INTO A GAMBLE COASTAL HOUSES RISING SEAS TURN · 25-11-2016  · “Fantastic Beasts and Where to...

C M Y K Nxxx,2016-11-25,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

MIAMI — Real estate agentslooking to sell coastal propertiesusually focus on one thing: howclose the home is to the water’sedge. But buyers are increasinglyasking instead how far back it isfrom the waterline. How manyfeet above sea level? Is it fortifiedagainst storm surges? Does ithave emergency power and sumppumps?

Rising sea levels are changingthe way people think about water-front real estate. Though demandremains strong and developerscontinue to build near the water inmany coastal cities, homeownersacross the nation are slowly grow-ing wary of buying property in ar-eas most vulnerable to the effectsof climate change.

A warming planet has alreadyforced a number of industries —coal, oil, agriculture and utilitiesamong them — to account for po-tential future costs of a changedclimate. The real estate industry,particularly along the vulnerablecoastlines, is slowly awakening tothe need to factor in the risks ofcatastrophic damage from cli-mate change, including thatwrought by rising seas and storm-driven flooding.

But many economists say thatthis reckoning needs to happenmuch faster and that home buyersurgently need to be better in-formed. Some analysts say theeconomic impact of a collapse inthe waterfront property marketcould surpass that of the burstingdot-com and real estate bubbles of2000 and 2008.

The fallout would be felt byproperty owners, developers, realestate lenders and the financial in-stitutions that bundle and resellmortgages.

Over the past five years, homesales in flood-prone areas grewabout 25 percent less quickly thanin counties that do not typicallyflood, according to county-by-county data from Attom Data So-lutions, the parent company of Re-altyTrac. Many coastal residentsare rethinking their investmentsand heading for safer ground.

“I don’t see how this town is go-ing to defeat the water,” said BrentDixon, a resident of Miami Beachwho plans to move north andaway from the coast in anticipa-tion of worsening king tides, thehighest predicted tide of the year.

RISING SEAS TURNCOASTAL HOUSES

INTO A GAMBLE

FEARS OF MARKET CRASH

Owners and Real EstateIndustry Struggle to

Adapt to Risks

By IAN URBINA

Continued on Page A18

U(D54G1D)y+&!:!,!=!]

The Delhi homes of 18-month-old Vaishnavi, top with her mother and aunt, and 4-year-old Mehtab, above with his par-ents. The children, 20 miles apart, were both sickened by this month’s pollution, leaving their parents feeling helpless.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PORAS CHAUDHARY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEW DELHI — In the dense smog thatengulfed India’s capital early this month, ababy named Vaishnavi gasped through thenight.

In the concrete room that her father andmother rent for $20 a month, they tookturns staying up, laying a hand on her ribcage, feeling it move up and down. Hercoughing fits became so violent that she

vomited, milk mixed with ropes of sputum.Three times they thought she would notsurvive until morning.

Twenty miles away, in an elegant, high-ceilinged house in an elite neighborhood, a4-year-old boy named Mehtab was alsostruggling to fill his lungs with air.

His mother, heavily pregnant, sat besidehim, administering corticosteroidsthrough a nebulizer mask once an hour.But once an hour wasn’t enough. Mehtab’s

father fought waves of panic as theywaited for the sun to rise. The boy looked,to him, like a fish suffocating in the air.

For seven days at the beginning of thismonth, a thick cloud settled over this me-tropolis of 20 million people. Held in placeby a weather system known as an anticy-clone, the pollution was pulled inward anddown, trapping the people of this city inconcentrations of hazardous micro-parti-

Two Children, One Poor, One Rich, Gasping for Air in DelhiBy ELLEN BARRY

Continued on Page A10

In 2012, Forbes dropped J. K.Rowling after eight years on itsauthoritative billionaires list,saying high British taxes andlarge charitable contributions

had eroded her for-tune.

Forbes may wantto rethink that.

Last weekend,“Fantastic Beasts andWhere to Find Them”

— the first of a new, multifilmfranchise, with a script by Ms.Rowling — opened in the UnitedStates to a strong $75 millionweekend. (The international boxoffice was close to $150 millionmore.) Hugely popular Wizard-ing World of Harry Potter attrac-tions have opened at Universal

Studio theme parks in Orlando,Fla., Hollywood and Osaka,Japan, along with a Potter attrac-tion at Warner Bros. Studio TourLondon.

The two-part drama “HarryPotter and the Cursed Child” is asmash hit in London and isscheduled to open on Broadwaynext year. A book based on theplay was an instant No. 1 bestseller. Warner Bros. recentlylicensed the television rights tothe Harry Potter films to NBC-Universal for as much as $250million.

Any estimate of Ms. Rowling’sfortune is at best informed spec-ulation, and most previous at-tempts I’ve seen don’t seem very

informed. Ms. Rowling is fa-mously private, especially abouther financial and business af-fairs. She denied being a billion-aire after Forbes first anointed

In Chamber of Secrets: An Author’s Net Worth

JAMES B.STEWARTCOMMON

SENSE Is she a billionaire? J. K. Rowl-ing, creator of Harry Potter.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page B5

ALEX WROBLEWSKI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Barricades of trucks protected the route of the Macy’s Thanks-giving Day Parade through Manhattan on Thursday. Page A22.

Floating Above, Security Below

WASHINGTON — In the sum-mer of 2015, armed Americandrones over eastern Syria stalkedJunaid Hussain, an influentialhacker and recruiter for the Is-lamic State.

For weeks, Mr. Hussain wascareful to keep his young stepsonby his side, and the drones heldtheir fire. But late one night, Mr.Hussain left an internet cafealone, and minutes later a Hellfiremissile killed him as he walked be-tween two buildings in Raqqa,Syria, the Islamic State’s de factocapital.

Mr. Hussain, a 21-year-old fromBirmingham, England, was aleader of a band of English-speak-ing computer specialists who hadgiven a far-reaching megaphoneto Islamic State propaganda andexhorted online followers to carryout attacks in the West. One byone, American and allied forceshave killed the most important ofroughly a dozen members of thecell, which the F.B.I. calls “the Le-gion,” as part of a secretive cam-paign that has largely silenced apowerful voice that led to a surgeof counterterrorism activityacross the United States in 2015 asyoung men and women came un-der the influence of its propagan-da.

American military, intelligenceand law enforcement officials ac-

U.S. SilencesVoices of ISIS,One at a Time

By ADAM GOLDMANand ERIC SCHMITT

Continued on Page A3

BACKED A WINNER Could rewardsbe in store for Donald J. Trump’searly endorsers? PAGE A14

CABINET The billionaire WilburRoss is the expected pick forCommerce secretary. PAGE A20

By JEREMY W. PETERSand MAGGIE HABERMAN

Continued on Page A20

WASHINGTON — Rival fac-tions of Republicans are locked inan increasingly caustic and publicbattle to influence President-electDonald J. Trump’s choice for sec-retary of state, leaving a promi-nent hole in an otherwise quicklyformed national security teamthat is unlikely to be filled untilnext week at the earliest.

The debate inside Mr. Trump’swide circle of formal and informaladvisers — pitting supporters ofone leading contender, Mitt Rom-ney, against those of another, Ru-dolph W. Giuliani — has led to thekind of dramatic airing of differ-ences that characterized Mr.Trump’s unconventional and oftensquabbling campaign team.

And it traces the outlines of theenduring split in the RepublicanParty between establishment fig-ures who scoffed at Mr. Trump’schances of victory and the grass-roots insurgents who backed himas a disrupter of the Washingtonpower structure.

The most publicly vocal factionhas been the group opposed to Mr.Romney, which has questionedwhether he would be loyal afterhis searing criticism of Mr. Trumpduring the campaign. But Mr.Trump himself has told aides thathe believes Mr. Romney “looks thepart” and would make a fine sec-

Filling Top PostAt State Dept.Divides G.O.P.

Factions Are Split OverRomney and Giuliani

The government and the nation’s mainrebel group signed a new peace accord,bypassing voters after they rejected theagreement last month. PAGE A3

INTERNATIONAL A3-12

New Peace Deal in ColombiaConstruction of a crude-oil pipelineacross four states has spurred monthsof protests in North Dakota. A survey ofthe land and the clashes. PAGE A14

NATIONAL A14-20

A Conflict Spanning 1,172 MilesThe Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau is in the cross-hairs of Republi-cans who contend that it and its direc-tor have too much power. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-5

Unease at Consumer BureauWith video games, DVDs, and classical,pop and holiday music, our Culturecritics and reporters offer gift ideas foryour shopping list. PAGES C4, 10-16

WEEKEND ARTS C1-30

Holiday Gift Guide Paul Krugman PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

VOL. CLXVI . . . No. 57,427 © 2016 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016

Late Edition

$2.50

Today, variably cloudy, afternoonshowers, high 54. Tonight, somerain, low 44. Tomorrow, clouds andsunshine, morning showers, high52. Weather map is on Page B10.