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CAIRO — A piece of luggageadrift in the Mediterranean Sea.Floating nearby, a passenger seatfrom a plane. Scraps of metal,scattered personal belongingsand, finally, the grim discovery ofhuman remains.

As the investigation continuedFriday into what caused anEgyptAir flight from Paris toCairo to suddenly and violentlyplunge from the sky, the discoveryof the debris allowed search crewsto home in on the location of thecrash — an area about 180 milesnorth of Alexandria, Egypt —even as its cause remained a mys-tery and the subject of intensespeculation.

Data that was transmitted fromthe aircraft to operators on theground, published Friday by a re-spected aviation journal, revealeda rapid loss of control, with alarmsand computer-system failures inthe seconds before the plane was

Jet Data Points

To Swift Havoc,

But Not Cause

This article is by Kareem Fahim,Marc Santora and Nicola Clark.

Continued on Page A8

WASHINGTON — After yearsof relentless growth, the numberof opioid prescriptions in theUnited States is finally falling, thefirst sustained drop since Oxy-Contin hit the market in 1996.

For much of the past twodecades, doctors were writing somany prescriptions for the power-ful opioid painkillers that, in re-cent years, there have beenenough for every American adultto have a bottle. But for each of thepast three years — 2013, 2014 and2015 — prescriptions have de-clined, a review of several sourcesof data shows.

Experts say the drop is an im-portant early signal that the long-running prescription opioid epi-demic may be peaking, that doc-tors have begun heeding a drum-beat of warnings about the highlyaddictive nature of the drugs andthat federal and state efforts tocurb them are having an effect.

“The culture is changing,” saidDr. Bruce Psaty, a researcher atthe University of Washington inSeattle who studies drug safety.“We are on the downside of acurve with opioid prescribingnow.”

IMS Health, an informationfirm whose data on prescribing isused throughout the health careindustry, found a 12 percent de-cline in opioid prescriptions na-tionally since a peak in 2012. An-other data company, SymphonyHealth Solutions, reported a dropof about 18 percent during thoseyears. Opioid prescriptions havefallen in 49 states since 2013, ac-cording to IMS, with some of thesharpest decreases coming inWest Virginia, the state consid-ered the center of the opioid epi-demic, and in Texas and Okla-homa. (Only South Dakotashowed an increase.)

So far, fewer prescriptions havenot led to fewer deaths: fatal over-doses from opioids havecontinued to rise, taking morethan 28,000 lives in 2014, accord-ing to the most recent federalhealth data. That number includes

PRESCRIPTION DIPSEEN AS ADVANCEIN OPIOID BATTLE

FIRST DROP IN DECADES

Sign That Epidemic of

Painkiller Addiction

May Be Peaking

By ABBY GOODNOUGHand SABRINA TAVERNISE

Continued on Page A3

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

A boy, 10, in New Delhi found a respite from a punishing heat wave. Thursday was believed to have been India’s hottest day, breaking a 60-year record. Page A8.

When It’s 123.8 Degrees Fahrenheit

SAN FRANCISCO — Last July,in a seventh-floor conferenceroom at Facebook’s Lower Man-hattan offices, a small group metto discuss the future of news me-dia on the social network.

Facebook leaders were bullishon a relatively new section of thesite that surfaced the most popu-lar news stories, such as news ofthe terrorist attacks in Paris orstories about Chris Hemsworth’sgenitalia. They decided the effort,called Trending Topics and untilthen a skunk works operation by adozen or so staff members, shouldbe doubled to more than 30 peo-

ple. One goal for the team: use hu-man judgment to make algo-rithms better at finding news onFacebook.

“We asked, do we consider our-selves Facebook journalists?”said Benjamin Fearnow, a formernews curator at Facebook whoworked on Trending Topics forclose to a year, until April, and whoattended the meeting. “We strad-dled that very thin line betweensocial media and news. None of usreally knew how it was going toplay out.”

At Facebook, Human Backup

For Algorithms Proved Fallible

By MIKE ISAAC

Continued on Page B3

WILLIAM WIDMER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Sandra Green Thomas in her New Orleans home. Her great-great-grandparents, whose pictureshang on the wall, were among 272 slaves sold in 1838 to save Georgetown University. Page A9.

Tracing a Slave Sale

KHUZAA, Gaza Strip — The at-tack tunnels Hamas has con-structed running from Gaza intoIsrael have long sown deep fearsin the communities on the Israeliside of the border fence, whereresidents talk of nightmares aboutPalestinian militants popping upinto their dining rooms orkindergartens.

Now, the tunnels are keepingothers up at night: thePalestinians who live on the Gazaside of the fence.

People living on the edges ofGaza border towns, like the Is-raelis a few miles away, complainof hearing surreptitious digging inthe wee hours, and voice a parallelanxiety about the tunnels beingrapidly rebuilt near their homesbecoming targets for Israelistrikes. They are raising unusual-ly harsh — albeit anonymous, forfear of reprisal — criticism of Ha-mas, the militant Islamist groupthat rules Gaza, for putting people

at risk. (They also sought ano-nymity to avoid their neighbor-hoods being targeted for Israelistrikes.)

“Dear God — we will be tornapart,” said a 42-year-old womanin Khuzaa, a village near thefence. She spoke on the conditionshe be identified only as UmmNidal — Arabic for mother ofNidal, her eldest son — for fear ofreprisal by Hamas.

Gesturing at the lumpy sand lotwhere she believes a tunnel entrypoint is hidden next to the shelterof tin, tarp and wood where herfamily has lived since their homewas destroyed in the 2014 war be-tween Israel and Hamas, she said,“I am sure, one million percent,that those with tunnels undertheir houses cannot sleep, or taste

the joy of life.”The fears of Umm Nidal and her

neighbors only intensified overthe past month as Israeli officialsannounced that they had locatedtwo tunnels about 100 feet under-ground — the first since the Au-gust 2014 cease-fire that ended 50days of fighting in which morethan 2,100 Palestinians and 70 Is-raelis were killed.

One, the Israelis said, wasequipped with electricity, commu-nications lines and a rail to helpclear rubble. The Shin Bet, Israel’sdomestic intelligence agency, alsoreported that a captured Hamasfighter had revealed the routes oftunnels in northern Gaza and saidsome included rooms for resting,showers and dining areas.

“Every tunnel that appeared onthat map will be hit in the day be-fore the night,” said a woman wholives with her extended family in asmall shack on the edge of thenorthern border town of Beit Ha-noun.

The tunnels were the prime ra-tionale Israel gave for its ground

New Tunnels Instill Dread on Gazan Side, Too

By DIAA HADIDand MAJD AL WAHEIDI

Continued on Page A6

Civilians Fear Ruin as

Hamas Rebuilds

Underground

PHOENIX — With little debate,Arizona last year became the onlystate to impose a one-year limit oncash assistance to needy families,cutting the maximum duration ofbenefits for the third time since2010. The newest limit has begunto hit home for welfare recipientswho are learning that their bene-fits are nearing an end.

Anna Robinson, the mother of a4-year-old boy, received cash as-sistance for about eight months in2013, until she landed a job at a callcenter for a pet-supply retailer.Then her job was automated andher position was eliminated. Shewill receive about four months ofcash payments before they dryup.

“I was really proud of myselfwhen I got a job, but now I needhelp again,” Ms. Robinson said asshe picked up a box of free grocer-ies at St. Mary’s Food Bank inWest Phoenix.

As the 20th anniversary of BillClinton’s welfare law approaches,the impact of its requirements isbeing felt more than ever, with thepolitical rifts that it exposed in1996 resurfacing on the 2016 cam-paign trail.

In her 2003 autobiography,“Living History,” Hillary Clinton

Welfare Law

Of ’96 Recalls

Political Rifts

By ROBERT PEAR

Continued on Page A10

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Donald J.Trump accused Hillary Clinton onFriday of wanting to let violentcriminals out of prison and “dis-arm” law-abiding citizens in un-safe neighborhoods, and warnedthat women, in particular, wouldbe at greater risk if she wereelected president.

Accepting the endorsement ofthe National Rifle Association atits annual convention here, Mr.Trump — who has not alwaysbeen the staunchest opponent ofstricter gun controls — said theNovember election would be a ref-erendum on the Second Amend-ment. He claimed, hyperbolically,that Mrs. Clinton, his likelyDemocratic opponent, “wants totake away your guns.”

“Crooked Hillary Clinton is themost anti-gun, anti-SecondAmendment candidate ever torun for office,” he said.

Mrs. Clinton has called for tight-ened restrictions on guns, but notfor abolishing the right to ownthem.

Mr. Trump, whose record of sex-ist remarks, among other things,has left him at a potentially crip-pling disadvantage among femalevoters, polls show, appealed di-rectly to women in his speech, im-

Trump WarnsN.R.A. of RisksUnder Clinton

By ASHLEY PARKER

Continued on Page A11

Security forces fired tear gas at Iraqiprotesters who had stormed the primeminister’s office. PAGE A4

Baghdad Protests Turn Violent

Sergei Pugachev, above, is at odds withRussia’s president and sought refuge inFrance. The Saturday Profile. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-8

A Russian Tycoon on the RunA video shows the final moments of anagitated Florida man whom Georgiadeputies stunned with a Taser. PAGE A13

Taser Shocks and a Death

A man who approached a White Housesecurity checkpoint brandishing a gunwas shot and wounded by a SecretService agent. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A9-13

Man Shot Near White House

A private investigator was put on pro-bation after obtaining information froma restricted police database. PAGE A15

Former Officer Spared Prison

A new home improvement store inSoHo lets customers test-drive grills,faucets, ovens and the like. PAGE A15

NEW YORK A15, 18

Showering Before Buying

Gail Collins PAGE A17

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A16-17

Obscurity to English-language readersmay soon end for Svetlana Alexievich,who plumbs Russia’s past through thelens of ordinary people. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-5

Nobel Historian’s Milestone

The case of how the three-time Masterswinner Phil Mickelson avoided aninsider trading charge is a curious one,Joe Nocera writes. PAGE B7

SPORTSSATURDAY B7-13

Mickelson’s Legal Benefactor

THIS WEEKEND

VOL. CLXV . . . No. 57,239 © 2016 The New York Times SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2016

Sumner Redstone ousted Viacom’s chief,and another executive, from the trustthat controls his media empire. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-6

New Ploy in Redstone Battle