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SAN JUAN, P.R. — Two days af-ter Hurricane Maria flattened thisisland of 3.5 million people, knock-ing out all its power and much ofits water, the rebuilding of theservices and structures neededfor people to resume some sem-blance of ordinary life was lookingmore complicated by the day.

All or part of three towns in thenorthwestern part of the island —Isabela, San Sebastián and Que-bradillas — were being evacuatedFriday because of fears aboutstructural damage to the nearbyGuajataca Dam. Close to 70,000people could be affected if the 90-year-old dam, which is 120 feethigh and can hold about 11 billiongallons of water, collapsed, saidPuerto Rico’s governor, RicardoRosselló.

And with everyone from thegovernor of Puerto Rico to themayor of San Juan predicting thatit could take four to six months toresume electrical service, peoplewere contemplating empty refrig-erators, campfire cooking,bathing in their own sweat andperhaps wrangling for fresh wateron an island accustomed to hardtimes but nothing like what the fu-ture may bring.

“It’s been hard to see infrastruc-ture deteriorate in Puerto Rico,but it has been harder to meet citi-

Ordinary Life‘Beyond Reach’

In Puerto RicoThis article is by Frances Robles,

Lizette Alvarez and Mary WilliamsWalsh.

Continued on Page A15

Education Secretary Betsy De-Vos on Friday scrapped a key partof government policy on campussexual assault, saying she wasgiving colleges more freedom tobalance the rights of accused stu-dents with the need to crack downon serious misconduct.

The move, which involved re-scinding two sets of guidelinesseveral years old, was part of oneof the fiercest battles in higher ed-ucation today, over whether theObama administration, in tryingto get colleges to take sexual as-sault more seriously, had gone toofar and created a system thattreated the accused unfairly.

The most controversial portionof the Obama-era guidelines haddemanded colleges use the loweststandard of proof, “preponder-ance of the evidence,” in decidingwhether a student is responsiblefor sexual assault, a verdict thatcan lead to discipline and even ex-pulsion. On Friday, the EducationDepartment said colleges werefree to abandon that standard andraise it to a standard known as“clear and convincing evidence.”

In announcing the change, thelatest in a widespread rollback ofObama-era rules by the Trump ad-ministration, the department is-sued a statement saying that theold rules “lacked basic elements offairness.”

DeVos, CitingFairness, EasesSex Attack Rule

By STEPHANIE SAULand KATE TAYLOR

Continued on Page A14

LONDON — Uber’s history ofscandals and disregard for localrules finally caught up with it onFriday, when London declined torenew the ride-hailing company’slicense to operate in the city, itslargest European market.

Transport for London, theagency that oversees the city’ssubways, buses and taxicabs, de-clared that Uber was not suffi-ciently “fit and proper.” The desig-nation carries significant weightin Britain.

The decision, which Uber plansto appeal, raises the possibilitythat other cities could be embold-ened to crack down on the com-

pany. Over the past few years,Uber has been temporarily forcedout of a few major markets, likeDelhi in India and Austin, Tex.Uber also voluntarily left China af-ter selling its business there to arival, Didi Chuxing. But it hadnever been told to leave a marketas important as London.

Losing the license to operate inLondon presents a major chal-

lenge for Uber’s new chief execu-tive, Dara Khosrowshahi, who re-placed its founder, Travis Kala-nick, in August. The company hasfaced an array of controversiesover the past year or so, includingcharges of insufficient back-ground checks on drivers, the useof software to evade the gaze ofthe authorities, and complaints of

Uber, Lamenting Cost of ‘Bad Reputation,’ Loses London License

By PRASHANT S. RAOand MIKE ISAAC

Continued on Page A10

REBECCA BLACKWELL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Families sheltering outside in the Roma section of Mexico City, known for its hip restaurants butalso a vulnerability to earthquakes. Residents are asking if rebuilding is worth the risk. Page A4.

After a Quake, Thoughts of Starting Over

SEOUL, South Korea — NorthKorea has long cultivated an im-age of defiant belligerence, punc-tuating its propaganda and diplo-macy with colorful threats, insultsand bluster. But by addressingPresident Trump in a personalstatement on Friday, the nation’sleader, Kim Jong-un, has pushedhis government’s brinkmanshipto a new, potentially more perilouslevel.

In a statement written in thefirst person, published on thefront pages of state newspapersand read on national television,Mr. Kim called Mr. Trump a “men-tally deranged U.S. dotard” whohad “denied the existence of andinsulted me and my country infront of the eyes of the world.”

Mr. Kim vowed to take the“highest level of hard-line coun-termeasure in history.”

In a country where the leader isessentially portrayed as a god, Mr.Kim’s decision to respond person-ally to Mr. Trump’s speech to theUnited Nations General Assemblyand pledge reprisals escalated thestandoff over the North’s nuclearprogram in a way that neither henor his predecessors had done be-fore.

Though the statement made nomention of nuclear weapons, inthe context of a political systembuilt on a cult of personality, Mr.Kim’s intervention appeared tosharply reduce the possibility thathis government might retreat orcompromise, even in the face ofwar.

Mr. Kim condemned Mr.Trump’s threat to “totally de-

DICTATOR’S REPLYTURNS PERSONAL

Name-Calling EscalatesWith Level of Threats

By CHOE SANG-HUN

People in Pyongyang, North Korea, watched a broadcast on Friday of Kim Jong-un’s response to President Trump’s speech at the U.N.ED JONES/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page A9

WASHINGTON — The war ofwords between President Trumpand Kim Jong-un, North Korea’sleader, raised concerns on Fridaythat it could escalate into a newand more volatile phase as theWhite House weighed its nextsteps in response to a threat byPyongyang to conduct the world’sfirst atmospheric nuclear test in37 years.

Mr. Trump derided Mr. Kim as a“madman” on Friday, hours afterthe North Korean called him a“mentally deranged U.S. dotard,”the sort of name-calling exchangemost presidents have avoided.

North Korea’s accompanyingwarning that it might test a nucle-ar bomb over the Pacific Oceanadded fresh urgency to an admin-istration debate over options for apre-emptive strike if preparationsfor a launch are detected.

Mr. Trump’s long-distance con-frontation with “Rocket Man,” ashe earlier dubbed Mr. Kim, defieddiplomatic convention and tookthe penchant for reality-show in-

sults that he perfected on the cam-paign trail to the internationalarena — only with potential real-world consequences.

The president seemed to begambling that the same style thatput his domestic opponents on thedefensive could work on the diplo-matic front as well. But foreignpolicy veterans said the presidentwas playing a dangerous gamethat at the very least complicateshis own efforts to find a diplomaticresolution to the dispute overNorth Korea’s nuclear and missileprograms.

“Personal insults make com-promise more difficult,” said KoriSchake, a former national security

Amid Bluster, White House Ponders Next StepBy PETER BAKER

and DAVID E. SANGERA Debate Over Options

if the North KoreansPrepare to Launch

Continued on Page A8

WASHINGTON — SenatorJohn McCain of Arizona an-nounced on Friday that he wouldoppose the latest proposal to re-peal the Affordable Care Act, leav-ing Republican leaders with littlehope of succeeding in their last-ditch attempt to dismantle thehealth law and fulfill their long-standing promise to conservativevoters.

For Mr. McCain, it was a slightlyless dramatic reprise of his mid-dle-of-the-night thumbs-downthat killed the last repeal effort inJuly. This time, the senator, bat-tling brain cancer and confrontinghis best friend in the Senate, Lind-sey Graham of South Carolina, is-sued a statement saying that hecould not “in good conscience”support the proposal by SenatorsGraham and Bill Cassidy of Loui-siana.

“I believe we could do betterworking together, Republicansand Democrats, and have not yetreally tried,” Mr. McCain said.“Nor could I support it withoutknowing how much it will cost,how it will affect insurance premi-ums, and how many people will behelped or hurt by it.”

With two other Republican sen-ators likely to vote no, Mr. Mc-Cain’s opposition to the bill couldbe fatal. With Democrats united inopposition, Senate Republicanscan afford to lose only two of theirmembers.

Senator Rand Paul, Republicanof Kentucky, has said that hewould not vote for the bill because

it did not dismantle enough of theAffordable Care Act. And SenatorSusan Collins, Republican ofMaine, has expressed broad con-cerns about the legislation,strongly suggesting that she, too,would vote against it, just as shevoted no in July along with Mr.McCain and a third Republicansenator, Lisa Murkowski ofAlaska. Ms. Collins said on Fridaythat she was “leaning against” theproposal.

For months, Mr. McCain has la-mented a Senate legislativeprocess that avoided hearings orformal bill-drafting proceduresand excluded Democrats. On Fri-day, he said those tactics were in-tolerable.

“We should not be content topass health care legislation on aparty-line basis, as Democrats did

REBUFF BY McCAIN SPELLS LIKELY ENDTO HEALTH REPEAL

G.O.P.’s Slim Senate Majority Erodes —Deadline for Bill at End of Month

By THOMAS KAPLAN and ROBERT PEAR

John McCain criticized theSenate’s partisan approach.

TOM BRENNER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A12

Donor anger was one reason forRepublicans’ zeal to take onhealth care repeal again, CarlHulse writes. Page A12.

Money Woes

An independent Kurdish state couldprove valuable to Israel in its continu-ing struggle with Iran. PAGE A10

Israel Allies With KurdsThe broader conversation about womenmade it to Milan when Miuccia Pradastarted thinking with her scissors.

Anger on the Runway

President Trump is imposing restric-tions on people from nations he saysare lax in vetting travelers. PAGE A11

Travel Ban to Be Replaced

Republican leaders are seeking proof oftheir optimistic assumptions about taxcuts’ impact on the deficit. PAGE A11

NATIONAL A11-15

Republicans vs. Economists

The amfAR charity is under scrutinyafter it allowed proceeds from an auc-tion to be used for a play produced byHarvey Weinstein. PAGE A18

NEW YORK A17-19

AIDS Fund-Raiser Tumult

The designer Alessandro Michele istrying to build his own brave new worldfor Gucci in Milan.

FASHION A16

Living in Gucci-Land

Mark Zuckerberg’s approach at Face-book is to fix things — like Russia’selection meddling via Facebook ads —after the fact, rather than to avert prob-lems, Farhad Manjoo writes. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-6

Zuckerberg’s Russia Reaction

Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gun-dogan prepared for the worst when hewent down with a torn A.C.L. in Decem-ber. Now he just had to face it. PAGE D1

SPORTSSATURDAY D1-6

The Lonely Road Back

Jacob J. Lew PAGE A21

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A20-21

THIS WEEKEND

After meddling in the American andFrench elections, Russia seems to besitting out Germany’s contest. PAGE A6

INTERNATIONAL A4-10

No Sign of Interference

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,729 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Today, sunshine and a few clouds, awarm day, high 86. Tonight, clear,warm, low 71. Tomorrow, sunshine,record-breaking warmth, high 90.Weather map appears on Page C8.

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