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Voters appear ready to give populism apush and elect the conservative Sebas-tian Kurz as chancellor. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-8

Austria Poised to Shift RightHarvey Weinstein’s company fired himafter accusations of harassment andabuse. Now the Oscar winner may bekicked out of an exclusive club. PAGE A14

Academy to Meet on Weinstein

Bret Stephens PAGE A19

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19

Revising a changing account, the LasVegas police said the killer shot a secu-rity guard and fired on a crowd aroundthe same time. PAGE A13

NATIONAL A9-15

Killing Timeline Shifts Again

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump announced on Friday hisdecision to disavow the Iran nu-clear agreement, threatening toleave the deal altogether if it wasnot amended to permanentlyblock Tehran from building nucle-ar weapons or intercontinentalmissiles.

But even as he delivered a fire-breathing indictment of the Irani-an government’s activities aroundthe Middle East, he stopped shortof unraveling the agreementreached by President BarackObama two years ago.

“We will not continue down apath whose predictable conclu-sion is more violence, more chaos,the very real threat of Iran’s nucle-ar breakout,” Mr. Trump declaredat the White House in a speechthat was intended to define abroad strategy for confrontingIran.

Mr. Trump’s decision not to cer-tify that Iran was complying withall terms of the agreement cameafter a fierce debate inside the ad-ministration, according to a seniorofficial familiar with the discus-sions and who agreed to describethem on the condition of ano-nymity.

Secretary of State Rex W. Tiller-son and Defense Secretary JimMattis argued that it was in the na-tional security interests of theUnited States to keep the deal’sconstraints on Iran. The two mensucceeded, over time, in persuad-ing Mr. Trump not to immediatelyscrap the accord, despite his cam-paign promise to do so.

Mr. Trump, in declaring his in-

TRUMP DISAVOWSACCORD WITH IRANON NUCLEAR ARMS

ASKS CONGRESS TO ACT

Issues New Threat to ExitWhile Stopping Short

of Undoing Pact

By MARK LANDLERand DAVID E. SANGER

Continued on Page A7

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump’s decision to cut off criticalpayments to health insurancecompanies ratcheted up the pres-sure on Congress on Friday totake action to protect consumersfrom soaring premiums, whilealso adding a combustible new is-sue to negotiations to avert a gov-ernment shutdown this year.

Mr. Trump’s move, announcedThursday night, could cause cha-os in insurance markets, sendinginsurers fleeing from the Afford-able Care Act’s marketplaces,raising the federal government’scosts and pricing out some con-sumers. It came just hours afterhe signed an executive order thatalso undermined the health law byencouraging the development oflower-cost insurance policies notsubject to the Affordable CareAct’s rigorous coverage stand-ards.

But the president suggested onFriday that he was trying to getDemocrats to the negotiating ta-ble.

“If the Democrats were smart,what they’d do is come and negoti-ate something where people couldreally get the kind of health carethat they deserve,” Mr. Trump toldreporters, insisting that the subsi-dies were “making insurancecompanies rich.”

The subsidies, known as cost-sharing reduction payments, go toinsurance companies to offset thecost of reducing out-of-pocket ex-penses like deductibles and co-payments for low-incomecustomers. Under the AffordableCare Act, insurers will still have tohelp those customers, but withoutthe help of Washington, they say,they will increase premiums. Andwith their profits squeezed, theycould abandon the marketplaces.

Even before Mr. Trump’s deci-sion, Senators Lamar Alexander,

End of SubsidyPuts CongressIn a Tight Spot

Fear of Chaos as TrumpCuts Into Health Act

By THOMAS KAPLANand ROBERT PEAR

Continued on Page A10

Francis Blake has not held apermanent position in a New YorkCity public school in at least fiveyears. At his last job, in a Bronx el-ementary school, records show hewas disciplined for incompetence,insubordination and neglect of du-ties — he had been caught sleep-ing in a classroom when he was

supposed to be helping with dis-missal.

Felicia Alterescu, a special-edu-cation teacher, has been without apermanent post since 2010, de-spite high demand for special edu-cation teachers. According torecords, in addition to getting astring of unsatisfactory ratings,she was disciplined for calling insick when she actually went to afamily reunion. She also did not

tell the Education Departmentthat she had been arrested on har-assment charges.

This month, Mr. Blake, Ms. Al-terescu and hundreds of otherteachers who are part of a poolknown as the Absent Teacher Re-serve could be permanently backin classrooms, as the city’s Educa-tion Department places them injobs at city schools.

The reserve is essentially a

parking lot for staff members whohave lost their positions, some be-cause of school closings and budg-et cuts, others because of disci-plinary problems, but cannot befired. It grew significantly as a re-sult of a 2005 deal between theBloomberg administration, whichwanted to give principals controlover hiring, and the teachers’ un-

Caught Sleeping or Worse, Idled Teachers Head Back to ClassBy KATE TAYLOR

Continued on Page A17

BRYAN ANSELM FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Despite grappling with dwindling open land and criticism from animal-rights groups, Golden’sBridge Hounds, founded in 1924, still holds fox hunts in Westchester County. Page A16.

Riding to Hounds in a New York Suburb

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Withtowering flames bearing down,one victim delayed escape inhopes of saving his new truck —but he could not find the keys. Anelderly couple slept as dangererupted, not waking until it wastoo late to flee down their one-laneroad. Another couple, who barelymissed their chance to drive away,huddled in a pool, surrounded byfire and choking smoke; he sur-vived, but she did not.

As widely varied storiesemerged of how people died in thewind-driven fires that have rav-aged Northern California, the ele-ment common to each tragedy —and to many of the tales of peoplewho got out alive — was howquickly it happened. Advancewarning was measured in min-

utes or seconds, or never came atall. Hesitation was lethal.

“My dad’s best friend was call-ing and calling my parents, butthey were completely asleep,”said Trina Grant, whose parents,Arthur and Suiko Grant, died attheir hilltop property just outsideSanta Rosa. “By the time my dadfinally picked up and his friendsaid ‘You’ve got to get out,’ it wasprobably already too late.”

The confirmed death tollreached 35 on Friday night, mak-ing this the deadliest wildfire out-break in California history, and thefigure is likely to climb. Thou-

sands of homes and businesseshave been destroyed, hundreds ofpeople who have been reportedmissing remain unaccounted for,and emergency workers havebarely begun the grim work ofcombing through the blackened,smoking ruins of houses, cars,forests and businesses.

On Sunday night and Monday,50-mile-per-hour winds propelledthe fires faster than people couldrun. Embers leapfrogged hun-dreds of yards, even jumpingacross Highway 101, six laneswide, which ordinarily would haveserved as an ideal, built-in firebreak.

Search and rescue teams fromaround Northern California con-verged on the incinerated remainsof Journey’s End on Friday, a mo-bile home park for seniors inSanta Rosa. They came with shov-els, rakes and a cadaver-sniffing

As California Fires Raced, Waiting Meant DyingBy THOMAS FULLER

and RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

Search and rescue teams canvassed the scorched ruins of Santa Rosa, Calif., on Friday, looking for any sign of those still missing.JIM WILSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Many Residents WereTold of Danger With

No Time to Spare

Continued on Page A15

BEIJING — Having conqueredworld markets and challengedAmerican political and militaryleadership, China has set itssights on becoming a global pow-erhouse in a different field: scien-tific research. It now has more lab-oratory scientists than any othercountry, outspends the entire Eu-ropean Union on research and de-velopment, and produces morescientific articles than any othernation except the United States.

But in its rush to dominance,China has stood out in another,less boastful way. Since 2012, thecountry has retracted more scien-tific papers because of faked peerreviews than all other countriesand territories put together, ac-cording to Retraction Watch, ablog that tracks and seeks to pub-licize retractions of research pa-pers.

Now, a recent string of high-profile scandals over questionableor discredited research has drivenhome the point in China that to be-come a scientific superpower, itmust first overcome a festeringproblem of systemic fraud.

“China wants to become aglobal leader in science,” saidZhang Lei, a professor of appliedphysics at Xi’an Jiaotong Univer-sity. “But how do you achieve thatand still preserve the quality ofscience? We still haven’t figuredout how to do that yet.”

In April, a scientific journal re-tracted 107 biology research pa-pers, the vast majority of themwritten by Chinese authors, afterevidence emerged that they hadfaked glowing reviews of their ar-ticles. Then, this summer, a Chi-nese gene scientist who had woncelebrity status for break-

CHINA TARNISHEDBY SCIENCE FRAUD

Scandals Impede Goal ofResearch Dominance

By AMY QIN

Continued on Page A8 is turning to executive power toaccomplish what lawmakers willnot, in this case erasing the lega-cy of the Obama years.

If the routes are similar, theintended destinations are radi-cally different. Where Mr. Obamasealed a deal with Iran on hisown, Mr. Trump on Friday took astep toward unraveling thatagreement. Where Mr. Obamaused executive power to bolsterhis health care program, Mr.Trump this week used it to un-dercut it. Where Mr. Obamacreated a legal status for immi-grants brought illegally as chil-dren, Mr. Trump undid that.

WASHINGTON — The presi-dent was frustrated. Lawmakerswere not passing what hewanted. They were “obstruction-ists,” he complained. So he tookout his pen, signed his name toan order and took action on hisown. “We’re taking a little differ-ent route than we had hopedbecause getting Congress — theyforgot what their pledges were,”he said.

The chief executive attackingCongress was President Trump,but his words might have beenspoken by President BarackObama. Mr. Trump has con-cluded that he cannot wait for apolarized Congress to act, so he

President Trump with the first lady, Melania Trump, on Friday.DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A11

WHITE HOUSE MEMO

Trump Takes Obama ApproachAs He Tries to Erase a Legacy

By PETER BAKER

The prospects for opening the ArcticNational Wildlife Refuge to oil and gasexploration are better than they havebeen in years. PAGE A9

New Push for Arctic Drilling

The roundups in Azerbaijan, Egypt andIndonesia raised alarms over the vio-lation of basic rights. PAGE A4

U.N. Condemns Arrests of Gays

A lawyer for the Chelsea bombing sus-pect all but conceded he set off one blast,but said he changed his mind aboutdetonating a second bomb. PAGE A16

NEW YORK A16-17, 20

A Change-of-Heart Defense

The Smithsonian’s claim that it has theoriginal sketch of the Laffer Curve, a keyto G.O.P. tax cuts, doesn’t add up. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-6

Mystery of a Famous Napkin

Evolving social attitudes and competi-tion for talent are leading companies tobe more welcoming. PAGE B1

Japan’s Gay-Friendly Shift

Jonas Kaufmann shines in a cinema-influenced update of Verdi’s work at theOpéra Bastille in Paris. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-7

A Starry ‘Don Carlos,’ in French

Led by Ali Wong, a generation of wom-en is earning laughs with blunt talk onpregnancy and motherhood. PAGE C1

Mom Comedy on the Verge

Dallas Keuchel threw seven shutoutinnings in Game 1 of the AmericanLeague Championship Series. PAGE D1

SPORTSSATURDAY D1-5

Astros Stifle Yankees, 2-1

A Chargers lineman urged fellow N.F.L.players to focus on injustice rather thancriticism of anthem protests. PAGE D1

Player’s Plea: Defy the Owners

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,750 + © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2017

Today, mostly cloudy, showers, high71. Tonight, mostly cloudy, fog devel-oping late, low 65. Tomorrow, be-coming partly cloudy, high 80.Weather map appears on Page C8.

$2.50