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WASHINGTON — Two leadingsenators, hoping to stabilize tee-tering health insurance marketsunder the Affordable Care Act,reached a bipartisan deal on Tues-day to fund critical subsidies to in-surers that President Trumpmoved just days ago to cut off.

At the White House, virtually asthe deal was being announced, Mr.Trump voiced support for it whileinsisting that he would try againto repeal President Barack Oba-ma’s signature health law.

The plan by the senators,Lamar Alexander, Republican ofTennessee, and Patty Murray,Democrat of Washington, wouldfund the subsidies for two years, astep that would provide at leastshort-term certainty to insurers.The subsidies, known as cost-sharing reduction payments, re-imburse insurance companies forlowering deductibles, co-pay-ments and other out-of-pocketcosts for low-income customers.

Without them, insurance com-panies said, premiums for manypeople buying plans under the Af-fordable Care Act would jump,and with profits squeezed, some ofthe companies would probablyleave the market.

“In my view, this agreementavoids chaos,” Mr. Alexander said,“and I don’t know a Democrat or aRepublican who benefits fromchaos.”

Mr. Trump appeared to back thedeal, even as he berated insurancecompanies, declared the Afford-able Care Act “virtually dead” andpromised the demise of the healthlaw in due time.

“It’ll get us over this intermedi-ate hump,” the president said at aRose Garden news conference,describing it as “a short-term so-lution so that we don’t have thisvery dangerous little period.”

Passage of the deal negotiatedby Mr. Alexander and Ms. Murrayis still far from assured. If ap-proved, it could provide a reprievefor the Affordable Care Act thatwould prevent 2018 premiumsfrom increasing as much as theymight have otherwise. But con-sumers in many states will stillface double-digit rate increases,and in many counties, healthplans will be available from onlyone insurance company.

Moreover, Mr. Trump and otherRepublicans are still intent on re-pealing much of the AffordableCare Act, and an executive order

DEAL BY SENATORSSEEKS TO RESTOREHEALTH SUBSIDIES

TRUMP SUPPORTS PLAN

Bid to Stabilize Markets— 2 Years of Aid for

Poorer Patients

By THOMAS KAPLANand ROBERT PEAR

Continued on Page A19

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Ameri-can-backed forces said on Tues-day that they had seized thenorthern Syrian city of Raqqafrom the Islamic State, a majorblow to the militant group, whichhad long used the city as the defacto capital of its self-declared ca-liphate.

Celebrations erupted in Raqqa,where residents had lived underthe repressive rule of militantswho beheaded people for offensesas minor as smoking. Fighterscould be seen cheering and firingcelebratory gunfire in the streets,according to residents reached byphone and text message.

The United States Central Com-mand stopped short of declaringvictory, saying that “more than 90percent of Raqqa is in S.D.F. con-trol,” a reference to the SyrianDemocratic Forces, an American-backed militia group made up ofSyrian Kurds and Arabs.

Col. Ryan S. Dillon, a spokes-man for the United States militaryin Baghdad, said Tuesday thatRaqqa was on the verge of beingliberated, but that there were stillpockets of the city controlled bythe Islamic State. Syrian Demo-cratic Forces officers, however,were emphatic in phone inter-views and public statements thatthey had finally wrested control ofthe city from the militants after amonthslong campaign.

“The military operation is over,”said Talal Salo, a commanderreached by phone at the group’sheadquarters in Hasaka.

Still, a spokesman for the Syr-ian Democratic Forces,Moustapha Bali, said suicidebombers might still be hiding inthe city. In a video teleconferencewith Pentagon reporters, ColonelDillon also said that Islamic Statefighters had booby-trapped thecity with improvised explosive de-vices and unexploded ordnancethat officials say could take yearsto remove.

Whether final or not, the seem-ingly inevitable defeat in Raqqa ofthe Islamic State, also known asISIS or ISIL, carries heavy sym-bolic weight. At its height in 2014,the group controlled Iraq’s sec-ond-largest city, Mosul, as well asRaqqa and large stretches of landon both sides of the border. And ithad grand aspirations to increaseits territory and cement its rule.

The Islamic State leader, AbuBakr al-Baghdadi, who once spenttime in a prison run by occupyingAmerican troops in Iraq, claimedto be the successor to the caliphs,the Islamic emperors who shapedthe region in past centuries. Hepersuaded tens of thousands ofMuslims from around the world,

HUGE BLOW DEALTTO HEART OF ISIS AS CAPITAL FALLS

U.S. ALLIES CELEBRATE

Militants Preparing for aNew Phase After the

Loss of Raqqa

By ANNE BARNARDand HWAIDA SAAD

Syrian Democratic Forces comrades and family members at the graveside of a man who was killed fighting in Raqqa this month.IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A14

BEIJING — When Xi Jinpingstrode out in the Great Hall of thePeople five years ago as China’snew leader, his tight smile barelyhid the atmosphere of smolderingcrisis.

The Communist Party elite hadbeen battered by infighting andscandals involving power grabs,bribery and even murder. Militarycommanders and state securitychieftains — the guardians of one-party rule — had grown grosslycorrupt. Critics openly accusedMr. Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, ofdithering as popular ire spread.

On Wednesday, Mr. Xi openedanother Communist Party con-gress, this time as the nation’smost powerful leader in decades,all but certain to receive a secondfive-year term. And after spend-ing his first term tightening con-trol on society, he is expected toenshrine his authoritarian visionfor revitalizing the party — andperhaps position himself as indis-pensable to its survival.

“Currently, conditions domesti-cally and abroad are undergoingdeep and complicated changes,”Mr. Xi told some 2,300 party dele-gates and other dignitaries as-sembled in the Great Hall. “Ourcountry is in an important periodof strategic opportunity in its de-velopment,” he said in a calm,steady voice. “The outlook is ex-tremely bright; the challenges arealso extremely grim.”

With his two most recent prede-cessors as Chinese leader, Mr. Huand 91-year-old Jiang Zemin, in at-tendance, Mr. Xi told his audiencethat under him Chinese socialism

Party Gathers,In Affirmation

Of Xi’s Might

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

Continued on Page A8

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,754 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017

ALBANY — Last March, fivewomen gathered in a home nearhere to enter a secret sisterhoodthey were told was created to em-power women.

To gain admission, they wererequired to give their recruiter —or “master,” as she was called —naked photographs or other com-promising material and werewarned that such “collateral”might be publicly released if thegroup’s existence were disclosed.

The women, in their 30s and40s, belonged to a self-help orga-nization called Nxivm, which isbased in Albany and has chaptersacross the country, Canada andMexico.

Sarah Edmondson, one of theparticipants, said she had beentold she would get a small tattooas part of the initiation. But shewas not prepared for what camenext.

Each woman was told to un-dress and lie on a massage table,while three others restrained herlegs and shoulders. According toone of them, their “master,” a topNxivm official named LaurenSalzman, instructed them to say:“Master, please brand me, itwould be an honor.”

A female doctor proceeded touse a cauterizing device to sear atwo-inch-square symbol beloweach woman’s hip, a procedurethat took 20 to 30 minutes. Forhours, muffled screams and thesmell of burning tissue filled theroom.

“I wept the whole time,” Ms. Ed-mondson recalled. “I disassociat-ed out of my body.”

Since the late 1990s, an estimat-ed 16,000 people have enrolled incourses offered by Nxivm (pro-nounced Nex-e-um), which it saysare designed to bring about great-er self-fulfillment by eliminating

psychological and emotional bar-riers. Most participants take someworkshops, like the group’s “Ex-ecutive Success Programs,” andresume their lives. But other peo-ple have become drawn moredeeply into Nxivm, giving up ca-reers, friends and families to be-come followers of its leader, Keith

Raniere, who is known within thegroup as “Vanguard.”

Both Nxivm and Mr. Raniere,57, have long attracted contro-versy. Former members have de-picted him as a man who manipu-lated his adherents, had sex withthem and urged women to follownear-starvation diets to achievethe type of physique he found ap-pealing.

Now, as talk about the secretsisterhood and branding has cir-culated within Nxivm, scores ofmembers are leaving. Interviewswith a dozen of them portray a

Branding Ritual Scarred Women in Secret CircleBy BARRY MEIER Disturbing Complaints

Suggest Dark Side toa Self-Help Group

A disillusioned Sarah Edmondson left Nxivm, a self-help organi-zation, after being branded during an initiation ceremony.

RUTH FREMSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A24

LOS ANGELES — Thegroundswell over sexual har-assment that has rocked Holly-wood moved into California’s capi-tal on Tuesday as more than 140women — including legislators,senior legislative aides and lobby-ists — came forward to denouncewhat they describe as pervasivesexual misconduct by powerfulmen in the nation’s most influen-tial legislature.

Women complained of groping,

lewd comments and suggestionsof trading sexual favors for legis-lation while doing business in Sac-ramento. Their grievances, con-tained in a public letter and de-tailed in a series of interviews,mark the latest fallout from theHarvey Weinstein sexual abusescandal.

The women who drafted the let-

ter say they were flooded with an-guished responses from womenwho reported enduring, or wit-nessing, sexual harassment frommale legislators, aides and lobby-ists, after they began circulatingtheir statement in recent days.

The letter comes as the scandalinvolving Mr. Weinstein had setoff a wave of investigations, re-criminations and accusationsacross the nation, including instate capitals in Rhode Island andSouth Dakota. Women from allwalks of life — from actresses to

In Sacramento, Fury Over Pervasive HarassmentBy ADAM NAGOURNEYand JENNIFER MEDINA

Continued on Page A21

AMAZON EXECUTIVE RESIGNS

Roy Price of Amazon Studios hadbeen suspended after a sexualharassment accusation. Page B6.WASHINGTON — A C.I.A.

drone was circling a remote valleyin northwest Pakistan last monthwhen it picked up an unusualsight: a young woman and chil-dren in a militant camp. To intelli-gence analysts, she appeared tobe an American abducted fiveyears earlier while backpackingin Afghanistan with her Canadianhusband.

The grainy images were abreakthrough. Military planners

mobilized members of the Navy’sSEAL Team 6, an elite group ofcommandos, to mount a rescue,according to senior American offi-cials. But the operation was calledoff amid concerns, and days later,the C.I.A. watched in alarm as mil-itants drove the family out of thecamp and across Pakistan’s law-less tribal lands.

The top American diplomat inPakistan, Ambassador DavidHale, turned to his host country,one of the officials said, deliveringan urgent message to the Paki-stani government: Resolve this,or the United States will.

The implication was clear. If thePakistanis did not act decisively,the United States would set asideits unease and launch a raid deepinside the country to free the fam-ily. It would be another humiliat-ing episode for the Pakistani gov-ernment, reminiscent of the oper-ation that killed Osama bin Ladenin 2011, conducted by the sameelite Navy SEAL commandos wellinto Pakistan without its govern-ment’s knowledge. And a failure toact would underscore Americanofficials’ belief that the Pakistani

SEALs Poised, U.S. Pressed Pakistanis on RescueBy ADAM GOLDMANand ERIC SCHMITT

Continued on Page A8

Some seats have been taken out of someE trains to allow for more standees, in aneffort to reduce delays. PAGE A22

NEW YORK A22-25

Stand and Be CrowdedCincinnati’s Music Hall, above, hasreopened after renovation, and it offersa model for Lincoln Center. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-7

Leading by Good ExampleTo improve the nation’s diet, KimbalMusk, above, employs the same kind ofambition as his brother, Elon. PAGE D1

FOOD D1-8

Innovation Is All in the Family

Barack Obama will campaign for PhilipD. Murphy for governor. Members ofhis White House also rallied. PAGE A25

Reunion Tour in New JerseyThe Belarus Free Theater, banned fromperforming in its home country, opens abruising work in New York. PAGE C1

A Protest Unsilenced

A French campaign inspired by theHarvey Weinstein scandal has put thespotlight on proposed laws. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-15

France Weighs Catcall Fines

Migrant workers are in the most precari-ous position of any group that lost hous-ing in California’s wildfires. PAGE A16

NATIONAL A16-21

Squeeze on Migrant Laborers

After six innings, the Yankees ate uprelievers to tie the series. PAGE B9

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B9-14

Yanks Feast on Astros Bullpen

George Soros has quietly moved about$18 billion to the Open Society Founda-tions, a group that promotes democracyand human rights around the world. Heplans to give still more. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-8

Soros Sends Billions to Charity

Google placed ads linking to blatantlybogus stories on Snopes and PolitiFact,sites created precisely to dispel suchfalsehoods. The stories shifted into adsfor a skin cream. PAGE B1

Fake News and Fact-Checkers

Lindy West PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

A federal judge suspended mostof President Trump’s latest immi-gration order, a day before it wasto take effect. Page A20.

Travel Ban Is Blocked

Today, plenty of sunshine, warmerafternoon, high 72. Tonight, mainlyclear, star-studded skies, low 55. To-morrow, sunshine and a few clouds,high 72. Weather map, Page C8.

$2.50