Turkey’s justice minister warns ‘no one can avoid responsibility’ for Khashoggi killing

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s justice minister warned Saudi officials Thursday that those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s death must be held responsible, amid growing frustration among Turkish officials over what they say is Saudi Arabia’s refusal to help investigate the journalist’s killing. “No one can avoid responsibility. . . . It is not an issue that can be covered up,” Abdulhamit Gul told reporters in the Turkish capital, Ankara. “We expect the Saudi authorities to engage in close cooperation on this issue,” he said, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. His remarks came one day after Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, departed Istanbul after a three-day visit in which he held at least two meetings with his Turkish counterpart. That visit, Turkish officials said, has been a source of frustration for Turkish investigators probing the death of Khashoggi, who was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last month. Turkey’s public prosecutor, exasperated by Mojeb’s refusal to answer questions, prepared a last-minute statement Wednesday detailing how Khashoggi was killed, officials said. This revealed for the first time that he was strangled almost immediately after he entered the consulate. In the statement, the Turkish prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, said the Saudi visit produced “no concrete results.” “It was to let the world know that there had been no cooperation, no collaboration” on the part of the Saudi delegation, a senior Turkish official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss deliberations over the statement. The Saudi prosecutor, the official said, “did not come to share what evidence they have. So it created a lack of trust.” Saudi officials have refrained from commenting on the talks between the Saudi prosecutor and Turkish officials. Khashoggi, 59, was once close to the Saudi royal family but fell out of favor with the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi fled Saudi Arabia last year and was living in exile in the United States, where he wrote for The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section. He traveled to Turkey last month to obtain paperwork in preparation for his marriage to Hatice Cengiz, his Turkish fiancee, and was last seen entering the consulate Oct. 2. For weeks, Saudi officials denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s whereabouts but eventually acknowledged that he was killed by a team of Saudi agents, who flew to Turkey earlier that day. Turkey’s prosecutor asked his Saudi counterpart key questions about the killing


Transcript: The State of Small Business

be open to it? Someone with a different mindset? Kudlow: I don’t even want to put words in his mouth on any of that stuff. That’s hypothetical, as you know. I hate hypotheticals. But I’m just saying, Jay Powell has said publicly in his speeches that these old Fed models; more people working and low employment is bad. He doesn’t buy it. He’s said that publicly. He’s said we don’t know what the natural interest rate is. He’s said that publicly. He’s said we don’t know steady state inflation, why does it have to go above 2? So I think he and the president share important goals. That’s what I think. But the president has an opinion about this. He’s not pushing the Fed. He’s not trying to drive through their independence. He’s said that. He’s not saying, “Change.” He’s not making calls, this and that. He’s not disrupting their independence. He has said that several times and I believe that myself. He’s just giving his opinion. Costa: Since we’re here at The Washington Post, our colleague, Jamal Khashoggi killed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Kudlow: Yes, tragic. Terrible, tragic. Costa: What should the economic ramifications be for the Saudi royal family? Kudlow: Oh, I don’t know. By the way, again, a tragedy. An absolute tragedy, terrible story. So as you know, the investigations are ongoing and as you also know, the Saudi royal family has actually changed their tune quite a bit and now acknowledges that Khashoggi is dead. It took a while to get that out. So President Trump has said many times, “Let’s wait and see what the investigations produce, facts. And then consider potential options or not.” We’ve got to get the facts fully on the table. Costa: What do you think about that arms deal? Should it continue? The $110 billion arms deal President Trump talks about? It is necessary for the economy? Kudlow: The president has said many times he would like that. But he’s also said, “Everything is on hold pending this investigation.” Costa: We only have a few minutes left, a couple of minutes left. You say you’re a supply-sider. Kudlow: Yes. Costa: You’ve had a long-time support for immigration in this country and you talked about how the closing message maybe from your view should be the economy. President Trump is focusing a lot on immigration. Do you personally agree


Women’s rights activist named to head Ethiopia’s Supreme Court

was turned into the 2014 Ethiopian film “Difret,” which was promoted by Jolie as executive producer and went on to win the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The film is based on a court case, tried by Meaza, that resulted in outlawing the tradition of kidnapping girls to be forced into marriage in Ethiopia. In 1996, Aberash Bekele, 14, was kidnapped on her way home from school by a man who intended to marry her. She escaped with a rifle and shot her kidnapper. She was then charged with murder. Meaza succeeded in getting the charges dropped and set off a public debate over Ethiopia’s age-old tradition of kidnapping for marriage. Meaza was selected to head the court by Ethiopia’s new reformist prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who has taken measures to increase the role of women in what is widely described as a patriarchal society. In presenting her to Parliament, Abiy said she would improve the court’s ability to implement reform in the country and the demands of justice and democracy. “I have made the nomination with the firm belief that she has the capacity required, with her vast international experience in mind,” he said, according to the Reuters news agency. Parliament approved the nomination unanimously. On Oct. 16, Abiy reshuffled his cabinet and, in an unprecedented move, named women to half the ministerial posts. Women now hold key portfolios such as defense and internal security. The following week, he nominated the country’s first female president. The prime minister’s chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, described Meaza as one of the country’s “most seasoned lawyers.” “She brings a track record of competence and relevant experience to the role,” he said in a tweet. Although activists say that Ethiopia still has a long way to go and that women would struggle to overcome prejudices to get elected to office, these moves set important examples for young women. While equal rights is enshrined in Ethiopian law, and there are national strategies to promote gender equality, women in the country suffer from discrimination, gender-based violence and unequal access to education, especially to secondary schools. Underage marriage is also common in the countryside, where the majority of Ethiopians live. Since coming to power in April, Abiy has undertaken several reforms, notably releasing thousands of political prisoners, inviting back exiled opposition leaders and pledging to open up the economy. paul.schemm@washpost.com


With new indictment, U.S. launches aggressive campaign to thwart China’s economic attacks

respond to a request for comment. As both countries place greater emphasis on competition and security, the big question, analysts say, is whether the two governments can maintain commercial engagement despite increasing tensions over the quest for technological supremacy. In the meantime, Washington is signaling that the gloves are off. Under the initiative, Sessions said, the department will aggressively pursue trade-secret theft cases, and develop a strategy to identify researchers and defense industry employees who’ve been “co-opted” by Chinese agents to transfer technology to China. “China wants the fruits of America’s brainpower to harvest the seeds of its planned economic dominance,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said. With this new initiative, he said, “we will confront China’s malign behaviors and encourage them to conduct themselves as they aspire to be one of the world’s leading nations.” The indictment alleges the defendants conspired to steal trade secrets from Micron, an Idaho-based semiconductor company with a subsidiary in Taiwan. Micron is worth an estimated $100 billion and is the only company in the United States that makes “dynamic random-access memory,” or DRAM, high-capacity data storage used in computers, mobile devices and other electronics. The company has a 20 to 25 percent share of the world’s supply of DRAM, prosecutors said. According to the indictment, the Chinese government set up a state-owned company, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd., for the express purpose of developing DRAM technology and sought to learn trade secrets through the criminal acts of former employees of Micron’s Taiwan branch. In July 2015, the president of Micron’s Taiwan subsidiary, Chen Zhengkun, also known as Stephen Chen, left to join United Microelectronics Corporation, a semiconductor foundry headquartered in Taiwan. Some months later, in early 2016, Jinhua, the Chinese company, began discussions with United Microelectronics to forge a technology cooperation agreement, according to the indictment. Chen helped negotiate the agreement, and in early 2017 became president of Jinhua in charge of its DRAM factory, prosecutors said. It was Chen, Sessions alleged, who orchestrated the theft of trade secrets from Micron worth up to $8.75 billion. Chen is said to have recruited former colleagues, including defendant He Jianting, or J.T. Ho, a Taiwanese national, who before leaving Micron allegedly stole confidential DRAM materials, U.S. officials say. Chen also brought on defendant Kenny Wang, a Micron manager and Taiwanese national who allegedly stole more than 900 files, some containing confidential DRAM designs, the


Trump and the Saudis keep fumbling after Khashoggi’s killing

Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? On Wednesday, nearly a month after journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and vanished, Turkish authorities made Khashoggi was “strangled as soon as he entered the consulate," said Irfan Fidan, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, calling the act part of a Saudi team’s “premeditated plans.” Khashoggi’s body, “after being strangled, was subsequently destroyed by being dismembered, once again confirming the planning of the murder,” Fidan added. This conclusive declaration followed the departure from Istanbul of Saudi prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb, who had been dispatched to investigate Khashoggi’s disappearance. Despite the kingdom’s vows of transparency and cooperation, Mojeb, according to my colleagues, neither gave the location of Khashoggi’s body to his Turkish counterparts nor identified the supposed “local collaborator” who helped dispose of his remains. Turkish investigators are reportedly pursuing a theory that Khashoggi’s body was dissolved in acid. A senior Turkish official told my colleagues that “Saudi officials seemed primarily interested in finding out what evidence the Turkish authorities had against the perpetrators” of Khashoggi’s killing and that Turkish officials doubted Riyadh was “keen on genuinely cooperating.” For weeks, Riyadh has engaged in a series of obfuscations, denials and delays as international anger mounted over Khashoggi’s apparent death. Eventually, the Saudi government acknowledged that Khashoggi had died in its custody. It blamed his killing on supposed rogue elements involved in a botched Saudi operation to detain Khashoggi and said they would be tried in Saudi courts. But Riyadh has yet to formally acknowledge the conclusions of the Turkish investigation — or publicly disclose its own. As readers of Today’s WorldView know, the Khashoggi scandal has badly damaged the reputation of Saudi Arabia and its ambitious crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, a repeated target of criticism in Khashoggi’s columns for The Washington Post. President Trump has been a conspicuous cheerleader of MBS — as the 33-year-old royal is often referred to — but even he eventually spoke out against Riyadh’s handling of the matter. “Obviously there’s been deception and there’s been lies,” Trump told The Washington Post last month when pressed on Saudi Arabia’s shifting explanations. “Their stories are all over the place.” He nevertheless chose to defend MBS, who has reportedly struck up a close personal rapport with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and has been a


‘Tree Killer Lives There’: Halloween display targets Georgetown mansion once owned by Jackie Kennedy

The owner of a Georgetown mansion once owned by former first lady Jackie Kennedy was labeled a “tree killer” in a Halloween display after neighbors complained some of the property’s premier timber recently disappeared. But the home’s new owner says he has spent a significant amount of money caring for and cutting down already-damaged trees — with each move approved by the city. District officials, meanwhile, are mulling fines because they say excessive pruning left one tree dead and another in poor health. David Hudgens, founder and CEO of concrete company Accu-Crete, purchased the residence at 3017 N St. NW last year for $6.5 million. Kennedy briefly lived there after her husband’s assassination, and the home was later owned for decades by socialite Yolande Betbeze Fox. Neighbors say the trees began to disappear soon after Hudgens, who owns two other houses on the street and lives next door, bought the home. In January, the city removed three trees in treeboxes along the street, then last month he cut down a magnolia on his property and trimmed branches off another. “Rather than remove them directly, he cut off all of the branches,” said Micheline Klagsbrun, who lives down the block. “They just look horrible . . . It just killed them slowly.” Seeing an opportunity to call attention to the trees’ demise on Halloween, Klagsburn erected a skeleton holding an ax in a treebox. The skeleton was next to a sign with an arrow that said “Tree Killer Lives There.” Another sign said “Save our trees,” and a faux tombstone said, “Beloved magnolia 1840-2018 destroyed R.I.P.” Hudgens countered the criticism, saying he is “very tired of the whole squabble.” He said he helped care for Fox, his neighbor, in her final days and helped care for the trees at his own expense in the last decade of her life. Still, Hudgens said, when he bought the property, damage done by unchecked root growth was extensive and retaining walls along the front of the property were crumbling. Hudgens estimated he spent $150,000 on landscaping, tree removal and repairs. “I’ve done nothing with these trees without the advice of multiple arborists,” he said. “I’ve cut no tree down without the authority of the city.” The confrontational Halloween display comes as some in Georgetown seek answers from the city’s Urban Forestry Division — part of the District Department of Transportation — and other city


Abortion, marijuana, redistricting and voting: What’s on state ballots this fall

[This story has been optimized for offline reading on our apps. For a richer experience, you can find the full version of this story here. An Internet connection is required.] This November, voters in 37 states will face 155 ballot questions. Taxation and bonds are common nationwide. Other ballots are more state-specific. An Alabama ballot measure would add a state constitutional amendment for the right to display the ten commandments on public property. Idaho voters will weigh betting on historic horse racing, and Missourians will decide on bingo game management. In many states, however, ballot questions echo larger national trends. Abortion Voters in West Virginia and Oregon will decide whether to amend their state constitutions to limit Medicaid abortion funding to cases of life endangerment, rape and incest, the minimum federal requirement. Officials in both states had tried to curb Medicaid funds for abortion, but state courts overruled them. This is the third attempt to cut the funding by ballot initiative in Oregon and the first in West Virginia. Both states, like many others, require a simple majority to amend the state constitution. West Virginia’s referendum goes beyond Medicaid funding. Similar to a successful Tennessee ballot measure in 2014, it also adds a constitutional amendment that would establish that a woman has no right to abortion. “West Virginia is laying the groundwork for more restrictions at the state level,” says Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute. The amendment, if adopted, would protect laws restricting abortion if challenged in state courts. The 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide, superseding any state laws. If Roe were overturned, the amendment would make it “very difficult to support abortion rights,” says Nash. In Alabama, voters are deciding on a constitutional amendment that would define personhood as beginning at conception and make clear the state recognizes no right to abortion. If passed, the measure could affect contraception, inheritance, the criminal code and in-vitro fertilization, among other things, Nash said. The measure has failed four times in three other states. Marijuana Michigan In the past decade, the number of states with legalized medical marijuana has doubled, from 15 to 30 and the District of Columbia. Legalization of recreational marijuana has similarly skyrocketed, from two states in 2012 to nine states and D.C. today, although it still remains confined predominantly to the West Coast and Northeast. A recent Pew study shows that 62


Report: Taliban maintaining foothold in Afghanistan amid increasing violence

KABUL — A new report by a U.S. government watchdog paints a discouraging portrait of Afghanistan in recent months, detailing continued Taliban gains, record civilian casualties by pro-government airstrikes and insurgent attacks, a disappointing performance by U.S.-funded anti-corruption agencies and soaring drug production and addiction. In a tense political season, when hopes for change have inspired millions of Afghans to vote for a new parliament and hopes for peace have spurred new efforts at dialogue with Taliban insurgents, the report released Thursday by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) casts a sobering eye on persistent setbacks in the fight against the Taliban and cumulative failures in the wars on corruption and drugs. The report stressed that Taliban control and influence continued to expand nationwide in recent months, while Afghan government control or influence over national territory has “reached the lowest level” since late 2015, declining slightly to 55 percent of 407 districts. It said government forces “made minimal or no progress in pressuring the Taliban” in the past three months and “failed to gain greater control or influence over districts, population and territory.” The report also highlighted the sustained high rate of war-related deaths and injuries among both civilians and security forces: a record 2,798 civilians were killed and 5,252 injured between May and September. It also said the average monthly number of casualties among Afghan military and police forces, while not officially released, was “the greatest it has ever been” in similar periods during the conflict, probably between 30 to 40 killed per day. The report found that during the first nine months of 2018, suicide attacks by insurgents increased dramatically, rising by 38 percent over the same period last year. Casualties caused by airstrikes by Afghan and coalition forces also climbed sharply, increasing by 46 percent to 313 deaths and 336 injuries, the report said. It noted that U.S. and coalition officials have disputed the latter set of figures, reporting that far fewer civilians were killed or injured. The SIGAR report also described a number of “discouraging developments” in the past several months, including a four-day Taliban siege of Ghazni city in August and the insurgents’ rejection of a second truce offered by President Ashraf Ghani the same month. Also on that list was an Oct. 18 shooting attack in Kandahar at a meeting of U.S. and regional officials that killed the regional police and


Prosecutor says Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered, but fate of body still a mystery

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s top prosecutor on Wednesday laid out the most detailed description yet of how the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, saying Saudi agents strangled him almost immediately after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and then dismembered his body. But the new information did not address the question that has bedeviled investigators and been the subject of furious speculation: What happened to Khashoggi’s remains? A senior Turkish official said in an interview that Turkish authorities are pursuing a theory that Khashoggi’s dismembered body was destroyed in acid on the grounds of the Saudi Consulate or at the nearby residence of the Saudi consul general. Biological evidence discovered in the consulate garden supports the theory that Khashoggi’s body was disposed of close to where he was killed and dismembered, the official said. “Khashoggi’s body was not in need of burying,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive investigation. While Saudi officials now acknowledge that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate on Oct. 2, all they have said about his body is that the assailants gave it to a “local collaborator” for disposal. The senior Turkish official said Turkish investigators do not believe such a figure exists. A second senior Turkish official said that Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, who completed a three-day visit to Istanbul on Wednesday, did not provide the location of Khashoggi’s body or identify any “local collaborator.” Since Mojeb arrived in Turkey on Monday, “Saudi officials seemed primarily interested in finding out what evidence the Turkish authorities had against the perpetrators,” the Turkish official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private law enforcement contacts. “We did not get the impression that they were keen on genuinely cooperating with the investigation.” Turkish prosecutor Irfan Fidan issued his public description of the killing shortly after Mojeb left Istanbul, amid mounting Turkish complaints about a lack of Saudi cooperation. Fidan said Khashoggi was “strangled as soon as he entered the consulate” in line with “premeditated plans.” The body, “after being strangled, was subsequently destroyed by being dismembered, once again confirming the planning of the murder,” Fidan said. The Turkish statement used the word “bogulmak,” which can also mean suffocation. Turkish officials say members of a 15-man hit team dispatched from Saudi Arabia killed Khashoggi inside the consulate before flying out of Turkey later the same day. The


In the Saudi countryside, Khashoggi’s death seems remote and royal involvement far-fetched

AD DILAM, Saudi Arabia — Dozens of men filed out of the mosque and across the street to the weekly vegetable market, where farmer Saleh Othman al-Haqbani was selling scallions from the back of his pickup truck. Rashid al-Awadin walked up, and the two men pressed their noses together in a traditional greeting popular here in this rural farm town, in the hot scrublands 70 miles south of the capital city, Riyadh. “Life is good here because our crown prince is always working hard for us and making our life better,” Awadin, 50, a retired soldier, told a visitor as he paid for his onions. “I support him, and nothing is going to change that, no matter what. I will follow his lead as long as he is alive.” The slaying — and reported dismemberment — of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the Saudi government acknowledges was a premeditated killing carried out by Saudi agents, has triggered international outrage. Widespread suspicion that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the plot to kill a frequent critic — which the Saudi government vehemently denies — has darkened previously rosy perceptions of the powerful young prince in Washington and Europe. The Trump administration has imposed visa restrictions on the agents implicated in the killing and is considering more sanctions. But in this patch of Saudi Arabia far from the big cities, people interviewed at al-Diyrra market said the incident was tragic but distant from their daily lives. Most said they were aware of it, although at least one person said he had not heard about it. Every person interviewed said he refused to believe Mohammed was involved. “No one believes these stupid things,” said Haqbani, 51, the onion vendor. “If he wanted to kill him, he could have brought him back here. But he is way bigger than that. And he is way smarter.” Another of his customers, Yahya al-Obili, 55, overheard the conversation about Khashoggi and added that Mohammed’s suspected involvement “makes no sense. It’s just what the media is saying.” Obili said an accident must have caused Khashoggi’s death. Turkish officials have said they have audio recording that proves Khashoggi was killed and his body dismembered. Turkey said the killing was carried out Oct. 2 inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by Saudis who flew to Istanbul that day. Khashoggi, who contributed columns to The Washington Post’s Global Opinions


The case for a second Brexit referendum

now emerging is likely to require Britain to continue to abide by at least some European rules. It will involve some kind of payments to Brussels. It will cause stresses in the relationship between mainland Britain and Ireland, and perhaps between England and Scotland. It will not make Brexiteers happy. Because the emerging deal is a mess — a dog’s Brexit, the wags say — it may well be blocked in Parliament. Purist Brexiteer “headbangers” in the ruling Conservative Party denounce what they see as an insufficiently clean break, and there may be enough of them to prevent passage. If that happens, Britain could leave the European Union without a deal, which would disrupt everything from auto supply chains to peace in Ireland. Alternatively, Britain could put the question to a second referendum, allowing voters to choose among three options: the compromise negotiated by the government, a no-deal hard break or remaining in the European Union. To populists and their appeasers, a second referendum is anathema. The first was billed as the most important vote in a generation, and 72.2 percent of the electorate turned out, the highest share in a national contest in more than two decades. In the face of that mandate, the argument goes, elites have no right to tell people to vote again so they can deliver the “right” answer. Besides, if a second referendum went in favor of Remain, Brexiteers would argue that this merely made the score 1-1, so there ought to be a tiebreaker. Maybe this is men’s Grand Slam tennis rather than women’s? Why not five referendums? This objection would be compelling if Brexit voters were being deprived of something they dearly wanted. However, the fact that the most enthusiastic Brexiteers are poised to vote against the exit deal suggests otherwise. Top Brexit standard-bearers, notably former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, have resigned from the government to protest the emerging compromise, with one saying it would make Britain a “vassal state.” Most Brexit voters still want out of Europe, but they feel let down by the convoluted way it’s happening. That leaves the second objection to a fresh referendum: that it would be hard to organize. Enabling legislation would have to go through Parliament. The phrasing of the questions would take time, all the more so because there would be three options for voters — the leave compromise, the hard break and the


Abortion, marijuana, redistricting, and voting: What’s on state ballots this fall

In many states this midterm ballot questions echo larger national trends.


Maryland board of regents facing pressure from lawmakers after DJ Durkin decision

One day after issuing a stunning endorsement of Maryland football Coach DJ Durkin while cutting ties with its academic leader, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents is facing heightened pressure from both state and federal lawmakers. In Annapolis, legislators called a hearing next month to publicly hold regents to account for the lingering controversy surrounding the Maryland football team, and the governor urged the board to reconsider its decision. On Tuesday, Board Chair James T. Brady announced that the regents had recommended the school allow Durkin to return to the sideline and retain Athletic Director Damon Evans. Just as stunning to many in the Maryland community, Wallace D. Loh, the school president, announced he would retire in June, and multiple people familiar with the situation said the board effectively forced him to retain Durkin against his wishes. “People are very concerned. They’re shocked, really,” said Del. Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City), the House Appropriations chairwoman who called the Nov. 15 hearing. “We need to do a hearing for the regents, the president of the college and say, ‘How did you reach this conclusion? What it is that led you to this conclusion?’” Early Wednesday evening, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said he was “deeply concerned” about how the board arrived at its decision. In a statement, Hogan asked the regents and Loh “to reconsider their decisions and to schedule a public hearing to address these issues in an open and transparent manner.” Political pressure on the regents to reverse course grew throughout the day. By Wednesday afternoon, 25 Democratic state lawmakers, including several influential committee chairs and party leaders, sent a sharply worded letter to Chancellor Robert Caret and the regents calling their actions “shameful” and “unacceptable.” “The board just forced out the one person who decided to do right by our students while pressuring the university to keep the coach who didn’t,” the letter said. “These decisions have turned a tragedy into a national embarrassment.” The lawmakers praised Loh for his “moral courage.” They argued the personnel decisions would have far-reaching implications, making it difficult to attract top leaders to a University System willing to undermine them. They urged the regents to fire Durkin. State lawmakers control funding for the University of Maryland system, and though McIntosh acknowledged her committee has no authority over employment decisions, she said lawmakers can use their bully pulpit to force transparency about


So long, Kepler, and thanks for all the planets

known as “hot Jupiters." Bill Borucki, Kepler’s longtime principal investigator, wanted to launch a highly sensitive space telescope that would stare at thousands of stars in the hope of detecting the faint dimming of their light caused by a planet passing in front of them. This technique, called transit photometry, would dramatically boost the pace and sensitivity of the exoplanet search, and it would allow scientists to finally figure out whether the cosmos contained other small, rocky worlds like our own. Although NASA agreed that the search for Earth-sized planets around sun-like stars was an important one, Borucki’s initial proposals for the mission were rejected because there was no proof that the science could be done in the manner proposed. It took five proposals and almost a decade for Kepler to finally launch. Borucki recalled the first image ever beamed back by the telescope: a snapshot of Kepler’s entire field of view, taken in every wavelength of light it could detect. “Thousands and thousands of stars,” Borucki said. “It was just mind-boggling to see.” Among those stars, Kepler eventually revealed, lurked worlds of every conceivable shape and size. Bodies so huge they were barely distinguishable from small stars. Small, rocky planets that orbited so quickly their surfaces were molten. A world of gas, rock and ice with not one but two suns — like Luke Skywalker’s Tatooine. Though Kepler set off in search of planets like our own, most of the systems it discovered were unlike anything scientists had dreamed of. “That’s one thing I love about the Kepler results,” Dotson said. “Imagination is not the limit here.” By the end of the spacecraft’s prime mission, astronomers using Kepler data concluded that our galaxy contains a planet for every sun — meaning there are as many as 400 billion exoplanets in the Milky Way alone. Several of those planets even had solid surfaces and received the right amount of sunlight to harbor liquid water — making them candidates in the search for life. But then disaster struck. In May 2013, a second of Kepler’s four reaction wheels failed, and the spacecraft was no longer able to keep itself pointed at a target. Engineers' efforts to restore one of the wheels failed. So they improvised a solution: orient Kepler with respect to the sun so that the faint pressure of its light provides the stability needed to balance the spacecraft. Under


Border deployment puts Mattis and the military in political crosshairs

Center for a New American Security, said the deployment raised questions about how Mattis was balancing his goal of making the U.S. military a more lethal, focused organization with pressure to get involved in the president’s political priorities. The balancing act has been a strain for Mattis since his first week at the Pentagon, when Trump signed his controversial travel ban in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes alongside Mattis, who like other military leaders, received little warning about Trump’s plans. The use of active-duty forces enables a faster mobilization and is likely to be cheaper than calling up members of the National Guard because additional pay and benefits are required when the Pentagon activates forces from the Guard and reserves. A two-year deployment of up to 6,000 guard troops to the border during President George W. Bush’s administration cost about $1.2 billion. The Obama administration spent about $110 million over one year to deploy up to 1,200 to the border, according to the Government Accountability Office. O’Shaughnessy said Tuesday that he couldn’t give a cost figure for the current deployment. But the decision to use active-duty forces also threatens to pull troops away from training activities and preparation for overseas deployments, and it could further stretch a force that military leaders for years have complained is beleaguered by excessive deployments. The Pentagon is aware of the risks a deployment within the United States poses to the military’s public reputation if something goes awry. Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, was on active duty in 1997 when Charles J. Dunlap Jr., a retired Air Force major general and law professor at Duke University, said the use of the regular armed forces within the United States for politically charged goals is seldom desired by the military itself. “In an era when the vitality of our armed forces depends upon the best and brightest volunteering, it’s hard to overstate how important it is for the military to maintain the strong public support and admiration it currently enjoys,” Dunlap said in an email. “Involvement in controversial domestic matters inevitably risks alienating at least part of the citizenry.” Dunlap said there are times when regular troops are the best option on short notice, and they can offer professionalism at tumultuous times, citing President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s decision to order elements of the 101st Airborne Division to help desegregate Little Rock schools in 1957. “If we


Pilot to be sentenced in sabotage that crippled Quebec power grid

witness from Canada’s National Research Council as saying the technique had been used during conflicts in Iraq, Kosovo and Serbia and was “easily accessible on the Internet.” A close reading of the judgment indicates that unidentified materials were dropped on the lines from the plane at three locations on the same day, prompting short circuits that ricocheted across the Hydro-Quebec grid. What is known is Dubé had a long-running dispute with Hydro-Quebec over the utility’s efforts to access power lines that run through land he owned. The judge described the dispute in his ruling as “a deep-seated grudge” against the utility. Despite having finished high school only, Dubé is a successful inventor, having designed a single-engine aircraft called the Aerocruiser and built a successful general aviation business. He also invented a solar panel system and a machine to eliminate insects infesting commercial greenhouses that grow tomatoes, according to the judge. Baribeau told The Washington Post that Hydro-Quebec initially had no idea what had caused the blackout, but two loggers in the area, near Mirabel airport north of Montreal, saw a small plane overflying the affected power lines, which then exploded in front of their eyes. The men called the utility, and the police were called in. Armed with a description of the plane, an Aerocruiser designed by Dubé, the police obtained detailed radar information from Nav Canada, which runs the country’s air traffic control system. Dubé’s plane was identified as the culprit, Baribeau said. “There was no ambiguity,” Baribeau told The Post. “There was no other airplane in the area at the time.” Dubé’s lawyer told the court his client could not be considered a terrorist because he was not a follower of any political or religious ideology. Dubé admitted overflying the power lines on the day of the blackout but denied committing sabotage. Meanwhile, the pilot is facing a lawsuit from Hydro-Quebec that is seeking to recoup the millions lost during the blackout. Dubé also is facing separate criminal charges resulting from a series of disputes he had with municipal officials over property evaluations. In one case, a municipal employee’s house was destroyed by fire, and another official was the victim of a Molotov cocktail attack. The prosecutor has also asked that the judge seize Dubé’s plane. Dubé has said he plans to appeal his conviction. The judge will decide on Dubé’s sentence in the sabotage case Dec. 10.


Former defense secretary Hagel says Trump is using troops as ‘pawns’ at border

would be operating there. It was one of several steps the president has announced in response to the caravans of Central American migrants as he tries to make immigration a salient issue in advance of next week’s midterm elections. “As a former soldier . . . I know the kinds of sacrifices these men and women are involved with every day, and their families,” said Hagel, who served in Vietnam. “And to use them as political pawns like this, as a complete fabrication, is really wrong.” Hagel said the troops would be of “limited utility anyway,” referring to a prohibition in federal law of the military acting in a domestic law enforcement capacity. The Pentagon has said the troops at the border will only be used in a supporting role. Hagel also said he felt “disgust” in response to Trump’s suggestion during remarks at the White House on Thursday that U.S. military at the border could fire on members of the caravan if the migrants throw rocks at soldiers. “That’s a wanton incitement of unnecessary violence,” Hagel said. “It’s a distraction, it’s a distortion, it is of rank political purpose to use our military like this.” “Not in my lifetime have I ever heard those kinds of words from a president of the United States,” he added. Trump’s plans also drew criticism Thursday from Martin Dempsey, a retired Army general who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Barack Obama. In a tweet, he called the deployment of more troops to the border “wasteful”and suggested firing at the caravan would be a “disproportional” response. “Our men and women in uniform are better trained, better equipped, and better led so they meet any threat with confidence,” Dempsey wrote. “A wasteful deployment of overstretched Soldiers and Marines would be made much worse if they use force disproportional to the threat they face. They won’t.” An armed military presence at the border became a flash point more than two decades ago after a Marine fatally shot an American high school student who carried a rifle with him while herding goats. Within two months of the May 1997 shooting, the Pentagon suspended military patrols along the border. Asked by a reporter Wednesday if the mobilization of troops was a stunt meant to stoke Trump’s political base, current Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, “We don’t do stunts in this department.” john.wagner@washpost.com


The military deployment to the border is a shameless, and dangerous, stunt

Jon D. Michaels, a law professor at the UCLA School of Law, is the author of “Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic.” Jeffrey H. Smith, a retired partner at Arnold & Porter and former Army judge advocate general officer, has served as general counsel of the CIA and the Senate Armed Services Committee. President Trump has ordered 5,200 U.S. troops to the southern border and says he may send as many as 15,000. That’s approaching the number now serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, and more than Gen. John J. Pershing mustered to pursue Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in 1916. The troops’ mission appears to be to block two caravans of between 3,600 and 7,000 Central Americans, most of whom are fleeing violence and poverty, from entering the country. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday, responding to a reporter’s question, said that the Pentagon doesn’t “do stunts.” But given the president’s race-baiting and fearmongering on the eve of deeply consequential midterm elections, the stunt-like quality of this exercise is hard to miss. Let’s start with the basics. First, there is no credible basis for the president’s assertion that the migrants are dangerous. They are hundreds of miles away from the U.S. border and are the very definition of Emma Lazarus’s tired, poor and huddled masses. They should not be blocked by bayonets but met by a joint U.S.-Mexico operation that provides humanitarian support and processes them for possible admission to the United States in accordance with immigration and asylum laws. Second, even if any of the migrants prove to be dangerous or cross the border illegally, it does not follow that this is a job for the U.S. military. Federal law-enforcement agencies — for instance, the Border Patrol — are surely up to the task. But more to the point, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the use of military personnel to enforce U.S. laws on American soil. To bypass Posse Comitatus, the Trump administration must establish that the migrants are a threat to national security. If the administration succeeds, it will set a precedent for the use of military force domestically to combat organized crime syndicates, street gangs or, perhaps, white supremacist groups — all of which strike us as more violent and more threatening to national security and the rule of law. But combating them, too, is a matter for the police and prosecutors, not the


Defense contractors should be speaking out about Khashoggi

Regarding the Nov. 1 front-page article “Turkey: Death came quickly”: Where are defense contractors in the discussion about the death of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi? Their silence is deafening, especially the top five — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman — whose revenue totals $250 billion. Is it okay to condone this killing because it would preserve and increase jobs and the already-generous incomes of executives? Please don’t put that old spin on the table in reply; that dog simply don’t hunt in this case. President Trump’s maddening, Machiavellian, loose-cannon behavior is disgusting. Shame on all the defense contractors for not having the courage to speak out against this outrage. James Gibney


Trump says nothing in the face of Saudi Arabia’s outrageous lies

In the face of international demands for all the facts and circumstances surrounding the barbaric murder of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as the outcry for accountability, President Trump is putting Saudi Arabia’s interests first. The Saudis wish to keep the kingdom clean from the dirtiness it has created. The president’s willingness to let the Saudis escape justice is an affront to the American people. The top of the royal family in Riyadh knows what happened inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. They know who ordered and oversaw Khashoggi’s grisly death. And the Saudis, up to and including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and maybe King Salman, are dead set against revealing the truth. They cannot keep their secrets without the cooperation and complicity of Trump. And they are getting it. How the president of the United States can allow Saudi leaders to get away with their display of contemptuous indifference to international demands for truth and justice is beyond understanding. Set aside for the moment Khashoggi’s association with The Post. The fact is, a legal resident of the United States, with children who are U.S. citizens, was assaulted upon entering the Saudi Consulate, and then murdered. According to Turkey’s top prosecutor, Khashoggi was immediately strangled as part of previously made plans and his body dismembered. What happened to his remains has still not been made public. The Saudis presumably know but won’t say. There you have it: A legal U.S. resident becomes the victim of a monstrous act by the Saudi government, and our president, reliably informed by both U.S. and senior Turkish officials — with confirmation from Saudi authorities — that the brutal crime was premeditated, and he says not a word to the nation. Trump knows from U.S. intelligence intercepts that the crown prince was the mastermind of a scheme to get Khashoggi back on Saudi soil. Trump knows from a briefing delivered by his own CIA director what Khashoggi’s last moments were like. And he says nothing about it. Nothing in the face of outrageous lies. Lies to the face of Saudi Arabia’s oldest Western ally, the United States. Trump said nothing when Saudi officials lied when they repeatedly said that Khashoggi, who had gone to the Saudi consulate to obtain a document needed for his upcoming marriage, had left the consulate alive, and that they had no information on his


Erdogan says order to kill Khashoggi ‘came from the highest levels of the Saudi government.’

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, writing in The Washington Post on Friday, said that the order to kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi “came from the highest levels of the Saudi government” and that “certain Saudi officials” were trying to cover up the crime. “Our friendship with Riyadh, which goes back a long time, doesn’t mean we will turn a blind eye to the premeditated murder that unfolded in front of our very eyes,” Erdogan wrote in an article for The Post’s Global Opinions section. He concluded, in part, by saying, “We must reveal the identities of the puppetmasters behind Khashoggi’s killing.” He did not name the officials he believes are covering up information nor offer new evidence for high-level Saudi involvement. Erdogan’s comments, which coincided with the one-month mark since Khashoggi’s killing in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, were his most direct attack yet on the Saudi government and its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. As other Middle Eastern states, including Israel, have come to Saudi Arabia’s defense in recent weeks, Turkey has relentlessly demanded answers from the Saudi government. In the face of those demands, Riyadh has offered shifting accounts of how Khashoggi was killed. This Turkish campaign has invited speculation about whether Erdogan is aiming to sideline Mohammed, whose regional policies have clashed with Turkey’s interests and whom Erdogan is said to personally dislike. While the Turkish leader did not implicate Mohammed in the killing, he also did not mention the crown prince by name — even as he absolved Mohammed’s father, King Salman, of any responsibility. “I do not believe for a second that King Salman, the custodian of the holy mosques, ordered the hit on Khashoggi,” Erdogan wrote. “Therefore, I have no reason to believe that his murder reflected Saudi Arabia’s official policy.” Saudi Arabia has acknowledged that Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist, was killed by Saudi agents inside the consulate but has insisted that they were acting outside the state’s authority. Saudi authorities have arrested 18 people, and five officials have been fired, including two of Mohammed’s top aides, the government said. It has not elaborated on what connection, if any, the pair had to Khashoggi’s death. Turkey’s prosecutor said this week that the Saudi agents strangled Khashoggi almost immediately after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2 and then dismembered his body. Turkey has not publicly presented evidence for its


Remarks from Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan at the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Awards

Saudis. We must demand accountability from our own leaders who should be holding the perpetrators of this barbaric crime responsible but, so far, have not. When officials of our government are asked about consequences for Jamal’s murder, they often talk about “balancing our interests in the area.” The “Khashoggi incident” is viewed in some respects as a “complication” in a far more important strategic relationship. But Jamal’s death is more than a “complication.” It is vicious, state-sponsored murder of an innocent journalist. Saudi Arabia’s contempt for our values should cause us to reflect on what our interests really are—not only in the Middle East, but around the world. What American interests are greater than human rights, free expression, and the ability to trust a strategic partner? With each new day, and as each new Saudi lie is revealed, the United States must be willing to carefully evaluate our relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—and ensure that we are honoring our real interests. Our government should immediately suspend arms deals with the Saudis. They should use the Magnitsky Act to punish everyone involved in the planning, execution and cover up of the brazen attack on Jamal. They should demand that the Saudi government immediately release all detained journalists and dissidents from prison. We’ve seen Democrats and Republicans in Congress stand up for our values and express these concerns. The administration should show similar conviction. How we respond to Jamal’s killing sends a message to Saudi tyrants and to others around the world. This is a crucial moment where we can take a stand to halt the global trend of increased attacks on journalists. If those who persecute journalists get away with their crimes—and are allowed to continue with business as usual—it only invites more of the same. If Saudi Arabia faces no consequences for Jamal’s murder, it sends a powerful message of tolerance, perhaps even encouragement. And every journalist in every country will be at greater risk. To help in this effort, today we announce an important new Washington Post initiative called the Press Freedom Partnership. Working with the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, Reporters Without Borders, and other interested groups, we are making a major global commitment to increase awareness of the importance of an independent press. We are devoting significant and ongoing resources … deploying our marketing and advertising capabilities


U.S. to allow eight countries to temporarily import Iran’s oil despite sanctions

imposed sanctions on 168 Iranian individuals, companies and groups 19 times. On Monday, Mnuchin said, it will add 700 names. Most of them are being relisted, though 300 of them are new to the list, he said. Though only a handful of countries support the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal, unilateral sanctions are highly effective because so many oil and financial transactions are conducted at least partially using U.S. dollars. This round of sanctions targets Iranian oil, which provides the government with 80 percent of its revenue. It also affects shipping, insurance and financial transactions. In August, the United States resumed sanctions prohibiting transactions involving U.S. dollars, Iranian automobiles and the purchase of commercial aircraft. The administration says it does not seek a coup against the Islamic government but aims to pressure Tehran to renegotiate the nuclear deal and change its policies, including support for militias in the region and the development of ballistic missiles. But Pompeo has outlined a dozen demands, most of them unlikely to be met by Tehran and seen by critics as a call for Iran to capitulate. On Friday, Pompeo said the United States seeks a change in Iran’s behavior toward its own people. “We are working toward the Iranian people having the opportunity to have the government they want,” he said, “a government that does not take their money and spend it on malign activities around the world.” The renewed hostility has pushed the Iranian economy to the brink of collapse, as its currency has lost about 70 percent of its value. Iran’s oil imports have shrunk by about 1 million barrels a day, from a peak of 2.5 million. China has stepped up its purchases in recent months, apparently keeping them in storage. Iran is expected to resort to subterfuge to keep its economy going. Some of its oil tankers already have turned off the electronic identity tags that keep track of where they are heading. The Europeans are establishing a special system that will essentially allow trade to continue with Iran through a form of barter, though they have had trouble getting a country to agree to host the exchange and risk U.S. sanctions. Much of the impact of the renewed sanctions has already been baked in. Virtually all multinational corporations that do business in the United States have stopped doing business in Iran so as not to run afoul of


Court strikes down law on competence of inmates

ARKANSAS Court rejects law on competence of inmates The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law that gives the state’s prison director authority to determine whether an inmate is mentally competent to be put to death, siding with two convicted murderers who were spared from execution last year. In two 4 to 3 rulings, justices ruled the competence law violated due process rights guaranteed in the Arkansas and U.S. Constitutions. Inmates Bruce Ward and Jack Greene were granted stays last year so the court could hear their cases. Arkansas has no executions scheduled and lacks two of the three drugs needed for its lethal injection process. The rulings, which reverse a judge’s decision to dismiss the lawsuits, revives the inmates’ efforts to challenge that they are competent enough to be executed. Ward was one of eight inmates whom Arkansas planned to execute in April 2017. Ward and three other inmates were granted stays, and the state ultimately executed four men over an eight-day period that month. Greene was scheduled to be put to death in November, but that was also halted. Ward has been on death row since 1990 for the killing of Rebecca Lynn Doss, and his attorneys said he’s a diagnosed schizophrenic. Attorneys for Greene, who was handed a death sentence for the 1991 slaying of Sidney Burnett, said he suffers from psychotic delusions and believes the attorneys and prison officials have conspired to torture him. Justices on Thursday also rejected Greene’s argument that executing him after 25 years in solitary confinement would be cruel and unusual punishment and violate his constitutional rights, ruling the lower court was correct to dismiss that part of his lawsuit. — Associated Press NEW JERSEY 10 die amid outbreak at pediatric care center A 10th person died amid a viral outbreak at a pediatric care center, while a different strain of the virus was found at another facility in the state, New Jersey health officials said Thursday. The state Health Department confirmed in a statement the “medically fragile child” at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation had the adenovirus infection. There have been 28 cases associated with the respiratory virus at the center, where the affected children had severely compromised immune systems. One death was a young adult. The state also said there are four confirmed adenovirus cases among pediatric patients at Voorhees Pediatric Facility, near Philadelphia, but preliminary


Two young polar bears debut at Maryland Zoo

They’re white and weigh more than 400 pounds — and seem to have plenty of energy. Meet the two young polar bears who made their public debut Thursday at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. They’re named Neva and Amelia Gray. A zoo video shows them playing with a ball, climbing rocks and swimming in their enclosure. The bears came to the Baltimore facility in early October from Ohio’s Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. They’ve been under a mandatory quarantine as they acclimated to their new home. Meanwhile, zookeepers have gotten to know them better. Neva is “very independent and curious” while Amelia Gray is “spunky and a bit particular,” according to zookeepers. Both are playful. The bears are half sisters, both almost 2 years old. They were the only polar bear cubs born at a North American zoo in 2016, officials said. The zoo had another polar bear — Anoki, 22, who went back to the Seneca Park Zoo in New York, where she was born. The moves were made based on recommendations from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums' Polar Bear Species Survival Plan. Polar bears are “at the top of the Arctic food chain,” officials said, meaning they are the top predators. Their populations are in decline, however, because of a lack of sea ice. Experts said there are between 20,000 and 25,000 polar bears left in their native areas of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia. According to the Maryland Zoo, some experts believe that if warming trends continue, two-thirds of the polar bear population could be gone by 2050. Neva and Amelia Gray are “important ambassadors for their species,” Erin Cantwell, the mammal collection and conservation manager at the zoo, said in a statement. “It’s a great opportunity for us to have such young bears because it’s a sign that accredited zoos are working hard together to conserve the polar bear species.”


Tracing tensions between astronomers and the military

showed up at The Hague to present the world’s first telescope to Prince Maurice of Nassau, just as the Dutch were negotiating with the Spanish to pause the Eighty Years War. Both sides recognized that the device could be used to spy on distant enemies, an advance that perhaps hastened Spain’s decision to sign a truce. The telescope then followed two paths, one that pointed to the heavens and the other to the battlefield. Galileo built a better version and found the moons of Jupiter and what would later be recognized as the rings of Saturn. Meanwhile, Spain and the Netherlands soon resumed fighting. In recognition of the new technology’s capability in war, Spanish artist Diego Velazquez painted a scene featuring the victorious commander Ambrogio Spinola holding “a spyglass nearly two feet long near the focal point of the painting, as if to emphasize its role in the victory,” Tyson and Lang write. The mixing of astronomy and the military comes into sharp focus in the second half of the 20th century. The authors recount how military satellites meant to sniff out thermonuclear tests discovered gamma-ray bursts, brief flashes from energetic stellar explosions in the far reaches of space. The Air Force funded surveys of the entire sky in infrared light. Studies of the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll helped astrophysicists learn that the chemical elements that make up human bodies and everything else were forged during the life cycles of stars. In funding and projects, the astronomical sciences are the poor stepchild of the military. Consider the Hubble Space Telescope. This low Earth orbit instrument was seen as a unique mission famous for its vivid imagery and scientific contributions. In fact, Hubble wasn’t so unique. Around the same time that NASA launched Hubble in 1990 to investigate cosmic mysteries, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office’s Keyhole program was already managing 20 similar yet bigger spy satellites. NASA scientists grasped this fact only years later, once the satellites were declassified. If Hubble scientists thought they were leading the way, they were mistaken. “Hubble was a KEYHOLE-class satellite, not the other way around,” Tyson and Lang write. The gulf in resources between science and military projects became even more apparent in 2011, when the same military office regifted two spare, better-than-Hubble mirrors to NASA. And today NASA still lacks the money to launch them. Tyson and Lang also recount the peaceful and


If Republicans loved the troops so much, they’d denounce the border stunt

a threat. It’s full of women and children,” he said. “We should process their requests in accordance with our laws.”) It was left to the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.); the House Armed Services Committee’s ranking Democrat, Adam Smith (Wash.); the House Homeland Security Committee’s ranking Democrat, Bennie G. Thompson (Miss.); the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s ranking Democrat, Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.); and 104 other House Democrats to write to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis objecting to the use of troops to further Trump’s immigration plots “without a long-term plan or an analysis of the effectiveness of previous deployments from this year.” They demanded answers to basic questions, including “What rules of engagement will troops be under with regard to individuals in the caravan or any other individuals approaching or coming across the southern border?” and “How much will this deployment cost the American taxpayer?” Aside from Democrats, it was generally left to retired Republicans and ex-military members to condemn this outrageous politicization of the military. Former defense secretary and former Republican senator Chuck Hagel condemned the move: “It’s clear to me that he’s using our military and our troops in a very political way. It really casts a lot of questions about the competency of his leadership.” Meanwhile, retired Gen. Martin Dempsey tweeted: And former National Security Agency chief and CIA director Michael Hayden (a retired general) agreed with the sentiments of retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling: The outrage from former national security officials and military men and women has for the first time ensnared Mattis, who had generally been credited with insulating the troops from the White House’s harebrained schemes. CNN reports: Mattis insists that “we don’t do stunts.” What is missing from the conversation is the chorus of Republican voices who regularly attacked prior presidents for perceived lack of support or respect for our military. Now, when the military’s image as a nonpolitical, professional and law-abiding institution is gravely threatened, elected Republicans and candidates are mum at best or, at worst, supportive of Trump’s stunt. Likewise, some self-described conservative think tankers are giving Trump cover. (“‘The President and the administration wants to look like they are acting decisively … they want to appear strong. … The military is a quick way to respond to things in many cases,’ Tom Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense and a US Army


No indication Saudi sisters found dead and bound with duct tape in NYC were killed, authorities say

Shea said the last time family members had seen both sisters was around Dec. 1, 2017, when they left their home in Fairfax, Va. The sisters were found within a day, but transferred to a shelter because of abuse allegations. Shea and Fairfax County police declined to give the shelter’s name, citing privacy restrictions. Over the next eight months, the sisters lived at the shelter and family members had no contact with them, Shea said. The sisters then left the shelter on Aug. 23 or Aug. 24 and made their way to New York City. Shea said detectives had not corroborated the sisters’ allegations of abuse, but they were “between the brother, the mother and father” and were sometime in the past. Shea described the abuse as physical, but it also involved other things he said he would not describe. Shea said initial reports that the Fareas might have jumped from the George Washington Bridge were likely not true, since their bodies had no signs of a fall from a high place. Likewise, reports that their bodies were found crosswise on top of each other were also inaccurate. Shea said he could not confirm a report based on unnamed police sources in the New York Post that the mother of the sisters received a phone call from a Saudi Embassy official who told her she might have to leave the United States because the sisters had applied for asylum. The call reportedly came the day before the sisters’ bodies were found. A Saudi official said Thursday that was inaccurate, saying they had only communicated with the mother about her expired immigration status in the United States. For privacy reasons, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that it could not reveal whether the sisters had applied for asylum. The mother of the sisters declined to comment when reached by phone Friday. “I can’t talk about it,” she said. Rotana had attended school at George Mason University before dropping out in the spring, school officials said. Tala was a student at Fairfax High School for part of the 2017-2018 school year. In 2016, family members were evicted from an apartment in Falls Church, Va., for unpaid rent. A woman whose niece attended school with the sisters in their hometown of Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, said they were inseparable and had been hopeful before arriving in the United States. “They were ve justin.jouvenal@washpost.com


In siding with DJ Durkin, U-Md. regents show football is No. 1

Regarding the Oct. 31 front-page article “U-Md. regents side with school’s football coach”: It seemed the University System of Maryland Board of Regents took the position that football trumps academics at the University of Maryland. This was a familiar refrain. In the 1990s, when I was a graduate student and instructor at the University of Maryland in College Park, I was invited to be a faculty guest coach for the football team. Attending the pregame breakfast, I recall gasping when the coach held up two fingers while saying that academics were No. 1, then holding up one finger while saying football comes second to academics. Everyone in the room got the joke, but I cringed at the not-so-subtle message. As a U-Md. alumna, I have followed with sadness the articles detailing the preventable death of football player Jordan McNair, with reports laying bare the failure of athletic trainers to appropriately diagnose and treat McNair. Reports further suggest bullying and abusive behavior from coaching staff. I was shocked to learn that President Wallace D. Loh, who accepted legal and moral responsibility for McNair’s death, is out, and Coach DJ Durkin was retained. Thankfully, on the shoulders of the athletes, the university rejected the regents’ recommendation and fired Mr. Durkin, as reported in the Nov. 1 front-page article “U-Md. fires its football coach after uproar.” May McNair rest in peace. May U-Md. re-prioritize its commitments. Bethany Letiecq


In grief and in defiance, the Terps’ line holds

The bedroom door stays closed. Behind it, posters from the video game store across the street are gone. So are the letters from family members that had been prominently displayed on the wall. All that remains is the apartment-owned furniture and an orange McDonogh School pennant stuck to the nightstand. Johnny Jordan now lives with two fellow Maryland football players instead of three, and he looks at that door, the one that opened to Jordan McNair’s room, each time he leaves the apartment. For Terrapins players, the weekly flow of football — practice, film, meetings, games — continues as usual, but reminders of their teammate have persisted since McNair died of heatstroke suffered at a team workout in May. The Thursday-morning tradition of Jordan shouting, “Guess what day it is?” with McNair responding, “It’s Chipotle Thursday!” no longer exists. Neither do the weekly meals the two players shared. When a former player visited Maryland earlier this season, offensive lineman Ellis McKennie wanted to tell McNair. Then, McKennie, who also played with McNair at McDonogh, thought, “Oh, s---, he’s not here.” And as McKennie, Jordan and a handful of their Maryland teammates pray before each game, they now touch McNair’s locker instead of his hands. “We say, ‘Johnny, how are you doing today?’” Jordan’s mom, Rebecca, said. “And if he's having a bad day, he'll say, ‘Well you know, I walk into that apartment every single day knowing that Jordan is never coming back.’ It hits him in the face, I think, every single time he walks through the door.” The controversy that has enveloped Maryland football since May sparked two independent investigations, questioned accountability at all levels of the program and gained fuel in recent days. The University System of Maryland Board of Regents recommended Coach DJ Durkin’s reinstatement from administrative leave on Tuesday. Maryland players, politicians and students pushed back. The school fired Durkin on Wednesday, and one day later, Board of Regents chair James T. Brady resigned. It all started on June 13 with the preventable death of a 19-year-old sophomore, whose memory led a group of teammates to publicly speak out this week against Durkin’s reinstatement from administrative leave. It motivated McKennie to post a now widely circulated tweet voicing his displeasure, and in doing so, breaking the team’s silence on the issue. It urged Jordan to tell reporters outside the team facility Wednesday night that Durkin’s


Trump administration appears in no hurry to judge Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi killing

national security relationships with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we intend to make sure that those relationships remain intact.” Pompeo has said the United States will not be bound by either the Turkish or Saudi version of events but will develop its own information and come to its own conclusions. He is pushing the Saudis hard to rapidly finish their investigation of the killing, one U.S. official said, and has stressed the need for full transparency in conversations with King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “We’re expecting the Saudis to come up with something that’s very close to what we all know,” the official said. “There’s not a lot of wiggle room.” U.S. and foreign officials discussed the sensitive diplomatic matter only on condition of anonymity. The question of “what we all know” is key. Saudi Arabia has unequivocally denied any high-level approval for the Khashoggi operation. But current and former U.S. officials, and virtually all outside experts on the kingdom, insist that the planning and carrying out of the killing could not have occurred without the knowledge and approval of the powerful Mohammed. There is little expectation that the Saudis will implicate him, despite his known personal animus toward Khashoggi, his uncontested control over affairs large and small inside the kingdom, and the fact that many of those now under arrest are security agents working for the Saudi leadership. Turkey has all but directly accused Mohammed, a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for dominance in the Muslim world. “Who gave the order to kill this kind soul?” Erdogan asked in an opinion column published Friday in The Washington Post, where Khashoggi was a contributing columnist. “We know that the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government.” “Some seem to hope this ‘problem’ will go away in time,” he wrote, noting that his government had “shared evidence with our friends and allies, including the United States.” That evidence includes a recording made during the murder inside the consulate, which the Turks played for CIA Director Gina Haspel when she visited Turkey last week. Whatever the administration concludes, it would be difficult to retain the current close U.S. ties to the kingdom while holding the crown prince responsible for the killing of Khashoggi. In a speech Wednesday in Washington to the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, a senior member


ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt: Maryland decision was completely bungled; school needs a total reset

ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt offered his harshest words yet for the University of Maryland in the wake of the school’s football and leadership crisis, saying on his “SportsCenter” program Thursday night that the school “has demonstrated the remarkably consistent ability to do the wrong thing at each step,” that its leaders have deployed “the most tone deaf crisis management imaginable,” and that the school now requires “a complete cultural reset.” Van Pelt questioned how school President Wallace D. Loh and Athletic Director Damon Evans can remain in their jobs, and called on the school to reach out to people who care about the university and can help it recover from this fall’s unrest, people such as former men’s basketball coach Gary Williams. “Wallace Loh admitted the university failed Jordan McNair, which is a tragedy that cannot be undone, but the leadership and the board have failed the University of Maryland as well — all of us, throughout this entire process, often in the interest of self-preservation,” Van Pelt said. “The university belongs to many, and the process of taking it back needs to begin immediately. Commissions and studies now are just tail-wagging-the-dog nonsense, and it’s that type of political paralysis that has us here in the first place, and how a tragic situation that began in late May is still festering in November. This place matters a lot to a lot of people, and I cannot tell you how many spanning generations have reached out to me, embarrassed and brokenhearted about this entire chapter.” The school has been besieged with local and national criticism after the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents recommended retaining football Coach DJ Durkin and Evans despite a scandal that erupted after the June death of McNair, a 19-year-old offensive lineman. Loh fired Durkin Wednesday. James T. Brady, the chair of the system’s board of regents, resigned on Thursday following a cavalcade of protest from students, alumni, media members and politicians. Van Pelt, among the alumni most closely associated with the school’s athletic program, has mostly avoided calls to action during the months of debate about Maryland’s future. But his comments Thursday night questioned the continued viability of Loh and Evans as the faces of Maryland sports. “For months, out of respect to the University of Maryland, which has been a part of my life my entire life, and a process that was ongoing, I


What does it take to build climate resilience — especially among the world’s most vulnerable?

with more than 200 farmers. We asked farmers about sources of information they received, different farming practices and technologies they used, and when their households ran out of food. Our research team worked with a development program called Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). CCAFS works to build resilience among farmers in developing countries, including through programs that foster climate information services. Climate information can be more powerful via people — not phones Our research revealed key takeaways. In areas with better access to climate information, more farmers adopted new, climate-smart farming strategies to help their crops grow despite the negative effects of climate change. The method used to communicate this type of information was important. There was a big push to share climate information via mobile phones — but not all farmers identified mobiles as a preferred tool for receiving climate information. Instead, many farmers wanted to hear climate information directly from Ministry of Agriculture extension officers who work in communities to promote good farming practices. An important difference between sharing climate information via phones and via face-to-face discussions with extension officers is the ability to have a two-way conversation. When farmers interact with extension officers, they can ask questions. This was especially true for women, who were more likely than men to rely on direct communication with extension officers for information regarding most climate-smart agriculture practices for field preparation, pest control and manure management. Although this study is limited in scope, focusing on four small communities in two countries, it speaks to possible solutions to a larger problem. When people are able to access and engage climate information, they are able to make meaning out of that knowledge and apply it to improve their situation — but they need to be able to access that information in the first place. Effective communication and information updates about the rapidly intensifying conditions of Hurricane Michael no doubt saved lives. And better information about how best to cultivate crops under Central America’s shifting weather patterns may have alleviated some of the poverty and desperation experienced by many of the families now in the migrant caravan. Recognizing that different sectors of society access information from different sources, that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, may prove critical to building a world that is better prepared for the risks of climate change. Chesney McOmber is a postdoctoral associate at the University of Florida.


One month after Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, these key questions remain unanswered

On Oct. 2, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi walked into his country’s consulate in Istanbul for what he hoped would be a routine visit to get some documents. Instead, he was slain during that visit, and his killing sparked a global backlash against Saudi Arabia and its powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Some of the details of what happened in the consulate have been confirmed, but a number of key questions in the case are still unanswered: 1. What happened to Khashoggi’s body? On Wednesday, Turkish investigators laid out the most detailed explanation yet of how Khashoggi, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post and prominent critic of Saudi leaders, was killed. They said the journalist was strangled as soon as he entered the consulate, in line with a premeditated plan. But Khashoggi’s body still has not been found. Saudi officials previously said that the body was given to a “local collaborator” for disposal, but Turkish investigators have suggested that person may not exist. Instead, they are considering whether Khashoggi’s dismembered body was destroyed in acid, either in the consulate or the nearby residence of the Saudi consul general. “Khashoggi’s body was not in need of burying,” a senior Turkish official told The Washington Post. The remains might give investigators a number of key clues, but they have a larger value for Khashoggi’s friends and family. “He did not have a funeral yet. This is not acceptable in Islamic rules," said his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, to ABC News, referring to the Islamic practice of burying the dead soon after they expire. 2. How high up did the plot go? It took the Saudi government more than two weeks to admit that Khashoggi had been killed, and even longer to say that the killing was deliberate. It eventually arrested 18 Saudi nationals and fired five top officials in response, but Turkish investigators have said the kingdom has offered little practical help in uncovering exactly what happened. “We did not get the impression that they were keen on genuinely cooperating with the investigation," one official told The Post. Since the early days of Khashoggi’s disappearance, there has been a deep suspicion that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the plot. In particular, the high-ranking nature of some of the suspects identified by Turkey made it hard to imagine the plot was independent of Saudi leadership. “It’s inconceivable that an operation


Saudi crown prince described journalist as a dangerous Islamist in call with White House, officials say

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a dangerous Islamist days after his disappearance in a phone call with President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton, according to people familiar with the discussion. In the call, which occurred before the kingdom publicly acknowledged Khashoggi’s death, the crown prince urged Kushner and Bolton to preserve the U.S.-Saudi alliance and said the journalist was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group long opposed by Bolton and other senior Trump officials. The attempt to criticize Khashoggi in private stands in contrast to the Saudi government’s later public statements decrying his death as a “terrible mistake” and “terrible tragedy.” “The incident that happened is very painful, for all Saudis,” Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto leader, said during a panel discussion last week. “The incident is not justifiable.” The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Khalid bin Salman, described Khashoggi last month as a “friend” who dedicated “a great portion of his life to serve his country.” In a statement released to The Washington Post, Khashoggi’s family called the characterization of the columnist as a dangerous Islamist inaccurate. “Jamal Khashoggi was not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He denied such claims repeatedly over the past several years,” the family said. “Jamal Khashoggi was not a dangerous person in any way possible. To claim otherwise would be ridiculous.” A person familiar with the discussion said Bolton did not signal that he endorsed the crown prince’s characterization of Khashoggi during the call. A Saudi official denied Wednesday that the crown prince made the allegations, saying that “routine calls do exist from time to time” between the young leader and top U.S. officials but that “no such commentary was conveyed.” Saudi Arabia has faced international condemnation for its shifting accounts of Khashoggi’s disappearance Oct. 2 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The kingdom initially said Khashoggi walked out of the consulate unharmed but then said Saudi agents had accidentally killed him in a fistfight, and more recently announced that it had evidence that his killing was “premeditated.” Analysts said the crown prince’s efforts to discredit Khashoggi in private suggested a two-faced attempt at damage control. “This is character assassination added to premeditated murder,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official who is a scholar at the Brookings Institution. The White House declined to discuss sensitive conversations with


U.S. says the time to end the Saudi-backed war in Yemen is now

emboldened by the international outrage over the killing of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi by a team of Saudi agents. “It’s hard not to think there is some kind of association here,” said Seche, the former U.S. ambassador. “Something other than just a sudden desire to see war end. A wave of indignation that has swept over Saudi Arabia because of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi has got to have some impact on our thinking, given our close association with the Saudis in Yemen as the preferred supplier of weapons and logistical support. It implicates the United States in this humanitarian crisis. It’s time to get ahead of the wave.” The administration statements come as both parties in Congress press for an end to U.S. involvement in the conflict. Among those from the president’s party who have questioned the current policy are Sens. Todd C. Young (Ind.) and Rand Paul (Ky.), and more recently Sens. Ben Sasse (Neb.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.). In the House, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has introduced a measure, now supported by senior Democrats, that would halt U.S. involvement in the conflict under the War Powers Act. Gerald Feierstein, another former ambassador to Yemen, said the changing analysis in Congress could transform U.S.-Saudi ties, particularly when it comes to arms sales. “People are really questioning the whole nature of the relationship,” he said. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest purchasers of advanced weaponry and an important customer for U.S. defense firms. Feierstein said the administration may have another motive to want a swift end to the hostilities: It would alleviate pressure on the administration to take broader punitive action against Saudi Arabia in the wake of Khashoggi’s death. If American-made Saudi weapons are not being used in Yemen, it will be easier for U.S. arms sales to the kingdom to continue. Robert Malley, who was a senior White House official under President Barack Obama and now serves as president of the International Crisis Group, said the Trump administration had closely embraced the Persian Gulf kingdom, smoothing over differences from the previous administration and elevating its position as a central Middle Eastern ally. “What’s been missing is getting something out of that hug,” he said. “This could reestablish some balance.” Michael Knights, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he worries that a push for


University of Maryland’s accreditation under review in wake of football death

of problems within the state flagship school’s football program. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education asked for more information in August after reading reports in the media about problems at the school’s athletic program, according to Brian Kirschner, a spokesman for the agency. The request is focused on two of the commission’s required standards, ethics and integrity, and the student experience, he said. Accreditation is critical to universities, because it is the quality assurance that the Education Department requires for a school to be eligible for federal student financial aid funding. The school, and the state university system, descended into turmoil in recent days. On Thursday afternoon, the chairman of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents resigned after a controversial response to problems in the athletics department. On Tuesday, the board announced that the football coach and the athletic director would remain at U-Md., and the school’s president, Wallace D. Loh, announced he would retire, a decision that upset many campus and political leaders. On Wednesday, Loh defied the regents by parting ways with football coach DJ Durkin. On Thursday, the provost and deans at U-Md. wrote a public letter that included concern that the regents' actions could endanger the school’s reputation with its accrediting bodies. “We, the academic leaders of the University of Maryland, write to express our dismay and deep concern for the events and the process that has led to the forced retirement of President Wallace D. Loh,” they wrote. “We have been extremely alarmed for weeks by the interference of the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents into University governance matters. It is the President who is responsible for personnel matters at the University, and it is within the President’s discretion and authority to decide whether to retain athletics staff. Through its intervention, the Board of Regents usurped the President’s authority and intervened in the ability of the President to carry out his full duties and responsibilities.” Neither the bylaws of the board, they wrote, nor state law give authority for such actions. One of the Middle States standards evaluates governance of a school and requires it to have autonomy. The recent actions of the board, the deans wrote, could jeopardize that autonomy. The accreditation review was first reported by the Baltimore Sun. U-Md. received a request from the commission in August and responded on Sept. 5, according to a university official.


Mattis is walking the Trump tightrope. It’s agonizing to watch.

deployment to make sure that forces aren’t in direct confrontation. Newbold is especially admired in the military because he retired early in protest from the joint staff in 2002 because he regarded plans for invading Iraq as unwise. The reluctance to commit troops for fuzzy, politically motivated operations goes deep. Explains Newbold: “One of the things seared into Marines of our generation was the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983. The issue there was whether to use troops in a situation fraught with political overtones, rather than military needs.” This recurring problem of seeking military solutions to political problems has become acute over the past month, as Trump stoked fears about a caravan of r oughly 3,500 migrants , now nearing central Mexico, who want refugee status in the United States. Trump fumed in an Oct. 29 tweet: “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!” Mattis was already facing a Trump-quake before the order to deploy troops. The president took a rare public shot at his defense secretary in an Oct. 14 interview on CBS News’s “60 Minutes,” saying that Mattis was “sort of a Democrat” and that “he may leave” his post. Mattis scrambled to affirm his loyalty. “I’m on his team,” he told reporters traveling with him a day later. “We have never talked about me leaving.” Mattis said that Trump had called him after the “60 Minutes” interview with the reassuring message: “I’m with you 100 percent.” Mattis isn’t the only Marine whose acquiescence worries some Pentagon insiders. As the Defense Department moved this week to deploy an initial force of 7,000 troops, several top former officials questioned the silence of Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “At some point, the chairman needs to speak up,” said one retired four-star, who like others described the border deployment as “a complete waste of time and money, and purely political.” Mattis is a national asset, and the country is lucky to have his solid judgment at the Pentagon. No sensible person would want him to leave the job, but that’s partly because people believe he will speak out if the military is being misused for political purposes. With the spurious border deployment, that red line is close. Twitter: @IgnatiusPost Read more from David Ignatius’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.


Calls grow for U-Md. president to stay, after ‘courageous and important’ ouster of football coach Durkin

heatstroke at a team workout in late May and died several days later. The announcement stunned the College Park campus. Student leaders planned emergency votes and a rally, faculty leaders mobilized to send a strong message of outrage, and influential lawmakers spoke out against Maryland state university officials’ actions that many viewed as protecting an embattled football coach after a player’s death, prioritizing sports over academics, and micromanaging personnel decisions at the state’s flagship campus. “The faculty I’ve talked to are all just astonished — they’re unhappy, they’re astonished,” said Jordan Goodman, a professor in the Physics Department and a graduate who said his immediate family holds nine U-Md. degrees. “It’s not a day that you’re proud to be a Terp.” The University Senate released a statement Wednesday calling the board’s actions a “direct attack on academic freedom and shared governance.” Leadership of the body — made up of faculty, staff, students and administrators at the institution — called for an emergency meeting Friday. “It is the view of the University Senate leadership that the Board of Regents has stepped into making personnel decisions based on suspect motivations,” the statement said. “If they can take such action regarding a coach, they can certainly do the same with a faculty member, a staff member, a department or program, or an administrator.” Martha Nell Smith, an English professor and a past chairman of the University Senate, said Wednesday morning that regents had acted against U-Md.'s interests. “I am shocked and upset that the football coach is still there,” she said. “I really feel for these players, and I’m furious. I think we can make our voices heard, and we can be very loud.” Political leaders responded forcefully as well, with state lawmakers calling for a hearing, many members of the state’s congressional delegation expressing concern about the regents' decision and Gov. Larry Hogan (R) calling on the regents Wednesday evening to reconsider their recommendations. “I am deeply troubled by the lack of transparency from the Board of Regents, and deeply concerned about how they could have possibly arrived at the decisions announced” Tuesday, Hogan said. On Wednesday evening, Loh sent a letter to campus, saying that he had met with student and faculty leaders, deans and others after the news conference, and that the overwhelming majority expressed serious concerns about Durkin returning to the campus. On Wednesday afternoon, Loh wrote, “Coach Durkin


Trump’s evangelical advisers meet with Saudi Crown Prince and discuss Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, “human rights,” spokesman says

A group of prominent U.S. evangelical figures, including several of President Trump’s evangelical advisers, met Thursday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose role in the killing of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi remains unclear. In a statement that included photos of those present smiling, a member of the group said “it is our desire to lift up the name of Jesus whenever we are asked and wherever we go.” The meeting at the royal palace in Riyadh comes amid widespread questions about the role the prince played in the operation that left Khashoggi dead after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Allies of the crown prince are trying to rally support for him. In the statement, the group said it was the first time the crown prince had met with American evangelicals. White evangelicals have been among Trump’s most devoted supporters and have met in recent months with other Middle Eastern leaders whom they see as allies in pressuring Iran. The evangelical leaders believe they will gain more tolerance for Christian minorities in their diplomatic efforts in places such as Egypt, where the same group went last fall to meet with President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, and the United Arab Emirates, where they stopped for four days of meetings with top leaders before going to Saudi Arabia. Critics note that government-sponsored discrimination against Christians continues in the region, especially in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and that there is intense repression in those countries of political prisoners and journalists held without trial. Group spokesman Johnnie Moore, who also serves as the White House’s unofficial liaison to a group of well-known conservative evangelicals, said Khashoggi’s killing and other human rights issues were “discussed” Thursday with the Saudi prince. He declined to give more details. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is among the wealthiest, most powerful, and most important nations in the Middle East, in all of history,” Moore said. “It also has enormous influence on the Islamic theology taught throughout the entire globe. While the Kingdom is restrictive and controversial in various and serious respects, it has under the Crown Prince begun to undergo reform and professed the desire to change in profound ways. Precisely for these reasons, we thought it was wise to accept the invitation we received from the Kingdom, issued more than two months ago, to come as evangelicals to engage in a


Maryland Board of Regents chair resigns in leadership fight tied to football scandal

The leader of the University System of Maryland’s governing board resigned Thursday, the latest surprise in a fast-moving power struggle between the state’s flagship school and the board that arose after a football player died following a team workout. James T. Brady, chair of the system’s Board of Regents, informed the board of his exit during a closed meeting in Baltimore. Afterward, he acknowledged he had become “the public face” of the board and its controversial decision to retain football coach DJ Durkin despite a scandal that erupted after the player’s death in June. Critics of the board said the uproar this week over that decision was damaging U-Md.'s image and imperiling fund-raising and recruiting. U-Md. President Wallace D. Loh defied the board’s decision and fired Durkin on Wednesday. “In my estimation, my continued presence on the board will inhibit its ability to move Maryland’s higher education agenda forward,” Brady said in a statement. “And I have no interest in serving as a distraction from that important work. Accordingly, I will step down from the Board of Regents immediately.” In a separate statement, the board appeared to signal that Loh had won the standoff with the regents: The panel said it “acknowledges and accepts” Loh’s decision to terminate Durkin “and his authority to make it.” In Brady’s absence, Barry Gossett, the board’s vice chair, will assume leadership until the board votes on a new chair, which is expected to take place next week. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) had appointed Brady. Hogan’s office said in a statement, “The governor believes that the university system must move forward in an open and transparent manner to restore public trust in Maryland’s flagship university.” Also Thursday, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education launched a review of U-Md.'s accreditation in response to questions raised about problems in its athletic programs. Brady stunned many Tuesday with the announcement that the board wanted to keep on Durkin and athletic director Damon Evans following investigations into the football program’s culture and the death of 19-year-old Jordan McNair, who suffered heatstroke during a spring workout. Simultaneously, Loh announced Tuesday he would retire at the end of the school year. Loh had told the board previously that he believed Durkin should leave. The upshot was that the board had sided with Durkin over Loh — an unusual intervention in the university’s governance. But Loh ousted Durkin the next day