By BENJAMIN WEISER

The Palestinian Authority andthe Palestine Liberation Organ-ization were found liable on Mon-day by a jury in Manhattan fortheir role in knowingly support-ing six terrorist attacks in Israelbetween 2002 and 2004 in whichAmericans were killed and in-jured.

The damages are to be $655.5million, under a special terrorismlaw that provides for tripling the$218.5 million awarded by thejury in Federal District Court.

The verdict ended a decade-long legal battle to hold the Pales-tinian organizations responsiblefor the terrorist acts, an effortthat encompassed fights over ju-risdiction, merit and even practi-cality: History has shown that itis difficult for victims of interna-tional terrorism to bring theircivil cases to trial, let alone to re-cover damages.

While the decision on Mondaywas a huge victory for the dozensof plaintiffs, it could also serve tostrengthen Israel’s claim that thesupposedly more moderate Pal-estinian forces were directlylinked to terrorism.

The Palestinian groups said ina statement that they intended toappeal the verdict, but did not ad-dress their willingness or capaci-ty to pay. In at least two previouscases, in which judges entereddefault judgments against themfor more than $100 million, thegroups reached confidential set-tlements, court records show.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs saidthat if the Palestinian groups re-fused to pay, they were confidentthat they would be able to seizethe groups’ assets, both in theUnited States and abroad.

The verdict came in the sev-enth week of a civil trial duringwhich the jury heard emotionaltestimony from survivors of sui-cide bombings and other attacksin Jerusalem, in which a total of33 people were killed and morethan 450 were injured.

“Money is oxygen for terror-ism,” Kent A. Yalowitz, a lawyerfor the families, said in a closingargument on Thursday, addingthat the antiterrorism law “hitsthose who send terrorists whereit hurts them most: in the wallet.”

The case was brought underthe Anti-Terrorism Act, which al-lows American citizens who arevictims of international terrorismto sue in the United States courts.The law was used in Septemberby a Brooklyn jury to find Arab

PALESTINE GROUPSARE FOUND LIABLEAT TERROR TRIAL

NEW YORK JURY VERDICT

$655 Million for Attacks

With U.S. Victims —

Appeal Is Planned

Continued on Page A21

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CONGRESSIONAL MEMO

By CARL HULSE and ASHLEY PARKER

WASHINGTON — After prom-ising an era of responsible gov-erning and an end to federal shut-downs, congressional Republi-cans find themselves mired in animmigration fight that couldcause funding for the Depart-ment of Homeland Security torun out on Friday.

It is a risky moment for thenew congressional majority. Anasty partisan impasse overfunding for a vital agency wouldprobably damage the party’sbrand just months after Republi-cans took power, and the impactcould carry over into the nextelection cycle.

“I don’t think shutdowns andshowdowns are the way to winthe presidency in 2016,” said Rep-resentative Tom Cole, an Oklaho-ma Republican and a respectedparty strategist.

He and many other lawmakersbelieve a last-minute resolution ispossible, particularly given newterrorism threats, including oneagainst the Mall of America inMinnesota. And Senator MitchMcConnell, the Kentucky Repub-lican and majority leader, tookthe first steps toward trying tobreak the impasse on Mondaynight by proposing a measurethat would allow the Senate toregister its disapproval by block-ing the president’s 2014 actionson immigration in one bill, whileapproving the security money inanother.

“It’s another way to get theSenate unstuck,” Mr. McConnellsaid. He acted after Senate Dem-ocrats for a fourth time blockedRepublicans in their efforts toforce debate on a $40 billionHomeland Security measure thatwould gut President Obama’s ex-ecutive actions on immigration.The vote was 47 to 46, well shortof the 60 needed.

The prospect of an agencyshutdown was seen as almostlaughable until recently, most no-tably because Republicans aretypically predisposed to fund se-curity matters. But now thechances are increasingly serious.If the agency is shut down,roughly 30,000 of its 230,000 em-ployees will be furloughed. Therest, deemed essential, would be

Funding FightPoses DangersFor the G.O.P.

Battle on Immigration

Puts Security at Issue

KHALED DESOUKI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Alaa Abd El Fattah, a blogger and activist, was convicted of taking part in an illegal demonstration and related charges. Page A7.

Paying Egypt’s Price for Protest, 5 Years in Prison

By ANDREW POLLACK

Turning what was once con-ventional wisdom on its head, anew study suggests that many, ifnot most, peanut allergies can beprevented by feeding young chil-dren food containing peanuts be-ginning in infancy, rather thanavoiding such foods.

About 2 percent of Americanchildren are allergic to peanuts, afigure that has more than quad-rupled since 1997 for reasons thatare not entirely clear. There havealso been big increases in otherWestern countries. For some peo-ple, even traces of peanuts can belife-threatening.

An editorial published Mondayin The New England Journal ofMedicine, along with the study,called the results “so compelling”and the rise of peanut allergies“so alarming” that guidelines forhow to feed infants at risk of pea-nut allergies should be revisedsoon.

The study “clearly indicatesthat the early introduction of pea-nut dramatically decreases the

Peanuts as AllyAgainst a RiseIn Nut Allergy

Continued on Page A10

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

MOMBASA, Kenya — Everymorning at the Tides Inn, a wait-er trudges down from the restau-rant to the beach with a hugeblackboard advertising the dailyspecials — deep-fried fish andmasala prawns, pepper steak andpizza, all listed in chalk and illus-trated with cute drawings.

But nobody ever comes by, noteven for a gander.

Up and down the Kenyancoast, it is the same picture. Ta-bles sit empty, dance floors aredeserted, crates of Tusker beercollect dust. The fabled white

sand beaches along Kenya’sperch on the Indian Ocean havebecome ghost towns with palmtrees.

“It’s the worst time anyone canremember,” said Dhiren Shah,the Tides Inn’s owner.

Kenya’s coastal tourism is col-lapsing, and part of the reason —a big part of the reason, Kenyanofficials say — is Western travelwarnings issued after a round ofviolence last summer in a remotecoastal area. The Americanwarning is perhaps the strictest,barring embassy personnel fromsetting foot anywhere on thecoast, unless special permission

is granted. It also warns touristsof possible “suicide operations,bombings — to include car bomb-ings — kidnappings, attacks oncivil aviation, and attacks onmaritime vessels in or near Ken-yan ports.”

Kenyan officials are incensed,saying that the coast is hardly araging war zone and that theWestern travel warnings amountto “economic sabotage,” scaringaway travelers who rely on gov-ernment advisories to explainwhich places are safe and whichare not. Worse, many Kenyanscontend, and even some diplo-

Kenya’s Catch-22: Terror Alerts May Fuel Terror

Continued on Page A10

By PETER EAVIS and BEN PROTESS

Their legal careers, and by ex-tension their marriage, are thestuff of lore. Mary Jo White leadsthe Securities and ExchangeCommission; her husband, John,practices law at an old-guardfirm as elite as the corporations itrepresents. Together, they are alegal power couple that straddlesWall Street and Washington likefew others.

Their careers, however, can attimes collide, generating head-aches for the S.E.C. as it pursueswrongdoing in the nation’s finan-cial markets, according to inter-

views with lawyers and a reviewof federal records. In the nearlytwo years since Ms. White tookover the agency, she has had torecuse herself from more thanfour dozen enforcement investi-gations, the interviews andrecords show, sometimes delay-ing settlements and opening thedoor, in at least one case, to alighter punishment.

The interviews and records de-tail for the first time the extent ofMs. White’s recusals and the im-plications of her absence. When

She Runs S.E.C. He’s a Lawyer.

Recusals and Headaches Ensue.

Continued on Page B2

By SHAILA DEWAN

Darren Hodges, a Tea PartyRepublican and councilman inthe windy West Texas city of FortStockton, is a fierce defender ofhis town’s decision to ban plasticbags. It was a local solution to alocal problem and one, he says,city officials had a “God-given

right” to make.But the power of Fort Stockton

and other cities to govern them-selves is under attack in the statecapital, Austin. The new Repub-lican governor, Greg Abbott, haswarned that several cities are un-dermining the business-friendly“Texas model” with a patchworkof ill-conceived regulations. Con-servative legislators, already an-

gered by a ban on fracking thatwas enacted by popular vote inthe town of Denton last fall,quickly followed up with a host ofbills to curtail local power.

“The truth is, Texas is beingCalifornia-ized, and you may noteven be noticing it,” Mr. Abbottsaid in a speech at the Texas Pub-lic Policy Foundation, an influ-ential conservative think tank,

just before he took office lastmonth. “Large cities that repre-sent about 75 percent of the pop-ulation in this state are doing thisto us. Unchecked overregulationby cities will turn the Texas mir-acle into the California night-mare.”

His salvo caught Texas cities

States Are Blocking Local Regulations, Often at Industry’s Behest

Continued on Page A12

ANDREW QUILTY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A camp near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, is now home to many Afghan former refugees. Page A4.

Refugees Say Pakistan Forced Them Out

Continued on Page A15

A schism hasemerged in theyoga empire ofBikram Choudhu-ry, left. Many fol-lowers have stayedloyal while hefaces six lawsuitsin which he is ac-cused of rape or as-sault. But othersare walking away.

PAGE A11

NATIONAL A11-16

Split in Bikram Yoga EmpireScores of chemicals that are banned ortightly restricted in the European Unionare allowed in the United States, a regu-latory disparity that highlights the po-tential stumbling blocks in the trans-At-lantic trade talks. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-9

A Trans-Atlantic Rules GapLittle-seen best picture contenders andsoft television ratings are among signsthat the Academy Awards have becomedetached from movie viewers. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Academy vs. Moviegoer

A Marine accused of faking his abduc-tion in Iraq in 2004 and evading punish-ment for years by fleeing to Lebanonwas convicted of desertion. PAGE A11

Corporal Guilty of Desertion

Alex Rodriguez came to Yankees camptwo days early, after a yearlong suspen-sion for using banned drugs. “I cringe

sometimes whenI look at some ofthe things I did,”he said. “But Ipaid my penalty,and I’m gratefulthat I have an-other opportuni-ty.” PAGE B10

SPORTSTUESDAY B10-14

A Surprise Early Arrival

A growing abilityto learn physicalcharacteristics ofcrime suspectsfrom DNA theyleave behind canhelp the police,but poses ques-tions about

whether it could exacerbate racial pro-filing and infringe on privacy. PAGE D1

SCIENCE TIMES D1-6

Drawing Faces, Based on DNA

David Brooks PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

VOL. CLXIV . . . No. 56,787 © 2015 The New York Times NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015

Late EditionToday, a mix of clouds and sun, high20. Tonight, turning mostly cloudy,flurries late, low 18. Tomorrow,clouds and sun, a snow shower,high 35. Weather map, Page B16.

$2.50

The Fox News host Bill O’Reilly usedhis Monday broadcast to fire back atclaims that he exaggerated his experi-ences in the field. PAGE B1

Fox’s O’Reilly Defends Himself

A New Jersey judge said Gov. ChrisChristie violated state law in decliningto make full payments into the publicpension system and ordered him to finda way to put in $1.57 billion. PAGE A17

NEW YORK A17-21

Judge Rules Against Christie

C M Y K Nxxx,2015-02-24,A,001,Bs-BK,E2