THE COSMOS HOW OUR VIEWS HAVE EVOLVED ROBIN SODERLING LEARN TO CODE BOOT CAMP FOR FROM PLAYER TO TENNIS EXECUTIVE THE DIGITAL AGE PAGE 7 PAGE 13 | HEALTH + SCIENCE | PAGE 15 SPORTS | BUSINESS .... WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 Turkey hits Kurds, not ISIS, defying Washington Irish to end tax loophole that angered regulators ISTANBUL LONDON Ankara’s strategy is seen as letting two enemies do battle with each other Dublin bows to critics but will still dangle other lures to multinationals BY TIM ARANGO AND SEBNEM ARSU BY STEPHEN CASTLE AND MARK SCOTT In the face of intensifying pressure by the United States to join an international coalition against the Islamic State, Turkey took decisive military action this week — but not against the Sunni extremists Turkey’s Western allies have urged it to fight, instead striking Kurdish militants on its own soil. Turkish warplanes fired late Monday on positions of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, known as the P.K.K., a longtime enemy of the Turkish state that put down its weapons last year to talk peace. Officials said Tuesday that the strikes in southeastern Turkey were in retaliation for the shelling of a Turkish military outpost. The attacks, Turkey’s first strikes against the group in two years, immediately reverberated well beyond Turkey’s borders. An offshoot of the P.K.K. has struggled for weeks to defend the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani in a battle being watched around the world from television cameras positioned across the border in Turkey. The fight for Kobani has become a flash point for Turkey’s unwillingness, so far, to play a greater role in combating the advance of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which has taken control of large swaths of Syria and Iraq and declared a Muslim caliphate. Turkey’s reluctance to intervene in Kobani or even to allow the Kurds to shuttle reinforcements of fighters and weapons to the front lines through its territory, coupled with its military action against the P.K.K., highlights the calculation that experts say Turkish policy makers have made: that, in some ways, they are happy to see two enemies, the Islamic State and the militant Kurds, fight it out in Kobani. Ireland’s government on Tuesday responded to the increasingly clamorous criticism of its business-friendly tax arrangements by closing a loophole that is used by multinational giants including Google but that many outsiders have considered particularly egregious. The move comes as the European Union and the Obama administration have been increasingly critical of the taxavoidance strategies of multinational companies — and of countries whose policies appear designed to lure corporations in ways that other countries deem unfair. And while some critics on Tuesday said the Irish move was a positive step, other analysts wondered whether ending this one tax provision would make Ireland any less alluring to companies engaged in tax shopping. Ireland has based much of its economic growth and jobs strategy in recent decades on using attractive tax arrangements to entice foreign companies to set up shop there. They noted, for example, that the widely criticized tax arrangements in TURKEY, PAGE 4 LEFTERIS PITARAKIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS A mourner with a Kurdish flag in Suruc, Turkey, on the Syrian border, at a funeral for four female Kurdish fighters who were killed battling the Islamic State. Ebola cases reveal vulnerability of West MADRID Infections of nurses in Spain and U.S. expose flaws in safety protocols BY JIM YARDLEY The scene conveyed a First World precision: An elderly Spanish priest, stricken with Ebola in Liberia, arrived in Madrid on a special military jet. A helicopter buzzed overhead as ambulances trans- ported him for treatment. Expressing confidence in the preparations, a Spanish health official said the risk of the virus spreading was ‘‘virtually nil.’’ There was just one problem: The city’s infectious disease center had been mostly dismantled as part of a government cost-cutting plan, and a temporary Ebola ward would have to be hurriedly constructed. After the priest, Miguel Pajares, died on Aug. 12, the unit was closed again, and the same exercise was repeated when a second Ebola-infected priest was airlifted from West Africa in September. He died two days later, and last week an auxiliary nurse who changed his diaper and helped clean his bed was diagnosed with the disease. That ad hoc, improvisational response to the deadliest contagion in the world has underscored holes in the West’s readiness to confront a wider outbreak. The infection of the Spanish nurse, Teresa Romero Ramos, was the E.U. SEEKS AGREEMENT ON EBOLA DEFENSES A European health official has urged countries to agree swiftly on ways to guard against importing Ebola. PAGE 15 first case of the disease being transmitted outside Africa — arising even before a nurse in Dallas was diagnosed with the virus after caring for an Ebola patient there. Together, the cases have raised urgent questions about the risks of the disease spreading even in developed countries, particularly among health care workers, and the role that the smallest of human errors can play in subverting elaborate safety measures. Both of the nurses had been wearing protective suits, which are extremely EBOLA, PAGE 4 Moscow’s macho man loosens tongues MOSCOW BY DAVID M. HERSZENHORN POOL PHOTO BY KIRILL KYDRYAVTSEV President Vladimir V. Putin in Moscow on Tuesday. Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia on Monday used a rugby term to describe how he would confront the Russian leader. Could it be his charm or talent? Or the exaggeratedly macho image? Whatever it is, there is something about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that seems to get under the skin of other world leaders, prompting them to say things they typically do not say about other important figures — at least not aloud or in public. On Monday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia became the latest in a long line when he told reporters that he planned to confront the Russian leader at a meeting in Brisbane next month of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging nations. ‘‘I’m going to shirt-front Mr. Putin,’’ Mr. Abbott said, speaking of his response to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine, in which 28 Australians were killed. He used a term that in Australian football means charging an opponent to knock him down and that in rugby refers to grabbing an opponent’s shirt or collar. ‘‘I am going to be saying to Mr. Putin: ‘Australians were murdered. They were murdered by Russian-backed rebels using Russian-supplied equipment. We are very unhappy about this.’’’ Mr. Abbott eased back a bit on Tuesday after criticism in the Australian news media and from a Tasmanian senator, Jacqui Lambie, who accused him of INSIDE TO DAY ’S PA P E R ONLINE AT INY T.COM Tesco suspends 3 more executives More than just the nose Britain’s largest supermarket group, under investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority over its accounting, said on Tuesday that it had suspended a total of eight employees. BUSINESS, 14 Scientists have discovered that odor receptors are found throughout body — in the liver, the heart, the kidneys and even sperm — where they play a key role in physiological functions. nytimes.com/science New face at Oscar de la Renta A Nobel winner’s Internet insight The fashion house named Peter Copping as creative director, putting to rest rumors about the move and setting a succession plan in motion. BUSINESS, 14 The economist Jean Tirole’s work helps us understand one of the major puzzles of the digital economy: friendly monopolists, Claire Cain Miller writes for The Upshot. nytimes.com/upshot Young soccer stars paying a price The burden of playing for club and country lies heavily on the shoulders of some teenagers, who risk burnout and injury, Rob Hughes writes. SPORTS, 12 Hong Kong’s pop culture of protest The student demonstrators in Hong Kong are taking on Beijing with Canto rock and Western musical hits, Nury Vittachi writes. OPINION, 8 NEWSSTAND PRICESINFORMATION, CALL: FOR SUBSCRIPTION Cameroon CFA 2.500 Ecuador US$ 3.35 Hungary HUF 800 00800 Canada 44C$ 4.5048Egypt78 27 EGP 15.00 Israel NIS 13.00/Eilat NIS 11.00 Andorra ¤ 3.50 Antilles ¤ 3.50 Argentina US$ 5.00 Austria ¤ 3.00 Bahrain BD 1.20 Belgium ¤3.00 Bermuda US$ 3.50 Bolivia US$ 2.75 Bosnia & Herzegovina KM 5.00 Bulgaria ¤ 2.55 Lithuania LTL 15 Luxembourg ¤ 3.00 Macedonia Den 150.00 Malta ¤ 3.00 Montenegro ¤ 2.00 Morocco MAD 25 Mexico N$ 26.00 Moscow Roubles 110 Nigeria NGN 390 Northern Ireland £ 1.50 Caymanat Is CI$ 2.00 Estonia ¤ 3.20 Italy ¤ 2.80 or e-mail us [email protected] Chile Ps$ 1,550 Colombia Cps 1,875 Costa Rica US$ 2.50 Croatia KN 20.00 Cyprus ¤ 2.90 Czech Rep CZK 110 Denmark DKr 26 Finland ¤ 3.00 France ¤ 3.00 Gabon CFA 2.500 Great Britain £ 1.80 Greece ¤2.50 Germany ¤ 3.00 Gibraltar £ 1.35 Ivory Coast CFA 2.500 Jordan. JD 1.50 Kazakhstan USD 3.50 Kenya K. SH. 200 Kosovo ¤ 2.50 Latvia ¤ 3.25 Lebanon LP 4,000 ’:HIKKLD=WUXUU\:?l@a@l@f@a" Coverage of Man Booker prize LAURENCE TAN/THE NEW YORK TIMES Pro-democracy protesters faced a police cordon on Tuesday as they blocked an area outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong. WORLD NEWS, 6 CONFRONTATION Catalonia shifts on secession Risks of global warming detailed Catalonia’s leader said the region would pursue a nonbinding vote on secession from Spain. WORLD NEWS, 3 A Pentagon report links climate change to increased risks from poverty, famine and terrorism. WORLD NEWS, 5 NEWSSTAND PRICES CURRENCIES Norway NkrFrance 28 Senegal 2.500 ¤ CFA 3.00 Oman OMR 1.250 Serbia Din 250 Peru US$ 3.50 Slovakia ¤ 3.30 Andorra ¤ 3.50 Poland ZI 12.20 Slovenia ¤ 2.50 Antilles ¤ Spain 3.50 Portugal ¤ 3.00 ¤ 3.00 Qatar QR 10.00 Sweden Skr 28 CFA 2.500 Republic of Cameroon Ireland ¤3.00 Switzerland SFr 4.30 Reunion ¤ 3.50 Syria US$ 3.00 Gabon CFA 2.500 Romania Lei 11.50 The Netherlands ¤ 3.00 Saudi ArabiaIvory SR 13.00Coast Tunisia Din 4.300 CFA 2.500 Turkey TL 6 Ukraine US$ 5.00 United ArabMAD Emirates25 AED 12.00 Morocco Venezuela US$ 2.75 Senegal CFA 2.500 United States $ 3.00 Other US$ 2.00 Tunisia Din(Europe) 4.300 U.S. Military US$ 1.75 Reunion ¤ 3.50 IN THIS ISSUE No. 40,929 Business 14 Crossword 13 Culture 10 Opinion 8 Science 7 Sports 12 t t t t Euro Pound Yen S. Franc NEW YORK, TUESDAY 12:30PM €1= £1= $1= $1= PREVIOUS $1.2660 $1.2750 $1.5930 $1.6080 ¥107.170 ¥106.830 SF0.9540 SF0.9480 Full currenc y rates Pa ge 17 The winner of the British fiction award was to be announced Tuesday night. Find full coverage at nytimes.com/arts Seeking an autograph, and more A longtime Royals fan has a baseball signed by nearly all the players from Kansas City’s only World Serieswinning team. nytimes.com/baseball STOCK INDEXES TUESDAY s The Dow 12:30pm 16,450.98 s FTSE 100 close 6,392.68 t Nikkei 225 close 14,936.51 OIL +0.80% +0.42% –2.38% NEW YORK, TUESDAY 12:30PM t Light sweet crude $84.55 –$0.20 being ‘‘just full of testosterone and bad manners.’’ A Russian Embassy official called Mr. Abbott’s remarks ‘‘immature.’’ When it comes to dealing with Mr. Putin, of course, a little testosterone would hardly seem to hurt. The Russian leader, who has a black belt in judo, is well known for his machismo, as well as for showing it off. Photographs of him bare-chested, including one while he is riding a horse and another while fishing, are among his iconic images. There are other photographs of him engaged in an array of physical endeavors — scuba diving, for example, and flying a motorized hang glider. Mr. Abbott is hardly the only leader to PUTIN, PAGE 3 CATHAL MCNAUGHTON/REUTERS Finance Minister Michael Noonan said residency rules for companies would change. Ireland that have enabled Apple to potentially avoid billions of dollars in taxes over the years — a relationship now under investigation by the European Commission — do not appear to involve the tax loophole the Irish government now says it will close. The loophole is what has come to be known as the ‘‘double Irish’’ provision. It allows corporations with operations in Ireland to make royalty payments for intellectual property to a separate Irishregistered subsidiary. That subsidiary, though incorporated in Ireland, typically has its tax home in a country that has no corporate income tax. Google is among the companies known to use the double-Irish tax arrangement. Its Dublin headquarters is its main hub outside the United States, employing more than 2,500 people. A Dublin-based subsidiary for Google IRELAND, PAGE 17 E.U. AGREES TO EASE BANKING SECRECY European finance ministers took a major step toward lifting the veil on personal banking and financial data. PAGE 17