town. Mr. Shields wanted his last supper to be one he so oftenenjoyed on Friday nights when he was a young Catholic priest:rotisserie chicken legs with gravy.

Then, his family would take him home and he would diethere in the morning, preferably in the garden. It was his favor-ite spot, rocky and wild. Flowering native shrubs pressed infrom all sides and a stone Buddha and birdbath peeked out fromamong the ferns and boulders. Before he got sick, Mr. Shieldsliked to sit in his old Adirondack chair and watch the bald eaglestrain their juveniles to soar overhead. He meditated there twicea day, among the towering Douglas firs.

“Someone once asked me how did I get to become unique,”he said that afternoon in his hospice bed. “I recommend medita-tion as a starting place — bringing your consciousness to bear.”

Mr. Shields intended to die swiftly and peacefully by lethalinjection, administered by his doctor. Last June, the Canadiangovernment legalized what it termed “medical assistance in dy-

ing” for competent adult patients who are near death and suffer-ing intolerably from irremediable illnesses. When his doctor,Stefanie Green, informed him that he qualified, Mr. Shields feltthe first hope since a doctor told him more than a year beforethat he had a rare and incurable disease called amyloidosis,which caused proteins to build up in his heart and painfullydamage the nerves in his arms and legs.

Having control over the terms of his death made him feelempowered over the disease rather than crippled by it, a com-mon response among Dr. Green’s patients. Mr. Shields believedthat dying openly and without fear could be his most meaningfullegacy — which was saying something. The man had packedfive lifetimes of service into one: He had been a civil rights activ-ist, a social worker for children, the head of British Columbia’sbiggest union and, most recently, the savior of a floundering

THE END A PARTING GIFT

The Death and Life of John Shields

John Shields intended to die swiftly and peacefully by lethal injection, administered by his doctor.PHOTOGRAPHS BY LESLYE DAVIS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

By CATHERINE PORTER

Paperwork signed by Mr. Shields as part of his application for a medically assisted death; casesthat contained the drugs that would end his life; and a farewell card addressed to him.

VICTORIA, British Columbia — Two days before he was scheduled to die, John Shields roused in his

hospice bed with an unusual idea. He wanted to organize an Irish wake for himself. It would be

old-fashioned with music and booze, except for one notable detail — he would be present. ¶ The

party should take up a big section of Swiss Chalet, a family-style chain restaurant on the road out of

Continued on Page 17

C M Y K Nxxx,2017-05-28,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

TAORMINA, Sicily — Presi-dent Trump declined to endorsethe Paris climate accords on Sat-urday, ending his first foreign tripmuch as he began it: at odds withseveral of the nation’s allies andunder a cloud of questions backhome about his ties to Russia.

Mr. Trump refused to bend onthe pact after three days of con-tentious private debate and in-tense lobbying by other leadersthat began Wednesday with an ap-peal by Pope Francis. The sixother nations in the Group of 7 re-affirmed their commitment to cut-ting greenhouse-gas emissions ina joint statement issued Saturday.

The stalemate leaves the coun-try’s future role in the climate ac-cord in flux, though Mr. Trumppromised to make a decision in theweek ahead on whether theUnited States will be the first of195 signatories to pull out.

Mr. Trump returned home onSaturday night to a White Housein crisis after a nine-day trip to theMiddle East and Europe that wasbook-ended by new disclosuresabout links between his aides andRussia.

The climate accord was themost vivid sign of division be-tween the United States and its al-

U.S. WITHHOLDINGITS ENDORSEMENTON CLIMATE PACT

PARIS ACCORDS IMPASSE

Trump, at G-7 Meeting,Promises a Decision

in the Next Week

By MICHAEL D. SHEARand MARK LANDLER

Continued on Page 10

MANCHESTER, England —Salman Abedi was wearing a redvest, his suicide bomb hidden in asmall backpack, when he phonedhis younger brother in Libya andasked him to put his mother on theline. It was about 10:20 p.m. onMonday, and the call was short.

“How are you doing, Mom?Please forgive me for anything Idid wrong,” he said, and hung up.

A short time later, he walkedthrough the glass doors of theManchester Arena, the city’s big-gest concert venue, lingered for afew minutes by the stalls sellingmerchandise related to ArianaGrande, the American singer whowas performing there that night,

and blew himself up, killing 22people and wounding 116 more.

Since the attack, the police havetaken 11 people into custody, andon Saturday Britain lowered itsthreat level from “critical” to “se-vere.” Officials are confident thatthey have captured the entire net-work. But the investigationcontinues into the network’s hier-archy, the precise logistics in-volved in planning the bombing,and what motivated Mr. Abedi.

The brief phone call to hismother — “forgive me for any-thing I did wrong” — encapsulat-ed a deeply complicated familytale of conflict and rebellion, acomplex interweaving of personalhistories and the tortured recenthistory of Libya.

‘Forgive Me’: The Tangled PathTo the Bombing in ManchesterThis article is by Katrin Bennhold,

Stephen Castle and Declan Walsh.

Continued on Page 8

When an unlucky passengerwas violently dragged off a fullUnited Airlines flight in Chicago inApril, setting off a public-relationsnightmare for the company, theblame naturally fell on the cabincrew, the police and eventuallyairline executives.

But ultimately, the episode wasset in motion elsewhere — on WallStreet.

Relentless pressure on corpo-rate America is creating an in-creasingly Dickensian experiencefor many consumers as compa-nies focus on maximizing profit.And nowhere is the trend as starkas in the airline industry, whoseservice is delivered in an alu-minum tube packed with up to

four different classes, cheek byjowl, 35,000 feet in the air.

“There’s always been pressurefrom Wall Street,” said Robert L.Dilenschneider, a veteran publicrelations executive who advisescompanies and chief executiveson strategic communications.“But I’ve been watching this for 30years, and it’s never been as in-tense as it is today.”

Rich bonus packages for top ex-ecutives are now largely tied toshort-term income targets andfatter profit margins instead ofcustomer service. Of course, bol-stering profits — and in turn,stock prices — has always been abig part of management’s respon-sibility to shareholders, butmaking it virtually the only criter-

Discomforts at 35,000 Feet?They Start at the Bottom Line

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

Continued on Page 23

A deal to add cafes and tollbooths to ahighway from Baghdad to Amman,Jordan, is caught up in tensions be-tween the U.S. and Iran. PAGE 6

INTERNATIONAL 4-13

Iraq’s New Jersey Turnpike

With Brazil mired in corruption, expertsfear that each round of prosecutions andimpeachment weakens the politicalsystem and diminishes trust in it. PAGE 6

A Cycle of Chaos in Brazil

Myanmar is cracking down on divisive,hard-line Buddhist monks. But themonks, who have fueled violenceagainst Muslims, may not bend. PAGE 13

Myanmar Monks Defy Officials

The bigger payouts in 2016 come asPresident Trump has pledged to dereg-ulate and cut corporate tax rates. PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

Top Executives’ Pay Races Up

The Trump bump in stocks drove exec-utive pay higher and seemed to makeshareholders less likely to complain,Gretchen Morgenson writes. PAGE 1

A Call for Investor Skepticism

Gabe Fleisher publishes a sophisticatednewsletter called Wake Up to Politics.And that’s just before first period at hisSt. Louis high school. PAGE 1

SUNDAY STYLES

Waking Up With Gabe

Nine days, five countries and more thana dozen Melania Trump outfits. PAGE 10

First Lady in the Spotlight

A revered coach of college linemen, Don Horton worried about his players’risk of brain injury, and his own. PAGE 1

SPORTSSUNDAY

A Coach’s Dual Struggles

Seeking his first Indianapolis 500 win,Marco Andretti has added Bryan Herta,an ex-driver, as a race strategist. PAGE 4

New Help for Andrettis at Indy

Delia Ephron PAGE 6

SUNDAY REVIEW

U(D547FD)v+$!$!_!=!/

President Trump returnedhome on Saturday to confront agrowing political and legal threat,as his top aides tried to contain thefallout from reports that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is a focus ofinvestigations into possible collu-sion between Russia and the pres-ident’s campaign and transitionteams.

As Mr. Trump ended a nine-dayoverseas trip that aides consid-ered the most successful stretch ofhis presidency, he was returningto a crisis that had only grown inhis absence. The White Housecanceled a presidential trip toIowa in the coming days and wasputting together a damage-con-trol plan to expand the president’slegal team, reorganize his commu-nications staff and wall off a scan-dal that has jeopardized hisagenda and now threatens to en-gulf his family.

Mr. Trump’s private legal team,led by his New York lawyer, MarcE. Kasowitz, was preparing tomeet in Washington to face newquestions about contacts betweenMr. Kushner and representativesof President Vladimir V. Putin ofRussia. Mr. Trump may meet withMr. Kasowitz as early as Sunday,and aides have recruited a seriesof prominent Washington lawyerswith experience in political inves-tigations for Mr. Trump to inter-view in hopes that they might jointhe legal team.

Mr. Kushner, who organized thepresident’s Middle East stops at

President FacesGrowing CrisisOn Russia Ties

Reports About KushnerOvershadow Return

This article is by Maggie Ha-berman, Glenn Thrush and JulieHirschfeld Davis.

Continued on Page 24

Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcherwho became a fervently conservativeand often cantankerous Republicansenator from Kentucky, was 85. PAGE 26

From the Mound to Capitol Hill

Police departments are using bodycameras, a tool they once distrusted, toshow officers in acts of heroism. PAGE 24

NATIONAL 16-24

Police Valor on VideoGregg Allman was a founding memberof the Allman Brothers Band, which

combined blues,jazz, country androck music andshaped both theSouthern rock andjam-band move-ments. Hewas 69. PAGE 25

OBITUARIES 25-27

Southern Rock’s Vocal Force

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVI . . . No. 57,611 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2017

Today, cloudy, high 71. Tonight,cloudy, rain and thunderstorms late,low 56. Tomorrow, partly sunny,showers and thunderstorms, high67. Details, SportsSunday, Page 10.

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