Transcript
Page 1: Seeking Gold, Getting Malaria · 8/15/2016  · are out panning for black-market gold, all ... became Face-book friends and collaborated to save a ... his place as the greatest sprinter

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Carli Lloyd, a member of the UnitedStates volleyball team, was molded byher uncle, the TV star Turbo on “Ameri-can Gladiators” in the 1990s. PAGE D1

SPORTSMONDAY D1-10

Gladiator Raised an OlympianAt least four people have died andthousands have had to be rescuedbecause of weekend flooding. Newareas are expected to flood as swollenwaters roll south. PAGE A10

NATIONAL A10-15

Heavy Flooding in Louisiana

Paul Krugman PAGE A19

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19

KIEV, Ukraine — On a leafyside street off IndependenceSquare in Kiev is an office used foryears by Donald J. Trump’s cam-paign chairman, Paul Manafort,when he consulted for Ukraine’sruling political party. His furnitureand personal items were stillthere as recently as May.

And Mr. Manafort’s presenceremains elsewhere here in thecapital, where government inves-

tigators examining secret recordshave found his name, as well ascompanies he sought businesswith, as they try to untangle a cor-rupt network they say was used toloot Ukrainian assets and influ-ence elections during the adminis-tration of Mr. Manafort’s main cli-ent, former President Viktor F.Yanukovych.

Handwritten ledgers show $12.7million in undisclosed cash pay-ments designated for Mr. Man-afort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007to 2012, according to Ukraine’snewly formed National Anti-Cor-ruption Bureau. Investigatorsassert that the disbursementswere part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipientsalso included election officials.

In addition, criminalprosecutors are investigating agroup of offshore shell companiesthat helped members of Mr.Yanukovych’s inner circle financetheir lavish lifestyles, including apalatial presidential residencewith a private zoo, golf course andtennis court. Among the hundredsof murky transactions these com-panies engaged in was an $18 mil-

Secret Ledger in Ukraine

Lists Cash for Trump Aide

Benefiting From Powerful Interests

While Mixing Business and Politics

This article is by Andrew E. Kra-mer, Mike McIntire and BarryMeier.

Paul Manafort, Donald J.Trump’s campaign chairman.

ERIC THAYER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A12

THE ALBINO MINE, Venezuela — The12th time Reinaldo Balocha got malaria, hehardly rested at all. With the fever still rat-tling his body, he threw a pick ax over hisshoulder and got back to work — smashingstones in an illegal gold mine.

As a computer technician from a big city,Mr. Balocha was ill-suited for the mines,his soft hands used to working keyboards,not the earth. But Venezuela’s economycollapsed on so many levels that inflationhad obliterated his salary, along with hishopes of preserving a middle-class life.

So, like tens of thousands of other peoplefrom across the country, Mr. Balocha cameto these open, swampy mines scatteredacross the jungle, looking for a future.Here, waiters, office workers, taxi drivers,college graduates and even civil servantson vacation from their government jobs

are out panning for black-market gold, allunder the watchful eyes of an armed groupthat taxes them and threatens to tie themto posts if they disobey.

It is a society turned upside down, aplace where educated people abandononce-comfortable jobs in the city for dan-gerous, backbreaking work in muddy pits,desperate to make ends meet. And itcomes with a steep price: Malaria, longdriven to the fringes of the country, is fes-tering in the mines and back with a venge-ance.

Venezuela was the first nation in theworld to be certified by the World HealthOrganization for eradicating malaria in itsmost populated areas, beating the UnitedStates and other developed countries tothat milestone in 1961.

It was a huge accomplishment for a

Carlos Freydel, 26, at a Venezuela mine. He says he has had malaria numerous times in the nine years he has mined for gold.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MERIDITH KOHUT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Seeking Gold, Getting Malaria

Once Beaten in Venezuela, a Disease Returns in Hard Times

By NICHOLAS CASEY

Maribel Supero with her son DanielGuzmán, who had malaria, as hewaited in a San Félix clinic in May.Continued on Page A6

Liberal Democrats and pro-gressive activists have grownwary of the state of the 2016 presi-dential race, chafing at HillaryClinton’s big-tent courtship of Re-publican leaders they have longopposed and fearing the conse-quences of shaping the contest asa referendum on Donald J. Trump.

While few have questioned theelectoral strategy of bringing Re-publicans into the fold by castingMr. Trump as a singular threat todemocracy, both skeptics andsome admirers of Mrs. Clintonhave come to view her decisiveadvantage in the polls with mixedemotions.

She may win by a mandate-lev-el margin, they say. But what, ex-actly, would the mandate be for?

In a matter of weeks, beginningwith the conventions, the policy-driven debates that animated theDemocratic primary race havelargely disappeared from the po-litical foreground, giving way todiscussions of Mr. Trump’s tem-perament, his inflammatory re-marks and even his sanity.

“If she’s going to get anythingdone as president, she is going tohave to have a mandate,” saidRobert B. Reich, a secretary of la-bor in Bill Clinton’s administration

Some Liberals Worry Clinton

Faces Risks in Focus on Trump

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER

Continued on Page A13

A federal lawsuit in New York claimsthat investors who have bought upfederally insured mortgages are puttingblacks at risk of foreclosure. PAGE A16

NEW YORK A16-17

Suit Claims Bias in Mortgages

Afghanistan’s elite forces are strugglingto hold their ground near Lashkar Gah,the capital of Helmand Province,against Taliban fighters. PAGE A4

Trying to Hold Off the Taliban

Two digital acquaintances, one in Israeland one in Afghanistan, became Face-book friends and collaborated to save ababy in Pakistan with life-threateningcongenital heart problems. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A3-9

Social Media Helps Save BabyThe social network will live-stream itsfirst N.F.L. game on Sept. 15 and hopesthat helps it become a mainstreaminternet destination and provides a newway to sell lucrative video ads. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-5

Twitter Streams Its Ambitions

Michael W. Ferro Jr., the chairman ofthe former Tribune Publishing, hasclashed with investors while trying tofend off a Gannett takeover. PAGE B1

Tech Mogul’s Newspaper Fight

The actor Mark Rylance tells BenBrantley how he developed his Tony-winning role in “Twelfth Night.” PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Becoming Olivia Onstage

Fyvush Finkel, who had been a main-stay in Yiddish entertainment, won anEmmy for his role on the 1990s show“Picket Fences.” He was 93. PAGE D11

OBITUARIES D11

Pillar of Yiddish Theater

Kids these days: They just are-n’t pulling out the plastic like theydid in the past.

Data from the Federal Reserveindicates that the percentage ofAmericans under 35 who holdcredit card debt has fallen to itslowest level since 1989, when theFed began collecting data in astandardized way, according to ananalysis by The New York Times.

Some older Americans havealso been shedding credit carddebt since the financial crisis thatbegan in 2008. But for no other agegroup has the decline in the pro-portion holding credit card debtbeen more rapid than it has beenfor young Americans — who areoften referred to as millennials —the data from the Survey of Con-sumer Finances shows.

“It’s pretty clear that youngpeople are not interested in be-coming indebted in the way thattheir parents are or were,” saidDavid Robertson, the publisher ofThe Nilson Report, a newsletterthat tracks the payment industry.

Their reluctance could havelasting repercussions for millen-nials, as well as for the financialsystem and the economy. Earlyuse of credit cards has, in the past,helped young Americans developa comfort level with credit thatcan last a lifetime and lead to asuccession of big purchases fi-nanced by debt. Without a sub-stantial credit history, it is muchharder to take out a home mort-gage, for example.

“It will probably take them

Already Loaded With Debt,

Young Americans Shun More

By NATHANIEL POPPER

Continued on Page B2

RIO DE JANEIRO — As theking of sprinting and the biggestglobal star at the Rio Games, Us-ain Bolt of Jamaica held aloft hisindex finger, signaling that he wasNo. 1, during introductions Sun-day night as a smitten crowdchanted his name.

Then Bolt proved it again, win-ning the 100 meters in 9.81 sec-onds, a coronation that securedhis place as the greatest sprinterever. He is the only person to winthe Olympic 100 three times,which he accomplished at threeconsecutive Games.

His main rival, Justin Gatlin ofthe United States, the 2004Olympic champion who laterserved a suspension for dopingand was booed on Sunday, tookthe silver medal in 9.89. Andre DeGrasse of Canada claimed thebronze in 9.91.

After the exuberant Bolt ran

down Gatlin in the final 40 meters,he pounded his chest. He thenblew kisses to the crowd, huggedsome spectators and carried a toyOlympic mascot around the trackbefore giving it away. Finally, Boltstruck his signature pose, knownas To Di World, cocking an elbowand aiming his fingers toward thesky, as if launching an arrow or alightning bolt.

He is also favored to win a thirdstraight gold medal at 200 metersin Rio and yet another as a mem-ber of Jamaica’s 4x100 relay team.

“Somebody said I can becomeimmortal,” Bolt said. “Two moremedals to go and I can sign off. Im-mortal.”

Gracious in defeat, Gatlin saidof Bolt: “He rises to the occasion.He is a great runner.”

Even an athlete as great as Bolt,though, can be upstaged on rareoccasions. That happened Sundaywhen Wayde van Niekerk ofSouth Africa set a world record in

winning the 400 in 43.03 seconds,shattering Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old record of 43.18.

Running on the outside in Lane8, where he could not see his com-petitors, van Niekerk astonish-

ingly shaved more than four-tenths of a second from his previ-ous career best of 43.48 and morethan a second from his season’sfastest race before the final.

Bolt Slows From ’08 and ’12. Still, No One on Earth Can Catch Him.

By JERÉ LONGMAN

Usain Bolt of Jamaica after becoming the first athlete to win the100 meters at three Olympics, doing so in consecutive Games.

DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page D6

VOL. CLXV . . . No. 57,325 © 2016 The New York Times Company MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2016

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