern countryside of Hama province, completing their take-over of the formerly rebel-held region just south of Idlib province for the first time since 2012, Syr-ian state TV and a war monitor-ing group said Friday.

The TV said troops seized the villages of Latamneh, Latmeen, Kfar Zeita and Lahaya, as well as the village of Morek, where Turkey maintains an observation post, on Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported Fri-day that government troops were in control of the entire northern Hama countryside after captur-ing a series of towns and villages.

The fate of Turkish troops man-ning the observation post wasn’t immediately clear. Since a deal with Russia last year, Turkey has

maintained 12 such posts in and around Idlib province. Turkey is a strong backer of the Syrian opposition and rebels fighting Assad’s forces, while Russia sup-ports Assad’s government.

The Observatory said it was not clear whether there were any Turkish soldiers remaining in the Morek observation post or wheth-er they had withdrawn from the area overnight.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mev-lut Cavusoglu denied any Turkish troops were besieged in Syria. Speaking to reporters in Beirut on a visit, he said there were clashes in Idlib near Turkish observation posts, “but we do not have any en-circled soldiers.”

He appealed for a political solu-tion to the long-running Syria cri-sis that would put an end to more displacement and allow for the safe return of Syrian refugees. Turkey hosts about 3.6 million Syrian refugees and is concerned that the fighting in Idlib is causing a surge of displacement toward

its sealed border with Syria.On Friday, Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the situation in Syria with Rus-sia’s Vladimir Putin, telling hisRussian counterpart that viola-tions of the cease-fire in Idlib ispaving the way to a “humanitari-an crisis,” according to Erdogan’soffice.

The Turkish leader also toldPutin that the attacks were harm-ing efforts for a resolution of theSyrian conflict and posing a “seri-ous threat” to Turkey’s security.

Syrian troops, backed by Rus-sian air cover, had laid siege to rebel-held villages in the centralprovince of Hama earlier thisweek following rapid advances.

Idlib, near the Turkish border,is the last major rebel-controlledprovince in Syria. Insurgentsthere have suffered a series ofsetbacks over the past threeweeks in the face of a stepped-up government offensive in thecountry’s northwest.

Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen — Forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally rec-ognized government have taken full control of a key southern city after overnight clashes with sepa-ratists, Yemeni security officials said Friday.

Clashes over Ataq, the capi-tal of oil-rich Shabwa province, erupted late Thursday night and lasted until Friday morning, said the security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because there were not authorized to talk to the media.

The city of Ataq was previously divided between Saudi-backed

President Abed Rabbo Man-sour Hadi’s government forces and a separatist militia trained and armed by the United Arab Emirates.

The infighting between Hadi’s forces and the UAE-backed sep-aratists — ostensibly allies in Yemen’s war against the Shiite Houthi rebels — erupted earlier this month. It has threatened to fracture the Saudi-led coalition, a group of Arab states that in-tervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to help restore Hadi’s gov-ernment to power.

The previous year, the rebel Houthis overran the capital, Sanaa, and gained control of

much of the country’s north.Separatist militiamen of the

so-called Southern Transitional Council have so far seized stra-tegic southern areas, including the city of Aden and much of the nearby Abyan province.

A Saudi-Emirati commission flew to southern Yemen last week to negotiate a truce between the government forces and sepa-ratists but has so far made no progress.

In a tweet posted early Friday, Hani Ben Braik, a separatist lead-er, would not admit defeat at Ataq but said his militiamen chose not to pursue a battle in the city out of “respect” for the truce efforts.

US: Israel bombed Iraq militia depot belonging to Iran

SYRIAN CIVIL DEFENSE WHITE HELMETS/AP

A civil defense worker search es for victims among the rubble of a destroyed building that was hit by airstrikes in the northern town of Maaret al-Numan, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursda y. Syrian government forces have been on the offensive in Idlib since April 30.

Syrian TV says Assad’s troops now in control of northern Hama countryside

HAMZA HENDAWI/AP

Members of a militia group loyal to Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi sit next to their tank, guarding a major intersection in Aden, Yemen.

Yemeni government forces rout separatists from southern city


NATION

BY STEFANIE DAZIO

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The relationship be-tween a Japanese woman and a U.S. Army captain stationed in Syria started online, through an international social network for digital pen pals. It grew into an internet romance over 10 months of daily emails.

It ended with the woman $200,000 poor-er and on the verge of bankruptcy after borrowing money from her sister, ex-hus-band and friends to help Capt. Terry Gar-cia with his plan to smuggle diamonds out of Syria.

In reality, there were no diamonds and there was no Garcia — they were part of an elaborate scam hatched by an international ring of cyber thieves operating mainly out of Los Angeles and Nigeria.

Federal authorities cited the case of the Japanese woman, known only as “F.K.” in court papers, on Thursday when they an-

nounced an indictment charging 80 people with stealing at least $46 million through various schemes that targeted businesses, the elderly and anyone susceptible to a ro-mance scam. Most of the defendants are Nigerians.

“We believe this is one of the largest cases of its kind in U.S. history,” U.S. At-torney Nick Hanna told a news conference. “We are taking a major step to disrupt these criminal networks.”

The investigation began in 2016 with a single bank account and one victim,

said Paul Delacourt, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office. It grew to encompass victims who were tar-geted in the U.S. and around the world, some of whom like the Japanese woman lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“F.K. was and is extremely depressed and angry about these losses,” the federal complaint states. “She began crying when discussing the way that these losses have affected her.”

Her relationship began innocently in March 2016 with an email but soon “Gar-cia” made “romantic overtures,” accord-ing to federal authorities. He told her they couldn’t talk by phone because he wasn’t allowed to use one in Syria.

So a stream of emails went back and forth, with her using Google to translate his English into her Japanese. A month into the relationship, Garcia told her he’d found a bag of diamonds in Syria and he began introducing her to his associates,

starting with a Red Cross representative who told her Garcia had been injured buthad given him the box.

F.K. ultimately made 35 to 40 payments, receiving as many as 10 to 15 emails a daydirecting her to send money to accounts in the U.S., Turkey and the United King-dom through the captain’s many purportedassociates.

The fraudsters even threatened her with arrest if she did not continue to pay and atone point she traveled to Los Angeles be-cause she was told a Russian bank man-ager had embezzled more than $33,000 of her funds.

Authorities arrested 14 defendantsThursday, mostly in the Los Angeles area.FBI agents could be seen processing sus-pects in a downtown Los Angeles parking lot before they were arraigned in federalcourt. It was not immediately known ifthey had attorneys who could speak ontheir behalf.

BY STEVE PEOPLES

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Billionaire industrialist David H. Koch, who with his older brother, Charles, transformed American politics by pouring their riches into con-servative causes, has died at age 79.

Charles Koch announced the death on Friday, saying, “It is with a heavy heart that I now must in-form you of David’s death.”

David Koch, who lived in New York City, was the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential candi-date in 1980. He was a generous donor to conservative political causes as well as educational, medical and cultural groups.

The Koch brothers were best known for a vast political network they built that became popularly known as the “Kochtopus” for its far-reaching tentacles in sup-port of conservative causes. The brothers founded the anti-tax, small government group Ameri-cans for Prosperity.

“I was taught from a young age that involvement in the public discourse is a civic duty,” David Koch wrote in a 2012 op-ed in the New York Post. “Each of us has a righ — indeed, a responsibility, at times — to make his or her views known to the larger community in order to better form it as a whole. While we may not always get what we want, the exchange of ideas betters the nation in the process.”

After battling prostate cancer for 20 years, he told a reporter following the 2012 Republican convention that he was thinking about what he will someday leave behind.

“I like to engage where my part makes a difference,” he told The Weekly Standard. “I have a point of view. When I pass on, I want people to say he did a lot of good things, he made a real difference, he saved a lot of lives in cancer

research.”David Koch donated $100 mil-

lion in 2007 to create the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massa-chusetts Institute of Technology. He also gave millions to JohnsHopkins University in Baltimore,the Memorial Sloan-KetteringCancer Center in New York City,the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

in Houston,and other institutions.

The Smith-sonian’s National Mu-seum of Nat-ural History named in his honor a wing dedicated to the story of human evo-lution over 6

million years. David Koch donat-ed $15 million to fund the 15,000 square-foot hall.

“The program has the powerto influence the way we view ouridentity as humans, not only today,but for generations to come,” hesaid in a statement at the time.

David Koch, an engineertrained at MIT, joined Koch In-dustries in 1970, and served on itsboard. He also served as chief ex-ecutive officer of Koch Chemical Technology Group, LLC, a Koch subsidiary. He retired from thecompany in 2018

Charles and David Koch, eachwith an estimated net worth of $50.5 billion, tied in fourth placein 2012 on Forbes 500 list of the nation’s richest men.

Two of the Koch brothers,Frederick and Bill Koch, suedthe other two, claiming in a 1998trial that they were cheated out ofmore than $1 billion when theysold their stake in Koch Indus-tries back in 1983. David and BillKoch are twins.

BY ROBERT COSTA

The Washington Post

Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a Harvard-educated Marine veteran who struggled to gain traction in a crowded Democratic presidential field, announced Friday that he would leave the cam-paign, making him the third candidate to depart the race this week.

“I am ending my campaign for president,” Moult-on said in remarks prepared for delivery in San Francisco on Friday at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting. “Though this cam-paign is not ending the way we hoped, I am leaving this race knowing that we raised issues that are vi-tally important.”

Moulton argued that his veterans-focused cam-paign challenged President Donald Trump “where he’s weakest, as commander in chief,” and worked to “take back patriotism from the Republican Party.”

Moulton follows Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, two Dem-ocrats who shuttered their bids for the White House in recent days as the nomination contest moves to-ward the fall — and as the DNC imposes stricter re-quirements for a spot at upcoming debates.

Inslee announced he would instead seek a third gubernatorial term next year, and Hickenlooper an-nounced he would run against Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. Moulton said Friday that he would seek re-election to the House in Massachusetts’s 6th Con-gressional District near Boston.

“I can’t wait to get back at it,” Moulton said. Moulton’s exit from the 2020 race was first reported by the New York Times.

Moulton, 40, had been lingering near 1% or less in the polls since he launched his campaign in April and failed to qualify for the first two debates, in June and July. By early August, his campaign staff began to shrink following fundraising difficulties.

Despite the disappointment, Moulton said in his DNC speech that he walks away from the race proud of the way he shined a light on veterans’ issues and his own hardships. Moulton served as a Marine Corps captain during the Iraq War and was the re-cipient of a Bronze Star.

“For the first time in my life, I talked publicly about dealing with post-traumatic stress from my four combat tours in Iraq,” Moulton said. He called those discussions part of an effort to end “the stigma around mental health.”

FBI takes down $46M Nigerian fraud ring‘ We believe this is one of the largest cases of its kind in U.S. history. ’

Nick HannaU.S. Attorney

STEVEN SENNE/AP

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., right, hugs Democratic N.H. state Rep. Wendy Thomas at the Hillsborough County Democrats Summer Picnic in Greenfield, N.H., on Sunday. Moulton was the third presidential candidate to drop out of the race this week.

Moulton drops out of presidential race

Billionaire David Koch, conservative donor, dies

David Koch


NATION

US unveils final plan for Utah monument

DOJ: Facility doesn’t have to pay minimum wage to its detainees

Special prosecutor named to look into Smollett case

BY BRADY MCCOMBS

Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. government’s final manage-ment plan for land in and around a Utah national monument that President Donald Trump down-sized doesn’t include many new protections for the cliffs, can-yons, waterfalls and arches found there, but it does include a few more safeguards than were in a proposal issued last year.

The Bureau of Land Man-agement’s plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southwestern Utah codifies that the lands cut out of the monument will be open to mineral extraction such as oil, gas and coal as expected, accord-ing to a plan the agency provided to The Associated Press.

The agency chose an option that doesn’t add any areas of critical environmental concern, increas-es lands open to cattle grazing and could raise the potential for “adverse effects” on lands and resources in the monument, the document shows.

At the same time, the agency tweaked the plan last year to call for new recreation management plans to address impacts on sev-

eral highly visited areas, opens fewer acres to ATVs and nixes a plan that would have allowed peo-ple to collect some non-dinosaur fossils in certain areas inside the monument.

The agency also determined that no land will be sold from the 1,345 square miles cut from the monument. Last year, Interior Department leaders rescinded a plan to sell 2.5 square miles of

that land after it was included in the draft management pro-posal and drew backlash from environmentalists.

Conservation and paleontol-ogy groups vehemently opposed the downsizing of the monument and have lawsuits pending chal-lenging the move. Those groups criticized the plan’s lack of land protections and consider the plan a waste of taxpayer resources,

saying the government should not have acted until the lawsuits are resolved.

Harry Barber, Grand Stair-case’s acting manager, said in an interview with the AP that the plan reflects changes made after considering input from the pub-lic, an assessment that enough protections are in place already, and the voices of all different groups who use the lands. Monu-ment visitation has increased 63% over the last decade with 1.1 mil-lion visitors from October 2017 through September 2018, accord-ing to U.S. government figures.

“There are people who graze livestock, people that like to hunt, people that like to hike, people that like to trail run,” said Bar-ber, who has worked at the monu-ment since it was created. “We’re trying to be fair.”

He pushed back against the no-tion that the lands now outside the monument will be left aban-doned, saying the lands are still subject to rules and policies like all federally managed land.

Interest in oil, gas and coal has been limited so far and no project has been approved, Barber said. The lands are home to a major coal reserve but there’s little market demand.

“It’s not a free-for-all,” Barber said. “That seems to be what I hear a lot, people feeling like nowanybody can go out and do any-thing they want to do on these lands. But, they need to realize that we still have our rules andpolicies.”

But to Steve Bloch, legal direc-tor at the Southern Utah Wilder-ness Alliance conservation group,it’s unforgivable to cut the monu-ment in half and downgrade the excluded lands into what he calls“garden variety public lands.”

“Grand Staircase-Escalanteis one of the nation’s public landcrown jewels and from the out-set, the Trump administrationwas hell-bent on destroying this place,” Bloch said.

Trump said scaling back the two monuments reversed federal overreach and earned cheersfrom Republican leaders in Utah who lobbied him to undo protec-tions by Democratic presidents that they considered overly broad.

Conservation groups have called Trump’s decision as the largest elimination of protected land in American history andbelieve they will prevail in theirlegal challenge.

BY GENE JOHNSON

Associated Press

SEATTLE — The Trump ad-ministration is opposing Wash-ington state’s effort to make a privately run, for-profit immigra-tion detention center pay detain-ees minimum wage for the work they do.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued The GEO Group in 2017, saying its North-west Detention Center in Taco-ma must pay the state minimum wage to detainees who perform kitchen, laundry, janitorial, main-tenance and barbershop tasks. The lawsuit seeks to force GEO to turn over profits it gained by un-derpaying them — an amount that could reach into the millions.

U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan has already issued some key rulings in the state’s favor. But in a “statement of interest” filed this week, the Justice De-partment called the lawsuit “an aggressive and legally unjustified effort by the State of Washington to interfere with federal immigra-tion enforcement,” and it urged Bryan to reject it.

The department said that be-cause the state’s minimum wage act doesn’t apply to inmates of state prisons, it impermissibly discriminates against the federal

government to apply it to a fed-eral contractor holding detainees on civil immigration violations. The judge has already rejected that argument, but on Thursday agreed to reconsider it and other arguments and set a hearing for Sept. 12.

“The State insists that these federal immigration detainees are ‘employees’ under state law, even though it simultaneously exempts similarly-situated de-tainees in state facilities from the minimum wage,” the Justice De-partment said. “Basic constitu-tional principles prevent a State from interfering with the federal government’s activities in the way Washington is trying to do here.”

The Northwest Detention Cen-ter is a 1,575-bed facility, one of the nation’s largest privately-run immigrant detention centers. On any given day, about 470 of them perform some sort of work through a voluntary program, earning $1 per day. GEO has the authority to pay more, but Con-gress will only reimburse it up to that amount.

Washington argues it is entitled to enforce the minimum wage law against GEO just as it’s entitled to enforce it against any other com-pany. The law does exempt state prisons from paying inmates for work, but it doesn’t do the same

for private detention centers, it says.

Further, the state says, GEO’s contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement re-quires the detainee work program to comply with all applicable labor laws — including Washington’s minimum wage law, since GEO is in a clear employer-employee re-lationship with the detainees.

“The Trump Administration apparently thinks the for-profit, private company that runs North-west Detention Center should be above the law,” Ferguson said in an emailed statement. “Despite President Trump’s position, GEO must comply with Washington law and either pay the detainees that run its facility minimum wage or pay minimum wage to Washing-ton workers to do the job.”

BY MICHAEL TARM

Associated Press

CHICAGO — A Chicago judge on Friday named a special pros-ecutor to look into why state pros-ecutors abruptly dropped charges against actor Jussie Smollett that accused him of staging a racist, anti-gay attack against himself.

Cook County Judge Michael Toomin’s appointment of former U.S. attorney Dan Webb raises the possibility that the special prosecutor could bring new charges against the former “Em-pire” actor. Smollett, who is black and gay, maintains that the Janu-ary attack was real and wasn’t staged.

The Cook County state’s attor-ney’s office charged Smollett in February with 16 counts of dis-orderly conduct for purportedly orchestrating the incident. How-ever, it dropped all of the charges a month later with little explana-tion, angering city officials and the police.

A former state appellate judge, Sheila O’Brien, petitioned for a special prosecutor, leading to Toomin’s surprise ruling in June that one was warranted.

Smollett told police he was walking home early on Jan. 29 when two masked men ap-proached him, made racist and homophobic insults, beat him and looped a noose around his neck before fleeing. He said his as-sailants, at least one of whom he said was white, told him he was in

“MAGA country” — a referenceto President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make Ameri-ca Great Again.”

Several weeks later, authorities alleged that Smollett had paid twoblack friends $3,500 to help him stage the attack because he wasunhappy with his salary as anactor on “Empire” and wanted todrum up publicity for his career.

In his June ruling, Toomin sug-gested that the county’s state’sattorney, Kim Foxx, mishandled the Smollett case by appointinga top aide to oversee it after sherecused herself.

Foxx had been in contact witha Smollett relative and was ap-proached by former first lady Mi-chelle Obama’s one-time chief of staff on behalf of Smollett’s fam-ily. Foxx explained at the timeshe was recusing herself to avoid “even the perception of a con-flict” of interest.

In his ruling, Toomin said hehad no problem with Foxx’s Feb-ruary recusal but that it shouldhave included a request for a spe-cial prosecutor. He said she hadno right to hand it off to someonefrom her office, which he said amounted to naming her ownspecial prosecutor.

Foxx has said Smollett wastreated no differently than thou-sands of other defendants in low-level cases whose charges have been similarly dropped. Foxx alsopublicly wondered if her being black has anything to do with the criticism she has received.

SPENSER HEAPS, THE (SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH) DESERET NEWS/AP

A view of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah in July 2017. The U.S. government’s final management plan for lands in and around the Utah national monument that President Donald Trump downsized is light on new protections .

TED S. WARREN/AP

A detainee mops a floor in a hallway in June 2017 of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash. The Trump administration has opposed efforts to pay detainees minimum wage for the work.


NATION

Arm of DOJ sends brief with link to anti-Semitic post

Democratic voters take a look at a practical health care approach

Trump abandons plan to push for $4 billion cut to foreign aid projects

BY COLLEEN LONG AND MICHAEL BALSAMO

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s immigration arm sent judges a morning news brief-ing that included a blog post from a virulently anti-immigration website that also publishes work by white nationalists.

The post by VDARE featured links that directly attacked im-migration judges with racially tinged slurs and a specific anti-Semitic reference about Jews and power, according to a letter sent Thursday by judges’ union President Ashley Tabbador to James McHenry, the director of the Executive Office for Im-migration Review at the Justice Department.

It was distributed to all 440 im-migration judges across the coun-try earlier this week, along with other stories from The Washing-ton Post and Connecticut Public Radio. The inclusion of the post was first reported by BuzzFeed.

Assistant Press Secretary Kathryn Mattingly said the daily morning news briefings are com-piled by a contractor and the blog post should not have been included.

“The Department of Justice condemns anti-Semitism in the strongest terms,” she said.

VDARE is an anti-immigration website founded and edited by Peter Brimelow. He also operates a Connecticut-based nonprofit, VDARE Foundation, that raised nearly $4.8 million between 2007 and 2015, according to IRS filings.

Brimelow has denied his web-site is white nationalist but has acknowledged it publishes works by writers who fit that descrip-tion “in the sense that they aim to defend the interests of Ameri-can whites.” Brimelow also has spoken at conferences hosted by white nationalist groups, includ-ing Richard Spencer’s National Policy Institute and Jared Tay-lor’s American Renaissance on-line magazine.

Tabbador wrote that the Na-

tional Association of Immigration Judges fully supports the right to free speech. “However, the pub-lication and dissemination of a white supremacist, anti-Semitic website … is antithetical to the goals and ideals of the Depart-ment of Justice.”

She asked that the post be with-drawn and an apology issued.

Paul Shearon, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical En-gineers, released a statement saying, “It is shocking and out-rageous that a vile, racist attack against distinguished jurists was linked and distributed from an official U.S. government publica-tion.” The federation is the parent union of the judges’ union led by Tabbador.

The issue arose as the Justice Department, which is in charge of immigration judges, is challeng-ing their right to be represented by a labor union. It is a move the judges said was aimed at silenc-ing criticism.

A petition recently filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority contended the union shouldn’t be allowed because the judges are management of-ficials who help decide or shape the agency’s policies, a Justice spokesman said.

In recent months, the immigra-tion judges’ union has spoken out against new performance quotas and rules for managing court dockets. The National Association of Immigration Judges has also called for the immigration courts to become independent of the Justice Department, where the judges are currently employees.

The Justice Department held a summit last month focused on how to combat anti-Semitism. In his keynote remarks, Attorney General William Barr said com-bating anti-Semitism was “an im-portant priority” for the Justice Department, and he condemned what he called an “intolerable” rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes.

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE AND RICARDO

ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — Democratic voters appear to be reassessing their approach to health care, a pragmatic shift on their party’s top 2020 issue.

While “Medicare for All” re-mains hugely popular, majori-ties say they’d prefer building on “Obamacare” to expand coverage, instead of a new government pro-gram that replaces America’s mix of private and public insurance.

Highlighted by a recent nation-al poll, shifting views are echoed in interviews with voters and the evolving positions of Democratic presidential candidates on a pro-posal that months ago seemed to have growing momentum within their party. Several have en-dorsed an incremental approach rather than a government-run plan backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, and Eliza-beth Warren, of Massachusetts.

It could mean trouble for Sand-ers and his supporters, signaling a limit to how far Democratic voters are willing to move to the left and an underlying skepticism that Americans will back such a dramatic change to their health care.

“We hear ‘Medicare for All,’ but I’m not absolutely certain what that means and what that

would then mean for me,” said Democrat Terrie Dietrich, who lives near Las Vegas. “Does it mean that private insurance is gone forever?”

Dietrich, 74, has Medicare and private supplemental insurance , an arrangement she said she’s pretty comfortable with.

She thinks it’s important that everyone has health care, not just those who can afford it. She said she would support Medicare for All if it was the only way to achieve that.

But, “I don’t think we can ever get it passed,” Dietrich added.

Erin Cross, 54, Dietrich’s daughter and also a Democrat, said she’s not comfortable with switching to a system in which a government plan is the only choice. She said Democrats won’t be able to appeal to Republi-cans unless they strike a middle ground and allow people to keep their private insurance.

“We’ve got to get some of these other people, these Republican voters, to come on over just to get rid of Trump,” she said.

Democratic presidential can-didates also have expressed skepticism.

California Sen. Kamala Harris’ new plan would preserve a role for private insurance. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is open to step-by-step approaches. Meanwhile, health care moderates including former Vice President Joe Biden

have been blunt in criticizing thegovernment-run system envi-sioned by Sanders.

In Nevada, the early voting swing state that tests presidentialcandidates’ appeal to labor anda diverse population, moderate Democrats have won statewideby focusing on health care af-fordability and preserving pro-tections from President BarackObama’s law.

Nationwide, 55% of Democratsand independents who lean Dem-ocratic said in a poll last monththey’d prefer building on Obama’sAffordable Care Act instead of re-placing it with Medicare for All.The survey by the nonpartisanKaiser Family Foundation found39% would prefer Medicare forAll. Majorities of liberals andmoderates concurred.

On a separate question, Demo-cratic support for Medicare forAll was a robust 72% in July, butthat was down from 80% in April,a drop Kaiser says is statisticallysignificant but not necessarily adefinitive downward trend.

“The long-standing history ofhealth reform is that people want to hang on to what they have,” said Georgetown University pub-lic policy professor Judith Feder, who was a health policy adviserin the Clinton administration.

Nonetheless, she noted a com-mon interest among Democrats:“People want affordable, reliable,stable coverage.”

BY KEVIN FREKING

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Facing bipartisan opposition, President Donald Trump has scrapped an effort to cut some $4 billion in foreign aid that lawmakers had already approved.

A senior administration official and a Democratic congressional aide confirmed the decision Thursday. Both spoke on con-

dition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The potential cut to programs at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for Inter-national Development had drawn criticism from Republicans and Democrats. The ad-ministration official said it was clear that many on Capitol Hill weren’t willing to join in “curbing wasteful spending.”

Since taking office, the Trump admin-istration has sought each year to slash for-

eign affairs funding by as much as 30%. Those budget proposals have been soundly rejected by lawmakers from both parties.

The president told reporters Sunday he backed the cuts, saying that, “in some cases, these are countries that we should not be giving to.” He also said foreign aid cuts can lead to talks that improve relationships.

The top members of the House For-eign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees had sent a letter to the White

House Office of Management and Budget seeking to head off such a move. They said cutting “crucial” programs would be det-rimental to national security and undercut Congress’ intended use for the money.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that the proposed cuts wouldhave been “harmful to our national securi-ty” and violated the good-faith negotiationsthat brought about the bipartisan budgetdeal.

MICHELLE L. PRICE/AP

Terrie Dietrich, left, and her daughter, Erin Cross, talk in Dietrich’s home in Henderson, Nev., on Thursday. Dietrich and Cross, both Democrats, disagree when it comes to a “Medicare for All” plan.


NATION

BY ASTRID GALVAN

Associated Press

PHOENIX — Construction crews broke ground Thursday on a small portion of the $664 million border fence project in the Arizo-na desert that is funded through President Donald Trump’s na-tional emergency declaration.

Crews plan on installing 30-foot steel fencing to replace older barriers on 2 miles in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, next to the official border crossing known as the Lukeville Port of Entry.

The project is funded through the Defense Department. Use of the department’s money was previously frozen by lower courts while a lawsuit proceeded. But the U.S. Supreme Court last month cleared the way for the use of about $2.5 billion.

A border wall was a major part of the president’s election cam-paign. Congress this year allocat-ed $1.4 billion, but the president wanted much more. He declared a national emergency in Febru-ary and faced legal challenges for

plans to build dozens of miles of fencing almost immediately.

In Arizona, environmentalists have sued over some of the con-struction contracts, saying the government unlawfully waived dozens of laws to be able to build on protected lands. They say a wall — and construction for it — would be detrimental to wildlife habitat. The case before a federal court is pending.

“It’s astonishing and sad to see Trump’s border wall being built through the most spectacu-lar Sonoran desert ecosystem on the planet,” said Laiken Jordahl, borderlands campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Jordahl hoped the courts would step in to protect Organ Pipe Cac-tus National Monument, where the construction is currently tak-ing place.

The vast park is known for its oddly shaped cactuses that re-semble an organ, and it’s decorat-ed with hundreds of saguaros as well. Signs all over the park warn visitors that they may encounter smuggling activity. Until about

five years ago, large swaths of the park were closed to the public due to dangerous conditions and fol-lowing the 2002 shooting death of Kris Eggle, 28, a park ranger who died while pursuing suspected drug cartel members.

Thursday’s groundbreaking was on a portion of fencing that stretches west from the Lukeville Port of Entry, an official border crossing, Border Patrol spokes-man Jesus Vasavilbaso said. That’s the port many Arizona residents pass on their way to the Mexican beach destination com-monly known as Rocky Point.

Crews there have been clearing

out brush and removing the old fencing in preparation for the in-stallation of the bollards all week. Construction is expected to take about 45 days, according to court documents filed last week.

The government plans to then tackle two other projects in Ari-zona, including nearly 40 miles of fencing in other parts of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and a smaller project at the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. The two other projects are slated for early October.

The projects come as immi-

grant apprehensions have fallensharply over the last two months. The high summer temperaturesusually result in fewer people at-tempting to cross, and Mexicanauthorities have been clampingdown on immigrants travelingnorth through the country.

But people still try their hand inthis rugged, extremely hot desert area, where in June a 6-year-old Indian girl died after attempting to walk the desert with her moth-er, who was uninjured. The girl was found about 17 miles west ofLukeville and died of hyperther-mia, heat stroke and exhaustion.

BY JILL COLVIN AND ALEXANDRA JAFFE

Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Trump campaign has a message for its female supporters: It’s time to come out of hiding.

“There’s a lot of people that are fearful of expressing their support, and I want you ladies to know it’s OK to have felt that way, but we need to move past that or the Democrats win,” said Tana Goertz, a Trump campaign adviser, at an Iowa “Women for Trump” event on Thursday.

The Iowa event, held in the back room of a barbecue joint in a Des Moines suburb, was one of more than a dozen in battle-ground states nationwide as part of a push to make the president’s case on the economy and train volunteers.

The move is a recognition of the president’s persistent deficit with women — an issue that has the potential to sink his chances for reelection. Over the course of his presidency and across public opinion polls, women have been

consistently less supportive of President Donald Trump than men have. Suburban women, in particular, rejected Republicans in the 2018 midterm by margins that set off alarms for the party and the president.

Trump himself called into a gathering of hundreds in Tampa, Fla., and insisted, to cheers: “We’re doing great with women, despite the fake news.”

But polling suggests his chal-lenges persist. The most recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found just 30% of women approve of the way the president is doing his job, compared to 42% of men. Notably, there was no gap between Republican men and women — 80% of both groups said they ap-

proved of his job performance in the August poll.

At an event in Troy, Mich., a Detroit suburb viewed as key con-tested territory, Michigan Repub-lican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox acknowledged that Trump’s style is a turnoff for some female voters. But she told the audience of 100 women to focus instead on what Trump had accomplished during his first term.

“I get it. I say, ‘Listen, you never wonder what he thinks about people,’ ” she said. “Some people may not like what he says. But he delivers and has a very good track record of deliverables. And that’s what’s important. I try to get people focused on that, not the personality.”

BY KALI ROBINSON

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump presented basket-ball legend Bob Cousy, 91, with the Presidential Medal of Free-dom on Thursday, praising the Boston Celtics star as “one of the all-time greats in the history of sports.”

Cousy played for the Celtics from 1950 to 1963, winning six league championships and the 1957 MVP title. The Bob Cousy Award, given to the country’s best point guard in men’s college bas-ketball, is named for him. He is a member of the Naismith Memo-rial Basketball Hall of Fame and played a pivotal role in founding the NBA Player’s Association.

After hanging up his No. 14 jersey, the 13-time NBA All-Star went on to coach basketball at Boston College.

“This acknowledgment allows me to complete my life circle,” Cousy said during the Oval Of-fice awards ceremony. “I can stop chasing a bouncing ball. The Presidential Medal of Freedom allows me to reach a level of ac-ceptance in our society I never once ever dreamed of.”

Trump spoke of Cousy’s child-hood during the Great Depression and discovering his talent for bas-ketball at a young age. The presi-

dent said Cousy never forgot hisfirst mentor’s advice to never be predictable, and jokingly added: “Hey, I’ve heard that lesson, too.”

The president recognized Cousy’s achievements on and offthe court, lauding his support forunderprivileged young athletes and speaking out against racism.

Cousy, who is white, ardentlysupported his black teammateswho faced discrimination during the civil rights movement. Still,Cousy lamented in Gary Pomer-antz’s biography, “The Last Pass:Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End,” that he didn’t do more for his black team-mates, including 2011 Medal of Freedom recipient Bill Russell.

The Medal of Freedom, thenation’s highest civilian honor,celebrates individuals for their“especially meritorious contribu-tion to the security or national in-terests of the U.S., to world peaceor to cultural or other significantpublic or private endeavors.”

Trump credited West VirginiaSen. Joe Manchin for suggestingthe medal be given to Cousy.

Cousy is the second Medalof Freedom recipient this year.Trump presented the award togolfer Tiger Woods in May.

Cousy is the 10th honoree under Trump, who is Cousy’s candidateof choice in the 2020 presidentialelection.

MATT YORK/AP

U.S. Customs and Patrol agents on Thursday sit along a section of the international border wall that runs through Organ Pipe National Monument in Lukeville, Ariz.

PAUL SANCYA/AP

Trump 2020 stickers are shown on a woman’s chair during a training session for Women for Trump, An Evening to Empower, in Troy, Mich., on Thursday .

Construction on Ariz. replacement border wall begins

Women who defend Trump go on offense

Basketball legend Bob Cousy is awarded Medal of Freedom


WORLD

China issues tariff hike on $75B in US products

China won’t sit by over US arms sale to Taiwan

Japan: S. Korea ending intel deal damages trust

North Korea calls Pompeo ‘poisonous’ and ‘brazen’

BY JOE MCDONALD

Associated Press

BEIJING — China on Friday announced tariff hikes on $75 bil-lion of U.S. products in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s lat-est planned increase, deepening a conflict over trade and technology that threatens to tip a weakening global economy into recession.

China also will increase import duties on U.S.-made autos and auto parts, the Finance Ministry announced.

The announcement comes as leaders of the Group of 7 major economies prepare to meet in

France this weekend.Tariffs of 10% and 5% will take

effect on two batches of goods on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, the min-istry said in a statement. It gave no details of what goods would be affected but the timing matches Trump’s planned duty hikes.

Washington is pressing Beijing to narrow its trade surplus and roll back plans for government-led creation of global competi-tors in robotics, electric cars and other technology industries.

The spiraling conflict has bat-tered exporters on both sides and fueled concern it might drag

down weakening global economic growth.

Peter Navarro, who advises Trump on trade policy, tried to downplay the impact of Chinese tariff hikes. He said they were “well anticipated” and would only strengthen Trump’s resolve.

China’s government appealed to Trump this week to compromise in order to reach a settlement.

That came after Trump warned that the American public might need to endure economic pain in order to achieve long-term results.

The United States, Europe, Japan and other trading part-

ners say Beijing’s development plans violate its market-open-ing commitments and are based on stealing or pressuring for-eign companies to hand over technology.

Some American officials worry they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

Chinese leaders have offered to alter details but are resisting giving up a development strategy they see as a path to prosperity and global influence.

The talks are deadlocked over how to enforce any deal. China insists Trump’s punitive tariffs

have to be lifted as soon as anagreement takes effect. Washing-ton says at least some have to stayto ensure Beijing carries out any promises it makes.

Trump announced plans to raise tariffs Sept. 1 on $300 billionof Chinese products after talksbroke down in May. Increases onsome goods were postponed toDec. 15.

Trump escalated “trade fric-tions” and is “seriously threat-ening the multilateral trading system,” the Finance Ministrysaid. “China was forced to takecountermeasures.”

BY CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

Associated Press

BEIJING — China “will not sit idly by” if the U.S. proceeds with a sale of advanced F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan, a senior Chinese army officer said Thursday while warning of other potential coun-termeasures in addition to pun-ishing foreign firms involved in the deal.

Beijing considered the sale a violation of previous U.S. com-mitments to China regarding the island it considers its own territo-ry to be annexed by force if nec-essary, Col. Chen Rongdi, chief of the Institute of War Studies at the Academy of Military Sciences, said. He did not elaborate on what additional measures China might take.

“China will not sit idly by,”

Chen said at a forum sponsored by China’s official journalists’ association. “Of course, we don’t rule out additional measures.”

Beijing has repeatedly said it will levy sanctions against U.S. companies linked to a planned $8 billion sale and demanded Wash-ington cancel it immediately. China has made such threats re-garding previous arms sales by the U.S., but they’ve had limited effect because the companies in-volved are either important to China’s own nascent commercial aviation industry or have little or no business with the country.

Most recently, China pledged sanctions against the U.S. in July when the Trump administration said it was considering a $2.2 bil-lion sale of tanks and air missiles to Taiwan.

Both Chen and Col. Cao Yan-zong, a research fellow at the institute, dismissed the ultimate effectiveness of the F-16V planes, given China’s overwhelming air superiority and arsenal of short to medium-range missiles.

BY HYUNG-JIN KIM

Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s foreign minister on Fri-day called U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a “poisonous plant of American diplomacy” and vowed to “shutter the absurd dream” that sanctions will force a change in Pyongyang.

The North’s blistering rheto-ric may dim the prospect for an early resumption of nuclear nego-tiations between the countries. A senior U.S. diplomat said earlier this week that Washington was ready to restart the talks, a day after U.S. and South Korean mili-taries ended their regular drills that Pyongyang called an inva-sion rehearsal.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho made the comments to protest Pompeo’s remarks in

an interview in which he said that Washington will maintain crip-pling sanctions on North Korea unless it denuclearizes.

Ri said he couldn’t just let the “reckless remarks” by Pompeo pass by him because they came amid a possible restart of the nuclear talks. Ri said Pompeo is a “brazen” man because he “had begged for” North Korean denuclearization and improved bilateral ties when he visited

Pyongyang and met leader Kim Jong Un several times.

In April, North Korea demand-ed President Donald Trump re-move Pompeo from the nuclear negotiations.

Ri said North Korea is ready for both dialogue and confrontation. But he warned that North Korea will try to remain “America’s big-gest threat” if the United States continues to confront the North with sanctions.

BY KAORI HITOMI

Associated Press

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said South Korea’s decision to cancel a deal to share military intelligence, mainly on North Korea, is dam-aging mutual trust and vowed Friday to work closely with the U.S. for regional peace.

Abe also accused South Korea of not keeping past promises. The intelligence agreement started in 2016.

“We will continue to closely co-ordinate with the U.S. to ensure regional peace and prosperity, as well as Japan’s security,” he said ahead of his departure for the Group of Seven summit of indus-trialized nations in France.

South Korea announced Thurs-day it would terminate the intel-ligence deal because Tokyo’s decision to downgrade South Korea’s preferential trade status had caused a “grave” change in the security cooperation between the countries. Seoul says it will downgrade Tokyo’s trade status as well, a change that would take effect in September.

Senior South Korean presiden-tial official Kim Hyun-chong on Friday defended his government’s decision. He told reporters that “there is no longer any justifica-tion” for South Korea to continue the deal because of Japan’s claim that basic trust between the coun-tries had been undermined.

South Korea has accused Japan of weaponizing trade to punish it over a separate dispute linked to Japan’s brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Japan denies any retaliation.

Kim accused Japan of having ignored South Korea’s repeated calls for dialogue and other con-ciliatory steps to resolve the bit-ter trade and history disputes. He said Japan’s “breach of diplo-matic etiquette” had undermined “our national pride.”

Japan has long claimed all wartime compensation issues were settled when the two coun-tries normalized relations under a 1965 treaty.

But South Korea’s SupremeCourt last year ruled that the dealdid not cover individual rights toseek reparations and has orderedcompensation for victims of forced labor under Japan’s colo-nial rule.

South Korea’s decision on themilitary intelligence pact cameas a surprise to many and under-lined how much relations withJapan have deteriorated.

The U.S. sees both South Korea and Japan as important allies innorthern Asia amid continuingthreats from North Korea andChina. The Pentagon expressed“strong concern and disappoint-ment” over the collapse of the agreement.

Kim said South Korea willpush to bolster its alliance withthe United States. He said SouthKorea will also try to actively usea trilateral intelligence-sharing channel with the United Statesand Japan. Before the 2016 bilat-eral deal was forged, Seoul andTokyo used that three-way chan-nel to exchange intelligence viathe United States.

China, North Korea’s last majorally, which earlier criticized theintelligence deal, said Fridaythat it respects South Korea’s “independent right of a sovereignstate” to take the step.

“The bilateral arrangementsbetween the relevant sides should be in favor of regional peace and stability and the peace process ofthe peninsula. It should not harm the interests of any third par-ties,” Foreign Ministry spokes-man Geng Shuang said in a dailybriefing.

Liberal South Korean Presi-dent Moon Jae-in has declared that his country will “never againlose” to Japan, although he later softened his tone and said he was willing to talk with Tokyo.

South Koreans have held mas-sive rallies and started a boycott of Japanese products.

The tit-for-tat actions could leadto economic damage that’s big-ger for South Korea than Japan.Major South Korean manufac-turers, including Samsung, relyheavily on materials and compo-nents imported from Japan.

WALLY SANTANA/AP

A Taiwan Air Force F-16 fighter jet takes off in 2014 in Chiayi, central Taiwan. China said , it will levy sanctions against U.S. over a planned arms sale to Taiwan.

ANDREW HARNIK/AP

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho called Pompeo a “poisonous plant of American diplomacy” who hampers efforts to restart nuclear negotiations on Friday.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •

BY KELVIN CHAN

Associated Press

HONG KONG — Accountants in Hong Kong marched Friday in support of the pro-democracy movement, while the Canadian Consulate banned its staff from leaving the city on official busi-ness after a British Consulate em-ployee was detained in mainland China.

The head of the cabin-crew union for Hong Kong airline Ca-thay Dragon said she had been fired in retaliation for supporting the movement, adding to the chill in the semiautonomous Chinese territory .

Demonstrators were planning to form 25 miles of human chain Friday night to show their resolve. They said the “Hong Kong Way” was inspired by the “Baltic Way,” when people in the Baltic states joined hands 30 years ago in a protest against Soviet control.

The Canadian Consulate didn’t say whether the travel restriction on local staff was related to the detention of the British Consulate employee, Simon Cheng Man-kit.

He went missing two weeks

ago after going on a business trip from Hong Kong’s high-speed rail terminal to Shenzhen .

“At present, locally engaged staff will not undertake official business travel outside of Hong Kong,” the consulate said .

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China respects Canada’s decision,

but countered it with a Confucius quote: “A gentleman is open and poised; a petty man is unhappy and worried.” Geng elaborated that those who are “above board” will have their rights guaranteed in China, while people with “an ulterior motive to engage in ille-gal activities” may have to be “ex-tremely cautious.”

Saturday, August 24, 2019

WORLD

BY VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

Associated Press

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladi-mir Putin ordered the Russian military Friday to work out a quid pro quo response after the test of a new U.S. missile banned under a now-defunct arms treaty.

In Sunday’s test, a modified ground-launched version of a Navy Tomahawk cruise missile accurately struck its target more than 310 miles away. The test came after the U.S. and Russia withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The U.S. said it withdrew from the treaty due to Russian violations, a claim

that Moscow has denied. Speaking Fri-day, Putin charged that the U.S. waged a “propaganda campaign” alleging Russian breaches of the pact to “untie its hands to deploy the previously banned missiles in different parts of the world.”

He ordered the Defense Ministry and other agencies to “take comprehen-sive measures to prepare a symmetrical answer.”

The Russian leader noted that last Sun-day’s test was performed from a launcher similar to those deployed at a U.S. missile defense site in Romania. He argued that the Romanian facility and a prospective similar site in Poland could also be loaded with missiles intended to hit ground tar-

gets instead of interceptors.Putin has pledged that Russia wouldn’t

deploy the missiles previously banned by the INF treaty to any area before the U.S. does that first, but he noted Friday that the use of the universal launcher means that a covert deployment is possible.

“How would we know what they will deploy in Romania and Poland — missile defense systems or strike missile systems with a significant range?” Putin said.

Russia long has charged that the U.S. launchers loaded with missile defense in-terceptors could be used for firing surface-to-surface missiles. Putin said Sunday’s test has proven that the U.S. denials have been false.

BY SYLVIE CORBET

Associated Press

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron hosts the G-7 summit this weekend fresh off a meeting with Russia’s Vladi-mir Putin, hoping to maintain his image as a global mediator at a time of deep political and eco-nomic insecurity in the world and despite President Donald Trump’s open disdain for multi-lateral talks.

So far, Macron’s had little to show for his efforts and many are skeptical about any concrete G-7 outcome amid the diverging views of Europe and the United States.

Trump and other leaders of the Group of Seven nations will meet Saturday for three days in the southwestern French resort town of Biarritz. France holds the 2019 presidency of the G-7, which be-sides the U.S. also includes Brit-ain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Macron is a strong advocate of multilateralism to resolve the world’s crisis. The task won’t be easy.

The French president appears to have given up hopes of influenc-ing Trump, who has withdrawn the U.S. from the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement, pulled the country out of the 2015 nucle-ar accord with Iran and pushed aggressive “America First” trade policies with China, Europe and others.

Making matters more difficult, France may not be able to rely on its European partners this year, with Britain focused on Brexit, Italy’s coalition government col-lapsing this week and key German ally, Chancellor Angela Merkel, weakened at home by dissensions in her governing coalition.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran, the conflict in Syria and the situation in Ukraine will be at the heart of the discussions, Ma-cron said while meeting Putin in southern France on Monday.

Russia was excluded from the G-7 after it annexed Crimea in 2014, but Macron said his talks

with Putin, coming just a few daysbefore the summit, were justified because “Russia is a key player in each of those crises.”

“If we set up meetings onlywhen we’re able to get spec-tacular results every time, we wouldn’t do many international meetings in nowadays’ world,” atop French diplomat said.

“France’s role is to defend itsinterests and take initiatives,” the diplomat added. “If the president of the republic doesn’t do it, whowould?”

France desperately wants to avoid a repetition of last year’sG-7 in Canada, which was left indisarray when Trump agreed toa joint statement on trade only to withdraw from it while flying toAsia. He also lambasted the sum-mit host, Canadian President Jus-tin Trudeau.

Macron said he plans to coor-dinate as much as possible withother Europeans nations. He met with British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson on Thursday andwill meet with Merkel on Sat-urday before the opening of thesummit. But France also wantsguest countries to play a key rolein the discussions.

Four key democracies havebeen involved in negotiations: India, Australia, Chile and South Africa, the leaders of which willattend some G-7 working ses-sions. Five other African coun-tries and the African Union havealso been invited to Biarritz.

Major disagreements betweenthe U.S. and others are likely to appear on trade, climate changeand global tax policy. Leaders will also discuss ways to combat inequalities in the world, fightterrorism, encourage digital development and help Africa’sSahel region, which is threatened by extremists.

Another French diplomat saidthat due to American positions blocking united actions, Franceand the G-7 nations will be seek-ing input from other allies.

“If we could get India to adoptthe G-7 priorities on climate, thatG-7 would be useful,” the diplo-mat said.

YouTube disables misleading videos on Hong Kong protests

VINCENT YU/AP

A protester holds a sign reading “God bless Hong Kong” during a demonstration by students and others at Edinburgh Place in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Putin orders response to US missile test

ALEXEI NIKOLSKY, SPUTNIK/AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia to respond to a U.S. missile test.

Macron faces tough task as G-7 mediator

Canada halts staff’s Hong Kong travel

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — You-Tube said it disabled more than 200 videos this week that appeared to be part of a coor-dinated effort to spread misin-formation about the ongoing protests in Hong Kong.

The video removals come just days after Twitter said it had suspended more than 200,000 accounts it linked to a Chinese government influence campaign against the protests. Facebook also said it had sus-

pended accounts and removed pages after being notified by Twitter.

Google, which owns You-Tube, did not explicitly impli-cate the Chinese government but said the videos were re-lated to the similar disclosures from Facebook and Twitter.

Social media companies have faced criticism about the spread of misinformation on their sites and have taken ac-tions to combat the spread in recent months.


BY MARCELO SILVA DE SOUSA

Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO — As fires raged in the Amazon rainforest, the Brazilian government on Thursday denounced international critics who say President Jair Bolsonaro is not doing enough to curb massive deforestation.

The growing threat to what some call “the lungs of the planet” has ignited a bitter dispute about who is to blame during the tenure of a leader who de-scribed Brazil’s rainforest protections as an obsta-cle to economic development.

The president’s defiance came as its own fed-eral experts reported a record number of wildfires across the country this year, up 84% over the same period in 2018. Satellite images show smoke from the Amazon reaching across the Latin American continent to the Atlantic coast and Sao Paulo, Bra-zil’s biggest city, according to the World Meteoro-logical Organization.

On Thursday, Bolsonaro said there was a “very strong” indication that some non-governmental groups could be setting blazes in retaliation for los-ing state funds under his administration. He did not provide any evidence.

Bolsonaro, who won election last year, also ac-cused media organizations of exploiting the fires to undermine his government.

“Most of the media wants Brazil to end up like Venezuela,” he said, referring to political and eco-nomic turbulence in the neighboring South Ameri-can country.

London-based Amnesty International blamed the Brazilian government for the fires, which have es-calated international concern over the vast rainfor-est that is a major absorber of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The rights group this year documented illegal

land invasions and arson attacks near indigenous territories in the Amazon, including Rondonia state, where many fires are raging, said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty’s secretary general.

“Instead of spreading outrageous lies or denying the scale of deforestation taking place, we urge the president to take immediate action to halt the prog-ress of these fires,” Naidoo said.

The WWF conservation group also challenged Bolsonaro’s allegations about NGOs, saying they divert “the focus of attention from what really mat-ters: the well-being of nature and the people of the Amazon.”

Brazil contains about 60% of the Amazon rain-forest, whose degradation could have severe conse-quences for global climate and rainfall .

Citing Brazil’s apparent lack of commitment to fighting deforestation, Germany and Norway have decided to withhold more than $60 million in funds earmarked for sustainability projects in Brazil’s forests.

Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland — Rescu-ers in Poland say they are turn-ing their search operation for two spelunkers into a retrieval of bodies after the remains of one of them have been found in a nar-row passage in a cave.

The two Polish cavers went missing over the weekend in the uncharted parts of the Wielka Sniezna cave in the Tatra Moun-tains. Rescuers found the body of one of them late Thursday and presume the other is also dead.

The head of the Tatra emer-gency service, Jan Krzysztof, said Friday the operation will focus on widening a narrow pas-sage to allow for the bodies to be recovered.

Many rescuers are involved in search and rescue for people hurt by a sudden thunderstorm that hit the Tatras on Thursday, killing five and injuring over 150 people.

The thunderstorm, which wit-nesses said came suddenly on a day that began with clear weath-er, produced an unimaginable emergency in the popular trek-king region, said Jan Krzysztof, head of the TOPR Tatra emer-gency service.

“This is a situation that can be compared to a terrorist attack,” Krzysztof said. “A large group of random people has been hit. Many people, including children. Burnt, with broken legs, wounds all over their bodies.”

He said rescuers on Friday

were checking the slopes of thepopular Giewont peak, which rises 6,214 feet high, for threepeople who have not returned .

Officials said the lightningstorm killed four people in Po-land, including two children, and a Czech tourist in neighboring Slovakia. Officials said 34 peopleremained hospitalized Fridayin Zakopane, Krakow and otherlocations.

Krzysztof said the massive mountain rescue action involvedfive helicopters and “went be-yond” any scenario that his teamhad ever faced.

The Tatras, part of the Car-pathian mountain range, are thehighest mountains in Poland andin Slovakia and attract touristsfrom near and far with sceniclakes and peaks that soar to 8,710feet .

Thursday’s lightning strikeswere the worst accident in the Tatras since August 1937, when lighting killed four people on Giewont. Tourist Grzegorz Pyzeltold TVN24 he was halfway upGiewont peak with his wife inclear weather when suddenlythey heard thunder and thought it was a jet overhead.

“But soon lightning struck andwe turned back. Suddenly it start-ed pouring and you could hearthunder roaring from every pos-sible direction,” Pyzel said.

The couple reached a shelter at the foot of the mountain and soonothers started coming in, sayingthere were injured people.

South China Sea tensions concern Australia, Vietnam

WORLD

Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam — Australia and Vietnam on Friday expressed serious concern over tensions in the disputed South China Sea, where Hanoi says China’s gas survey ship has infringed on its territory and has disrupted Viet-nam’s exploration activities.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison met in Hanoi with his counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and both leaders called for respect of international law and freedom of navigation.

Earlier, the United States said it was deeply concerned that China is continuing to interfere with Vietnam’s longstanding oil and gas activities in Vietnam’s exclu-sive economic zone. China claims the South China Sea virtually in its entirety and has deployed a survey vessel with armed escorts into waters off Vietnam, ignoring Hanoi’s calls to leave the area.

“(We all need to uphold) prin-ciples that relate to freedom of navigation, freedom of overfly, ensuring that nations can pursuit and develop the opportunities that exist within their EEZ and within their sea boundaries, and they can go about that business in a way that is uninhabited and supported and upheld by the re-gional architecture and the rule of law that support that free con-duct of activities,” Morrison told reporters.

Phuc said that the countries were united in their position on the South China Sea, where China has rattled smaller neighbors by constructing seven man-made is-lands in the disputed waters and equipped them with military run-ways and outposts.

In Beijing Friday, Chinese For-eign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang did not directly address the U.S. accusations but said

China opposed what he described as a U.S. campaign aimed at division.

“This is to drive a wedge be-tween China and other countries and it is ill-intentioned. The aim is to create chaos in the situation in the South China Sea and dam-age regional peace and stability.

China firmly opposes this,” Geng said.

Morrison and Phuc stopped short of explicitly naming China.

“I am not here to make ac-cusations or do anything of that nature. We do not take sides,” Morrison said. Both he and Phuc urged all parties to refrain from

the threat or use of force in set-tling disputes .

Morrison said he didn’t want toagree or disagree with the U.S., stressing that Australia’s positionwas consistent.

“We are carefully calibratedwith what we say but most impor-tant, respectful,” he said.

BULLIT MARQUEZ/AP

A U.S. fighter jet takes off from the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan for a patrol of the South China Sea. Tensions in the area have drawn concern by Australia and Vietnam.

Amazon fires stir dispute over who is to blame

MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/AP

A satellite image from Maxar Technologies shows a fire southwest of Porto Velho Brazil. The Brazilian government is denouncing international critics who say Brazil is not doing enough to stop massive deforestation in the Amazon.

Search for Polish cavers becomes retrieval mission


BY DAVID RISING AND SETH BORENSTEIN

Associated Press

TASIILAQ, Greenland — From a helicopter, Greenland’s brilliant white ice and dark mountains make the desolation seem to go on forever. And the few people who live here — its whole population wouldn’t fill a football stadium — are poor, with a high rate of substance abuse and suicide.

One scientist called it the “end of the planet.”

When U.S. President Donald Trump floated the idea of buy-ing Greenland, it was met with derision, seen as an awkward and inappropriate approach of an erstwhile ally.

But it might also be an Alad-din’s Cave of oil, natural gas and rare earth minerals just waiting to be tapped as the ice recedes.

The northern island and the rest of the Arctic aren’t just hot-ter due to global warming. As melting ice opens shipping lanes and reveals incredible riches, the region is seen as a new geopoliti-cal and economic asset, with the U.S., Russia, China and others wanting in.

“An independent Greenland could, for example, offer basing rights to either Russia or China or both,” said Fen Hampson, head of the international security program at the Centre for Inter-national Governance Innovation think tank in Waterloo, Ontario, noting the desire by some there to secede as a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.

“I am not saying this would hap-pen, but it is a scenario that would have major geostrategic implica-tions, especially if the Northwest Passage becomes a transit route for shipping, which is what is hap-pening in the Russian Arctic.”

In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward an ambitious program to reaffirm his country’s presence in the Arctic, including efforts to build ports and other infrastructure and expand its icebreaker fleet. Russia wants to stake its claim in the region that is believed to hold up to one-fourth of the Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas.

China sees Greenland as a pos-sible source of rare earths and other minerals and a port for shipping through the Arctic to the eastern U.S. It called last year for joint development of a “Polar Silk Road” as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative to build rail-ways, ports and other facilities in dozens of countries.

But while global warming pushes the cold and ice farther north each year, experts caution that the race to the Arctic is an incredibly challenging marathon, not a sprint.

The melting of the Greenland ice sheet creates uncertainty and danger for offshore oil and gas developers, threatening rigs and ships. “All that ice doesn’t sud-denly melt; it creates icebergs that you have to navigate around,” said Victoria Herrmann, manag-ing director of the Arctic Insti-

tute, a nonprofit focused on Arctic security.

On the other hand, while min-ing in Greenland has been ex-pensive due to the environment, development costs have fallen as the ice has melted, making it more attractive to potential buy-ers, she said.

Strategically, Greenland forms part of what the U.S. views as a key corridor for naval opera-tions between the Arctic and the North Atlantic. It is also part of the broader Arctic region, con-sidered strategically important because of its proximity to the U.S. and economically vital for its natural resources.

Hampson noted it was an Amer-ican protectorate during World War II when Nazi Germany occu-pied Denmark, and the U.S. was

allowed to build radar stations and rent-free bases on its terri-tory after the war. That includes today’s Thule Air Force Base, 745 miles south of the North Pole.

After the war, the U.S. proposed buying Greenland for $100 mil-lion after flirting with the idea of swapping land in Alaska for parts of the Arctic island. The U.S. also thought about buying Greenland 80 years earlier.

Trump “may not be as crazy as he sounds despite his ham-fisted offer, which clearly upset the Danes, and rightly so,” Hampson said.

Greenland is part of the Dan-ish realm along with the Faeroe Islands, another semiautonomous territory, and has its own govern-ment and parliament. Greenland’s 56,000 residents got extensive

home rule in 1979, but Denmark still handles foreign and defense policies, with an annual subsidy of $670 million.

Its indigenous people are not wealthy, and vehicles, restau-rants, stores and basic services are few.

Trump said Sunday he’s inter-ested in Greenland “strategical-ly,” but its purchase is “not No. 1 on the burner.”

Although Danish Prime Min-ister Mette Frederiksen called Trump’s idea to purchase Green-land an “absurd discussion,” prompting him to call her “nasty” and cancel an upcoming visit to Copenhagen, she also acknowl-edged its importance to both nations.

“The developments in the Arctic region call for further co-

operation between the U.S. and Greenland, the Faeroe Islandsand Denmark,” she said. “There-fore, I would like to underlineour invitation for a stronger co-operation on Arctic affairs stillstands.”

Greenland is thought to havethe largest deposits outside China of rare earth minerals used tomake batteries and cellphones.

Such minerals were deemed critical to economic and national security by the U.S. Interior De-partment last year, and as de-mand rises, “deposits outside ofChina will be sought to serve asa counterbalance to any market control that could be exerted by asingle large producer,” said Ken-neth Medlock, senior director atthe Center for Energy Studies atRice University.

Off Greenland’s shores, theU.S. Geological Survey estimatesthere could be 17.5 billion undis-covered barrels of oil and 148 trillion cubic feet of natural gas,though the remote location and harsh weather have limited ex-ploration. Around the Arctic Cir-cle, there’s potential for 90 billionbarrels of oil.

Only 14 offshore wells weredrilled in the past 40 years, ac-cording to S&P Global Analytics.So far, no oil in exploitable quanti-ties has been found.

“It’s very speculative, but in theory, they could have alot of oil,” said Michael Lynch,president of Strategic Energy &Economic Research Inc. “It’s per-ceived as being the new Alaska,where the old Alaska was thoughtto be worthless and turned out to have huge reserves. And it’s oneof the few places on Earth that’s lightly populated, and it’s close tothe U.S.”

SCIENCE

Arctic increasingly seen as hot property

FELIPE DANA/AP

A large Iceberg floats away as the sun sets near Kulusuk, Greenland, on Aug. 15. As warmer temperatures cause the ice to retreat, the Arctic region is taking on new geopolitical and economic importance .

MSTYSLAV CHERNOV/AP

Icebergs are photographed earlier this month from the window of an airplane carrying NASA scientists as they fly on a mission to track melting ice in eastern Greenland.


MARKET WATCH

Military ratesEuro costs (Aug. 26) .........................$1.1355Dollar buys (Aug. 26)........................€0.8807British pound (Aug. 26) .......................$1.25Japanese yen (Aug. 26) .....................104.00South Korean won (Aug. 26) .........1,183.00

Commercial ratesBahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3770British pound .....................................$1.2215Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3320China (Yuan) ........................................ 7.0852Denmark (Krone) ................................6.6426Egypt (Pound) ...................................... 6.7442Euro ........................................ $1.1054/0.9047Hong Kong (Dollar) ............................. 7.7548Hungary (Forint) ................................. 297.35Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.5196Japan (Yen) ...........................................106.52Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3042Norway (Krone) ...................................9.0052Philippines (Peso)................................. 52.42Poland (Zloty) .......................................... 3.95Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ........................... 3.7511Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3887South Korea (Won) ..........................1,213.04Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9850Thailand (Baht) ..................................... 30.72Turkey (Lira) ......................................... 5.7672(Military exchange rates are those available to customers at military banking facilities in the country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing British pounds in Germany), check with your local military banking facility. Commercial rates are interbank rates provided for reference when buying currency. All figures are foreign currencies to one dollar, except for the British pound, which is represented in dollars-to-pound, and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.)

EXCHANGE RATES

INTEREST RATESPrime rate ................................................ 5.25Discount rate .......................................... 3.00Federal funds market rate ................... 2.133-month bill ............................................. 1.9430-year bond ........................................... 2.10

WEATHER OUTLOOK

Bahrain92/89

Baghdad113/78

Doha102/86

KuwaitCity

100/87

Riyadh105/77

Djibouti103/84

Kandahar98/69

Kabul87/59

FRIDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SATURDAY IN THE PACIFIC

Misawa71/65

Guam85/80

Tokyo80/72

Okinawa80/64

Sasebo79/75

Iwakuni79/75

Seoul81/65

Osan80/64 Busan

79/72

The weather is provided by the American Forces Network Weather Center,

2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

81/55

Ramstein78/55

Stuttgart74/56

Lajes,Azores73/70

Rota85/68

Morón99/64 Sigonella

90/64

Naples85/74

Aviano/Vicenza83/67

Pápa84/66

Souda Bay78/75

FRIDAY IN EUROPE

Brussels83/58

Zagan73/62

Drawsko Pomorskie

74/53

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Powell: Fed will help, but no hint on rates BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Pow-ell said Friday that President Donald Trump’s trade wars have complicated the Fed’s ability to set interest rate policies but of-fered no clear signal about fur-ther interest rate cuts.

Speaking to a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Powell reiterated that the Fed “will act as appropriate” to sustain the expansion — phrasing that analysts see as suggesting rate cuts. But the Fed chairman didn’t give financial markets ex-plicit guidance on whether or how many rate cuts might be coming the rest of the year.

The Fed cut rates last month for the first time in a decade, and financial markets have baked in the likelihood of more rate cuts this year.

The outlook for the U.S. econ-omy, Powell said, remains favor-able but continues to face risks. He pointed to increasing evidence of a global economic slowdown and suggested that uncertainty from Trump’s trade wars has contributed to it.

Powell’s speech comes against the backdrop of a vulnerable economy, with the financial world seeking clarity on whether last month’s rate decision likely marked the start of a period of easier credit.

The confusion only heightened in the days leading to the Jack-son Hole conference, at which Powell gave the keynote address. Minutes of the Fed’s July meet-ing released Wednesday showed that although officials voted 8-2 to cut their benchmark rate by a quarter-point, there was a wider

divergence of opinion on the committee than the two dissent-ing votes against the rate cut had indicated.

The minutes showed that two Fed officials favored a more ag-gressive half-point rate cut, while some others adopted the polar opposite view: They felt the Fed shouldn’t cut rates at all.

The minutes depicted the rate cut as a “mid-cycle adjustment,” the phrase Powell had used at his news conference after the rate cut.

That wording upset traders who interpreted the remark as suggesting that the Fed might not be preparing for a series of rate cuts to support an economy that’s struggling with a global slow-

down and escalating uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.

There was even a difference of opinion among the Fed mem-bers who favored a rate cut, the minutes showed, with some con-cerned most about subpar infla-tion and others worried more about the threats to economic growth.

Comments Thursday from Fed officials gathering in Jack-son Hole reflected the commit-tee’s sharp divisions, including some reluctance to cut rates at least until the economic picture changes.

“I think we should stay here for a while and see how things play out,” said Patrick Harker, the

president of the Fed’s Philadel-phia regional bank.

Esther George, president of the Fed’s Kansas City regional bank and one of the dissenting votes in July, said, “While I see downside

risk, I wasn’t ready to act on thatrelative to the performance of theeconomy.”

George said she saw some areas of strength, including very lowunemployment and inflation now closer to the Fed’s target level .

Robert Kaplan, president of theFed’s Dallas branch, indicated that he might be prepared to sup-port further rate cuts.

If “we are seeing some weak-ness in manufacturing and globalgrowth, then it may be good totake some action,” Kaplan said.

MANUEL BALCE CENETA, /AP

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at the Fed conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday .


Andrew Myers, 18, is accused of jumping off the Anna C in Block Island, R.I., on July 28. No home towns were provided.

The Coast Guard said the act of intentionally jumping into the water from a passenger vessel is considered interfering with the safe operation of the vessel and carries a fine of up to $35,000.

Man charged in death of overboard friend

NJ LAKE HOPATCONG — A man who allegedly

was operating a boat while under the influence of alcohol or drugs has been charged in the death of his friend who went overboard and drowned in northern New Jersey earlier this month.

Morris County prosecutors said Nicholas Zarantonello, 24, of Lake Hopatcong, is charged with death by vessel.

Zarantonello was operating a pontoon boat on Lake Hopatcong on Aug. 3 with two passengers on board. One of them, Jason Gil, 24, of Mount Arlington, somehow went overboard and disappeared. His body was found two days later.

Man convicted of aiding in roommate’s suicide

NH NORTH HAVER-HILL — A jury in New

Hampshire has convicted a man of helping his roommate kill him-

self by bringing him a gun and advising him on how to use it.

Police said Michael Buskey, 19, killed himself in May 2018 in Plymouth. WMUR-TV reported his roommate, Parker Hogan, 20, was found guilty Wednesday of aiding in Buskey’s suicide. Hogan also was convicted of falsifying evidence by wiping his finger-prints off the gun.

Hogan’s lawyers argued that he was a friend who helped Buskey carry out his wishes.

Floating homeless camp sinks in waterway

WA SEATTLE — What authorities describe

as a homeless camp on the water has sunk.

KOMO-TV reported it may be a first for Seattle, a city plagued with homeless camps under high-ways, street corners, in green-belts and abandoned buildings.

The floating camp was made up of three boats rafted together and tied up illegally to a fishing net piling belonging to the Du-

wamish Tribe.Two boats sank last week in

the Duwamish Waterway while a third boat remained afloat.

How the boats sank is still being investigated by the Port of Seat-tle. They were outside the federal waterway that’s the responsibility of the Coast Guard — so it’s under Port of Seattle jurisdiction.

Officials said the Coast Guard pumped out fuel and removed hazardous chemicals that were found on board.

Charged man says he found drugs in drive-thru

MA WORCESTER — A Massachusetts man

facing drug charges told police the cocaine that officers said they found in his vehicle had been dropped from another vehicle and he had just picked it up.

The Telegram & Gazette report-ed that Luis Vega, 28, of South-bridge, was freed on $10,000 cash bail at his arraignment Wednes-day in Superior Court, where he pleaded not guilty to trafficking in

more than 200 grams of cocaine.Vega was arrested July 23 after

he was pulled over for speeding inWebster. Officers said they found more than 240 grams of cocainein the car, with an estimatedstreet value of about $7,500.

Police said Vega told them the powdery substance was droppedfrom the car in front of him at aBurger King drive-thru lane, sohe picked it up.

Man pinned, killed in elevator accident

NY NEW YORK — Author-ities said an elevator

accident in a Manhattan high-rise apartment building killed aman who was apparently pinnedbetween the elevator car and theshaft.

It happened around 8:30 a.m.Thursday in a high-end rentalbuilding on Third Avenue in theKips Bay neighborhood.

Police and building inspectorsare investigating. Police said fromthe preliminary information theyhave gathered, it appears that the30-year-old man was trying to get out of the elevator when it contin-ued going downward and trapped him.

Firefighters say other peoplein the elevator were helped to safety.

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

The number of jobs being cut by Nestle at an ice cream dis-tribution center in Fort Wayne, Ind. Nestle Dreyer’s Ice Cream said 40 jobs are being cut but a large workforce will remain in place. Spokeswoman Laura Davenport said the state of Indiana had been mistakenly told that an ice cream plant and distribution

center would close. Nestle says it’s switching to a warehouse model of delivery.

Explosion of portable toilets being examined

RI WESTERLY — The Rhode Island fire mar-

shal is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the ar-rest and conviction of whoever is responsible for blowing up a pair of portable toilets last weekend.

The first explosion happened at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday at a residential construction site in Westerly.

The second incident oc-curred in a private parking lot in Charlestown. Police said a fisher-man heard an explosion at about 11 p.m. Saturday, but the damage was not reported until Sunday morning.

There were no reports of inju-ries in either explosion.

Woman dies in car crash trying to avoid dogs

NY NIAGARA FALLS — New York State po-

lice said a woman who swerved to avoid hitting two dogs on an upstate highway died after her vehicle struck the animals, over-turned and ejected her.

Police said Georgette Potter, 46, of North Tonawanda, was pronounced dead at the scene on I-190 in Niagara Falls early Thursday morning.

Investigators said Potter wasn’t wearing a seatbelt in the Jeep Wrangler at the time of the collision.

2 hippos to return home after ‘vacation’

MO SPRINGFIELD — Two hippo sisters are

getting ready to return to their newly remodeled home in Colo-rado after spending nearly two years at a Missouri zoo.

The Springfield News-Leader reported that the hippos came to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, M o. , in October 2017 because the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs needed a place to put them while it created a new habitat.

The Springfield zoo had space for the sisters, named Zambezi and Kasai, because its beloved Henry the hippo was moved in 2016 to a new $8 million enclo-sure at the Cincinnati Zoo.

The Springfield zoo’s spokes-woman, Joey Powell, said the sisters were originally just sup-posed to spend a year in Missouri but construction delays made the stay last longer. She said they’ve been on “an extended vacation.”

Coast Guard proposes fines for ferry jumpers

MA BOSTON — The Coast Guard in Bos-

ton is warning about the dangers and potential penalties of jump-ing off ferries.

The Coast Guard in a statement Wednesday said it has proposed fines of up $2,500 each to two teenagers who they said jumped over ferry railings in New Eng-land waters this summer.

They said Luke Garrity, 18, jumped off the Island Queen in Falmouth, Mass., on June 23.

THE CENSUS

Staying hydrated

40

From wire reports

A worker stops to take a drink while he and his co-workers replace a roof on a house on Virginia Avenue in Charleston, W.Va., on Tuesday.

CHRIS DORST, CHARLESTON (W.VA.) GAZETTE-MAIL/AP


VIDEO GAMES

B.J. Blazkowicz has disappeared after a

mission into Nazi-occupied Paris. Now, after years of training

and guidance from their battle-hardened

father, B.J.’s twin daughters, Jess and Soph, set out to find him in Wolfenstein:

Youngblood.Bethesda Softworks photos

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRD

Special to The Washington Post

In 2014, the Swedish development studio MachineGames pulled off one of the more distinguished revamps of this video game generation. Wolfenstein: The New

Order injected fresh life into a series that kick-started the fi rst-person shooter genre in the 1990s by combining the twitch combat that players expect with the kind of pensive writing one might fi nd in a high-toned war movie. 2017’s wonderful Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus tweaked the formula by relax-ing the diffi culty curve of The New Order and doubling down on the narrative moments that provide excellent contrast to the Nazi-killing action which is a hallmark of the series.

Picking up 20 years after the events of the last game, Wolfenstein: Youngblood stars the twin daughters of the series hero, B.J. Blazkowicz, who take the fi ght against the Nazis to the streets of Paris. A few cutscenes notwithstanding, Youngblood (which was co-developed by Arkane Studios) doesn’t have the

number of arresting narratives as The New Colossus. But, in a series fi rst, its campaign is organized around co-op gameplay. This addi-tion, while diverting, is not particularly rous-ing. Like so many big-budget video games, it’s nothing more than a safe bet.

The game opens with a quiet and effective scene set near Mesquite, Texas, in 1979. It shows Blazkowicz and his wife, Anya, rigor-ously training their young adult daughters, Jess and Soph, in the art of combat. The par-ents’ concern for their children is obvious as is the siblings affection for each other. The scene then cuts to the following year where, in Paris, Jess and Soph meet up with members of the French resistance.

The girls are looking for their father who mysteriously vanished but left behind clues that he’d traveled to the City of Lights on a secret mission. In exchange for helping to track down their father, the twins agree to run missions for the resistance against the Nazis. These assignments take them from a Zeppelin that serves as a casino to various locations scat-tered around the game’s re-creation of Paris.

Over the length of the game players will cross and recross many of the same areas and visit some sights, like a Nazi interrogation cen-ter, on different missions. Such backtracking didn’t grate much on me or my co-op partner because we had a decent time chit-chatting and shooting Nazis. We both found the girls sis-terly camaraderie — their fi st-bumps, dancing in elevators, and banter — bemusing, if a bit childish. If there was one design element that my friend and I singled out for commenda-tion, it’s the game’s pep system. Pressing up on the control pad allows the sisters to rally each other with an encouraging word and a physical gesture, like a thumbs up. This system adds nicely to an atmosphere of mutual reliance.

Different peps can be purchased with the in-game currency. Once my friend and I saved up for a pep that replenishes full health and body armor we delighted even more in the tempo of the game. Although we never had too much trouble advancing through levels, we hit a couple of bottlenecks with the fi rst two of the game’s fi ve bosses. The fi rst boss frustrated us because his regenerating health made us feel that we weren’t getting anywhere by shoot-ing at him. But after consulting YouTube we realized that we just had to wear him down to trigger a scripted cutscene. After that fi ght I worried that Youngblood might have the sort of bullet-sponge bosses that vexed me in The New Order. The second boss seemed to confi rm this after he repeatedly wiped us out the fi rst day we faced him.

Fortunately, any apprehensions I had were allayed after my friend and I decided to complete as many side-missions as possible to level up our characters. Once we accumulated enough experience points to unlock upgrades for our weapons, we noticed a night-and-day difference when we revisited the second boss. We had little trouble getting past the next two bosses which we steamrolled on our fi rst attempt. But the fi nal boss was a worthy oppo-nent that took us several attempts to vanquish.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood provides a decent co-op experience for friends to indulge in. It’s like going to a place where you know the ser-vice is fi ne and you wouldn’t look for anything unusual.

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nin-tendo Switch, PC

Online: bethesda.net/en/game/wolfenstein-youngblood

Team up with a friend or play solo in 1st modern co-op Wolfenstein adventureA GAME OF SISTERHOOD


MOVIES

Marlon Brando appears in a scene from “Apocalypse Now Final Cut,” directed by Francis Ford Coppola. ZOETROPE CORP./AP

BY JAKE COYLE

Associated Press

If fi lmmaking is a war, then “Apocalypse Now” was very nearly Francis Ford Coppola’s Waterloo.

The battles Coppola fought while mak-ing his 1979 epic nearly destroyed him. A typhoon wrecked a major set. Harvey

Keitel was replaced by Martin Sheen. Coppola searched desperately for an ending. He worked even harder to coax a few lines out of Marlon Brando.

But out of that tumult Coppola created a master-piece. And 40 years later, “Apocalypse Now” has never looked so good.

Coppola has supervised a 4K restoration of the fi lm and, for the second time, tweaked the cut. Having perhaps gone too far in his 2001 “Redux,” which added 53 minutes, “Apocalypse Now Final Cut,” which opened in theaters Aug. 15 and will be released on home video Aug. 27, splits the differ-ence at 183 minutes.

In its present and restored form, the majesty and madness of “Apocalypse Now” is more vivid and hallucinatory than ever. Coppola considers it the defi nitive version. It completes a four-decade journey turning what was almost a mess into the masterwork he envisioned from the start.

Coppola, 80, has lately been busy with equally audacious plans.CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

Famed director again returns to

‘Apocalypse Now’for what he’s

calling his ‘final cut’


MOVIES

Lionsgate

Robert Duvall is pictured in “Apocalypse Now Final Cut.” Francis Ford Coppola said “Apocalypse Now” stood out from previous war movies because it was “LA and it was surfing and it was drugs and it was rock ’n’ roll so it was more of a West Coast ambiance to the war.”

ZOETROPE CORP./AP

Coppola, who previously tweaked his 1979 film by adding 53 minutes in 2001’s “Apocalypse Now Redux,” said “Apocalypse Now Final Cut” is the definitive version of the movie.

FROM PAGE 16

In 2017, he published a book, “Live Cinema and its Tech-niques,” about his experiments and hopes for a new art form that combines cinema, television and theater in a live experience. He’s also recently returned to a long delayed passion project, “Mega-lopolis,” a sprawling sci-fi , New York-set epic. Coppola has been working on the script and cast-ing, and searching for production partners. “Or maybe now it’s at the stage I can do it by myself, I don’t know,” he said.

In a recent interview, Coppola spoke about “Apocalypse Now” then and now, why he was “terri-fi ed” after making it and why he has so much trouble letting go.

AP: You’ve talked before about the theatrical version of “Apocalypse Now” missing some of the “weirdness” you wanted. What did you mean?

Coppola: In the 1979 version when it fi rst opened, the vari-ous people who had sponsored it and were distributing it felt that it was too long and too weird. So we went through a tough few evenings trying to make it shorter and trying to make it ap-pear more normal as opposed to “weird.” So we took some things out. Some of them were just 30 seconds long or a minute long but generally we were trying to make it shorter and less weird, which I guess is another word for “surreal.” After it was clear the movie had survived — mean-ing, you never know when you make a movie if its opening is going to be the last you heard of it or it’s going to have a life after that — I was looking at it on television and it didn’t seem so weird or surreal. It stuck out less as something unusual. For that reason, people kept saying to me, “Maybe you should have put back what you took out.”

Did you consciously want to put your stamp on the war movie?

The Vietnam War was differ-ent than other American wars. It was a West Coast sensibil-ity rather than an East Coast sensibility. In war movies before “Apocalypse,” there was always a sort of Brooklyn character, an East Coast and Midwest person-ality. In “Apocalypse Now,” it was LA and it was surfi ng and it was drugs and it was rock ’n’ roll so it was more of a West Coast ambiance to the war. In addition, there were many sort of odd con-tradictions that related to the mo-rality involved. There was a line I once read that’s not in the fi lm but to me it sums up the meaning of the movie. It was: “We teach the boys to drop fi re on people yet we won’t let them write the word ‘f---’ on their airplanes because it’s obscene.”

You’ve gone back and made changes to a number of your fi lms. For you, is a fi lm ever really fi nished?

The only reason I’m in a posi-tion to go back and evaluate some of these decisions is because I own the fi lm, which is the same reason George Lucas looks at some of his movies. Obviously most fi lmmakers don’t own their fi lms and would not be permitted to change a cut. But the ver-sion that you open with, you’re

very concerned that it will have some longevity. And so you may do things for the opening that you’d rather not do but you don’t want to risk a negative reception because a fi lm that opens with a negative reception is dead. If you can get it to be a positive reception or even a qualifi ed positive reception then it has a chance of surviving. If you look at all the fi lms I made, only “The Godfather” was just a runaway creative hit. Most of the other fi lms were highly qualifi ed and that meant that I was trying to nurse them into persisting and surviving. Later on, since I own them, I very often decided to undo things that were pushed on me by distributors or people at the time, and do what I wanted to do.

Eleanor Coppola, your wife, wrote in her “Notes” that you took on some of Kurtz’s mega-lomania while making “Apoca-lypse Now.”

Whenever I made a movie, I was always personally compared to the main character. When I was doing “The Godfather,” I was Michael Corleone, Ma-chiavellian and sly. When I made “Apocalypse Now,” I was the megalomaniac. When I made “Tucker,” I was the innovative entrepreneur. The truth of the matter is all my life if I have been anything I’ve been enthu-siastic and imaginative. I don’t have talent that I wish I had. My talent was more enthusiasm and imagination and a kind of pre-scient sense, a sense of knowing what’s going to happen before it happens. Other than that, my talent is limited.

A recent Film Comment essay lamented the fi lm’s portrayal of the Vietnam as “a spectacular but soulless backdrop.”

It would have been interesting and good if the movie had been made in Vietnam. But the truth of the matter is when we were making “Apocalypse Now,” the Vietnamese War was only wind-ing down. We did not have access to going there. We were making it in the Philippines and although we did have some Vietnamese people with us, it wasn’t the same as making it in Vietnam, which

would have made it possible to give an impression of the Viet-namese people, who I have only the highest regard for. When you make a war fi lm, it’s from one side, unless it’s “Tora! Tora! Tora!” and you’re deliberately deciding to depict both sides equally. This fi lm was specifi cal-ly about these young California Americans participating in this war, and that was the lens this fi lm was made through.

Did you emerge from “Apoca-lypse Now” a different fi lm-maker?

Yeah, but no more than I was after the extreme experience of the “Godfather” movie. Every fi lm I have made has been a new sheet of paper. I rarely would repeat a style. Every movie I worked on, I came out of it being a different person.

How did you feel after “Apocalypse Now”?

I was terrifi ed. For one thing, I was on the hook for the whole budget personally — that’s why I came to own it. In addition, in those days interest was over 25%, 27%. So it looked as though, especially given the controversy and all the bogus articles being written about a movie that no one

knew anything about but were predicting it was “the heralded mess” of that year, it looked as though I was never going to get out of the jeopardy I was in. I had kids, I was young. I had no family fortune behind me. I was scared stiff. It was no different after “Godfather.” “Godfather” was a project I was constantly about to be fi red from, that the studio hated what I was doing looked like. I didn’t think I was going to survive that. All of those movies, which were these monumental attempts at art, left me in a dif-ferent place when I fi nished than when I started. But then it was followed by another one that was a similar challenge. I’m 80 now but from age 25 to 60, my life was one crisis after another.

Do you think you thrive in that kind of tumultuous envi-ronment?

When you attempt something that you don’t exactly know how to do but you still long to attempt it, you’re setting the stage for a certain style and struggle in life. Clearly if after I made the gang-ster movie that was successful, if I had just spent my entire career making gangster pictures, that would have been a more tranquil

life. I wanted to learn. I realize now that one of my fundamental aspirations is learning. There’s nothing more pleasurable than learning something you don’t know how to do.

Is going back to your fi lms to get them just right for you part of preserving your legacy? Do you think about how you want you and your work to be remembered?

I’m not so crazy about my legacy. I want people to know that I liked little kids and I was a good camp counselor when I was a camp counselor in 1957, that I have a family with wonderful children that I fi nd so fascinating and very talented. But ulti-mately, to me, the greatest legacy you can have is that someone somewhere saw one of the things you did and it inspired them to do something that then inspired someone else in the future. In a way, it’s a form of immortality.

Today, most directors seek-ing the scale of “Apocalypse Now” would likely only fi nd it in a superhero fi lm. Do you sympathize with them?

Absolutely. I feel now we have this bifurcated cinema in our country being of independent fi lms where we have the most wonderful wealth of talent and then the industry fi lms which are pretty much superhero fi lms. One has too much money — the studio, Marvel comic-type mov-ies. They’re basically making the same movie over and over again, and seducing all of the tal-ent. Everyone is hoping to get a small part in one of those movies because that’s where the money is. And as opposed, the wonder-ful, unusual, exotic, interesting, provocative and beautiful inde-pendent fi lms have no money. The budget for the craft service of one of those superhero fi lms could more than be a budget for some of these brilliant young — and not only young — fi lm-makers. That is a tragedy.

The long life your fi lms have had can lead to strange places. Prosecutors want to show “The Godfather II” during Roger Stone’s trial. Donald Trump has cited it as one of his favorite fi lms.

The list of fans of the “Godfa-ther” fi lms not only includes the gentleman you speak of but also Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi . Just go through all of the tough-est dictators in the modern world and their favorite movie is “The Godfather.”

What do you make of that?Because “The Godfather” is an

American story of an immigrant family that ultimately fi nds suc-cess in America. Success is not a bad thing but it depends on how you defi ne it. If you defi ne suc-cess as wealth, infl uence, power and fame, you have to know that does not bring happiness. We could go through the famous top 1% who have all the things we just mentioned and you’ll fi nd some of the most unhappy people on Earth. What brings happiness is friendship, learning, creativity. We know what brings happiness. But what are you going to do when every nation in the world is pointing its main objective toward something that does not add up?


HEALTH & FITNESS

Tips on how to avoid buying fake dietary supplements BY NASEEM S. MILLER

Orlando Sentinel

You probably have bought some type of supplement — maybe vita-

mins, herbs or probiotics — online or at a store. Maybe the doctor recommended it or maybe you heard that it’s good for you.

But how can you tell what you’re buying, especially online, is the real thing? Not too long ago, Amazon alerted consumers who had pur-

chased Align nutritional supplements from a certain seller that the product was most likely counterfeit and that they needed to stop using it, as reported by Wired.

Align is a Procter & Gamble brand but a third-party merchant was selling counterfeit Align products on Amazon. Amazon pulled the product and is now

selling only the genuine supplements, according to Wired.There are a few things you can do to

avoid fakes, and buy high quality supple-ments. One of them is a verifi cation seal by

the 200-year-old US Pharmacopeia, or USP. Also, when shopping online check who’s sell-ing the product. On Amazon, for instance, the seller’s name is listed after the name of the product you’re looking to purchase.

Unlike medications, supplements aren’t subject to rigorous testing and federal regu-lations. But a few organizations, including USP, try to fi ll that gap by testing and verify-

ing products.John Atwater, senior director of verifi cation

program at USP, explained how the non-profi t works and what consumers

should do to avoid dupes.

So how do you define supplements?

Dietary supplements contain dietary ingre-dients and are ingested. A dietary ingredient is defi ned as a vitamin, min-eral, it could be a botanical,

it could almost be anything under

the sun. You might think of

them as

being more like a drug product rather than a food, but they are classifi ed as a special form of food.

How are supplements regulated?Dietary supplements fall under a set of

regulations that are different from the con-ventional food and drug products.

Dietary supplements are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, under the Dietary Supplement Health and Educa-tion Act of 1994, or DSHEA, which classifi es dietary supplements as a special category of food.

Under DSHEA, supplement manufacturers and distributors are responsible for substanti-ating the quality and the safety of the dietary ingredients they use. They are responsible for ensuring that product labeling meets all the requirements. However, dietary supple-ment manufacturers are not required to get FDA approval before producing or selling dietary supplements, nor are they required to demonstrate clinical effi cacy as required for drug products.

So how do you know that what you’re buying is the real thing?

The best way for consumers to protect themselves is to ensure that they’re purchas-ing a quality supplement that has a verifi ed mark like USP. And that’s really important given the size and diversity of the products and ingredients and the rapid pace with which new dietary supplements are introduced into the market.

It’s also advisable for consumers to pur-chase the supplements from reputable outlets, whether it’s a retail store or the Internet. Because if you’re dealing with a reputable retailer, they’re going to be taking the neces-sary precautions to ensure that the products that they’re selling on their shelves are of good quality.

And use your common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Remember, there’s no low barrier of entry into the marketplace for supplements, unlike drugs. There are products out there that claim to be dietary supplements but they aren’t.

What does it take for USP to give its seal of approval to a supplement?

We’re a nonprofi t scientifi c organization, and our standards are created based solely on science. Our primary mission is to establish standards of quality for drug products and dietary supplements and food ingredients.

We have scientifi c experts and the stan-dards that we use for dietary supplements go through the same rigorous process that quality standards for drugs that are created by USP go through. The only difference is that it’s mandatory for pharmaceutical drug compa-nies to follow USP standards. In the case of dietary supplements, it’s optional.

In our program, companies have to validate testing methods to establish all of their claims on the label, not only for determining rem-edy but also the stability of those ingredients throughout the shelf life of the product.

We test the products for full specifi cations, for potency of ingredients, contaminants and performance of the products. We also review the product quality control and manufactur-ing documentation, which makes our program unique.

If companies pass all the tests and correct citations, we award them the right to use the USP mark. And then we enter the surveillance phase and go through the same tests on an annual basis.

What percentage of supplements have a seal like USP?

Unfortunately, a very small percentage. But we’ve verifi ed hundreds of products and the verifi cation program is getting more recogni-tion in the marketplace, so we’ve got more demand for the program, so hopefully that number will eventually grow into thousands.

Check your supplements:� USP: usp.org/dietary-supplements-herbal-

medicines; quality-supplements.org� Dietary Supplement Label Database: dsld.

nlm.nih.gov/dsld� Labdoor: labdoor.com� Consumer Labs: consumerlab.com� Examine: examine.com� Dietary Supplement Quality Collabora-

tive: www.dsqcollaborative.org� LegitScript: legitscript.com � Fight the Fakes: fi ghtthefakes.org

Don’t get duped

iStock


WEEKEND: TELEVISION

BY LUAINE LEE

Tribune News Service

Fans have watched John Goodman manage the goofy tribulations of the Conner family for 30 years — fi rst on “Roseanne,” then on “The Conners.” And while he’s played everything

from the King of England to a drug dealer, viewers have never seen Goodman’s latest incarnation.

The 67-year-old actor portrays a millionaire evange-list who doesn’t see the difference between greed and grace in “The Righteous Gemstones,” premiering Sept. 1 on AFN-Spectrum.

The Gemstones are a family of televangelists who reign over a megachurch and attract money like locusts in a wheat fi eld. The show stars Goodman as the family patriarch, Danny McBride (who is also producer-writer-director) as Goodman’s elder son, Edi Patterson as his daughter, and Adam Devine as his younger son.

Goodman says he understands the fascination for such religious adoration. “When I was a child, I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church, and it was very emotion-ally involving,” he says.

“Anyway, I think that’s how they got me. It was a lot of splendor and screaming up at the pulpit. And the rhythms of the speech, and it’s something you wanted very badly to believe in. That’s basically what I remem-ber about it. That, and I would get swatted if I didn’t go.”

McBride, who produced and starred in “Eastbound & Down” and “Vice Principals,” shares a background as a Southern Protestant. “I grew up in a very religious household,” he says.

“I grew up going to the Baptist church. My mom did puppet ministry growing up. She ministered the children. I spent every Sunday, every Wednesday, every Saturday night at church. And a lot of my family is still very involved with the church. My aunt is a minister in Atlanta.”

While the Gemstone family gleefully divvies up the proceeds, it’s not about skewering the faithful, insists McBride. “The goal of it is not to be like a takedown of anything,” he says.

“I do feel when Hollywood decides to take on religion, I think they make the deathly mistake of lampooning people for their beliefs, which is not something I’m really interested in doing. I don’t know enough about what I believe in order to go and pass judgment on other people,” he says.

“It’s about lampooning a hypocrite, lampooning some-body who presents themselves one way and does not act that way underneath,” says McBride.

McBride, who says he gets much of his inspiration from chatter on the internet, thinks some of the most profi table megachurches stretch in their efforts to in-volve the multitudes.

“Some of these megachurches, they just try to appeal to as many people as they can,” he says, “going so far in some instances that they even take down images of the cross or things that might turn people off. So, I think the Gemstones are the epitome of that. I think they’re trying to basically water everything down to not offend anyone and just to get as many people bringing money into the church as they can,” he says.

“So when I say that we’re not taking aim at people’s faith, I’m being honest. I’m not just saying it to try to shy away from controversy. It wasn’t a goal of mine. I wanted to make something that my aunt, who’s a minis-ter, could watch and fi nd the humor in as well.

“And I don’t think she’ll appreciate the language or the drug use, but I think ultimately, I’m not taking a swipe at her or what she believes in. I’m setting a story in a world that she is familiar with. And ultimately it’s a story about a family, and about a family who has grown very, very successful and have lost their way along the way. And I think that that’s relatable.”

Greed and grace‘Righteous Gemstones’ lampoons megachurch clan

From left: Adam Devine,

Danny McBride, John Goodman

and Edi PattersonHBO

Saturday, August 24, 2019PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •

OPINIONMax D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

Lt. Col. Sean Klimek, Europe commanderLt. Col. Richard McClintic, Pacific commander Caroline E. Miller, Europe Business Operations

EDITORIALTerry Leonard, Editor

[email protected]

Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing [email protected]

Tina Croley, Managing Editor for [email protected]

Sean Moores, Managing Editor for [email protected]

Joe Gromelski, Managing Editor for [email protected]

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BY ROBERT J. FELDERMAN

Special to Stars and Stripes

The next several weeks could very well determine whether the United States and the Taliban come to an arrangement on a dip-

lomatic settlement. Thirteen months after the Trump administration initiated di-rect talks with the insurgency, U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has presented a plan to President Donald Trump that would in-clude a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in return for several Taliban concessions, the most important being a commitment to ensure terrorist groups don’t use Afghan soil to launch at-tacks against the U.S.

As groundbreaking as such a develop-ment would be, we should be crystal clear about two things. First, any deal hashed between the U.S. and the Taliban won’t on its own generate peace in a country that has been dominated by war for four straight decades. And two, despite the fact that Afghanistan will continue to be a vio-lent place, the benefits of a U.S. military withdrawal still outweigh the costs.

The decision in the summer of 2018 to launch a direct line of communica-tion with the Taliban was a risky but bold move from a president who has long made clear his distaste for the 18-year military engagement in Afghanistan. While previ-ous administrations have mulled direct discussions with Taliban leaders before, exploratory diplomacy was largely delayed or overtaken by an overabiding confidence that Washington could browbeat the in-surgency into offering more concessions. A more intensive pace of military opera-tions, however, is not necessarily effective against a group that has a rear-base of support in a neighboring country. As po-litically inexpedient as it may be, talking with the enemy was the crucial first step in exploring a way out of a military stalemate the American people have lost interest in paying for.

We won’t know for certain what the fine print of any U.S.-Taliban agreement will look like until the document is officially presented. But what can be stated with reasonable certainty is that any accord be-tween these two stakeholders will not end the war in Afghanistan. This is not a peace negotiation as much as it is a deescalation negotiation, an opportunity for Washington

to extricate itself militarily from a conflict that will enter its 19th year this October. For the majority of Americans, U.S. mili-tary disengagement has been long in the making. But for Afghans, it simply means that the war will take on a new form.

It is vital to be clear-eyed about the situ-ation in front of us. With or without a deal, Afghanistan will remain one of the most violent countries on the planet. The griev-ances over power, wealth, religion and ideology will persist long after American forces are gone. Members of the Taliban who are opposed to dialogue with the Af-ghan government or the United States or who are simply irreconcilable are highly likely to find a new home, whether it be under the umbrella of Islamic State or under a new organization entirely. Regret-tably, Afghans will also remain targets to the kind of ruthless, inhumane terrorist attacks that occurred on Afghanistan’s In-dependence Day, when 80 innocent people were killed in a suicide bombing at a wed-ding hall in Kabul. It is also highly likely that the Afghan security forces, already bloodied, overextended and struggling with retention, will lose more ground to the Taliban in the event of a U.S. departure; to believe the Taliban will stop shooting dur-ing negotiations with the Afghan govern-ment is so unsubstantiated as to be called ignorant.

And yet despite all of this bad news, packing up and going home is still the best option for the United States. The available alternative — maintaining an extraordi-narily expensive status quo with no con-ceivable end in sight — is no alternative .

The American people by and large are highly pragmatic. They know a bad invest-ment when they see one. And for a long period of time, an indefinite conflict in Afghanistan has been the quintessential bad investment, a war that has resulted in the deaths of over 3,500 U.S. and coalition troops at a cost of over $750 billion. Living in the Midwest, it’s hard not to come to the unmistakable conclusion that Americans find the entire adventure in Afghanistan as a foolish enterprise devoid of strategic thinking. Many wanted out yesterday. Oth-ers are rightly clamoring for other coun-tries, particularly those in the immediate region, to step up and become far more involved in ensuring Afghanistan’s politi-cal stability. If there are any nations on the planet who have an incentive to prevent

terrorist groups from running rampantacross Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, it isAfghanistan’s neighbors — all of whomview Sunni extremism as a danger to theirsecurity. To put it bluntly: Domestic politi-cal support for a large, enduring U.S. trooppresence and for additional deployments isscraping the bottom of the barrel.

There are also economic reasons for the U.S. to begin a drawdown. At roughly $45billion a year, the war in Afghanistan is contributing to the very problem former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen has termed “the most significant threat to our national security”: the na-tional debt.

At $22.5 trillion and counting — a figureroughly $3 billion larger than the entireU.S. GDP — the debt is a daily reminder ofAmerica’s looming fiscal crisis. Operatingin a global strategic environment where competitiveness and rivalry are now at the center of U.S. national security strategy, Washington can no longer afford the typesof endless expenditures that have definedthe last 20 years of American statecraft. Tocarry on in Afghanistan without a plan fora military exit is precisely the kind of de-cision U.S. policymakers should take pains to avoid.

None of this is to say that terrorismdoesn’t pose a threat to the American people. It most certainly does. ISIS andal-Qaida remain active in many parts of the world . We got a glimpse of it last week,when an ISIS bomber penetrated Afghan-istan’s capital and caused mayhem andgrief for so many.

The United States must remain vigilant. This requires the maintenance of an exten-sive global intelligence network, coopera-tion with allies, partners and adversaries on the mutual threat terrorism represents, and the utilization of an uncontested of-fensive strike capability should terror-ist groups in Afghanistan or anywhereelse pose a direct threat to the Americanpeople.

What it doesn’t require is staying trapped in Afghanistan’s domestic politics or com-mitting to a long-term military presence atan enormous cost.Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Robert J. Felderman is a former deputy director of plans, policy and strategy at North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command . He is a fellow at the American College of National Security Leaders.

Vigilance doesn’t require keeping GIs in Afghanistan

RAFIQ MAQBOOL/AP

Conservator Sherazuddin Saifi works on pieces of one of the statues damaged by the Taliban 18 years ago because they were judged to be against Islam, at the National Museum of Afghanistan, in Kabul, on Aug. 17 .


SCOREBOARD

Go to the American Forces Network website for the most up-to-date TV schedules.myafn.net

Sports on AFN

Pro football

NFL preseasonAMERICAN CONFERENCE

East W L T Pct PF PANew England 3 0 0 1.000 63 23Buffalo 2 0 0 1.000 51 30Miami 2 1 0 .667 70 50N.Y. Jets 1 1 0 .500 44 41

SouthTennessee 1 1 0 .500 44 32Houston 1 1 0 .500 56 51Jacksonville 0 3 0 .000 17 75Indianapolis 0 2 0 .000 34 45

NorthPittsburgh 2 0 0 1.000 47 35Baltimore 3 0 0 1.000 81 28Cleveland 2 0 0 1.000 51 28Cincinnati 1 2 0 .333 63 76

WestOakland 3 0 0 1.000 69 50Kansas City 1 1 0 .500 45 34Denver 1 2 0 .333 43 56L.A. Chargers 0 2 0 .000 30 36

NATIONAL CONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PAN.Y. Giants 3 0 0 1.000 88 58Dallas 1 1 0 .500 23 27Washington 1 2 0 .333 42 60Philadelphia 1 2 0 .333 49 63

SouthTampa Bay 1 1 0 .500 44 44New Orleans 1 1 0 .500 44 51Carolina 1 2 0 .333 40 50Atlanta 0 4 0 .000 54 89

NorthMinnesota 2 0 0 1.000 59 44Green Bay 1 2 0 .333 62 74Chicago 0 2 0 .000 26 55Detroit 0 2 0 .000 26 61

WestSan Francisco 2 0 0 1.000 41 24Seattle 1 1 0 .500 41 39Arizona 1 1 0 .500 43 46L.A. Rams 0 2 0 .000 13 28

Thursday’s gamesN.Y. Giants 25, Cincinnati 23Washington 19, Atlanta 7New England 10, Carolina 3Baltimore 26, Philadelphia 15Miami 22, Jacksonville 7Oakland 22, Green Bay 21

Friday’s gamesCleveland at Tampa BayBuffalo at Detroit

Saturday’s gameArizona at MinnesotaHouston at DallasChicago at IndianapolisNew Orleans at N.Y. JetsSan Francisco at Kansas CityDenver at L.A. RamsSeattle at L.A. Chargers

Sunday’s gamesPittsburgh at Tennessee

Thursday, Aug. 29Indianapolis at CincinnatiMinnesota at BuffaloAtlanta at JacksonvillePhiladelphia at N.Y. JetsPittsburgh at CarolinaBaltimore at WashingtonN.Y. Giants at New EnglandDetroit at ClevelandKansas City at Green BayMiami at New OrleansTampa Bay at DallasTennessee at ChicagoL.A. Rams at HoustoArizona at DenverOakland at SeattleL.A. Chargers at San Francisco

NFL calendarAug. 29 — Final preseason games.Aug. 31 — Cutdown to 53-player ros-

ter.

College football

ScheduleSaturday’s games

EASTVillanova at Colgate

SOUTHYoungstown St. vs. Samford at Mont-

gomery, Ala.Florida vs. Miami at Orlando, Fla.

FAR WESTArizona at Hawaii

Thursday, Aug. 29EAST

Robert Morris at BuffaloDelaware St. at DelawareBryant at Stony BrookWagner at UConn

SOUTHUnion (Ky.) at Morehead St.E. Illinois at ChattanoogaValparaiso at E. KentuckyPikeville at Murray St.Jacksonville at RichmondGardner-Webb at CharlotteFlorida A&M at UCFNorthwestern St. at UT MartinCent. Arkansas at W. KentuckyNC Central at Austin PeayGeorgia Tech at ClemsonW. Illinois at North AlabamaJacksonville St. at SE LouisianaFIU at TulaneAlabama St. at UAB

MIDWESTMorgan St. at Bowling GreenAlbany (NY) at Cent. MichiganUCLA at CincinnatiS. Illinois at SE MissouriS. Dakota St. at Minnesota

SOUTHWESTBethel (Tenn.) at LamarTexas St. at Texas A&M

FAR WESTMissouri St. at N. ArizonaKent St. at Arizona St.N. Colorado at San Jose St.Utah at BYU

Pro soccer

MLSEASTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GAAtlanta 14 9 3 45 45 30Philadelphia 13 8 6 45 48 40New York City FC 12 5 8 44 46 32New York 12 10 5 41 46 40D.C. United 10 9 9 39 35 35New England 9 9 8 35 38 45Montreal 10 13 4 34 39 50Orlando City 9 11 7 34 35 35Toronto FC 9 10 7 34 41 43Chicago 8 11 9 33 42 40Columbus 7 15 6 27 29 42Cincinnati 5 18 3 18 26 61

WESTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts GF GALos Angeles FC 19 3 4 61 71 25Minnesota 12 9 6 42 44 37LA Galaxy 13 11 2 41 35 38Real Salt Lake 12 10 4 40 38 34Seattle 11 8 7 40 40 39San Jose 11 10 5 38 42 42Portland 11 10 4 37 41 38FC Dallas 10 10 7 37 39 36Sporting KC 9 11 7 34 40 45Houston 9 13 4 31 37 43Colorado 7 13 6 27 43 52Vancouver 6 12 9 27 27 45

Note: Three points for victory, one point for tie.

Saturday, Aug. 17 New England 1, New York 1, tieNew York City FC 4, Cincinnati 1Toronto FC 2, Columbus 2, tieFC Dallas 3, Montreal 3, tieChicago 2, Philadelphia 0Orlando City 1, Minnesota 1, tieSporting Kansas City 2, San Jose 1Colorado 2, Houston 2, tieSeattle 2, LA Galaxy 2, tieLos Angeles FC 2, Real Salt Lake 0Vancouver 1, D.C. United 0

Sunday, Aug. 18 Atlanta 2, Portland 0Wednesday, August 21 New York City FC 1, Columbus 0New York 2, D.C. United 1Los Angeles FC 4, San Jose 0

Thursday’s gameSporting Kansas City 1, Minnesota 0

Friday’s gamesAtlanta at Orlando City, 8 p.m.Seattle at Portland, 10 p.m.

Saturday’s gamesNew York at New York City FCChicago at New EnglandD.C. United at PhiladelphiaMontreal at Toronto FCColorado at Real Salt LakeVancouver at San Jose

Sunday’s gamesColumbus at CincinnatiHouston at FC DallasLA Galaxy at Los Angeles FC

Wednesday, Aug.28 Vancouver at Montreal

Saturday, Aug. 31 Colorado at New YorkChicago at ColumbusD.C. United at MontrealToronto FC at New EnglandAtlanta at PhiladelphiaCincinnati at FC DallasHouston at Sporting Kansas CityNew York City FC at VancouverReal Salt Lake at PortlandOrlando City at San Jose

ThursdaySporting Kansas City 1,

Minnesota United 0Minnesota 0 0—0Sporting Kansas City 0 1—1

Second half—1, Sporting Kansas City, Hurtado, 2 (Russell), 88th minute.

Goalies—Minnesota, Vito Mannone, Dayne St. Clair; Sporting Kansas City, Tim Melia, Eric Dick.

Yellow Cards—Dotson, Minnesota, 74th; Zusi, Sporting Kansas City, 81st.

A—17,083.

NWSL W L T Pts GF GAPortland 9 3 6 33 36 22Chicago 9 7 2 29 29 23North Carolina 8 4 4 28 31 17Utah 8 6 4 28 19 15Reign FC 7 4 6 27 16 19Washington 6 7 4 22 20 18Houston 6 7 4 22 17 26Orlando 4 11 2 14 18 35Sky Blue FC 3 11 4 13 13 24

Note: Three points for victory, one point for tie.

Saturday, Aug. 17Utah 2, Orlando 0Portland 3, Washington 1

Sunday, Aug. 18Reign FC 1, Sky Blue FC 1, tieWednesday, Aug. 21Utah 0, Washington 0, tieOrlando 2, Chicago 1

Saturday’s gamesReign FC at North CarolinaOrlando at WashingtonSky Blue FC at Houston

Sunday’s gameChicago at Portland

Deals

Thursday’s transactionsBASEBALL

American LeagueBALTIMORE ORIOLES — Reinstated OF

Dwight Smith Jr. from the 10-day IL and optioned him to Norfolk (IL).

CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Optioned OF Ryan Cordell to Charlotte (IL). Reinstated 3B Yoan Moncada from the 10-day IL.

HOUSTON ASTROS — Designated RHP Brady Rodgers for assignment. PlacedRHP Ryan Pressly on the 10-day IL, ret-roactive to Wednesday. Optioned 2B Jack Mayfield to Round Rock (PCL). RecalledRHP Joe Biagini from Round Rock. Select-ed the contract of 3B Abraham Toro from Round Rock.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Placed RHPJake Newberry on the 10-day IL. RecalledRHP Kyle Zimmer from Omaha (PCL).Sent RHP Jesse Hahn to the AZL Royalsfor a rehab assignment.

MINNESOTA TWINS — Sent C Willians Astudillo to Rochester (IL) for a rehab assignment.

TAMPA BAY RAYS — Optioned LHP Hoby Milner to Durham (IL). Selectedthe contract of RHP Aaron Slegers fromDurham.

TEXAS RANGERS — Optioned RHP Ian Gibaut to Nashville (PCL).

TORONTO BLUE JAYS — Recalled RHPJordan Romano from Buffalo (IL). RHP Ken Giles placed on maternity list.

National LeagueATLANTA BRAVES — Sent OF Austin

Riley and SS Dansby Swanson to Rome(SAL) for rehab assignments.

CINCINNATI REDS — Reinstated fron 10-day IL and optioned RHP Tyler Mahle to Louisville (IL). Placed OF Jesse Winkeron 10-day IL retroactive to Monday.

COLORADO ROCKIES — Placed LHPKyle Freeland on the 10-day IL, retroac-tive to Wednesday. Recalled RHP WesParsons from Albuquerque (PCL).

MIAMI MARLINS — Sent C Chad Wal-lach to New Orleans (PCL) for a rehab assignment.

NEW YORK METS — Designated INF Ruben Tejada for assignment. RecalledRHP Chris Flexen from Syracuse (IL).

PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Requestedunconditional release waivers on C Fran-cisco Cervelli.

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — OptionedRHP Junior Fernandez to Memphis (PCL). Recalled RHP Dominic Leone from Mem-phis. Sent OF Tyler O’Neill to Memphisfor a rehab assignment.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS — OptionedRHP Kyle McGowin and INF Adrian San-chez to Harrisburg (EL). Reinstated 2BBrian Dozier from paternity leave and RHP Max Scherzer from the 10-day IL.Signed LHP Sam Freeman to a minor league contract.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Agreed toterms with WR Michael Crabtree on a one-year contract. Agreed to trade S Rudy Ford to Philadelphia for DL BruceHector, pending physicals.

DETROIT LIONS — Signed DT Damon Harrison Sr. to a one-year contract ex-tension.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Waived RB James Williams. Signed DT Johnny Rob-inson.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS — Signed WR Dontrelle Inman.

SOCCERMLS

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS — AquiredSeattle Sounders second round pick in the 2021 MLS Superdraft in exchange for a 2019 international roster slot.

COLLEGE CLARKE — Named Breann Tjaarda

women’s lacrosse coach.HOFSTRA — Named Marcus Smith as-

sistant men and women’s tennis coach.NEW MEXICO — Named Ariel Sanchez

director of volleyball operations.SOUTHWESTERN CHRISTIAN — Named

Philip Younts sports information direc-tor.

TENNESSEE — Sophomore QB KasimHill has transferred from Maryland.

Pro basketball

WNBAEASTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GBx-Washington 20 7 .741 —x-Connecticut 19 8 .704 1Chicago 16 11 .593 4New York 9 18 .333 11Indiana 9 19 .321 11½Atlanta 5 22 .185 15

WESTERN CONFERENCE W L Pct GBx-Las Vegas 19 9 .679 —Los Angeles 17 10 .630 1½Seattle 15 13 .536 4Minnesota 14 15 .483 5½Phoenix 13 14 .481 5½Dallas 9 19 .321 10

x-clinched playoff spotThursday’s games

Minnesota 86, Dallas 70Los Angeles 98, Indiana 65

Friday’s gamesLas Vegas at ConnecticutAtlanta at New YorkWashington at Chicago

Saturday’s gamesNo games scheduled

Sunday’s gamesNew York at WashingtonAtlanta at DallasConnecticut at Los AngelesChicago at PhoenixIndiana at SeattleLas Vegas at Minnesota

Tennis

Bronx OpenThursday

At Cary Leeds CenterNew York

Purse: $226, 750 (Intl.)Surface: Hard-Outdoor

SinglesQuarterfinals

Katerina Siniakova (5), Czech Repub-lic, def. Bernarda Pera, United States, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Magda Linette, Poland, def. Karolina Muchova (10), Czech Republic, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Camila Giorgi, Italy, def. Alize Cornet, France, 6-2, 6-1.

Wang Qiang (1), China def. Anna Blink-ova, Russia, 6-1, 6-4.

DoublesSemifinals

Margarita Gasparyan, Russia, and Monica Niculescu, Romania, def. Shuko Aoyama, Japan, and Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, 6-4, 4-6, 11-9.

Winston Salem Open Wednesday

At Wake Forest UniversityWinston-Salem, N.C.

Purse: $717,955Surface: Hardcourt outdoor

SinglesRound of 16

Steve Johnson, United States def. Casper Rudd (12), Norway, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Denis Shapovalov (2), Canada def. Miomir Kecmanovic (13), Serbia, 6-2, 6-3.

Andrey Rulev, Russia, def. Sam Quer-rey (6), United States, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (10).

Benoit Paire (1), France def. Ugo Hum-bert (15), France, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3.

Hubert Hurkacz (3), Poland def. Feli-ciano Lopez Diaz-Guerra (16), Spain, 6-3, 6-1.

Frances Tiafoe (10), United States def. Filip Krajinovic (8), Serbia, 6-2. retired.

John Millman (14), Austria, def. Robin Haase, Netherlands, 6-3, 6-4.

Pablo Carreno Busta (11), Spain def. Lorenzo Sonego (7), Italy, 7-6 (7), 6-0.

DoublesQuarterfinal

Nicholas Monroe, United States & Ten-nys Sandgren def. Rajeev Ram, United States & Joe Salisbury (2), Britain, 6-3, 6-3.

Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, Bel-gium def. Luke Bambridge, Britain, & Ben McLachlan, Japan, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 10-7.

Lukasz Kubot, Poland, and Marcelo Melo (1), Brazil def. Daniel Evans, Britain & Jonny O’Mara, Britain, 6-2, 6-2.

Jamie Murray, Britain & Neal Skupski, Britain def. Oliver Marach, Austria & Jur-gen Melzer, Austria, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 10-7.

Youth baseball

Little League World SeriesAt South Williamsport, Pa.

UNITED STATESNEW ENGLAND: Barrington (R.I.); MID-

ATLANTIC: Elizabeth (N.J.); SOUTHEAST: South Riding (Va.); GREAT LAKES: Bowl-ing Green (Ky.); MIDWEST: Coon Rapids (Minn.); SOUTHWEST: River Ridge (La.); NORTHWEST: Salem (Ore.); WEST: Wai-luku (Hawaii).

INTERNATIONALASIA/PACIFIC: South Chungcheong

(South Korea); AUSTRALIA: Sydney; CANADA: Coquitlam (British Columbia); CARIBBEAN: Willemstad (Curacao); EU-ROPE/AFRICA: Bologna (Italy); JAPAN: Chofu City; LATIN AMERICA: Maracaibo (Venezuela); MEXICO, Guadalupe

Double EliminationThursday, Aug. 15

Willemstad (Curacao) 11, Sydney (Australia) 0, 4 innings

Friday, Aug. 16South Riding (Va.) 3, Barrington (R.I.)

0South Chungcheong (South Korea) 10,

Maracaibo (Venezuela) 3Coon Rapids (Minn.) 2, Bowling Green

(Ky.) 1Chofu City (Japan) 20, Bologna (Italy)

0, 5 inningsWailuku (Hawaii) 5, River Ridge (La.) 2Guadalupe (Mexico) 5, Coquitlam

(British Columbia) 0Elizabeth (N.J.), 6, Salem (Ore.) 2

Saturday, Aug. 17Maracaibo (Venezuela) 2, Sydney

(Australia) 0, Sydney eliminatedBarrington (R.I.) 6, Bowling Green (Ky.)

1, Bowling Green eliminatedCoquitlam (British Columbia) 10, Bo-

logna (Italy) 0, 4 innings, Bologna elimi-nated

River Ridge (La.) 3, Salem (Ore.) 2, Sa-lem eliminated

Sunday, Aug. 18South Chungcheong (South Korea) 4,

Willemstad (Curacao) 0South Riding (Va.) 11, Coon Rapids

(Minn.) 0Chofu City (Japan) 5, Guadalupe (Mex-

ico) 0Monday, Aug. 19

Bowling Green (Ky.) 4, Sydney (Austra-lia) 1

Wailuku (Hawaii) 6, Elizabeth (N.J.) 0Maracaibo (Venezuela) 8, Guadalupe

(Mexico) 7, Guadalupe eliminatedWillemstad (Curacao) 8, Coquitlam

(British Columbia) 1, Coquitlam elimi-nated

River Ridge (La.) 10, Coon Rapids (Minn.) 0, 4 innings, Coon Rapids elimi-nated

Tuesday, Aug. 20Salem (Ore.) 4, Bologna (Italy) 3Willemstad (Curacao) 9, Maracaibo

(Venezuela) 2, Maraccaibo eliminatedElizabeth (N.J.) 2, Barrington (R.I.) 0,

Barrington eliminatedWednesday, Aug. 21

River Ridge (La.) 4, Elizabeth (N.J.) 1, Elizabeth eliminated

Chofu City (Japan) 7, South Chun-gcheong (South Korea) 2

Game 24: Wailuku (Hawaii) 12, South Riding (Va.) 9

Thursday, Aug. 22Willemstad (Curacao) 5, South Chun-

gcheong (South Korea) 3, South Chun-gcheong eliminated

River Ridge (La.) 10, South Riding (Va.) 0, South Riding eliminated

Saturday, Aug. 24Game 27: Chofu City (Japan) vs. Wil-

lemstad (Curacao), (International final)Game 28: Wailuku (Hawaii) vs. River

Ridge (La.) (U.S. final)Sunday, Aug. 25

Third PlaceGame 29: Game 27 loser vs. Game 28

loserChampionship

Game 30: Game 27 winner vs. Game 28 winner

Golf

Tour ChampionshipPGA Tour FedEx Cup playoffs

ThursdayEast Lake Golf Club

AtlantaYardage: 7,346; Par: 70 (35-35)

FedExCup starting strokes in paren-thesesXander Schauffele (-4) 32-32—64 -10Brooks Koepka (-7) 34-33—67 -10Justin Thomas (-10) 34-36—70 -10Rory McIlroy (-5) 34-32—66 -9Matt Kuchar (-4) 34-32—66 -8Patrick Cantlay (-8) 34-36—70 -8Hideki Matsuyama (-3) 32-34—66 -7Paul Casey (-2) 32-34—66 -6Jon Rahm (-4) 32-36—68 -6Patrick Reed (-6) 35-35—70 -6Adam Scott (-3) 35-33—68 -5Gary Woodland (-3) 35-33—68 -5Sungjae Im (-1) 35-32—67 -4Justin Rose (-2) 34-34—68 -4Corey Conners (-1) 33-35—68 -3Tony Finau (-3) 34-36—70 -3Charles Howell III (E) 35-33—68 -2Bryson DeChambeau (E) 34-34—68 -2Tommy Fleetwood (-1) 34-35—69 -2Abraham Ancer (-4) 37-35—72 -2Rickie Fowler (-2) 36-35—71 -1Kevin Kisner (-2) 37-34—71 -1Louis Oosthuizen (E) 35-35—70 EChez Reavie (-1) 35-36—71 EMarc Leishman (-1) 36-35—71 EDustin Johnson (-3) 39-34—73 EWebb Simpson (-4) 37-37—74 EJason Kokrak (E) 34-37—71 +1Brandt Snedeker (-2) 36-37—73 +1Lucas Glover (E) 33-40—73 +3

CP Women’s OpenLPGA TourThursday

At Magna Golf ClubAurora, OntarioPurse $2,250,000

Yardage: 6,709; Par: 72 (36-36)First Round

Annie Park 32-33—65 -7Pajaree Anannarukarn 33-33—66 -6Nicole Broch Larsen 31-35—66 -6Jin Young Ko 33-33—66 -6Anne-Catherine Tanguay 31-35—66 -6Brooke M. Henderson 33-33—66 -6Tiffany Chan 33-34—67 -5Marissa Steen 32-35—67 -5Megan Khang 32-35—67 -5Louise Ridderstrom 34-33—67 -5Yu Liu 36-32—68 -4Amy Olson 36-32—68 -4Su Oh 32-36—68 -4Amy Yang 36-32—68 -4Georgia Hall 36-32—68 -4Gerina Piller 36-33—69 -3Wei-Ling Hsu 33-36—69 -3Nasa Hataoka 34-35—69 -3Nelly Korda 37-32—69 -3Angel Yin 36-33—69 -3Sung Hyun Park 34-35—69 -3Marina Alex 36-33—69 -3Isi Gabsa 33-36—69 -3Haeji Kang 32-37—69 -3Daniela Darquea 34-35—69 -3Bronte Law 35-34—69 -3Jessica Korda 33-36—69 -3Minjee Lee 37-32—69 -3Sarah Kemp 36-33—69 -3Aditi Ashok 37-33—70 -2

AP sportlightAug. 24

1904 — Holcombe Ward wins the men’s singles title in the U.S. Lawn Ten-nis Association singles title.

1908 — Tommy Burns knocks out Bill Squires in the 13th round at Sydney, Aus-tralia to retain the world heavyweight title.

1963 — The Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., is covered by ABC’s Wide World of Sports for the first time.

1963 — Don Schollander becomes the first swimmer to break the two-minute barrier in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:58.4 in a meet at Osaka, Japan.

1963 — John Pennel breaks the 17-foot barrier in the pole vault with a 17-0 vault in a meet at Miami.

1996 — Hsieh Chin-hsiung sets a Little League World Series record with his sev-enth home run as Taiwan wins the title for the 17th time with a 13-3 victory over Cranston, R.I.


Schauffele moves to top of Tour Championship leaderboard after 64

Thomas stumbles, shares lead

Caps star Kuznetsov hit with 4-year ban from Russian squad

Briefl y

Associated Press

GENEVA — Washington Capi-tals center Evgeny Kuznetsov tested positive for cocaine at the world championship and has been banned from the Russian national team for four years.

Kuznetsov failed a doping test after a sample was taken May 26 — the day Russia won the bronze

medal game against the Czech Re-public in Slovakia, the Inter-national Ice Hockey Fed-eration said Friday.

The pre-vious day, Russia had lost in the semifinals to

eventual champion Finland.The ban does not stop Kuznetsov

playing in the NHL, which clas-sifies cocaine as a drug of abuse rather than a performance-en-hancing doping product.

The NHL said Kuznetsov agreed to meet with commission-er Gary Bettman before training camp, and will undergo regular testing.

“Here, we understand that Mr. Kuznetsov has voluntarily sought help through the education and counseling program provided for in the NHL and (players’ union) collective bargaining agreement,” NHL Deputy Com-missioner Bill Daly said in a statement.

Kuznetsov faced allegations of drug use at the world champion-ships after a video posted on so-cial media showed him talking to someone while lines of white powder and American dollar bills could be seen on the table. How-ever, it was unclear when the clip was filmed.

Kuznetsov, who did not touch the powder in the soon-deleted video, said it was from 2018 in Las Vegas after the Capitals won the Stanley Cup with the Russian player a standout performer. He said it was a friend’s hotel room and he soon left after seeing drugs there.

“I never took drugs, give me a drug test and I’ll pass it,” he told Russian media outlet Sport Ex-press in May.

The NHL closed its review of the incident within days, saying it found no reason to question the player’s explanation.

His ban expires on June 12, 2023, the Zurich-based IIHF said. The two-time world champi-on could pursue an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The 27-year-old Kuznetsov is currently excluded from the 2022 Beijing Olympics and the next three world championships.

Dolphins’ Flores says he supports player protests

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores says he supports the NFL player protest movement and re-ceiver Kenny Stills’ involvement, but wants him to play better.

“Everything these guys protest, I’ve lived it, I’ve experienced it,” said an impassioned Flores, who is the son of immigrants from Honduras. “They’re bringing at-tention to my story. I’m a son of immigrants. I’m black. I grew up poor. I’ve been stopped because I fit the description.”

Flores’ comments came late Thursday following Miami’s ex-hibition win over Jacksonville. The subject arose because Stills objected Monday to recent re-marks from Jay-Z about social activism by current and former NFL players, and the next day the Dolphins played more than half a dozen songs by the rapper at the start of practice.

Flores, who chooses the songs for practice, said he was trying to motivate Stills.

“I walked up to Kenny in front of the entire group and said, ‘This is a challenge to you to get over it and catch the football. Make plays for this team, regardless of what’s going on outside of this building,’” Flores said.

“It was a challenge to Kenny to perform regardless of what’s going on outside. He hasn’t per-formed to that level over the course of this training camp.”

Stills’ reaction to the medley?“It was just music,” Stills said.

The veteran receiver is outspo-ken on social issues, and has been kneeling during the national an-them for the past four seasons to protest racial inequality and po-lice brutality.

“I’ve been dealing with this since 2016 — music, boos, racial slurs — so I don’t think a little bit of Jay-Z is going to ruffle my feathers that bad,” Stills said.

In other NFL news:� It’s settled: Tom Seaver is

“Tom Terrific,” not Tom Brady.The U.S. Patent and Trademark

Office rejected Brady’s applica-tion to take control of the nick-name on Thursday, ruling that it “points uniquely and unmistak-ably to Tom Seaver.”

It adds that giving Brady a trademark for “Tom Terrific” might lead people to conclude the Hall of Fame pitcher endorses any products, rather than the New England Patriots quarterback.

Brady has said he doesn’t even like the nickname and was just trying to keep others from using it without permission. But Seaver fans accused Brady of trying to appropriate their hero’s identity.

Brady will have to make do with the nicknames TB12 and, of course, G.O.A.T. — or “Greatest of All Time.”

BY DOUG FERGUSON

Associated Press

ATLANTA — Xander Schauffele was six shots behind before he ever hit a shot Thurs-day in the new scoring format for the Tour Championship. His goal was to keep his head down, play good golf and see where he stood to par at the end of two days.

The TV cameras following his every move on the back nine at East Lake were the first hint it was going well.

A leaderboard on the 18th green confirmed it.

“I saw I was in first,” he said. “Happy with the day.”

Schauffele didn’t come serious-ly close to a bogey in a 6-under 64 that was the best score of the opening round by two shots. It was only worth a share of the lead with Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka in a Tour Championship where players started with better scores to par than others depend-ing on their place in the FedEx Cup.

Thomas, who started at 10-under par and a two-shot lead as the No. 1 seed, still led despite having trouble finding the fair-way. That was the least of his problems on the back nine. He hit pitching wedge into the water for double bogey and missed a pair of 3-foot putts for a 70.

Instead of being six shots be-hind Schauffele, who started at 4 under as the No. 8 seed, Thomas was tied for the lead. Koepka, the No. 3 seed who started three shots behind, birdied three of his last four holes for a 67 to join them at 10 under.

“It’s weird on Thursday to be three back after a couple of

holes,” Koepka said of the start. “It’s nice to close that gap on Day 1.”

Rory McIlroy, five shots be-hind at the start as the No. 5 seed, had a 66 and was one shot behind at 9 under going into the second round.

Over the next three days, it should look and feel like a normal tournament.

The score to par is all that mat-ters in deciding who wins the FedEx Cup and the $15 million prize. And after one day, it was setting up to be a shootout. The top five players were separated by five shots at the start, and that number was at 12 players by the end of the day.

Thomas made the turn at 1under, and as the walking scorerbrought the sign across the road and onto the 10th tee, one fanswas shocked to see him at 11under until he said, “That’s right— he started at 10 under.”

Schauffele was at 10 underwhen he approached the 18thgreen to face a 6-foot birdie putt.

“I had a putt for 59 on thelast hole,” he said with a smile.“That’s what (Matt) Kuchar toldme. I looked at him the same way. Got it.”

Patrick Cantlay, the No. 2 seedwho began two shots behind, shared the lead briefly until two bogeys over the last five holes fora 70. It wasn’t a good day, yet hestill was only two shots behind.

Thomas missed a 3-foot par putt on No. 12. On the par-3 15th,which played 60 yards shorterthan usual, his wedge was rightall the way and found the water.And on the 17th, he hit wedge to3 feet only to see his birdie putt spin 270 degrees around and outof the cup.

He salvaged the day with agood drive — only his sixth fair-way of the round — that set up a two-putt birdie.

“It’s fine,” Thomas said. “I’m tied for the lead.”

Schauffele won the TourChampionship two years ago ina situation that led to this changein format. FedEx Cup points ac-crued during the regular seasonand quadrupled in the postsea-son were reset to give everyone a chance. The top five players only had to win the tournament to cap-ture the FedEx Cup, and odds ofwinning the bonus were higheras the position in the standingsgot lower.

CURTIS COMPTON/AP

Xander Schauffele watches his fairway shot to the first green at East Lake Golf Club on Thursday in Atlanta. Schauffele’s 6-under 64 that was the best score of the opening round by two shots.

JOHN AMIS/AP

Justin Thomas hits during the first round of the Tour Championship Thursday in Atlanta. Thomas started at 10-under par and a two-shot lead as the No. 1 seed, and despite some trouble finding the fairway, was still atop the leaderboard with Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka after the first day of play.

SPORTS BRIEFS/GOLF

Kuznetsov


MLB SCOREBOARDAmerican League

East Division W L Pct GBNew York 83 46 .643 —Tampa Bay 75 54 .581 8Boston 68 61 .527 15Toronto 52 78 .400 31ABaltimore 41 87 .320 41A

Central DivisionMinnesota 77 50 .606 —Cleveland 74 54 .578 3AChicago 58 69 .457 19Kansas City 45 83 .352 32ADetroit 38 87 .304 38

West DivisionHouston 82 47 .636 —Oakland 74 53 .583 7Texas 63 66 .488 19Los Angeles 63 67 .485 19ASeattle 54 74 .422 27A

National LeagueEast Division

W L Pct GBAtlanta 77 52 .597 —Washington 70 57 .551 6New York 67 60 .528 9Philadelphia 66 60 .524 9AMiami 45 81 .357 30A

Central DivisionChicago 69 58 .543 —St. Louis 68 58 .540 AMilwaukee 65 62 .512 4Cincinnati 60 66 .476 8APittsburgh 52 75 .409 17

West DivisionLos Angeles 85 44 .659 —Arizona 64 64 .500 20ASan Francisco 63 65 .492 21ASan Diego 59 67 .468 24AColorado 58 70 .453 26A

Wednesday’s gamesTampa Bay 7, Seattle 6Chicago White Sox 4, Minnesota 0Baltimore 8, Kansas City 1Detroit 2, Houston 1Texas 8, L.A. Angels 7Oakland 6, N.Y. Yankees 4Cincinnati 4, San Diego 2Colorado 7, Arizona 2Washington 11, Pittsburgh 1Atlanta 5, Miami 0N.Y. Mets 4, Cleveland 3, 10 inningsMilwaukee 5, St. Louis 3, 8 inningsPhiladelphia 5, Boston 2Chicago Cubs 12, San Francisco 11L.A. Dodgers 2, Toronto 1, 10 innings

Thursday’s gamesBoston 5, Kansas City 4, 10 inningsTampa Bay 5, Baltimore 2Chicago White Sox 6, Texas 1Houston 6, Detroit 3Oakland 5, N.Y. Yankees 3Chicago Cubs 1, San Francisco 0N.Y. Mets 2, Cleveland 0, 8 inningsAtlanta 3, Miami 2Washington 7, Pittsburgh 1St. Louis 6, Colorado 5L.A. Dodgers 3, Toronto 2

Friday’s gamesTampa Bay at BaltimoreKansas City at ClevelandDetroit at MinnesotaL.A. Angels at HoustonTexas at Chicago White SoxToronto at SeattleWashington at Chicago CubsCincinnati at PittsburghAtlanta at N.Y. MetsPhiladelphia at MiamiArizona at MilwaukeeColorado at St. LouisBoston at San DiegoN.Y. Yankees at L.A. Dodgers

Saturday’s gamesTampa Bay (TBD) at Baltimore (Means

8-9)Detroit (Jackson 3-6) at Minnesota

(Gibson 11-6)Kansas City (Sparkman 3-8) at Cleve-

land (Clevinger 8-2)L.A. Angels (Peters 3-1) at Houston

(Miley 12-4)Texas (Allard 1-0) at Chicago White

Sox (Nova 9-9)Toronto (TBD) at Seattle (Hernandez

1-4)Washington (TBD) at Chicago Cubs

(Quintana 11-7)N.Y. Yankees (Sabathia 5-7) at L.A.

Dodgers (Gonsolin 1-1)Philadelphia (Eflin 7-11) at Miami

(Yamamoto 4-4)Cincinnati (Wood 1-2) at Pittsburgh

(Williams 5-6)Arizona (Gallen 2-3) at Milwaukee

(Anderson 5-3)Atlanta (Fried 14-4) at N.Y. Mets

(Wheeler 9-7)Colorado (Gonzalez 0-4) at St. Louis

(Hudson 12-6)Boston (Eovaldi 1-0) at San Diego

(Lamet 2-2)San Francisco (Bumgarner 8-8) at

Oakland (Bassitt 9-5)

CalendarAug. 31 — Last day to be contracted to

an organization and be eligible for post-season roster.

Sept. 1 — Active rosters expand to 40 players.

Oct. 1-2 — Wild-card games.Oct. 3 — Division Series start.Oct. 11 — League Championship Se-

ries start.Oct. 22 — World Series starts.October TBA — Trading resumes, day

after World Series.November TBA — Deadline for teams

to make qualifying offers to their eligible former players who became free agents, fifth day after World Series.

November TBA — Deadline for free agents to accept qualifying offers, 15th day after World Series.

Nov. 11-14 — General managers’ meet-ings, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Nov. 19-21 — Owners meetings, Ar-lington, Texas.

Dec. 2 — Last day for teams to offer 2020 contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters.

ThursdayRed Sox 5, Royals 4

ab r h bi ab r h biMerrifield lf 5 0 2 1 Betts rf 4 1 2 0Arteaga ss 5 0 1 0 Devers 3b 4 1 0 0Dozier rf 5 1 2 0 Bogaerts ss 5 1 3 2Soler dh 4 1 1 0 Martinez dh 5 1 2 2Cuthbert 3b 3 1 1 0 Benintendi lf 5 0 1 0Lopez 2b 5 0 2 1 Vazquez c 5 0 1 0Viloria c 4 0 2 2 Owings pr 0 1 0 0Dini ph-c 1 0 0 0 Moreland 1b 4 0 1 0O’Hearn 1b 5 0 0 0 Travis ph 0 0 0 0Hamilton cf 4 1 2 0 Holt 2b 3 0 2 1Starling ph-cf 1 0 0 0 Bradley Jr. cf 4 0 0 0Totals 42 4 13 4 Totals 39 5 12 5Kansas City 002 001 100—4Boston 000 220 000—5

DP—Kansas City 1, Boston 1. LOB—Kansas City 11, Boston 11. 2B—Hamilton (12), Lopez (15), Bogaerts (43), Vazquez (22). HR—Martinez (28). SB—Hamilton (18), Dozier (2). IP H R ER BB SOKansas CitySparkman 4B 7 4 4 3 5Hill 1B 1 0 0 0 1McCarthy 1B 1 0 0 0 3Barlow 1 0 0 0 1 1Newberry 1 1 0 0 0 1Lovelady L,0-3 B 2 1 1 1 1BostonRodriguez 5 7 2 2 3 1Hernandez H,2 1 2 1 1 0 2Eovaldi BS,0-1 2 3 1 1 0 5Workman 1 1 0 0 0 1Taylor W,1-1 1 0 0 0 0 1

WP—Eovaldi. T—3:48. A—32,453 (37,731).

Nationals 7, Pirates 1 ab r h bi ab r h biTurner ss 5 1 2 0 Frazier 2b 4 1 1 1Eaton rf 4 1 1 0 Reynolds lf 4 0 1 0Rendon 3b 5 1 2 1 Marte cf 4 0 1 0Soto lf 3 1 0 0 Bell 1b 3 0 0 0Kendrick 1b 5 1 3 3 Moran 3b 4 0 1 0Suzuki c 5 0 1 0 M.Cabrera rf 4 0 1 0Dozier 2b 3 0 0 0 Newman ss 4 0 2 0Strickland p 0 0 0 0 Diaz c 4 0 0 0Parra ph 1 1 1 0 Brault p 2 0 0 0Rodney p 0 0 0 0 Rodriguez p 0 0 0 0Adams ph 1 0 0 0 Osuna ph 1 0 0 0Guerra p 0 0 0 0 Stratton p 0 0 0 0Robles cf 5 1 2 1 Scherzer p 2 0 1 0 Suero p 0 0 0 0 A.Cabrera 2b 2 0 1 1 Totals 41 7 14 6 Totals 34 1 7 1Washington 200 000 041—7Pittsburgh 001 000 000—1

E—Bell (11). LOB—Washington 10, Pittsburgh 7. 2B—Turner 2 (26), Rendon (35), Kendrick (19), Parra (9), Moran (22). HR—Kendrick (14), Rendon (28), Frazier (7). SB—Marte 2 (24), Newman (11), Ro-bles (20). IP H R ER BB SOWashingtonScherzer 4 4 1 1 1 3Suero 1 1 0 0 0 2Strickland W,2-0 2 1 0 0 0 0Rodney 1 0 0 0 0 2Guerra 1 1 0 0 0 0PittsburghBrault L,3-3 6 7 2 2 1 4Rodriguez 1 0 0 0 0 2Stratton 2 7 5 5 2 3

T—3:19. A—10,587 (38,362).

Rays 5, Orioles 2 ab r h bi ab r h biSogard 2b 5 0 1 0 Alberto 3b 5 1 0 0Meadows rf 4 2 2 1 Mancini 1b 4 1 1 1Pham lf 4 0 1 0 Santander lf 3 0 1 0Choi 1b 3 0 0 0 Nunez dh 3 0 2 0d’Arnaud c 5 0 0 0 Martin pr-dh 0 0 0 0Kiermaier cf 3 0 0 0 Villar ss 4 0 0 0Aguilar dh 3 1 0 0 Severino c 3 0 0 0Duffy 3b 4 1 1 0 Ruiz ph 1 0 0 0Adames ss 4 1 3 3 Sisco c 0 0 0 0 Stewart rf 4 0 1 0 Wilkerson cf 3 0 0 0 Peterson 2b 3 0 0 0Totals 35 5 8 4 Totals 33 2 5 1Tampa Bay 001 012 001—5Baltimore 200 000 000—2

E—Adames 2 (17). LOB—Tampa Bay 9, Baltimore 8. 2B—Duffy (5), Meadows (21), Mancini (29), Stewart (2). HR—Meadows (22), Adames (16). IP H R ER BB SOTampa BayYarbrough 4B 3 2 1 0 5Drake W,2-1 1C 1 0 0 1 2Poche H,12 B 0 0 0 0 0Roe H,19 C 0 0 0 0 1Alvarado H,8 B 1 0 0 1 0Anderson H,3 C 0 0 0 0 0Pagan S,14-21 1 0 0 0 0 0BaltimoreWojciechowski 5 4 2 2 3 2Castro L,1-2 1 2 2 2 2 1Fry 2 1 0 0 0 2Ynoa 1 1 1 1 0 1

HBP—Wojciechowski (Choi), Poche 2 (Wilkerson,Peterson). WP—Ynoa. T—3:29. A—8,153 (45,971).

White Sox 6, Rangers 1 ab r h bi ab r h biDeShields cf 3 0 0 0 Garcia lf 2 1 1 0Calhoun lf 4 0 0 0 Anderson ss 4 1 1 1Andrus ss 4 1 1 1 Abreu 1b 3 0 1 1Pence rf 3 0 0 0 Moncada 3b 4 1 2 2Odor 2b 3 0 0 0 McCann c 4 2 2 1Solak dh 3 0 1 0 Jay rf 3 0 1 0Forsythe 3b 3 0 0 0 Skole dh 3 0 0 1Heineman 1b 3 0 1 0 Sanchez 2b 3 0 1 0Trevino c 2 0 0 0 Engel cf 3 1 1 0Choo ph 1 0 0 0Totals 29 1 3 1 Totals 29 6 10 6Texas 000 100 000—1Chicago 014 000 10x—6

DP—Texas 1, Chicago 0. LOB—Texas 2, Chicago 4. 2B—Heineman (2), McCann (22), Engel (5), Moncada (22). 3B—Garcia (3). HR—Andrus (10), Moncada (21), Mc-Cann (15). SB—Garcia (15). SF—Skole (1), Abreu (7). S—Jay (5), Garcia (9). IP H R ER BB SOTexasJurado L,6-10 8 10 6 6 1 2ChicagoDetwiler W,2-3 6 3 1 1 0 8Cordero 2 0 0 0 0 2Herrera 1 0 0 0 1 0

WP—Jurado. T—2:29. A—18,563 (40,615).

Dodgers 3, Blue Jays 2 ab r h bi ab r h biBichette ss 4 0 0 0 Pollock cf 3 0 0 0Biggio 2b 4 0 0 0 Sadler p 0 0 0 0Guerrero Jr. 3b 4 1 3 1 Muncy 1b 3 1 0 0Tellez 1b 4 0 0 0 Turner 3b 4 0 0 0Grichuk cf-rf 4 1 1 0 Bellinger rf-cf 4 1 1 0McKinney rf 2 0 1 0 Seager ss 4 1 1 2T.Hrnndz ph-cf 1 0 0 0 K.Hrnndz 2b 3 0 1 1D.Jansen c 3 0 0 0 Pederson lf-rf 3 0 0 0Fisher lf 3 0 0 1 Martin c 3 0 0 0Waguespack p 1 0 0 0 Maeda p 2 0 1 0Drury ph 1 0 0 0 Ferguson p 0 0 0 0Adam p 0 0 0 0 Garcia p 0 0 0 0Law p 0 0 0 0 Beaty ph-lf 0 0 0 0Totals 31 2 5 2 Totals 29 3 4 3Toronto 010 001 000—2Los Angeles 000 000 003—3

DP—Toronto 0, Los Angeles 1. LOB—To-ronto 3, Los Angeles 5. 2B—Bellinger (27), Seager (36). HR—Guerrero Jr. (15). IP H R ER BB SOToronto Waguespack 7 1 0 0 1 5Adam H,1 C 0 0 0 1 1Law L,0-2 BS,3-4 C 3 3 3 1 0Los AngelesMaeda 6 4 2 2 1 9Ferguson 1 0 0 0 0 2Garcia 1 0 0 0 0 3Sadler W,3-0 1 1 0 0 0 1

HBP—Waguespack (K.Hernandez). T—2:46. A—49,796 (56,000).

Braves 3, Marlins 2 ab r h bi ab r h biBerti ss 4 0 1 0 Acuna Jr. cf 4 0 1 1Diaz 2b 4 0 0 0 Albies 2b 4 0 0 0Anderson rf 4 1 1 0 Freeman 1b 4 1 1 1Walker 1b 4 1 2 0 Donaldson 3b 4 1 0 0Castro 3b 4 0 2 2 Joyce rf 3 0 1 0Ramirez lf 4 0 0 0 Hechavarria ss 4 1 2 1Brinson cf 3 0 0 0 Ortega lf 4 0 0 0Holaday c 3 0 0 0 Flowers c 3 0 1 0Alcantara p 2 0 0 0 Soroka p 2 0 0 0Granderson ph 1 0 0 0 Duvall ph 0 0 0 0Stanek p 0 0 0 0 L.Jackson p 0 0 0 0 Melancon p 0 0 0 0 c-Culberson ph 1 0 0 0Totals 33 2 6 2 Totals 33 3 6 3Miami 000 000 200—2Atlanta 010 000 011—3

E—Berti (1), Diaz (6). DP—Miami 1, Atlanta 0. LOB—Miami 4, Atlanta 8. 2B—Castro (20), Hechavarria (3). HR—Free-man (34). IP H R ER BB SOMiamiAlcantara 7 3 1 0 2 7Stanek, L, 0-1, BS, 0-2 1C 3 2 2 1 2Atlanta Soroka 7 5 2 2 0 5L.Jackson 1 0 0 0 0 2Melancon, W, 1-0 1 1 0 0 0 2

HBP—Alcantara (Duvall). T—2:40. A—23,967 (41,149).

Cubs 1, Giants 0 ab r h bi ab r h biYastrzemski rf 4 0 0 0 Heyward cf 3 1 1 0Posey c 4 0 1 0 Castellanos rf 3 0 0 0Dickerson lf 4 0 0 0 Bryant 3b 2 0 0 0Longoria 3b 3 0 0 0 Rizzo 1b 3 0 1 1Belt 1b 3 0 1 0 Baez ss 3 0 0 0Pillar cf 3 0 0 0 Schwarber lf 3 0 0 0Gennett 2b 3 0 0 0 Wick p 0 0 0 0Crawford ss 3 0 1 0 Happ 2b-lf 3 0 0 0Samardzija p 2 0 1 0 Caratini c 3 0 0 0Vogt ph 0 0 0 0 Hendricks p 2 0 0 0Slater ph 1 0 0 0 Kintzler p 0 0 0 0Watson p 0 0 0 0 Ryan p 0 0 0 0 Russell 2b 0 0 0 0Totals 30 0 4 0 Totals 25 1 2 1San Francisco 000 000 000—0Chicago 000 100 00x—1

E—Crawford (14). DP—San Francisco 2, Chicago 1. LOB—San Francisco 3, Chi-cago 1. 2B—Belt (21). 3B—Crawford (2). IP H R ER BB SOSan FranciscoSamardzija L,9-10 7 2 1 1 1 4Watson 1 0 0 0 0 1ChicagoHendricks W,9-9 7 3 0 0 0 7Kintzler H,16 C 1 0 0 0 1Ryan H,14 C 0 0 0 0 1Wick S,2-2 C 0 0 0 0 1

T—2:29. A—36,366 (41,649).

Astros 6, Tigers 3 ab r h bi ab r h biReyes lf 4 0 1 0 Springer cf 3 1 1 0Castro cf 4 1 1 0 Mrisnick ph-cf 1 0 0 0Cabrera dh 3 0 0 0 Altuve 2b 3 1 0 0Hicks ph-dh 1 1 1 2 Straw ph-2b 1 0 0 0Goodrum ss 4 1 1 1 Brantley lf 4 2 3 2Dixon 1b 4 0 0 0 Bregman ss 4 1 2 2Demeritte rf 2 0 0 0 Alvarez dh 3 0 1 1Rodriguez 2b 3 0 1 0 Gurriel 1b 3 0 1 1Lugo 3b 4 0 0 0 Toro 3b 4 0 0 0Rogers c 3 0 0 0 Maldonado c 3 0 0 0 Reddick rf 4 1 1 0Totals 32 3 5 3 Totals 33 6 9 6Detroit 000 000 003—3Houston 000 201 30x—6

LOB—Detroit 5, Houston 8. 2B—Spring-er (18), Brantley (39), Alvarez (17). HR—Hicks (10), Goodrum (12), Bregman (31).SB—Demeritte (4). IP H R ER BB SODetroitZimmermann L,1-9 5 3 2 2 1 4Soto 1 3 1 1 1 0McKay 0 1 3 3 2 0Ramirez 2 2 0 0 1 1HoustonCole W,15-5 7 2 0 0 1 12Smith 1 0 0 0 0 1Biagini C 3 3 3 1 1Osuna S,30-35 B 0 0 0 1 0

McKay pitched to 3 batters in the 7th. T—2:50. A—27,220 (41,168).

Cardinals 6, Rockies 5 ab r h bi ab r h biBlackmon rf 5 1 1 0 Fowler rf 4 1 1 2Story ss 4 0 0 0 Wong 2b 4 0 1 0Arenado 3b 4 1 1 3 Gldschmidt 1b 4 1 2 0Murphy 1b 4 1 2 0 Ozuna lf 3 2 1 2Tapia cf 4 1 1 0 DeJong ss 4 1 1 2McMahon 2b 4 0 2 1 Molina c 2 0 0 0Desmond lf 3 0 0 0 Edman 3b 4 0 2 0Wolters c 2 0 0 1 Bader cf 3 0 0 0Marquez p 2 1 1 0 Mikolas p 2 0 0 0Daza ph 1 0 0 0 Leone p 0 0 0 0Almonte p 0 0 0 0 Carpenter ph 0 1 0 0Johnson p 0 0 0 0 Gallegos p 0 0 0 0Alonso ph 1 0 0 0 Miller p 0 0 0 0 Thomas ph 1 0 0 0 Martinez p 0 0 0 0Totals 34 5 8 5 Totals 31 6 8 6Colorado 020 030 000—5St. Louis 000 202 20x—6

E—Story (8), Bader (2), Wong (8). DP—Colorado 2, St. Louis 1. LOB—Colorado 5,St. Louis 6. 2B—Marquez (4), Edman (8). HR—Arenado (32), Ozuna (23), DeJong (23), Fowler (15). SF—Wolters (6). IP H R ER BB SOColoradoMarquez 6 6 4 4 2 4Almonte L,0-1 BS,0-1 1 1 2 2 1 2Johnson 1 1 0 0 2 1St. LouisMikolas 6 8 5 5 0 3Leone W,1-0 1 0 0 0 0 0Gallegos H,13 B 0 0 0 0 0Miller H,20 C 0 0 0 0 1Martinez S,15-18 1 0 0 0 2 2

T—2:52. A—36,465 (45,538).

Athletics 5, Yankees 3 ab r h bi ab r h biLeMahieu 3b 4 0 0 0 Semien ss 4 1 1 0Judge rf 3 0 2 0 Grossman lf 3 2 2 0Gregorius ss 4 0 0 0 M.Chapman 3b 3 1 1 1Urshela dh 4 0 0 0 Olson 1b 4 1 1 1Sanchez c 4 0 1 0 Canha cf 4 0 2 2Gardner cf 4 0 0 0 Piscotty rf 3 0 2 1Torres 2b 4 3 4 2 Pinder rf 1 0 0 0Tauchman lf 4 0 1 1 Davis dh 4 0 0 0Ford 1b 3 0 0 0 Joseph 2b 3 0 0 0 Phegley c 3 0 1 0Totals 34 3 8 3 Totals 32 5 10 5New York 000 010 101—3Oakland 302 000 00x—5

DP—New York 2, Oakland 1. LOB—New York 5, Oakland 5. 2B—Judge (13), Tor-res (21), Semien (34), Piscotty (17). 3B—Grossman (2). HR—Torres 2 (31). IP H R ER BB SONew YorkTanaka L,9-7 6 8 5 5 2 5Cessa 2 2 0 0 0 1OaklandRoark W,2-1 6B 7 2 2 0 7Diekman H,5 C 0 0 0 0 0Trivino H,15 1 0 0 0 1 1Soria S,1-5 1 1 1 1 0 2

WP—Tanaka, Roark. T—2:51. A—24,758 (46,765).

Mets 2, Indians 0 ab r h bi ab r h biLindor ss 3 0 1 0 Rosario ss 4 0 1 0Allen cf 3 0 0 0 Panik 2b 3 1 1 0Santana 1b 3 0 0 0 Alonso 1b 2 0 0 0Puig rf 3 0 0 0 Conforto rf 3 1 2 0Ramirez 3b 2 0 0 0 Ramos c 3 0 1 2Kipnis 2b 3 0 0 0 J.Davis lf 3 0 0 0Plawecki c 3 0 0 0 Frazier 3b 3 0 0 0Naquin lf 3 0 1 0 Lagares cf 3 0 0 0Civale p 2 0 0 0 Syndergaard p 2 0 0 0 Clippard p 0 0 0 0 Familia p 0 0 0 0Freeman ph 1 0 0 0 Sewald p 0 0 0 0Wood p 0 0 0 0 Guillorme ph 0 0 0 0Totals 26 0 2 0 Totals 26 2 5 2Cleveland 000 000 00—0New York 000 200 00—2

E—Clippard (1), Puig (2). DP—Cleve-land 1, New York 0. LOB—Cleveland 3, New York 3. 2B—Conforto (21), Ramos (11). SB—Conforto (7). IP H R ER BB SOClevelandCivale, L, 1-3 5C 4 2 2 0 3Clippard 1B 0 0 0 0 0Wood 0 1 0 0 1 0New YorkSyndergaard, W, 9-6 6 2 0 0 0 5Familia, H, 11 1 0 0 0 1 0Sewald, S, 1-1 1 0 0 0 0 2

Wood pitched to 2 batters in the 8th. HBP—Civale (Alonso). T—2:08. A—30,998(41,922).

Wild-card raceAMERICAN LEAGUE

W L Pct WCGBOakland 74 53 .583 —Tampa Bay 75 54 .581 —

Cleveland 74 54 .578 ½Boston 68 61 .527 7

NATIONAL LEAGUE W L Pct WCGBWashington 70 57 .551 —St. Louis 68 58 .540 —

New York 67 60 .528 1½Philadelphia 66 60 .524 2Milwaukee 65 62 .512 3½Arizona 64 64 .500 5San Francisco 63 65 .492 6Cincinnati 60 66 .476 8San Diego 59 67 .468 9

RICHARD CARSON/AP

The Astros’ Alex Bregman, right, celebrates his two-run home run off Detroit Tigers pitcher Jordan Zimmerman with on-deck batter Yordan Alvarez during the fourth inning Thursday in Houston.


Associated Press

BALTIMORE — The Balti-more Orioles set the major league record for home runs allowed in a season, giving up drives to Austin Meadows and Willy Adames in a rain-delayed, 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay that ended shortly before 1 a.m. Friday.

About 200 fans were left at Camden Yards when the Rays closed out the win.

Meadows hit the record-setting 259th home run off Baltimore this year, connecting in the third inning. The last-place Orioles began the day tied with the 2016 Cincinnati Reds for the dubious mark.

Adames later hit No. 260 against the O’s. Baltimore still has 34 more games remaining.

Dodgers 3, Blue Jays 2: Kike Hernandez capped a three-run ninth inning by blooping an RBI single and host Los Angeles ral-lied after being one-hit through eight innings.

Shut down by rookie Jacob Waguespack, the Dodgers rallied with three straight hits against Derek Law (0-2).

Casey Sadler (3-0) got the win for the NL West leaders.

Mets 2, Indians 0: Noah Syn-dergaard (9-6) retired the first 16 hitters and allowed two hits over six dominant innings be-fore a heavy storm interrupted him, and host New York won a rain-shortened game for its fifth straight victory.

The game was called with New York batting in the eighth inning after a second rain delay.

The Mets completed a three-game sweep. They’ve won 13 of their last 14 home games, helping them get into the NL wild-card mix.

Astros 6, Tigers 3: Gerrit Cole (15-5) struck out 12 over seven scoreless innings and Alex Breg-man homered for host Houston.

Cole pitched two-hit ball and al-lowed one walk. He’s 11-0 with a 1.84 ERA in his past 15 starts and has 238 strikeouts this season, one shy of teammate and league leader Justin Verlander.

Cole returned for his first start since Aug. 7 after dealing with right hamstring discomfort. He showed no signs of rust, retiring 16 of his final 17 batters.

White Sox 6, Rangers 1: Yoan Moncada lined a two-run homer on his return from the injured list and Ross Detwiler struck out a career-high eight for host Chicago.

James McCann hit a solo homer and doubled, and Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson and Matt Skole each had an RBI as Chicago won for the third time in four games.

Out since July 31 with a strained right hamstring, Moncada batted cleanup and made an immediate impact with his 21st homer as the White Sox jumped to an early five-run lead. He also doubled in the fifth .

Red Sox 5, Royals 4: Brock

Holt hit an RBI single with one out in the bottom of the 10th in-ning as host Boston won a weath-er-suspended game that began Aug. 7.

The original contest was halted after a 1 hour, 49 minute-rain delay early on Aug. 8 with the score tied 4-4 and nobody out in the top of the 10th inning.

Play resumed 14 days, 14 hours and 18 minutes later. Ryan O’Hearn struck out and pinch hit-ter Bubba Starling grounded out to end the Royals’ inning. Starling took the spot of Billy Hamilton, who went 2-for-4 with a strikeout on Aug. 8 but was designated for assignment on Aug. 16.

Cubs 1, Giants 0: Kyle Hen-dricks (9-9) pitched seven sharp innings as host Chicago won its fifth straight despite getting only two hits.

Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI sin-gle to help the NL Central leaders complete a three-game sweep. The Giants lost their fourth in a row.

A day after the Cubs won 12-11 in a game with seven home runs, there was a brisk breeze blowing in at Wrigley Field and the teams combined for just six hits.

Nationals 7, Pirates 1: Max Scherzer pitched four innings in his return from the injured list, giving up one run and four hits as visiting Washington topped Pittsburgh.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner, who was put on the IL on July 26 with a strain in his upper back, struck out three and walked one. The Nationals hadn’t set a pitch count for Scherzer but said they would closely monitor him. He threw 71 pitches, 48 for strikes.

Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick homered for Washing-ton, which leads the NL wild-card race .

Cardinals 6, Rockies 5: Mar-cell Ozuna, Paul DeJong and Dexter Fowler each hit two-run homers to pace host St. Louis.

Fowler’s 15th home run of the season, off of a 97 mph fastball from Yency Almonte (0-1) in the seventh, capped the comeback. Matt Carpenter set it up by work-ing a walk in an eight-pitch, pinch hitting appearance to lead off the frame.

Dominic Leone (1-0), who was recalled from Triple-A Memphis before the game, got the win. Giovanny Gallegos and Andrew Miller pitched a scoreless eighth and Carlos Martinez picked up his 15th save in 18 opportunities.

Braves 3, Marlins 2: Ronald Acuna Jr. hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning as host Atlanta won its fifth straight.

Freddie Freeman hit a tying homer in the eighth and the Braves sent Miami to its 12th road loss in a row, the longest streak in the majors this year.

The NL East-leading Braves went 15-4 against the Marlins this year.

MLBRoundup

Orioles set recordfor homers allowed

BY JANIE MCCAULEY

Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. — Tanner Roark has been in Oakland long enough already to understand this winning vibe.

Roark is doing his part to keep the Athletics on a roll as the Sep-tember stretch run approaches, striking out seven without walk-ing a batter over six-plus innings in a 5-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday night for a three-game series sweep.

“It shows what these guys in here in the clubhouse and all the coaches are all about,” Roark said. “We’re fighters and we’re not going to give in, we’re going to have fun, we’re going to do the small things great, get runs across the board and try to do our best to put up zeroes.”

Mark Canha hit a two-run single as the A’s immediately jumped on Yankees starter Ma-sahiro Tanaka (9-7) on the way to a seventh victory in eight overall.

In less than a week, the A’s have taken down a pair of AL contend-ers in impressive fashion.

Oakland is on another of its fa-miliar second-half surges, mov-ing a season-best 21 games over .500 at 74-53 having won three of four against first-place Houston and then three straight over the AL East-leading Yankees.

“We can beat anybody. It’s just about bringing this game to the field every day and playing with confidence and doing all the little things well that we’re doing,” Canha said. “The fact that you keep looking at the scoreboard and the Rays keep winning, it just tells you we know we need to play

well for five more weeks. There’s no letting up, obviously. This is going to be a dog fight.”

New York’s Gleyber Torres homered twice for his 30th and 31st of the year, a solo shot in the seventh and another in the ninth.

Oakland has won three of Roark’s four starts since he was acquired from Cincinnati. Roark (2-1) won his second straight de-cision and allowed two runs on seven hits in 6 1⁄3 innings.

Torres also doubled and sin-gled for the Yankees, who have lost nine of their last 10 and 21 of 28 in Oakland.

“Over the course of a long sea-son you’re going to take one in the mouth, and we just got punched in the mouth right here in Oak-land,” Yankees manager Aaron

Boone said.Tanaka, making his team-lead-

ing 26th start and pitching on an extra day of rest, dug himself an early hole allowing Marcus Semien’s leadoff double in the first, then giving up a pair of walks before an RBI groundoutby Matt Olson and Canha’s base hit.

Matt Chapman added an RBIsingle and Stephen Piscotty drovein a run on a groundout.

Tanaka allowed five runs oversix innings, striking out five andwalking two.

Joakim Soria surrendered Tor-res’ two-out drive but finished forhis first save in five chances as Liam Hendriks got a break from the ninth inning after a five-outsave Wednesday.

Roark strikes out sevenas Athletics sweep Yanks

PHOTOS BY BEN MARGOT/AP

The Athletics’ Mark Canha swings for a two-run single off New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka during the first inning of Thursday’s game in Oakland, Calif. The Athletics won 5-3.

Athletics pitcher Tanner Roark (2-1) struck out seven without walking a batter over six-plus innings.


COLLEGE FOOTBALL

BY RALPH D. RUSSO

Associated Press

Not every college football team makes it to a bowl, although 39 postseason games in the Bowl Subdivision can make it seem that way.

That leaves more than 50 teams whose seasons will end before December. Among those unfortunate squads there are ter-rific players who will go largely unnoticed. Or, more optimistically, maybe they will lead a big turnaround for their rebuilding programs.

Time to recognize some of the best play-ers on teams that weren’t bowl-eligible last year and probably won’t be this season:

Louisville OT Mekhi Becton

Bobby Petrino’s final season at Louis-ville was painful to watch. The Cardinals went 2-10 and were usually not competi-tive. New coach Scott Satterfield is almost starting from scratch. The roster needs a massive overhaul, but he has a left tackle

in Becton who could play for a playoff contender. The 6-foot-7, 355-pound junior needs refinement, but his athleticism could make him a top-20 pick in the NFL Draft.

Texas Tech QB Alan Bowman

Bowman was tearing it up as a fresh-man for the Red Raiders until a partially collapsed lung limited him to eight games. He passed for 2,638 yards and 17 touch-downs in those games. After he was gone so were the Red Raiders’ bowl chances. That led to coach Kliff Kingsbury getting fired, although things worked out OK for him. Bowman’s presence on this list might be a bit of a stretch. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if the Red Raiders get back to bowl eligibility in Matt Wells’ first season as coach.

Illinois RB Reggie Corbin

Heading into the Year 4 of Lovie Smith’s tenure, the Illini are looking to reach bowl eligibility for the first time under the for-

mer Super Bowl coach. Corbin, a senior with blazing speed, broke out last season with 1,085 yards rushing on 8.5 per carry. He is only 200 pounds, but Illinois will probably need to get him more than 144 touches if it wants to go from four wins to six and a postseason game.

Arkansas LB De’Jon Harris

The Razorbacks did not win an SEC game in coach Chad Morris’ first season, but Harris was one of the best — and busi-est — linebackers in the conference. Harris led the SEC in tackles with 118. Arkansas is again leaning on inexperienced play-ers and underclassmen on defense, which doesn’t bode well for a major bounce back. Harris should again be busy.

Oregon State RB Jermar Jefferson

The Beavers were in a complete rebuild last year under first-year coach Jonathan Smith. Out of necessity, Smith made the

freshman the focal point of the offenseafter luring him out of California. Jefferson delivered seven 100-yard games, including254 and two TDs against Arizona State.The Beavers finished 2-10 and are prob-ably another year away from even think-ing about a postseason push, but Jeffersoncould end up carrying an even bigger loadas a sophomore.

Colorado WRLaviska Shenault Jr.

For the first month and a half of last sea-son, Shenault was one of the best playersin the country. He scored 11 touchdowns in six games and the Buffaloes started5-1. A foot injury forced him out of three games and he wasn’t the same when he re-turned. Colorado finished the season withseven consecutive losses to get coach Mike McIntyre fired. Shenault is a potential All-American and if he stays healthy the Buffsare a team worth watching even as new coach Mel Tucker rebuilds.

BY DAVE SKRETTA

Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. — About the only thing the football programs at Kansas and Kan-sas State have had in common much of the past three decades is the often deso-late stretch of Interstate 70 that connects them.

The Jayhawks have the proud tradition of John Riggins and Gale Sayers, yet re-cent success has been so scant that they’ve churned through five coaches in the past 10 years. The Wildcats had virtually no tradition until Bill Snyder arrived, and he built a consistent winner tucked away in the Flint Hills.

Makes sense the two schools would take vastly different approaches to hiring new head coaches.

Kansas settled on Les Miles, 65, the “Mad Hatter” with Big 12 success at Okla-homa State and a national title at LSU on his résumé. The quirky, defensive-minded coach known for nibbling grass and his recent foray into films has personality, en-ergy and experience on his side.

Kansas State went with Chris Klieman, 51, whose only experience at the Football Bowl Subdivision level came 22 years ago — one season as an assistant at Kansas. Yet the blue-collar, hard-working Klieman proved his coaching chops at North Dakota State, where in five seasons he went 69-6 and won four Football Championship Sub-division national titles.

Flashy and familiar.Down-to-earth and largely unknown.“I don’t know what it was like a year

ago. Everybody asks me about what it was,” Klieman told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview. “I know what we’re trying to instill here. Guys taking ownership of the program, guys getting in-vested in the program. It’s their program. We’re just guiding them. I want them to have input. I want them to have ownership. What was, I don’t know.”

So maybe Klieman and Miles aren’t quite polar opposites.

The new Kansas coach had basically the same take.

“I think our players anticipated there

being a new feeling,” Miles said. “I think it’s going to be a challenge to win games and win championships, but yeah, we’re ready for that challenge.”

To be sure, Miles understands the gar-gantuan task ahead of him.

Kansas hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2008, the penultimate season of Mark Mangino’s successful tenure. That was also the last time the Jayhawks won more than five games, let alone had a winning season. Four times in the intervening years they’ve won two games or fewer.

With losses along the way to the likes of Nicholls State, South Dakota State and seemingly every school in the Mid-Amer-ica Conference, the Jayhawks had become not just the laughingstock of the state or the Big 12, they were the butt of jokes na-tionwide. Rarely did more than 15,000 fans show up to Memorial Stadium for home games, and even more rarely did anybody stick around for the second half.

Kansas has tried just about every avenue

to land a winning coach, too.There was Turner Gill, the former Big

12 quarterback who had turned around lowly Buffalo. There was the well-known Charlie Weis, who once led Notre Dame to back-to-back BCS bowl games. There was David Beaty, the career assistant with ties to the successful Mangino era.

So when athletic director Jeff Long went searching for the next coach, he settled on an old friend with a record of success in the Big 12 and the kind of gravitas it takes to bring recruits to Kansas.

“He’s built programs in the past. So when you’re out and you want back in, you can feel the passion in the conversation,” Long said. “From my view, for Les at this point in his career, the opportunity to step in and build a program — and rebuild us — and take us to a level of successful foot-ball was exciting to him and made a lot of sense for me to choose him.”

Much like Long tapped a longtime friend, so did Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor. Only he wasn’t replacing a string of failed head coaches. Instead, he was re-placing the winningest coach in school his-tory, one whose statue stands outside the stadium that bears his name.

Yet in many ways Klieman is the perfect fit at Kansas State, where hard work and perseverance are valued more than most

places. Those are traits Snyder instilled inthe program when he first arrived in 1988,and set about rebuilding arguably the worstprogram in college football history.

“Fundamentally there’s more similari-ties between them than differences,” said quarterbacks coach Collin Klein, a Heis-man Trophy finalist under Snyder. “I think the style and organization of meetings and walkthroughs during our camp, gettingour guys physically ready, that’s all very similar.

“I know Coach Klieman’s approach isbeing 1-0 today,” Klein continued, “and stacking good days on top of each other is something that has been preached here a long time.”

There have been more good days than bad at Kansas State lately, and Klieman’sjob is to sustain and build upon Snyder’ssuccess: 215 wins, 18 bowl games, rarely a losing season.

It’s a much different challenge than thenew coach at rival Kansas faces, but one noless daunting.

“There’s nothing that surprises me any-more with the number of years and thehead coaching opportunities I’ve had,” Miles said. “I know what’s coming. I know what to expect from my players and coach-es. I kind of anticipated where we would be,and to be honest, so far I’ve been pleased.”

Becton, Bowman among best on bowl-less teams

Flashy & familiarNew coaches at Kansas, K-State are study in contrast

RICH SUGG, KANSAS CITY STAR/AP

Kansas coach Les Miles brings plenty of spirit and experience to Lawrence. Miles enjoyed Big 12 success at Oklahoma State and won a national title at LSU.

TRAVIS HEYING, THE WICHITA EAGLE/AP

Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman has little experience in the Football Bowl Subdivision, but his North Dakota State teams were 69-6 and won four Football Championship Subdivision titles.


FROM BACK PAGE

So the NFL can wait one more year. There are team goals he will chase as well, of course, but Quarterman simply wasn’t ready to leave the Hurricanes with just a good collegiate résumé. He wants a great one, and his final season at Miami starts Saturday in Orlando when the unranked Hurricanes take on No. 8 Florida in the resumption of one of col-lege football’s best rivalries.

“It’s huge,” Quarterman said. “The rivalry started way before I was born. You’ve got people — very, very, very committed fans saying like, ‘Hey, man, this is it right here. This is everything.’ So you know that it’s important. You would have to be blind and deaf to not know it’s important. ”

The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Quar-terman will be one of the leaders of a Miami defense that ranked fourth nationally last season and doesn’t have plans to endure any significant dropoff in 2019. Graduation meant the second-ary had to be rebuilt and the de-fensive line will have a new look, but Quarterman — along with Michael Pinckney and Zach Mc-Cloud — is back as a four-year starter at linebacker.

Quarterman has never missed a game. Saturday will be Miami’s 40th contest since he arrived on campus, and he will have started them all. When Florida takes its first snap, Quarterman’s start-ing streak will officially have tied current Miami assistant coach Mike Rumph for the fifth-longest in Hurricanes history.

Quarterman’s numbers in 2018 were outstanding — 14 tackles for loss and six sacks, stats that ba-sically matched the output from his freshman and sophomore seasons combined. But Quarter-man has been studying video of his mistakes like a missed angle here or a botched read there, and still kicks himself for dropping an interception against Duke last

year in a game that Miami lost by a touchdown.

Miami coach Manny Diaz, who was Quarterman’s defensive co-ordinator for the last three years, said he hopes the approach is rub-bing off around the locker room.

“Part of my job is I can’t put Shaq on the field in his fourth year with a bunch of guys that don’t feel the same will to win as Shaq does,” Diaz said. “That would break his heart .”

Quarterman has a chance this season to get his name all over the Miami record book. If the Hurri-canes go to a bowl game and he plays in every contest, he’ll finish no worse than tied for the school record in games played. He could set the school mark for most starts and most consecutive starts, and he has a shot at reaching the top 10 in school history for tackles.

All that is nice, but as far as in-dividual accolades, that picture on the wall is what he wants most.

“Ultimately, I don’t like to set-tle,” Quarterman said. “I don’t like to settle in anything that I do. And I have the opportunity to play with these guys again, and leave this program in a better place than when I arrived.”

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Ending: Quarterman believes he has ‘higher place’ with Hurricanes

DAVID SANTIAGO, MIAMI HERALD/AP

Hurricanes cornerback Trajan Bandy, left, poses with linebacker Shaquille Quarterman in Coral Gables, Fla., on Wednesday.

BY MARK LONG

Associated Press

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Dan Mullen and Manny Diaz first crossed paths a decade ago in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

It was 45 degrees in mid-Oc-tober for an 11:30 a.m. kickoff between Mississippi State and Middle Tennessee State. Mullen was calling plays in his first year as the Bulldogs’ head coach, and Diaz was dialing up blitzes from unusual formations in his fourth season as the Blue Raiders’ de-fensive coordinator.

There were a little more than 20,000 people on hand to watch a pair of teams that already had a combined six losses. It was noth-ing like the stage Mullen and Diaz will share when No. 8 Florida and rival Miami usher in the college football season Saturday night in Orlando.

But that otherwise forgetful game in the middle of the Volun-teer State in 2009 sparked a last-ing friendship that helped propel them to where they are today.

“He had the energy. He had an interesting scheme,” Mullen recalled this week. “He wasn’t afraid to think outside the box with his scheme and then had the intelligence to back it up.”

Mullen jotted down Diaz’s name on a list of “people to consider” as assistants and tucked it away in a folder on his desk. He opened it up a few months later and asked Diaz to join him in Starkville.

Diaz agreed and instantly gave Mississippi State’s defense a much-needed jolt.

The Bulldogs allowed seven fewer points a game in 2010 than they did the previous year, jumping from 11th to third in the Southeastern Conference in scor-ing defense.

Texas took notice and hired Diaz to replace Will Muschamp, who had left to take the head coaching job at Florida.

Diaz rejoined Mullen in 2015, but lasted just a year before re-turning to his hometown. Mi-ami’s defense has been on the rise since, climbing from 12th to second in scoring in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Diaz’s first year and popularizing the “Turn-over Chain.”

“Personally, we get along very well and I consider him a friend,” Diaz said. “We have worked to-gether twice, and two of those years Mississippi State had two of their best years in history there. We view the game similarly. He is a very creative guy and an out-side-the-box type of thinker. I try

to be the same way defensively and I think that is why we gotalong well together.”

Mullen anticipates Diaz hasand will continue to take a famil-iar approach to putting his stampon Miami.

“I bet there’s going to be a lotof crossover as to how he runs the program, and I think a lot of it isjust how we view the game,” Mul-len said. “How we view the de-velopment of the game. How weview game planning. ... We weretogether and we talked a lot aboutthat, about the game and about just the program as a whole ofwhat it is, more than just always just the scheme.”

Diaz’s defensive scheme, though, is what essentiallybrought them together on thatcool morning at Floyd Stadium.

“We never saw anything (likeit),” said Florida offensive line coach John Hevesy, whose line-men were wide-eyed early in thegame that Mississippi State even-tually won by three touchdowns. “At the time, it was unique. Hewas doing something different.”

Few secrets between Florida, Miami coaches

Friendship between Mullen, Diaz forged in Murfreesboro

PHOTOS BY BRONTE WITTPEN/TNS, above, AND DAVID SANTIAGO/AP, below

Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen, above, was a first-year head coach at Mississippi State in 2009 when he first met Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz, pictured below, who was at the time defensive coordinator for the Middle Tennessee State Blue Hens. Their chance meeting in an otherwise forgetful game sparked a lasting friendship that helped propel each of them to where they are today.

‘ I consider him afriend. We’ve worked together twice, and two of those years Mississippi State had two of their best years in history. ’

Manny DiazMiami head coach,

on Florida’s Dan Mullen

By the numbers

SOURCE: Associated Press

40Career starts for Miami LB Shaquille Quarterman, as

of Saturday’s game against Florida, tying current

Hurricanes assistant coach Mike Rumph for the fifth-longest in program history.


NFL

BY TIM BOOTH

Associated Press

RENTON, Wash. — When Cody Barton took a moment to think about it, the Seattle Seahawks rookie linebacker realized he has been going nonstop for about a year.

After his college career ended, it was straight into prep for the NFL combine. Then the draft, his first offseason workouts with the Seahawks and eventually training camp.

“We haven’t had a break, really, since the summer of 2018,” Barton said.

And it hasn’t been an easy stretch for any of the rookies. Barton and the rest of Seattle’s 2019 draft class have been slowed by injury problems throughout training camp, costing the rookies valuable oppor-tunities to make an impression and get a feel for the NFL.

The injury bug issues were apparent Wednesday when none of the top three draft picks were on the practice field. Wide receiver DK Metcalf had minor knee sur-gery earlier this week while safety Mar-quise Blair was dealing with back spasms

that flared up during Sunday’s preseason game against Minnesota.

The two second-rounders joined first-round selection L.J. Collier on the medical report. Collier suffered a significant ankle sprain in the early days of camp.

In addition, Seattle has yet to see fourth-round pick Phil Haynes (sports hernia) and sixth-rounder Demarcus Christmas (back) on the field. Fifth-round pick Ben Burr-Kirven missed the early part of camp following surgery.

Even Barton missed a few days after tweaking a groin muscle.

“All the rookies out here, we’re trying

to get our exposure in the preseason and you have all these little things come up to where you can’t play, that’s challenging on a player,” Barton said. “L.J., DK, they’ll be fine. We also understand injuries happen.”

Metcalf practiced last week, but then coach Pete Carroll announced after the Minnesota game that the big wide receiver needed surgery.

Carroll believes Metcalf will have a short recovery, though his status for the start of the season is in question. The coach wouldn’t get into specifics about Metcalf’s procedure.

“Excited that we got it done,” Carroll

said. “It was the kind of thing we couldhave put off but we wanted to use the time frame that we had available and hopefullyit will work out just right for us.”

Blair’s issue also seems to be a short-term situation.

But Collier’s ankle injury continues tobe troublesome. Carroll said Collier hasyet to put full weight on the ankle whilerunning.

“L.J., we are just going to have to wait itout,” Carroll said. “In that regard, L.J. isthe one that’s frustrating because he hasn’treally had a shot to get going.”

One rookie who has stood out — and has yet to miss time — is defensive back UgoAmadi, who was taken in the fourth round.Amadi had a special teams highlightagainst the Vikings with a perfectly timedtackle on punt coverage. He’s also beenplaying at safety and nickel cornerback.

“Availability is the best ability,” Amadisaid. “Taking care of your body is huge. I learned that early from the veterans here. … If you want to be able to get paid you’vegot to be out here.”

BY BRIAN HALL

Associated Press

EAGAN, Minn. — Being a first-round draft pick, Laquon Treadwell has received several opportunities to secure a role in the Minnesota Vikings’ offense.

His next chance might come with a new team.

Minnesota is still left searching for a reliable option for the third receiver spot behind Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen.

“They’re hard to separate right now,” Vikings coach Mike Zim-mer said of the backup receiv-ers. “When we talk about it in the personnel meetings, it’s things like that. One guy has a good day, then he has a bad day. The con-sistency of what they’re trying to do is really hard to get a handle on. That’s why I say these special teams, they need to get their rear ends going on that.”

Treadwell’s spot in the com-petition has seemed more after-thought than expectation this year. He is behind second-year, undrafted Chad Beebe — son of former NFL wide reciever Don Beebe — on the depth chart and

his spot on the roster became even more unsettled after Zim-mer’s comments following Sun-day’s second preseason game. Treadwell caught all four of his targets for 47 yards.

“We’re trying to get Treadwell the ball a little bit more in the second half,” Zimmer said after the game. “Try to showcase him a little bit, I guess. He made some nice plays.”

The nice plays have been few and far between in three seasons for Treadwell. He has 56 NFL catches for 517 yards and one touchdown, while being plagued by drops.

It was no surprise this spring when Minnesota declined the fifth-year option on Treadwell’s contract.

“I would love to be here,” Treadwell said this week. “I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else.”

Hoping to stay, Treadwell said he’s changed his outlook and is only focused on “winning.”

“That’s my mindset and it keeps things simple,” Treadwell said. “I don’t have to read the media. I don’t have to pay attention to depth charts, none of that. They call my name to go in, if I win, everything else will take care of itself.”

Beebe, who’s also been holding for field goals at times, appears to have a job. He had four catches for the Vikings last season.

Former Canadian Football League standout Brandon Zylstra, who had one catch in the regular season last year, has recovered

from an offseason injury and hadfive catches for 37 yards and atouchdown in Sunday’s game.

“I think the explosiveness is starting to come back a little bit for him now,” Zimmer said. “Ithought he did well (Sunday).”

Former Denver Broncos re-ceiver Jordan Taylor has beenin the mix this summer. Min-nesota drafted two receivers inthe seventh round of this year’sdraft, Olabisi Johnson and Dillon Mitchell, and also brought backspeedy Jeff Badet after a year on the practice squad.

Special teams work will play adeciding role, and Zimmer alsomentioned the eventual backups could come from another NFL roster.

Meanwhile, Treadwell doesn’tmind being showcased for achance to make any NFL roster.

“I hope I’ll just get showcasedmore.” Treadwell said. “That’s what you want in this league, justto be able to go out and show whatyou can do. The more they show me, the more I’ll do. The opportu-nities I get, try to make the most of my opportunities and let therest take care of itself.”

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf, left, just underwent minor knee surgery and is one of several first-year players on the team who are out with injuries. Defensive end L.J. Collier, center, has been out for weeks with an ankle injury and safety Marquise Blair, right, is dealing with back spasms. The players were the team’s top three picks.

TED S. WARREN/AP

Seahawks’ draft class decimated by injuries

TED S. WARREN/AP ELAINE THOMPSON/AP

‘ All the rookies out here, we’re trying to get ourexposure in the preseason and you have all theselittle things come up to where you can’t play, that’schallenging on a player. ’

Cody BartonSeahawks rookie linebacker

Treadwell ‘showcased’ as Vikings seek receivers

BUTCH DILL/AP

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Laquon Treadwell is likely closing in on the end of his lackluster tenure with the Vikings, three years after they drafted the wide receiver in the first round.


NFL

Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — This was not the return to the field that Cam Newton was hoping to make.

The Carolina Panthers quar-terback left Thursday night’s 10-3 exhibition loss to the New Eng-land Patriots in the first quarter with a foot injury that left him grimacing on the sideline.

The 2015 MVP was playing for the first time since Dec. 17, when the team shut him down for the last two games of the sea-son because of shoulder fatigue that prevented him from throw-ing the ball downfield. He had arthroscopic surgery in January and did not play in the first two preseason games.

Newton appeared to be injured when he was sacked for a loss of 8 yards by Adam Butler on a third-and-10 from the Carolina 31. It was one of two times Newton was sacked.

Newton was initially evalu-ated on the sideline and quickly accompanied to the locker room and did not return.

He didn’t speak with reporters after the game but could be seen staring at the ground and wore a boot as he walked from the locker room toward the team bus.

“He got sacked, that’s about all I saw,” Carolina coach Ron Ri-vera said.

Asked if Newton’s injury af-fects his opinion on the number of exhibition of games, Rivera said it’s in the hands of the league.

“It’s tough. It’s part of the game, unfortunately,” Rivera said.

Kyle Allen took over at quarterback.

The Panthers were pedestrian on offense and went three-and-out in each of their first two series of the night. Newton went 4-for-6 for 30 yards.

Tom Brady finished his first

exhibition game of 2019 by going 8-for-12 for 75 yards, including an 18-yard pass to tight end Ryan Izzo to set up a 1-yard touchdown plunge by James Develin. It was the starting offense’s final series.

Giants 25, Bengals 23: Daniel Jones completed a difficult week with an encouraging perfor-mance, leading visiting New York to a touchdown during a victory over Cincinnati in Zac Taylor’s first home game as head coach.

In a GQ article published Tues-

day, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield said he was stunned that the Giants drafted the quar-terback from Duke in the first round. Mayfield tried to tamp down the comment and texted Jones to explain his remarks.

Jones got into the game on the Giants’ second series and went 9-for-11 for 141 yards the rest of the half. He had completions of 35 yards to Brittan Golden and 27 yards to Darius Slayton on a seven-play touchdown drive, a solid all-around showing for Eli Manning’s eventual replacement.

Ravens 26, Eagles 15: Trace McSorley threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for a score, helping visiting Bal-timore beat Philadelphia for its 16th straight preseason win.

The game was stopped by the NFL with 11:43 remaining in the fourth quarter because of light-ning after a short delay.

Carson Wentz again sat out for the Eagles, but several starters saw their first action this summer and Josh McCown made his debut after ending his brief retirement to play his 18th season.

McSorley threw TD passes of 28 yards to Michael Floyd and 7 yards to Jaleel Scott. He scored on a run from 4 yards.

Dolphins 22, Jaguars 7: Josh Rosen came off the bench late in the third quarter and engineered a 99-yard touchdown drive, and

host Miami beat Jacksonville.Rosen, who is battling Ryan

Fitzpatrick for the starting quar-terback job for Miami (2-1), was5-for-7 for 59 yards and a touch-down and ran four times for 23 yards.

Nick Foles, making his first appearance of the preseason forthe Jaguars (0-3), played the firstquarter and went 6-for-10 for 48yards with one touchdown andone interception.

Raiders 22, Packers 21: At Winnipeg, Manitoba, Daniel Car-son kicked a 33-yard field goalwith 8 seconds remaining, and Oakland earned a bizarre pre-season victory over Green Bay ona field that was shortened to 80yards over concerns about playersafety.

End zones were marked by bright orange pylons at the 10-yard lines and there were nokickoffs. The field was reconfig-ured because of concerns about the areas where the goal posts forthe CFL’s Winnipeg franchise are usually located.

Packers coach Matt LaFleurdecided to sit 33 players, includ-ing star quarterback Aaron Rod-gers and running back Aaron Jones. Rodgers hasn’t played inthe preseason.

Oakland didn’t play starters in-cluding quarterback Derek Carr or receiver Antonio Brown.

CHARLES KRUPA/AP

Panthers quarterback Cam Newton grimaces in pain as he receives attention on the sideline after injuring his foot during the first half of Thursday’s preseason game against the Patriots.

Newton injures foot in Panthers’ loss to PatriotsPreseason roundup

BY CHARLES ODUM

Associated Press

ATLANTA — If Case Keenum is still the leader in Washington’s quarterback competition, rookie Dwayne Haskins at least gave coach Jay Gruden more to think about.

Haskins led Washington to three second-half scoring drives, including two set up by Atlanta’s lost fumbles while attempting to field punts, and the Redskins took a 19-7 preseason win over the Falcons on Thursday night.

Keenum played the first half and lost a fumble, which helped the Falcons lead 7-6 at halftime.

Haskins, the first-round draft pick from Ohio State, completed 7 of 13 passes for 74 yards in the second half.

“I’m excited to see Dwayne make some throws from the pocket,” Gruden said. “I like some things Case did. Obviously the turnover was disturbing. But other than that I think he

moved the ball pretty well and did some good things. They both have done some good things this preseason.”

Colt McCoy, Washington’s third contestant in the quarterback competition, is still recovering from a broken right leg suffered in 2018.

Keenum, Denver’s starter in 2018 after spending most of 2017 starting at Minnesota, said he’s not anxious to have a starter named for the regular season.

“I don’t necessarily need to be told, I guess you could say,” Kee-num said. “I’m fine with however things go. I went pretty much the entire season with the Vikings not being told I was going to start until Wednesday of that week’s practice and we won 13 games that year, so that worked out all right.”

Keenum completed 9 of 14 passes for 101 yards but his lost fumble when he was sacked by Deadrin Senat set up a second-quarter touchdown for Atlanta.

Takk McKinley recovered the fumble and ran 17 yards to the Washington 33. Ito Smith’s 5-yard touchdown run gave the Falcons a 7-3 lead.

Atlanta’s Matt Ryan played the full first half in his most extended playing time of the preseason and completed 9 of 14 passes for 74 yards. He was perfect in the first quarter, when he completed each of his eight passes for 60 yards.

Veteran backup Matt Schaub was held out as Danny Etling be-came the latest third-string quar-

terback to play in the preseason. Matt Simms was held out with an undisclosed injury. Simms was signed after Kurt Benkert was lost with a toe injury.

The Falcons signed Etling last week after he was released by New England. Etling’s lack of fa-miliarity with the Falcons’ play-book showed as he struggled to move the offense in the second half and was dropped by two sacks.

Specials teams mistakes helped drop Atlanta to 0-4 in

the preseason. Rookies MarcusGreen and Olamide Zaccheaus lost fumbles inside the Atlanta 20when trying to field punts in the third quarter. Each turnover setup short Redskins scoring drivesled by Haskins.

Green’s lost fumble, recovered by Washington’s Troy Apke, set up Samaje Perine’s 3-yard scor-ing run for a 13-7 lead.

Zaccheaus couldn’t catch Tress Way’s next punt, and the recovery by Robert Davis set up DustinHopkins’ 23-yard field goal.

Rookie Haskins,Washington rollRedskins notch first preaseson win

MIKE STEWART/AP

Washington Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins works in the pocket during the second half of Thursday’s preseason game against the Falcons in Atlanta. Haskins led three scoring drives.

S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S Saturday, August 24, 2019

SPORTS

BY TIM REYNOLDS

Associated Press

CORAL GABLES, Fla. haquille Quarterman took a long look at leaving Miami for the NFL after his junior season, and it would not have been a shocker to see the Hurricanes’ best line-backer turn pro.

He ultimately came back, seeking a pic-ture-perfect ending.

“I think there’s definitely a higher place for me,” Quarterman said.

He means those words in a literal sense. At Miami, All-Americans get their picture high on the wall of the team’s practice facility. Quarterman looks at that wall, sees the best players ever to take the field with the “U” on the side of their helmet — and wonders what it’d be like to be part of that group.SEE ENDING ON PAGE 29

Unfinishedbusiness

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Hurricanes LB Quarterman seeking picture-perfect ending to senior year

Inside:� Friendship betweencoaches Mullen,Diaz goes back adecade, Page 29� New K-State, Kansas coachesare contrast in styles, Page 28

Miami linebacker Shaquille Quarterman

AP photos

O’s record woesBaltimore sets mark for HRs allowed – with 34 games to go » MLB, Page 27

Redskins’ rookie QB Haskinsshines against Falcons » Page 31

Newton suffers foot injury inPanthers’ loss to Pats » Page 31

Seahawks’ draft class strugglingwith series of injuries » Page 30

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