between qatar and saudis trump treads into feud · 6/7/2017  · rate culture. uber has been a...

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WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump thrust himself into a bitterPersian Gulf dispute on Tuesday,taking credit for Saudi Arabia’smove to isolate its smaller neigh-bor, Qatar, and rattling his na-tional security staff by upending acritical American strategic rela-tionship.

In a series of tweets, Mr. Trumpsaid his call for an end to the fi-nancing of radical groups hadprompted Saudi Arabia and fourother countries to act this weekagainst Qatar, a tiny, energy-richemirate that is arguably Ameri-ca’s most important military out-post in the Middle East.

“During my recent trip to theMiddle East I stated that therecan no longer be funding of Radi-cal Ideology,” he wrote in a mid-morning post. “Leaders pointed toQatar — look!”

Qatar has long been accused offunneling money to the MuslimBrotherhood — which has offi-cially forsworn violence but is stillaccused of terrorism by somecountries — as well as to radicalgroups in Syria, Libya and otherArab nations. But it is also home totwo major American commandposts, including a $60 million cen-ter from which the United Statesand its allies conduct their air waron Islamic State militants in Iraqand Syria.

Those contradictory roles mayexplain the mixed signals the ad-

ministration sent after Saudi Ara-bia’s unexpected move. Secretaryof State Rex W. Tillerson and De-fense Secretary Jim Mattis ini-tially tried on Monday to smoothover the rift, with Mr. Tillerson of-fering to play peacemaker and Mr.Mattis insisting it would have noeffect on the campaign against theIslamic State.

Less than 12 hours later, howev-er, Mr. Trump discarded that ap-proach by putting his thumb onthe scale firmly in Saudi Arabia’sfavor. His tweets, which a seniorWhite House official said were nota result of any policy deliberation,sowed confusion about America’sstrategy and its intentions towarda key military partner.

“So good to see the Saudi Arabiavisit with the King and 50 coun-tries already paying off,” Mr.Trump wrote. “They said theywould take a hard line on funding.”He added, “Perhaps this will bethe beginning of the end to thehorror of terrorism!”

Additionally, officials in Jordansaid on Tuesday that the countrywould downgrade its diplomaticrelations with Qatar and revokethe license of the Doha-based tele-vision channel Al Jazeera, Reu-ters reported.

On Tuesday evening, the presi-dent appeared to be trying to easetensions. In a call with King Sal-man of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Trump

Trump Treads Into FeudBetween Qatar and Saudis

Taking Credit for a Move Against a Partner, Upending a Strategic Relationship

By MARK LANDLER

Continued on Page A8

BEIJING — Gov. Jerry Brownof California should be fadingquietly into the final days of his ca-reer. After 40 years in public life,Mr. Brown, 79, a Democrat, is inthe final stretch as the state’s chiefexecutive. He has been talkingabout the Colusa County familyranch where he wants to retire.And a battery of younger poli-ticians is already battling to suc-ceed him.

But instead, Mr. Brown was inChina on Tuesday, emerging as ade facto envoy from the UnitedStates on climate change at a timewhen President Trump has re-nounced efforts to battle globalemissions. In a meeting packedwith symbolism — and one thatseemed at once to elevate the Cali-fornia governor and rebuke Mr.

Trump — President Xi Jinping ofChina met with Mr. Brown, at thegovernor’s request, at the verymoment China prepares to take amore commanding role in fightingclimate change.

“California’s leading, China’sleading,” Mr. Brown said at awide-ranging and at times feistynews conference after he met withMr. Xi. “It’s true I didn’t come toWashington, I came to Beijing.Well, someday I’m going to go toWashington, but not this week.”

Mr. Brown has long used hisplatform as governor to advocateemission reduction policies, bothin his state and globally. But thedecision by Mr. Trump to with-draw from the Paris climateagreement, on the eve of Mr.

California’s Governor Steps InTo Lead Charge on the Climate

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ and ADAM NAGOURNEY

Continued on Page A13

In San Francisco’s publicschools, Marc Benioff, the chiefexecutive of Salesforce, is givingmiddle school principals $100,000“innovation grants” and encour-aging them to behave more likestart-up founders and less like bu-reaucrats.

In Maryland, Texas, Virginiaand other states, Netflix’s chief,Reed Hastings, is championing apopular math-teaching programwhere Netflix-like algorithms de-termine which lessons studentssee.

And in more than 100 schoolsnationwide, Mark Zuckerberg,Facebook’s chief, is testing one ofhis latest big ideas: software that

puts children in charge of theirown learning, recasting theirteachers as facilitators and men-tors.

In the space of just a few years,technology giants have begun re-

making the very nature of school-ing on a vast scale, using some ofthe same techniques that havemade their companies linchpins ofthe American economy. Throughtheir philanthropy, they are influ-encing the subjects that schoolsteach, the classroom tools thatteachers choose and fundamentalapproaches to learning.

Tech Billionaires Reinvent Schools, With Students as Beta TestersBy NATASHA SINGER

Continued on Page A14

EDUCATION DISRUPTED

The C.E.O. Lesson Plan

WASHINGTON — The day af-ter President Trump asked JamesB. Comey, the F.B.I. director, toend an investigation into his for-mer national security adviser, Mr.Comey confronted Attorney Gen-eral Jeff Sessions and said he didnot want to be left alone againwith the president, according tocurrent and former law enforce-ment officials.

Mr. Comey believed Mr. Ses-sions should protect the F.B.I.from White House influence, theofficials said, and pulled him asideafter a meeting in February to tellhim that private interactions be-tween the F.B.I. director and thepresident were inappropriate. ButMr. Sessions could not guaranteethat the president would not try totalk to Mr. Comey alone again, theofficials said.

Mr. Comey did not reveal, how-ever, what had so unnerved himabout his Oval Office meeting withthe president: Mr. Trump’s re-quest that the F.B.I. director endthe investigation into the formernational security adviser, MichaelT. Flynn, who had just been fired.By the time Mr. Trump fired Mr.

Comey Didn’t Want to Be AloneWith President, He Told Sessions

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTand MATT APUZZO

Continued on Page A19

TENSIONS Jeff Sessions is saidto have offered to resign as at-torney general. Page A18.

CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES

JOSHUA BRIGHT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Yellow taxis at the Port Authority Bus Terminal will embrace the world of ride-sharing. Page A21.Strangers in a Cab

LONDON — Islamic Statepropaganda had been found in thebag of one attacker while he wastrying to board a flight in Italy. AnF.B.I. informant said he had raisedalarms about the second attackertwo years ago. The third attacker,denied asylum in Britain, ap-peared to have sneaked in fromIreland.

The warning signs about thethree assailants in a white vanwho smashed and stabbed theirway through a trendy Londonneighborhood tumbled into theopen on Tuesday, compoundingthe pressure on the police and

Prime Minister Theresa May toexplain them.

What has become clear sincethe Saturday night assault is thatagain and again, the young menwho killed seven people beforethey were shot to death by the po-lice had been reported to law en-forcement authorities, bumpinginto what should have been thecountry’s security net, only forthose signals to be played down,

ignored or missed.The latest revelations have

placed Mrs. May, a former homesecretary who was in charge ofcounterterrorism for six years be-fore taking over as prime ministerlast year, under intense scrutinytwo days before a general elec-tion. Even her own foreign secre-tary, Boris Johnson, a former Lon-don mayor, voiced the questionmany here are asking.

“How on earth could we have letthis guy or possibly more throughthe net — what happened?” heasked in an interview on SkyNews.

Some of the missed warningswere especially glaring because

Despite Warnings, London Attackers Slipped ByBy RUKMINI CALLIMACHIand KATRIN BENNHOLD

Continued on Page A9

Pressure Rises on PrimeMinister to Explain

Missed Signals

A U.S.-backed force made up of SyrianKurdish fighters and Arab militias saidit had begun an offensive. PAGE A6

Battle to Rid Raqqa of ISIS

The stonework that made Italy’s CinqueTerre famous prevents the towns fromsliding into the sea. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-10

Reviving a Dying Art

Testimony began in the trial of MichelleCarter, who is accused of goading herboyfriend into killing himself. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A11-19

‘Sick Game’ by Text Message

A man was charged with wounding aboy on his birthday when a gunshotwent astray in the Bronx. PAGE A20

Arrest in Shooting of Boy, 5Experts question the long-term benefitsof the administration’s plans for public-private infrastructure projects. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-7

Paying the Partnership Tab

Adnan Khashoggi, who grew hugely richin the 1970s and ’80s and was known forgaudy excess, was 81. PAGE A24

OBITUARIES A24-25

High-Living Saudi Arms Trader

Thomas L. Friedman PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

The sudden popularity of cold brew ischanging the coffee business, from indiecafes to Starbucks, and challengingtraditional notions of what truly makesa good cup. PAGE D1

FOOD D1-8

A Jolt of SummerAs colleges and universities face trou-bling financial numbers, institutionssearch for ways to fill the skills gap andretain at-risk students. SECTION F

SPECIAL SECTION

Higher Education

Everything follows the money onLive.ly, a platform on which teenagerscash in on celebrity status and fans payfor the illusion of intimacy. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-7

Life, Streamed for Profit

YOAN VALAT/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

A man who wielded a hammer, shouting, “This is for Syria,” was shot and wounded Tuesday near the cathedral entrance. Page A9.Attack on a Paris Officer at Notre-Dame

SAN FRANCISCO — Uber hasfired 20 employees over har-assment, discrimination and in-appropriate behavior, as the ride-hailing company tries to containthe fallout from a series of toxicrevelations about its workplace.

Uber disclosed the termina-tions on Tuesday at a staff meet-ing at its San Francisco headquar-ters, according to an employeewho attended the event but wasnot authorized to speak publiclyabout the matter. The firings,which occurred in the last fewmonths, stem from an internal in-vestigation into Uber’s workplace,the employee said. The companydid not name the people who werefired, but some were senior execu-tives, the employee said.

The firings were aimed at tack-ling what many at Uber say aredeep-seated management andcultural issues, which have madethe company a cautionary tale forwhat can go wrong with SiliconValley’s often freewheeling corpo-rate culture. Uber has been alightning rod because of its ag-gressive chief executive, TravisKalanick, who has flouted rulesand regulations to turn the com-pany into a nearly $70 billion be-hemoth. Uber’s difficulties haverevived questions about how thetech industry treats women andemployees in general — andwhether start-ups can recoverfrom such stumbles.

“You only terminate 20 peopleafter you’ve determined after aninvestigation that there is some-

20 FIRED AS UBERFACES ITS FLAWS

2 Inquiries of WorkplaceGone ‘Very Wrong’

By MIKE ISAAC

Continued on Page A15

The New Jersey governor’s race is set,with Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, setto take on Kim Guadagno, the Republi-can lieutenant governor. PAGE A20

NEW YORK A20-23

Voters Pick Front-RunnersScooter Gennett hit four homers, tying asingle-game record, and had 10 R.B.I. asthe Reds routed the Cardinals. PAGE B11

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B8-12

Gone, Gone, Gone, Gone

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVI . . . No. 57,621 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2017

Today, morning drizzle, clouds, thensome sunshine, warmer, high 67. To-night, partly cloudy, low 54. Tomor-row, some sunshine, then clouds,high 70. Weather map, Page C8.

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