Electroweak penguins, final state interaction phases, and CP violation in B -> K pi decays

The recently observed B- --> K- pi(0), (K) over bar(0)pi(-) and (B) over ba r(0) --> K- pi(+) decay modes appear to have nearly equal branching ratios. This suggests that tree and electroweak penguins play an important role, a nd inclusion of the latter improves agreement between factorization calcula tion and experimental data. The value of gamma in the range of 90 degrees-1 30 degrees and 220 degrees-260 degrees is favored, while the (B) over bar(0 ) --> (K) over bar(0)pi(0) rate is suppressed. Direct CP violation for B -- > K pi modes can be large if final state interaction phases are large.