C M Y K Nxxx,2016-09-14,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

Today, partly sunny, very warm, hu-mid, high 88. Tonight, eveningshower or storm, cloudy, low 60. To-morrow, cooler, less humid, high 75.Weather map appears on A22.

VOL. CLXV . . . No. 57,355 © 2016 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Late Edition

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The United States won 12 gymnasticsmedals in Rio, but this is no happy timefor the sport, amid reports of sexualabuse. Sports of The Times. PAGE B9

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B9-13

Spotlight on a Sport’s ShadowsThe defense for armed demonstratorswho took over a federal wildlife refugein Oregon says the government was thelawbreaker. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A12-19

Government Faulted in Trial

Frank Bruni PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

The website features photo-graphs and short biographies ofchildren, some with special needs.Choices can be narrowed by gen-der, age, race and ethnicity.

The State of Washington turnsto sites, like the WashingtonAdoption Resource Exchange, tohelp find adoptive parents for chil-dren. The state’s goal is to keepthe children near family and fa-miliar surroundings, but if offi-cials cannot find a suitable match,they consider homes out of state— even across the country in NewYork.

That is how Washington firstfound Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu,who lives in Ridge, N.Y., on LongIsland. He reached out after see-

ing children online in 2009.Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu

eventually took in three boys fromWashington, two of whom headopted. They were among morethan 100 children he cared for oversome 20 years, a vast majority ofwhom came from New York City.

But Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu, afoster parent trusted by so manysocial workers, is now in jail await-ing trial on charges of sexuallyabusing five of his adopted sonsand endangering the welfare oftwo foster children.

Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu’s ar-rest prompted questions aboutwhy it took so long for the alleged

Abuse Case Reveals the RisksOf Long-Distance Foster Care

By NIKITA STEWART and JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

Continued on Page A21

Russian hackers — possibly thesame group that compromised theDemocratic National Committee’scomputer servers — have madetop American athletes their latesttarget.

Joining an intercontinental dis-pute over sports doping, the hack-

ers penetrated the World Anti-Doping Agency’s athlete databaseand publicly revealed privatemedical information about threeof the United States’ most famousathletes: Serena Williams, VenusWilliams and Simone Biles.

The hackers published docu-ments this week showing that Ms.Biles, who won four gold medals ingymnastics at the Rio Olympics

last month, and the Williamssisters received medical exemp-tions to use banned drugs.

The antidoping agency con-firmed the authenticity of the doc-uments in a statement Tuesday,attributing the hack to FancyBear, a Russian cyberespionagegroup that forensics specialistshave tied to breaches against gov-ernment agencies, nonprofit orga-

nizations and corporations. Thatgroup is believed to be associatedwith G.R.U., the Russian militaryintelligence agency suspected ofinvolvement in the recent theft ofemails and documents from theD.N.C.

“These criminal acts aregreatly compromising the effortby the global antidoping commu-

Vengeful Russian Hackers Leak Medical Files of Top U.S. AthletesBy REBECCA R. RUIZ

Continued on Page B10

LANDON NORDEMAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Thom Browne created a faux swimming pool to show off his spring 2017 collection, and that wasnot the only creativity the designer displayed. A review by Vanessa Friedman. Fashion, Page C8.

Making a Fashion Week Splash

PARIS — The golden maindome of a new Russian Orthodoxcathedral now under constructionon the banks of the Seine shim-mers in the sun, towering over aParis neighborhood studded withgovernment buildings and foreignembassies. Most sensitive of all, itis being built beside a 19th-cen-tury palace that has been used toconceal some of the Frenchpresidency’s most closelyguarded secrets.

The prime location, secured bythe Russian state after years oflobbying by the Kremlin, is soclose to so many snoop-worthyplaces that when Moscow firstproposed a $100 million “spiritualand cultural center” there,France’s security services frettedthat Russia’s president, VladimirV. Putin, a former K.G.B. officer,might have more than just reli-

gious outreach in mind.Anxiety over whether the

spiritual center might serve as alistening post, however, has ob-scured its principal and perhapsmore intrusive role: an outsizedisplay in the heart of Paris, thecapital of the insistently secularFrench Republic, of Russia’smight as a religious power, not justa military one.

While tanks and artillery havebeen Russia’s weapons of choiceto project its power into neighbor-ing Ukraine and Georgia, Mr.

Russia Mobilizes Faith to Extend Its Influence

By ANDREW HIGGINS

A service at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Nice, France. Russia has pushed hard to reclaim church property in the city.ANDREW TESTA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A8

DARK ARTS

Power Through Religion

WASHINGTON — The agree-ment that Secretary of State JohnKerry announced with Russia toreduce the killing in Syria haswidened an increasingly public di-vide between Mr. Kerry and De-fense Secretary Ashton B. Carter,who has deep reservations aboutthe plan for American and Rus-sian forces to jointly target terror-ist groups.

Mr. Carter was among the ad-ministration officials who pushedagainst the agreement on a con-ference call with the White Houselast week as Mr. Kerry, joining theargument from a secure facility inGeneva, grew increasingly frus-trated. Although PresidentObama ultimately approved theeffort after hours of debate, Penta-gon officials remain unconvinced.

On Tuesday at the Pentagon, of-ficials would not even agree that ifa cessation of violence in Syriaheld for seven days — the initialpart of the deal — the Defense De-partment would put in place itspart of the agreement on theeighth day: an extraordinary col-laboration between the UnitedStates and Russia that calls for theAmerican military to share infor-mation with Moscow on IslamicState targets in Syria.

SYRIA AGREEMENTWIDENS U.S. RIFT

Officials Split on SharingData With Moscow

By HELENE COOPERand DAVID E. SANGER

Continued on Page A3

ASTON, Pa. — Donald J. Trumpunveiled a menu of proposals onTuesday to help working parents,calling for six weeks of mandatorypaid maternity leave and ex-panded tax credits for child care.

The proposals, which Mr.Trump outlined in the politicallycritical Philadelphia suburbsalong with his daughter Ivanka,represent a new attempt to courtfemale voters, who polls showhave been alienated by his bom-bast and history of provocative re-marks about women.

“Those in leadership must putthemselves in the shoes of thelaid-off factory worker, the familyworried about security or themom struggling to afford childcare,” Mr. Trump said at a rallyhere.

Mr. Trump’s decision to put for-ward such a plan represents a dif-ferent approach from the one tak-en by previous Republican presi-dential nominees.

But in selling his case, Mr.Trump stretched the truth, sayingthat his Democratic rival, HillaryClinton, has no such plan of herown and “never will.”

Mrs. Clinton issued her planmore than a year ago, and it guar-antees up to 12 weeks of paid fam-ily and medical leave for a new-born or a sick relative, financed byan increase in taxes on the wealth-iest Americans. On Twitter, hercampaign posted a link to her planafter Mr. Trump’s remark.

Mr. Trump and his daughterspoke about the issue at the Re-publican National Convention inJuly, but the candidate had notmentioned it publicly until Tues-day. Mr. Trump faces a potentiallyrecord-high gender gap withwomen, but pushing the proposalso close to the election risks look-ing slapdash on a serious topic.

The campaign staved off poten-tial complaints from social conser-vatives who have historicallyfrowned on giving incentives tomothers to work outside thehome, by vowing to make thosecaretaker roles tax-deductible.

At the speech, Mr. Trump wasjoined by some female membersof Congress. Noting one applaud-ing in the audience as he spoke,

Trump UnveilsPlan to ExpandAid to Parents

Hoping for Strides WithFemale Voters

By NICK CORASANITIand MAGGIE HABERMAN

Continued on Page A18

WASHINGTON — Americanslast year reaped the largest eco-nomic gains in nearly a genera-tion as poverty fell, health insur-ance coverage spread and in-comes rose sharply for house-holds on every rung of theeconomic ladder, ending years ofstagnation.

The median household’s in-come in 2015 was $56,500, up 5.2percent from the previous year —the largest single-year increasesince record-keeping began in1967, the Census Bureau said onTuesday. The share of Americansliving in poverty also posted thesharpest decline in decades.

The gains were an importantmilestone for the economic expan-sion that began in 2009. For thefirst time in recent years, thebenefits of renewed prosperityare spreading broadly. [Page B1.]

The data was released into aheated presidential race, whereDemocrats seized on the statisticsto promote Hillary Clinton’s can-didacy and undercut Donald J.Trump’s dark assessment of thenation’s well-being.

“It has been a long slog from thedepths of the Great Recession, butthings are finally starting to im-prove for many American house-holds,” said Chris G. ChristopherJr., director of consumer econom-ics at IHS Global Insight. He saidthe gains had continued this year.

INCOMES IN U.S.ARE UP SHARPLY;

POOR GAIN MOST

CENSUS BUREAU REPORT

More Health Care andLess Poverty Add to

Partisan Debate

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

Source: Census Bureau THE NEW YORK TIMES

45

50

55

$60 thousand a year

’90 ’95 ’00 ’05 ’10 ’15

’15$56,500

’07$57,400

’99$57,900

Median Household Income

RECESSIONSReal income

in 1995 dollars

Continued on Page B4

Yuh-Line Niou won a six-way race forthe Democratic nomination to inheritthe State Assembly seat once held bySheldon Silver, the disgraced formerspeaker. PAGE A24

NEW YORK A20-24

Nominee for Silver’s Old Seat

A campaign to urge Italians to havemore babies angered many women,who say support from employers andthe government is lacking. PAGE A4

Italy’s Furor Over ‘Fertility Day’

A reporter makes her first pilgrimage toMecca, minus her lost luggage butblessed by strangers’ aid and armedwith instructions from her mother.Postcards From the Hajj. PAGE A10

INTERNATIONAL A3-11

Peace and Shopping at the HajjThe European Union is expected tounveil new rules to unify its digitalmarket, a move that Silicon Valleycompanies call protectionism. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-8

Challenge to U.S. Tech Giants

Oscar prognosticators had written offHarvey Weinstein as a player this yearuntil “Lion,” starring Dev Patel, below,hit the Toronto film festival. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Oscar Buzz for ‘Lion’The most requested and searched reci-pe in The Times’s history is for a plumtorte, first published in 1983. PAGE D4

FOOD D1-6

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