Call for Cooperation

NATION WORLD HEALTH Venezuelan president Israel takes step Fitness enthusiasts find threatens Trump toward emergency ways to work out while after drug charge government they can’t go to the gym Page 11 Page 12 Page 16 Sports equipment makers shift to safety gear » Back page Volume 78, No. 245A ©SS 2020 CONTINGENCY EDITION SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2020 stripes.com Free to Deployed Areas Staff Sgt. Clayton Wright, of Montrose, Colo., CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK screens people entering the hospital at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo to help prevent the spread of coronavirus Thursday. THERON GODBOLD/Stars and Stripes Call for cooperation Air Force orders Tokyo personnel to stay close to home; governor says city is in ‘critical phase’ Page 4 RELATED Army to start seeing patients Containment a struggle as cases British PM Johnson Get the latest on the STORIES at NYC field hospital Monday soar around Stuttgart community tests positive for virus virus and the military Page 5 Page 6 Page 8 stripes.com/coronavirus Political turmoil in Kabul dogs negotiations with Taliban BY KATHY GANNON Gold Star families hold out The deal calls for the eventual with- gency visit to Kabul this week. AND TAMEEM AKHGAR drawal of all 13,000 U.S. troops from Af- Pompeo held talks with Ghani and Associated Press hope for peace in Afghanistan ghanistan in exchange for guarantees from Abdullah, who has also declared himself Page 3 the Taliban to fight other militant groups, president in a parallel inauguration cer- KABUL, Afghanistan — After months including Islamic State. The deal has been emony this month, but made no headway of deliberation, Afghan President Ashraf touted as Afghanistan’s best chance yet of in reconciling the two. Washington subse- Ghani on Friday announced his 21-mem- peded each tentative step toward negotia- ending its relentless wars. quently said it would cut $1 billion in as- ber team to negotiate peace with the Tal- tions with the Taliban — negotiations that Ghani and his opponent, Abdullah sistance to Afghanistan if the two leaders iban, only to have his political opponent are supposed to come next under a peace Abdullah, have been locked in a power couldn’t “get their act together.” reject it as not inclusive enough. deal that Washington signed with the in- struggle that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Afghanistan’s political turmoil has im- surgents last month. Pompeo could not resolve during his emer- SEE KABUL ON PAGE 3 PAGE 2 •STARS AND STRIPES• Saturday, March 28, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES Stocks surge again as relief package nears passage Military rates Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9625 Euro costs (March 30) ......................... $1.07 Thailand (Baht) .....................................32.60 Dollar buys (March 30) ....................€0.8852 Turkey (Lira) .........................................6.4482 British pound (March 30) ....................$1.20 (Military exchange rates are those Associated Press day because Wall Street knew the response to these numbers may Japanese yen (March 30) ..................108.00 available to customers at military banking South Korean won (March 30) ......1,186.00 bad news on unemployment was differ than what people might Commercial rates facilities in the country of issuance NEW YORK — Stocks marched for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3767 coming, analysts said, and the expect.” Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For higher for a third straight day British pound .....................................$1.2242 Senate finally passed a $2.2 tril- Despite the big gains, the S&P nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., Friday as a massive coronavirus Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.4115 lion economic aid package as part 500 remains 22% below its Feb- China (Yuan) ........................................ 7.0959 purchasing British pounds in Germany), relief bill moved closer to passing of an astonishing amount of sup- ruary high and analysts expect Denmark (Krone) ................................6.7943 check with your local military banking Congress and Wall Street took Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.7526 facility. Commercial rates are interbank port by politicians and the Fed- more dire economic headlines, Euro ........................................ $1.0982/0.9106 rates provided for reference when buying some historically bad unemploy- eral Reserve. and market turbulence, in the Hong Kong (Dollar) ............................. 7.7518 currency. All figures are foreign currencies ment figures in stride. “There is no sugar coating days ahead. Hungary (Forint) .................................323.73 to one dollar, except for the British pound, Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.5893 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, The S&P 500 rose 6.2%, bring- these numbers — they are bad,” Companies are also expected Japan (Yen) ...........................................108.48 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) ing its three-day rally to 17.6%. said Jamie Cox, managing part- to report discouraging results as Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3090 INTEREST RATES The Dow industrials have risen ner for Harris Financial Group. earnings season begins. Very few Norway (Krone) .................................10.5958 Philippines (Peso)................................. 51.12 Prime rate ................................................3.25 an even steeper 21.3% since “Markets have had several days have dared to issue forecasts cap- Poland (Zloty) ..........................................4.13 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 Monday. to digest what everyone knew was turing how big a hit the virus will Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ...........................3.7568 Federal funds market rate ................... 0.10 Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.4343 3-month bill .............................................0.00 The market shot higher Thurs- coming; therefore, the market inflict on their profits. South Korea (Won) ..........................1,225.78 30-year bond ...........................................1.39 WEATHER OUTLOOK SATURDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SATURDAY IN EUROPE SUNDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 42/36 Kabul 54/36 Seoul 51/29 Baghdad 78/62 Kandahar 67/45 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 50/29 42/36 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 49/38 52/34 52/41 Iwakuni 51/47 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 77/73 Brussels 53/35 Guam 72/67 55/43 Ramstein 56/49 81/78 Lajes, 56/41 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 93/67 86/72 59/56 55/37 57/36 Aviano/ Vicenza 56/39 Naples 57/46 Okinawa Morón 69/66 63/46 Sigonella Rota 54/41 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 85/78 61/52 61/54 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 19 Comics ...................... 17 Crossword ................. 17 Health & Fitness ........ 16 Lifestyle ................14-15 Opinion ..................... 18 Sports ...................21-24 Video Games ..............13 Saturday, March 28, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• PAGE 3 MIDEAST Gold Star families hopeful for Afghan peace BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN Stars and Stripes KABUL, Afghanistan — For- mer Marine Javier Gutierrez says he often prays that his son’s death on the battlefield in Afghanistan will be the last an American family must bear. Sgt. 1st Class Javier J. Guti- errez, 28, of San Antonio, who shared his father’s name but went by Jaguar — his middle name — was one of two American sol- diers killed in early February. His death came weeks before the U.S. and the Taliban signed a deal Feb. 29 that could lead to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan by next spring. Legna Aponte Hundreds have already returned home. Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz, 34, from Morovis, Puerto Rico, Some critics have warned that holds his son, Jacknel Barreto-Aponte, now 4. the Taliban would rise to power after foreign forces leave, threat- teen, Jaguar Gutierrez frequently ening U.S. national security and talked about joining the military undermining what U.S. troops like his dad, a former Marine sacrificed. Domestic politics, combat engineer who served dur- Taliban attacks on Afghan forces ing the Persian Gulf War, and and potential delays caused by great-grandfather, an Army bom- the coronavirus have all emerged bardier during World War II. as challenges to moving ahead He rarely spoke about the war with the accord, though the op- that was raging in Afghanistan, posing Afghan sides, in a sign of his father said. progress, agreed to prisoner ex- U.S. Army Gutierrez’s son Jaguar and changes Thursday. Sgt. Maj. Wardell Turner was Antonio R. Rodriguez — both of Gutierrez, like other Gold Star killed by a roadside bomb in whom were assigned to 3rd Bat- families, has begun to hope that talion, 7th Special Forces Group Javier Gutierrez 2014 in Kabul, Afghanistan. an end to the conflict is in sight. (Airborne) — were the last American troops to die in combat “It’s influenced my perspec- Javier Gutierrez, right, poses for a photo with his son Javier Jaguar Wardell Turner, 48, was killed in Afghanistan, when a gunman tive, my son’s death,” Gutierrez Gutierrez, at the Track Family Fun Park in Destin, Fla., during in a roadside bomb blast in the dressed in an Afghan army uni- said during a phone call. “I want Memorial Day weekend in 2018. Afghan capital, about a month form opened fire in eastern Nan- them to come home. I

Load more