BEIRUT — The Latest on developments in Lebanon (all times local):
3:05 p.m.
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun has called on Saudi Arabia to clarify why Prime Minister Saad Hariri hasn’t returned home since announcing his resignation in the kingdom last week.
A political crisis has gripped Lebanon and shattered the relative peace maintained by its coalition government since Hariri’s announcement Nov. 4 from the Saudi capital that he was resigning.
Lebanese officials have insisted on the return home of Hariri from Saudi Arabia amid rumors he is being held against his will.
In a statement released by his office, Aoun called on Saudi Arabia “that is linked to us through deep brotherly and friendly relations to clarify the reasons that are preventing” Hariri from returning to Lebanon.
Aoun said that a Marathon planned in Beirut on Sunday in which tens of thousands will participate should be “a national sports demonstration for solidarity with prime minister Hariri and his return to his country.”
___
2:35 p.m.
The United States and France have expressed their support for Lebanon’s sovereignty and stability amid heightening tensions between Beirut and Saudi Arabia.
A political crisis has gripped Lebanon and shattered the relative peace maintained by its coalition government since Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s stunning announcement Nov. 4 from the Saudi capital that he was resigning.
Lebanese officials have insisted on the return home of Hariri from Saudi Arabia amid rumors he is being held against his will.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Saturday that Washington calls upon “all states and parties to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, and constitutional processes.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Saturday that French President Emmanuel Macron called his Lebanese counterpart expressing France’s commitment to Lebanon’s “unity, sovereignty and independence.”
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Both the House and Senate bills would cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent and provide business tax benefits, such as the ability to immediately expense purchases of equipment.
The Times analysis, using the open-source software TaxBrain, found that roughly one-quarter of families in the middle class would see their taxes increase in 2018, by about $1,000 on average. By 2026, the share seeing an increase would rise slightly, to about one-third, and the average increase would rise to about $1,600. For the majority of middle-class families that receive a tax cut, the average savings would be about $1,300 in 2018 and $1,700 in 2026.
Who Will See Tax Cuts From Senate Plan?
Under the Senate bill, four out of five high earners would receive tax cuts in 2018.
NOV. 10, 2017
Note: Includes all households, not adjusted for household size. | By THE NEW YORK TIMES
How Much Would People Save?
People across income brackets would see savings from the Senate plan in 2018. But for many in the middle class, the savings would be relatively small. The table below shows the average savings, by income, for those who would receive a tax cut.
NOV. 10, 2017
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Times analysis defines the middle class broadly as those earning between two-thirds and twice the median household income, or about $50,000 to $160,000 per year for a family of three. To focus on families, the analysis excluded individual filers and households headed by people 65 or older and is adjusted for the size of each household.
Under the House bill, The Times has found, about half of middle-class families would pay more in taxes in 2026.
The analysis did not seek to calculate how workers might benefit from a steep cut in the corporate tax rate, which both the Senate and House bills would reduce to 20 percent from a top rate of 35 percent today, or project how the bills might increase economic growth and, with it, Americans’ wages.
On Friday, the independent Tax Foundation released an analysis of the plan’s growth effects. It projected that the Senate bill would increase gross domestic product by 3.7 percent over the next decade and raise wages by 2.9 percent across the economy.
For taxpayers earning more than $1 million a year, the Senate bill offers a more limited upside and downside than the House bill.
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The Senate bill is less likely than the House bill to yield tax increases for high-income Americans, in part because it cuts the top marginal personal tax rate, while the House bill creates a so-called “bubble rate” that would actually raise taxes on many high-salaried workers.
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The Senate measure would also produce a smaller average tax windfall for high earners than the House version, in part by offering less generous benefits for owners of businesses known as pass-throughs, which are not organized as corporations.
Under the Senate plan, “Americans are especially likely to face a tax increase if they have a smaller family, have mostly wage income instead of investment income, or claim some of the many deductions that the bill repeals, like those for state and local taxes and employee business expenses,” said Lily Batchelder, a professor and tax specialist at New York University Law School, who worked on economic policy in the Obama administration. “They are increasing taxes on many in the middle class, while concentrating their tax cuts on the wealthy.”
The Senate bill appears much better for the very wealthy than it is for the somewhat wealthy. About half of families earning between two and three times the median income — or about $160,000 to $240,000 for a family of three — would pay more in 2018 than under existing law. But among the richest families, those earning more than about $500,000 for a family of three, nearly 90 percent would get a tax cut.
The findings come with an important caveat: The Senate bill, as written, appears unable to muster the 60 votes needed to avoid a Democratic filibuster, meaning Republicans will need to amend it to comply with the budget reconciliation rules and allow permit passage by a simple majority. Those changes could likely include putting expiration dates on some of the bill’s major provisions, which could make the final version of the bill look less favorable to the middle class, particularly in later years.
The Times’s figures are based on an analysis of Census Bureau data using a tax model from the Open Source Policy Center, a Washington research organization affiliated with the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. Because the analysis is based on publicly available data, not actual tax records, it may not capture all the intricacies of Americans’ household finances.
The Senate bill differs sharply from the House version in its approach to cutting taxes on businesses. But when it comes to taxes on individuals and families, the bills are more similar than different. Both would double the standard deduction while eliminating a raft of deductions and credits. Both would make the child tax credit more generous. Both would restructure federal income tax brackets to impose lower marginal tax rates at most income levels, although the Senate approach, unlike the House version, doesn’t eliminate two brackets entirely.
The Senate bill includes features that would make its plan more favorable to the middle class. It preserves some popular tax deductions and credits that the House bill initially would have eliminated, and it makes the child tax credit somewhat more generous and widely available. On the other hand, the Senate bill, unlike the House version, would eliminate the deduction for property taxes, which could lead to higher federal taxes for homeowners in areas with high property tax rates or expensive housing markets.
Aparna Mathur, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, said senators could improve the bill with further changes, such as expanding the earned-income tax credit and extending the benefits of the child tax credit to more low-income taxpayers. “We clearly need to do more to help the lowest-income families,” she said. “At the same time, we can engage in more base broadening for the highest-income households, perhaps by eliminating and not just capping the mortgage-interest deduction.”
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The Times analysis found that roughly one-fifth of the Senate bill’s cuts in 2018 would go to families and individuals earning $1 million or more, and close to half would go to people earning at least $200,000. Between 10 million and 15 million taxpayers earning less than $100,000 a year would pay more than under existing law.
Families earning more than $1 million a year would see their after-tax income rise by about 1.7 percent in 2018 compared with what they would make under current law, nearly triple the gains enjoyed by those earning less than $200,000.
Over all, the Senate bill would cut individual income taxes by about $30 billion in 2018, and by $900 billion over the next decade, according to Congress’s nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. And most people in all income groups would see a tax cut, although the cuts would be modest for most lower earners.
On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul offered an update on his condition, telling his Twitter followers that he had six broken ribs and pleural effusion. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
A senior adviser to Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that the senator and the man who assaulted him last week had not had a conversation “in many years,” disputing media reports that the two neighbors had feuded over landscaping.
“Last week Sen. Paul was vigorously assaulted by someone in his neighborhood. This is a serious criminal matter involving serious injury, and is being handled by local and federal authorities. As to reports of a longstanding dispute with the attacker, the Pauls have had no conversations with him in many years,” Doug Stafford said in a statement. “The first ‘conversation’ with the attacker came after Sen. Paul’s ribs were broken. This was not a ‘fight,’ it was a blindside, violent attack by a disturbed person. Anyone claiming otherwise is simply uninformed or seeking media attention.”
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Paul was attacked last week at his Bowling Green, Kentucky, home. Paul’s attacker, his neighbor, 59-year-old retired doctor Rene Boucher, allegedly tackled the senator as he was mowing his lawn and has been charged with misdemeanor assault. The Courier-Journal, Louisville’s newspaper, reported earlier this week that the two men had feuded regularly over landscaping issues.
But Paul (R-Ky.) appeared to dispute that notion with a pair of posts to Twitter on Wednesday, linking to a Breitbart News story headlined “Rand Paul’s neighbors say reports blaming savage assault on ‘landscaping dispute’ are fake news” and one from The Washington Examiner headlined “Rand Paul’s neighbors rip media ‘landscaping dispute’ reports.”
In its report, the Examiner said Boucher’s social media accounts were peppered with posts critical of President Donald Trump and of Republicans, although it stopped short of suggesting that the attack was politically motivated.
Boucher, charged with fourth-degree assault, entered a not guilty plea during his arraignment in court in Bowling Green on Thursday, according to The Associated Press. The charges were unchanged.
On Wednesday, Paul had offered an update on his condition, telling his Twitter followers that he had six broken ribs and pleural effusion, a buildup of fluid between the chest and the lungs.
“Kelley and I appreciate the overwhelming support after Friday’s unfortunate event. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers,” Paul (R-Ky.) wrote on Twitter. “I appreciate all of the support from everyone. A medical update: final report indicates six broken ribs new X-ray shows a pleural effusion.”
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman will miss the rest of the season after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in Thursday night’s 22-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Seahawks beat Cardinals despite a flurry of injuries and penalties
Jimmy Graham and Russell Wilson connected for a pair of TDs as the Seahawks handled the Cards, but Seattle saw Richard Sherman and others leave early.
Wilson concussion test likely to be scrutinized
The Seahawks could be questioned for a possible violation of the NFL’s concussion policy Thursday night when quarterback Russell Wilson was sent off the field for a test.
Sherman exited the game in the third quarter and did not return. He says he expects to undergo surgery after swelling in the Achilles goes down in the next few days.
“No coming back from that until you get surgery,” head coach Pete Carroll said, adding that Sherman “couldn’t even walk” after leaving the game and standing on the sideline.
“He’s been a bastion of consistency, competitiveness and toughness. We’re going to miss the heck out of him.”
Sherman, who has never missed a game since entering the league in 2011, said his Achilles has been bothering him all season and that he has tried to avoid making any drastic cuts. On the play in which he was hurt, Sherman said the defense was playing Cover 2 and that he was going for an interception.
“I thought I could get the ball. Once it popped, just unfortunate,” said Sherman, who was visibly emotional at times while addressing reporters. “One of those things that you have to play through for as long as you can. When it goes, it goes.
“I’ve put a lot of stress on it. Think it would have gone eventually.”
In a text message to ESPN’s Josina Anderson, Sherman later said, “I’m gonna be back with a vengeance.” He also posted his thoughts on Twitter.
Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers! I️ will do everything in my Power to come back faster and stronger than ever. Until then I️ will be here to cheer my teammates on! I️ sincerely appreciate the outpouring of support! Means a lot to me.
Sherman was on Seattle’s injury report last week because of his Achilles. He was listed as a non-participant all three days, though the team held walk-throughs, and his participation was an estimation of what would have occurred in a normal practice.
Sherman has railed against Thursday night football, saying it’s hypocritical of the NFL to promote player safety in other areas, only to require teams to play after only three days off. Sherman called Thursday night football a “poopfest” last season in The Players’ Tribune and referred to it as “terrible” this week in an interview with ESPN.com.
Carroll bit his tongue when asked if the league should change Thursday night football, saying: “I don’t want to pay anything so I’m not going to comment on anything.”
Doug Baldwin and other Seahawks did express their sentiments on the Thursday games, saying it’s too much to ask of players to play on only four days of rest.
“Guys don’t have time to recover,” he said. “Hard to recover in four days.”
Baldwin said that was “absolutely” what led to so many players going down with injuries in this game. Asked if this game was Exhibit A for why Thursday night games are difficult, he said: “It’s Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C, Exhibit D, Exhibit Z. Thursday night football should be illegal.”
Injuries piled up for the Seahawks on Thursday night. Carroll said left tackle Duane Brown sprained his ankle but that the team is unaware how severe the injury is. Brown left late in the second quarter and didn’t return.
“There was guys dropping down on both side with serious, minor injuries,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “We play a very physical game, a very physical sport, and to ask us to turn around and be ready after Sunday to turn around and have our bodies OK on that Thursday, it’s really tough to do. I hope the league is watching. Hopefully they’ll look at it and see what happens and change this format.”
Defensive lineman Michael Bennett equated it to a boxer having to fight twice in one week.
“I know you want to give fans what they want but also you want to protect the players as best as you can, and sometimes I feel like Thursday night football doesn’t give them the opportunity to be protected like that.”
Carroll also said safety Kam Chancellor suffered a stinger, and he sounded incredulous when announcing that running back C.J. Prosise, who missed most of the past five games with a right high ankle sprain, sprained his left ankle in the third quarter.
“I can’t even fathom how that happened to this poor kid,” Carroll said.
Defensive tackle Jarran Reed left in the first half after injuring his hamstring. Linebacker Michael Wilhoite left the game with a calf injury. Defensive linemen Sheldon Richardson and Frank Clark left the game in the fourth quarter after colliding with each other; Richardson returned.
Cornerback Shaquill Griffin hurt his shoulder in the third quarter but returned. Baldwin said his hip tightened up in pregame warm-ups and that the injury worsened during the game.
WASHINGTON — Federal investigators are examining whether former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn met with senior Turkish officials just weeks before President Donald Trump’s inauguration about a potential quid pro quo in which Flynn would be paid to carry out directives from Ankara secretly while in the White House, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation.
Investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s interference with the U.S. presidential election recently questioned witnesses about the alleged December 2016 meeting between Flynn and senior Turkish officials, two people knowledgeable with the interviews said. The questions were part of a line of inquiry regarding Flynn’s lobbying efforts on behalf of Turkey.
Four people familiar with the investigation said Mueller is looking into whether Flynn discussed in the late December meeting orchestrating the return to Turkey of a chief rival of Turkish President Recep Erdogan who lives in the U.S. Additionally, three people familiar with the probe said investigators are examining whether Flynn and other participants discussed a way to free a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab, who is jailed in the U.S. Zarrab is facing federal charges that he helped Iran skirt U.S. sanctions.
Mueller is specifically examining whether the deal, if successful, would have led to millions of dollars in secret payments to Flynn, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.
The meeting allegedly took place at the upscale 21 Club restaurant in New York, just blocks always from Trump Tower where Flynn was serving on the presidential transition team. Flynn was offered upwards of $15 million, to be paid directly or indirectly, if he could complete the deal, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
It is unclear how Flynn, as national security adviser, could have successfully carried out either alleged request. But any deal in which a government official would be bribed to secretly act on behalf of a foreign government could potentially constitute multiple federal crimes.
Investigators also are looking into what possible role Flynn’s son, Michael G. Flynn, may have played in any such efforts. The younger Flynn worked closely with his father at his lobbying firm, Flynn Intel Group.
The elder Flynn was fired in February after just 24 days as Trump’s national security adviser when it became public that he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other Trump officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
The grand jury is continuing to interview witnesses with knowledge of Flynn’s business activities over the next week, two people familiar with the deliberations said.
The elder Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not respond to requests for comment. The younger Flynn’s lawyer, Barry Coburn, declined comment.
Erdogan has repeatedly pressed U.S. officials to extradite the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. Turkey blames Gulen for the attempted coup in that country in July 2016. Erdogan also has repeatedly raised Zarrab’s case with U.S. officials. Rudy Giuliani, who was a top Trump campaign surrogate alongside Flynn, is part of Zarrab’s defense team. The New York Times reported that Giuliani met with Erdogan in late February and discussed an agreement under which Zarrab would be freed in exchange for Turkey’s help furthering U.S. interests in the region.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Erdogan said he had previously raised Zarrab’s case with then-Vice President Joe Biden and suggested Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, was acting on behalf of supporters of Gulen, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. Trump fired Bharara this past March.
NBC News reported Sunday that federal investigators were looking into whether Flynn tried to push for the return of Gulen to Turkey once in the White House in exchange for millions of dollars, and that Trump administration officials asked the FBI to review the Gulen case anew. Officials said the FBI denied the request because Turkey had not provided any new evidence in the case, which was reviewed by the Obama administration.
Extradition requests are processed through the State Department and U.S. justice system and are not determined by the White House or other agencies.
The possibility of the multimillion-dollar deal involving Flynn and Turkey arose as investigators examined Flynn’s past dealings with foreign governments.
Flynn was paid $530,000 last year during the 2016 campaign for work he did during the campaign that the Justice Department says benefitted the Turkish government. Flynn did not register as a foreign agent at the time, as is required in the U.S. for anyone working for a foreign government. His lawyer later said Flynn didn’t need to register because his client was a Turkish businessman not a government official, though he opted to do so retroactively.
According to Flynn’s Justice Department filing, his firm, Flynn Intel Group, was hired to gather information about Gulen, and to produce a short film about its findings.
The contract ended the day after Trump won the election.
As a top foreign policy adviser on the Trump campaign at the time, and then as national security adviser, Flynn played a leading role in shaping Trump’s policy decisions on Turkey.
Among Flynn’s decisions as incoming national security adviser was telling the outgoing national security adviser, Susan Rice, not to move forward with a plan President Barack Obama approved to arm Syrian Kurds in the ISIS fight. Turkey opposed the plan.
Obama officials, who had notified Flynn of the plan in early January because it would continue on Trump’s watch, said they were surprised. Flynn said he didn’t trust Obama on the plan, which the Trump administration approved after he was fired as national security adviser.
The decision on arming the Kurds came several weeks after Flynn held that key meeting with Turkish officials where the alleged deal for a “grab fee” for Gulen was discussed.
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. antitrust regulators and ATT Inc sparred on Wednesday over whether the wireless carrier would be required to sell Time Warner Inc’s CNN cable network as a condition of approval of its deal to buy the media company.
The U.S. Department of Justice has demanded significant asset sales in order to approve the $85.4 billion deal, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, and asked ATT to sell CNN-parent Turner Broadcasting or its DirecTV satellite TV operation in discussions on Monday.
ATT offered to sell CNN, the sources said. ATT denied that version of events of the meeting with Justice Department officials.
“I have never offered to sell CNN and have no intention of doing so,” ATT Chief Executive Randall Stephenson, said in a statement on Wednesday. Stephenson is set to appear at an event in New York City on Thursday and will likely face questions about the deal.
Reports that the Justice Department is pushing for significant asset sales and conflicting reports of its discussions with ATT cast new doubt on the deal on Wednesday. Shares of Time Warner closed down 6.5 percent at $88.50.
The dispute is the latest twist in a deal which took on broader political significance immediately after its inception in October 2016. U.S. President Donald Trump, a frequent critic of CNN, attacked the deal on the campaign trail last year, vowing that as president his Justice Department would block it. He has not commented on the transaction since taking office in January.
In a statement, White House spokesman Raj Shah said: “The president did not speak with the attorney general about this matter, and no White House official was authorized to speak with the Department of Justice on this matter.”
The head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, Makan Delrahim, said in a statement: “I have never been instructed by the White House on this or any other transaction under review by the antitrust division.”
ATT wants to buy Time Warner, which owns the premium channel HBO and movie studio Warner Bros along with Turner Broadcasting, so it can bundle mobile service with video entertainment and take online advertising from Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc.
Both companies have struggled to keep younger viewers from flocking to online services like Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc’s Prime Video.
CHANGE OF COURSE
Until recently the vertical deal – which in theory should not reduce competition among the two companies’ direct rivals – was considered by antitrust experts as likely to be approved with no major concessions.
But regulators’ desire for asset sales will complicate negotiations. ATT said earlier on Wednesday it was now uncertain when the deal would be completed. It had previously said the acquisition would close by the end of this year.
The discussion of a potential sale of CNN has politicized the situation. Trump has repeatedly tangled with CNN, calling the network’s coverage “fake news.”
Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, said on Wednesday he opposed the mega-merger but was also worried about political implications of any divestiture of CNN.
“I am deeply concerned with the notion that the Justice Department may be pressuring the companies to consider spinning off CNN’s parent company Turner Broadcasting as a path forward toward approval of the acquisition, given the president’s repeated public complaints about CNN’s coverage of him,” Franken said. “Any indication that this administration is using its power to weaken media organizations it doesn’t like would be a profoundly disturbing development.”
On Sunday, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told CNN that the White House would not interfere with the merger review.
There are many ways to resolve concerns about the deal, a Justice official said on Wednesday, adding that no decision had been made and that conversations with ATT were continuing.
ATT is prepared to fight any divestitures required to win regulatory approval of the deal, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Justice Department could file a lawsuit as early as this month to challenge the deal, sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters.
TOO MUCH POWER
The deal is opposed by an array of consumer groups and smaller television networks on the grounds that it would give ATT too much power over the content it would distribute to its wireless customers.
The new concessions suggest the Justice Department’s antitrust chief Delrahim has changed his view of ATT’s plan to buy Time Warner, since giving an interview in 2016 where he declared it not “a major antitrust problem.”
Delrahim was subsequently nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division and was confirmed in September. A further sticking point in discussions is the length of time that the U.S. government wants to impose conditions on what ATT can and cannot do after a deal. Two people briefed on the talks told Reuters the government has sought as long as 10 years for such conditions while ATT has pressed for a shorter period.
ATT also said it would invest an additional $1 billion in the United States next year if Trump signed into law the provisions in the current House of Representatives tax bill.
“By immediately lowering the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, this bill will stimulate investment, job creation and economic growth in the United States,” said Randall Stephenson, ATT chief executive.
Reporting by David Shepardson, Diane Bartz and Jeff Mason in Washington, Greg Roumeliotis, Jessica Toonkel and Anjali Athavaley in New York, and Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Sanders and Bill Rigby
A driverless shuttle set free in downtown Las Vegas was involved in a minor accident less than an hour after it hit the streets, reported the local NBC affiliate KSNV. Not really the kind of publicity you want, or that self-driving cars need.
The shuttle, an egglike 8-seater Navya, is operated by the AAA and Keolis. It was a test deployment along half a mile of the Fremont East “Innovation District,” so this thing wasn’t cruising the strip. Probably a good thing.
Now, it must be said that technically the robo-car was not at fault. It was struck by a semi that was backing up, and really just grazed — none of the passengers was hurt.
Like any functioning autonomous vehicle, the shuttle can avoid obstacles and stop in a hurry if needed. What it apparently can’t do is move a couple feet out of the way when it looks like a 20-ton truck is going to back into it.
A passenger interviewed by KSNV shared her frustration:
The shuttle just stayed still and we were like, ‘oh my gosh, it’s gonna hit us, it’s gonna hit us!’ and then.. it hit us! And the shuttle didn’t have the ability to move back, either. Like, the shuttle just stayed still.
Surely this situation is not so rare that the shuttle’s designers did not allow for it? Moving the car out of the way of an oncoming vehicle seems like a pretty elementary safety measure.
A City of Las Vegas representative issued a statement that the shuttle “did what it was supposed to do, in that its sensors registered the truck and the shuttle stopped to avoid the accident.” It also claims, lamely, that “Had the truck had the same sensing equipment that the shuttle has the accident would have been avoided.”
Not if it failed to react properly, as arguably was the case with the shuttle. Testing will continue, but I have to say I wouldn’t get on this thing until they demonstrate that it can do more than just stop.
When Codee Baker, a 17-year-old cheerleader, showed up at the Floresville High School football stadium Wednesday evening, she was not spinning or tumbling or cheering.
She was thinking of the people she had lost: Karla Holcombe, a family friend who shared a birthday with her mother and used to watch her when she was little. Dennis and Sara Johnson, her elderly next-door neighbors. Haley Krueger, a shy 16-year-old sophomore she passed daily in her school hallways.
“I came here to honor the ones I lost,” Baker said as she entered the stadium with a long line of people clutching Bibles. “It’s just unbelievable that they’re gone.”
Clasping hands and bowing their heads in prayer, thousands of residents of small towns across south-central Texas packed the stadium Wednesday night to honor the 26 people who died Sunday when a gunman burst into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, spraying bullets at the congregation.
“Words fail when saints and heroes fall,” Pence said. “We mourn with those who mourn and we grieve with those who grieve, but we do not grieve like those who have no hope. Our faith gives us hope. Heroes give us hope.”
The crowd stood and cheered as a cluster of churchgoers and bystanders who survived the massacre walked onto the football field. Among them was Stephen Willeford, the local plumber who grabbed a rifle and chased the gunman as he exited the church, and Johnnie Langendorff, who joined Willeford in a high-speed chase.
“Thank God there was a neighbor that helped save lives on the tragic day,” Abbott told the crowd to loud cheers. “We will not be overcome with evil. Together we will overcome evil with good.”
Many people who assembled in this small town 13 miles south of the scene of the massacre had a connection to the victims or those left behind. Some were connected through church or community bake sales. Others were classmates or taught children who had lost loved ones.
As Makayla Pew, 7, clambered across the bleachers, her parents, Jeff and Suzanne Pew, talked about their daughter’s classmate, Emily Garcia, who died at University Hospital in San Antonio.
Just a few days before the shooting, when the Pews went with others from the school on a field trip to the San Antonio aquarium, Emily’s mother, Joann Lookingbill Ward, had been the first person there to talk to them. Smiling, she had told them they could get a better deal on Groupon than from the cashiers.
“There’s a girl in my daughter’s class and she’ll never come back,” Jeff Pew said, shaking his head as he looked into the distance. “There’s just a vacant seat.”
Robin Stine, 61, was a longtime neighbor of the Holcombe family, which lost eight members in the shootings. She remembered when a local mother of a special-needs child couldn’t afford a new wheelchair. Bryan Holcombe, an associate pastor at the church, repaired her wheelchair free of charge.
“They were wonderful pillars of the community,” she said, eyes misting. “That man took out three generations of that a family of loving Christian people.”
Trusting in the Lord, and drawing strength from community, were recurring themes of the vigil.
“If the attacker’s desire was to silence their testimony of faith, he failed,” Pence said. “The witness of faith in that small church and that small town now echoes across the world.”
The crowd swayed as a singer with a guitar played “Good Good Father.”
“Oh, and I’ve seen many searching for answers far and wide,” men and women on the bleachers crooned. “But I know we’re all searching for answers only you provide. ‘Cause you know just what we need before we say a word.”
Across this rural area of rolling hills dotted with cow pastures and fields of hay bales, the community has rallied around the families who lost loved ones, offering prayers and hugs, dropping off plates of hot food, and chipping in to feed their horses, dogs, cats and goats.
One businessman from a town 80 miles away has offered to make custom caskets free of charge for each of the victims.
Still, some in the crowd hoped for another kind of action. John Nieto, 71, a veteran and retired teacher who had traveled to the vigil from San Antonio, said he hoped the community — and the country as a whole — could move beyond prayer and take action by passing new gun laws.
“I feel like I’m in a war zone,” he said, rattling off other recent massacres, from Orlando, Fla., to Las Vegas. “There’s too many guns. So many people died, and yet we’re not upset enough to change the laws. It’s madness.”
Jarvie is a special correspondent.
UPDATES:
8:50 p.m.: This story was updated with additional details of the vigil.
Even for an OPEC powerhouse intent on re-inventing itself domestically and flexing its muscles in one of the world’s most turbulent regions, the past week has been remarkable.
Saudi police arrested 11 princes, four ministers and dozens of former ministers and billionaires in what authorities described as an anti-corruption drive and critics saw as a power grab by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. And if the domestic drama wasn’t enough, Saudi Arabia’s proxy confrontation with Iran for regional dominance unexpectedly heated up, sending oil prices higher and adding to the uncertainty roiling stock markets in the Middle East.
Here’s a breakdown of the events and subsequent fallout:
November 4: Turmoil Begins
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri unexpectedly resigns in a televised speech from Saudi Arabia, saying he feared for his life and accusing Iran and its proxies of destabilizing the country and the region.
Hours later, Yemen’s Houthi militias, embroiled in a war with a Saudi-led coalition, fire a ballistic missile at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, reaching furthest into Saudi territory than previous attempts. The missile is shot down by Saudi air defenses.
Shortly before midnight, Saudi authorities arrest 11 princes, four ministers and dozens of former ministers on orders from a newly established anti-corruption committee formed by King Salman and headed by his son and heir Prince Mohammed. Among those arrested is billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world’s richest men. The king also dismissed Prince Miteb bin Abdullah from his post as head of the powerful National Guard.
The chief of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, says Saudi Arabia was behind Hariri’s unexpected resignation. Iran denies arming Houthis with the missile.
Lebanese Eurobonds tumble amid rising concerns the country would be a battleground for the Iranian-Saudi conflict.
November 6: Saudis Push Back
The Saudi central bank is said to have instructed banks to freeze accounts of corruption suspects.
Attorney General Sheikh Saud Al Motjeb says in a statement that the arrests were “merely the start of a vital process to root out corruption wherever it exists.” He adds that those detained will have access to legal counsel and pledges to hold trials “in a timely and open manner.”
Saudi Arabia says the Houthi missile attack could amount to an “act of war” by Iran and offers $440 million bounty for intelligence on 40 Houthi rebel leaders.
Saudi state minister for Gulf affairs, Thamer al-Sabhan, warns Lebanon over siding with Hezbollah against the kingdom.
Brent crude prices jump 3.5 percent to $64.27 a barrel.
The Saudi crackdown widens as central bank asks banks in the kingdom to freeze the accounts of dozens of individuals who aren’t under arrest, according to three people with knowledge of the matter
Trump praises the Saudi sweep in tweets, saying he has “great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing.”
Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding shares drop 10 percent, bringing its three-day loss to more than 20 percent.
The central bank says only personal accounts were frozen, not corporate accounts.
Iran “categorically” rejects Saudi Arabia’s “baseless and unfounded accusations and considers it as destructive, provocative and a ‘threat to use of force”’ against a United Nations member state, the official IRNA news agency reports.
I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing….
The U.S. says it welcomes Saudi Arabia’s “statement exposing the Iranian regime’s support for Houthi militias, including the supply of illegal arms such as ballistic missiles.”
What do you want our next mayor to accomplish in the next four years? Credit
Hilary Swift for The New York Times
Good morning on this nippy Wednesday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio cruised to a second-term victory yesterday. (And Philip D. Murphy, a former Wall Street banker, will replace Chris Christie as New Jersey governor.)
We asked New York Today readers: What do you want our next mayor to accomplish in the next four years? Here’s what a few of your neighbors said:
“Focus on making New York City a place where all residents can safely walk, bike and use fast and reliable transit anywhere in the city.”
— Avinoam Baral, 24, Manhattan
“Improve the subway system, it’s really frustrating.”
— John White, 27, Brooklyn
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“Improve the traffic flow in Manhattan and ease the congestion.”
— William J. Fleming, the Bronx
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“Support a congestion pricing plan that’ll charge drivers, taxis and ride-shares entering Manhattan’s busiest district (south of 59th Street), and toll bridges and tunnels appropriately.”
— Brennan Ortiz, 25, the Bronx
“New York is a hard city to live in without money, and the next mayor needs to continue policies in education, housing, access to health care, and the minimum wage to ensure it becomes the highest ranking city in America for economic mobility, which is how we measure the American dream.”
It may feel as chilly as 30 or 40 degrees when you head out this morning — especially with the breeze — but the high should climb to 50 and the sunshine should take the edge off.
Same shtick on Thursday, but you’ll want to dust off your winter coat by Friday.
In the News
• New Yorkers rejected the opportunity to review the state’s constitution at a constitutional convention. [New York Times]
Photo
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, opponents of a constitutional convention in New York State spent more than $1 million to help defeat the measure. Credit
Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York Times
• Results in close City Council contests could shape the race for the next speaker, and they showed the strength of Mr. de Blasio’s win. [New York Times]
• Tim Sini, a Democrat, won the race for Suffolk County district attorney, an office tarnished by recent scandal. [New York Times]
• In Westchester and Nassau Counties, Democrats took county executive seats away from Republicans, in part thanks to anti-Trump sentiment. [New York Times]
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• The focus of the closing arguments in Norman Seabrook’s trial was on the contents of a bag: $60,000 in bribes or a gift of Cuban cigars? [New York Times]
• After fleeing postwar Vietnam on a fishing boat, a family finally had the chance to thank the merchant seaman who found them at sea. [New York Times]
Photo
Mai Tran and Thiem Vuong thanked Ken Nelson, one of the sailors who rescued them in 1980. Credit
Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times
• The lack of diversity among elected officials has prompted backlash among black and Latino leaders, especially in the race for City Council speaker. [New York Times]
• After being denied visas by officials in the United Arab Emirates, journalism professors of New York University are refusing to teach at the school’s Abu Dhabi campus. [New York Times]
• A federal judge will decide whether a Queens developer broke the law when he destroyed a building with artists’ colorful murals. [New York Times]
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• With public ads and organization campaigns, city officials will begin reminding the public not to feed the wildlife. [CBS New York]
• A video surfaced of an M.T.A. worker kicking and dragging a drunk passenger off a subway train. [New York Post]
• The folk singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III performs and speaks with Randy Cohen, as part of the “Person, Place, Thing” series, at KGB Bar in the East Village. 6:30 p.m. [Tickets start at $15]
• “The ‘Nasty Woman’ Stigma,” a panel discussion that is part of a celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York, at the Brooklyn Historical Society. 6:30 p.m. [$5]
• Looking ahead: On Thursday, New York Times journalists who covered the sexual harassment cases of Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly and others join TimesTalks to discuss exposing male abuse of power.
A “Can-Struction Site” at the exhibition Canstruction in 2016. Credit
Johannes Schmitt-Tegge/Picture-Alliance/DPA, via Associated Press
And Finally…
Can you imagine local art and architecture made of cans?
Canstruction, an annual contest and exhibition of unusual shapes, statues and towers built from full cans of food, has returned to Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan. The event, now in its 25th year, is intended to generate discussion on food access and raise awareness about hunger. The architects, engineers and design students who have created the life-size structures competed this week for titles like “Most Cans,” “Best Use of Labels” and “Structural Ingenuity.”
(The structure with the most cans had 7,250.)
Stop by this year and you may see a tree made of cans. Or perhaps a can-made pineapple, Pokémon or Pacman character — to name just a few.
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You can check out the display any day of the week, through Nov. 15, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., except on the closing day, which wraps up at 6 p.m.
New York Today is a morning roundup that is published weekdays at 6 a.m. If you don’t get it in your inbox already, you can sign up to receive it by email here.
