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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2014
Russia finds
tough words
from G-20
on Ukraine
ISIS claims
execution
of American
aid worker
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
GAZIANTEP, TURKEY
Obama delivers warning
to Putin, but says current
sanctions are working
U.S. official says video,
which differs from other
beheadings, appears real
BY MARK LANDLER
AND JENNY ANDERSON
BY RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
President Obama edged closer to describing Russia’s military incursions in
Ukraine as an invasion, saying Sunday
that the Western campaign to isolate
Moscow would continue, though additional sanctions were unnecessary for
now.
He was one of several Western leaders in Brisbane for the annual meeting
of the Group-of-20 industrialized economies to strongly criticize the Russian
role in Ukraine.
At the end of the G-20 meeting, Mr.
Obama said the Russians were supplying heavy arms to separatists in Ukraine
in violation of an agreement Moscow
signed with Ukraine a few weeks ago.
‘‘We’re also very firm on the need to uphold core international principles,’’ he
said, ‘‘and one of those principles is you
don’t invade other countries or finance
proxies and support them in ways that
break up a country that has mechanisms
for democratic elections.’’
Mr. Obama, who met with President
Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at an economic meeting in Beijing last week and again
at a summit meeting here this weekend,
said he warned him that if the Russians
did not change course in Ukraine, ‘‘the
isolation that Russia is currently experiencing will continue.’’ He described the
exchanges as ‘‘businesslike and blunt.’’
The president’s words were among
the toughest he has used about Russia’s
actions during the Ukraine crisis. But
after meeting with European leaders to
discuss any future steps, it was unclear
that the allies had the stomach for another round of sanctions. ‘‘At this point,
the sanctions that we have in place are
biting plenty good,’’ he said.
Mr. Obama’s comments came at the
end of a hectic weeklong trip to Asia that
produced a landmark climate change
agreement with China, progress on a
number of trade negotiations, and a return visit for the president to Myanmar,
in which he admonished its militarydominated government that it needed to
keep the reform process on track.
‘‘If you ask me, I say that’s a pretty
good week,’’ he said. ‘‘I intend to build on
OBAMA, PAGE 5
Oil vs. environment
URIEL SINAI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Getting water from Lake Edward in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A British company wants to drill there. PAGE 4
Spanish land fight rakes up past excess
CASTELLAR DE LA FRONTERA, SPAIN
Critics of state plan to sell
estate to developers say
it promotes speculation
BY RAPHAEL MINDER
La Almoraima, a farming estate nestled
at the edge of a nature reserve, is prized
by environmentalists. Home to one of
Europe’s largest cork forests, it is a rare
place where deer and boar roam wild
within sight of the Rock of Gibraltar.
The Spanish state, which owns the
land, wants to sell it for as much as 300
million euros, or about $375 million,
pitching it as a perfect spot for a luxury
resort, including a five-star hotel, a
small airport, two golf courses and a
polo ground. The proposed sale is part
of a rise in public land deals that politicians around the country hope will fill
their treasuries and revive the economy.
But they are meeting strong opposition from environmentalists and others
who say the deals evoke the kinds of excesses that got Spain in trouble in the
first place. After its real estate bubble
burst in 2008, the country was left
littered with unsold condominiums,
empty arts centers and unused highways.
Now that the economy appears to be
recovering, it is back to business as usual, they say.
‘‘The government hasn’t learned any
lesson from the property bubble,’’ said
Alejandro Sánchez Pérez, a founder of
Equo, the environmentalist political
party. ‘‘Its goal is still to promote specu-
lative property deals, with a strong focus on tourism, even if that involves
handing over patrimony like La Almoraima that should clearly belong to all
Spaniards, as it has genuine ecological
rather than financial value.’’
There have been no allegations of corruption in the proposed sale of the land.
But opposition is fed in part by a proliferation of corruption cases in the aftermath of Spain’s economic crisis that
showed the real estate boom and bust to
be more than the result of reckless investment alone.
Instead, it was fueled by a lucrative,
three-way relationship in which builders acquired construction permits from
politicians and financing from banks, often also supervised by the politicians.
From 2000 to 2008, Spain added about
four million houses along its coastline,
despite accusations by environmental
groups that the building frenzy amounted to an illegal privatization of Spain’s
shores.
In addition to the new land sales, the
government of Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy and the chiefs of regional governments are being criticized for helping to
regularize such deals, particularly
along coastal lands.
The Socialist administration of Andalusia, Spain’s largest region, recently
introduced legislation to regularize as
many as 25,000 houses built illegally before the crisis. Many were acquired by
sun-seeking pensioners from Northern
Europe, who claim to have never suspected irregularities.
Spain’s politicians see the new sales
of public lands as a chance to shed unproductive assets, replenish their coffers, stimulate tourism and get the con-
SPAIN, PAGE 5
In latest Napoleonic war,
collectors vie for artifacts
FONTAINEBLEAU, FRANCE
BY PATRICK REEVELL
Surveying the glittering collection of
Napoleonic objects laid out in an auction
hall near Paris, Bruno Ledoux said he
had a good reason for his interest in a
set of baby clothes belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte’s son.
‘‘You see, I have a palace,’’ said Mr.
Ledoux, who indeed owns the palace of
Napoleon II, Napoleon’s son, on the outskirts of Paris.
Mr. Ledoux, one of France’s biggest
Napoleon collectors and owner of the
newspaper Libération, had come here on
BURY
Saturday to one of the largest auctions of
Napoleon memorabilia ever held, looking
for items for a museum he is creating.
Hundreds of people packed the auction house for the event opposite the
Château de Fontainebleau on Saturday
and Sunday, just across from the gingerbread walls of the chateau, where Napoleon abdicated in 1814.
Nearly 1,000 objects were for sale, including weapons, portraits, letters, the
emperor’s cologne bottles, a knife used
in a foiled assassination attempt, and
even his stockings. The pieces come
from a collection belonging to Monaco’s
royal family, which sold them to raise
money for a palace renovation.
The star attraction was one of Napoleon’s trademark black bicorn hats, one
of 19 known to be in existence. Although
mostly worn by Napoleon’s chief veterinarian, who received it as a gift, the hat
still went for 1.9 million euros, or about
$24 million, bought by a South Korean
food company, Harem.
Napoleon’s bejeweled hunting rifle
sold for ¤250,000; a gilded crib for
¤200,000. The auction houses Orsenat
and Binoche & Giquello, which ran the
sale, said the sale took in about ¤10 mil-
Reverse migration
INSIDE TO DAY ’S PA P E R
2 classes and tragedy in Hong Kong
Taking flight in a simulated world
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’:HIKKLD=WUXUU\:?b@l@b@h@k"
DIEGO IBARRA SANCHEZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
A Pakistani farmer, one of thousands who have fled to Afghanistan during a military offensive. PAGE 6
The deaths of two women found in a
British banker’s apartment cast a
spotlight on how impoverished
housemaids are drawn to the city’s
seedy bars for money. WORLD NEWS, 6
Of all the praise heaped upon Oculus, the
virtual-reality company that Facebook
acquired for $2 billion this year, perhaps
the most significant has been this: nonnauseating. The Oculus Rift doesn’t
make you vomit. BUSINESS, 15
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IN THIS ISSUE
No. 40,957
Books 11
Business 15
Crossword 14
Culture 11
Opinion 8
Sports 12
KASSIG FAMILY, VIA REUTERS
Peter Kassig disappeared in northeastern
Syria while delivering medical supplies.
U.S. agencies
increasingly
go undercover
BY ERIC LICHTBLAU
AND WILLIAM M. ARKIN
NAPOLEON, PAGE 5
The new Republican senators blossomed
inside the political bureaucracy that
many love to loathe. WORLD NEWS, 7
ISIS, PAGE 4
WASHINGTON
A knife used in a foiled assassination attempt against Napoleon was up for auction.
G.O.P. tilts back toward the insiders
A senior American official said Sunday
that the United States government was
increasingly convinced of the authenticity of a video released by the Islamic
State showing a black-clad executioner
standing over the severed head of a man
it identified as the American aid worker
Peter Kassig.
In recent days, American intelligence
agencies had received strong indications that the Islamic State had killed
Mr. Kassig. But without a body or other
corroborating evidence, officials could
not be certain.
After the video was released and intelligence analysts conducted an initial assessment, the senior American official
said the government believed that Mr.
Kassig was dead. Mr. Kassig, a former
Army Ranger, disappeared over a year
ago at a checkpoint in northeastern Syria while delivering medical supplies.
The footage is significantly different
from the execution videos of four other
Western hostages, whose televised
deaths were carefully choreographed.
Those videos were shot with several
cameras from different vantage points
to give the appearance of a professional
production. But the footage of Mr.
Kassig’s death is shot with a single camera and appears amateurish, with the
Three years ago, Matt Haag was
flipping burgers at McDonald’s. Today
he makes his living playing video
games and has 1.5 million YouTube
subscribers. BUSINESS, 18
Back problems halt Federer
Roger Federer’s quest to win the ATP
Finals title on Sunday in London ended
because of back problems. An hour
before he was to play Novak Djokovic,
he announced to the crowd that he was
‘‘not match fit.’’ SPORTS, 14
In India, growth breeds waste
Indians are getting dirtier as they get
richer, and we can no longer keep up:
There’s too much stuff being made now,
thanks to the backwash of globalization,
Jerry Pinto writes. OPINION, 8
ONLINE AT INY T.COM
More frustrations on health site
HealthCare.gov opened again over the
weekend and performed much better
than last year, but some consumers
reported long delays in trying to buy
insurance. nytimes.com/politics
Logging town looks for new growth
In Sweet Home, Ore., the old logging
jobs are long gone and the food bank
has a more secure future than
remaining industry. nytimes.com/us
The federal government has significantly expanded undercover operations in
recent years, with officers from at least
40 agencies posing as business people,
welfare recipients, political protesters
and even doctors or ministers to ferret
out wrongdoing, records and interviews
show.
At the Supreme Court, small teams of
undercover officers dress as students at
large demonstrations outside the courthouse and join the protests to look for
suspicious activity, according to officials familiar with the practice.
At the Internal Revenue Service,
dozens of undercover agents chase suspected tax evaders worldwide, by posing as tax preparers, accountants, drug
dealers, yacht buyers or others, court
records show.
At the Agriculture Department, more
than 100 undercover agents pose as food
stamp recipients at thousands of neighborhood stores to spot suspicious
vendors and fraud, officials said.
Undercover work, inherently invasive and sometimes dangerous, was once
largely the domain of the F.B.I. and a
few other law enforcement agencies at
the federal level. But outside public
UNDERCOVER, PAGE 7
In Times Square, bigger is better
At more than $2.5 million a month, a
megascreen in Times Square that
stands eight stories tall and spans a city
block ranks as one of the most expensive
pieces of outdoor ad real estate on the
market. nytimes.com/business
A secret mission to North Korea
The director of national intelligence
described his mission to secure the
release of two Americans, saying he
had no certainty they would be freed
until hours before he left. nytimes.com/us