National Zoo panda: Answering kids’ questions about about the D.C. panda cub

What’s black and white and read about all over? In case you haven’t heard, that riddle is our way of telling you that a baby panda was born Sunday night at the National Zoo in Washington. This is huge news for the zoo and all of Washington because the last time a giant panda cub was born was seven years ago, in July of 2005, when Tai Shan (pronounced tie-SHON) was born. Tai Shan is now living in China. Here are some things you might be wondering about regarding the zoo’s newest addition. What does it look like? Only panda mom Mei Xiang (pronounced may SHONG) knows for sure. Even zookeepers have caught only a passing glimpse of the cub on a Web camera in the panda den, or home. But our riddle at the beginning of this story was a little misleading. Panda cubs aren’t black and white when they’re born. They’re pink, have next to no hair, are blind and are about the length of your mom or dad’s hand. The cub weighs about the same as a stick of butter (or a quarter of a pound!). Is it healthy? Zookeepers haven’t been able to examine the cub, but they have heard it squealing, which is a good sign. “It’s very loud. A high-pitched, very loud squeal. It’s surprisingly loud for a little critter,” said zoo Director Dennis Kelly. Mei Xiang is being a very good mother, cuddling the cub whenever it cries. “What I’m looking at is really good mothering behavior,” said Don Moore, an associate director at the zoo. But zoo officials warn that baby pandas are very small, fragile creatures and they’ll be watching closely for signs that the cub is doing well. Is it a boy or a girl? Again, only Mei Xiang — if anyone — knows that at this point. It’s great that the panda cub was born, but why is this a bigger deal than other zoo animal births? There are a couple of reasons. First, pandas are so cute. (Sorry we had to say that; no offense intended to other zoo babies). The real reason is that pandas are listed as being “threatened” for extinction. There are about 1,600 in the wild and about 300 in zoos, mostly in China. Another reason why it’s a big deal for us in Washington is that Mei Xiang and panda dad Tian Tian


panda mom Mei Xiang (pronounced may SHONG) knows for sure. Even zookeepers have caught only a passing glimpse of the cub on a Web camera in the panda den, or home. But our riddle at the beginning of this story was a little misleading. Panda cubs aren’t black and white when they’re born. They’re pink, have next to no hair, are blind and are about the length of your mom or dad’s hand. The cub weighs about the same as a stick of butter (or a quarter of a pound!). Is it healthy? Zookeepers haven’t been able to examine the cub, but they have heard it squealing, which is a good sign. “It’s very loud. A high-pitched, very loud squeal. It’s surprisingly loud for a little critter,” said zoo Director Dennis Kelly. Mei Xiang is being a very good mother, cuddling the cub whenever it cries. “What I’m looking at is really good mothering behavior,” said Don Moore, an associate director at the zoo. But zoo officials warn that baby pandas are very small, fragile creatures and they’ll be watching closely for signs that the cub is doing well. Is it a boy or a girl? Again, only Mei Xiang — if anyone — knows that at this point. It’s great that the panda cub was born, but why is this a bigger deal than other zoo animal births? There are a couple of reasons. First, pandas are so cute. (Sorry we had to say that; no offense intended to other zoo babies). The real reason is that pandas are listed as being “threatened” for extinction. There are about 1,600 in the wild and about 300 in zoos, mostly in China. Another reason why it’s a big deal for us in Washington is that Mei Xiang and panda dad Tian Tian (pronounced tee-YEN tee-YEN) have had only one baby (Tai Shan) despite many When can we see it? Well, you’re not likely to see Mei Xiang or the baby on exhibit at the zoo for at least several weeks. With permission from a grown-up, you may want to try to watch one of the zoo’s panda cams (go to www.nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/giantpandas). It may take several tries to actually get a camera to load since it seems like EVERYONE wants to have a chance to see the cub. DRAW a picture of the panda and send it to us — Tracy Grant


Make a card for the panda parents

This picture was taken when Tai Shan, the panda born at the National Zoo in 2005, was just three weeks old. His mother, Mei Xiang, just gave birth to another giant panda cub on Sunday night. (Reuters) Congratulate the panda parents! KidsPost is inviting our readers to make a drawing congratulating Mei Xiang and Tian Tian on the birth of their giant panda cub. We’ll publish some of our favorite drawings and send them all to the National Zoo so the keepers will know how happy Washington-area kids are about the panda. You can ask an adult to e-mail your drawing (saved as a jpg attachment) to kidspost@washpost.com. Please type “panda drawing” in the subject line. You also can mail your drawing to KidsPost, The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. All drawings must include the child’s full name, age, home town and a phone number where we can reach your parents in case we have questions. We must also have a note from a parent, guardian or teacher saying we have permission to publish the child’s drawing.


A baby panda for Washington’s National Zoo

the National Zoo has already provoked a full-blown love affair in the District. And yes, count us in on being excited about the birth of a cub to the zoo’s giant pandas, news that is the more thrilling for being so unexpected. Pregnancies in pandas are notoriously difficult to detect, and scientists at the zoo had given long odds to the possibility that 14-year-old Mei Xiang, artificially inseminated earlier this year, would conceive. Still, as is their routine, zoo employees and volunteers set up a panda watch just in case. At 10:46 p.m. Sunday, they were richly rewarded when Mei Xiang was caught on the panda cam giving birth. “We’re ecstatic,” Don Moore, associate director for animal-care sciences at the zoo, told The Post’s Michael E. Ruane. Mr. Moore was prepared for disappointment; he greeted news of the birth with, “Yeah, yeah, it’s not April Fools’ yet, so I’m going back to bed.” He said of Mei Xiang, “She’s being a very, very good mom. . . . Every time the kid cries, she cradles it in a different way.” There is still some danger: The cub is very small — the size of a stick of butter is the popular comparison — and pandas can accidentally crush the newborns. Ever since Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing stepped out of their crates in 1972 — a gift from China to commemorate President Richard Nixon’s historic visit — pandas have had a special spot in Washington’s heart. Mei Xiang and her mate, Tian Tian, on loan from China, filled the void after the death of the first pair, and in 2005 she produced a cub, Tai Shan, who delighted zoo visitors until he was returned to China as part of a research and breeding program. Ling-Ling had five cubs, but none survived more than a few days. Which brings us to why the birth of this second cub should be celebrated. There’s no question that a thriving cub — and we’re keeping our fingers crossed — will prove to be popular, driving thousands of new visitors to the zoo and, no doubt, spurring sales of its inevitable stuffed likeness. But all that pales beside the significance of the lessons that could be learned and the advances made in the critical work of breeding endangered species in captivity. So welcome, Butterstick II. Read more from Opinions Alexandra Petri: Panda! Panda, panda, panda! Baby panda!


For unto Washington, a panda cub was born

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from the National Zoo Director that all the animals should be watched at all times, XXIV-VII, so that their numbers could be counted and their antics could be streamed live online across the firmament for the entertainment and education of worshipers. The cheetahs and the ferrets, the gorillas and the kiwis, the naked mole rats and the octopi, the clouded leopards and the Asian small-clawed otters, the fishing cats and the flamingos, the sloth bears and the golden lion tamarins. And, yea, the giant pandas. All animals were pleasing in the Zoo Director’s sight, but the giant pandas were the most pleasing, for they were clothed in handsome black-and-white raiment and brought many congregants to the National Zoo who were eager to purchase panda-themed T-shirts, plush dolls, posters, etc. But for seven summers and seven winters, seven springs and seven autumns, Mei Xiang’s womb had been like a parched desert gully, where no seed would take root, yea even when Tian Tian had knowledge of her. Mei Xiang’s barrenness was the cause of much lamentation, weeping and the annual rending of garments as she again and again proved infertile. Only once had she produced a cub: the prodigal son, Tai Shan, who was now in Wolong, China, worshiping false idols. And so the Zoo Director sent an angel to Mei Xiang. And when the angel appeared, Mei Xiang trembled and put down her bamboo and made soft barking noises. The angel said: Mei Xiang, do not be afraid for behold I am a veterinarian and I bring you great tidings of joy, along with this frozen tube of giant panda sperm. You are, arguably, a virgin inasmuch as on this day you shall not lie with Tian Tian. And it came to pass four months later that the shepherds who tended the animal flock saw a curious sight: Mei Xiang had gathered nesting materials. Her hormone levels had changed. Was she at last again with cub? Or was this the work of Satan, who smote Mei Xiang with pseudopregnancies like so many boils upon Job? Hard to say. But one night as they watched the flock, the shepherds beheld a shiver running through Mei Xiang. They heard the squeal of life. And lo it had come to pass. For unto you this day in the city


What’s missing in pumpkin beer

Brau Imperial Pumpkin Porter (Courtesy of Epic Brewing/COURTESY OF EPIC BREWING) Crack open a nice, autumnal pumpkin beer, and you can pick up notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, mace, cardamom, ginger, brown sugar or vanilla bean. But I challenge you to detect much of the star ingredient’s delicate flavor. Pumpkin does lend color and sweetness. But by the time the squash has been mashed, boiled and fermented, the pumpkin essence vanishes like spirits before the dawn. Many brewers are finding other ways to kick up their pumpkin beers a notch or two, adding specialty malts and fermenting to alcohol levels of 7, 8 or 9 percent by volume. Imperial pumpkin ales are almost as common as normal-strength versions. A few innovators are romancing the pumpkin even further through barrel-aging and wild fermentations. Last year, DC Brau teamed up with Epic Brewing in Salt Lake City to brew Fermentation Without Representation Imperial Pumpkin Porter. DC Brau wasn’t able to fit the brew into its schedule this year, but Epic is sending 22-ounce bottles and kegs our way, assures Mallika Filtz, Epic’s communications director. The porter is made with dehusked Carafa malt and chocolate malt, which lend a richness without an acrid aftertaste, and is spiced to be “reminiscent of freshly baked gingerbread,” says Filtz. Boston Beer, Avery Brewing Company Rumpkin beer (Avery Brewing Company/COURTESY OF AVERY BREWING COMPANY) Is it better for brewers to use canned pumpkin or whole fruit? That’s a matter of contention among brewers and beer bloggers. Evolution Brewing in Salisbury, Md., gets pumpkins for its Jacques Au Lantern fresh from a local market; Evolution’s Wally Hines says that produces a “more subtle, realistic” pumpkin flavor. Evolution ferments with a Belgian yeast strain that adds a gentle fruitiness to the layers of spice. Rogue Ales “I don’t think anyone could brew on the scale we do using whole pumpkins,” says Nathan Arnone, public relations director for Southern Tier Brewing in Lakewood, N.Y. He estimates the brewery will ship about 8,000 barrels of its imperial-strength Pumking during August and September, more than 10 percent of Southern Tier’s entire output for 2012. Using drums of pureed pumpkin eliminated a lot of grunt work and enabled the brew crew to pump out beer before this year’s crop ripens, satisfying retailers who want the product on their shelves before Labor Day. Use of puree doesn’t appear to adversely affect the flavor.


Russia boots out USAID

Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who has always disliked what he considers U.S. attempts to influence events in his country, has mounted a steadily escalating attack on organizations that accept foreign money. (ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES) MOSCOW — The move closes a two-decade window, open since the end of the Cold War, that has allowed the American aid agency to operate fairly freely in Russia while providing $2.6 billion in assistance. Putin, who has always disliked what he considers U.S. attempts to influence events in his country, has mounted a steadily escalating attack on organizations that accept foreign money — an attack that began during the Russian election campaign earlier this year and that hasn’t let up. The amount of money that USAID provides to Russian organizations is not large — about $50 million this year, down considerably from the heights of the 1990s. But the expulsion is a very public slap at the United States that will give ammunition to those who view Russia as a major U.S. adversary. The move will almost certainly further demoralize and isolate embattled Russian activists, with the heaviest weight falling on Russian organizations that have received U.S. support — groups that monitor elections, organize to deal with tuberculosis, advocate for human rights, defend the environment and work to improve education. Here is a look at some of the week’s best photographs from around the globe. Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, said the order was delivered in a letter to Washington last week. No matter who wins the presidential election in November, the expulsion is likely to make relations with Russia even less of a priority for Washington than it has been in recent years, which might or might not suit Putin’s needs. The Obama administration has already come close to the end of its so-far-futile efforts to win Russian support for a joint policy on Syria. ‘A very bad signal’ A senior administration official said the USAID ouster did not necessarily mean the end of U.S. assistance. It was not immediately clear, for example, whether American money could be conveyed in other ways, without the oversight of USAID staff. “We are going to look for other ways to establish the general policy objectives we established at the beginning of the Obama administration,” the official said. Some U.S.-government supported organizations will continue to work in Russia, including the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute


‘Boo Boo’ the bear cub is healing

Boo Boo the cub had burned paws after a wildfire, but he’s healing and climbing trees. (TRICIA HEBDON/IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS) A bear cub rescued from a fire in the Idaho backcountry after being burned on all four of his paws has been moved to a wildlife sanctuary and is expected to make a full recovery, officials said this week. The bear, nicknamed Boo Boo, is being kept in a two-acre enclosure with another cub and is doing very well, said Linda DeEulis, director of the Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary. Boo Boo was discovered in late August, clinging to a tree in a region recently scorched by a massive wildfire. Boo Boo’s story is a lot like the tale of Smokey Bear, a cub who became a national symbol for fire prevention after he was found in a charred tree while trying to escape a New Mexico fire in 1950. He was also treated for burned paws. DeEulis was worried at first about the bear’s claws and his ability to climb, she said, but those concerns were quickly put to rest after he arrived at the sanctuary. “The first thing he did was run up a tree,” she said. If the bear continues to get better, he will be released to wild.


Panetta meets with China’s elusive leader-in-waiting

BEIJING — Xi is widely expected to be declared China’s new president next month, part of a once-in-a-decade revamping of the senior Communist Party leadership. But his unexplained cancellation of meetings with foreign dignitaries and disappearance from public view in recent weeks had triggered a frenzy of rumor and gossip. The 59-year-old Xi offered a firm, prolonged handshake to Panetta in front of Western and Chinese journalists assembled inside an ornate reception room in the Great Hall of the People.The two leaders exchanged pleasantries for about five minutes before the media was ushered away. “It is a great pleasure for me to meet you again, Secretary Panetta, and to welcome you to China,” Xi said in Chinese, appearing comfortable and at ease as he paced across the room in a dark suit and a light-blue tie. “It’s an honor to have the opportunity to visit with you here,” Panetta, 74, replied with a broad smile. “I appreciate all of your support in encouraging better military-to-military relations between our two countries.” U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (L) shakes hands with China's Vice President Xi Jinping before meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Sept. 19, 2012. (Larry Downing/Reuters) Xi was supposed to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton earlier this month but was a no-show; he also canceled meetings with three other foreign leaders. The Chinese government offered no official explanation for his withdrawal from the limelight. U.S. diplomats said they were told privately by Chinese officials that Xi was hampered by a bad back. Other rumors included speculation that Xi had suffered a heart attack, hurt himself playing sports or been the target of an assassination attempt. On Saturday, Xi suddenly reappeared in public when he toured a Chinese university campus, looking very much alive and light on his feet.The visit was brief, however, and the state-run media distributed only two photographs of the event. His meeting with Panetta was the first time in nearly three weeks that he had showed up for a scheduled, public event with journalists present. Panetta is in the midst of a three-day visit to China, the first since he became defense secretary in July 2011.In February, Panetta hosted Xi on a visit to the Pentagon, replete with an honor guard. So failing to return the favor with a meeting in Beijing would have only fueled more questions about


Backstage: ‘Big’ news

we moved, how pilots moved.” Khan said: “What I knew for sure was that I didn’t want the piece to feel like history. The goal was to take this story onto the stage and create an extremely visceral experience.” “It is a unique story,” Brown said. “But it does need to be told in a way that combines the action and excitement of war together with the struggle for equality and civil rights. . . . The Tuskegee Airmen is not specifically about war. It’s about a struggle to overcome the prejudice and obstacles that we face.” Brown came to the early days of rehearsal for “Fly” in August. “The greatest of experiences happened on the second day of rehearsal,” Khan said. “I put the cast in a triangular formation behind Dr. Brown [on folding chairs], and Dr. Brown took them through a few flights.” He simulated action, shouting out commands — Break right! Bank left! — and “just telling a story,” Khan said. “You could see him seeing the sky, feeling the wind.” Friday to Oct. 21, 511 10th St. NW, fords.org, 202-347-4833. An unconventional Eliza “I’ve always felt that ‘My Fair Lady’ is a universal story, and the role of Eliza is one that could be played by actors of many different races,” said Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith, who will direct the musical at Arena this season. Manna Nichols will be making her Arena debut in the titular role. “Manna is Asian,” said Smith. “When we went back and did the research [about London in 1912] . . . it was a huge melting pot in London at that time, so it’s very exciting to be able to have Eliza as a person of color.” Nicholas Rodriguez, whose most recent turn in Arena’s “Oklahoma!” was also under Smith’s direction, will portray Freddy Eynsford-Hill. Smith, who also directed Rodriguez in “A Light in the Piazza,” said, “He’s very strong onstage.” And perhaps even more import, “he’s a real heartthrob.” Benedict Campbell, who plays Henry Higgins in the production, is a Canadian actor with whom Smith has worked twice at the Shaw Festival. “He knows and understands [George Bernard] Shaw’s language like nobody that I’ve ever heard before. . . . Since ‘My Fair Lady’ is an adaptation of Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion,’ his use of language in the production is superb.” Nov. 2-Jan. 6, 1101 Sixth St. SW, 202-488-3300,


Zookeepers maintain a 24-hour watch over Washington’s newest panda

Late at night, in the quiet of the National Zoo’s shuttered giant panda house, those keeping watch over the fragile new cub listen for the sounds of the routine. The squeaks of the three-day-old animal. The faint sound of its nursing. The contented bamboo munching of its father, Tian Tian, in a neighboring enclosure. Because the cub’s mother, Mei Xiang, has kept it enveloped with her body, no one has gotten more than a fleeting look since it was born Sunday night. A glimpse of something the size of a large mouse held gently in Mei’s mouth was captured on the panda cam in a clip released by the zoo Tuesday. But it was brief and blurry. So the 24-hour-a-day cub watch is conducted by ear as well. The zoo has put a team of keepers and a senior biologist on duty in the panda house, along with the volunteer panda-cam monitors, to make sure nothing goes awry with the cub. The staff stays in the keepers’ office a few steps from the enclosure where Mei has the cub in a large nest of bamboo inside her secluded den. For the keepers, there is an air mattress, and there are incubators, blankets, and formula for the cub, in case of emergency. The zoo is not anticipating trouble, but four giant panda cubs born there during the 1980s, including a set of twins, died shortly after birth from pneumonia and other infections. And a newborn red panda cub died in 2010. The giant panda cub probably weighs about four ounces, zoo officials have said. Its mother weighs about 230 pounds. So the staff must be vigilant. “That’s our job,” said veteran zoo biologist Laurie Thompson. “It’s a lot of pressure. . . . We have the responsibility of this new cub and the mom. But we take it willingly, because we love the animals.” Thompson, 41, who was the first person to examine the zoo’s only prior surviving cub, Tai Shan, a few weeks after he was born in 2005, said Mei will likely stay with the newborn for the first few weeks and probably won’t even eat. She has been tucking the cub under her arm or chin to keep it warm, Thompson said. Gradually, as the cub gets stronger, Mei will leave it for brief periods and venture outside the den for food. The panda house has been closed


incubators, blankets, and formula for the cub, in case of emergency. The zoo is not anticipating trouble, but four giant panda cubs born there during the 1980s, including a set of twins, died shortly after birth from pneumonia and other infections. And a newborn red panda cub died in 2010. The giant panda cub probably weighs about four ounces, zoo officials have said. Its mother weighs about 230 pounds. So the staff must be vigilant. “That’s our job,” said veteran zoo biologist Laurie Thompson. “It’s a lot of pressure. . . . We have the responsibility of this new cub and the mom. But we take it willingly, because we love the animals.” Thompson, 41, who was the first person to examine the zoo’s only prior surviving cub, Tai Shan, a few weeks after he was born in 2005, said Mei will likely stay with the newborn for the first few weeks and probably won’t even eat. She has been tucking the cub under her arm or chin to keep it warm, Thompson said. Gradually, as the cub gets stronger, Mei will leave it for brief periods and venture outside the den for food. The panda house has been closed for the next several weeks. At some point, the keepers will try closing the door to the den briefly so Mei can’t get back in. And if she doesn’t mind, someone will slip in the back door to the den, grab the cub, give it a quick physical exam, and return it. Until then, the keepers must watch, and listen, mostly via the panda cam, from a few doors down. They said they can hear Tian Tian’s loud munching without the aid of electronics. Keeper Juan Rodriguez, 36, who was scheduled for the overnight shift Tuesday into Wednesday, said they will make sure Mei remains attentive. “If we see that she is spending time away from the cub for a prolonged period of time, especially if the cub is vocalizing and she’s not responding to it,” that will get his attention, he said. Another keeper, Marty Dearie, 37, said from the panda house Tuesday: “We want to have a keeper here so that if something were to happen overnight . . . there’s always somebody here with that animal experience.” “We have a really . . . awesome group of camera watchers” in a control room in the panda house,


Viruses acquitted in chronic fatigue case

Chronic fatigue syndrome, an illness that has long perplexed scientists, is not caused by a mouse virus, according to a federally funded study designed to end a bitter, long-running controversy on the issue. The study, published online Tuesday by the scientific journal mBio, was headed by Columbia University’s Ian Lipkin, who led a team of scientists from different institutions — many of whom had published conflicting studies on the subject in the past. The researchers said they could not find genetic traces of mouse virus in the blood of 147 chronic fatigue syndrome patients and 146 healthy people and therefore could not link viruses to the ailment. Viruses became prime suspects for the disease — which afflicts more than one million patients in the U.S. and is characterized by extreme exhaustion not relieved by rest — in 2009, when Science magazine published a study by researchers led by Judy Mikovits, then at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, Nev. The study found traces of XMLV, a mouse retrovirus, in the blood of chronic fatigue syndrome patients. A second study led by Harvey Alter, a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, and published in 2010, implicated a different, albeit related virus, pMLV. These findings raised hopes that researchers would be able to develop therapies to treat the illness. But subsequent studies could not replicate those initial results. Last year, researchers reported that Mikovits’s samples of patients’ blood were most likely contaminated by mouse genetic material and that XMLV is apparently a virus strain that artificially arose in a laboratory in the 1990s — and so couldn’t be blamed for a disease first described in the 19th century. In December 2011, Science magazine retracted the Mikovits study, after Mikovits herself refused to. Shortly afterward, the second team retracted its findings. While at that point the majority of the researchers involved concluded that the mouse-virus theory had been debunked, some researchers, most notably Mikovits, continued to argue in favor of the virus theory. Mikovits was terminated by Whittemore in connection to the controversy. But the debate is likely to end now, because the new study, in an unusual step, included Alter and Mikovits as collaborators and they agreed that no connection could be made between viruses and the disease. Both researchers were given blood samples independently and could not replicate their own findings from their initial studies. “I applaud their courage,” said


Will Obama stand up against Putin’s abuses?

us to leave. The United States should be pressing publicly and at the highest levels for Putin to reverse his campaign against NGOs, which is wholly inconsistent with internationally accepted norms. We should also join Russians in challenging other problematic legislation passed this summer, including the re-criminalization of libel and slander — which had been decriminalized last year — and massively increased penalties for participation in “illegal” protests. U.S. officials say they are figuring out ways to quietly convey messages to Putin. But private missives simply won’t work. Putin is not going to be persuaded that his path is wrong; his interest is in staying in power at any cost. An August report detailing Putin’s luxurious lifestyle — 20 residences, 50 planes and helicopters, four yachts — underscores what is at stake if he were to relinquish power and lose his immunity. Only pressure from within and outside Russia is likely to force a change in his regime’s behavior. Accordingly, Western leaders, not spokesmen, need to speak out in a clear voice against Putin’s crackdown. Congress, too, has a critical role to play. Passing the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act would send a strong message that there is a price for past and continued human rights abuses. The legislation, which the Obama administration has opposed, is named for a 37-year-old lawyer who was jailed unjustly in 2008 after exposing a massive tax fraud by Russian officials and then, after being brutally beaten and denied medical treatment, was left to die in prison. It would impose a visa ban and asset freeze against the Russian officials responsible for Magnitsky’s murder and other gross human rights abuses. It has strong bipartisan support in both chambers, and key House and Senate committees approved it in July as part of a package that would grant Russia permanent normal trade relation status. Unfortunately, Congress appears poised to again fail to act on the package, which Putin is certain to interpret as U.S. weakness and lack of resolve. Depriving abusive Russian officials the privilege of traveling to or living in the West or banking here is a neatly targeted penalty. It is not anti-Russian, for it goes after only those who engage in abuses. Nor is it a partisan attack against the Obama administration’s Russia policy, for its chief congressional sponsors — Rep. James McGovern (Mass.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.) — are Democrats.


GSA plans online auction of Georgetown landmark

acres at 1051 29th St. NW offers clear views of the Potomac River from its top floor and is considered one of the most valuable undeveloped sites in Georgetown. It has been almost completely vacant since 2000. The GSA has created a listing for the property at www.realestatesales.gov and plans to begin an eBay-style online auction once it acquires final regulatory approvals. The agency has been under pressure from congressional Republicans to dispose of vacant or underutilized properties more quickly, and a House subcommittee held a hearing at the plant in June to drive the point home. An exact date for the auction has not been set. Two years ago, the GSA used an online auction to sell a vacant office building in Bethesda, but it received bids for much less than officials had hoped. This time, the agency has hired advisers from the services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. Real estate developers have long considered how best to use the plant should it become available, and companies including EastBanc and MRP Realty, both based in the District, have already expressed interest. Georgetown real estate investor Richard H. Levy and Four Seasons Hotels are part of a team that would turn the building into 80 condominiums. Despite its location, however, the property offers a litany of challenges to being developed. Its exterior art deco design has historical significance, limiting changes that a new owner could make. And the interior is a maze of metal pipes reaching to the ceiling. Ryan K. Wade, a principal of MRP Realty, said converting the property to another use would require tearing all the old pipes apart and hauling them out. “You basically have to undo the erector set inside the building,” he said. Neighbors who live near the property are also beginning to raise their voices about what they would like to see on the site, namely a park. Friends of the Georgetown Waterfront have been lobbying the GSA, now headed by former D.C. city administrator Daniel M. Tangherlini, to set aside a portion of the property as public park space. D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) wrote Tangherlini in July to support the parks request, calling the site “a very sensitive location adjoining two national parks.” Evans has not received a response to the letter, his staff said, but neighbors and D.C. officials are slated to meet Thursday to discuss the plant’s future.


Baltimore man shot, killed Monday evening near home in what police think was robbery

Peter Marvit never missed rehearsal with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, and this week, he showed up wearing one of his trademark ties — short, fat and brightly colored. After the three-hour practice concluded with “Carol of the Angels,” the music director, Tom Hall, told everyone “to drive safe and be well.” But as Marvit, 51, returned to his Northeast Baltimore home, the scientist and contract researcher for the National Institutes of Health was gunned down Monday just steps from his front door in a seemingly random attack that police said Tuesday may have been a robbery. Friends and colleagues described Marvit as witty and good-natured. Marvit, who had a psychology PhD, conducted research on hearing and worked to bring music education to impoverished city children. “There was no one that I could think of who tried more diligently and with greater effort to expand [musical] opportunities for city schools students,” said Kelly Powers, director of the Baltimore Talent Education Center. “The senselessness — you hear that all the time, but that’s exactly what it is.” Officers responded about 10:30 p.m. Monday to a 911 call from the Herring Run Park area and found Marvit suffering from head and chest wounds. A neighbor, Catharine Victorson, said she heard six gunshots, a pause, and heard a woman screaming. The area, in the Belair-Edison neighborhood, is not generally considered dangerous. Police are investigating Marvit’s shooting as robbery-related, but they said it was only a presumption by detectives given the lack of other possible motives. A Facebook page under Marvit’s name lists a doctorate in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and degrees in English, music and computer science from Oberlin College. He was working as a clinical trials analyst and did quality assurance work at ICF Inter on a contract with NIH, according to the company and an NIH spokeswoman. Karen A. Robinson, a spokeswoman with the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, said Marvit completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the school from 2002 to 2005 and then worked as a research associate in the school’s laboratories from November 2005 to December 2006. He also spent time at U-Md.’s College Park campus as a postdoctoral fellow, she said. At U-Md., Marvit helped graduate students collect data in experiments aimed at determining what sounds birds can hear and what sounds they can differentiate. A former colleague at College Park, Ed Smith,


Woman who had liposuction in Baltimore County dies from infection

A woman who had liposuction at a Baltimore County cosmetic surgery center has died after contracting a bacterial infection, Maryland health officials said Wednesday. Two other women who had liposuction at the same center were also hospitalized with the same infection. State health officials shut down the facility, Monarch Med Spa, in Timonium, Md., on Wednesday as part of an investigation to determine the possible sources of infection and to limit further spread. State and county investigators found “probable deviations from standard infection control practices,” among other deficiencies, according to the state order shutting the facility. Citing privacy, health officials declined to provide details on the fatality or the two other patients, except to say they are no longer hospitalized. Officials were alerted Monday when the University of Maryland’s infection-control unit notified them that three patients who had procedures at the cosmetic surgery center between mid-August and mid-September had contracted invasive streptococcal infections and that one had died. The women had Group A Streptococcus infections. The bacterium is often found in the throat and on the skin, and people who carry it may have no symptoms of illness. Most GAS infections are relatively mild illnesses, such as strep throat. But occasionally these bacteria can cause severe and even life-threatening diseases when they infect parts of the body where bacteria usually are not found, such as blood, muscle or the lungs. These infections are known as “invasive GAS disease.” About 10 to 15 percent of patients with the disease die from the infection. One of the most severe, but least common, forms of the disease is necrotizing fasciitis, sometimes described as “the flesh-eating bacteria.” Health officials declined to give specifics about the patients’ infections. People with skin lesions such as cuts, surgical wounds and chickenpox, or the elderly and adults with a history of alcohol abuse or injection-drug use have a higher risk for invasive GAS disease. Officials are urging individuals who had any procedure at Monarch Med Spa and who have concerns about an infection to check with their doctors. Symptoms include fever; redness at the wound site; abrupt onset of generalized or localized severe pain and swelling; and progressive dizziness, weakness and confusion. A spokeswoman for Monarch Med Spa said the company has voluntarily agreed to suspend all procedures at its Timonium facility as a precautionary measure pending an investigation by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.


Chase bank Web site suffers outages after Bank of America site problems

A company spokesperson was not immediately available for comment, and it’s unclear how many people were affected by the outages or whether the problems had been resolved. (Paul Sakuma/AP) The online site for Chase Bank was dealing with outages Wednesday, just a day after the consumer site of Bank of America reported similar problems. On the company’s official Twitter account, the JP Morgan Chase community relations team said that “Chase.com is experiencing intermittent issues. We’re working to restore full connectivity & apologize for any inconvenience.” A company spokesperson was not immediately available for comment, and it’s unclear how many people were affected by the outages or whether the problems had been resolved. On Tuesday, Bank of America site also experienced outages on its consumer banking Web site, which was unavailable to some of its customers. Bank of America confirmed on its Twitter feed that there were site problems. A company spokesperson was not available for comment. On Tuesday an unverifiable statement was posted on the Web site Pastebin that threatened to target the Web sites of Bank of America and the New York Stock Exchange in retaliation for an inflammatory online video clip, “The Innocence of Muslims,” which has set off protests and attacks across the Middle East. The statement said attacks will continue until the film is taken off the Internet. Related stories: YouTube blocked in Pakistan Google’s restricting of anti-Muslim video shows role of Web firms as free-speech arbiters YouTube: Restricting access to online film in Libya, Egypt following attack


New Humana program rewards purchase of healthy groceries

Humana will offer some members a 5 percent discount on healthy foods sold at Wal-Mart. (Amy Sancetta/AP) As one of the country’s largest health-insurance companies, Humana regularly has a say in where its members seek care. Now it wants sway over what groceries they buy. Humana announced a new partnership with Wal-Mart on Wednesday that will give the more than 1 million members of its wellness program, HumanaVitality, a 5 percent discount on healthy groceries. The program, which will launch Oct. 15, is meant to steer customers toward healthier food choices and potentially push down health-care costs — while driving people into Wal-Mart stores. The unusual partnership between a major insurer and major retailer speaks to insurers’ increased push to become involved in areas traditionally outside their purview. Some see the initiative as a way for Humana to prepare for the Affordable Care Act expansion of the individual insurance market. With millions more Americans buying their own coverage, analysts say there is a new premium on insurers’ maintaining a positive corporate image. “I think we’re going to see a lot more health-plan partnerships with retail,” said Danielle Robinson, a specialist leader in Deloitte Consulting’s Life and Sciences practice. “Insurers are realizing that they have to play in the retail market, where they don’t have a lot of experience, and are gearing up for that.” Wellness programs, which offer incentives for Americans to work out in gyms and keep up with their regular checkups, have recently become a mainstay of large employers’ insurance plans. The number of firms offering this benefit nearly doubled between 2009 and 2012, according to Towers-Watson, a human-resources firm. “A lot of this has to do with the fact health-care costs have grown faster than inflation,” said Mark Olson, a Towers Watson senior consultant. “For a lot of employers, this competes with pension costs to be the biggest benefit budget line. Employers are getting engaged in trying to influence that rate of increase.” Humana launched HumanaVitality, its wellness unit leading the Wal-Mart initiative, only last July. The new program rewards participants’ healthy behaviors with prizes that include movie tickets and hotel stays. The partnership looks to put a new twist on existing wellness programs by offering a financial incentive to purchase healthier groceries. “We’ve seen incentives within the industry before, where there’s some kind of reward for making a healthy behavior choice,” Robinson said. “This isn’t as


Anne Applebaum: In China, the only certainty is uncertainty

BEIJING In Beijing last week, every conversation ended the same way. You could start off talking about art, or the stock market, or food. You could be sitting at a formal banquet or in somebody’s house. You could be chatting with a businesswoman in a chic dress or a bureaucrat in a gray suit — but sooner or later she or he would lean over and ask: Have you heard anything? And no one had. Or, at least, no one had heard anything remotely credible about the disappearance of Xi Jinping, the man designated to be the next leader of China. Days before my arrival, Xi had abruptly canceled meetings with Hillary Clinton, the Danish prime minister and others. No public explanation was given, so the rumor mill produced dozens: back trouble, a heart attack, an assassination attempt, a Politburo dispute, a corruption scandal. Even after he was photographed at a Beijing university Saturday after two weeks of unexplained invisibility (and, indeed, met with Leon Panetta on Wednesday), the rumors didn’t stop. “Ah,” said a skeptical acquaintance, only half joking: “But was it really him?” The absence of information about the health and welfare of the soon-to-be most important man in the country comes as no surprise to anyone in China, where many aspects of public life remain mysterious. Xi is expected to assume leadership at the next Communist Party congress, for example, but while hotels in Beijing are booked up for mid-October, there’s no official word on when that congress will begin. Once it does, other senior officials might also change jobs, but nobody knows exactly which ones or what the selection of one person over another would mean. When several Chinese central bankers — among the most important and influential economists in the world — switched jobs this summer, nobody knew if that meant policy changes either. “Those who know, don’t speak,” one Beijing resident told me. “And those who speak, don’t know.” Everybody keeps talking anyway: Although the strict taboos on public discussion of high politics are carefully observed by the print and broadcast media, they are broken constantly on the Chinese equivalents of Twitter and Facebook. Meanwhile, outside of politics, information about everything else flows remarkably freely. “We don’t worry about high politics,” one Chinese journalist told me. “We can’t write about our leaders anyway, so why bother? There are so many other subjects.” Investigative journalists


In India, shopkeepers protest retail reforms

stipulating that the decision on whether to let in foreign retailers ultimately rests with individual states and applies only to cities of more than a million people. Just nine of the country’s 28 states have indicated they would allow the retailers in. But those jurisdictions include New Delhi and Maharashtra, home to India’s commercial capital, Mumbai. “What is everybody protesting about? If you have a problem with it, don’t implement it,” said Rajiv Shukla, minister for parliamentary affairs. “At least allow those states that agree with this policy to go ahead with it.” Many economists say fears of small shopkeepers being destroyed are overblown. Most Indians still prefer the comfort and convenience of their neighborhood stores to large retail outlets. “We are not just selling groceries, we have a very personal relationship with our customers,” said Bipin Gupta, 30, owner of a corner grocery called Harshita Store. “We know our customers by their names, know the members of their families, we ask about their health. We give credit. If they call us, we deliver the grocery at their doorstep. Where will they get all this in the big impersonal chain of stores?” Many farmers support the move, as it promises to cut out middlemen who now take a large share of their profits. They are also pleased that foreign supermarkets are being asked to build cold-storage facilities and other “back-end” infrastructure, a big help in a country where up to 40 percent of food spoils on its way from farm to table. At one protest in the capital, an elderly store owner wore a garland of garden vegetables and sachets of grains around his neck. A poster showed Singh carrying a giant evil-looking octopus called Wal-Mart and telling a poor Indian family holding a begging bowl: “It is for your development, my poor chaps!” “Does the government not care for our voices at all?” said Rajesh Bahadur, president of the National Hawker Federation. “The government says it will be good for competition, but how will small businesses like mine compete against the big multinational companies?” Ron Somers, head of the U.S.-India Business Council, said the decision to allow in foreign retailers was a “huge progressive step” that “will be exactly the catalyst that will revive investor enthusiasm in India.” Raj Jain, president of Wal-Mart India, said the decision “will allow us to connect directly with the consumer and save them


For radio-control plane enthusiasts, the sky’s the limit

grew up in Russia, but now lives in Olney, explains the color. “It is an impersonator of a 1950 flier. The color absolutely matches, including the oil company sticker.” “It’s fun,” he says at the end, about model-building. “It’s nothing but fun to do.” *** So far, Kane has not been having fun. His attempts to test-fly the P-47 he built from a kit have been met by too-hot or too-wet weather. And when he finally does get the plane up, he has to make an emergency landing that results in the loss of an $800 propeller. So, when I arrive for his demo during Montgomery County’s Heritage Days, a two-day affair featuring events with a focus on history, the P-47 sits grounded under a tent. But Kane has brought other planes from his fleet, including a Tutor, which, he tells me, is the same thing the Canadian Snowbirds fly. When I present a blank face, he says, “They’re like our Blue Angels.” While Kane does a flight check on the Tutor, I am approached by Tom Pfarr, 60, DCRC’s official club photographer. “As a kid, I flew control-line planes,” he tells me. “I could never afford radio control. In the ’60s, they were $1,000.” When I ask him what line of work he’s in, he just says, “NASA.” Is he an astronaut, I ask. “I do the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope,” he says. I have noticed a real sense of modesty among these men. Their egos are on display only in the form of their aircraft. Pfarr and I watch the Tutor rip across the sky. Kane, who is well over six feet tall and built like a linebacker, stands almost motionless, calmly flying his streamlined creature in a graceful ballet of turns. “You watch Andy and think, how the hell does he do it?” Pfarr says. Then Giuseppe “Beppe” Fascione comes along with his 1962 Taurus and vintage Orbit radio, and Pfarr is even more impressed. If Kane represents the advances in flying technology, Fascione is the old master. A bearded, perpetually smiling native of Pisa, Italy, and recently retired aeronautical engineer, Fascione builds and flies antique model planes from the ’50s and ’60s using original plans and period radios. He has 30 aircraft in flying condition and five more in various stages of completion. “I fiddle and play with them,” he says


At FedEx Field, raise the level of your tailgating game with local food and drink traditions

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 1: 3 Stars Brewing growler and taps photographed in Washington, DC. (Photo by Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post) (Deb Lindsey/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) What to eat Someone always shows up to a well-organized tailgate bearing the most meager of contributions: a clammy package of Oscar Mayer franks for the grill or a bag of half-crushed potato chips. Don’t be that person. Skip the last-minute trip to the supermarket and opt for fresh meat and half-smokes from local butchers. Here are a few of our favorite sources: Run by two D.C. bartenders, 13th Street Meats ’ freshly ground half-smokes and spicy Italian and lemon-basil chicken sausages have become staples at popular bars, including Boundary Stone and Breadsoda. The sausages are available at the DC Brau brewery on the first Saturday of the month and at various festivals and farmers markets. Follow @13thStMeats on Twitter for updates. Connected to Robert Wiedmaier’s Brabo in Alexandria, The Butcher’s Block offers locally sourced meat and freshly baked bread. 1600 King St., Alexandria. 703-894-5253. www.butchersblockrw.com. While Nathan Anda prepares to open the brick-and-mortar version of his popular Red Apron Butchery in Merrifield this fall, his house-made sausages, hot dogs, beef and pork are being sold at local farmers markets, including the ones on Vermont Avenue NW near the White House on Thursday and at Dupont Circle on Sunday. You also can find Anda’s creations at Planet Wine in Del Ray. For details, visit www.redapronbutchery.com. Society Fair Long a fixture at farmers markets, Jamie Stachowski’s sausages are now available for pickup at his Georgetown store, Stachowski Market and Deli . 1425 28th St. NW. 202-506-3125. www.stachowskibrand.com. The family-owned delicatessen and butcher shop Wagshals is one of the area’s premier destinations for gourmet meat and fresh seafood. You also can find such specialty items as imported hams and wild game. 4845 Massachusetts Ave. NW. 202-363-5698. www.wagshals.com. What to drink A 30-pack of mass-produced domestic lager will never go out of style at large tailgates. But your friends will be happier to host if you show up with a couple of growlers, which hold 64 ounces of freshly tapped beer from a local brewery. Most breweries charge between $10 and $15 to fill the glass jugs. The newest brewery in the Washington area, 3 Stars Brewing Company , opened its doors in August. Visit on Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. to fill up and


are being sold at local farmers markets, including the ones on Vermont Avenue NW near the White House on Thursday and at Dupont Circle on Sunday. You also can find Anda’s creations at Planet Wine in Del Ray. For details, visit www.redapronbutchery.com. Society Fair Long a fixture at farmers markets, Jamie Stachowski’s sausages are now available for pickup at his Georgetown store, Stachowski Market and Deli . 1425 28th St. NW. 202-506-3125. www.stachowskibrand.com. The family-owned delicatessen and butcher shop Wagshals is one of the area’s premier destinations for gourmet meat and fresh seafood. You also can find such specialty items as imported hams and wild game. 4845 Massachusetts Ave. NW. 202-363-5698. www.wagshals.com. What to drink A 30-pack of mass-produced domestic lager will never go out of style at large tailgates. But your friends will be happier to host if you show up with a couple of growlers, which hold 64 ounces of freshly tapped beer from a local brewery. Most breweries charge between $10 and $15 to fill the glass jugs. The newest brewery in the Washington area, 3 Stars Brewing Company , opened its doors in August. Visit on Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. to fill up and sample three beers, including a refreshing Belgian saison. 6400 Chillum Pl. NW. 202-670-0333. www.3stars brewing.com. The year-old Brookland brewery Chocolate City Beer specializes in English-style ales and shows its D.C. pride with the new Little Chair IPA. It’s open from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays. 2801 Eighth St. NE. 202-351-6197. www.chocolatecitybeer.com. The largest of the Washington-area breweries, DC Brau offers as many as eight kinds of beer during its growler hours, from about noon to 4 p.m. every Saturday, as well as six-packs of its three flagship beers. Don’t miss the DC Brau merchandise, which includes T-shirts in Redskins colors. 3178-B Bladensburg Rd. NE. 202-621-8890. www.dcbrau.com. A Hyattsville staple since 2002, Franklin’s Restaurant and Brewery keeps 10 beers on tap, from pale ale to double IPA. The brewpub is open daily for growler fills and sits just seven miles from FedEx Field. 5123 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville. 301-927-2740. www.franklinsbrewery.com. Port City Brewing Co. What to play Forget horseshoes and flip cup. Corn hole, also known as bean bag toss, is the quintessential parking-lot pastime. Anyone can buy a generic set of boards and bags at Target or Modell’s, but you can show your true colors with a custom-made set from


A decade into war, body armor gets curves

Spec. Sarah Sutphin removes her new body armor after training in Fort Campbell, Ky. Female soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division are field-testing the first Army body armor designed to fit women's physiques. (Mark Humphrey/AP) To put it bluntly, the problem boiled down to hips and breasts. Over the past decade, as female U.S. troops were placed in de facto front-line roles in Iraq and Afghanistan, they were often encumbered by the weight and shape of body armor designed for men. As the war in Afghanistan draws to a close, the military this fall is finally rolling out a new generation of body armor that includes his and hers models. Women who have patrolled, fought and taken cover wearing ill-fitting vests are ecstatic about the new gear, which is shorter and designed for narrower torsos. Some see it as welcome but inexcusably late. Sgt. Bobbie Crawford, who is 5 feet 6 inches and weighs just over 100 pounds, said she struggled to maneuver wearing body armor when she served in Afghanistan in 2010 as part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. The vest made it hard to get in and out of vehicles, raise a weapon and crouch down, she said. “It rubbed on my hips and limited my mobility,” said Crawford, 40, of Paris, Tex., who is among the soldiers who will be testing the new gear in Afghanistan in the coming months. “You definitely had to find a lot of workarounds, you had to learn to become creative.” Though women are nominally barred from conventional combat jobs in the military, many have been in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan, insurgency wars with no clear front lines. At least 81 female service members have died in hostile incidents in the two wars, according to the Pentagon. Photos of everyday life in Afghanistan as coalition forces attempt to transfer responsibilities to Afghan troops. “Female soldiers find themselves doing the same kinds of missions that male soldiers are doing,” said Col. Robert F. Mortlock, the Army’s program manager for soldier protection and individual equipment. “It is incredibly important to optimize their body armor.” Female soldiers have been complaining for years about the bruising and discomfort caused by standard body armor. Giving women body armor designed for men also made them more vulnerable, military officials said, because it limited their mobility and the Kevlar


Climate change threatens children’s health

The Sept. 18 Health & Science article “Severe strain of childhood virus emerges” noted that an unusual form of hand, foot and mouth disease has hit the United States. My pediatric practice in Alexandria saw three times as many children with this disease in the first half of this year as in all of 2011. These children had larger and more extensive lesions than in typical cases of Coxsackie virus, which causes the disease. The article noted that researchers believe that last year’s unusually mild winter might be related to the appearance of the virus out of its normal season. It is important to recognize that this change is likely part of a broader shift in infectious-disease patterns due to a changing climate. Increases in certain infections due to rising temperature and humidity have long been predicted by the medical community. In 2007, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a policy statement titled “Global Climate Change and Children’s Health” that described expected increases in West Nile virus, Lyme disease and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Each of these predictions have been realized. Physicians, policymakers and the public need to understand the relationship between climate disruption and the health of our children and families. Samantha Ahdoot, Alexandria


Unusual coalitions clash over wind energy tax credit

court congressional Republicans, according to an internal board document the trade group prepared in November 2011 . The plan included a lobbying program focused specifically on getting House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to back the tax credit extension; in conjunction with Republican Hill staffers, developing a slogan based on focus groups; and co-sponsoring a series of events featuring GOP leaders with the news outlet Politico. AWEA spent $560,000 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2012, hiring such Republican firms as the Ashcroft Group and Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock and such Democratic ones as Elmendorf Ryan and David Gardiner & Associates. At the same time, Exelon, a Chicago-based utility that faces stiff competition from wind, is fighting to kill the tax credit. Exelon, which generates 55 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, has backed Obama’s efforts to limit carbon emissions and promote alternatives to fossil fuels. In a statement, Exelon spokesman Marshall Murphy said that while the company has wind power in its portfolio, it supports an end to the tax credit because it “distorts today’s competitive wholesale electric markets, causing severe financial harm to other, more reliable clean energy sources.” The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions, a group of conservative activists opposed to new wind projects, has brought on George David Banks, a former aide to Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), and worked with FreedomWorks to mobilize online opposition to the tax credit through Facebook and other means. Americans for Prosperity, a group financed in part by oil magnates David H. and Charles G. Koch, also is pushing to eliminate the tax break. Banks said in an interview that with Republican-leaning areas traditionally benefiting financially from wind, the issue has created unconventional political alliances. “Because it’s a wealth transfer from areas of the country that don’t have wind to ones which do have wind, and have renewable mandates, this issue is more of a state-specific issue than a partisan one,” he said. Even if the tax credit is extended, it’s unclear whether the wind industry will rebound right away. A June Congressional Research Service report noted that there has been a rush to install wind before the tax benefit expires, and “all projections reviewed for this report expect annual U.S. wind turbine demand to be less than the existing turbine manufacturing capacity — approximately 13 [gigawatts] per year.” Steven Mufson and Alice Crites contributed to this report.


With China’s rise, Japan shifts to the right

With China rising, Japan is shifting to a more robust military strategy, particularly boosting its Self-Defense Forces. TOKYO — The shift applies strictly to Japan’s foreign policy and military strategy, not social issues, and has been driven both by China’s rapid maritime expansion — particularly its emphatic claims on contested territory — and by a growing sense here that Japan should recover the clout squandered amid two lost decades of economic stagnation. Japan’s shift can be seen in an increasingly muscular role for the nation’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF), in a push among mainstream politicians to revise key portions of the pacifist constitution and in a new willingness to clash with China, particularly in the East China Sea, where U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said this week he was “concerned about conflict.” But analysts stress that Japan, even with its rightward shift, still remains ambivalent about its military; Japan is merely moving toward the center, they say, after decades of being perhaps the world’s most pacifist advanced nation. “The post-World War II Japan policy was to be low-keyand cooperation-oriented,” said Narushige Michishita, a self-described moderate and a security expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. “We tried to avoid any confrontation or friction with surrounding countries. . . . But there’s a widespread feeling in the minds of Japanese people that being nice didn’t work out.” Polls suggest Japanese are increasingly concerned about security and feel their country faces an outside threat. According to government data collected earlier this year, 25 percent think Japan should increase its military strength, compared with 14 percent three years ago and 8 percent in 1991. That shift in thinking is reflected in Japan’s leaders, including hawkish Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, son of an SDF member, who has restored the U.S.-Japan security alliance as the “foundation” of Tokyo’s foreign policy. That’s a stark shift from three years ago, when then-leader Yukio Hatoyama frayed ties with Washington and dreamed of a harmonious “East Asian community” that included China. But Noda, unpopular and likely facing an election in the upcoming months, is a relative moderate compared with those lining up to take his place. Front-runner Shigeru Ishiba, of the Liberal Democratic Party, said in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal that the SDF should be able to fire warning shots against maritime intruders; currently, the SDF yields to the Coast Guard


Japan’s Noda wins ruling party vote, will remain prime minister

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a press conference in Tokyo after winning the Democratic Party of Japan’s leadership election on Sept. 21. (Shizuo Kambayashi/AP) SEOUL — In the vote by party lawmakers and regional members, Noda garnered 68 percent of the tally. But that overwhelming victory, political analysts said, shows only that he is well supported by a ruling party that the country seems poised to oust. Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan has an approval rating in the teens, according to some polls here, and his rating hovers near 30 percent. Barring an unlikely turnaround, the DPJ will lose power in the next parliamentary elections, expected in the coming months. That means a new party, probably the Liberal Democratic Party, will take control and its party president will replace Noda as Japan’s leader. During his one-year tenure, Noda has proved himself more capable than the five leaders who briefly held the office before him, securing rare cooperation from opposition parties to pass a consumption tax increase that will help fund social security costs. But Noda has lost support along the way. During the fierce debate over the tax increase, a handful of DPJ members defected. Noda, more recently, has also had to contend with a territorial dispute with China in which he faces domestic pressure to get tough, potentially enraging Beijing, and maintain calm, given the neighbors’ deep trade ties. With China rising, Japan is shifting to a more robust military strategy, particularly boosting its Self-Defense Forces. Separately, Noda invited criticism earlier this week when his cabinet did not endorse a government plan to eliminate nuclear power by the 2030s; ministers watered down the plan’s language and said the government must engage in “ongoing studies” about the best approach. A survey published in July by the Pew Research Center showed that 78 percent of Japanese are dissatisfied with the country’s direction. Noda faces pressure from opposition parties to dissolve the powerful upper house and call a snap election, but analysts say the prime minister is trying to put off any vote, hoping his party can regain popularity. Legally, Noda is not obligated to call an election until next August. But Japan will not be able to pass upcoming legislation — including a bill to allow the issue of deficit-covering bonds — without cooperation from the opposition, something that might depend on a promise to hold a vote. More


Asian saber-rattling to make political points

AS PRESIDENT Obama indulged in some pre-electoral China-bashing — announcing a trade case on auto parts during a campaign appearance in Ohio — his secretary of defense was learning how such nationalist games are played across the Pacific. Leon Panetta’s visit to Tokyo and Beijing this week coincided with mass demonstrations in scores of Chinese cities, where crowds burned Japanese flags, trashed Japanese cars and sang patriotic songs — all under the approving eyes of state security forces. China, of course, does not have an election coming up — but it is planning a transfer of power among top leaders sometime in the coming weeks. The shift from outgoing Hu Jintao to incoming Xi Jinping has been anything but smooth; among other things, Mr. Xi abruptly disappeared from view for two weeks this month without explanation. Though he appeared physically and politically healthy when he met Mr. Panetta on Wednesday, China’s leaders seem to think this week was a convenient moment to orchestrate an outpouring of nationalist feeling. A rally against perceived foreign enemies could bolster fledgling new leaders — and deflect questions about the opaque power struggles and faltering economy at home. Though they responded temperately to the Chinese rabble-rousing, Japan’s leaders were not innocent of political calculation. The pretext for the demonstrations was provided last week when the government of Yoshihiko Noda announced that it would purchase three uninhabited islands near Taiwan, known to Japan as the Senkaku and to China as the Diaoyu and claimed by both countries. Mr. Noda was trying to undercut nationalist Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who had talked of having his city buy the desolate rocks from their Japanese private owners. Both politicians are maneuvering ahead of Japan’s next elections, due by early next year. Mr. Panetta, who was appealing for reason The fact that all these tempests are driven by domestic political calculations suggests they are less serious than they appear. Chinese, Japanese and Korean politicians are aiming mainly to win votes, not to vanquish their neighbors. But posturing of this kind does have economic costs: Many Japanese companies and stores have temporarily shut down in China, thousands of travelers have canceled their tickets, and there is talk that big Japanese manufacturers, which have seen their stocks swoon this week, will look for factory sites outside China. There is also a danger that China will lose control of the crowds it conjured.


Poverty grows in high-income Washington suburbs

suburban counties showed large leaps since the recession began in 2007. Poverty in the District declined somewhat from 2010 to 2011, although it is still persistently high, at nearly 19 percent. The stark contrast between wealth and want here comes at a time of growing income inequality nationally. However, even though more people are poor and struggling, the region’s poverty rate of 8.3 percent is the lowest of the country’s metropolitan areas and significantly less than the national rate of about 15 percent. But that’s small comfort if you’re among the poor. Dulce Arroyo, 57, was barely making ends meet with a $21-an-hour job as a certified medical assistant in Fairfax County. This month, she was laid off with just two weeks of severance pay. Although she is optimistic she will find another job, Arroyo often marveled at the wealth around her while she lived paycheck to paycheck. At her former office, it seemed, that “every single one was rich” — except she. “I work as hard as anybody,” Arroyo said, as she volunteered at a free-lunch program at her church in Falls Church. “I wonder why I’m so poor. I don’t have to be homeless and hungry to be poor.” Suburban communities in the area have been experiencing staggering increases in the number of poor people, according to a 2010 Brookings Institution study of census data, called “Strained Suburbs.” Among the suburban cities and towns in the Washington area, Centreville, Chantilly, Leesburg and Linton Hall in Virginia and Bowie, College Park and Germantown in Maryland had the largest increases, according to Brookings. “Our ideas about where poverty is have not changed,” said Anne Cahill, the Fairfax County demographer. “We still think of it being in the inner city. The reality is, poverty in the suburbs is where the growth is.” Three years into the recovery, officials in the region say the need appears to be easing, but it remains well above the levels experienced in pre-recession 2007. In Prince William County, where the number of people using food stamps has more than doubled since 2007, people are staying on assistance longer, said spokesman Jason Grant. And in Montgomery County, where the Census Bureau said the poverty rate dropped, caseloads have remained heavy. In Loudoun County, which has been ranked the most affluent jurisdiction in the United States for several years, the numbers of residents seeking emergency care packages of


Calling attention to infections acquired in hospitals

The tragic death of a woman who contracted an infection after having cosmetic surgery in a Baltimore medical facility [Metro, Sept. 20] highlights the urgent need for more transparency about the incidence of hospital-acquired infections. Government data reveal that hundreds of thousands of patients are so infected in our country each year, with the death toll for just one infection — C difficile — running at about 14,000annually. The two most common causes are unsanitary conditions that result from inadequate cleaning procedures and the overuse of antibiotics. It is not easy to acquire knowledge about the incidence of infections in particular hospitals, though more state laws are requiring disclosure. Full disclosure would enable patients to comparison-shop before hospitalization and would intensify pressure on medical facilities to excel in preventive activities. Today’s conditions are a national tragedy, not just in death tolls but in agonizing stays in intensive-care units and crippling aftereffects. Milton W. Hudson, Washington


With new giant panda cub, zoo studies what went right

Pierre Comizzoli, research biologist at the National Zoo was part of the team that artificially inseminated female panda, Mei Xiang with sperm from male panda, Tian Tian. (Ricky Carioti/WASHINGTON POST) Update: The National Zoo panda died just hours after this story was published. Nitrogen vapor drifts from the mouth of steel container No. 9 when National Zoo scientist Pierre Comizzoli lifts the plastic lid and pulls out the stopper. The vapor is potentially deadly, but the liquid nitrogen within keeps the microscopic seeds of life inside safely frozen at about minus-300 degrees Fahrenheit. Here, he says, as he raises a specimen rack from the vapor, is the “famous,” but now depleted, 2005 vintage that helped bring forth the zoo’s new giant panda cub on Sept. 16. It is panda semen. Unromantic and a little icky, it’s the stuff behind the wondrous birth of the zoo’s first cub in seven years. But zoo experts aren’t sure exactly why it worked. And Comizzoli and other zoo experts are reviewing the science and technique behind their success to try and figure it out. The achievement was stunning — in the face of repeated failures in the past and with the odds of success at about 10 percent. The zoo said Friday that the cub appears to be well. The female giant panda, Mei Xiang, had not left the newborn, even to eat or drink. The birth, at 10:46 p.m. Sept. 16, came after a meticulous choreography over six months that tracked the rise and fall of Mei’s hormone levels and utilized state-of-the-art reproduction techniques. But it was a process the zoo had been through often before, in almost the same way. So, why was it successful this time? Brandie Smith, curator of giant pandas, said the zoo tweaked some of its procedures this year — limiting, for example, the amount of artificial light, noise and hubbub in the panda house during Mei’s reproductive cycle. “This year was really a make-or-break year in terms of getting Mei Xiang pregnant,” Smith said Friday. The zoo had said that if Mei, who had not borne a cub in seven years, did not get pregnant this time, she should be replaced. “So we were extra cautious,” Smith said. “During the end of the pregnancy, we became incredibly hands off. . . . We minimized disturbances. We stayed out of her den. . . . Once she started


at about 10 percent. The zoo said Friday that the cub appears to be well. The female giant panda, Mei Xiang, had not left the newborn, even to eat or drink. The birth, at 10:46 p.m. Sept. 16, came after a meticulous choreography over six months that tracked the rise and fall of Mei’s hormone levels and utilized state-of-the-art reproduction techniques. But it was a process the zoo had been through often before, in almost the same way. So, why was it successful this time? Brandie Smith, curator of giant pandas, said the zoo tweaked some of its procedures this year — limiting, for example, the amount of artificial light, noise and hubbub in the panda house during Mei’s reproductive cycle. “This year was really a make-or-break year in terms of getting Mei Xiang pregnant,” Smith said Friday. The zoo had said that if Mei, who had not borne a cub in seven years, did not get pregnant this time, she should be replaced. “So we were extra cautious,” Smith said. “During the end of the pregnancy, we became incredibly hands off. . . . We minimized disturbances. We stayed out of her den. . . . Once she started to build her nest we did not go in that area.” “All of that said, are those changes the reason she got pregnant this year?” she said. “We don’t know.” Attention was also focused on the artificial insemination process the zoo had used, to no avail, over the past five years. Much of that focus was on the contents of Room 222 in the zoo’s Veterinary Hospital. There, the zoo has more than 2,000 frozen semen samples from 100 different kinds of animals, some dating back decades, as part of its Genome Resource Bank. Comizzoli, a lanky, gray-haired reproductive physiologist who was born in Paris, said frozen semen can, for the most part, be used effectively in insemination procedures to impregnate the zoo’s animals. But, “some of the sperm are not going to survive the freezing temperature,” he said. So-called cryosensitivity varies from species to species. But giant panda specimens survive quite well, he said: “We don’t know why.” When Mei Xiang entered her annual estrous period last spring, the zoo decided to artificially inseminate her with frozen specimens taken from the zoo’s male giant panda, Tian Tian, in 2005. That was the year that Mei Xiang gave birth to


Giant panda cub dies at National Zoo

The distress call had gone out at the National Zoo: The week-old giant panda cub was in trouble, perhaps dying, and the keepers had to get it out of the den for treatment, with its agitated 240-pound mother a few feet away. It was a practiced but dangerous maneuver. Standing behind protective bars, one keeper, Marty Dearie, distracted the adult female with honey-flavored water, while another, Juan Rodriguez, reached in with a long-handled “grabber” and pulled the cub through the bars. The baby was then whisked to the keepers’ office in the panda compound where veterinarian Nancy Boedeker used her fingers to do gentle heart massage on an animal that weighed about four ounces. But there was no heartbeat and no respiration, and after about 10 minutes Boedeker stopped. The zoo’s giant panda cub, born amid hope and fanfare Sept. 16, was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m., after a life of not quite 61 / 2 days. Somber zoo officials on Sunday painted this portrait of the cub’s final moments, along with the effort of keepers and veterinarians to save its life. The cub’s sudden death struck the zoo community on a beautiful fall morning, as the facility on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington was thronged with visitors. The staff was “devastated,” zoo director Dennis Kelly said. (Update: National Zoo: newborn panda cub had liver abnormalities, and fluid in abdomen) “I’m worried about my keepers,” he said. “They’ve got 2,000 animals to take care of, and they’ve got to remain safe.” And it upended, for now, all the plans for a new era of giant pandas at the National Zoo and in the Washington region. Zoo officials said it was too early to discuss what they might do about their pandas in the future. The zoo’s giant panda population stands at two: Mei Xiang, the cub’s mother, and mate Tian Tian, its father. The cub was so small that the zoo did not yet know its sex. “Distressed vocalizations” from Mei Xiang were heard at about 9:17 a.m. Sunday, and keepers realized “this is not right, this is not good,” zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson said. Kelly said Mei Xiang “got up and moved off of where she was holding the cub, and made a honk,” which was unusual for her. “We surmised that that was a distress call,” he said. The keepers also had stopped hearing the cub’s healthy squealing,


Remembering a panda cub we barely knew

by John Kelly Walk through any old graveyard and you’ll read a history of heartache engraved upon the tombstones. We all die, of course, but seeing a child’s name there is a reminder that some deaths hurt more than others. I remember encountering one cemetery where a 19th-century family’s grave marker recounted a particularly sad litany: child after child, taken before they reached the age of 12. Engraved on the lichen-encrusted stone were their names and dates. With that minimal information, it was possible to imagine the grief that must have enveloped the household. There was surely sadness after the first child’s death, but it was likely a sadness untouched by surprise, for a century ago children lived their first years on a precipice. Try again, the couple would have thought, only to find a familiar end to the fresh start. The third child lived beyond the age at which his siblings had died and so must have been a reason for hope. There were a fourth and a fifth, too, neither of whom outlived the parents whose names were listed atop that doomed brood. I thought of that woeful monolith Sunday when I heard about the death of Mei Xiang’s nameless cub. The first news release from the National Zoo was spare in its details — “No outward sign of trauma; no outward sign of infection” — but was no less heartbreaking for that. One detail was especially sorrowful: It was Mei Xiang’s “distress vocalization” that prompted keepers to check on the newborn. She knew something was wrong. A panda is not a human. A cub is not a baby. There’s only so sad we should allow ourselves to be. But still, that’s pretty sad. The older I get, the more I’m struck by the pitiless coin that is human life. On one side is our amazing resilience. The body can take a lot before the soul leaves it. Just ask any emergency room doctor. On the other side is the equally true fact that life is amazingly fragile, able to be snuffed out as quickly as a candle in a draft. It’s that second quality that the loss of “our” panda cub reminds me of. Can you “love” a panda cub you’ve never met? No, I don’t think you can, really. But there are plenty of people around you can love — you do love. Tell them that.


Climate change will shift marine predators’ habitat, study says

“They’ll have to travel farther and farther every year just to get to their food,” said Elliott Hazen, the study’s lead author and a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Some species with a relatively narrow temperature range — such as salmon, blue sharks and mako sharks — fared poorly as well. At the same time, some highly mobile species such as tuna and seabirds may benefit from the changes because they will be able to adjust more easily or have wider foraging opportunities. The scientists identified key habitat areas by using satellite measurements of sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a, which indicates an area’s productivity, along with migration patterns charted by the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) project. Using U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections that global temperatures could rise 1.8 to 10.8 degrees by 2100, the researchers modeled how these changes would affect habitat. The North Pacific Transition Zone — which marks where cold, nutrient-rich polar water comes into contact with warmer, nutrient-poor water — will shift the most dramatically, by as much as 600 miles to the north during most seasons. According to the paper, this major migration corridor, which stretches from California to Japan, could lose as much as 20 percent of its species diversity. By contrast, the California Current, which runs along North America’s western coast, will not be affected, because the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water will continue to occur and will stay largely in place. “It will act like a buffer to climate change,” Hazen said in an interview. “That’s a kind of saving grace to the central California environment.” Larry Crowder, a co-author of the study and science director of Stanford University’s Center for Ocean Solutions, wrote in an e-mail that “five years ago this work could not have been done.” “The confluence of an amazing tagging data set, remote sensing, and cutting edge modeling allows us to predict dynamic ocean habitats for large ocean predators for the first time,” he wrote, adding that scientists can now “design mobile marine protected areas that can protect threatened predators while minimizing impacts on fisheries.” Hazen warned that policymakers need to take advantage of the new findings, rather than imposing protections on a fixed area in perpetuity. “If we’re going to create a marine protected area and the habitat disappears, we’re going to be making some pretty big mistakes.”


Farm-delivery service expands to D.C.

From bagels and peanuts to mayonnaise and trout, the local-food movement is coming to Washington area doorsteps. Earlier this month, Relay Foods, a Charlottesville-based delivery service, announced it would be expanding into Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia through its purchase of Arganica Farm Club. Both Arganica and Relay Foods were founded about four years ago in Charlottesville with one focus: to deliver local goods. But as the two businesses expanded, they took decidedly different turns. Arganica, which grew out of Dominique Kostelac’s 33-acre farm in Virginia, devoted its resources to building and marketing a network of local farms. Relay Foods ramped up its software and distribution mechanisms. By last year, both were struggling with their blind spots. “Arganica’s huge weakness was that we didn’t have a technical platform,” said Caesar Layton, formerly president of Arganica and now a senior vice president at Relay Foods. “When we began to grow fast in 2011, it was a disaster, to be honest. Going from eight dozen customers to 1,400 customers — that just swamped us.” The company didn’t have the software necessary to distribute goods efficiently. All orders were taken manually and added to spreadsheets by hand. Something had to change. “We started flirting with each other sometime in March or April,” Layton said. The companies had been friendly competitors in the past, but had never considered teaming up. “As we talked, we realized that we’d developed strengths that were highly compatible with one another,” said Zach Buckner, founder and chief executive of Relay Foods. “They had a really good brand and were in some great markets, and we had an appetite for growth.” By mid-July, the two delivery services had forged a deal. Neither Layton nor Buckner would disclose the value of the purchase, but did say that it was an all-stock acquisition. The local-food movement has gained ground in recent years, leading to a rise in community supported agriculture programs where local residents buy into a farm’s seasonal crops. Food delivery services, too, have expanded. Washington area Safeway and Giant offer grocery delivery for a fee, and even Web sites such as Amazon.com have jumped into the fresh food business. “Groceries are the last frontier of online shopping” Layton said. “E-commerce has been on fire for years, but grocery shopping is a very tactile experience, it’s very intimate.” To help ease the transition for consumers, Layton said Relay offers a wide range


At Strathmore, BSO’s Americana optimism

At the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s first subscription concert of the new season, heard at Strathmore on Saturday night, the orchestra played a program of classic Americana with grace and power. The music, from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, all sounded much the same, a reminder of the era before serialism and experimental composition had taken over classical music. The symphonic suite from the film score for Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront” was the first offering. It includes some of Leonard Bernstein’s most polished and searing music — from the suite’s plaintive opening horn solo and lonely wail of the saxophone, through the savage intensity of its percussion-driven fast sections to its fragile love theme massed into a raging surge. Conductor Marin Alsop led a convincing performance throughout. Gil Shaham was on hand next as soloist in Samuel Barber’s violin concerto, part of the American violinist’s performing and recording project dedicated to violin concertos of the 1930s. Shaham’s intonation in high passages was a little perilous, and he did not bring much that was memorable either to the glowing first two movements or the “moto perpetuo” finale. Between these two works came the most moving performance of the evening, the “Nimrod” movement from Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” offered in memory of Dennis Kain, the orchestra’s beloved principal timpanist, who passed away last weekend. Aaron Copland’s Third Symphony, which rounded out the evening, relies heavily for its triumphant form on the composer’s reworking of his “Fanfare for the Common Man,” without the much-longer symphony really saying anything that the “Fanfare” did not. Still, its heady post-World War II optimism is something we could use hearing now as institutions such as the BSO struggle to stay afloat through bad economic times. Alsop opened this concert with George M. Bogatko’s new arrangement of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” complete with a Wagnerian Rhine music introduction and decidedly Coplandesque re-harmonization. It is the first of several such commissioned arrangements to be performed each year leading up to the orchestra’s centennial celebration in 2016. How’s that for optimism? The reviewer is a freelance writer.


Fairfax Symphony gambles and wins with an all-American evening

to something pleasant but anodyne. The second half of the program was given over to American chestnuts: Leonard Bernstein’s “Three Dance Episodes from ‘On the Town’ ” and George Gershwin’s piano concerto in F, both with a lot of freshness to offer. Christopher Zimmerman, music director of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. (Fairfax Symphony Orchestra ) The only disadvantage of playing a whole program of newer work is that the music may not be familiar to the orchestra, and with an ensemble on Fairfax’s level, which only plays six or seven concert programs a season, the challenge is audible. (This is not generally as true of a larger orchestra like the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which is, in any case, attuned to American music; it offered the first of two consecutive all-American programs last weekend and continues with the next one Friday.) The Fairfax players made slightly heavy going of Adams, and some of the solos in the Gershwin weren’t quite up to speed. Zimmerman’s energy and good will showed to their best effect in the Bernstein, whose music has a way of invigorating American orchestras. You could argue that it was interesting to hear this music played without the veneer of slickness such a program might have gotten at the New York Philharmonic, where an “American evening” may still bear connotations of being lightweight — which here it entirely lacked. Any slickness emanated from the urbane Biegel, who had a tour-de-force evening playing two concertos, both with the same unflappable facility and fingerwork that flowed like oil. If the orchestra found this music hard going, Biegel made it sound absolutely easy, and if it seemed in a couple of places as if he’d gotten caught up in his own facility at the expense of the music, he generally played with a straightforward integrity that was a good fit for this group. He concluded the evening with a melting-pot encore by an American composer of Russian descent about Asia: “Rush Hour in Hong Kong,” written in the 1920s by Abram Chasins, a rapid-fire, amusing evocation of lots of bustling people. It was a note-perfect end to a very refreshing evening that spoke well for the programming vision of Zimmerman, who just extended his Fairfax contract for another three years. Alas, this concert isn’t indicative of the rest of the season, which returns to more familiar fare: lots of Beethoven, Strauss and Tchaikovsky.


Keepers mourn a small death on a blue blanket as zoo ponders cause of cub’s death

cub, born Sept. 16, had heart and lungs that appeared normal, suggesting that suffocation was not a factor, Murray said. There was milk in the cub’s digestive tract, a sign that it had been nursing successfully. Murray said that the cub appears to have been female, although it was so small that lab tests will be needed to confirm that finding. Even without a conclusive ruling, she said, zoo officials have decided to refer to the cub as a “she.” The cub’s surprise birth came after five failed attempts to impregnate the zoo’s female adult giant panda, Mei Xiang, and experts thought the chance of her having another cub was less than 10 percent. Zookeepers were overjoyed, and zoo director Dennis Kelly said last week it was a glorious event for the Washington area. Monday, though, zoo officials were drawn and emotional in recounting details of the cub’s death. “We were living the promise,” Smith, the panda curator, said at the zoo, her eyes filling with tears. “The promise of all these years to come, and how amazing it was going to be. “Part of it is . . . the loss of this animal, but it’s also the loss of all that wonder that we were about to be a part of,” she said. “How much fun we were all going to have.” Smith said the cub appeared to be doing fine early Sunday morning. “We saw the cub . . . at 8:30,” she said. “It was squirming. It was moving.” She said Mei Xiang was holding the cub and both looked well. Suddenly, about 45 minutes later, Mei Xiang got up and began honking in “distressed vocalization” for about 30 seconds, and keepers saw that the cub had stopped moving. An emergency was declared. The cub was removed from the den and rushed to the keepers’ room in the panda house. There, zoo veterinarian Nancy Boedeker began heart massage while staff members, including director Kelly, looked on. Tense minutes passed. Smith remembered that the cub was a “beautiful little baby. Absolutely beautiful. Perfectly formed. . . . Black spots were just starting to come out on its eyes. Just a beautiful little baby panda.” The atmosphere in the room was subdued. “This has been a dream,” she said. “We’ve all been in this kind of state of suspended disbelief that something so magical [had] happened to us.


Bo Xilai awaits his fate after sentencing of wife and top aide

With his wife Gu Kailai and his top aide sentenced, and a political transition pending, Bo Xilai remains hidden. (Andy Wong/AP) BEIJING — Somewhere, Bo Xilai awaits his fate. A popular and charismatic Communist Party “princeling” — considered a contender for a top spot in a revamped Politburo until the murder scandal erupted last year — Bo has not been seen publicly since he was fired in March as party chief for the sprawling southwestern city of Chongqing. How to handle Bo without upsetting his hard-core supporters seems to be the dilemma facing China’s leaders as they try to resolve the case before a planned leadership transition later this year. The Communist Party’s 18th Party Congress is set to inaugurate a new generation of leaders, led by Xi Jinping and an almost entirely new Politburo Standing Committee. But no date has been set for the conclave, leading many here to speculate that the top leaders have not resolved some thorny issues, including the question of what punishment, if any, will be handed to Bo. Here is a look at some of the week’s best photographs from around the globe. “If they don’t handle this problem well, it might threaten the stability of the party,” said Tie Liu, a journalist who spent 23 years in a labor camp during Mao Zedong’s “anti-rightist” campaign launched against intellectuals in 1957. He said he believed the party would opt for a mild administrative punishment, perhaps penalizing Bo for failing to properly supervise his family members and subordinates, and would announce it after the leadership transition. Others agreed with that analysis. “They just don’t want him to return. . . . He’ll no longer be able to hold any official position,” said the editor of a Communist Party newspaper in Beijing who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely. “If he’s expelled, the party would split, because many leftists in the party still support him.” Bo, the son of Mao-era revolutionary hero Bo Yibo, was the antithesis of the typical Chinese politician: charismatic where most are bland, outspoken when others are reticent, open to the media when most eschew publicity, and bold in a system that prizes uniformity and consensus. Bo is also something else highly unusual in China’s staid communist bureaucracy. He is popular. In Chongqing, the isolated city where he served as party chief from late 2007 until


Baby panda’s death leaves many sad

newborn wild animals — are very fragile when they are first born. They can get infections (like a cold), or not eat enough. In July, a week-old baby panda died in Japan after its mother’s milk went into its lungs instead of its stomach. (If you’ve ever had a beverage “go down the wrong pipe,” you know what that’s like). But since newborn pandas weigh four ounces — about the size of a stick of butter — even something that seems minor can be very serious. In the 1980s five baby pandas were born at the National Zoo but none lived longer than four days. Jessica and Lucy Goldberg, 9, of Washington listen to the sad news at the zoo. (Dayna Smith/For The Washington Post) On Sunday, panda keepers heard Mei cry out in an unusual way and took it to be a mother’s signal that something was wrong with the cub. While one zookeeper distracted Mei, zoo veterinarians removed the cub from the panda habitat. The cub wasn’t breathing. They tried to revive it but couldn’t. The baby had just started to develop the beginnings of the black-and-white coloring we all associate with pandas. “The cub was just beautiful. Beautiful little body, beautiful face, with markings just beginning to show around the eye,” said Suzan Murray, the zoo’s chief veterinarian. On Sunday evening, zookeepers did tests to help discover why the cub had died. Yesterday, they announced that the cub had unusual fluid in its belly area and maybe problems with its liver. More tests need to be done to see if these problems caused the cub’s death, zoo officials said. The cub appeared to be female, they said. Lots of people are sad People are shocked and saddened because the news was a surprise. Though panda cub deaths are common, everyone wanted to believe that Washingtonians would be able to watch this cub grow up as we had watched Mei Xiang and Tian Tian’s (pronounced tee-YEN tee-YEN) other cub, Tai Shan (pronounced tie-SHON). If you feel sad about the death of the baby panda, you should talk to your parents or a teacher about your feelings. Or you may want to write your feelings down in a journal or a notebook. Most of all, you shouldn’t feel bad about whatever you’re feeling. Our emotions — joy, sadness, excitement, disappointment — are what make us human. — Tracy Grant