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VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,102 + © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018 U(D54G1D)y+&!z!#!#!{ WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. moved on Sunday to quickly com- plete an abbreviated investigation into allegations of sexual miscon- duct against Judge Brett M. Kava- naugh, even as Democrats de- manded more information about the inquiry’s scope, warning that its apparent constraints could make it a “farce.” As agents conducted their re- view, which involves interviewing four potential witnesses, a college professor in North Carolina be- came the latest in a series of for- mer Yale classmates of Judge Kavanaugh’s to accuse him of giv- ing untruthful testimony by mini- mizing his use of alcohol when he was a student. The professor, Chad Ludington, said he frequently saw Judge Kav- anaugh “staggering from alcohol consumption” during their stu- dent years. He said he planned to tell his story to the F.B.I. at its of- fice in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday. A spokesman for the White House declined to comment on Mr. Lud- ington’s allegations. Officials said the F.B.I.’s “lim- ited” supplemental background check of Judge Kavanaugh could be finished by Monday morning. Set in motion late last week by three Senate Republicans, the in- quiry was supposed to shed fur- ther light on accusations that Judge Kavanaugh engaged in sex- ual misconduct during his high school and college years and help resolve the fierce national debate over whether he should win con- firmation to the Supreme Court. But the investigation’s appar- ent narrow reach has infuriated the judge’s critics, who said he should be subjected to a wide- ranging examination of his drink- ing and possible sexual miscon- duct. Instead, the F.B.I. was directed by the White House and Senate DEMOCRATS IRKED BY LIMITS PLACED ON F.B.I.’S INQUIRY SEEKING WIDER PURVIEW Interviews Meant to Stop Kavanaugh Fight May Close by Monday By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and ROBIN POGREBIN Continued on Page A12 BANGKOK — Soaring over eastern Indonesia on Friday, Pe- tra Mandagi exulted at the perfect conditions for a paragliding ad- dict: azure skies, a sweet breeze and a picture postcard bay rip- pling below. Even when a series of earth- quakes began shaking the city of Palu on Friday afternoon after his paragliding competition had fin- ished, Mr. Mandagi texted his wife in their hometown, Manado, and assured her that all was fine. Less than an hour later, twin na- tural disasters — a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that unleashed an 18-foot wave — turned parts of Palu and the sur- rounding strip of coastline into a graveyard. As of Sunday evening, national disaster mitigation offi- cials said that at least 832 people had been confirmed killed. The death toll, which had more than doubled from Sunday morn- ing, was expected to climb much higher still, with heavily popu- lated areas outside the city still cut off from any assistance, and desperate search-and-rescue ef- forts continuing in the rubble of Palu, often with only rudimentary tools. Bodies covered in tarps lined the streets of Palu, and officials said they were digging a mass grave for at least 300 of the dead. With the prospect that thou- sands may have been killed, ques- tions began mounting as to why residents were not adequately warned of the tsunami, given the area’s long and deadly history of facing killer waves. Among the problems: None of the 22 buoys spread over Indone- sia’s open water to help monitor for tsunamis had been operational for the past six years, according to Twin Disasters Turn Coastline Into Graveyard Toll Climbs Above 800 as Indonesia Reels By HANNAH BEECH and MUKTITA SUHARTONO An injured man was evacuated in Palu, Indonesia, on Sunday. Rescuers continued to search for survivors of the quake and tsunami. HAFIDZ MUBARAK/ANTARA FOTO, VIA REUTERS Continued on Page A6 BEIJING — Well before dawn, nearly a hundred people stood in line outside one of the capital’s top hospitals. They were hoping to get an ap- pointment with a specialist, a chance for access to the best health care in the country. Scalp- ers hawked medical visits for a fee, ignoring repeated crack- downs by the government. A Beijing resident in line was trying to get his father in to see a neurologist. A senior lawmaker from Liaoning, a northeastern province, needed a second opinion on her daughter’s blood disorder. Mao Ning, who was helping her friend get an appointment with a dermatologist, arrived at 4 a.m. She was in the middle of the line. “There’s no choice — everyone comes to Beijing,” Ms. Mao, 40, said. “I think this is an unscientific approach and is not in keeping with our national conditions. We shouldn’t have people do this, right? There should be a reason- able system.” The long lines, a standard fea- ture of hospital visits in China, are a symptom of a health care sys- tem in crisis. An economic boom over the Lines, Bribes and Violence: A Health Care Crisis By SUI-LEE WEE China Faces Struggle to Add Primary Doctors Continued on Page A8 Late Edition WASHINGTON — The United States and Canada reached a last- minute deal to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement on Sunday, overcoming deep divi- sions to keep the 25-year-old tri- lateral pact intact. The deal came after a weekend of frantic talks to try to preserve a trade agreement that has stitched together the economies of Mexico, Canada and the United States but that was on the verge of collaps- ing. After more than a year of tense talks and strained relations between President Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, negotiators from both sides came to a resolution just ahead of a midnight deadline set by the White House. The 11th-hour agreement was punctuated by a frenetic Sunday, with Canada’s leaders teleconfer- encing throughout the day with top American officials in Washing- ton. Mr. Trudeau convened a 10 p.m. cabinet meeting in Ottawa to brief officials on the deal, as Jared Kushner, one of Mr. Trump’s clos- est advisers, and Robert E. Light- hizer, the president’s top trade ne- gotiator, hashed out the final de- tails. Mexico’s under secretary of foreign trade, Juan Carlos Baker, was expected to present the texts of the agreement to the Mexican senate just before midnight. In a joint statement, Mr. Light- hizer and Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland, said the new deal “will give our work- ers, farmers, ranchers and busi- nesses a high-standard trade agreement that will result in freer markets, fairer trade and robust economic growth in our region.” The trilateral deal will no longer be called Nafta, they said, but will be named the “United States- Mexico-Canada Agreement.” The deal represents a win for President Trump, who has derid- ed Nafta for years and threatened to pull the United States from the pact if it was not rewritten in America’s favor. Overhauling trade deals has been one of Mr. Trump’s top priorities as presi- dent, and he has used tariffs and other threats to try to force trad- ing partners to rewrite agree- ments in America’s favor. The Trump administration struck a deal with Mexico last month to rewrite Nafta and had threatened to jettison Canada from the pact if it did not agree to concessions like opening its dairy A Last-Minute Deal With Canada Salvages a Trade Agreement By ALAN RAPPEPORT Pact Addresses Matters of Dairy Protections and Vehicle Tariffs Continued on Page A14 MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS Migrant children are being moved under cover of darkness to a tent city in West Texas. Page A14. Where the Children Are LONDON — When Theresa May appears on stage at the Con- servative Party’s annual meeting this week, it will take all her deter- mination to drown out the ticking of an invisible clock. One hundred and seventy-nine days stand between Britain and an uncontrolled exit from the Eu- ropean Union. Then it will be 178, 177 . . . . After two years of negotiation, Britain has reached a moment of consequence for the process known as Brexit. The insulating layer of time that had protected the country from a potentially failed divorce from the bloc is thin- ning. Soon, it will be gone, with the threat of major new trade restric- tions closing in. What this could mean for ordi- nary Britons has been seeping into the newspapers, sometimes in leaks from secret government reports: Northern Ireland has only one energy link to the main- land, so a no-deal Brexit could lead to rolling blackouts and steep price rises; and the energy sys- tem could collapse, forcing the military to redeploy generators from Afghanistan to the Irish Sea. With an eye toward the March 29 deadline, the government has appointed a minister to guarantee food supplies. Pharmaceutical companies are planning a six- week stockpile of lifesaving medi- cations like insulin and consider- ing flying planeloads of medicine into the country until imports re- sume. That’s if planes can still land in Britain — something thrown into doubt after the gov- ernment admitted that aircraft could, in theory, be grounded by a sudden exit. In many ways, the country is in the same position it was on the morning after the 2016 referen- dum: without a clear plan. British leaders remain mired in infighting, still presenting com- peting visions as the Brexit count- down enters its final stage. Sup- porters of a so-called soft-Brexit would keep Britain closely tied to European economic rules and standards so as to minimize dis- ruption to trade. The hard-Brexit camp backs the opposite ap- With Brexit Six Months Away, Anxiety Is the Only Sure Thing By ELLEN BARRY and STEPHEN CASTLE Prime Minister Theresa May prefers not to sever all ties. TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS Continued on Page A6 WASHINGTON — In the shad- ow of a titanic confirmation fight, the Supreme Court will return to the bench on Monday with a docket that offers an opportunity to lower the temperature. Blockbuster cases on fiery so- cial issues are missing from the calendar, at least for now. Instead, the justices will face lower-profile but still consequential legal ques- tions that may allow them to find ways to bridge the usual ideolog- ical divides. The justices have made similar attempts at unity in the past in re- action to fraught transitions on the court, like the one after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. This time, the task has grown only more urgent as the bit- terly partisan confirmation process for Judge Brett M. Kava- naugh, President Trump’s Su- preme Court nominee, has been delayed so the F.B.I. can investi- gate sexual misconduct allega- tions. “No matter how the current nomination of Judge Kavanaugh plays out,” said Jeffrey L. Fisher, a A Quiet Docket May Ease Furor Over Top Court By ADAM LIPTAK Continued on Page A12 Casey Clarkson, a Las Vegas detective, struggles with physical and emotional trauma a year after 58 died. PAGE A11 NATIONAL A11-14 Haunted by a Mass Shooting Among the statements made in Paris this weekend were an embrace of mys- tery by Comme des Garçons and a cos- mic ride by Balenciaga, above. FASHION C10 Oracles of Fashion He discusses his memoir, which re- counts his rise in comedy and his Monty Python days. Asked if a certain song would be played at his funeral, he said: “I don’t know. I won’t be there.” PAGE C1 ARTS C1-9 The Bright Side of Eric Idle Instagram personalities, known as influencers, are booking a well-lit, spot- less and stylish SoHo penthouse as a backdrop for their photos. PAGE B1 BUSINESS DAY B1-4 An Apartment With Followers The country, which is known as a cul- tural hub, has outlawed more than 4,000 works in the past five years in response to political pressure. PAGE A4 INTERNATIONAL A4-10 ‘Book Massacre’ in Kuwait In the season premiere, Matt Damon played an angry Supreme Court nomi- nee, but the MAGA-hat-wearing musi- cal guest made the most news with his extensive post-show remarks. PAGE C1 Judging ‘S.N.L.’ and Kanye James Comey PAGE A19 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19 Though its chairman, Elon Musk, stepped down after settling with the S.E.C., troubles remain. PAGE B1 Still a Long Road for Tesla Dominant at home, they got their sev- enth win in the past nine competitions, avenging a 2016 loss in the U.S. PAGE D1 SPORTSMONDAY D1-8 Europeans Reclaim Ryder Cup A Trump administration boon for the coal industry could ease pollution con- trols and put children at risk. PAGE A13 Plan to Weaken Mercury Rules Over 90 percent of votes were in favor of a name change. But more than half of eligible voters stayed home. PAGE A9 Inconclusive Vote in Macedonia Local members of the Laurel and Hardy movie fan club are hoping a new biopic will swell their aging ranks. PAGE A15 NEW YORK A15-17, 20 True Fanatics for Old Comedy Today, partly sunny, warmer, high 76. Tonight, partly to mostly cloudy, low 65. Tomorrow, clouds and sun- shine, showers in areas late, high 78. Weather map appears on Page A10. $3.00
