Man charged with murder after fatal shooting of woman in Southeast D.C.

A D.C. man was arrested and charged with murder Monday after a 19-year-old woman was fatally shot in Southeast Washington last week, police said Tuesday. At about 11:50 p.m. on Friday, officers responded to the first block of 57th Place SE for a report of a shooting, D.C. police said in a statement. They found Nya Howard-Reynolds, of Capitol Heights, Md., suffering from a gunshot wound in a residence, and she was transported to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, the statement said. On Monday, 22-year-old Robert Theodore Smith of Southeast was arrested and charged with second-degree murder while armed in Howard-Reynolds’s death, according to the statement. Police initially said Howard-Reynolds was from Alexandria. No further information about the circumstances of the shooting was immediately available. justin.moyer@washpost.com


This chef charges $200 for a tasting menu. At Sweetgreen, you can try his squash fries for $4.95.

slightly sweeter, pocket-size butternut that quickly elbowed its way into the marketplace. In five years, the honeynut was being offered at local co-ops, on menus and chain stores, such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Costco. In late February, the pair launched Row 7, a seed company dedicated to sustainable, flavor-optimized, nutrient-rich foods. The company offers 11 seed varietals, including a new heatless Habanada Pepper. A day before the Row 7’s debut, one of Sweetgreen’s founders, Nicolas Jammet, contacted Barber, asking if Sweetgreen’s menu could showcase one of the company’s new foods. (This is the second collaboration between Sweetgreen and Barber, who developed a Blue Hill salad that incorporated overlooked food scraps, like cabbage cores and kale stems.) “We’ve been super inspired by Dan’s book [“The Third Plate”] and the way he thinks about food,” Jammet said. “He’s really helped us think about the food system in a very different way, from food waste all the way to flavor to soil health — really every part of our food supply chain.” The salad chain purchased more than 100,000 seeds of Koginut squash and selected six national farms to grow the crop in mid-May. “The exciting, yet scary, part was that no one had ever grown this seed at-scale,” Jammet said. “Even when we selected the Koginut squash, we hadn’t actually seen one [in person] yet.” Jammet trusted Barber’s and Row 7’s vision, and Sweetgreen began brainstorming the two dishes with Barber’s team in early June. Harvest began in August and the Koginut dishes debuted on Sweetgreen’s menu early last month. The dish will remain on the menu until mid-December. For foodies who want to experiment with the Koginut at home, the grapefruit-size veggie is available at Sweetgreen’s checkout counter for $5. Barber recommends slicing it in half, removing its seeds, brushing it with olive oil and salt, and roasting it for 90 minutes at 375 degrees. And if you’re not within driving range of a Sweetgreen, fear not: Barber and Mazourek have their eye set on the shelves of Walmart within two years, because the squash has a higher yield, a thicker skin and a longer shelf life than the honeynut. Through cross-pollination, Mazourek has also been able to weed out its parent varieties’ less desirable traits (like excess water, which dilutes flavor). “I’ve bred a lot of squash, and this is my best one to date,” Mazourek said. megan.mcdonough@washpost.com


Senators accuse Saudi crown prince of complicity in Khashoggi’s killing

Senators emerged from an unusual closed-door briefing with the CIA director on Tuesday and accused the Saudi crown prince of complicity in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In some of their strongest statements to date, lawmakers said evidence presented by the U.S. spy agency overwhelmingly pointed to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement in the assassination. “There’s not a smoking gun — there’s a smoking saw,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), referring to the bone saw that investigators believe was used to dismember Khashoggi after he was killed Oct. 2 by a team of Saudi agents inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul. Armed with classified details provided by President Trump’s handpicked CIA director, Gina Haspel, senators shredded the arguments put forward by senior administration officials who had earlier insisted that the evidence of Mohammed’s alleged role was inconclusive. The gulf that has emerged between Republican lawmakers and the president over how to respond to the journalist’s killing appeared to widen after Tuesday’s briefing, with Graham, one of Trump’s closest Senate allies, announcing that he was no longer willing to work with the crown prince, whom the White House regards as one of its most important allies in the Middle East. In recent days, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have said that no single piece of evidence irrefutably links Mohammed to the killing. But the senators, in effect, said that did not matter, because the evidence they heard convinced them beyond the shadow of a doubt. “If the crown prince went in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Haspel, who had declined to appear alongside Mattis and Pompeo at a briefing on U.S.-Saudi policy for the full Senate last week, was joined by agency personnel and gave what lawmakers described as a compelling and decisive presentation of the evidence that the CIA has analyzed since Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, was killed. “We heard the clearest testimony I’ve heard from intelligence this morning,” Corker said later during a confirmation hearing for Trump administration nominees. “I’ve been here 12 years,” he said. “I’ve never heard, ever, a presentation like was made today.” Graham declined to say what the CIA officials had said, but in a brief interview with The Post he said, “You can be assured


Local Digest: D.C. man charged with murder after a woman is slain in Southeast

DISTRICT Man charged in fatal shooting of woman A D.C. man was charged with second-degree murder while armed Monday after a woman was fatally shot in Southeast Washington last week, police said Tuesday. About 11:50 p.m. Friday, officers responded to the first block of 57th Place SE for a report of a shooting, D.C. police said. They found Nya Howard-Reynolds, 19, of Capitol Heights, Md., shot in a residence, police said. She was pronounced dead at a hospital. Robert Theodore Smith, 22, of Southeast Washington was arrested and charged in her death, police said. —Justin Wm. Moyer Woman dies after rowhouse fire in NW An elderly woman was fatally injured Tuesday night in a house fire in Northwest Washington, the D.C. fire department said. The woman, who was thought to be in her 90s, died after being extricated from a rowhouse in the 1800 block of North Capitol Street NW, according to the fire department. No name was available, and no cause of the fire could be learned immediately. The site is between S and T streets and about three blocks south of Rhode Island Avenue. —Martin Weil MARYLAND Oxon Hill man found slain in parking lot A man was killed Monday about 7:20 p.m. in the 8500 block of Allentown Road in Fort Washington, Prince George’s County police said, Police said officers found a man lying in the parking lot of a strip mall. The man, identified as Kinard Adams, 24, of Oxon Hill, died at the scene.The shooting remains under investigation, police said. — Dana Hedgpeth and Lynh Bui 2 pedestrians killed in separate incidents Two pedestrians were struck and killed by vehicles in separate incidents over the past two days in Maryland, officials said Tuesday. Donnelle Markus Williams, 43, of Jessup was killed on Route 175 in Howard County, the county police said. In another incident, Austin Jay Sexton, 23, of Glen Burnie was killed on Route 15 in Frederick, authorities said. — Dana Hedgpeth Truck driver killed in crash is identified Police identified the man killed in Prince George’s County after his dump truck crashed into a tree on Monday as Albert Clark Jr., 47. Clark, of Northeast Washington, was driving on Cedarville Road near the 10500 block in Brandywine about 9:30 a.m. when the truck left the road, hitting a tree, county police said. — Lynh Bui


Ballet West’s historic, sumptuous ‘Nutcracker’ delights at the Kennedy Center

Is it just me, or does optimism feel like a coveted luxury item this year? More difficult to come by than a Diorissimo bag, more spiritually sustaining than a Godiva chocolate gift tower. And yet, here comes “The Nutcracker,” an especially pretty one, performed by Salt Lake City’s Ballet West, and it’s all sunlight and warmth. Even though it begins with snow. Spring has a starring role in this “Nutcracker,” populated with bees, butterflies and flowers. Snow, also, is so abundant in the romantic world of this production, at the Kennedy Center Opera House through Dec. 9, that it’s an accessory — the waltzing Snowflakes carry snowball nosegays. Butterflies are cherished here: The Sugar Plum Fairy — “The Nutcracker’s” monarch — is clearly descended from a royal line of them. She sports the most magnificent pair of golden, spotted butterfly wings. This is not only a beautifully danced and gorgeously designed production. It’s also historic. Ballet West performs the nation’s first and longest-running production, created by Willam Christensen in 1944. Christensen, director of the San Francisco Ballet in the 1940s, had not seen a complete “Nutcracker” before creating his own; he learned about it from the Russian emigre dancers George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova, who were familiar with the original 1892 production by St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Ballet. Christensen met them when they stopped in San Francisco while on tour with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. When Christensen left that city and founded what would become Ballet West, he brought his “Nutcracker” with him. Washington audiences last saw Ballet West’s version of the holiday favorite in 2014, also at the Kennedy Center. The current visit features the same clear, refined and somewhat unflashy Christensen choreography, but it has been treated to $3 million worth of new sets and costumes. The result is a fine balance of textural spectacle and elegant dancing. The first act proceeds just a tad slowly, as the Stahlbaums’ Christmas party is a well-mannered affair and the bulk of the dancing comes in the second act. On Wednesday, the party scene’s highlight was the pairing of a marvelous dancing bear (pity Vinicius Lima, the sweaty human inside all that fur) and Sayaka Ohtaki’s exquisitely delicate doll. There are so many delightful touches here. The second act opens with a brief glimpse of a puppet-show version of young Clara’s journey from her childhood home to the land of


Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalist’s killing

A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday to condemn Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. “This resolution — without equivocation — definitively states that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. “It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe.” The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agency’s assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well, for dismissing the heft of the CIA’s findings. “You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi,” Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being “good soldiers” and at worst were “in the pocket of Saudi Arabia” for presenting the evidence of Mohammed’s involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggi’s murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States’ patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle.


SpaceX’s latest rocket launches successfully

TECHNOLOGY SpaceX's latest rocket launches successfully Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched a rocket Wednesday carrying more than 5,600 pounds of crew supplies, science investigations and spacewalk equipment as part of its long-standing contract with NASA to ferry cargo to the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:16 p.m. local time. The payload in the Dragon capsule includes technology to test robotic-spacecraft refueling and to map the world’s forests, along with two student experiments inspired by Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” series, NASA said. The rocket’s first stage went into the water instead of touching down on land. Musk tweeted about the problem. Dragon is slated to rendezvous with the orbiting lab early Saturday and reenter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California in January, according to NASA. Wednesday’s mission, known as CRS-16, marks SpaceX’s 20th launch of the year, up from a record 18 in 2017. — Bloomberg News ECONOMY Fed cites tariffs for broad price increases Tariff-driven price increases have spread more broadly through the U.S. economy, though on balance inflation has risen at a modest pace in most parts of the country, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in its latest report on the economy. The central bank’s “beige book” report, a snapshot of the economy gleaned from discussions with business contacts in the Fed’s 12 districts in the weeks through Nov. 26, also said that the economy appeared to be growing modestly to moderately. “Reports of tariff-induced cost increases have spread more broadly from manufacturers and contractors to retailers and restaurants,” the Fed said. While a range of businesses cited concerns about the effects of a trade war between the United States and China, firms continued to hire and reported bumping up benefits and pay to compete for an increasingly scarce labor pool. Labor markets tightened across a range of industries, and wage growth “tended to the higher side of a modest to moderate pace,” the Fed said. — Reuters Also in Business A group of A former Wynn Resorts Apple on Wednesday — From news reports Coming today 8:30 a.m.: 10 a.m.: 10 a.m.:


The Technology 202: More than 200 companies are calling for a national privacy law. Here’s an inside look at their proposal.

a flurry of reactions on Twitter: Collins, the British lawmaker who released the documents, explained his decision on Twitter. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the FTC “must act decisively & vigorously” following the release of the Facebook documents. The Post’s Geoffrey A. Fowler noted that the release of documents challenges Facebook’s defense that it does not sell user data. Bloomberg News’s Sarah Frier said the emails also show “how ruthless” the social network is with its competitors. The revelations could raise legal issues for Facebook, according to Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu. Motherboard’s Joseph Cox argued that Facebook “knew full well what it was doing around highly controversial decisions, knew what the blow back would be, and did it anyway.” And Cher also weighed in. -- The White House is hosting tech executives and academics for a discussion about innovation. — Google maintains an advertising service for small local businesses in China that doesn’t generate significant revenue but helps the U.S. company remain on good terms with Chinese authorities “The officials shower the centers with incentives like free rent — Tensions already running high between Washington and Beijing just went up a notch after Canadian officials said a top executive from Chinese tech company Huawei Technologies faces extradition to the United States. — Encryption-cracking quantum computing is coming — though not right away. “Quantum computers with the ability to crack today’s encrypted systems are at least 10 years away from development — Waymo is starting the United States's first commercial driverless service in Arizona, marking a major break in the expansion of autonomous vehicles. Waymo One, as the service is called, is launching in Chandler and other communities near Phoenix. “Waymo, part of Alphabet Inc., is starting small, rolling out the service first to hundreds of the company’s local volunteer testers, and only in part of this sprawling region of almost 5 million people,” Michael reported. But expanding driverless vehicles will require winning over the public. “There is significant public skepticism about self-driving cars, and polls find most people don’t want to ride in them,” according to my colleague. — A majority of New Yorkers support Amazon’s plan for their city but are having mixed reactions about the incentives that the company is receiving. — More news generating buzz on the Web: Today Man arrested after Cheesecake Factory promotion chaos: George W. Bush honors his father with tearful eulogy:


The Sackler gallery evocatively surveys Japanese prints and photographs

a partly melted bottle is twisted into a shape that suggests a singed animal corpse. Also included are several views of traditional Japan, mostly the less-industrialized North. Masahisa Fukase’s high-contrast close-ups see ravens as manifestations of the ancient and untamed, while Hiroshi Hamaya depicts a man in indigenous bamboo clothing and children singing in an unearthly snow cage. If American culture is invisible in these images of an unmodern Japan, it’s not entirely absent. Daido Moriyama, whose stunning shot of a red light bulb against a midnight-blue sky is one of the few color pictures, began his travels after reading Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.” The show ends with its most recent entry, Sohei Nishino’s elaborate photo-collage of central Tokyo, defined by its railroad lines. Constructed from more than a thousand individual frames, the 2004 picture appears almost as complex as the Japanese capital itself. The collage’s tracks lead to “Prints in the Age of Photography,” which opens with two renderings of Tokyo’s Shimbashi Station. One is similar in style to woodblock prints from the Edo period (1603-1868), and was made by Utagawa Hiroshige III, heir to one of the earlier era’s most celebrated artists. The other, by Kiyochika Kobayashi, is a Western-influenced night scene with dramatic contrast between night and artificial light. Photography supplanted Japan’s large mass-market print industry, and accelerated a trend toward more personal and impressionistic styles. The change can be seen in the work of a single artist, Un’ichi Hiratsuka. His 1941 depiction of a temple at Koya-san, a sacred mountain, is executed in bold black lines and simpler forms than his earlier work. Where Edo-period prints combined artistic and documentary value, these artworks simplify details and emphasize patterns, whether to depict a single tile roof or the most popular subject in traditional Japanese art: Mount Fuji, rendered here in a few expressionist gestures by Masami “Francois” Nakayama. Yet despite taking cues from French art, the artists often employed the subjects and compositional gambits of pre-Perry prints. Hasui Kawase’s portrayal of two women at a pond is in a Western realist mode, without the stylization or exaggerated perspective of earlier Japanese prints. But the way the figures are framed by plants in the foreground is a typical Edo-period arrangement. Much like the photographers in the adjacent show, these printmakers used new techniques to depict a Japan that had changed, yet retained aspects of the old. goingoutguide@washpost.com


The Smithsonian Castle needs a major renovation, but the popular museums keep getting the cash

falling apart.” Its long-delayed renovation represents the ongoing tension within the world’s largest museum system to balance preservation with modernization, says Elsa Santoyo, an independent consultant who has worked with the Smithsonian on many renovations. “They keep documenting, but somehow when it comes to allocating the resources, [the Castle] keeps getting back-burnered,” she says. “The groundwork is there. They need to address it and stop thinking about it.” Smithsonian officials say they recognize the building’s physical and symbolic importance and have kept up with repairs as best they can considering their limited budget and maintenance backlog. The institution has 13 million square feet to maintain, and its leaders, forced to prioritize, put visitor needs first, renovating such popular attractions as the National Museum of Natural History’s soon-to-reopen Fossil Hall, the National Portrait Gallery and just about the entire National Museum of American History. The Castle's main floor “We want to return it to more public use,” Horvath says, citing other organizations that have adapted historic buildings into ceremonial spaces. “It’s an opportunity to do a better job of talking about the stuff we do [outside Washington], about activities that don’t have a public face — to activate it more, tell the story of the Smithsonian, its history.” A 2002 master plan called for the Castle to “announce the brilliance of the entire Institution” by connecting “visitors, guests and staff.” The document declared that a full restoration should be “a high priority . . . given the poor condition of the exterior envelope.” In 2014, a more elaborate master plan by the Bjarke Ingles Group was unveiled, envisioning an update for the Castle and the 17 acres surrounding it. The Smithsonian has spent four years and more than $5.5 million developing that project, which is still many years from groundbreaking. Meanwhile, the institution has focused on dozens of other projects at its 19 museums, research centers and zoo. Since the 2002 plan, the Smithsonian has built two museums — the National Museum of the American Indian opened in 2005 and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016 — and launched major renovations across its huge campus. With the exception of a $55 million renovation of the mostly dormant Arts and Industries Building, the National Historic Landmark next to the Castle, the diverse projects share the goal of appealing to visitors and increasing their numbers. The Smithsonian spent


Turkey issues arrest warrants for allies of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince

ISTANBUL — A Turkish court issued arrest warrants Wednesday for two close aides to Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto leader, after prosecutors accused the aides of helping plan the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey’s state-run news agency said. The aides, Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani, are believed to be in Saudi Arabia, and there is little chance the Saudi government will surrender them to Turkish authorities. Rather, the warrants appeared to be part of a continuing effort by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pressure Saudi Arabia to reveal more details about Khashoggi’s killing, as well as to isolate the crown prince. The warrants were issued a day after several U.S. senators accused Mohammed of complicity in the death, using some of their harshest language. They made the accusations after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed them in an unusual closed-door session on evidence the agency has collected in the case. “If the crown prince went in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said after the briefing. Senior Trump administration officials have insisted that there is no “smoking-gun” evidence that shows Mohammed’s direct involvement. Saudi Arabia says that although its investigation is still underway, it has already absolved the crown prince. Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post and a sometime critic of Mohammed, was killed by a team of Saudi agents soon after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. His body was then dismembered, according to Turkish and Saudi prosecutors. His remains have not been found. On Wednesday, Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, called for an international investigation of the killing. “I do believe it is really needed in terms of ensuring what really happened and who are the [people] responsible for that awful killing,” she said at a news conference in Geneva, according to the Reuters news agency. Turkey also has raised the possibility of an international investigation while aggressively pursuing its own inquiry. Prosecutors requested warrants for Assiri and Qahtani on Tuesday based on a “strong suspicion” that they were “among the planners” of Khashoggi’s killing, according to excerpts of the prosecution’s application that were provided by a Turkish official. The prosecutors’ language placed responsibility for the death in the crown prince’s inner circle and left open


Tokyo’s intense summer heat forces dawn start for 2020 Olympic marathon

to start between 6 and 7 a.m. Tokyo weather in July and August has shot to the top of the agenda since a summer heat wave killed at least 138 people in Japan, sent more than 70,000 people to hospitals and was declared a national emergency. Temperatures peaked above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in parts of Tokyo, while humidity exceeded 80 percent. Coates said the International Olympic Committee took the issue very seriously. “It will continue to be front of mind for us, and for the organizers, and front of mind for the teams that are coming here,” Coates said. “We will do everything to ensure that they are not competing at risk or watching at risk.” There were similar concerns when Atlanta hosted the games in 1996, and temperatures soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the opening weekend. Temperatures in Athens reached similar levels. Organizers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar also have made sweeping concessions to the scorching heat in the Persian Gulf. The tournament was shifted from summer to begin in late November, and stadiums will still be outfitted with air conditioning. In its bid for the 2020 Games, Tokyo dramatically downplayed the heat issue, but it has been forced to act. “With many days of mild and sunny weather, this period provides an ideal climate for athletes to perform at their best,” it said at the time of its bid. The IOC’s Evaluation Commission even appeared to buy the claims without a murmur, noting in its 2013 report that Tokyo’s dates were selected “for climatic reasons.” Mori said this summer was “abnormal” and that adjustments had to be made to reflect public opinion and medical advice. But these are intensely hot and humid months at the best of times, with maximum temperatures averaging 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) over the past two decades, according to Japan Meteorological Agency data. When Tokyo last hosted the Olympics in 1964, the games began in mid-October. But these days the IOC prefers July and August because it better suits broadcasters, which pay billions of dollars for television rights. The summer dates avoid clashes with other major sporting events, including the National Football League season and Major League Baseball playoffs in the United States and the soccer season in Europe. Organizers had also discussed shifting the 2020 marathon to the evening, but broadcasters said televising the race after sunset


An Israeli tech firm is selling spy software to dictators, betraying the country’s ideals

Israel has always prided itself on being, as the Book of Isaiah says, “a light unto the nations” — an exemplar of “righteousness” to inspire Jews and gentiles alike and bring salvation to mankind. That is why the menorah is the symbol not only of Hanukkah, which Jews are now celebrating, but also of the state of Israel. But Israel’s light is dimmed when veterans of its famed armed forces, whose mission is to defend the Jewish state’s freedom, misuse their expertise to aid oppression in other countries. Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, who lives in Canada, has filed a lawsuit against an Israeli technology company called the NSO Group accusing it of providing the Saudi government with the surveillance software to spy on him and his friends — including Jamal Khashoggi. The program, known as Pegasus, not only allows the monitoring of all communications from a phone — all texts, all emails, all phone calls — but can also hijack a mobile phone’s microphone and camera to turn it into a surveillance device. The information gathered on Khashoggi may have motivated his murder by alerting the Saudi authorities that he was stirring up electronic dissent within the kingdom, while denouncing Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in vituperative terms as a “pac-man” who devoured all in his path. “The hacking of my phone played a major role in what happened to Jamal, I am really sorry to say,” Abdulaziz told CNN. “The guilt is killing me.” Firms like the NSO Group have been started by veterans of Unit 8200, Israel’s version of the National Security Agency. A 2016 report by a watchdog group called Privacy International identified 27 Israeli companies in the business of surveillance, the highest number per capita in the world. But the NSO Group has created the most controversy amid charges that its products have been misused against civil society activists around the world. Mexican journalists and activists are already suing the NSO Group alleging that Pegasus was used to spy on them. Among those allegedly targeted were advocates of a soda tax designed to reduce Mexicans’ consumption of sugary drinks. When the NSO Group went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to sell its technology, according to the New York Times, it demonstrated its efficacy by surreptitiously recording the phone calls of a London-based Arab newspaper editor. A UAE human rights activist later complained of having his


Trump expected to tap Army chief as next chairman of the Joint Chiefs

for a war on the peninsula were predicated on North Korean aggression rather than American offensive action to blunt a growing North Korean threat. Milley is poised to ascend to the top uniformed position at a challenging moment for the military’s all-volunteer force. The military must contend with a politically polarized country, a shrinking pool of recruits and a mandate to shed the extremist focus of the post-9/11 era and focus on major powers such as Russia and China. One of Milley’s biggest challenges may be handling an impulsive commander in chief, whose rhetoric and actions, including his decision to deploy active-duty forces to the southern border ahead of the midterm elections, have threatened to politicize the force. Many in the Pentagon privately questioned the need for the deployment and worried the troops were being used to a political end. Dunford and Mattis have sought to navigate those challenges in part by attempting to shield the military. Both have declined to speak publicly about their views in areas where Trump has stirred controversy. Dunford has emphasized his duty to execute legally issued orders, no matter his opinions. His relationship with Trump has been more distant than his predecessor, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, had with President Barack Obama. It’s not clear how Milley will navigate potential pitfalls. Occasionally, his willingness to speak out has appeared to put him at odds with his commander in chief. After Trump was criticized for appearing to condone some of the white-nationalist protesters in Charlottesville in 2017, Milley tweeted the Army “doesn’t tolerate racism, extremism, or hatred in our ranks,” seemingly distancing himself from Trump’s comments. Milley is likely to elevate the profile of the chairman. Dunford has shied away from taking a public role as the military’s top officer, matching his circumspect personality. By contrast, Milley is an ebullient personality and natural storyteller who could follow the path of Adm. Michael Mullen, a former chairman in the Obama administration. Concerned about the growing gulf between the military and the society it was sworn to defend, Mullen not only spoke on news shows, but also made an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. Milley, who attended prep school in Massachusetts and then Princeton, has a somewhat unusual background for a top military officer. He played hockey with and remains is a longtime friend of TV producer and writer David E. Kelley. greg.jaffe@washpost.com missy.ryan@washpost.com josh.dawsey@washpost.com


How to enact policies that are effective in slowing climate change

Last month, voters in Washington state rejected a Many of the challenges come from the business community: Lobbying campaigns by fossil-fuel and energy-intensive manufacturing industries can water down or completely stop far-reaching policies. The extent to which business can capture climate policymaking depends on who gets to make climate policies: voters, legislators or bureaucrats. As our research shows, activist policymakers face a trade-off between securing broad political buy-in on the one hand and preventing industry opponents from capturing climate policy on the other. Delegating policymaking to voters or legislators can increase political support, but it opens the door to lobbyists. Delegating policy to bureaucrats can in principle make the policy more effective, but it comes at the cost of broad political buy-in. The different approaches taken in Washington state, Germany and California — all jurisdictions with ambitious climate goals — help explain this dynamic. The Washington model: Policymaking by voters In Washington state, voters decided directly on a specific type of carbon tax. This opened the door to a public debate and campaign. In principle, this could have led to a tax with high public legitimacy. In practice, it allowed oil and gas companies to mobilize voters against the carbon tax. Voters rejected the initiative even though 73 percent of the state’s citizens believed that climate change is happening and 78 percent thought carbon dioxide should be regulated as a pollutant. It is unlikely that Washington state will be able to meet its legal mandate of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The German model: Policymaking by legislators In 2007, Germany adopted its “Integrated Energy and Climate Programme,” which also laid out an emission reduction goal for 2020. This year, the German government has admitted it will probably miss this target despite a boom in domestic renewable energy installations. In Germany, the federal bureaucracy set ambitious climate goals and suggested 29 individual policy measures to achieve them. These policies were then submitted to the legislature, which designed how the policies would be implemented. This meant that only those policies that had sufficient support among politicians helped reach emission reductions. Renewable energy was implemented because it had the support of the renewable energy industry, environmentalists and citizen groups. However, there was no coalition to reduce transport emissions, allowing business opposition to stymie measures. The California model: Policymaking by bureaucrats In 2006, California adopted the Global Warming Solutions Act


Mueller has already issued most of his report, one indictment at a time

with the GRU , a Russian military intelligence agency, who stole emails and documents from Democratic Party targets. Since 2014, when it used an indictment against Chinese military hackers to embarrass China for intellectual property theft, the Justice Department has increasingly used detailed indictments to accuse states such as Iran, Russia and North Korea of hacking U.S. targets. Mueller’s indictments provided enough explanation of how investigators broke through efforts to obscure the hackers’ and trolls’ true identities to charge the Russian entities without having to expose classified intelligence. Even these more conventional indictments wove in details of how Trump and his associates interacted with the attackers. The February indictment of the Putin-linked Internet Research Agency, for example, described three unnamed Trump campaign officials in Florida interacting with Russian trolls who were setting up real-world events. The GRU indictment described how Russian hackers seemingly responded to Trump’s July 2016 statement, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 [Hillary Clinton] emails that are missing,” by launching a new assault on targets close to his opponent. Far more unusual were the almost 40 pages of exhibits Mueller released when Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, entered into his ill-fated plea agreement in September. The records were ostensibly presented as proof that Manafort had lied in 2016 and 2017 when he said he had no documents relating to the work he did for former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. But the documents serve just as well as a prequel to the story Mueller will eventually tell about Manafort’s work for Trump in 2016. They describe how Manafort used elaborate cutouts to accuse Yanukovych’s opponent, Yulia Tymoshenko, of criminal deeds. Russian-run bots made similar accusations against Clinton in 2016. Other exhibits describe how Manafort falsely accused Yanukovych’s opponent of criminal intent. When Manafort’s client Trump used the same tactic, he didn’t even bother with cutouts, riling up mobs of supporters to chant “Lock her up!” based on false claims that Clinton deliberately received classified information on her home email server. Mueller’s filings also show how, while lobbying for Ukraine, Manafort made a concerted effort to argue that sanctions for human rights abuses would backfire. Questions surrounding a June 9, 2016, meeting at which Russians asked Donald Trump Jr. to end similar sanctions on Russia remain a central focus of Mueller’s investigation. Finally, documents seized from Manafort’s home describe how, in 2010


The Cybersecurity 202: The U.S. got tough on Kaspersky and Huawei. Will Russia and China retaliate?

how to respond to the bans, it might not be so easy for them to replace American tech products. For one thing, the United States leads in most of the technology that is vital to government and critical infrastructure, so it would be difficult to find a suitable replacement, Segal said. But there are other ways to respond besides an outright prohibition on U.S. products. The Russian and Chinese governments have passed cybersecurity laws that make it harder for foreign companies to enter their markets, and those rules could become more onerous, Segal said. Those laws require companies to store data inside national borders under certain circumstances. The governments have also demanded that some companies that manage critical systems submit to intrusive reviews of the source code underlying their products. Regardless of how China and Russia respond, this conflict is part of a broader shift to greater controls on government and sensitive computer networks, said Cilluffo, who runs a cyber strategy and technology program at Auburn University. “Countries are increasingly turning to internal security providers, especially when dealing with cybersecurity,” he said. “There are some legitimate concerns in term of Balkanization of the Internet, but I don’t think Kaspersky is the tipping point.” PINGED: The Department of Homeland Security should require federal agencies to block Internet ads that might deliver malware attacks to government employee computers, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Wyden first urged DHS to address the “malvertising” threat last November. DHS responded in April that it was still looking into the issue. Today’s letter cites public guidance from the National Security Agency, which urged private organizations in June to block potentially malicious ads. Wyden asks whether DHS agrees with the NSA guidance, if it blocks malicious ads on its own networks, and what the holdup is in protecting the rest of the government. PATCHED: Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) introduced legislation designed to allow white-hat hackers to report weaknesses in the Department of Homeland Security's computer systems without fear. The Public-Private Cybersecurity Cooperation Act would require DHS to create a vulnerabilities disclosure program and set up a process to fix the vulnerabilities that security researchers report to the department. PWNED: The CIA hasn't yet completely fixed an online system to communicate with sources abroad that was compromised several years ago with devastating consequences “Even under the best of circumstances, said one former senior official, internet-based


The Saudi ambassador lied point-blank about a journalist’s murder. Now he has the gall to come back to D.C.

IN THE days after Jamal Khashoggi disappeared inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the kingdom’s ambassador in Washington, Khalid bin Salman, launched an epic campaign of lies. He told anyone who would listen — from senators to the publisher of The Post — that reports that Mr. Khashoggi had been detained or killed inside the consulate were “absolutely false, and baseless.” He said no one in the regime of his father, King Salman, or his brother, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, knew what had happened to Mr. Khashoggi. “What we do care about is Jamal’s wellbeing and revealing the truth about what has occurred,” one statement by the ambassador said. A couple of weeks later, as the truth became undeniable — that the regime had sent a hit team to Istanbul to kill Mr. Khashoggi and dismember his body — the ambassador slunk out of Washington for Riyadh. Few expected the return of an envoy with “zero credibility,” as Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) succinctly put it. Yet on Wednesday, as former president George H.W. Bush was memorialized at Washington National Cathedral, Khalid bin Salman reappeared in town, apparently with the intention of at least temporarily resuming his post. It was a stunningly arrogant act — one that underlined the regime’s defiant lack of repentance about the murder. The public record establishes definitively that Khalid bin Salman participated in the coverup of the Khashoggi slaying, which the CIA says was almost certainly ordered by his brother. The ambassador also may have played a part in the murder plot itself. Several news organizations, including The Post and the Wall Street Journal, have reported that the ambassador directed Mr. Khashoggi, who lived in Virginia, to visit the consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document he needed for a planned marriage, and assured him he would be safe there. Khalid bin Salman denied the reports. But, as already has been thoroughly established, he has no compunction about lying. And in one of his own statements, he said he had “maintained regular contact” with Mr. Khashoggi “when he was in Washington.” The need to determine the complicity of Khalid bin Salman and his brother Mohammed bin Salman in the Khashoggi killing is one reason an independent international investigation is still needed. Meanwhile, senators who have instructed the White House to determine Mohammed bin Salman’s responsibility under the Global Magnitsky Act, which provides for sanctions for


The Geminids, 2018’s best meteor shower, peak Dec. 13 and 14

Set your calendars for next Thursday night! The annual Geminid meteor shower will light the skies with a display of shooting stars all night long. At its peak, close to 100 meteors per hour will streak across the sky in a brilliant natural fireworks show. The 35 percent illuminated full moon — two days before first quarter — will outshine a few of the dimmer ones, but about 60 shooting stars should still be visible per hour in rural areas well away from light pollution (30 to 40 per hour in more suburban areas). In many areas, the moon will not be an issue late at night, dropping below the horizon by 11 p.m. On Thursday night, the moon sets in Washington at 10:38 p.m., leaving you plenty of time beneath totally dark skies. What’s more, the timing is close to ideal, as that is near when the shower’s radiant point — the constellation Gemini — hangs highest in the eastern sky (around 2 a.m.). While a few shooting stars will be visible within a day or two on either side of the peak, Thursday night into Friday morning is the peak. Hope for clear skies. Shooting stars aren’t actually stars. In fact, meteors have humble beginnings. They’re akin to “crumbs” leftover in the wake of a passing comet, asteroid or other piece of space junk. In the case of the Geminids, the parent body is 3.6-mile-wide chunk of rock known as 3200 Phaethon. Most of these discarded interstellar pebbles are surprisingly small, rarely exceeding the width of a Tic Tac. You wouldn’t think they would offer such a dazzling performance, but since they move at 37 miles per second, they leave quite the mark. That’s because they burn up in the earth’s outer atmosphere. When a meteor encounters air drag and immense friction, it heats up. That literally lights the meteor on fire, the resultant combustion of metals sparking the bright lights we see. Geminids are rich in magnesium, sodium, and iron — contributing to their soothing emerald and purple hues. But no need to break out your catcher’s mitt! The odds that any of these will approach the surface is astronomically low. Compared to other meteor showers, Geminid meteors are slow. That’s what makes them the best meteor shower of the year! While swiftly moving space stones during the rival summertime Perseids are gone in a flash, Geminids


Britain and the E.U. promised no hard border with Ireland. They can’t renege now.

Ireland in 1995, it was common to meet people on both sides who lived close to the border but had never crossed it. There was minimal commerce and maximum hostility. In that atmosphere, stereotyping and demonization of “the other” was widespread. One of the great achievements of the Good Friday Agreement was the opening of the border. For 20 years, as peace has prevailed, cross-border commerce in goods, services and people has risen dramatically, to the benefit of both sides. So widely recognized are the benefits of a “soft” border that a year ago, as they began their final negotiations, the E.U. and the U.K. publicly pledged that, whatever the outcome of those negotiations, they would not include the return of a “hard” border. But, as the Brexit process hurtles to an uncertain conclusion, keeping that promise is proving difficult. It is a promise that must be kept. A hard border would be in no one’s interest. It would stifle the commerce that has so recently and beneficially flourished, and it could increase the possibility of a resumption of violence. That is impossible to predict with any certainty, but even the possibility should be sufficient to prevent a return to a hard border. While the difficulties are many, those engaged in the negotiations on behalf of the U.K. and the E.U. should extend themselves to reach a compromise that permits some continued economic and political relations between them. The Bank of England reported that a hard Brexit — a break with the E.U. without a new negotiated agreement in place — would have a severe adverse effect on the British economy. And the U.S. Federal Reserve warned of the risk of an escalation of trade tension and geopolitical uncertainty that could trigger a sharp decline in asset prices. That is a risk on both sides of the negotiating table. The hostile reaction of other E.U. member states to the United Kingdom’s insistence on separation is understandable. But they must set aside their hurt feelings and balance their concerns over others leaving. They must concentrate on their long-term self-interest. The E.U. will be significantly diminished by the departure of the United Kingdom, which has the second-largest economy of the E.U. member states and one of the largest military forces, and it is an international power of long standing. The E.U. has special, unique relationships with Norway, Switzerland and Canada. It is


‘All I want for Christmas’ is the shingles vaccine, but it’s nearly impossible to find

added. Consumers who have gotten the shots, which is given in the muscle of the upper arm, like the annual flu vaccine, say the side effects have included pain, soreness and swelling at the injection site for two to three days, muscle aches and flulike symptoms, headaches and upset stomach. But those side effects pale in comparison to one of the most common and serious complications of shingles, debilitating nerve pain that has no treatment or cure. GSK directs consumers to its Shingrix locator, but the information is refreshed only once a week. Consumers are urged to contact health-care providers or pharmacies directly for the most up-to-date availability. At CVS, consumers can call pharmacies directly, but not the MinuteClinics, which are separate operations. Acknowledging growing consumer frustration, CVS in recent weeks gave operators at the MinuteClinic’s patient support center access to the system that allows them to look up Shingrix supply at individual clinics. But the website does not mention the shortage or inform consumers they can use the toll-free number to look up supply at individual clinics. The Washington Post asked the operator to check availability at 13 clinics within 10 miles of a suburban Maryland Zip code. None had it. As of Oct. 1, almost 7 million doses of the vaccine had been administered worldwide since the vaccine’s launch in November 2017, with most of it going to the United States. GSK said it distributed as many doses in the third quarter of 2018 as it had in the first six months of the year. Next year, the company plans to bring “significantly more doses to the United States,” spokesman Clements said. But because health-care professionals will continue to vaccinate at a rate many times that of previous years, the company expects “ordering limits to continue throughout 2019,” he said. Over the next two to three years, company officials said, they plan to increase production of annual doses in the “high-teens millions.” Shingrix has been so successful that GSK executives revised their earlier annual revenue forecast for Shingrix this year from $600 million to between $900 million and nearly $1 billion, according to GSK’s latest earnings report. Alice Crites contributed to this story. Read more: What you need to know about the new shingles vaccine Expert panel recommends new shingles vaccine that gives increased protection Percentage of young children who don’t receive any vaccines has quadrupled since 2001


Economic hardship and nationalism are gutting climate action

on fossil fuels. As elsewhere, the pace of Germany’s “coal exit” is hindered by the tough tradeoffs between jobs, present energy demand and climate protection. The sweltering cities of Asia pose a different kind of challenge to meeting climate goals. Some years ago, I asked Lee Kuan Yew, the legendary founder and long-time leader of Singapore, what the key factor was behind that prosperous city-state’s success. Aside from policies encouraging multi-ethnic harmony, he answered: air conditioning. “Air conditioning,” he told me, “was a most important invention for us, perhaps one of the signal inventions of history. It changed the nature of civilization by making development possible in the tropics.” After decades of rapid development, Chandran Nair assesses the cumulative warming consequences of cooling Asia’s megacities. “The very air-conditioning that protects many of us from debilitating and life-threatening temperatures,” he writes from Hong Kong, “contains greenhouse gas-emitting refrigerants and requires significant amounts of energy, which resulted in 1.25 billion tons of carbon emissions in 2016. In short, they keep us cool while heating up our planet, particularly in cities where this type of cooling is highly concentrated.” He looks to innovative measures, from energy efficient technology and urban design to roof gardens, to escape this conundrum. The conflict between economic development and environmental protection is also rattling Mexico, where the new government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is planning a new rail system, approved by a flawed public referendum. The train is intended to attract tourism to the richly biodiverse rainforests in old Mayan territories. Writing from Mexico City, ecological activist and poet Homero Aridjis and Victor Lichtinger, Mexico’s former environment minister, worry about destruction of the ecosystem that they believe will not deliver the promised economic benefits. “Presenting the train as a panacea for reducing rampant poverty in southeastern Mexico is highly misleading,” they argue. “Poverty is best eradicated through education and provision of basic services such as health care, housing, drinking water, nutritious food, employment, and sustainable and productive projects that allow communities to thrive on their own terms.” The forests of Colombia, too, are facing a similar assault — paradoxically as a consequence of the recent peace agreement with guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia whose presence kept out developers and loggers. As Lucy Sherriff reports from the Magdalena River Valley, wedged between the Andes mountains, “Once inaccessible land is now up for grabs, and


Trump’s gamble on MBS looks worse by the day

Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? More than two months after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the Trump administration is On Wednesday, Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean president and current U.N. high commissioner for human rights, became the latest voice to call for an international investigation into his killing. “I do believe it is really needed in terms of ensuring what really happened and who are the [people] responsible for that awful killing,” she said at a news conference in Geneva. The possibility of an outside inquiry into the affair has also been floated by Turkish authorities, who are still pursuing their own investigation. As my colleague Kareem Fahim reported on Wednesday, a Turkish court issued arrest warrants for two officials close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani. The new Turkish arrest warrants, noted Fahim, appeared to be part of an effort to “pressure Saudi Arabia to reveal more details about Khashoggi’s killing, as well as to isolate the crown prince.” The Saudis owned up to Khashoggi dying under their watch only after weeks of obfuscation. Both the aides targeted by the Turkish court were relieved of their posts, while 18 others allegedly involved in the killing were reported to have been arrested. Qahtani numbered among the 17 Saudi officials sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for their roles in the abduction and murder of Khashoggi — a contributor to The Washington Post’s Opinions section and a critic of the leadership in Riyadh. But there’s a growing sense that the killing of Khashoggi reflects, rather than an aberration, a wider pattern of Saudi behavior that has become all the more apparent with rise of the young Mohammed. It emerged on Thursday that Qahtani, widely seen as Mohammed’s enforcer, was also allegedly involved in the torture of at least one Saudi female activist detained this year during a wider crackdown on civil society. The Saudis are still hoping to ride out the storm “The global debate around Saudi Arabia’s abuses and MBS’s role in Khashoggi’s killing is not likely to disappear soon,” Sarah Yerkes, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Middle East program, wrote, referring to the prince by his initials. “But this tour . . . made


The Huawei arrest made the stock market tank. Trump may not even have known about it.

distribution of Huawei components. They also fear that China is stealing U.S. technological secrets that can then be used not only to enhance China’s commercial prowess but its military might as well. Notably, China has its own version of these strategic worries. The importance of the U.S. market and U.S. components in supply chains mean that decisions by U.S. regulators to limit market access to key elements of the U.S. economy or U.S. produced technology can cripple foreign firms, creating existential risk for the Chinese economy. In the last major sanctions case — ZTE — the United States threatened to block ZTE’s access to semiconductors manufactured in the United States or by firms with exposure to U.S. markets. This would have driven ZTE out of business. The episode has led China to accelerate its efforts to create its own domestic semiconductor industry, out of fears that the United States will use trade in semiconductors as a weapon against it. Both the United States and China are trying to maneuver away from mutual dependency and entanglements, because each fears that the other will take advantage. Ultimately, the distinction between trade and national security is blurring, because private sector technologies from semiconductors to artificial intelligence have both economic and military implications. How the U.S. uses international networks to enhance its power As we argue in our recent paper on weaponized interdependence, the United States uses the chokepoints in international networks to coerce foreign actors; Meng’s arrest is a perfect example. She was taken into custody at the Vancouver, B.C., airport because it is where two global networks intersect — the airline hub and spoke system and the network of states with which the United States has extradition treaties. Air transport has developed centralized patterns of transportation to lower costs. Passengers fly through ‘hub’ airports, where they must make connections to get from one destination to another. Similarly, there is a complex network of 100 or so nations with which the United States has extradition treaties, allowing Washington to demand the extradition of individuals who are accused or convicted of a crime. Meng was reportedly arrested while transferring between flights at the Vancouver airport, which has become a key hub for international flights to and from China, and which is located in Canada, a country that closely cooperates with the United States on criminal matters. Henry Farrell is a professor of political science


Trump said Theresa May’s Brexit deal is bad for trade. He’s right, kind of.

a chaotic “no deal” Brexit, which would cause major economic disruption; or forget about Brexit altogether. Of course, Brexit opponents say there other options, including chucking both May and her deal and holding a second referendum on whether to leave the E.U. May has insisted that her half-in and half-out “honorable compromise” on Brexit will allow her negotiators to strike new trade deals. May told Parliament that it was “clear we will have an independent trade policy, and the government would be able to negotiate trade deals around the rest of the world” during the transition period after Brexit — which could be two, three or four years. But trade experts reject that assertion. Bill Reinsch, a former head of the National Foreign Trade Council who is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said, “Much as it pains me to say Trump may be right about something, he’s got a point.” “Negotiating a free-trade agreement with the U.K. and U.S. will inevitably force the U.K. to choose which standards they want to adhere to,” Reinsch said. “The E.U, with which it has the most trade? Or the U.S., with which it has the second-most trade?” “This is a much more complicated issue than everyone assumed,” he said. “Nothing will stop Britain from casting their lot with the U.S. But there will be consequences. Because the stuff they are sending to Europe now, without inspection and restrictions, will be subject not only to E.U. tariffs . . . but also to E.U. health, safety and environmental standards. They’re not going to get a free pass because they’re not in the E.U. anymore.” Downing Street insists that Britain and the United States are already in talks. Trade negotiators scoff at this, politely. They say that talking is fine but that countries outside the E.U. will not be able to sign deals with Britain until it establishes its future trade regime with the E.U. If that isn’t finalized by the end of the transition period, then, under May’s deal, Britain will enter into a customs arrangement to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and E.U. member Ireland. Brexiteers worry this would mean that Britain would be yoked to the E.U. permanently. Andrew Cahn, a former head of what was then U.K. Trade & Investment, a government department, said the


Congress sends Trump bill to postpone shutdown deadline, sets up fight over border wall

a large disaster relief package for recent wildfires and hurricanes and attach it to whatever spending legislation moves. They are also hashing out disputes on a handful of other issues, including an attempt by Democrats to add language to the spending package to block the Commerce Department from adding a question to the 2020 Census asking whether people are U.S. citizens. Earlier this year Congress passed spending bills funding about 75 percent of the government through next September, agreeing to big increases for the Pentagon, the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies. That means any shutdown would be limited in scope, affecting only the agencies whose 2019 budgets have not yet been approved and whose funding is set to expire Dec. 21. Nevertheless, the impacts would be widespread. In addition to Homeland Security, other agencies that would be affected include the Interior and Agriculture departments, the Justice Department, NASA, the Commerce Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Transportation Department, as well as many smaller agencies. These agencies employ more than 600,000 federal workers. The impact of a partial shutdown would depend on whether it stretched into the following workweek. There were two brief partial government shutdowns this year, one of which was resolved within hours. A partial funding lapse could lead U.S. embassies overseas to cut back on staffing temporarily, because the State Department’s budget would be held in limbo, and it could also force the Justice Department to slow or suspend a number of federal prosecutions. The shutdown would not, however, suspend special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation, as that probe has a separate, permanent funding source that cannot be changed by lawmakers. Similarly, it would not have a direct impact on military operations or the pay of service members, as the Pentagon’s budget was approved in September. Medicare and Social Security benefits would similarly continue to be paid and unaffected. Federal employees labeled “nonessential” personnel probably would be sent home without pay for the duration of any shutdown if they work for agencies affected by the budget lapse. These employees tend to be those whose jobs don’t directly interface with national security or public health. And a shutdown that lasts more than several days could force Border Patrol officers who are deemed “essential” to continue working, but without pay until Congress and the White House reach an agreement. erica.werner@washpost.com


The Cybersecurity 202: NRCC breach sparks calls for transparency after cyberattacks

scan. According to the indictment, the attackers offered the city the option of paying six Bitcoin (currently the equivalent of $22,500) to get keys to unlock all the affected systems or 0.8 Bitcoin (about $3,000) for individual systems.” PWNED: Facebook documents and emails released by a British lawmaker leading a parliamentary probe of the social network shine a light on some of the company's previous deliberations on issues such as user privacy and data collection. “The emails also suggest the extent to which Facebook users and developers may have been kept in the dark about the company’s data-collection practices,” The Washington Post's Elizabeth Dwoskin, Craig Timberg and Tony Romm reported. “Company product managers discussed testing new features to collect call logs on Android smartphones in a way that might have made it harder for users to understand what they were giving away. They debated collecting call log data from users in ways that would bypass the privacy permissions people normally check off when signing up for an app.” One of the emails released by Damian Collins, the chairman of the British parliamentary committee, shows that Facebook product managers suggested that such practices could elicit public backlash. “This is a pretty high-risk thing to do from a PR perspective but it appears that the growth team will charge ahead and do it,” the email said, as quoted by Elizabeth, Craig and Tony. — “The chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies faces extradition to the United States after she was arrested in Canada — “Quantum computers with the ability to crack today’s encrypted systems are at least 10 years away from development — More cybersecurity news from the public sector: — “Adobe issued a new patch for a zero-day security vulnerability that exploited a flaw in the company’s Flash Player,” — More cybersecurity news from the private sector: — “Australia’s parliament on Thursday passed a bill to force tech firms such as Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook and Apple to give police access to encrypted data, the most far-reaching such requirements imposed by a western country,” From the Wall Street Journal’s Dustin Volz: From encrypted email service ProtonMail: — The Syrian Electronic Army “is putting significant resources into an Android spyware tool that can keep constant tabs on a target's mobile life,” Today: Coming soon Memorable moments from George H.W. Bush’s D.C. funeral: George W. Bush honors his father with tearful eulogy:


Think smartphones are astonishing? Discover the ‘high tech’ devices of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Ever heard of an armillary sphere, a radio latino or a theodolite? All were crucial instruments in earlier days of scientific inquiry — a model of a celestial sphere and two sophisticated measurement tools. Painstakingly built by inventors and craftsmen, these and other instruments opened up a world of discovery to curious scientists of medieval and Renaissance Europe. And they’re on full display at Epact. The website is an electronic compendium of bygone scientific innovation. Its catalogue features 520 instruments by European makers whose creations furthered mathematics and science. Each instrument is accompanied by a description and details about its inventor, purpose and creation. Also available are extensive academic reports about how the instruments were used and what they contributed. Epact — a play on a medieval word for the age of the moon on the first of the year — is the result of a pact of sorts between four European institutions: the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford; the Museo Galileo in Florence; the British Museum in London; and the Museum Boerhaave in Leiden, Netherlands. The objects were once advanced technology, such as the Sloane astrolabe (circa 1300). Beneath its complex scrolls is an intricately engraved tool used to measure the locations of celestial bodies, identify stars and other bodies, and even tell time. It was part of the first founding collections of the British Museum. Epact may make you appreciate the artistry and intricacy of now-obsolete scientific tools or leave you starry-eyed over each instruments’ function and a role. Either way, a visit to Epact is a glimpse into a bygone world — one in which scientists dared to dream and discover.


Mueller says Manafort told ‘discernible lies,’ including about contacts with an employee alleged to have Russian intelligence ties

at a future hearing additional documentary evidence to explain how they know Manafort is lying. For now, they explained that Manafort had lied “in numerous ways,” conduct they said should be held against him when he is sentenced in March. The prosecutors said Manafort has met with special counsel investigators 12 times. At four of those meetings, prosecutors from outside the special counsel’s office attended — a sign that he was questioned in connection with investigations separate from Mueller’s probe. He also testified twice before Mueller’s grand jury. Prosecutors said Friday that Manafort had told numerous lies in five different aspects of the investigation, including about his contacts with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian employee of Manafort’s political consulting firm who prosecutors have said has Russian intelligence ties. Manafort met twice during the campaign with Kilimnik, including in August 2016 in New York City. Kilimnik has told The Washington Post that the two discussed the presidential campaign at the New York meeting. Much of a section of the filing dealing with Kilimnik was redacted, but prosecutors indicated that they have obtained electronic records, travel documents and other evidence that demonstrate Manafort “lied repeatedly” about his interactions with the Russian aide. Manafort hired Kilimnik in 2005 to serve as a translator and office manager for the Kiev office of his political consulting business. Kilimnik was a key liaison for Manafort to politicians in Ukraine and to Russian businessmen, notably Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate who had partnered with Manafort on a business deal. Kilimnik, who is believed to be in Russia, has been charged by Mueller’s office with conspiring with Manafort to obstruct the investigation into Manafort’s work in Ukraine. According to the new filing, Manafort pleaded guilty to conspiring with Kilimnik in an effort to compel witnesses in Mueller’s probe to give false testimony, only to deny it in a post-plea interview, before reversing himself again and conceding that his plea was truthful. The special counsel also accused Manafort of lying about a $125,000 wire transfer. It is unclear how that transaction relates to the conspiracies detailed in Manafort’s plea agreement, but prosecutors said Manafort lied repeatedly about details of the transaction. In addition, Manafort has been interviewed in connection with an investigation separate from the one being conducted by the special counsel’s office, according to the court filing. Prosecutors said he has lied in connection with that case as well.


Addis Foto Fest: ‘I’m trying to get African photographers into the international market’

Award-winning photographer Aïda Muluneh left Ethiopia for Yemen as a child, then moving to England, Cyprus, Canada and eventually the United States, where she worked at The Washington Post. The journey taught her many things, including the importance of mentors. When she returned to Ethiopia more than a decade ago, she wanted to start giving back, especially in the realm of photography, which was underdeveloped and dominated by people from outside the country. In 2010, Muluneh founded the Addis Foto Fest, a biennial festival in the Ethiopian capital that has become the largest in the continent and is currently staging its fifth edition. Although it has swelled to include 152 photographers from 61 countries around the world, its central goal remains to develop African photography. “It’s important to have a global conversation,” she said before the festival’s Dec. 6 opening. “I’m trying to get African photographers into the international market. These are the networks that are important to build.” One of the hardest things for local photographers starting out in Africa is gaining access to the talent and inspiration of the more experienced photographers. In many countries, photography isn’t celebrated, and there are few people to learn from. “One thing that’s missing for photographers in the continent, they don’t have that feedback. They are creating the work, but you need input,” Muluneh said, recalling her own invaluable learning experiences working with veterans at places like The Washington Post. Part of the Addis Foto Fest brings together 20 photographers from across the continent and puts them in a room with five experienced photographers, including from National Geographic and The Post, who critique their portfolios. Eight years on, the festival, said Muluneh, has given many young photographers a boost. The festival “takes chances on exhibiting work that in some cases might not fit in the international market,” she said. “What has happened is those that have exhibited with us have moved on to other things.” To Lebo Thoka, from South Africa, the festival represents an amazing chance to gain exposure and meet other artists. “It’s a big step for me. I’m quite a recent graduate,” she said, noting South Africa’s high unemployment rate and the challenges of landing a job there. “It’s still quite difficult to even have this opportunity.” She described meeting the other photographers from across Africa and the world as “eye-opening,” even as she develops her own striking fine


How a chilling Saudi cyberwar ensnared Jamal Khashoggi

Policy. Hacking Team’s relationship with Saudi Arabia became so strong that when the Italian company encountered financial difficulties after the 2015 records leak by WikiLeaks, Saudi investors apparently stepped in. A Cyprus-based company called Tablem Limited, headed by a businessman from the Al-Qahtani family, acquired a 20 percent stake in mid-2016, according to a January 2018 post on Motherboard. At a meeting in Milan in May 2016, the new investors were represented by a leading Saudi lawyer named Khalid Al-Thebity, Motherboard reported. The founder of Hacking Team told Motherboard that he wasn’t sure who Qahtani and Thebity were. “The Saudi government is opaque even for me,” he said. MBS’s royal court had acquired Italian-supplied hacking tools, but American and Saudi sources say that the crown prince sought greater capabilities. He looked at the rapid advances made by a UAE cyber company called DarkMatter, two former U.S. officials said, and he wanted the kingdom to keep pace. DarkMatter could provide training and equipment, these two sources said, but MBS wanted his own state-of-the art systems. “MBS wanted to mirror the capabilities that the Emiratis had,” said one former U.S. official who worked with the kingdom on counter-terrorism. Saudi Arabia was joining a crowded field. The proliferation of cyber weapons was accelerating around the world, partly because of the United States’ enthusiasm for anything that could be described as “countering violent extremism.” Explains one former U.S. official who worked with the royal court on cyber matters: “The Saudis felt that as long as they cracked down on extremism, they had a blank check to go after people in their own country, too. We weren’t going to do anything.” State-of-the-art surveillance I had a glimpse of the Saudi passion for digital surveillance technology during visits to the kingdom in April 2017 and March 2018. Both times, I was invited to see a new counter-terrorism center within the royal court, which the Saudis dubbed a Digital Extremism Observatory. It was a hyper-modern facility, with scores of technicians sitting at computer screens monitoring Arabic Twitter and other social-media platforms. The Saudis explained that they were battling the Islamic State as well as Iranian-backed Shiite groups. The director of the center gave me several slick pamphlets. One described how the center had monitored more than 1.2 million tweets and retweets about the Islamic State during the last two weeks of December 2016, and the ability of


2017. When Khashoggi fled to the United States later that year and began writing columns for The Post that were critical of Saudi Arabia, Qahtani viewed him as a renegade enemy in the information domain he sought to control. Just before Khashoggi began writing for The Post, some Saudi officials offered him a column in the pro-Saudi newspaper Al-Hayat, according to two Saudi officials who were briefed on the proposal. But Khashoggi soon began his Post columns, augmenting his voice in social media. The Saudis tried to squeeze him by preventing his son Salah from traveling outside the kingdom, which deeply upset Khashoggi, but he didn’t temper his writing or his independence. Last July, according to a U.S. official, Qahtani had convinced MBS that Khashoggi was a threat to the kingdom’s attempts to control information, and the crown prince sent a message that month ordering that the renegade journalist be brought back to the kingdom, by force if necessary. The message wasn’t understood by U.S. officials until too late. Khashoggi became a vulnerable target after he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in September to obtain papers for his fiancee. He was told to return the following week to complete the paperwork. Meanwhile, according to two Saudi sources, Qahtani helped gather a circle of intelligence and military operatives who were trusted by the royal court. The team sent to Istanbul was commanded by Maher Mutreb, a general involved in intelligence work who had been detailed to the royal court and was responsible for MBS’s communications security when he traveled abroad. A senior Saudi official told me Thursday that Qahtani was “currently banned from traveling and is under custody” as announced Nov. 15 by the Saudi public prosecutor. Qahtani was fired in October from his job at the royal court and is one of 17 Saudis who were sanctioned by the Treasury Department for their role in Khashoggi’s death. Treasury said in its statement announcing the sanctions that Qahtani “was part of the planning and execution of the operation” that killed the Post journalist and that Mutreb “coordinated and executed” it. This is a ghastly murder story, but as in any complicated case, we look for clues about how and why the killing took place. This killer’s motive was control of information. Twitter: @IgnatiusPost Read more from David Ignatius’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.


Many Alzheimer’s patients experience ‘sundowning,’ or strong mood swings late in the day. The cause is a mystery.

homes, and it’s not uncommon for patients who have been having a good day to suddenly believe it’s time to go home,” said David Trinkle, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Virginia Tech, who has treated Alzheimer’s patients for almost 30 years. “That’s when you’ll see patients try to leave the facility, and they will get extremely aggressive with screaming behavior. I’ve had patients frequently call 911.” Studies on prevalence rates show large variability depending on the setting and population, but sundowning has been observed in 10 to 25 percent of those with moderate to severe dementia in nursing homes and up to 66 percent of people with Alzheimer’s living at home. It also reportedly occurs in some cognitively intact elderly individuals and could be considered a sign of forthcoming dementia. The cause of sundowning remains a mystery. Some physicians believe it has to do with lowered visibility that comes with darkness and shadows, or in some cases the shift change of hospital staff that happens around late afternoon. More recent research suggests it could be related to a disruption of the brain’s internal master clock, which prompts the emergence of behavior disturbances at sunset. A circadian issue? “There’s not a whole lot known about what mechanisms might be involved in sundowning, and it’s very poorly understood,” said William “Trey” Todd, a research fellow in neurology at Harvard Medical School. “But the fact that the symptoms seem to follow a pattern, with worsening in the late afternoon or early evening, suggests that something is going on with the circadian system.” Indeed, one of the earliest symptoms seen in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases is a disruption in the normal circadian rhythms of the body. These biological changes follow a near 24-hour cycle, influencing key bodily functions such as the sleep-wake cycle, hormone release, digestion and body temperature. Keeping all these functions in sync is a master clock known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a collection of 20,000 nerve cells in the brain. This tiny, wing-shaped structure has the great responsibility of coordinating all the biological clocks in the body. So how does the SCN manage to find the right time? The SCN takes in information about environmental light levels from the eye so it can synchronize itself — and the rest of the body — with the natural light/dark cycle. For instance, in response to darkness, the SCN


‘A kind of dark realism’: Why the climate change problem is starting to look too big to solve

He said: “I am an optimist by nature, and I am blown away by progress in certain sectors. If you had told me 10 years ago that wind or solar would be as cheap as they are, I wouldn’t have believed you.” His assessment hasn’t discouraged people who say that the world needs — and will inevitably develop — a breakthrough technology. They fall into a long tradition of people who place their faith in American inventiveness and know-how. “We need the basic research, but we have to pair that with people willing to fund high-risk breakthrough energy companies,” said Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the website of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion private fund in which he has invested. He said “that’s what gives us the chance of having a solution that really lets us not having to give up energy usage and yet not damage the environment. I am optimistic.” One of the earliest climate change models was drawn up in 2004 by a pair of Princeton University professors — Robert Socolow, an engineer, and Stephen Pacala, an ecologist. Their 50-year scenario was positive: “Humanity already possesses the fundamental scientific, technical and industrial know-how to solve the carbon and climate problem for the next half-century,” they wrote. They said that no breakthrough was necessary. In their model, a series of “wedges” could alter the trajectory of rising temperatures. The wedges included things such as: scaling up wind capacity tenfold; covering an area the size of New Jersey with solar panels; doubling the fuel efficiency of all cars; tripling the world’s capacity of nuclear power; halting global deforestation; or planting new forests over an area the size of the Lower 48 United States. “I like to say that we decomposed a heroic challenge into a limited set of monumental tasks,” Socolow later wrote. In 2011, Socolow wrote that the number of wedges needed had increased from seven to nine. In an interview, he said it is now approaching 10. He now prefers to call climate action a horse race. At the moment, wind and solar are running ahead faster than expected, while nuclear power and carbon capture are trailing behind. The 2-degree target, he hopes, won’t set people up for an inevitable letdown. “My worry is that people will start talking about game over and a line being crossed over irreparably. Climate change is not like that.” steven.mufson@washpost.com


Why Brexit might not happen

More than two years ago, the British public voted 52 percent to 48 percent in favor of leaving the European Union. In accordance with this outcome, Prime Minister Theresa May invoked Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union, formally initiating Britain’s exit, which is scheduled to happen March 29. But just under four months out, it remains an open question whether Britain will actually leave the E.U. In fact, on Tuesday, Britain’s political betting markets placed odds against Brexit actually taking place in the spring. To appreciate why the referendum mandate might not actually translate into Britain’s leaving Europe as planned, one needs to take into account the British political system’s historically fraught relationship with direct democracy. Britain and the United States have democratic forms of government. But while the U.S. political system accords significant weight to the direct voice of its citizens in decision-making processes, the British system does not. British members of Parliament view their role as representing the interests of their constituents in Parliament, not acting on voters’ expressed opinions. This is one reason referendums and ballot initiatives, while common in parts of the United States, are extremely rare in Britain. The distrust of direct democracy runs deep in British history. As the Whig statesman Edmund Burke famously declared during the 1774 election campaign, an MP’s will “ought not to be subservient to” that of his (or her) constituents. He saw “mandates issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for,” as dangerous and “a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our constitution.” These sentiments continued to reverberate over the next two centuries. The referendum has been used only rarely, and then as a political tool, not a celebration of direct democracy. In 1973, Britain joined what was then the European Economic Community without recourse to a referendum, and few questioned the government’s right to take that decision on behalf of the country. And yet debates between pro- and anti-European forces persisted within both main political parties. During the 1974 election campaign, pro-European Labour leader Harold Wilson managed to unite his party by promising that, if elected, Labour would seek to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership and then subject the revised terms to a referendum. While Wilson promised to abide by the result of the referendum, he was not genuinely interested in taking


Police look into crash in Pr. George’s County

MARYLAND Police look into crash in Pr. George's County Maryland State Police are investigating a crash that injured two people Saturday in Prince George’s County. The incident happened shortly before 7:30 a.m. Troopers responded to a report of a single-vehicle crash near Crain Highway, south of Route 197, where they discovered a Chevrolet Equinox had traveled off the road and crashed into a utility pole. The driver of the vehicle, a 30-year-old man who was reportedly ejected, attempted to flee the scene but was apprehended by Bowie police officers. The passenger of the vehicle, a 23-year-old man, suffered a severe leg injury, authorities said. Both were taken to the University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center. Authorities said a preliminary investigation indicated drugs and/or alcohol may have contributed to the crash. — Lori Aratani VIRGINIA Md. man arrested in fatal shooting Alexandria police announced Saturday that they have arrested a Maryland man in connection with the shooting death of a 20-year-old woman on Friday. William Thomas Layton, 32, of Largo, Md., is being held without bond in the Alexandria detention center in connection with the death of Diamond Moore. Authorities said Layton has been charged with murder, possession of a firearm by a violent felon and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. Police responded to a report of a shooting on the 5500 block of Holmes Run Parkway about 9:45 a.m. Friday. They found Moore on the street with an upper-body injury. She was taken to a hospital, where she later died. Police said this was the fourth killing in Alexandria this year. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing and are asking anyone with information about the killing to contact Detective Loren King at 703-746-6689. — Lori Aratani THE REGION Customs officials seize Egyptian tree locust U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized an Egyptian tree locust hidden in a shipment of Italian wine at the Port of Baltimore on Nov. 19. An entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the specimen was Anacridium aegyptium. The insect is considered an invasive species and could pose a threat to the U.S. livestock industry, authorities said. — Lori Aratani


Federal government is shutting down nuclear waste project in Idaho

SOUTHERN U.S. Winter storm set to deliver snow, sleet A storm spreading snow, sleet and freezing rain took aim at millions of people across a wide swath of the South, raising the threat of immobilizing snowfalls, icy roads and possible power outages. Governors and local officials in several states declared emergencies ahead of the storm, freeing up funds and manpower to help mitigate its effect. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said Saturday that residents in some parts of the state should be ready for a lengthy ordeal from the storm, which was beginning to dump sleet and snow across its western mountain areas Saturday night. Officials have warned residents to prepare emergency kits and stay off the roads in affected areas. The National Weather Service said a “prolonged period of snow is expected” starting Saturday and lasting until Monday, with the heaviest snow expected in northwest North Carolina and southern Virginia. Forecasters have said some mountainous areas of North Carolina could get up to 12 inches of snow or more. Heavy rains were expected elsewhere in the South, creating possible floods in coastal areas. North Carolina’s largest electric utility, Duke Energy, has said there could be more than 500,000 power outages. — Associated Press IDAHO Nuclear waste project to be shut down Federal officials will shut down an Idaho nuclear-waste-treatment project after determining that it would not be economically feasible to bring in radioactive waste from other states. The U.S. Department of Energy, in documents released last week, said that the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project that employs 650 workers will end next year. Officials said workers are wrapping up processing 85,000 cubic yards of radioactive waste at the department’s 890-square-mile site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory. The Idaho treatment plant compacts transuranic waste, making it easier to ship and put into long-term storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. — Associated Press NEW YORK Man dead in apparent murder-suicide bid A Westchester County corrections officer was killed and two others were seriously wounded in what authorities said was an attempted murder-suicide. The shootings happened late Friday in Yonkers, N.Y. Yonkers police said corrections officer Edward Quinoy, 40, forced his way into the home where his ex-girlfriend lived with a male companion and the man’s mother. Police told the Journal News that Quinoy opened fire at the couple, and they fired back. Quinoy was pronounced


What happens if the British Parliament votes down Theresa May's Brexit deal?

BRUSSELS — With Britain and the European Union’s carefully crafted divorce deal headed for likely failure in the British Parliament this week, European leaders are bracing for more Brexit chaos — and warning they have little to sweeten the bargain for London. The landmark 585-page agreement, a thicket of legalese that extracts Britain from the European Union after more than four decades of membership, has proved politically toxic in Westminster. Everyone from hardcore Brexiteers to pro-E.U. Brits finds aspects to dislike. But both British Prime Minister Theresa May and E.U. leaders warn that the deal is the best on offer, given the red lines on both sides of the negotiating table. Europeans have gone slackjawed at London’s political chaos, with normally demure diplomats comparing the process there to a slow-motion car wreck. They say they can offer little other than cosmetic tweaks that might help May save face with her own Conservative Party. And they have begun to accelerate their emergency planning to prepare safety nets that could avoid some of the humanitarian and economic chaos that might happen if Britain crashes out of the European Union on its deadline of March 29, with no other plan in place. “It’s taken many people time to understand that things really are as bad as they are in the U.K.,” said Lotta Nymann-Lindegren, a former Finnish diplomat who focused on Brexit issues and now works at the Miltton consultancy. “It’s been a real eye-opener that an issue like this can cause such domestic political chaos.” Although May could still pull off an upset victory, discussions in both London and Brussels revolve around the expected margin of her defeat on Tuesday. Scores of Conservative lawmakers have already declared their plans to rebel against May. “I believe the government is going to lose this vote next week, I hope — I’m afraid to say — the government loses the vote next week. And then either this prime minister or, if she will not do it, another prime minister must take it back to the E.U. and change it,” said Zac Goldsmith, a Conservative lawmaker. The deal reflects a delicate balance on the island of Ireland, where Dublin has sought to maintain an open border with Northern Ireland to avoid reigniting the violent conflict there. London, in turn, has pressed to avoid any border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. If


Japan effectively bans China’s Huawei and ZTE from government contracts, joining U.S.

TOKYO — Japan’s government issued instructions Monday effectively banning China’s Huawei and ZTE from official contracts, while the country’s top three telecom operators plan to follow suit, Japanese media reported Monday. The news is another setback for Huawei after its chief financial officer was controversially arrested in Canada at the behest of the U.S. government for allegedly trying to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. Japan’s government guidelines are designed to prevent leaks of sensitive information and do not mention the Chinese companies by name, the Nikkei newspaper reported. Earlier this year, the U.S. Congress passed a law that will largely ban Huawei and ZTE from use by the U.S. government and contractors. Nikkei reported that Washington had given Tokyo information about the security risks involved in using Chinese-made equipment. Australia and New Zealand have also blocked Huawei from building fifth-generation (5G) networks because of concerns over its possible links to the Chinese government. The Japanese ban will cover purchases of personal computers, servers and telecommunications equipment by the government and Self-Defense Forces over concerns that viruses embedded in the equipment could cause systems to fail or could leak sensitive information, including military operations, to China, Nikkei reported. But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the new rules were not targeting any particular company. “In order to secure cybersecurity, we are aware that it is extremely important to make sure we would not procure equipment with functions of malicious intention,” he told a news conference Monday. “Accordingly those ministries and agencies related to this issue met today to ensure cybersecurity related to IT procurement within the government,” he said. “The purpose is to stipulate at each ministry and agency what system and procurement procedures should be protected, and it is not to eliminate specific companies or equipment.” Japan’s relations with China have been improving in recent years, and Abe visited China in October vowing to take their relationship in a “new historic direction.” But the controversy about Huawei could become an irritant. In response to the announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang maintained that Chinese investment in Japan is on a “win-win” basis and warned against “discriminatory treatment” of its companies. “We have also been asking the Japanese side to provide a fair, transparent and nondiscriminatory environment for Chinese companies’ operation and development in Japan,” he said Monday. “China will pay close attention to the implementation of relevant regulations of the