VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,095 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

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WASHINGTON — When Presi-dent Trump made his first visit tothe United Nations last year, heridiculed North Korea’s leader,Kim Jong-un, as a suicidal “rocketman” and threatened to “totallydestroy” his country. He alsovowed to rip up the Iran nucleardeal, which he called an “embar-rassment to the United States.”

This week, he returns to trum-pet the overture he has sincemade to the North Korean leader,whom he now calls “very hon-orable,” despite evidence that Mr.

Kim continues to build a nucleararsenal. And while he has dealt hislong-promised blow to the nucleardeal, he has also said he would “al-ways be available” for a meetingwith Iran’s president, HassanRouhani.

For Mr. Trump’s advisers, thebiggest risk at the United NationsGeneral Assembly this year is thereverse of what it was last year:not that he will be dangerously un-diplomatic, but that he will beoverly enthusiastic about engage-

U.N. Saw Fiery Trump in 2017;Now Aides Fear He’ll Play Nice

By MARK LANDLER and DAVID E. SANGER

Continued on Page A10

ANDREW KASUKU/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Funerals began on Sunday in Tanzania for the more than 200 people who perished when a ferry capsized on Lake Victoria last week.Mass Burial in Tanzania

BEIJING — The Chineseleader, wearing a dark Mao suit,and the American president, in ablack tuxedo, stood side by sidewith arms aloft at the KennedyCenter. Deng Xiaoping and JimmyCarter smiled broadly as the or-chestra played “Getting to KnowYou,” signaling the dawn of a newera of friendship and cooperationbetween their two nations.

Over the next 40 years, Chinaand the United States built themost important economic rela-

tionship in the world and workedtogether on issues such as re-gional security, counterterrorismand climate change. Taking Mr.Deng’s lead, China played the ju-nior partner, if not always defer-ential then at least soft-pedalingits ambitions and avoiding conflictwith the much stronger UnitedStates.

Now, faster than many in eithernation expected, that has allchanged.

On Monday, the United Stateswill begin taxing $200 billion inimports from China, the biggestround of tariffs to take effect yet inan escalating trade war. PresidentTrump says the measures are nec-essary to fight an economic modelthat requires American compa-nies to hand over technology inexchange for market access andprovides state subsidies to Chi-nese competitors.

China’s strongman leader, XiJinping, presiding over an econ-omy gaining quickly on the UnitedStates, has openly challengedAmerican leadership abroadwhile dashing hopes of any poli-tical thaw at home. During thistime, both Republicans and Dem-ocrats in Washington have turnedon Beijing, accusing it of imperial

Continued on Page A10

China, Facing U.S. Hostility,Vows to Come Out Swinging

By JANE PERLEZ

Almost two million Americanshave severe heart failure, and forthem even mundane tasks can beextraordinarily difficult.

With blood flow impededthroughout their bodies, patientsmay become breathless simplywalking across a room or upstairs. Some must sleep sitting upto avoid gasping for air.

Drugs may help to control thesymptoms, but the disease takes arelentless course, and most peo-ple with severe heart failure donot have long to live. Until now,there has been little doctors cando.

But on Sunday, researchers re-ported that a tiny clip inserted into

the heart sharply reduced deathrates in patients with severe heartfailure.

In a large clinical trial, doctorsfound that these patients alsoavoided additional hospitaliza-tions and described a drasticallyimproved quality of life with fewersymptoms.

The results, reported at a medi-cal meeting in San Diego and pub-lished simultaneously in the NewEngland Journal of Medicine,

were far more encouraging thanheart specialists had expected.

“It’s a huge advance,” said Dr.Howard Herrmann, the director ofinterventional cardiology at theUniversity of Pennsylvania,which enrolled a few patients inthe study. “It shows we can treatand improve the outcomes of adisease in a way we never thoughtwe could.”

If the device is approved by theFood and Drug Administration fortreatment of severe heart failure,as expected, then insurers, includ-ing Medicare, most likely willcover it.

In heart failure, the organ itselfis damaged and flaccid, often as aconsequence of a heart attack.

For Severe Heart Failure, a Tiny Clip Offers HopeBy GINA KOLATA Trial Shows That Fixing

Valve Sharply CutsRate of Deaths

Continued on Page A19

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — No Re-publican Senate candidate hasbeen as aggressive in using theSupreme Court nomination ofJudge Brett M. Kavanaugh as apolitical weapon as Josh Hawley,the Missouri attorney generalwho is in an intensely tight raceagainst Senator Claire McCaskill.

A former Supreme Court clerk,Mr. Hawley made his first cam-paign commercial about control ofthe court, and he assailed Ms. Mc-Caskill for refusing to say if shewould support Judge Kavanaugh.And after the accusation of sexualassault against Judge Kavanaughlast week, Mr. Hawley denouncedDemocrats for staging an “am-bush.”

Yet in Missouri and other politi-cally competitive battlegroundstates, leaders in both parties areincreasingly doubtful that Mr.Hawley and other Republicanscan wield the Kavanaugh nomina-tion as a cudgel without riskingunpredictable repercussions inthe midterm elections.

With Judge Kavanaugh and hisaccuser, Christine Blasey Ford,scheduled to testify this week be-fore the Senate Judiciary Commit-tee, and many women furiousover President Trump’s attacks onDr. Blasey, a Supreme Court nomi-nation that was once seen as a po-litical winner in many conserva-tive-leaning states could, instead,rouse female voters and inde-pendents who otherwise mayhave cared little about the confir-mation fight.

Suburban women are pivotal inthis year’s campaign, and many ofthem were already tilting towardDemocrats because of their con-tempt for President Trump. If Re-publicans are too harsh in theirquestioning of Dr. Blasey, theyrisk inviting an even greater back-lash at the ballot box in an electionwhere their House majority is inperil and their one-vote Senatemajority is teetering.

And with record numbers ofwomen running for office, theirvoices and those of female voterscould crescendo in highly compet-itive election-year states from Ari-zona to Florida to New Jersey insupport of Dr. Blasey if she testi-fies as scheduled. Her storymakes it far harder, Republicanssay, for their candidates to treatJudge Kavanaugh as an unalloyedasset and excoriate Democratswho oppose him.

“I think the assault allegationsneutralize the Kavanaugh issue,”said State Representative JayBarnes, a Missouri Republican,echoing the private assessments

CampaigningOn Court Pick

Gets Complex

Boon Becomes PossibleLiability in Midterms

By JONATHAN MARTIN

Continued on Page A17

COLLATERAL DAMAGE Technologyand telecom companies warn thatAmerica’s dominance is at riskbecause of the trade war. PAGE B1

Parents of first-year college studentslive in tents on campus to make good-byes easier. China Dispatch. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-11

Empty Nest? Follow the BirdThe e-commerce giant uses Seattle, itshome city, as a place to experiment withnew products and services. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-6

Amazon’s Living LaboratoryDesigners seemed to be tiptoeing everso cautiously into spring 2019, VanessaFriedman writes. Above, Versace.

FASHION C9

Playing It Safe in Milan

Averse to the cacophony of the modernworld, some wilderness lovers seeksolace off the beaten path. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A12-19

The Quest for Utter QuietA touchdown run by the rookie SaquonBarkley and two scoring passes by EliManning helped the Giants beat Hous-ton, 27-22, and improve to 1-2. PAGE D4

SPORTSMONDAY D1-8

Rookie Lifts Giants to First Win

Wayétu Moore’s novel goes beyond thenation’s role as a settlement for emanci-pated African-Americans. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Imagining Liberia Reborn

Robert Kagan PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27Comcast outbid Disney for control ofthe British pay-TV giant Sky, but thewin came at a steep price. PAGE B1

Sky Deal Shakes Up Industry

The campaign of a Republican con-gressman, whose district includesVirginia Beach, is imperiled. PAGE A13

Petition Scandal in Virginia

A watchdog mines public records toexpose owners’ misbehavior and cityand state failures to punish it. PAGE A20

NEW YORK A20-23

Thorn for ‘Cheating Landlords’The opposition’s leader is under pres-sure to support another referendum,and it may be having an effect. PAGE A9

Labour Weighs Brexit Revote

ATLANTA — Eighteen monthsago, Tiger Woods needed help get-ting out of bed. Back injuries hadderailed his golf career, and hewas about to have his fourth oper-ation, a last-resort effort to returnto the links. His primary goal wasto regain enough mobility to playwith his two children, not againstthe best golfers in the world.

Yet on Sunday, Woods was fight-ing back tears on the final hole ofthe Tour Championship as heclaimed his first victory in morethan five years. The win com-

pleted one of the most remarkablecomebacks in sports history andanswered doubts about whetherWoods could ever be himselfagain, the most dominant forcegolf has ever seen. He sharedthose doubts.

“I just can’t believe I pulled thisoff,” Woods, 42, said at the trophypresentation for his 80th PGATour win, two short of SamSnead’s career record.

“Maybe I’ll keep chipping atthat number,” Woods said later,“and maybe surpass it.”

He had flirted with victory sev-eral times this year, mounting

thrilling late charges that enrap-tured galleries but ultimately fiz-zled. Finally, Woods triumphed invintage form, owning the courseat East Lake Golf Club from Day 1with a performance that wasequal parts magical and method-ical.

Small slips on the back nineSunday provided extra drama, butWoods would not be denied. Heshot one over par for the day and11 under for the win, beating therunner-up, Billy Horschel, by twostrokes.

David L. Cook, a sports psychol-

After 5 Painful Years, Woods Returns to PinnacleBy KAREN CROUSE

Tiger Woods with his caddie, Joe LaCava, celebrated after winning the Tour Championship.SAM GREENWOOD/GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page A19

WASHINGTON — The womanwho has accused Judge Brett M.Kavanaugh of sexually assaultingher when they were teenagers hascommitted to testify before theSenate Judiciary Committee onThursday, setting up a potentiallyexplosive confrontation unlikeany seen in decades with the fu-ture of the Supreme Court atstake.

After days of intense andclosely watched legal wrangling,lawyers for the woman, ChristineBlasey Ford, reached final agree-ment with committee representa-tives on Sunday for Dr. Blasey totestify. While several details — in-cluding whether Republicans willuse an outside lawyers to questionher — remain unsettled, a spokes-man for the committee said itschairman, Senator Charles E.Grassley of Iowa, considers thenegotiations over, and Dr. Blasey’slawyers said the hearing would goon no matter how those details areresolved.

“Despite actual threats to hersafety and her life, Dr. Ford be-lieves it is important for senatorsto hear directly from her about thesexual assault committed againsther,” her lawyers, Debra S. Katz,Lisa J. Banks and Michael R.Bromwich, said in a statementSunday, adding that while somelogistical and other details werenot yet settled, “they will not im-pede the hearing taking place.”

But not long after the agree-ment was reached, Senator Di-anne Feinstein of California, thecommittee’s top Democrat, wroteto Mr. Grassley requesting “an im-mediate postponement of any fur-ther proceedings related to thenomination of Brett Kavanaugh,”citing a second accusation of mis-conduct that surfaced against himon Sunday and asking that the al-legation be referred to the F.B.I.

If the hearing remains on

ACCUSER COMMITSTO DETAIL EPISODEBEFORE SENATORS

2ND WOMAN SPEAKS OUT

Testimony Has Potentialto Derail Kavanaugh’s

Elevation to Court

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERGand NICHOLAS FANDOS

Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confir-mation once seemed assured.

ERIN SCHAFF FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A16

NEWS ANALYSIS President Trumpis frustrated as he watches anomination spectacle that isbeyond his control. PAGE A16

Late EditionToday, some sunshine, then increas-ing clouds, high 68. Tonight, periodicrain, low 60. Tomorrow, cloudy, peri-odic rain, more humid, high 72.Weather map appears on Page A22.

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