Two people died in a fiery plane crash in Maunaloa, Molokai, today, the fourth fatal air incident on or around the island in the last 14 months.

The Cessna 206 propeller plane crashed while en route to the Molokai Airport under unknown circumstances, said Federal Aviation Administrationspokesman Allen Kenitzer.

Molokai Air Traffic Control alerted the Maui Fire Department and local police at 11:15 a.m. that they had lost communication with an aircraft thatwould have been three to four miles west of the airfield when contact was broken.

At 12:12 p.m., firefighters located wreckage of the small private aircraft in a remote location.

“We were able to locate the wreckage in a difficult-to-reach brush area, three to four miles west of the airport just east of the FAA navigational aid —the land-based radio beacon that pilots use to navigate between the islands,” said Maui Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto.

While it was not raining at the time, fire crews reported seeing low cloud ceilings and fog down to the road when they responded to the crash.

Workers from Molokai Ranch opened locked gates so firefighters to access remote areas to search for the aircraft. Roads muddy from recent rainsmade it too difficult for fire trucks to pass so crews used small all-terrain vehicles to reach the crash site.

Firefighters extinguished areas near the site that were still smoldering from a fire that was apparently triggered by the crash.

Taomoto said firefighters and police would remove the bodies from the aircraft and that police would secure the scene until investigators from theFAA and National Transportation Safety Board arrive.

According to NTSB records, there have been two other recent fatal crashes on Molokai.

On Oct. 16, a Robinson helicopter registered to Stasys Aviation Leasing LLC and operated by Hawaii Pacific Aviation doing business asMauna Loa Helicopters crashed. The flight instructor and a commercial pilot receiving instruction were presumed to be fatally injured when debrisfrom the helicopter were observed floating on the water northwest of the shores of Molokai.

On Nov. 16, 2016, a helicopter piloted by prominent Hawaii attorney Gary Galiher crashed on Molokai, killing him and Oahu Realtor Keiko Kuroki.The wreckage was located about 1.3 miles mauka of 793 Kamehameha V Highway, about a half-mile north of Galiher’s property, on a remote slopethick with foliage and inaccessible by foot.

On Dec. 30, 2016, a Cessna 172 headed from Molokai to Oahu disappeared from radar and is presumed to have crashed into the ocean about fourmiles east of Ilio Point with three people aboard. Neither the wreckage nor the bodies of the three aboard — pilot Michael Childers and passengersJohn Mizuno and Whitney Thomas — have been located.

Star-Advertiser Maui stringer Wendy Osher contributed to this report.

Lawrence Cherono and Brigid Kosgei of Kenya repeated as Honolulu Marathon champions today with both setting race records in the 45th running of the event.

Cherono finished the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 27 seconds, taking more than a minute off the record of 2:09:38 he set last year.

“I am happy again because I came here for a second time and breaking a course record is a great achievement to me,” Cherono said.

“I was not expecting (the record), but after the 5 kilometer (mark) I felt like my body was moving so I had to keep up with the pace.”

WIlson Chebet finished in 2:09:55 to place second for the third straight year. Vincent Yator came in third at 2:10:37. Dennis Kimetto, the world record holder in the marathon, fell of the pace early in the race.

Kosgei crossed the finish line at Kapiolani Park at 2:22:15 to smash the previous record of 2:27:19 set by Lyubov Denisova in 2006.

Cherono and Kosgei earned $40,000 for winning the race and another $15,000 for breaking the records.

Chebet broke away from the pack of elite runners about 20 miles into the race, but Cherono answered quickly and opened up a 25-second lead in the 23rd mile.

Cherono, who broke Jimmy Muindi’s 2004 record of 2:11:12 last year, ran alone through Kahala, up the Diamond Head climb and into Kapiolani Park to lower the mark again.

Kosgei pulled away from the pack of three at the 20-kilometer mark and built her lead over the final half of the course. Nancy Kiprop of Kenya was second in 2:29:15 and Joyce Chepkirui of Kenya, the 2014 and 2015 champion, was third in 2:33:17. Kenyan women have won the last four marathon titles.

“I’m happy,” said Kosgei, who was coming off a second-place finish at October’s Chicago Marathon. “I broke the record in Honolulu and because I won again.”

Masazumi Soejima won his fifth straight men’s wheelchair title in 1:39:24 and Wakako Tsuchida repeated as the women’s winner in 1:49:33. Both have won 11 titles in Honolulu.

Top local male finishers were James Jones (kama‘aina, 2:48:24) and Evan De Hart (resident, 2:49:32). Top local female finishers were Polina Carlson (resident, 2:53:16) and Malia Crouse (kama‘aina, 2:58:03).

JERUSALEM >> A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli security guard today at the entrance to Jerusalem’s bustling central bus station, seriously wounding him in the first attack in the volatile city since President Donald Trump recognized it as Israel’s capital.

In Beirut, scores of Lebanese and Palestinian demonstrators clashed with security forces outside the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy over the recognition, while Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo demanded that the United States rescind Trump’s decision, calling it a “grave” development.

The violence came amid days of unrest sparked by Trump’s dramatic announcement Wednesday. The Palestinians staged three “days of rage,” with clashes breaking out in flashpoints around the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

It was not immediately clear whether the bus station attack was motivated by Trump’s move, which upended decades of U.S. foreign policy and drew swift criticism from around the world, including U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East.

Israeli police said the attacker was a 24-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank city of Nablus. Israeli media identified him as Yassin Abu al-Qarah, who posted on his Facebook page in recent days about Jerusalem, writing “our blood is devoted” to the holy city. Comments on his profile called him a hero for allegedly carrying out the Jerusalem attack.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the guard sustained a serious wound to his upper body and the attacker was apprehended.

Israel’s Channel 10 TV news broadcast security camera video showing the attacker removing his jacket near the security gate and then thrusting what looked like a knife into the guard’s chest before fleeing.

Trump’s announcement raised fears about a new wave of violence. Four Palestinians were killed in Gaza in Israeli airstrikes following rocket fire from there and in clashes along the border. In the West Bank, there were dozens of injuries, but no deaths.

Palestinian youths clashed today in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, hurling stones toward Israeli soldiers, who fired back with rubber bullets and tear gas.

There have been more than two years of intermittent attacks in which Palestinians have killed more than 50 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British tourist in stabbings, shootings and car-rammings. Israeli forces have killed more than 260 Palestinians in that time, mostly attackers.

The status of Jerusalem is at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Trump’s move was widely perceived as siding with Israel. Even small crises over Jerusalem and the status of the holy sites in its Old City have brought deadly bloodshed in the past. Trump’s announcement was denounced by critics who suggested he had needlessly stirred more conflict in an already volatile region. Israel captured the eastern sector of the city in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the West Bank and Gaza, territories the Palestinians claim for their future state.

Lebanese security forces broke up the protest outside the U.S. Embassy after demonstrators pelted them with stones. The group gathered hundreds of meters (yards) outside the embassy to reject the move by Trump. After a rowdy start, the protest drew several hundred people and became more peaceful, with demonstrators chanting and singing.

The clashes resumed in the afternoon, with security forces chasing protesters, arresting a handful of them and lobbing tear gas. Lebanon is home to 450,000 Palestinian refugees, nearly 10 percent of the population.

In a resolution long on rhetoric but short on concrete actions, Arab foreign ministers demanded the recognition decision be rescinded and also called for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trump’s decision. They acknowledged that Washington would most likely veto it.

If the U.S. vetoes the resolution, the Arabs would seek a similar resolution in the U.N. General Assembly, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki told a pre-dawn news conference in Cairo.

A two-page resolution adopted by the emergency meeting, which began Saturday night, did not include any punitive actions against the U.S., such as a call for a boycott of American products or changes to ties with Washington.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., defended Trump’s move today, despite the opposition and violence it sparked.

“For those who want to say this is a bad idea, I’ll tell you: Ask us five or 10 years from now if you still think it’s a bad idea. Because I really do think this is going to move the ball in the peace process,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Trump’s move was embraced in Israel as a long overdue acknowledgement of Israel’s seat of parliament and government and the historic capital of the Jewish people dating back 3,000 years. Upon departing for a diplomatic visit to Paris and Brussels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared to respond to critics.

“While I respect Europe, I am not prepared to accept a double standard from it. I hear voices from there condemning President Trump’s historic statement but I have not heard condemnations of the rockets fired at Israel or the terrible incitement against it,” he said. “I am not prepared to accept this hypocrisy, and as usual at this important forum I will present Israel’s truth without fear and with head held high.”

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, called for a boycott of Arab businesses in an area where residents took part in violent protests of the U.S. recognition.

Lieberman said the Arabs of Wadi Ara in northern Israel were “not part of us” and that Jewish Israelis should no longer visit their villages and buy their products. Hundreds of Arab citizens of Israel protested Saturday along a major highway in northern Israel, where dozens of masked rioters hurled stones at buses and police vehicles. Three Israelis were wounded and several vehicles were damaged.

Lieberman has long called for Wadi Ara to be included in his proposed swap of lands and populations as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The residents, like many of Israel’s Arab minority, sympathize with the Palestinians of the West Bank and often openly identify with them. But they are also Israeli citizens who largely reject the notion of becoming part of a future Palestinian state.

The comments sparked criticism of racism and collective punishment toward a community of which only a small minority were violent. It also raised questions about how Israel could aggressively oppose international boycott campaigns against it while one of its most senior ministers called for one against its own citizens.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. >> Most Republican leaders in Alabama say they plan to vote for Roy Moore on Tuesday despite sexual misconduct allegations against the former judge that have prompted others around the country to say he should never be allowed to join the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Richard Shelby is an exception — he said today that the “tipping point” in his decision to cast a write-in ballot rather than vote for Moore or Democrat Doug Jones was an allegation that Moore molested a 14-year-old girl decades ago.

But Shelby’s outspokenness against a man who could become his colleague was the exception rather than the rule.

“I have stated both publicly and privately over the last month that unless these allegations were proven to be true I would continue to plan to vote for the Republican nominee, Judge Roy Moore,” Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill wrote in a text message to The Associated Press. “I have already cast my absentee ballot and I voted for Judge Moore.”

The accusations against Moore have left many GOP voters and leaders in a quandary. Voters face the decision of whether to vote for Moore, accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers decades ago when he was a county prosecutor, or sending Jones to Washington, which would narrow the GOP’s already precarious majority in the Senate.

They also could write in a name on their ballots or simply stay home. Meanwhile, most GOP politicians in the state must run for re-election next year — where they will face Moore’s enthusiastic voting base at the polls.

The AP tried to find out how Republican leaders from Alabama plan to vote. Most officeholders or their staffs responded, while others have publicly stated their plans during public appearances or to other media outlets.

However, several officeholders did not respond to calls, emails or texts from the AP. They include U.S. Reps. Martha Roby, Mike Rogers and Gary Palmer, as well as state Treasurer Young Boozer and state House Speaker Mac McCutcheon.

State officeholders who said they intended to vote for Moore often cited the need to keep the seat in Republican hands.

In addition to Merrill, others who plan to vote for Moore include Gov. Kay Ivey; Attorney General Steve Marshall; state Auditor Jim Zeigler; Agriculture Commissioner John McMillan; state Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh; and Public Service Commissioner Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, who previously led the state GOP. Also voting for Moore are current state party head Terry Lathan and U.S. Reps. Mo Brooks of Huntsville and Robert Aderholt of Haleyville.

The state’s most influential politician, Shelby has said he wrote in a “distinguished Republican” on his absentee ballot rather than vote for Moore.

Shelby told CNN today he had to vote Republican as a party officeholder, but he was swayed by a woman’s claims that Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 14.

“There’s a lot of smoke,” said Shelby. “Got to be some fire somewhere.”

Shelby’s decision has played prominently in Jones ads pointing out Republicans who are not voting for their party’s nominee.

CNN reported last month that U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne said he will vote Republican and that he does not cast write-in votes. In a statement to the AP, Byrne said it is up to voters to decide.

“Some serious allegations have been made and Judge Moore has vehemently denied them. Frankly, I don’t think the people of Alabama want me, any national politician, or the national news media telling them what to think or how to vote,” Byrne said in the statement. “The decision is ultimately up to the people of Alabama to evaluate the information they have before them and make an informed decision. We must respect the voters’ decision.”

Sen. Luther Strange, who lost to Moore in the Republican primary, did not respond to a request for comment from AP, but told The Washington Post recently that the election is up to voters.

“I’m staying out of it now. I think everybody knows how I feel about Judge Moore. We made our case and the voters made a different decision,” Strange told the newspaper in a video on its website.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who resigned from the Senate to join the Trump administration, declined to say how he would vote. Moore and Jones are competing for his old job.

“There have been some ads that may have suggested I endorsed a candidate, that is not so,” Sessions said. “I believe that the people of Alabama will make their own decision.”

State party loyalty rules could prohibit a GOP politician, or someone who aspires to be one, from publicly backing Moore’s opponent. The rule says anyone who openly supports another party’s nominee over a Republican could be barred from running as a Republican in the future.

Ivey became governor earlier this year after Robert Bentley resigned amid a sex scandal involving a much younger female political aide. When reached by the AP, Bentley declined to say who he is voting for Tuesday.

Ivey said last month that she has no reason to disbelieve the women who have accused Moore and is bothered by their allegations. But Ivey, who plans to run for governor in 2018, said she will vote for Moore anyway for the sake of GOP power in Congress. Her office did not respond to a request for an updated comment.

Associated Press writers Matthew Daly, Sadie Gurman and Donna Cassata in Washington contributed to this report.

BERLIN >> The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warned today that China allegedly is using social networks to try to cultivate lawmakers and other officials as sources.

Hans-Georg Maassen said his agency, known by its German acronym BfV, believes more than 10,000 Germans have been targeted by Chinese intelligence agents posing as consultants, headhunters or researchers, primarily on the social networking site LinkedIn.

“This is a broad-based attempt to infiltrate in particular parliaments, ministries and government agencies,” Maassen said.

In addition, Chinese hackers increasingly are launching attacks on European companies through trusted suppliers, he alleged.

The BfV established a task force early this year which examined the use of fake profiles on social networks over nine months. The agency provided journalists with what it said were eight of the most prolific fake profiles on LinkedIn used by alleged Chinese spies.

Using names such as Lily Wu, Laeticia Chen or Alex Li, the profiles sport impressive resumes, hundreds of contacts and attractive pictures of young professionals.

The agency also named six organizations it alleged Chinese spies use to cloak their approaches, including one called the Association France Euro-Chine and another named Global View Strategic Consulting.

Messages seeking comment from the organizations weren’t immediately returned.

Maassen warned that Chinese cybergroups also were using so-called “supply-chain attacks” to get around companies’ online defenses.

Such attacks target IT workers and others who work for trusted service providers to send malicious software into the networks of organizations the attackers are interested in.

“The infections are difficult to detect, since network connections between service providers and their customers aren’t suspicious,” the BfV said. “This gives the attacker an even better disguise than before.”

Frank Jordans contributed to this report.

Firefighters responded to a house fire in Maili this morning.

Ten units with 32 fire personnel responded to the 2-alarm fire at 7:49 a.m., located on Paakea Road, according to Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Kevin Mokulehua. The first unit arrived at the scene at 7:55 to find the single-story home fully engulfed in flames, he said.

The fire was brought under control at 8:03 a.m.

There were no injuries reported. Fire officials estimate the damage to the structure at $150,000, which was unoccupied and derelict. An adjacent structure in the same condition suffered an estimated $50,000 in damage.

LOS ANGELES >> A flare-up on the western edge of Southern California’s largest and most destructive wildfire sent residents fleeing today, as wind-fanned flames churned through canyons and down hillsides toward coastal towns.

Crews with help from water-dropping aircraft saved several homes as unpredictable gusts sent the blaze churning deeper into foothill areas northwest of Los Angeles that haven’t burned in decades. New evacuations were ordered in Carpinteria, a seaside city in Santa Barbara County that has been under fire threat for days.

“The winds are kind of squirrely right now,” said county fire spokesman Mike Eliason. “Some places the smoke is going straight up in the air, and others it’s blowing sideways. Depends on what canyon we’re in.”

The department posted a photo of one residence engulfed in flames before dawn. It’s unclear whether other structures burned. Thousands of homes in the county were without power.

Firefighters made significant progress Saturday on other fronts of the enormous fire that started Dec. 4 in neighboring Ventura County. Containment was way up on other major blazes in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties.

Forecasters said Santa Ana winds that whipped fires across the region last week were expected to die down later today — but not before creating possible gusts topping 50 mph (80 kph).

A lack of rain has officials on edge statewide because of parched conditions and no end in sight to the typical fire season.

“This is the new normal,” Gov. Jerry Brown warned Saturday after surveying damage from the deadly Ventura fire. “We’re about ready to have firefighting at Christmas. This is very odd and unusual.”

High fire risk is expected to last into January and the governor and experts said climate change is making it a year-round threat.

Overall, the fires have destroyed nearly 800 homes and other buildings, killed dozens of horses and forced more than 200,000 people to flee flames that have burned over 270 square miles (700 square kilometers) since Dec. 4. One death, so far, a 70-year-old woman who crashed her car on an evacuation route, is attributed to the fire in Santa Paula, a small city where the fire began.

The Ventura County blaze continued to burn into rugged mountains in the Los Padres National Forest near the little town of Ojai and toward a preserve established for endangered California condors.

As fires burned in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, firefighters were already in place north of San Diego on Thursday when a major fire erupted and rapidly spread in the Fallbrook area, known for its avocado groves and horse stables in the rolling hills.

The fire swept through the San Luis Rey Training Facility, where it killed more than 40 elite thoroughbreds and destroyed more than 100 homes — most of them in a retirement community. Three people were burned trying to escape the fire that continued to smolder today.

Most of last week’s fires were in places that burned in the past, including one in the ritzy Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel-Air that burned six homes and another in the city’s rugged foothills above the community of Sylmar and in Santa Paula.

Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in Fallbrook and Brian Melley and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

MOSCOW >> A survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima compared her struggle to survive in 1945 to the objectives of the group awarded this year’s Nobel’s Peace Prize during a formal presentation today.

Setsuko Thurlow, who was 13 years old when the U.S. bomb devastated her Japanese city during the final weeks of World War II, spoke in Oslo, Norway as a leading activist with the Nobel-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Thurlow said the Hiroshima blast left her buried under the rubble, but she was able to see light and crawl to safety. In the same way, the campaign she is part of now is a driving force behind an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons, she said after ICAN received the Nobel prize it won in October.

“Our light now is the ban treaty,” Thurlow said. “I repeat those words that I heard called to me in the ruins of Hiroshima: ‘Don’t give up. Keep pushing. See the light? Crawl toward it.’”

The treaty has been signed by 56 countries — none of them nuclear powers — and ratified by only three. To become binding it requires ratification by 50 countries.

ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn, who accepted the prize along with Thurlow, said that while the treaty is far from ratification “now, at long last, we have an unequivocal norm against nuclear weapons.”

“This is the way forward. There is only one way to prevent the use of nuclear weapons — prohibit and eliminate them,” Fihn said.

The other Nobel laureates announced in October — winners of the literature, physics, chemistry, medicine and economics prizes — were to receive their awards today in Stockholm.

CLEVELAND >> The Green Bay Packers came back to set the stage for Aaron Rodgers’ comeback.

Brett Hundley threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams in overtime as the Packers rallied from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter for a 27-21 win today over the Cleveland Browns, who remain winless.

Cleveland fell to 0-13 and made too many crucial mistakes to break into the win column.

On third-and-6, Hundley threw a short pass to Adams, who broke a tackle and went in untouched with 5:05 left as the Packers (7-6) won in overtime for the second straight week — and third time this season. The Packers have stayed alive in the playoff race without Rodgers, who has been out since Oct. 15 with a broken collarbone but is expected to play next Sunday.

It was another devastating loss for the Browns (0-13). Green Bay’s TD came after safety Josh Jones intercepted Browns rookie DeShone Kizer, who inexplicably threw the ball up for grabs while being pressured by Clay Matthews.

Down 21-14 heading into the fourth period, the Packers, who beat Tampa Bay last week in overtime, rallied on Hundley’s 1-yard TD pass to Adams with 17 seconds left in regulation. A 65-yard punt return by Trevor Davis set up Green Bay’s score, which came after Hundley was ruled down inside the 1 after an apparent 6-yard scoring run. Out of timeouts, coach Mike McCarthy elected not to risk a run and Hundley rifled his pass into the corner for Adams, who beat Jason McCourty on the play.

Hundley’s tight spiral was reminiscent of so many thrown by Rodgers, who practiced in pads this week and can now come back and finish a season that took a dramatic turn when he was slammed to the turf seven weeks ago.

Hundley finished 35 of 46 with three touchdowns and made the big plays when he had to against the lowly Browns.

Cleveland was in position to run out the clock before overtime but rookie tight end David Njoku dropped a key third-down pass. Cleveland’s punt team couldn’t bring down Davis, who weaved his way to the Browns 25.

Kizer threw three touchdown passes, one to Josh Gordon, and went 20 of 28 for 214 yards. But he’ll be haunted by the late pick, rolling to his left and trying to throw against his body while Matthews closed in.

For the second year in a row, the Browns are three losses from joining the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only teams to go 0-16. Cleveland was 0-14 last year before beating the Chargers on Christmas Eve. Cleveland’s heartbreaking loss closed a turbulent week: The team fired Sashi Brown, its top front office executive, and owner Jimmy Haslam said coach Hue Jackson will return next season.

Isaiah Crowell rushed for 121 yards on 19 carries. Gordon, playing his first home game since Dec. 14, 2014, had three catches for 69 yards and caught an 18-yard TD pass in the first quarter that he celebrated by putting on sunglasses.

Green Bay pulled within 21-14 early in the fourth on rookie Jamaal Williams’ second touchdown.

Kizer’s 7-yard TD shovel pass to Duke Johnson gave the Browns a 14-7 lead in the second quarter.

GORDON’S CONTRIBUTION

After missing some scoring opportunities last week in Los Angeles, Gordon was confident he and Kizer would connect against the Packers. They did just that on Cleveland’s first play, hooking up for 38 yards. Moments later, Kizer threaded a perfect pass over the middle to Gordon, who made a leaping catch in the end zone for his first TD since Dec. 15, 2013. When he returned to the sideline, Gordon pulled off his helmet and put on a pair of dark sunglasses, then strutted in celebration before hugging Jackson.

OPENING ACT

They had to fake a punt to keep their first offensive drive going, but the Packers scored their league-leading seventh touchdown on their opening possession.

HALFWAY HOME

Cleveland’s halftime lead was its second this season, and first on American soil. The Browns led the Vikings 13-12 at halftime of their Oct. 29 game in London before losing 33-16.

INJURIES

Packers: CB Davon House was carted off in the fourth quarter with a back injury. House’s feet got tangled and he fell hard to the turf. … TE Lance Kendricks returned after sustaining a jaw injury in the third quarter.

UP NEXT

Packers: At Carolina Dec. 17

Browns: Host Baltimore in their final home game Sunday.

LAS VEGAS >> A lifelike network of twisting tree roots emerges from the ceiling and branches out into the lobby featuring green, earthy accents, crystal chandeliers and soon, work from British Pop Art legend David Hockney. Steps away from the check-in desk, Pablo Picasso artwork graces a South of France-inspired restaurant.

Not one slot machine is within sight of the lobby at this Las Vegas casino-hotel.

With a robust art collection, rooms with a residential feel and an overall romantic atmosphere that contrasts sharply with the city’s stereotypical glitz, the Monte Carlo is being transformed from an antiquated midlevel property taking up prime real estate on the Las Vegas Strip into the upscale Park MGM casino-hotel.

The redesign is aimed at attracting younger, affluent visitors who favor modern aesthetics over kitschy themes and who travel to Sin City for its countless entertainment options, not necessarily to gamble.

Monte Carlo owner MGM Resorts International partnered with New York hotelier Sydell Group for the ongoing $450 million overhaul that will result in two hotels.

Park MGM will retain 2,700 rooms, while about 290 rooms and suites in the existing hotel’s top floors will be transformed into NoMad Las Vegas, a version of Sydell Group’s New York City flagship property by the same name.

Guests are already being assigned renovated Park MGM rooms, which feature a cozy nook with a picture window and built-in settee, eclectic artwork like framed photographs and postcards, and red or green accent walls. Gone are the patterned carpet and drapes, cream-colored walls and generic hotel furniture sets.

“At the heart of what we do is we like to create a sense of community, a sense of warmth, almost like a residential feel,” Sydell CEO Andrew Zobler recently told The Associated Press. “We create a place where you go and you kind of feel at home.”

The company expects to have 90 percent of the rooms overhauled by next week.

The site is the most centrally located among MGM’s Strip properties, catty-cornered to the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena and near the complex that includes the luxury Aria casino-hotel. But over time, the 21-year-old Monte Carlo, which was originally modeled after Monaco’s famous Place du Casino, became the operator’s least recognizable Las Vegas brand.

“It was not living up to its potential based on its real estate,” said Alex Bumazhny, gambling analyst with Fitch Ratings. “MGM is doing the right thing by redeveloping both in terms of return on investment and having better flow of traffic of people going through their most prized corridor.”

Other Las Vegas hotels that have been rebranded have seen strong results, Bumazhny said.

The new hotels will anchor an MGM-developed section of the Strip that features the arena, a theater and a leafy outdoor pedestrian area with restaurants. The French-inspired restaurant and a steakhouse are already seating diners. Eataly, a popular Italian food emporium, will open next year.

Park MGM is expected to be finished in the first half of 2018, while the entire overhaul will be completed later that year.

Weekday rates for a renovated room currently start at $88 as construction is still ongoing and sections of the casino are blocked off.

During an earnings call with investors last month, MGM Resorts Chief Operating Officer Corey Sanders said that after a transition period, the company plans to set Park MGM’s rates “right around or above” the rates of the Mirage ($113 per weekday night) and MGM Grand ($111.60 per weekday night) casino-hotels.

“We think there’s an opportunity from the Park MGM perspective to hit that sweet spot,” he said. “The NoMad will be more on the higher end and should be priced with some of the luxury properties.”

Officials are reporting that a plane crash early this afternoon in Maunaloa, Molokai, has left two dead.

The aircraft, a Cessna 206, crashed while inbound to the Molokai Airport under unknown circumstances, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer.

The Maui Fire Department Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said local fire fighters and police discovered two bodies at the crash site at 12:12 p.m. They were responding to an 11:15 a.m. call from Molokai Air Traffic Control.

“They reported that they had lost communication with the aircraft,” Taomoto said. “We were able to locate the wreckage in a difficult to reach brush area, three to four miles west of the airport just east of the FAA navigational aid — the land-based radio beacon that pilots use to navigate between the islands.”

Taomoto said the plane was too badly burned to identify, but crews were able to confirm that two people died at the scene.

“The aircraft burned up after impact,” Taomoto said. “I believe that police have secured the site and they’ve left the bodies at the scene for investigators.”

Taomoto said crews reported low cloud ceilings and fog down to the road when they responded to the crash.

Kenitzer said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

CHICAGO >> The first-ever bitcoin future jumped after it began trading Sunday as the increasingly popular virtual currency made its debut on a major U.S. exchange.

The futures contract that expires in January surged more than $3,000 to $18,580 eight hours after trading launched on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The contract opened at $15,000, according to data from the CBOE.

The CBOE futures don’t involve actual bitcoin. They’re securities that will track the price of bitcoin on Gemini, one of the larger bitcoin exchanges.

The start of trading at noon Sunday overwhelmed the CBOE website. “Due to heavy traffic on our website, visitors to www.cboe.com may find that it is performing slower than usual and may at times be temporarily unavailable,” the exchange said in a statement. But it said the trading in the futures had not been disrupted.

Another large futures exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, will start trading its own futures on Dec. 18 but will use a composite of several bitcoin prices across a handful of exchanges.

The price of a bitcoin has soared since beginning the year below $1,000, hitting a peak of more than $16,858 Dec. 7 on the bitcoin exchange Coindesk. As of 1:15 a.m. CST, it was at $16,733.49 on Coindesk.

Futures are a type of contract in which a buyer and a seller agree on a price for a particular item to be delivered on a certain date in the future, hence the name. Futures are available for nearly every type of security but are most famously used in commodities such as wheat, soy, gold, oil, cocoa and, as dramatized in the Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd movie “Trading Places,” concentrated frozen orange juice.

The futures signal greater mainstream acceptance of bitcoin but also open up bitcoin to additional market forces. The futures will allow investors to bet that bitcoin’s price will go down — a practice known as shorting — which currently is very difficult to do.

There have been other attempts to bring bitcoin investing into the mainstream. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, twin brothers who own large amounts of bitcoin, tried to create an exchange-traded fund based on bitcoin, but federal regulators denied their application.

How much actual investor interest there will be in these bitcoin futures is still up in the air. Many larger Wall Street brokerages and clearinghouses, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, are either not allowing customers to trade bitcoin futures or only allowing select clients to do so. Other brokerages are putting restrictions on the amount of margin a trader can use in bitcoin futures, or putting limits on the amount that can be purchased.

The digital currency has had more than its fair share of critics on Wall Street. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has called bitcoin “a fraud.” Thomas Peterffy, chairman of the broker-dealer Interactive Brokers Group, expressed deep concerns about the trading of bitcoin futures last month, saying “there is no fundamental basis for valuation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and they may assume any price from one day to the next.”

Peterffy noted that if bitcoin futures were trading at that time, under the CBOE’s rules those futures likely would experience repeated trading halts because 10 percent or 20 percent moves in bitcoin prices have not been unusual in recent months.

Bitcoin is the world’s most popular virtual currency. Such currencies are not tied to a bank or government and allow users to spend money anonymously. They are basically lines of computer code that are digitally signed each time they are traded.

A debate is raging on the merits of such currencies. Some say they serve merely to facilitate money laundering and illicit, anonymous payments. Others say they can be helpful methods of payment, such as in crisis situations where national currencies have collapsed.

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS

>> Aiea: Recess.

>> Aliamanu-Salt Lake: Recess.

>> Diamond Head: Recess.

>> Ewa: Recess.

>> Kahaluu: 7 p.m. Wednesday at KEY Project, 47-200 Waihee Road.

>> Kalihi Valley: Recess.

>> Koolauloa: 6 p.m. Thursday at Hauula Community Center, 54-010 Kukuna Road.

>> Liliha/Alewa: Recess.

>> Palolo: 7 p.m. Wednesday at Palolo Elementary School Cafeteria, 2106 10th Ave.

>> Waikiki: Recess.

>> Waimanalo: Recess.

COMING UP

Monday

>> Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for October.

Tuesday

>> Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for November. Treasury releases federal budget for November.

Wednesday

>> Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for November. Federal Reserve policymakers release a statement on interest rates.

Thursday

>> Commerce Department releases retail sales data for November. Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims. Freddie Mac releases weekly mortgage rates.

Friday

>> Federal Reserve releases industrial production for November. Treasury releases international money flows data for October.

CALENDAR

TUESDAY

>> Rotary Club of Honolulu: Speaker Warren Haruki, president and chief executive officer of Grove Farm Co. Inc. and chairman and chief executive officer of Maui Land & Pineapple. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Royal Hawaiian Hotel Regency Room. Buffet cost: $40. For more information, call 922-5526.

THURSDAY

>> Exchange Club of Downtown Honolulu meeting: Speaker Shirlene Ostrov, head of the Hawaii Republican Party, will discuss the GOP’s status as well as its election efforts, with the topic “Why”-Centered Leadership. Noon-1:30 p.m. at Oahu Country Club. Cost: $25 cash, $26 credit card. For more information, visit dexhon.com.

Send items to business@staradvertiser.com.

I found the headline, “North Korean missile launch raises stakes for Hawaii defense planning,” troubling (Star-Advertiser, Top News, Nov. 28).

If one proceeds on the assumption that North Korean President Kim Jong Un really intends to dispatch nuclear-armed missiles to Hawaii, Guam or the U.S. mainland, I believe that there is no meaningful defense against them at the local level.

If Kim is merely flexing his military muscle to prove to the world that North Korea must be taken seriously as a nation, why the sounding of sirens? Sirens to warn us to do what?

I would hope instead that every effort is made to arrive at some diplomatic solution that satisfies Kim’s ego as well our president’s ego.

Ed Sullam

Aina Haina

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Don’t blame Trump for Korean conflict

Nicholas Kristof’s article was an excellent look into North Korea (“Inside North Korea,” Star-Advertiser, Insight, Dec. 3).

Kristof wrote that he was disappointed in the lack of North Korean interest in a freeze-for-freeze.

But please, this is not the time to cast blame on President Donald Trump. It took many years for North Korea to do the research and build those missiles. When North Korea reminds us, as Kristof reported, that “Iraq and Libya had made the mistake of giving up their nuclear programs; in each case, America then ousted the regime,” remember that it wasn’t the Trump administration that ousted the Iraq and Libya regimes.

As the secretary of state in 2011, Hillary Clinton pressed the Obama administration to intervene militarily in Libya. And the U.S. was not the first to overthrow Iraq. We have never been North Korea’s ally and only a miracle can bring peace, so one suggestion is to pray for the right solution to a very difficult long-standing problem.

Cynthia Lebowitz

Waikiki

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Severely injured child denied justice

If Peyton Valiente had been older than 17 months in 2015 and could have identified his abuser, the state Attorney General’s Office would have charged either Manuela Ramos or her daughter Theresa because it is agreed they were caring for Peyton the day he was severely injured (“Mother dismayed no one will be charged in son’s assault,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 7).

Because both Manuela and Theresa took the Fifth Amendment (so as not to incriminate themselves), they get off scot-free. What is wrong with this picture? A toddler was severely injured and the apparent injurers get off scot-free? Where is the justice for Peyton?

This is not fair and not just.

Janet Dagan

Makiki

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Recycling still needed on Oahu

Recycling is required for Oahu’s future, no matter how many studies have been paid for outlining where a new landfill could be located (“City wants to extend landfill’s life,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 28).

Haven’t our city leaders tried many solutions to dealing with garbage, from storing it, burning it, burying it, shipping it and selling it? To what end?

A recent article shared some of the dirty secrets about the city’s recycling efforts (“Auditor urges city to get some cash for its trash,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 27). It could have said, “What a stinking mess our city leaders have made.” Yes, taxpayers must once again pay while holding their noses.

Isn’t a major portion of trash generated by our biggest financial benefactor, tourism? Our city leaders celebrate tourists spending day in and day out — just accept tourism as critical to our economy, based on years of studies with few alternatives. So it follows that tourism is paying for the huge loss of money we spend to recycle.

Grin and bury as deep as possible.

Greg Schmidt

Hawaii Kai

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Navy failed to show at board meeting

Rear Adm. Brian Fort said that the Navy welcomes “requests for briefings to community groups, including neighborhood boards” (“Red Hill 4 years later: Drinking water safe,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Dec. 5).

I feel this is misleading and disingenuous.

The Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Heights Neighborhood Board No. 5 invited the Navy to give a Red Hill presentation to the board in September 2017. The Navy did not show, despite being on the board’s formal meeting agenda.

This community gets a portion of its drinking water from the two water wells closest to Red Hill.

If the Navy wants to honestly hear and address the community’s concerns about the safety of our water beneath the Navy’s aging and leaky fuel tanks, I feel it should at least show up when it is placed on the board’s agenda.

Linda Wong

Member, Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Heights Neighborhood Board No. 5

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Parking lot privilege has been abused

I have a concern about the use of the Magic Island parking lot. The Toys for Tots organization, which I think is a very good cause, recently reserved the use of the parking lot.

Organizers of the event need to be monitored closer. The permit holders need to know that the handicap stalls must be accessible by all people with a placard, unless there is a sign specifically allowing exclusive use of these stalls.

I am also concerned about the moving of the reserved signs by event organizers to take up more rows of parking than I believe they were allowed to occupy.

Ala Moana’s Magic Island parking lot is one of the most heaviest used on the island, and some of these events organizers are abusing their privileges, giving other park users a bad impression of their organization.

Kenneth Lee

Liliha