DAILY CIRCULATION 7,000 ASCC hosts Some 10 months after

by Fili SagapoluteleSamoa News Correspondent

A Department of Public Safety officer who alleg-edly assaulted another person in June of last

year, has been charged with two mis-demeanor counts, according to court documents, which make no mention as to why the charges are just now filed when the alleged incident occurred some 10 months ago.

Semi Sago appeared last Friday morning in District Court under a court summons. He is charged with one count each of public peace distur-bance — punishable by imprisonment for six months, a fine of $500 or both — and third degree assault, punishable by imprisonment of up to one year, a $1,000 fine or both.

The affidavit in support of the crim-inal complaint states that police on June 21, 2016 conducted an investiga-

tion into an alleged assault of another man, who told police that he was at an auto shop earlier in the day and saw the defendant, who initially greeted the defendant.

The defendant then asked the where-abouts of some of the victim’s friends who had tried to “instigate a fight” with the defendant and the victim had replied that the friends had left for Upolu.

A.P. Lutali elementary school from Aunu’u celebrate after winning the ASDOE/FFAS Just Play Program competition on Thursday, April 27, 2017 at the DYWA gymnasium in Pago Pago.

See story in today’s Sports of Samoa News. [FFAS MEDIA/Brian Vitolio]

A CERTIFIED SELF-DEFENSE MARSHALL ARTS INSTRUCTOR WAS ONE OF THE PRESENTERS

By James Kneubuhl, ASCC Press OfficerThe Health and Human Services

Club at the American Samoa Com-munity College (ASCC) sponsored a Sexual Assault Awareness Forum on Thursday, April 27. As with previous forums on the subject, the event fea-tured guest speakers from the com-munity who work in the area of raising public awareness of both the prevalence of sexual assault in our community as well as the services available to victims.

And with the many public awareness programs and services in the commu-nity, the inevitable question was asked from the audience during the Forum: “How effective are all of these programs in preventing sexual assault in our community?”

Responding to the question, Judy Mata’utia from the American Samoa Alliance Against Domestic and Sexual Violence said that turning the tide in the incidents of sexual violence is up to the community.

Some 10 months after alleged incident police officer charged

ASCC hosts Sexual Assault

Awareness Forum

PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA $1.00TUESDAY MAY 02, 2017

DAILY CIRCULATION 7,000

ONLINE @ SAMOANEWS.COM

Mrs. Judy Mata’utia (left) is seen here with ASCC students Faatele Tyrell (middle) and Health & Human Services Club President Alice Tausaga following the Sexual Assault Awareness Forum last week at the American Samoa Community College, sponsored by the Health & Human Services Club. [Photo: J. Kneubuhl]

C M

Y K

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(Continued on page 2)


No decrease in DOI funding for remaining FY 2017, says Amata

Manumalo wins 2016- 17 ASHSAA JV Girls’ Basketball championship

TUAOLO: Mana’omia ni tama fanau atunu’u e maua agava’a Fua Fanua

Page 3

Sports

Le Lali

Members of the ASCC Health & Human Services Club, including advisor Derek Helsham (front, far left) are seen here with the guest speakers at last week’s Sexual Assault Awareness Forum. Speakers included Mrs. Judy Mata’utia and Mrs. Mona Uli from the Alliance Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Dr. Peni Biukoto of the DOH Behaviorial Health Clinic, and Mr. Ioana Vaimaona, a certified self-defense martial arts instructor. [Photo: J. Kneubuhl]

Page 2 samoa news, Tuesday May 02, 2017

“There can never be too much awareness,” she said. “Agencies like Alliance alone cannot put a stop to sexual assault, but individuals and the community can.”

Of interest, during the forum was guest presenter, Ioane Vaimaona, a Certified Self-Defense Marshall Arts Instructor. “A sexual assault is like a tsunami,” Vaimaona told his forum audience, “You can hope it never happens, but if it does, you should know what to do.”

Vaimaona shared informa-tion on the self-defense classes he offers for women through his organization Sexual Assault Defense (S.A.D.) of American Samoa.

A martial arts student since age 14, Vaimaona has studied Brazilian Jujitsu and has previ-ously worked with a successful self-defense program in Los Angeles, the Gracie Academy, which teaches martial arts tech-niques women can use to “neu-tralize” an attacker.

He shared videos of these techniques being applied, and explained that anyone inter-ested in learning them can con-tact him through the Alliance.

Forum speakers included Mata’utia and Mona Uli from the ASAADSV; Dr. Peni Biu-koto, Psychiatrist with the Behavioral Health Clinic, a division of the Department of Health; and Vaimaona, a Certi-fied Self-Defense Marshall Arts

Instructor. Mata’utia described the

efforts of the Alliance Against Domestic and Sexual Vio-lence to raise awareness of sexual assault in American Samoa through workshops and training in the community.

“Many people in the Ter-ritory still believe that sexual assault does not exist in Amer-ican Samoa,” she reflected, “or else they simply don’t acknowl-edge it because of a culture of silence. The Alliance tries to bring this problem to the atten-tion of the public, as well as inform them of the help avail-able for victims.”

While not a service provider itself, the Alliance tries to create a “safe space” for victims while supporting the actual service providers such as LBJ Hospital and the Health Department. “Soon many of you will be hus-

bands, wives and parents,” Mata’utia said to the student audience, “so it’s important for

you to know that this problem exists in our community.”

Continuing with the theme of raising awareness, Mona Uli reiterated how the Alli-ance serves as a resource for the community, and then she screened a short video empha-sizing the importance of indi-vidual intervention in situations where a sexual assault appears even remotely possible.

The video showed a party with young adults, both male and female, becoming steadily more intoxicated. Two sce-narios are then presented:

In the first, a male guides an inebriated female through the crowd towards a bedroom “so she can rest,” and no one appears to even take much notice. Once the male shuts the bedroom door, there is a clear implication that an assault will take place.

In the second scenario, friends who know the female continually intervene on her

behalf. Before the male is even halfway across the room, the girl’s friends have stopped her from consuming further alcohol and have even called a cab to take her home safely.

The point being that when friends look after each other, a perpetrator has a harder time making one of them a victim.

Dr. Biukoto during his forum presentation gave a thorough overview of the risk factors that can result in forms of violence, including sexual violence, and the psychological, emotional and physical effects violence can have on victims.

Following the formal con-clusion of the event, the guests took time to speak with stu-dents one-on-one, and received small tokens of appreciation from Health & Human Services Club members, their president Alice Tausaga, and club advisor/Human Services instructor Derek Helsham.

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➧ ASCC hosts Sexual…Continued from page 1

The defendant then asked if the victim “wanted to fight him to which he [victim] replied no because he [defendant] was un a police uniform,” the affi-davit alleges. It further alleges that the defendant then “stood up and punched the [victim] in the eye” but the victim ducked and he was punched in the head, instead.

The fight was broken up when the defendant was restrained, the affidavit alleges.

Police also interviewed another man who was present at the auto shop fixing the brakes of a DPS vehicle that was brought into the shop. The man told police he heard the defendant and the victim arguing, which then escalated into the defendant allegedly punching the victim and the defendant’s police partner broke up the fight.

The defendant’s partner

was interviewed and explained that he heard some of the conversation between the defendant and the victim, while on his cell phone. He heard the defendant ask about the whereabouts of the vic-tim’s friends “from a previous incident,” escalating into the defendant saying the victim “should watch out before someone gets a beating.”

The victim replied that if the defendant was not in a police uniform, he would not be making threats, according to the affidavit quoting the defendant’s police partner, who said he thought the defen-dant and the victim “were only joking”.

While still on his cell phone, the defendant’s partner “heard fighting sounds” and looked up to see defendant punching the victim, and he intervened to break up the fight, the affidavit alleges.

When interviewed by phone, the defendant alleg-edly “admitted to punching” the victim twice after he was frustrated that the victim and others had tried to beat him up with his son in the car.

Because the defendant appeared in District Court via a court summons, no bail was set and therefore he is released on his own recognizance and another hearing is set for May 16.

District Court Judge Fiti A. Sunia told the defendant not to make any contact with government witnesses in this case.

Assistant attorney general Woodrow Pengelly repre-sented the government, while the defendant was represented by legal counsel Marcellus Tala Uiagaleleli.

(See story in Samoan lan-guage in Monday’s Lali — May 1, 2017)

➧ Some 10 months after alleged incident…Continued from page 1

samoa news, Tuesday May 02, 2017 Page 3

by Fili SagapoluteleSamoa News Correspondent

MACHETE ATTACKERA man accused by the gov-

ernment of using his fist and then a machete to assault his wife, who suffered injuries, has entered a guilty plea in the High Court and will be sentenced June 2nd.

To protect the victim, Samoa News does not usually identify the defendant by name.

The 25-year old defen-dant, who remains in custody, appeared in High Court last Friday for his change of plea hearing, where he pled guilty, under a plea agreement with the government, to second degree assault by using a deadly weapon — a machete.

According to the plea agree-ment, which was accepted by the court, the defendant on Jan. 14th this year had first used his fist and then a machete to strike his wife in the face and her body, causing her bruises and cuts.

Second-degree assault is a felony, punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment, a fine of not more than $5,000 or both.

When this case was in Dis-trict Court in January this year, information revealed in court at the time, also states that the wife suffered bruises to many parts of her body, including her face, while her eyes had black bruises and were swollen. A Samoa News reporter inside the courtroom also noted the swollen eyes and that wife could barely open them.

FALANIKO STOWERSWithout reaching a plea

agreement, the government’s case against a drug defendant will go to trial later this year.

Falaniko Stowers, aka Nicole, who is a ‘fa’afafine’ or transgender woman, and referred to in court docu-ments as a male, and also as a “fa’afafine” — was in High Court last Friday morning for a pre trial conference hearing.

Stowers’ attorney Douglas Fiaui told the court that “we have not come to an agreement” and the court declared that the case goes to trial later this year, with both sides to be informed on the actual trial date.

Stowers, who remains in custody unable to post bail, is charged with one count each of unlawful possession of meth-amphetamine and unlawful dis-tribution of methamphetamine — both are felonies. The gov-ernment alleges that the defen-dant was dealing drugs out of a house in Fagatogo.

JOEITA FA’AALIGATerritorial Correctional

Facility inmate Joeita Fa’aaliga returns to the High Court in September for another hearing, after the one last Friday was continued, following a request by his attorney, assistant public defender Michael White.

Fa’aaliga was in court for two separate cases stemming from escaping twice from con-finement last year.

White told the court that “we came to a plea” agreement, but another charge against his client has come up and requested a continuation.

However, the court reminded the defense that pro-bation violations — referring to the charges of escaping from confinement — are not depen-dent on the new charge.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the new charge is against

the defendant. Fa’aaliga was convicted and sentenced to serve 28 months in jail for felony stealing in 2013. The defendant was also given five years probation after serving the jail term under several con-ditions including that he does not violate any law.

Based on court information in 2013, the defendant entered the territory in 2012 under a 30-day permit and never returned to his home country of Samoa.

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(BASED ON A PRESS RELEASE) — Good news from Washington, DC, yes-terday, Monday, May 1, 2017 — Congresswoman Aumua Amata says with the bipartisan budget agreement reached over the weekend for the remainder of the fiscal year, “There’s no decrease in Interior funding for American Samoa which includes the hospital, commu-nity college, and local govern-ment operations.”

Amata said, “A number of constituents have contacted me in the last few months to express their concern regarding federal funding cutbacks for American Samoa. As I have explained, this is really the final Obama budget, not the Trump budget so we are receiving the same money that Interior allo-cated for FY-2016.”

Explaining the process, the

congresswoman pointed out, “Since last October 1, we have been operating under a series of Continuing Resolutions (CR) which continue funding the government at the same level as last year. There were no reduc-tions in funding when President Trump took office in January, and any statements to the con-trary are inaccurate.” She noted the latest CR was set to expire this Friday.

Accordingly, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2017 funds the ASG at the same level until the end of the fiscal year — September 30, 2017.

Amata said, “Consider-ation of the first Trump budget will begin this month. I will be asking for an increase in funding for American Samoa just as we did with the elemen-tary and secondary students funding program last year.

“However, according to fed-eral officials, any operations grant funding increase will be contingent on ASG perfor-mance and needs.

“I will take a look at grant funds we get from other fed-eral agencies, and I hope we will be funded at the same if not increased levels, because overall spending on domestic programs increased in the deal concluded over the weekend,” she said.

The Congresswoman con-cluded, “I ask everyone to remember that it is Congress that determines spending, not the Executive Branch. As the old saying goes: ‘The Presi-dent proposes; the Congress disposes’. My staff and I are working very hard to see to it that American Samoa is pro-tected in its federal funding.”

No decrease in DOI funding for remaining FY 2017, says Amata

By Barry MarkowitzCool Stuff hopes your Nu’uuli Regal The-

ater shares this intriguing colonial period piece movie, as its theme parallels both Samoas of the early 1900’s thru today.

Charlie Hunnam (of Sons of Anarchy fame) stars as a young British military officer/ explorer who travels through Amazonia (Bolivia & Brazil) to map “unknown” waterways — unknown to Europeans, that is.

The sensitivity of Hunnam’s true life char-acter, Major Percy Fawcett, is that he seeks to prove that the indigenous Peoples of South America were sophisticated with great cities and empires in their cultural history. The British Royal Geographical Society scoffs, even after he presents physical proof of pottery, and relates the amazing farming capabilities in the middle of the rain forest.

A great pre or post movie reference on the movie’s author retracing Percy Fawcett’s adven-tures: http:paidpost.newyorker.com/lostcityofz/

If you have the patience to reflect during this 2 hour 20 minutes flick, think in analogy-terms how sophisticated historic fa’a Samoa village life was so vastly superior compared to the unhealthy lifestyles and nasty plagues of the 1500’s era Europeans.

Yet when Europeans later popped up claiming to discover your hospitable island ancestors, the usual reported description was of some sort of “noble savage”.

Now reflect if that attitude has changed. What do donor nations to Samoa, the US Government to the Territory and nonprofits to both Samoa’s really think?

Is their assistance because they sincerely respectfully care, or do they seek economic (fishing, labor, trade, sell you mutton flaps & turkey tails), military (recruits or bases), reli-gious (their faith is better?) or international polit-

ical (think UN votes) advantage?First hand Cool Stuff has witnessed con-

descending racism expressed by a prior palagi entertainment business owner in the Territory (based in the Mainland & Hawai’i), who would not let a Pacific Islander manage his businesses as they “Have no concept of time or details”. The LDS Church’s Hawaii Reserves Inc. investigated this in 1994 and confirmed this, concerned as it occurred on their land. to their church members in Hawaii.

Another entity recently put on a big show of how they were going to help both Samoas with donations, but purportedly invoiced a Samoa (not ASG) government entity from a for profit entity, not their original non profit.

Major Fawcett sought to recognize indig-enous achievements, not exploit and change the people. He was portrayed in the movie as a righ-teous conscientious man, far ahead of his time.

He and his Hawai’i-born American contem-porary explorer, Hiram Bingham III, were the purported role models for the Indiana Jones movie series.

Bingham ironically became a US Senator and Chairman of the Committee on Territorial & Insular Affairs, overseeing American Samoan’s daily existence in the late 1920’s

Samoans and intended visitors should learn from “Lost City of Z”. Your late great grandpar-ents will respect you if you do.

Maybe you could take Mom out to the “Lost City of Z” for Mother’s Day.

Happy Mom’s Day to all you Coolio Mothers... we appreciate your regular kind input to our column, even though only a 1/3 of you sip Samas & Vailimas with us and your Coolio husbands when we are Sama & Vailima “networking” at Sadie’s by the Sea, Maliu Mai, Tradewinds, the Oasis, DDW, and Evalani’s.


LETTERS TO THE EDITORSamoa News welcomes and encourages

Letters to the Editor. Please send them to our email [email protected]

Box 909, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799.Contact us by Telephone at (684) 633-5599Contact us by Fax at (684) 633-4864or by Email at [email protected] business hours are Mon. thru Fri. 8am to 4pm.Permission to reproduce editorial and/or advertisements, in

whole or in part, is required. Please address such requests to the Publisher at the address provided above.

“Lost City of Z”

© OSINI FALEATASI INC. RESERVES ALL RIGHTS.dba Samoa News is published Monday through Friday,

except for some local and federal holidays.Please send correspondences to: OF, dba Samoa News, Box

909, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799.Telephone at (684) 633-5599 • Fax at (684) 633-4864Email advertisements to [email protected] the newsroom at [email protected] business hours are Mon. thru Fri. 8am to 4pm.Permission to reproduce editorial and/or advertisements, in

whole or in part, is required. Please address such requests to the Publisher at the address provided above.

Please visit samoanews.com for weekend updates.

COOL COOL COOL Stuff Stuff Stuff


AMERICAN SAMOA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITYPosition Title: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE INSTRUCTOR Employment Status: Full Time 10 months (Career Service)General Description: Instructor will report directly to the Academic Chairperson of the Languages and Literature Department. The department offers intensive English writing courses aimed at developing and strengthening thinking and writing skills for effective communication of ideas. It emphasizes a variety of approaches to writing, research, organizational techniques and effective writing processes. The literature courses emphasize analytical reading and appreciation of literary works that allow students to develop a broader, deeper, keener understanding of their world and the worlds they read about. The skills acquired prepare students for both academic studies and the work place.Job Duties and Responsibilities:• Collect, prepare and present instructional materials for all assigned subjects to be taught.• Prepare and distribute course syllabi/outlines for each course during the first week of instruction.• Teach a full instructional course load of 15 credit hours or 225 instructional contact hours per semester.

However, loads may vary between 12 and 16 credit hours per semester.• Prepare and distribute a comprehensive syllabi for all courses taught in a timely manner as requested by

Academic Affairs• Teach each class as scheduled and supervise examinations, field trips, internships, service learning

activities and practicum.• Maintain attendance and scholastic records and submit the required records to the Admissions and

Records Office at the assigned date every semester/session.• Develop, implement, and assess Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for each course taught.• Share data on SLOs collected from courses taught with the department and other college stakeholders,

and provide recommendations for improvement of student learning.• Participate in the different levels of SLO review, program review, and student assessment.• Academically advise students regarding their chosen program of study.• Provide students with information on careers, academic referrals, and transfer opportunities.• Assist with the registration process; participate in faculty orientation, commencement exercises, and

professional development activities.• Post and maintain a class schedule and office hours for student assistance.• Provide safety measures and fully exercise the enforcement of these measures in the classroom.• Actively participate and contribute to college committees and extracurricular functions.• Observe and enforce all ASCC rules and regulations.• Perform other duties as may be required by the department Chairperson, Dean of Academic Affairs,

or the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. Minimum Qualifications:• Masters Degree in literature / composition or a related field.• At least three (3) years of teaching experience in college freshman and sophomore composition, reading

and literature at a two or four year university/college.• Must demonstrate knowledge in curriculum development, good analytical and interpersonal skills. • Must also be computer literate (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.)Salary: Salary to commensurate with experiences, qualifications and credentials.Application Deadline: May 05, 2017 no later than 4:00pm.Applications are available from American Samoa Community College, Human Resources Office 699-9155 Ext. 428/441/429, http://www.amsamoa.edu/employmentopportunities.html or by emailing [email protected].

Department of Academic Affairs

“An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer – And A Drug-Free Workplace”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Yesica Sanchez recently found a notice attached to the front door of her two-bedroom apartment that said her rent was almost doubling. The divorced mother held the paper in her hand in a state of shock.

“We wanted to faint. After I pay all of my bills, I don’t have anything left to pay that extra amount,” Sanchez said while vis-iting the apartment of her cousin, who got a similar notice. So did every other resident of the Nor-mandy Apartments in Portland.

Oregon has become one of America’s most popular moving destinations, with tens of thou-sands of newcomers each year drawn by its forests and moun-tains, its quirky city of Portland and its job opportunities. Oregon set a historical low jobless rate in March of 3.8 percent.

But the inflow has caused a rental housing crisis across the state, with too few homes being built. Families face steep rent hikes or evictions to make way for better-heeled tenants. People have even resorted to living in tents or their vehicles. Now, law-makers are debating remedies for what House Speaker Tina Kotek calls an “emergency that demands bold action.”

In one of the session’s most bitterly contested proposals, the Legislature is considering forcing landlords to pay ten-ants one month’s rent for no-cause evictions, and even three months’ rent in certain cases. The bill also reverses a 1985 ban on most rent controls in the state, allowing cities and counties to adopt their own. If it passes, Oregon would be at the forefront in the U.S. in establishing renter protections, said Doug Farquhar of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Rep. Karin Power, a Demo-crat from the Portland suburb of Milwaukie and one of the bill’s sponsors, said the housing crisis is a statewide problem that calls for a statewide solution.

But other lawmakers spoke in opposition, saying the mea-sure would be a disincentive for people to buy or build properties to rent, ultimately worsening the housing crisis.

Charlie Tabasko, a realtor in the coastal town of Waldport, was among almost 400 people to submit written testimony, an extraordinarily high number. He said making landlords “bear the burden of society’s inequities” is crazy.

Don Moeller, a retiree in Salem, also wrote in, saying senior residential facilities should be barred from increasing rent beyond tenants’ ability to pay, possibly making them

homeless. One hundred seniors, the oldest 98, signed Moeller’s letter. “Oregon is in trouble, and that’s why I’m voting yes for House Bill 2004,” Rep. Mark Meek, a Democrat from Oregon City, announced before House members approve the bill by a 31-27 vote.

It is now before the Senate. If the Senate approves, the mea-sure goes to Gov. Kate Brown, who recently called the crisis unacceptable.

The Oregon Senate also is considering a bill that authorizes local governments to expand urban growth boundaries when housing availability drops below a threshold.

Many U.S. states ban rent control, though Nebraska law allows tenants to recover three months’ rent if they’re unlaw-fully evicted or if landlords shut off utilities. In Michigan, law-makers are considering repealing the state’s rent-control prohibi-tion. A similar proposal in Cali-fornia was recently put on hold by its sponsor.

In 1971, when Oregon’s population was 2.1 million, Gov. Tom McCall was so concerned about population growth eroding quality of life that he tried to dis-suade people from moving to America’s 33rd state.

“We want you to visit our state of excitement often,” McCall said in a speech. “Come again and again. But for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live. Or if you do have to move in to live, don’t tell any of your neighbors where you are going.”

Despite those words, Ore-gon’s population has almost doubled since then to 4.1 mil-lion. From July 2015 to July 2016, Oregon was America’s sixth-fastest growing state in percentage population.

Finding, and keeping, housing for the 40 percent of Oregonians who rent has become a dire situ-ation in the woodsy towns in the south, in the mountains, along the Pacific coast and in Portland.

Among the most vulnerable, experts say, are seniors, minori-ties and victims of domestic abuse who can’t afford to move out of the abuser’s home. His-torically black Portland neigh-borhoods are being lost to gentrification.

Home construction since the Great Recession has lagged far behind demand. To meet the current need, 110,000 new housing units — almost six times the number built last year — would have to be constructed. But builders have trouble getting financing from lenders stung by the downturn, said Josh Lehner, an economist with the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.

After Sanchez’s rent doubled from $700, it took many calls and filing of income and credit reports before she found a new home. Outside, painters were

already remodeling the complex that was sold to a new landlord.

Sanchez and her 5-year-old son moved to Oregon from Oaxaca, Mexico, four years ago,

and she fretted about keeping him in a nearby bilingual ele-mentary school. She has a car, so will be able to drive him to school.

Proposal would put Oregon at

forefront in renter protections

In this April 12, 2017 photo, supporters of a bill to ban most no-cause evictions of home renters in Oregon demonstrate on the Capitol steps in Salem, Ore. Droves of people are moving to America’s 33rd state, drawn by its natural beauty and job opportunities, but the fast growth has created a housing crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky)


WELLINGTON, New Zea-land (AP) — The composer of the opening guitar riff for Emi-nem’s “Lose Yourself” says the soundtrack of a New Zealand political ad is a “blatant rip-off.”

Jeff Bass told the High Court in Wellington on Tuesday that the song titled “Eminem Esque” that was used by the ruling

National Party during its 2014 election campaign sounds like “Lose Yourself Lite.”

But, he added, “It doesn’t taste so good, though.”

Eminem’s music publishers Eight Mile Style sued the National Party over its use of the song. The copyright infringe-ment trial started Monday and is expected to last about six days.

The party has previously said it purchased the soundtrack for its TV ad from an Austra-lian-based music supplier and doesn’t believe it has infringed anyone’s copyright.

Bass, who lives near Detroit and traveled to New Zealand to testify, picked up an acoustic guitar and strummed the famous riff that opens the Oscar-win-ning 2002 song in front of eight lawyers and a judge in the courtroom.

He said he wrote the song with Eminem and Luis Resto over 18 months.

“I picked up a guitar and started playing that opening guitar chord,” he said. “At that time, I didn’t know if it was a song or not.”

He said Eminem, aka Mar-shall Mathers III, put together a drum track but then they got stuck. “It took him a number of months to author the perfect lyrics that were just right for the beat,” Bass said.

He said they finished as Eminem completed work on his film “8 Mile.”

“It really developed in a little studio we had set up in his trailer,” Bass said. He said

Resto replaced some of the guitar elements with keyboards in order to remove some of the rock feel of the song without losing the hip hop tone.

Defense lawyers argue the musical composition of the song isn’t particularly original. One of them asked Bass if he con-sidered the soundtrack Eminem Esque to be musically inferior.

“Being that it’s a blatant rip-off, yes,” Bass responded.

The lawyer asked if it was weaker because it was different. “It doesn’t feel like ‘Lose Your-self’’’? the lawyer asked.

“It doesn’t feel like me playing ‘Lose Yourself,’” Bass said.

The lawyer asked Bass if he’d agree that the Led Zep-pelin song “Kashmir” has a similar chord pattern.

“No. None whatsoever,” Bass responded.

Judge Helen Cull asked Bass if the guitar strum he’d per-formed in the courtroom was common.

Bass said that while he’d heard those chords played before, he’d never heard them in that particular rhythm. He said that by putting an accent on the third beat it was as if he was playing guitar and drums at the same time.

“The intention was to create a tense, hypnotic feeling,” Bass said. “It starts playing, and never goes away. Along with that drum beat, it actually will hypnotize you, where you are feeling that something’s going to happen.”

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2002, file photo, Eminem performs at the MTV European Music Awards in Sant Jordi palace in Barcelona, Spain. They may not have lost themselves in the music or the moment but a judge and nine lawyers in a New Zealand courtroom did listen politely to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself ” as a copyright trial involving the country’s ruling political party began Monday, May 1, 2017. The Detroit-based music publishers for Eminem are suing New Zealand’s conservative National Party for using a similar soundtrack titled “Eminem Esque” for a 2014 TV ad.

(AP Photo/Denis Doyle, Pool, File)

Eminem song composer: New Zealand ad is

‘blatant rip-off’

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The pool party was in full swing when a lone man reclining in a lounge chair with a blank expression pulled a gun from his waistband and began shooting.

As bodies fell on the pool deck and people ran for their lives, the gunman despondent over a recent breakup dialed his ex-girlfriend so she could listen as he continued firing at strangers.

Although Peter Selis was white and all but one of the victims were black and Latino, Chief Shelley Zimmerman said Monday there was “zero indi-cation” race was a motive.

Instead, the attack that killed one woman and injured six other partygoers seemed to be driven by a recent split-up with the woman he called after he shot his first two victims.

“It is apparent that Selis wanted his ex-girlfriend to listen in as he carried out his rampage,” Zimmerman said. “These victims were just in his vicinity when he committed this terrible tragedy.”

Selis, 49, was gunned down in a shootout Sunday with police in the upscale apart-ment complex where people screamed in terror as gunshots echoed between the towers.

Less than an hour earlier,

Selis had stood out from the crowd of about 35 as he sat alone in the pool area of the massive La Jolla Crossroads apartment complex, where he lived on Judicial Drive.

As children splashed, a family soaked in a hot tub and others ate chips and hot dogs, Selis sat by the pool gate wearing a heavy black jacket on a hot day, said Demetrius Griffin, a guest at the party.

The shooting began after the man celebrating his 50th birthday approached Selis. Griffin assumed his friend, who was always welcoming, invited the man to join the fun.

Instead, Selis pulled a gun from his waistband, shot the party host twice in the torso and then opened fire on the party, Griffin said.

“It was very eerie, to say the least,” Griffin said. “He didn’t stand up. He didn’t say any-thing. He just opened fire.”

Griffin briefly froze and then dropped to the ground as six rounds sent people scattering and dropped others on the pool deck.

Selis called his ex-girlfriend during the shooting and imme-diately told her that he had shot two people, the police were arriving and then “made some reference to ‘shooting it out’ or

Gunman calls ex-girlfriend as he unleashed

terror by a pool



ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — President Donald Trump sug-gested in an interview that he is unclear about the origins of the Civil War, that President Andrew Jackson (who died 16 years before the war) could have prevented the conflict and that it was possible to have set-tled it without bloodshed.

“Could that one not have been worked out?” Trump asked in the interview with The Washington Examiner.

AP talked to some of the most distinguished experts on what was really behind the war that tore the nation asunder.

WHY DID THE CIVIL WAR START?

The issues leading up to the Civil War were complex, and many people in the North and South in 1861 viewed the con-flict as inevitable.

In the South, slave labor was the foundation of an economy based on the cotton produced by plantations and farms. The free labor also was key to profiting from the production of such cash crops as tobacco, corn and other staples of the South. In the North, farms were gener-ally smaller because of the soil and climate. With their more industrialized economy, the Northern states didn’t require large numbers of slaves.

By the 1850s, the North vs. South divide was widening as free states and slave states debated over allowing slavery in new territories as the nation expanded westward. South-erners viewed the North’s opposition to slavery’s expan-sion as a threat to the econo-mies — and thus the political power and rights — of slave-holding states. Abraham Lin-coln, opposed to slavery’s expansion, was elected presi-dent in 1860 and the path to the South’s seceding from the Union was set.

“Slavery was the root cause of the Civil War,” said Eric Foner, professor of history at Columbia University. “It was not the only cause, but it was the underlying cause. There was a fundamental difference between the North and the South as the South feared for the future of slavery.”

COULD IT HAVE BEEN AVOIDED?

Probably not, according to James Roark, an author and retired history professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

“As it got tangled with American politics and regional interests, nobody could figure out a way to save both the Union and preserve slavery in the South,” he said. “It wasn’t for a lack of talking. There was plenty of talking.”

WHAT WOULD ANDREW JACKSON DO? (OR HAVE DONE, IF HE LIVED THAT

LONG?)Probably not much.“Even Andrew Jackson,

were he alive, could not have threatened the use of force that perhaps Trump thinks would have solved the problem,” Foner said.

Jackson, who died in 1845, was a slave-holding plantation owner.

“The Civil War was caused by slavery; it wasn’t caused by the absence of Andrew Jackson to help the American govern-ment,” said Harold Holzer, a New York-based scholar who is an expert on the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln.

HOW WAS THE WAR RESOLVED?

After four years and more than 600,000 soldiers dead, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

Associated Press reporters Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed to this report.

Historians of the American Civil War point to complex issues when reflecting on Presi-dent Donald Trump’s remark that the conflict might have been settled without bloodshed.

Trump asked in an interview with The Washington Exam-iner: “Could that one not have been worked out?”

A professor of history at Columbia University, Eric Foner, notes that slavery was a root cause of the war and that the South feared for the future of slavery.

A retired history professor at Emory University in Atlanta, James Roark, says war probably couldn’t have been avoided in 1861. Roark says, “Nobody could figure out a way to save both the Union and preserve slavery in the South.”

More than 600,000 soldiers had died by the time the war ended in 1865.

AP Explains: What was behind

the American Civil War?


EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITYPosition Title: PSYCHOLOGY/SOCIOLOGY INSTRUCTOR Employment Status: Full Time 10 months (Career Service)General Description: Instructor will report to the Academic Chairperson of the Social Science Department. Instructor will provide instruction to fulfill General Education requirements for all Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degree programs. Instructor will develop and implement assessment of Student Learning for improvements to instruction and learning. The department provides a diverse spectrum of courses acquainting students with historical processes, cultural developments, interrelationships amongst people, and the dynamics of social elements reflected in social, religious, political and technological progress. The skills acquired prepare students for both academic students (college transferability) and the work place.Job Duties and Responsibilities:• Collect, prepare, and present instructional materials for all classes to be taught• Prepare and distribute course syllabi/outlines for each subject during the first week of instructions. • Teach a full instructional course load of at least 15 credits or 225 instructional contact hours per semester.

However, loads may vary between 12 and 16 credit hours per semester.• Prepare and distribute a comprehensive syllabi for all courses taught in a timely manner as requested by

Academic Affairs. • Teach each class as scheduled and supervise examinations, field trips, internships, service learning

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the assigned date every semester / session.• Develop, implement, and assess Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for each course taught.• Share data on SLOs collected from courses taught with the department and other college stakeholders,

and provide recommendations for improvement of student learning.• Participate in the different levels of student learning outcome review, program review, and student

assessment.• Academically advise assigned students regarding their chosen program of study• Provide students with information on career, academic referrals, and transfer opportunities• Assist with the registration process; participate in faculty orientation, commencement exercises, and

professional development activities.• Post and maintain class schedules and office hours to assist students.• Provide safety measures and fully exercise the enforcement of these measures in the classrooms. • Actively participate in college committees and extracurricular functions.• Observe and enforce all ASCC rules and regulations• Perform other duties assigned by the Department Chairperson, Dean of Academic Affairs or the Vice

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university/college. • Must also be computer literate (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.)Salary: Salary to commensurate with experiences, qualifications and credentials.Application Deadline: May 05, 2017 no later than 4:00pm.Applications are available from American Samoa Community College, Human Resources Office 699-9155 Ext. 428/441/429, http://www.amsamoa.edu/employmentopportunities.html or by emailing [email protected].



FILE - In this March 31, 2017 file photo, a portrait of former President Andrew Jackson hangs on the wall behind President Donald Trump, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump made puzzling claims about Andrew Jackson and the Civil War in an interview, suggesting that he was uncertain about the origin of the conflict while claiming that Jackson was upset about the war that started more than a decade after his death. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Police officers stand guard in front a La Jolla apartment building after a shooting Sunday, April 30, 2017, in San Diego. Police shot and killed a 49-year-old man suspected of shooting several people Sunday at a birthday pool party in an apartment complex near the University of California, San Diego, authorities said. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

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something along those lines,” Assistant Police Chief Brian Ahearn said. The woman heard two more gunshots before the line went dead, Ahearn said.

One victim, 34-year-old Thomas Blea, said he was grateful to a security guard at the apartment complex who hustled him and two other vic-tims quickly to safety.

“That guy saved us a lot of time. Getting us to the fire department in a safe zone,” said Blea as he sat with his leg ban-daged in a wheelchair outside the hospital. The guard’s name has not been released.

Selis, a father who worked as a mechanic at a Ford dealer-ship, had been distraught and depressed after a breakup just days before, though family and friends interviewed by police had no hint of any sinister plot.

He filed for federal bank-ruptcy protection in October 2015, listing $14,000 in assets and $108,000 in liabilities, according to court records.

Selis shot three black women, two black men, a Latino man and a white woman, police said. Six of the shooting vic-tims were expected to survive, Zimmerman said. Another man was taken to the hospital after he broke his arm running away. None of the victims was identi-fied. Efforts to reach his ex-girl-friend were unsuccessful.

Investigators have not found any writings or evidence from internet searches that Selis had planned the shootings, Ahearn said. “There was nothing obvious or public that this was his intention,” he said.

Griffin, who helped carry a woman shot in the legs to safety, woke up Monday in a panic thinking he was still at the pool. “I was shaking. I started crying,” he said. “My eyes got really, really big as if they were going to pop out of my head and I kind of rolled over off the couch, onto the floor as if the gunman were still active.”

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➧ Gunman calls ex-girlfriend…Continued from page 6

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HAPPY TEACHERS APPRECIATION WEEKManulele Tausala Elementary School

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HAPPY TEACHERS DAY!From Principal Martha Sagapolutele & Administrators

A look at the remains of the one-story rental home, in Pago Pago, that was gutted by fire during the wee hours of Sunday morning. Authorities are continuing their investigation into the cause of the fire, which residents in the area said started around 3a.m. Sunday. [photo: AF]

NEW YORK (AP) — A thunderous drumbeat echoed through the cocktail reception at the Met Gala. Either an earth-quake was hitting the Upper East Side of Manhattan, or the glittering assembly of guests was being called in to dinner.

Hasan Minhaj, a correspon-dent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” was standing with the show’s host, Trevor Noah, and marveling about the week he was having. Just two days earlier, he’d made a huge splash with his blistering speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and now he was at one of the most exclusive parties on the planet, rubbing shoul-ders (literally) with a ridicu-lous number of A-list celebri-ties, and getting praise for his performance.

“It’s been an insane week,” he said. “I keep thinking, what if the other night had gone poorly, what would tonight have been like?”

Like everyone, he was somewhat shell-shocked at the number of famous people

present. He mentioned Matt Damon and Michael B. Jordan in particular, just two of hun-dreds of celebrities attending what often feels like a combi-nation of the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tonys, plus the worlds of fashion and sports.

The stars were packed so tightly together, in fact, that the major hazard of the eve-ning seemed to be potential hem damage, from famous feet step-ping inadvertently on long, deli-cate trains. Halle Berry, wearing a black-and-gold Atelier Ver-sace jumpsuit, was one of those who had to stop and release her train from a stranger’s foot as she glided across the Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court during cocktail hour.

The evening began with invited guests making their way past the assembled media and up the red-carpeted stairs, then into the huge entry hall of the museum, where a massive tower of hot pink and white roses, in the form of a flower, awaited them. Nobody seemed

to know how many roses had been called into service. That tower and the rest of the eve-ning’s decor was inspired, of course, by revered designer Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garcons and the subject of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibit.

After climbing up the huge interior staircase, and past a receiving line, many opted to head before cocktails to the exhibit, set in a pure white set-ting with geometric structures housing some of the designer’s most famous collections.

One of those displays had actor Ansel Elgort staring at the strange body forms dreamed up by Kawakubo for her 1997 collection “Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body,” in which garments are stretched over bizarre protrusions coming from the stomach, the back, the waist or the hip.

“It’s sort of a comment on what people are doing to their bodies these days. I think that may be what she’s doing here,” Elgort suggested.

Some of the guests were wearing Kawakubo’s designs, known for their boundary-

pushing, avant-garde nature, but not for their wearability. One of them, Michele Lamy, wife of designer Rick Owens, was wearing a red-and-pink Comme des Garcons dress that looked like a pile of unfinished strips of fabrics, somehow hanging loosely together.

“Yes, she’s a visionary, she is hugely influential, but she also makes it fun,” Lamy said.

Isabelle Huppert, the French film star, was wearing a Dior leather beret as she examined the exhibit. “It’s amazing, really like an art installation, not a fashion exhibit,” she said.

Lucas Hedges, the young actor nominated for an Oscar this year for “Manchester by the Sea,” suggested that the exhibit felt “like a guided meditation on fashion, life and beauty.”

Broadway actress Laura Osnes was experiencing her first Met gala. Wintour, she said, had come to see her new show, “Bandstand,” the week before, and suddenly invited her. There followed a mad rush to find something worthy to wear. Osnes ended up with a dramatically voluminous — in other words, huge — pink skirt

with rose appliques and a long train by Christian Siriano. It was one of the more striking outfits of the evening.

“I figured, who knows if I’ll be here ever again,” Osnes said.

She soon found other Broadway stars to compare notes with: Josh Groban was there, as was Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo, and Andy Karl, who stars in “Groundhog Day” and famously tore his anterior cruciate ligament just before the show opened. Karl seemed in good shape, saying he was progressing well in physical therapy.

Speaking of being in shape, two of the best tennis players in history were in the room. The pregnant Serena Williams was in bright green Versace — and yes, she was glowing. As for ever-dapper Roger Federer, he lived up to his reputation with a Gucci tux that held a huge, jew-eled surprise on the back.

“Is that a dragon?” he was asked.

“No! It’s a king cobra,” he replied. Then he posed for a few more pictures, and headed into dinner.


Bella Hadid, right, and Alexander Wang attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between exhibition on Monday, May 1, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

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DUBAI, United Arab Emir-ates (AP) — The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday oil exporting countries in the Middle East continue to have the world’s largest energy sub-sidy bill and that additional reforms are still needed to curb government spending.

In its updated regional out-look report, the IMF said money spent each year on subsidies from these oil exporting coun-tries is down from $190 billion in 2014 to a current estimate of $86 billion a year. This was largely due, however, to a global decline in energy prices since mid-2014, when prices had climbed above $100 a barrel.

Persistently lower oil rev-enues have forced governments to consolidate spending, partic-ularly in the Gulf where many citizens have grown accustomed to generous perks, subsidies and cushy public sector jobs as a result of their countries’ oil wealth.

Across the Middle East, oil exporting countries were able to reduce overall budget deficits to an estimated $375 billion for the five year period between 2016 and 2021, down from last year’s projected $565 billion deficit.

To reduce spending, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bah-rain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have implemented sensitive austerity measures, including lifting some subsidies, including on gas and electricity.

However, it was largely a bump in the price of oil from an average of $42 a barrel in 2016 to a projected $55 a barrel in 2017 that helped run down the expected deficit of GCC coun-tries to $240 billion, from a 2016 projected outlook of $350 billion.

“Going forward, we believe additional reforms are still needed as well as fiscal reforms for the GCC countries to keep reducing the level of deficit,” said Jihad Azour, IMF’s Mid-east and Central Asia depart-ment director.

The IMF report said 6.5 mil-lion people will be entering the workforce by 2022 in the oil-exporting countries of the GCC, Iran and Algeria — meaning these countries will urgently need to create more private sector jobs.

Although an agreement last year by major oil-producing countries to cut crude oil output helped increase prices, the out-look for the oil market remains uncertain.

Azour told The Associated Press that plans by the GCC

to introduce a value-added tax next year is one way to boost revenue.

Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, has also embarked on an ambitious plan to decrease its dependence on oil exports and diversify its economy. The drop in oil prices has pushed the kingdom’s for-eign reserves down to $508 billion.

Limiting the availability of public sector jobs and reducing spending on civil servant perks has sparked some criticism in countries such as Saudi Arabia,

IMF says more reforms still

needed by Mideast oil exporters

In this Monday, May 1, 2017 photo, International Monetary Fund Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Jihad Azour, center, meets with his colleagues at the Dubai International Financial Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The IMF said in updated regional IMF outlook published Tuesday, said oil exporting countries in the Middle East continue to have the world’s largest energy subsidy bill and said additional reforms are still needed to curb government spending.

(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)(Continued on page 13)


GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Islamic militant Hamas on Monday unveiled what had been billed as a new, seemingly more pragmatic political program aimed at ending the group’s international isolation.

With the new manifesto, Hamas rebrands itself as an Islamic national liberation movement, rather than a branch of the pan-Arab Muslim Broth-erhood, which has been out-lawed by Egypt. It also drops explicit language calling for Israel’s destruction, though it retains the goal of eventually “liberating” all of historic Pales-tine, which includes what is now Israel.

It’s not clear if the changes will be enough to improve rela-tions with Egypt which, along with Israel, has been enforcing a crippling border blockade against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip since the group seized the territory in 2007.

Hamas clung to hard-line positions that led to its isolation in the first place. The group reaf-firmed that it will not recognize Israel, renounce violence or rec-ognize previous interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals — the West’s long-standing conditions for dealing with Hamas.

The five-page program, a result of four years of internal deliberations, was presented at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, by Khaled Mashaal, the outgoing Hamas leader in exile. The group has said Mashaal’s replacement is to be named later this month, after the completion of secret leadership elections.

The document reflects a “rea-sonable Hamas, that is serious about dealing with the reality and the regional and interna-

tional surroundings, while still representing the cause of its people,” said Mashaal.

A copy of the program was distributed to journalists in Gaza who followed the news confer-ence by video link.

The new platform seemed to cement the ideological divide between Hamas and its main political rival, the Fatah move-ment of Western-backed Pal-estinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas drove out forces loyal to Abbas in its 2007 takeover of Gaza, a year after defeating Fatah in Palestinian parliament elections. Reconciliation efforts have failed.

The Hamas manifesto was released at a time of escalating tensions between the two sides. In recent weeks, Abbas has threatened to exert financial pressure, including cutting wage payments and aid to Gaza, as a way of forcing Hamas to cede ground.

Leaders of the group have vowed they will not budge.

The war of words with Hamas was seen as an attempt by Abbas to position himself as a leader of all Palestinians ahead of his first meeting with Presi-dent Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday. The U.S. president has said he would try to broker Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on a peace deal, despite repeated failures over the past two decades.

In the past, Hamas has sharply criticized Abbas’ polit-ical program, which rests on set-ting up a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

In its founding charter, Hamas called for setting up an

Islamic state in historic Pales-tine, or the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, which also includes Israel.

The new program for the first time raises the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state in the 1967 lines, saying it’s a “national consensus formula.” However, the wording suggests Hamas considers this to be an interim step, not a way of ending the conflict.

The document does not con-tain an explicit call for Israel’s destruction, but says “Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Pal-estine, from the river to the sea.”

“There shall be no recogni-tion of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity,” the document says.

The Palestine Liberation Organization, now led by Abbas, exchanged letters of mutual rec-ognition with Israel in 1993.

The Hamas document said it considers armed resistance against occupation as a stra-tegic choice and that the group “rejects any attempt to under-mine the resistance and its arms.”

Over the years, Hamas has carried out shooting, bombing and rocket attacks in Israel. Since 2008, Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza have fought three cross-border wars. Abbas has been an outspoken opponent of violence, saying it undercuts Palestinian interests.

While the founding charter was filled with anti-Jewish ref-erences, the new document stresses that Hamas bears no enmity toward Jews. It says its fight is with those who occupy Palestinian lands.

New Hamas program softens language, but

some goals remain

FILE -- In this Sept. 6, 2016 file photo, Palestinian Hamas security forces, march with their rifles in front of the wreckage of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s helicopter, installed on a structure, during a police academy graduation ceremony in Gaza City. A new political program of Hamas, published Monday, May 1, 2017, is meant to help the Islamic militant group break out of its international isolation. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece and its creditors have reached a deal that will restart bailout loan payments and keep the country from facing default and reigniting a eurozone crisis this summer, officials said Tuesday.

Following months of tough negotiations, the sides agreed that Greece should make another round of pension cuts in 2019 and commit to maintain a high budget target once the cur-rent bailout program ends next year. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ left-wing government is set to approve the new cuts in parliament by mid-May, so that finance ministers from the nations using the euro can unfreeze more bailout funds at a scheduled meeting on May 22.

Tsipras’ governing coalition has a majority in parliament of just three seats.

Greece has been surviving on bailout loans since 2010 in return for harsh spending cuts and tax increases that have put nearly a quarter of the work-force out of work and seen more than a third of the population living in poverty or at risk of poverty.

“We have said many times ... that this is a painful compro-mise,” Interior Minister Panos Skourletis told state-run ERT television.

Tsipras’ governing Syriza party is trailing badly behind rival conservatives in the polls, and he has insisted it will not seek elections until his term ends in 2019.

The agreement with credi-tors was reached after a night-long session of talks at a hotel in Athens. Government offi-cials said lenders dropped their demands to abolish a long list of employment rights and also agreed to the expansion of ben-efit schemes for jobless and low-income families.

Hours before the deal, pro-testers had gathered at the entrance of the hotel during large May Day rallies in the capital, but riot police blocked them from entering the building.

The European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European financial insti-tutions welcomed the agree-ment and noted that “the Greek authorities have confirmed their intention to swiftly implement this policy package.”

They said in a statement that the deal “will now be comple-mented by further discussions in the coming weeks on a cred-ible strategy for ensuring that Greece’s debt is sustainable.”

EU Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said “it is time to turn the page on this long and difficult austerity chapter for the Greek people. With this agree-ment, we need now to write a new story of stability, jobs and growth for Greece and for the euro area as a whole.”

Tsipras’ government, which rose to power on an anti-bailout platform, had initially aimed at finalizing the current round of negotiations with creditors last December.

Greece, creditors agree new

bailout terms


LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on contract talks for TV and film writers:

The Writers Guild of America says the tentative deal reached early Tuesday will cover its television and film writers for three years if ratified by its members.

The guild released a one-sen-tence statement confirming the deal and its length. There were no details on the terms of the agreement, or how it addressed compensation and health care issues that had been the major sticking points of this contract’s negotiations.

The deal’s announcement came more than 90 minutes after the previous contract expired. Pickets could have started Tuesday morning, immediately sending late night talk shows into reruns and eventually impacting scripted series and feature films in development.

The previous writers’ strike occurred nearly 10 years ago and gradually took a wider toll on Hollywood TV and movie production and the California economy.

A spokesman for film and television producers says a ten-tative deal has been reached with writers, averting a costly strike that would have blacked out popular television shows.

Producers’ spokesman Jarryd Gonzales confirmed the

agreement early Tuesday, but no further details were immedi-ately available.

The two sides held to a media blackout during negotiations. The issues at stake include com-pensation and health care.

The previous writers’ strike occurred nearly 10 years ago and immediately sent late-night talks shows into reruns. It grad-ually took a wider toll on Holly-wood TV and movie production and the California economy.

The contract for TV and film writers is now expired, with no indication if talks will continue or if a strike is imminent.

The current agreement between the Writers Guild of America and producers ended at midnight Tuesday. The guild, with authorization from its members to immediately call for a walkout, issued no imme-diate statement.

There also was no comment from the producers’ alliance.

The two sides have held to a media blackout during nego-tiations and declined to provide updates on how far apart they are. The issues at stake include compensation and health care.

The previous writers’ strike occurred nearly 10 years ago and immediately sent late-night talks shows into reruns. It grad-ually took a wider toll on Holly-wood TV and movie production and the California economy.

The Latest: Tentative

writers deal will be for

3 years


EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITYPosition Title: DEVELOPMENTAL ENGLISH INSTRUCTOR Employment Status: Full Time 10 months (Career Service)General Description: The instructor will report directly to the College Accelerated Preparatory (CAPP) Chairperson under the overall supervision of the Dean of Academic Affairs. The department provides effective instruction and curriculum leadership. In addition to teaching the assigned courses, the instructor will contribute to the overall development and success of departmental initiatives promoting instructional quality.Job Duties and Responsibilities:• Collect, prepare and present instructional materials for all assigned subjects to be taught.• Prepare and distribute course syllabi/outlines for each course during the first week of instruction.• Teach a full instructional course load of 15 credit hours or 225 instructional contact hours per semester.

However, loads may vary between 12 and 16 credit hours per semester.• Prepare and distribute a comprehensive syllabi for all courses taught in a timely manner as requested

by Academic Affairs• Teach each class as scheduled and supervise examinations, field trips, internships, service learning

activities and practicum.• Maintain attendance and scholastic records and submit the required records to the Admissions and

Records Office at the assigned date every semester/session.• Develop, implement, and assess Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for each course taught.• Share data on SLOs collected from courses taught with the department and other college stakeholders,

and provide recommendations for improvement of student learning.• Participate in the different levels of SLO review, program review, and student assessment.• Academically advise students regarding their chosen program of study.• Provide students with information on careers, academic referrals, and transfer opportunities.• Assist with the registration process; participate in faculty orientation, commencement exercises, and

professional development activities.• Post and maintain a class schedule and office hours for student assistance.• Provide safety measures and fully exercise the enforcement of these measures in the classroom.• Actively participate and contribute to college committees and extracurricular functions.• Observe and enforce all ASCC rules and regulations.• Perform other duties as may be required by the Department Chairperson, Dean of Academic Affairs,

or the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. Minimum Qualifications:• Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in English as a Second Language.• Must have at least three (3) years of teaching experience in developmental English at a two or

four year college.• Must demonstrate knowledge in curriculum development, and have good analytical and

interpersonal skills. • Must also be computer literate (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.)Salary: Salary will be commensurate with degree and experience.Application Deadline: May 05, 2017 no later than 4:00pm.Applications are available from American Samoa Community College, Human Resources Office 699-9155 Ext. 428/441/429, http://www.amsamoa.edu/employmentopportunities.html or by emailing [email protected].



FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2007, file photo, striking writers walk the picket line outside Paramount Studiosin Los Angeles. The clock is ticking on negotiations between television and film writers and producers before their contract expires. A strike could begin Tuesday, May 2, 2017, forcing writers to begin picketing. The previous writers’ strike lasted 100 days in 2007-08 and was costly to the businesses that serve Hollywood and to consumers expecting to be entertained. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

where citizens complain of already low wages. After just seven months, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman last week issued a decree reinstating public sector perks in an effort “to provide comfort to Saudi citizens.”

The IMF argues that gov-ernments can allocate more to social welfare programs by lim-iting subsidies that benefit the wealthy. “If we free some of those resources and we use them into productive capital spending or we use them to mitigate some of the social implication of the adjustment, I think it will do good both for the economy, in terms of creating more jobs, as well as also it will protect the poor,” Azour said.

Oil importing countries, such

as Egypt, have been somewhat buoyed by the lower oil prices, but economic growth continues to be hampered by security con-cerns and regional conflicts.

Egypt secured a $12 bil-lion loan from the IMF in November. To qualify for the loan, Egypt had to reduce subsi-dies and float its local currency, pushing inflation above 25 per-cent on basic food items, trans-port, housing, and even some essential medicines.

Meanwhile, the IMF reported noted that Iran has done well in recovering economically since some sanctions were lifted. The country is expected to see non-oil growth accelerate from under 1 percent in 2016 to almost 3.5 percent in 2017.

➧ IMF says more reforms …Continued from page 11


In this photo taken Feb. 15, 2017, anesthesiologist Dr. Ron Samet performs an ultrasound-guided nerve block at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Bathing the nerves responsible for certain types of pain in a numbing drug allows many patients to avoid or reduce use of potentially addictive painkillers after surgery, one way hospitals are reducing their own dependence on opioids.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

BALTIMORE (AP) — A car crash shattered Stuart Anders’ thigh, leaving pieces of bone sticking through his skin. Yet Anders begged emergency room doctors not to give him powerful opioid painkillers — he’d been addicted once before and panicked at the thought of relapsing.

“I can’t lose what I worked for,” he said.

The nation’s opioid crisis is forcing hospitals to begin rolling out non-addictive alternatives to treatments that have long been the mainstay for the severe pain of trauma and surgery, so they don’t save patients’ lives or limbs only to have them fall under the grip of addiction.

Anders, 53, from Essex, Maryland, was lucky to land in a Baltimore emergency room offering an option that dramati-cally cut his need for opioids: An ultrasound-guided nerve block bathed a key nerve in local anesthetic, keeping his upper leg numb for several days.

“It has really changed the dynamics of how we care for these patients,” said trauma anesthesiologist Dr. Ron Samet, who treated Anders.

An estimated 2 million people in the U.S. are addicted to prescription opioids, and an average of 91 Americans die every day from an overdose of those painkillers or their illicit cousin, heroin.

This grim spiral often starts in the hospital. A Harvard study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February raised the troubling prospect that for every 48 patients newly pre-

scribed an opioid in the emer-gency room, one will use the pills for at least six months over the next year. And the longer they’re used, the higher the risk for becoming dependent.

Doctors and hospitals around the country are searching for ways to relieve extreme pain while at the same time sharply limiting what was long consid-ered their most effective tool. It’s a critical part of the effort to overcome the worst addic-tion crisis in U.S. history but, as Anders’ experience shows, their options are neither simple nor perfect.

Anders’ excruciating injury eventually did require a low opioid dose when the nerve block wore off but, Samet said, far less than normal.

“Provide them with good pain relief initially, for the first 24 to 48 hours after surgery, the pain that comes back after that isn’t necessarily as hard and as strong,” said Samet, an assistant anesthesiology professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

And some doctors are dis-covering an added benefit of cutting back or even eliminating opioids. At the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a program called “enhanced recovery after surgery” is get-ting some patients home two to four days faster following major abdominal operations, using non-opioid painkillers that are gentler on the digestive tract.

“Our patients are very afraid of pain, especially the patients with a history of opioid addic-tion,” said Dr. Jennifer Holder-

Murray, a UPMC colorectal sur-geon who helped start the pro-gram. “When they come back to me and tell me they didn’t even fill their opioid prescription, that’s a remarkable experience.”

In trauma centers and surgery suites, there are no one-size-fits-all replacements for prescription opioids — narcotic painkillers that range from intravenous morphine and Dilaudid to pills including Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin. They so rapidly dull severe pain that they’ve become a default in hospital care, to the point where it’s not uncommon for patients to have an opioid dripping through an IV before they wake from sur-gery, whether they’ll really need it or not.

Now, amid surging deaths from drug overdoses, some hospitals and emergency rooms are rethinking their own depen-dence on the painkillers, taking steps to make them a last resort rather than a starting reflex.

The new approach: Mixing a variety of different medications,

along with techniques like nerve blocks, spinal anesthesia and numbing lidocaine, to attack pain from multiple directions, rather than depending solely on opioids to dampen brain signals that scream “ouch.” It’s known by the wonky name “multi-modal analgesia.”

Consider colorectal surgery, so painful that standard practice is to administer IV opioids in the operating room and switch to a patient-activated morphine pump right afterward. The Uni-versity of Pittsburgh program ended that opioid-first mentality. Instead, doctors choose from a wide mix of options including IV acetaminophen and prescrip-tion-strength anti-inflammatory painkillers known as NSAIDs, anti-seizure medications such as gabapentin that calm nerve pain, muscle-relaxing drugs, and others.

Without the opioid side effects of nausea, vomiting and constipation, patients may find it easier to start eating solid food and walking around hours after surgery. Some do still need a low opioid dose, Holder-Murray cautioned, but few require a morphine pump. And for those who go home earlier, the approach can save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars.

“It’s not just changing a medication or two. It’s a whole culture change,” she said.

At MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, anesthe-siologist Dr. Joseph Myers is adding to his non-opioid cock-tail a long-acting version of the numbing agent bupivacaine that’s squirted into wounds before they’re stitched closed. Called Exparel, it’s controver-sial because it costs more than standard painkillers. But Myers said it lasts so many hours longer that he recently used it for a cancer patient who had both breasts removed, without resorting to opioids.

Hours after surgery, she was “eating crackers and drinking ginger ale and she says she’s fine,” he recalled.

At Stanford University, pain psychologist Beth Darnall says it’s not just about using different medications. Patients who are overly anxious about surgical pain wind up feeling worse, so

doctors also need to address psychological factors if they’re to succeed in cutting the opioids.

In Baltimore, Anders remem-bers waking up in the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center and telling doctors and nurses, “I am a recovering addict.” Years earlier, another car crash had led him to a pain clinic that prescribed Percocet “just like candy,” Anders said.

Before getting addiction treatment, he said, “I came close to losing my job, losing my wife.”

Samet, the anesthesiologist, estimates that Anders’ nerve block cut by tenfold the amount of opioids he’d otherwise have received for his latest injury. Samet wheeled over a portable ultrasound machine, placed a probe over Anders’ pelvis and searched the black-and-white screen for the dots that mark key nerves. He threaded a tiny tube directly to Anders’ femoral nerve, allowing for repeated infusions of a non-addictive numbing medication for three days.

“It’s like a Godsend. If you can have something like this, why would you want to take anything else?,” Anders said a day after surgeons implanted a rod in his femur to fix the break. “I can wiggle my toes, I can move my foot, there’s feeling right above the ankle,” but in that damaged thigh, “I can’t feel anything.”

Patients need to ask about these kinds of alternatives, Samet said, but they’re not available at all hospitals. Nerve blocks are becoming more common for elective bone sur-gery than in fast-paced trauma care, for example.

What Samet calls a lingering weak link: Even if patients go home with only a small supply of an opioid for lingering post-surgical pain, too often they get a refill from another doctor who assumes that prescription must be OK if a hospital chose it.

Not Anders. Sent home with some low-dose oxycodone, he discarded the last 20 pills.

“I didn’t want them,” he said, “and I didn’t want nobody else getting their hands on them.”

Overcoming Opioids: When pills are a

hospital’s last resort

Tuesday - Saturday 9am to 4pmMondays (Appointments Only)633-0774

in the Pago Plaza - across from ASPA office.

Veronica & Mali Call for an appointment or stop by and see us!!

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KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A Swiss climber acclaimed for his rapid ascents — including scaling dozens of peaks in the Alps in a little more than two months — died Sunday in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal, expedition orga-nizers and officials said.

Ueli Steck died at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse, Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks said. Steck’s body was taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.

Steck’s family said the exact circumstances of his death were still unclear.

“The family is infinitely sad and asks that the media refrain from speculating about his death out of respect and con-sideration for Ueli,” his family said on Steck’s website.

Nepalese mountaineering officials said Monday that Steck’s death was accidental and would not require any spe-cial investigation.

“It was an unfortunate mountaineering accident and we are not planning any spe-cific investigation,” Durga Dutta Dhakal of the Tourism Department said, adding that a police report was being pre-pared and an autopsy would be done.

Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Associa-tion said Steck was climbing alone when he died because his accompanying Sherpa had frostbite.

Steck was planning to climb 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) Mount Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month.

He was the first casualty in the spring mountaineering season in Nepal that began in March and will end in May. Hundreds of foreign climbers are in the Himalayan region to attempt to climb peaks in May when weather is most favorable.

The 40-year-old Steck was one of the most-renowned mountaineers of his genera-tion. He was best known for his speed-climbing, including setting several records for ascending the north face of Eiger, a classic peak in the Bernese Alps that he climbed in two hours and 47 minutes without using a rope.

In 2013, he achieved the first solo climb of the Anna-purna south face in Nepal after almost losing his life in a fall there in 2007. For that he received the “Piolet d’Or” — considered the Oscar of moun-taineering — the following year.

In 2015, Steck decided to climb all 82 peaks in the Alps higher than 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) traveling between mountains by foot, bike and paraglider only. He completed the feat in 62 days, helping cement his reputation as the “Swiss Machine.”

Steck once said he con-sidered himself an “outsider” in the mountaineering scene because athletic achievement was more important to him than adventure.

In a recent post on his web-site, Steck mused about the transience of success in moun-taineering and the inevitable decline that comes with age.

“A record is broken again and again, and the world keeps on turning,” he wrote. “You are getting older and there comes a time when you have to adjust your projects to your age.”

Steck suffered a setback during his last trip to Everest, in 2013, when he became involved in a violent alter-cation with a group of local guides. On his return this year, he aimed to perform a quick climb of Everest and Lhotse, including an overnight stop at more than 8,000 meters, an altitude that’s known as the “death zone” because the dan-gerously thin air reduces the human body’s performance to 20 percent of its normal rate.

Asked about the upcoming expedition, Steck told Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger in an interview last month: “When I’m on Everest I can stop at any point. The risk is there-fore quite small. For me it’s primarily a physical project. Either I get through, or I don’t have the strength for the whole traversal.”

“Of course I want to climb Everest and Lhotse,” Steck told the paper when asked about his measure of success. “But that’s a very high goal. Failure for me would be to die and not come home.”

Famed Swiss climber killed near Mount

Everest in Nepal

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump opened the door to a future meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, offering unusual praise for the globally ostracized leader at a time of surging nuclear tensions.

Although the White House played down near-term pros-pects for such a meeting, Trump’s conciliatory com-ments Monday marked a depar-ture from his more unforgiving tone toward the North in recent weeks. It marked the latest fluctuation as Trump’s admin-istration struggles to articu-late its policy for addressing the growing threat from North Korea’s nuclear program.

“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump told Bloomberg News.

Clearly aware of the power of his declaration, he added:

“We have breaking news.”As a presidential candidate,

Trump suggested he was open to meeting Kim, but hadn’t repeated the line since taking office. Fresh missile tests by the North and its progress toward developing a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the United States have made the isolated communist dictatorship one of America’s top national security concerns.

Deeming President Barack Obama’s “strategic patience” with North Korea a total failure, Trump and his aides say they’re taking a more aggressive approach, at times warning of potential military confronta-tion if the North doesn’t change course. The U.S. has even raised the possibility of a pre-emptive strike if Pyongyang conducts another nuclear test.

Yet on other occasions, Trump’s administration has

dangled carrots. It has spoken of restarting negotiations with the North and even suggested resuming food aid to North Korea once it starts dismantling its nuclear and missile programs.

On one point, at least, Trump and his team have been consistently clear: A solution requires involvement by China, the North’s biggest economic partner. Trump is hoping China can pressure the North into a peaceful denuclearization. The administration of President Barack Obama unsuccessfully sought the same objective for years.

Trump’s suggestion of admi-ration for Kim, however, is something entirely new.

He noted that Kim assumed office in his 20s and has held power despite efforts by “a lot of people” to take it away.

“So obviously, he’s a pretty smart cookie,” Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an inter-view that aired Sunday.

Tasked with explaining Trump’s flattery, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said there would be no meeting with the secretive North Korean leader until circumstances were right and numerous conditions met. He said Kim should have to alter his government’s behavior and “show signs of good faith.”

“Clearly, conditions are not there right now,” Spicer said.

But echoing Trump’s gentler tone, Spicer said Kim had “man-aged to lead a country forward” from a young age. Spicer didn’t mention that under Kim, North Korea’s government remains strictly authoritarian and dis-sent isn’t tolerated. Much of the country is impoverished and malnourished.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has urged a tough approach to North Korea, warned that Trump would be legitimizing Kim by granting a meeting to the leader of a brutal regime.

“The only time he should meet with him is to get the details of how North Korea will abandon their nuclear weapons program,” McCain told reporters.

Trump’s musings about a potential meeting with Kim were reminiscent of Obama’s declaration during his 2008 campaign that he’d be willing to meet without pre-condition with the leaders of North Korea, Iran, Cuba and other nations long at odds with the U.S. Republicans and Obama’s Democratic oppo-nent, Hillary Clinton, criticized Obama for that statement. As president, Obama ultimately spoke by phone with Iran’s leader and traveled to Cuba amid an historic detente with the island nation.

The U.S. maintains no dip-lomatic relations with North Korea and the two countries are technically at war, as the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended without a peace treaty.

THANK YOU - FA’AFETAI TELE LAVAAmerican Samoa Volleyball Federation

What a success! American Samoa Volleyball Federation has completed its first annual Flag Day League followed with 2017 Flay Day Volleyball tournament.

It’s so rewarding to have our children, youths and adults to participate in competition at their level. Especially, when the fans are kept in excitement, nail biters, on their toes and exhausted from cheering fo their favorite teams. But at the end, they sang with satisfaction in our language Ua faafetai, ua faafetai, ua malie mata e vaai. They were well entertained by teams from Tumua ma Pule (Upolu and Savaii), Aloha State (Hawaii), Seattle, Washington and American Samoa. It is with the utmost respect and humble in our hearts from our Board members and committee to say Thank you very much to our Sponsors and Government Offices. Your generous donations and support made these events a memorable and successful one for our people who traveled from different parts of the world as well as for people of American Samoa. We apologize if we have missed to mention anyone, it was not our intention.

Sponsors and Donations from ASG, Individuals, Businesses and Companies:American Samoa Government - Governor''s Office American Samoa Government - Immigration OfficeAmerican Samoa Government - Department of Youth and Women Affairs American Samoa Community College American Samoa Visitors Bureau McDonald's McConnell Dowell South Pacific Distributors Lima Fesoasoani Pago Pago Trading Company Tutuila StoreTutuila Printing Manu'a Store Liza MameaFaaumuumu Fenika & Gogosina

Teams who participated in the 2017 Flag Day League & Flag Day TournamentTeams from Samoa:• Women team Falaula Eagles from Leauvaa• Women team Lupe o le Suaga from Magiagi• Men team Uimaiama Boys from Samatau• Men team Fagalii Boys from Fagalii• Men team Lona Youth from Lona, Fagaloa

• Men & Women teams from Hawaii• Men & Women teams from Seattle, WaAmerican Samoa Teams:• Men & Women Amouli Youth teams from Amouli• Men & Women Matalasi Volleyball Team from Petesa• Men & Women Aigatasi Volleyball Teams from Sailele• Men & Women Sideout Volleyball Team from Iliili• Men & Women Lepuataunofo Volleyball Teams from Leloaloa• Men & Women Saumalu Volleyball Teams from Aasu• Men & Women ASCC College Teams• Women BTI Volleyball Team from Nuuuli• Women All For One Volleyball Team from Laulii• Men Sinapi Volleyball Team from Failolo• Men CTR Volleyball Team from Faleniu• Men Aliitaoso Volleyball Teams from Kokoland• Men Annex Boys Teams from Malaloa• Men Lototasi Boys Team from Aua• Men Mataava Boys Teams from Amouli• Men Saualii Boys Team from Fagamalo• Men Street Boys Team from Fagatogo• Men Fetu o le Afiafi Team from Fagaalu• Men Manuula Heat Boys Team from Vatia• Men Tanoa Boys Team• Originals “Queens” TUPULAGA MO A TAEAO - Elementary Divisions:• Annex boys and girls volleyball teams from Fagatogo, coach Ben Sauvao• Saumalu boys and girls volleyball teams from Aasu, coach Kolio Lea’e• Iliili boys volleyball team from Iliili, coach Faalialia Mauigoa• Measina volleyball club, coach Lydia Faleafine-Nomura

Trump says he could meet with North Korea’s leader

President Donald Trump speaks in the Kennedy Garden of the White House in Washington, Monday, May 1, 2017, to the Inde-pendent Community Bankers Association. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Documents

DAILY CIRCULATION 7,000 ASCC hosts Some 10 months after